An open letter to Yoshi P and Dev Team

[hydralus]

Right, but you only do this as a weapon. The WoL is practically uninvolved in the actual story of the game.

No being uninvolved would be like whatever Hilda's been doing for the last 7 years. A lack of character choice/urgency in the events they're thrust in to has no bearing on whether they're a main character or not. It'd be like going, "Vassili Zaitsev isn't the main character of Enemy at the Gates because he's just a guy who can shoot well and was practically uninvolved in the actual story of WW2". And what's with the idea of them being "uninvolved"? Exactly what would satisfy your definition of involvement with the events of ARR, HW, SB, ShB, EW? The first, where you were a chosen warrior and tackle the growing Ascian threat as allies you've made get into trouble. HW, where you lost comrades, took part in several trials both involving others and yourself, and saved not only a close ally but an entire nation. Stormblood, ShB, EW (ESPECIALLY shadowbringers and EW), at what point in these stories did it come across that the WoL was not involved? When there's a problem and everyone in the room goes, "Hey, maybe we should involve the WoL with this", guess what? That person is very much involved whether you like it or not. This isn't like Sherlock Holmes where Watson is detailing the goings-on of the seemingly mystical deductive powers of the titular character. There's not a moment like "Wow, amazing Lyse! You freed your people without any involvement from me at all." Where they are nothing but an observer to the story. Yeah, there have been things that have happened without the WoL being there of course, but the vast vast majority of that stuff isn't even shown unless it's time for the WoL to... get (say it with me) INVOLVED. The WoL's involvement is so integral to the plot that practically nothing, NOTHING happens without them. Just so happens it's by hitting things hard, which doesn't exclude someone from being the main character of a story. As fans of Dragon Ball will tell you, that fightsexual idiot is still the main character.

I swear, do you browse Reddit or something? It's the only place I could fathom picking up such a boneheaded idea of "the WoL isn't the main character". No your take isn't interesting or deep, it's just stupid.

[Exmo]

The hammer is involved in making the table, but it is not the carpenter.

[Hallarem]

The WoL has very close ties to Ishgard and some of its key leaders, its very clear that its like a second home even. (Just my interpretation and how welcoming Haurchefants dad is everytime you visit.) The WoL is clearly the main character.

But the most boneheaded and farmed take still is the the WoL is some super nuke that cant be killed or stopped. We clearly can, has happened in the the past.
The WoL is supercharged, sure. But people help us from time to time, we get power-ups. The only reason people think this is because we win all the time.
Duh, we are the main character, of course we win all the time. That doesnt make us a continent nuke. Hell, people need to read more on the lore on how jobs/aether and magic work Anything we can nuke a black mage can do too. A monk can blast through a lot of stuff as well if sufficiently trained.

[hydralus]

The hammer is involved in making the table, but it is not the carpenter.

This is implying you can't make a hammer the main character because it's a hammer. Here's a comparison: hammer is used to make table. Carpenter goes home. Focus remains on the hammer, who gets up to many other adventures building other things with other people while the carpenter is away. We see that while the carpenter does move the hammer, the carpenter can't do anything without the hammer, while the hammer is still fully capable of accomplishing things without the carpenter. Is the original carpenter the main character, or is the hammer? See, you thought you said something deep and meaningful but if you think about it for a second it's actually very reductive and idiotic.

[Exmo]

This is implying you can't make a hammer the main character because it's a hammer. Here's a comparison: hammer is used to make table. Carpenter goes home. Focus remains on the hammer, who gets up to many other adventures building other things with other people while the carpenter is away. Is the original carpenter the main character, or is the hammer? See, you thought you said something deep and meaningful but if you think about it for a second it's actually very reductive and idiotic.

What on earth are you taking about

[hydralus]

What on earth are you taking about

Oh, apologies, I thought you were engaging in the discussion I was having with someone else, not just making a general comment. Carry on.

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

No your take isn't interesting or deep, it's just stupid.

Being very confident in your wrongness doesn't make you less wrong. The WoL is only the main character in Shadowbringers (ETA: and the ending bit of Endwalker, I suppose). The overwhelming majority of what the WoL does is follow everyone else around (this is why every quest has dialog like, "WoL, would you like to join us?" -- because the WoL literally drives nothing) until they need a weapon. Then you kill something and everyone else goes back to the actual narrative. This isn't, like, a thing that's up for debate. It is simply how the story is structured. It is literally the fundamental nature of the story's existence.

You are correct that the story wouldn't progress without the WoL, in the same way that the story of an episode of CSI wouldn't progress without cars for the characters to drive to crime scenes. But the cars aren't the main characters. They're crucial -- critical even -- and yet wholly uninvolved in the narrative.

Also ETA: To prove my point, I challenge you to name a single, non-trivial problem that the WoL identified, came to understand, and solved entirely on his or her own. No Urianger or Y'shtola using their knowledge, no Leveilleurs using their political savvy, no Wuk Lamat eagerly helping local peoples, just the WoL making their own, autonomous decision that advances a core part of the narrative. (There is none, of course, because the WoL isn't a written character; they're simply a placeholder for "the person playing the video game.")

[TBerry]

Bumping to say that I bet you that if DT was to be made a TTRPG campaign with MSQ as basic concept, you bet this is going to be a metagaming mess with the player characters just taking a massive bump in reputation simply because of IC actions would be defined by OOC contempt for Wuk Lamat
Not even Ryuutama could save that one.

[Coratanni]

I don't see Wuk Lamat as anymore bland than like... all the scions right now. They're all pretty boring the way they are now. They all just agree and nod their heads. What's the difference?

Personally, I prefer not to be the main character in an MMORPG, but rather "one of many". But if they are going to make us "one of many", then it should be done properly - where we just do beast tribe quests while the real hero saves the world. If we are going to actually be present for the world-saving events, then at that point we should be the actual main character instead of being forced to watch someone else take credit for our work.

Regardless, her time as a main character is almost certainly over and there is A LOT of precedent for this:

• We installed Aymeric as a leader. We saw him regularly for the first few patches of Heavensward, then he was a forgotten leader.
• We installed Hien as a leader. We saw him regularly for Stormblood patches, then he was a forgotten leader.
• We installed Raubahn as a leader of Ala Mhigo and Lyse as a leader of its army. We saw them for the Stormblood patches, and they've been forgotten ever since.
• We installed Chai-Nuzz as a leader of Eulmore. We saw them in the first patches of Shadowbringers, and they've been forgotten ever since.
• My crystall ball tells me that we have installed Wuk Lamat as a leader of Tuliyollal, and will be seen for a few patches then... wait for it... forgotten after that.

Now let's say we become the main character again. I understand people are concerned that after we defeated countless gods and ancient, more powerful versions of ourselves, that struggling with a lizard in a dungeon is a bit strange. But I think this is fine on the basis that even the most famous fighters in boxing and MMA eventually lose, and not necessarily to the best/strongest opponent they faced. Eventually, you just lose a step, or get overconfident, so got to keep your skills sharp and not underestimate even a trash pack in a dungeon. It's a lot like how people can be really good at an ultimate then just get destroyed by a dungeon mechanic, because they see dungeons as below them and underestimate them.

We didn't actually install any of them as leaders. We helped their side fighting the big bads, that was it. But we had nothing to do with actually making them the leaders.

[Reimmi]

I don't see Wuk Lamat as anymore bland than like... all the scions right now. They're all pretty boring the way they are now. They all just agree and nod their heads. What's the difference?

Personally, I prefer not to be the main character in an MMORPG, but rather "one of many". But if they are going to make us "one of many", then it should be done properly - where we just do beast tribe quests while the real hero saves the world. If we are going to actually be present for the world-saving events, then at that point we should be the actual main character instead of being forced to watch someone else take credit for our work.

Regardless, her time as a main character is almost certainly over and there is A LOT of precedent for this:

• We installed Aymeric as a leader. We saw him regularly for the first few patches of Heavensward, then he was a forgotten leader.
• We installed Hien as a leader. We saw him regularly for Stormblood patches, then he was a forgotten leader.
• We installed Raubahn as a leader of Ala Mhigo and Lyse as a leader of its army. We saw them for the Stormblood patches, and they've been forgotten ever since.
• We installed Chai-Nuzz as a leader of Eulmore. We saw them in the first patches of Shadowbringers, and they've been forgotten ever since.
• My crystall ball tells me that we have installed Wuk Lamat as a leader of Tuliyollal, and will be seen for a few patches then... wait for it... forgotten after that.

Now let's say we become the main character again. I understand people are concerned that after we defeated countless gods and ancient, more powerful versions of ourselves, that struggling with a lizard in a dungeon is a bit strange. But I think this is fine on the basis that even the most famous fighters in boxing and MMA eventually lose, and not necessarily to the best/strongest opponent they faced. Eventually, you just lose a step, or get overconfident, so got to keep your skills sharp and not underestimate even a trash pack in a dungeon. It's a lot like how people can be really good at an ultimate then just get destroyed by a dungeon mechanic, because they see dungeons as below them and underestimate them.

The reason people don't mind the scions for that reason is they are not in the spotlight 90% of the story
I guarantee you people would not have liked graha if he had wuks screen time and focus.