YoshiP “Torn" Over What to do with the Scions (Interview)

[Rueby]

Guys...I have a tinfoil as to why we had the twins this expansion...please don't tell me it's to have lazy filler bodies for trusts...???

[Len_]

Guys...I have a tinfoil as to why we had the twins this expansion...please don't tell me it's to have lazy filler bodies for trusts...???

Did you really never question why Estinien jumped on the bandwagon at the literal last possible second?

[SeriousPan]

Did you really never question why Estinien jumped on the bandwagon at the literal last possible second?

Of course they did, they're just being funny. :P The Scions randomly appearing for Trust purposes is one of the most blatantly obvious flaws in DT's writing.

[Len_]

Did you really never question why Estinien jumped on the bandwagon at the literal last possible second?

Hey I just want to vent a little bit about this because I'm currently subbed and able to post on the forums so why not? But I just want to express how disgusted I was by Estinien's inclusion into "the Scions." He will never be a "Scion" to me. As a character, he is what he is. I personally never liked him. And it's not because of him, it's really because of how the other characters reacted to him. "Oh my god Estinien doesn't wanna join our group and he just wants to live his life doing whatever he chooses like a normal person....oh my god that's so mysterious and cool it's so based. Did I mention how cool Estinien is? He's not hanging around with us that means he's SO COOL because he just lives his life doing whatever he wants not at our beck and call like a normal freaking person. Omg kyaaaaaa sugoi he's so coooooool."

Maybe simpletons would buy this. It just made me hate Estinien through no fault of his own. Characters telling me how interesting he is instead of being actually interesting. Screw you.

So then in the very last moment possible he decides to actually join up to the cause. Oh wow. I wonder what possiblly brought this on after however long of not giving a flying frick and doing your own thing all thi stime. And it's basically like
>I realized being a cynical sardonic stick in the mud wasn't really doing anything for me. I admire you and Alphinaud. I'll try it you guys' way.

Ok fine, whatever. I buy it for now.

But then you get into EW and what does he do? Stand around brooding on the far end of the room leaning across the wall with his arms crossed while everyone else is huddled around a table trying to figure out how to solve the problem. All he does is act how you would expect a hired mercenary who is there to fill the 8th slot as a melee NPC would act. Because that's literally all he is. He doesn't follow up on his stated motivations for wanting to join the Scions and care about making a difference He stands around seeming bored acting like someone forced him to be there asking "Emet-Selch who?" if he even deigns to take interest at all. The literal only thing he ever contributed to any situation is "Oh are you guys talking about dragons?" I have previoulsy had association with dragons. The end."

I hate Estinien so much.

[ZXN]

There are two main reasons the scions were put into Dawntrail

1. Marketing
2. To fill the duty support / trials

It might be a "new" story, but they already know that if all the scions take an actual backseat even if it's just for one expansion, some people genuinely won't play because their favorite scion isn't present. It's just far easier to use the "faces" of the game to market it then to actually do much of anything either with new character or to build up already existing characters. Hoary Boulder? Coultenet? Alianne? Riol? Ocher? Clemence? There are a lot more scions outside of just the core group we travel with constantly. Hell they even gave my man Hoary a voice actor in Endwalker!...But it's just more marketable to use all the pre-established core members of the scions and shoehorn them into the story. No matter how minor the role or how little they actually appear: ALL the scions have to be in the expansion no matter what.

The only Scion that ABSOLUTELY had to be in Dawntrail was Krile; and she got shafted HARD by the writers so their black hole sue OC cat could tell you about how much she loves peace for the thousandth time. She got hyped up constantly every fanfest keynote and ultimately was shrugged off by every NPC she asked questions to for most of the 1st half, had a bombshell about her life dropped on her OFF-SCREEN [Yes we got an Echo scene for it, but it was still learned off-screen], and then finally when she gets a crumb of content with her parents and it's finally all about her: the fucking cat complains the entire time because "learning dumb make brain hurt" and then it's over in a few minutes and we are told to move on. Hell, a certain bunny mom introduced in Zone 5 had MORE spoken dialogue in zones 5/6 then Krile had IN THE ENTIRE EXPANSION. At that point Krile may as well have not been in Dawntrail either since they treated her even WORSE then the other scions, and they were all just cardboard cutouts just there because they HAD to be there.

The other reason is, obviously, to fill the duty support system. Valigarmanda they at least shook up the formula slightly by having Koana and Zoraal Ja in them to help you, but other then that it's Wuk and Scions right up until the very end...until Wuk comes in again but that's for a different thread.

The entire patch series is just going to be the same probably: here is a dungeon where conveniently a scion or two just comes out of nowhere with some miraculous "free time" to help you and then leave again. Trial time? Oh man, here comes ALL the scions! Even the ones that you haven't seen in 2-3 patch cycles!!!

Prepare to embrace your cardboard cutout comrades for 7.X series and beyond.