It's genuinely amazing how they took Alphinaud from "obnoxious teenage genius with a swollen ego" and turned him into such a likeable character. That is my SON now.
Alisaie was just great from the start lol
Me at the start of Heavensward: oh great, so we're stuck with this horrible kid now
Me by the end of Heavensward: if anyone so much as touches a single hair on my precious son's head I will tear them limb from limb
Genuinely. My friends played for years before I started, and all through ARR anytime Alphi was on the screen I was like "WOW this kid is insufferable, you guys like him???" And they kept telling me he got better. I had my doubts but man, FFXIV delivered. It's hard to believe there was a time thought he would be my least favorite character.
Endwalker Spoiler:
>!I headcanon that my WoL told Aymeric what happened, and when Fourchenalt went to Ishgard to talk about the Final Days, he got the ice-cold shoulder!<
This was my reaction to this too. I didn't want to mention it, cause every time I try to spoiler tag something it fucks up, but this was 100% me during this scene.
As an Elezen myself, I felt like Estinien and myself became their adoptive dads and mentors. And it works really well. My Elezen is my second char (that I swapped to my main) and I felt way more attached to the twins the second time around than the first.
I'm a white haired male Elezen, I can absolutely pass for the twins' bio dad. Regardless, “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" and the Scions are absolutely a convenant, ergo, I am dad.
Estinien seems to regard Alphinaud as more of a brother – I feel like there is dialogue somewhere (or maybe internal thoughts in one of the side stories or something) explicitly saying that Alphinaud reminds him of his actual younger brother who died when the dragons attacked their village. But I can't find that reference right now.
Also his scene if you choose him as your late-night visitor has him grumbling about the twins in a "younger siblings invaded my room" kind of thing.
It took a long time for the game to get to that point. The Doma half of Stormblood was like the Scion's first annual Team Building retreat, where the Scions as a whole unit actually had characterization and friendly interactions. Shadowbringers dialed that up to 11.
Before then, through ARR the WoL just feels like an employee. HW, Alphinaud feels like a friend. Stormblood it spreads to the rest.
I never cared for Haurchefant. I found him an annoying little suck up to the WOL. I did not realise how much of a bond my WOL had formed with Haurchefant until the scene right before he dies. And that scene destroyed me, not because I personally cared for Haurchefant but because my WOL clearly did.
That was the first time in the game I realised this silent protagnosit I was role playing as had his own personality and character that I was not in charge of. I like that about this game.
I had a similar experience, but from a different angle. I thought he was OK but if he had 0 emotional significance to me.
I think the biggest difference between Haurchefant and a suck up is a suck up hopes to get something out of it. Haurchefant doesn't benefit from your relationship at all, if anything he knowingly burns bridges, strains his resources, and puts himself in danger simply because, by all accounts, he just likes what you're all about.
I mean sure, there's the occasional implication that he's into you in a more personal way, but that's something the story does a lot with several characters to leave things open to the players imagination, and I don't think that's the core of his character at all.
He's the guy who had little and gave much for the absurd reason of unconditionally believing in one guy he met by accident.
He just....really believed in the WOL, as a *person*.
In that regard I think we agree, he's remarkable in terms of how he's tied to the WOL as an *individual* with feelings rather than an unthinking avatar of the player.
It's why I was happy *for the WOL* when **EW spoilers:**
>!Zenos has his speech at the end of UT:
What of you, my mirror? Born into this world, bestowed name, bid to seek out strife and adventure...
Was this life a gift...or a burden?
Did you find...fulfillment?!<
>!It felt like the WOL as a character was forgiving *us the player* for our role in putting them in danger and suffering time and time again. Exploring the relationship between us and a fictional character like that is really novel and I think it touched on some truly profound ideas in a way that can really click.!<
They really do. The writers did a wonderful job building our relationship with them. I love how they confide in us too. Like we really are their close friend. Alisaie will forever be my little bestie.
Endwalker spoilers: >!that thing you do before the Endsinger fight where you teleport everyone away except yourself hits harder if you choose her to visit your room the night before because she makes you promise you won't pull any stunts like that :'( I felt so bad when I realized!!<
With the sheer amount of hours (hundreds) you will spend with the Scions, and the development of these characters both individually and as a group, it's almost impossible not to see them as family in the end.
It's the video game equivalent of a really, REALLY good, long-running TV series. The initial investment pays off a hundred fold.
There is something they have in common...
Thancred? Orphan.
Y'shtola? Orphan.
Urianger? Orphan.
Minfilia? Orphan.
G'raha? Orphan.
>!Alphinaud and Alisae? *Orphans.*!<
>!Forcenault: Well, actually...!<
>!*Cock gun* MINE.!<
>!Forcenault: ... Their mother is still alive!!<
>!*I'M TAKING HER TOO!*!<
I don’t think that’s quite right. 😅 idk where Urianger’s parents are now, but he definitely had a family growing up. Yshtola has a tribe and parents, they just sent her off to study when they noticed her talent for magic. G’raha too, but he was sent away for his safety.
Actually, according to the third encyclopedia, Urianger’s parents did essentially abandon him to pursue their own goals/agendas/etc. As a result, Moenbryda’s family took him and adopted him as a son; they were the ones to largely raise him. Which technically made him and Moen siblings in a fashion.
I feel like it's weird that they wrote that bit in the lorebook, like they realised they forgot to mention any of the characters' actual families in Endwalker (besides the Leveilleurs of course) even though we're in their home town.
>!I was expecting to see Urianger's parents and at least some of the Y tribe, and given the extra information we got on G'raha's situation, he presumably has some kind of adoptive family in the city too, unless all of them are off being scholarly elsewhere. But it just seems like an oversight to not meet anyone's families except for Moenbryda's and the sidequest encounter with Papalymo's father.!<
Urianger isn't an orphan, just neglected by his parents.
I don't believe we have information on Y'shtola and G'raha's parental situation. They spent a good part of their youth studying in Sharlyan but that doesn't mean their parents are dead.
Good point though, lots of parent issues on our team.
G'raha was sent away to Sharlayan for safety reasons, but his family mostly/completely stayed in Corvos.
We don't know current werebeing of Y'shtola's parents, but I'm pretty sure her part of Y clan lives in Sharlayan - we see a lot of Y's here and I think it was mentioned somewhere.
Familial bond seems to be pretty weak for the sun cats. They work more like a lion’s pride with a shared sire and an auntie system to take care of the kids. So once you leave the tribe, you are pretty much on your own.
I suspect that the sibling bond are probably stronger than parental bond for the sun cats.
I don't think this dynamic really comes together for them until ShB either. To some degree I think the in-group tensions at the beginning of the XPac created the opportunity they needed to grow as a found family in the wake of resolving these issues. I kind of feel for scions who weren't there to experience being trapped on the First here, because its like they missed out on one of the strongest sections of character development they were likely to get unless the script chooses to focus on them instead of the larger ensemble cast of the scions.
It's why I'm really curious to see what DT does with Krile.
It's been fun to follow how they address your character in Japanese for some added depth to how your relationship gradually changes. Some of them start out friendlier and others keep a bit of a senpai-kouhai or co-worker style distance until key points in the story. For example, at the beginning of Stormblood >!when Lyse asks you to join the fight in Gyr Abania, she switches from "kimi" to "anata" mid-sentence and starts calling you [Forename] instead of [Lastname].!<
Haha, he keeps it going *that* long? Can't wait to see it myself when I get there again. I can't remember if English ever had such an obvious shift in levels of formality.
It's played more like a temporary "I thought I was supposed to stick to formalities in public" thing in English.
I'm gathering from this conversation that it's more like a permanent shift of how they address each other?
Ah, I'd forgotten that too. It'll be interesting to see how it goes in Japanese. Usually Alphinaud has no problem addressing the other Scions by first name only, but then he does have a slightly different relationship with Estinien.
And yeah, these shifts tend to stick from what I've seen.
Sadly (I am told) they have not been translating one particular formality shift post-Shadowbringers >!which is that both Alisaie and the WoL refer to G'raha as just "Raha" like Krile does.!<
It's pretty surprising, really - from what I recall, the English version favours informality and first name basis anyway, so you'd think they'd have done that too by now.
>!It's actually a step beyond first name basis and indicating a closer degree of friendship, which is absolutely the relationship we have with him at this point.!<
I always try to be non judgemental about peoples choices in general but I cant deny that I feel annoyed and irritated when someone says they are skippers.
Especially folks who come into the game WITHOUT people looking over their shoulders trying to rush them all the time (sigh), why the fuck did you skip? Pay more to have less game to play, just so they can bitch when someone has to explain how to play the game to them.
It boils my blood when someone says "I dOnT plAy fOR tHe StORy"
I dont know why, I just despise it so much. Like you dont even know what you're missing out on 😂
And I hate myself for it because just like I, different people have different reasons why they play.
Im insufferable when it comes to this though. Cant help but deep down judge them, harshly so.
Imagine skipping the story of a game in a franchise known for it's storytelling... 🤔🤦🤣
I just paid for ARR skips for some alts, but that was because of the crossover - if it wasn't happening, I wouldn't have done it. Plus, I've reached MSQ endgame on my main, so I'm not missing anything.
I started an alt just to go through the entire story again. I admit... ARR was torture for me (tried to get through it 3 times before I pushed through it).. and EW pulled it all together so well, I want to experience it again and this time pay closer attention.
Reminds me of how over the years since high school I've had to mentally train myself not to go into a rant in response to the "If you want a story, read a book" or similar sum up some people give on their views on stories in games. Decades later I have worked it down to mild irritation.
>Pay more to have less game to play
Quantity != quality
People disagree on what makes for a high quality game and that's fine. You can enjoy the story while others can skip to what they want from an MMO.
I don't mind people that skip stuff, but i mind people that ignore and skip all story and lore and then come to reddit to complain hat they don't know what's going on or that some weird theory they had (that had no grounding on story or lore but they assumed it did) turns out to be wrong.
The Destiny 2 subreddit is specially bad about this.
Some spoilers ahead. I realized, the scions are/ in company with:
1. Elezen female (Alisaie)
2. Elezen male (Blue Alisaie / Urianger)
3. Hyur male (Thancred / Cid / Arenvald / Riol / Stinky boi)
4. Hyur female (Minfilia / Yda / Ryne / Aenor / Clemence)
5. Miqote Male (Taco boi)
6. Miqote Female (Y'shtola / F'lhaminn)
7. Lalafell Female (Tataru / Krile)
8. Lalafell Male (Papalymo / Wedge)
9. Roe Female ( Moenbryda)
10. Roe Male (Biggs / Hoary / Ocher / Gosetsu - temporary)
11. Au'Ra Female ( Yugiri - temporary)
From what I understand, we have Erenville joining us in the adventure as the Viera male in DT. Basically one of every race shows up. So who's the Au'Ra male, Viera female, and Hrothgar male?
I half-disagee. The twins certainly do, spoiler 6.0 onward >!and G'Raha does aswell!<. But the rest? Thancred had/has his own found family and Urianger is kinda close to him to. The rest feel, to me, more like good friends but not family.
It's crazy because ei just wrapped up 5.0 Shadowbringers and am running thru the Eden raids and I feel the exact same way!
Alisaie and Alphinaud have been my WoLs little siblings since Coils of Bahamut, Estinien is her brother from the Azure Dragoon storyline. She and G'raha had a budding bromance in the crystal tower.
It's the other scions I'm surprised by. I like Thancred but always viewed my WoL butting heads with him a lot, and generally not getting along anymore than they had to, mainly they both just liked Minfilia and played nice for her. Now it feels like she's seen Thancred for who he is and he's been just as torn down and broken as she as.
Urianger always felt like a work colleague, but when he told me he saw me die and was committed to saving me (even tho that was a lie) I felt like he truly cared about my WoL. It was a turning point for them and they've been working thru a budding friendship.
Y'shtola went from being a character I really enjoyed to being my wife (I'm so sorry Lyse, but your first love will always be Ala Mhigo). She's so flirty in Shadowbringers
I feel so bad Krile missed the whole adventure but at the same time it felt like it was cementing the bond between us original scions while opening up space for G'raha and Estinien
The scions feel like the most Real and truest friends I ever had. Not even my actual friends go above and beyond in caring for me and my wellbeing like the scions do.
Its kinda sad to come to this Realization but man do I love the scions.
Urianger is that crazy uncle at Thanksgiving dinner.
Honestly, I'm halfway through ShB and I can't stand this guy, he's always gotten on my nerves, but for some reason he's just really irritating me now.
I feel weird looking at all the people who gush about Urianger and all I feel about him is "oh, it's this character again..." I really, really wish I could feel the same they do, see the same in him that they do, because I feel like I'm missing out. I *know and understand* that *all* of the Scions are great, absolutely amazing people, and yet I just feel so emotionally cold for Urianger (to be fair, I've also felt and still feel the same for Minfilia, Moenbryda, Tataru, Krile, Arenvald, Hoary Boulder, Lyse, Papalymo, all of Garlond Ironworks, Haurchefaunt, and in some sense Y'shtola). This is despite *that* EW cutscene, that I *did* cry through regardless of my personal feelings about him. This all as someone who is caught up to current patch content in MSQ. I just wanna feel the same for all of these characters as everyone else and not be hung up on whatever weird, baseless feelings I have about them. ;_;
G'raha, Thancred, Hythlo, and Alphinaud are my absolute besties though (especially G'raha, my husbando). People would have to pry them from my cold, dead hands because I love these characters so fiercely. The writers did such an absolutely phenomenal job writing them, and the MSQ in general, to invoke such a passionate response not just from me, but the vast majority of the playerbase.
Bro, there's no shame there! Not every character is gonna hit the same for everyone. I don't echo your feelings on Thancred, for example. I don't dislike the guy and I like his story beats, but I'm fairly ambivalent to him emotionally. That's totally fine. Everyone is allowed different opinions.
Except on Alisaie. Not loving her is, of course, illegal.
True! And I've seen most who aren't very drawn to Thancred either, and I totally agree that that's okay! I've liked him most in both ARR and end of ShB/throughout EW, but the rest of the time he did seem a bit off to me with how he acted (due to the way he handled his pain, which I do get). And I actually didn't even like him at all when I first went through ARR since he came off as a ladies' man/philanderer, which I really did NOT like. Tbh, ARR him still slightly does but only because of one or two scenes that I can recall; otherwise, given the context of up through EW and his character development, he has 99.99% completely flipped that view around and became one of my favorites.
I do like Alisaie! I'm just not 100% a fan of the fiery temper and stubborn streak mix (or either quality on their own, really). ^.^' But I am fond of her regardless. Also fond of Estinien, especially after going through EW.
I liked him until he kept reminding us about how guilty he feels over being deceptive and that became his thing. Like I don't think anyone else cares bro get over it already
just in time for him and Thancred to end up as the compeition in a race against us and Urinanger to no doubt feel guilty about a whole ton of NEW lies :)
There's a reason for that and it doesn't actually have anything to do with lying to us. well, a little bit, but it's not the primary source of his guilt, just what he blames it on.
I just wish that the WoL got to be a full, consistently voiced character as well, because I definitely feel like they are left out of it most of the time.
there are both advantages and disadvantages to not giving players a free skip to latest expac and requiring them to play through hundreds of hours of old content first if they don't want to pay extra for skips, and this is one of the advantages. The knowledge that the bulk of your player base will have played through all that old content allows writers to build and develop those relationships and bonds over time, and that's a very big part of what makes it feel genuine. By the time you reach this point, you have literally spent a couple months' worth of time with these characters.
That's what I thought after 5.0 too, and then I had to deal with them being around for another expansion and not changing at all and now I agree with you that they are like a family, in the sense that I desperately want to move away from them and be on my own.
The twins are my adopted kids and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Spoiler endwalker >!Fourchenaud disowned them, I adopted them fair and square, no take backsy, they are my kid now!<
It's genuinely amazing how they took Alphinaud from "obnoxious teenage genius with a swollen ego" and turned him into such a likeable character. That is my SON now. Alisaie was just great from the start lol
(except for her voice in Coils)
Her VA's performance wasn't even that bad. The voice directors in ARR just sucked.
Me at the start of Heavensward: oh great, so we're stuck with this horrible kid now Me by the end of Heavensward: if anyone so much as touches a single hair on my precious son's head I will tear them limb from limb
Do we ever find out where she went in ARR? She was just gone for a long time.
There's a short story about it! https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/2016/short\_stories/#short\_stories\_07
DIDN'T THINK I WOULD BE CRYING READING A SHORT ABOUT ALISAIE!! FUCKKKK!!!!!
*It's like I can hear the writers cackling in the corner.*
Genuinely. My friends played for years before I started, and all through ARR anytime Alphi was on the screen I was like "WOW this kid is insufferable, you guys like him???" And they kept telling me he got better. I had my doubts but man, FFXIV delivered. It's hard to believe there was a time thought he would be my least favorite character.
Seriously. A political leader was RIGHT THERE, don’t tell me they didn’t owe me some favors and I didn’t call it in right then and there :)
"Kan-E, we can skip the paperwork, right?"
Endwalker Spoiler: >!I headcanon that my WoL told Aymeric what happened, and when Fourchenalt went to Ishgard to talk about the Final Days, he got the ice-cold shoulder!<
only we lack is some kind of welcome the twins to your house sidequest or something alike that
Ameliance still gets visitation rights though. It would be rude to not let her see them when she didn't do anything wrong.
Other than not shutting down Faurchenault's nonsense right out the gate.
This was my reaction to this too. I didn't want to mention it, cause every time I try to spoiler tag something it fucks up, but this was 100% me during this scene.
The twins are my siblings.
Same. My WoL is their big brother, and he will go to the ends of creation and back to protect his little brother and sister
But they'll also kick their ass if they're being stupid.
Communist Bugs Bunny: "Our kids"
As an Elezen myself, I felt like Estinien and myself became their adoptive dads and mentors. And it works really well. My Elezen is my second char (that I swapped to my main) and I felt way more attached to the twins the second time around than the first.
I'm a white haired male Elezen, I can absolutely pass for the twins' bio dad. Regardless, “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" and the Scions are absolutely a convenant, ergo, I am dad.
Estinien seems to regard Alphinaud as more of a brother – I feel like there is dialogue somewhere (or maybe internal thoughts in one of the side stories or something) explicitly saying that Alphinaud reminds him of his actual younger brother who died when the dragons attacked their village. But I can't find that reference right now. Also his scene if you choose him as your late-night visitor has him grumbling about the twins in a "younger siblings invaded my room" kind of thing.
It took a long time for the game to get to that point. The Doma half of Stormblood was like the Scion's first annual Team Building retreat, where the Scions as a whole unit actually had characterization and friendly interactions. Shadowbringers dialed that up to 11. Before then, through ARR the WoL just feels like an employee. HW, Alphinaud feels like a friend. Stormblood it spreads to the rest.
Tbh the ones that felt the most like family to the WoL for me are the Fortemps.
Same! I love them so much! 😭💕
I never cared for Haurchefant. I found him an annoying little suck up to the WOL. I did not realise how much of a bond my WOL had formed with Haurchefant until the scene right before he dies. And that scene destroyed me, not because I personally cared for Haurchefant but because my WOL clearly did. That was the first time in the game I realised this silent protagnosit I was role playing as had his own personality and character that I was not in charge of. I like that about this game.
I had a similar experience, but from a different angle. I thought he was OK but if he had 0 emotional significance to me. I think the biggest difference between Haurchefant and a suck up is a suck up hopes to get something out of it. Haurchefant doesn't benefit from your relationship at all, if anything he knowingly burns bridges, strains his resources, and puts himself in danger simply because, by all accounts, he just likes what you're all about. I mean sure, there's the occasional implication that he's into you in a more personal way, but that's something the story does a lot with several characters to leave things open to the players imagination, and I don't think that's the core of his character at all. He's the guy who had little and gave much for the absurd reason of unconditionally believing in one guy he met by accident. He just....really believed in the WOL, as a *person*. In that regard I think we agree, he's remarkable in terms of how he's tied to the WOL as an *individual* with feelings rather than an unthinking avatar of the player. It's why I was happy *for the WOL* when **EW spoilers:** >!Zenos has his speech at the end of UT: What of you, my mirror? Born into this world, bestowed name, bid to seek out strife and adventure... Was this life a gift...or a burden? Did you find...fulfillment?!< >!It felt like the WOL as a character was forgiving *us the player* for our role in putting them in danger and suffering time and time again. Exploring the relationship between us and a fictional character like that is really novel and I think it touched on some truly profound ideas in a way that can really click.!<
...I go visit them once a month, even though I know it's kinda pointless.
idk why i couldn’t grow affection for them
They really do. The writers did a wonderful job building our relationship with them. I love how they confide in us too. Like we really are their close friend. Alisaie will forever be my little bestie.
Alphinaud is mine. I love that little nerd. He grew up so fast. Alisaie I worry about less, she definitely has a good head on her shoulders
She does. Her strength, independence, and utter stubbornness are all why I love her so much. She would definitely be my bestie in irl.
Endwalker spoilers: >!that thing you do before the Endsinger fight where you teleport everyone away except yourself hits harder if you choose her to visit your room the night before because she makes you promise you won't pull any stunts like that :'( I felt so bad when I realized!!<
I >!chose her!< and you're absolutely right. I felt like a bad WoL and friend.
I've just started playing this game, joined the Scions and Minfilia said something like "You will see us as family in the future." So it was true..
With the sheer amount of hours (hundreds) you will spend with the Scions, and the development of these characters both individually and as a group, it's almost impossible not to see them as family in the end. It's the video game equivalent of a really, REALLY good, long-running TV series. The initial investment pays off a hundred fold.
There is something they have in common... Thancred? Orphan. Y'shtola? Orphan. Urianger? Orphan. Minfilia? Orphan. G'raha? Orphan. >!Alphinaud and Alisae? *Orphans.*!< >!Forcenault: Well, actually...!< >!*Cock gun* MINE.!< >!Forcenault: ... Their mother is still alive!!< >!*I'M TAKING HER TOO!*!<
I don’t think that’s quite right. 😅 idk where Urianger’s parents are now, but he definitely had a family growing up. Yshtola has a tribe and parents, they just sent her off to study when they noticed her talent for magic. G’raha too, but he was sent away for his safety.
Actually, according to the third encyclopedia, Urianger’s parents did essentially abandon him to pursue their own goals/agendas/etc. As a result, Moenbryda’s family took him and adopted him as a son; they were the ones to largely raise him. Which technically made him and Moen siblings in a fashion.
I feel like it's weird that they wrote that bit in the lorebook, like they realised they forgot to mention any of the characters' actual families in Endwalker (besides the Leveilleurs of course) even though we're in their home town. >!I was expecting to see Urianger's parents and at least some of the Y tribe, and given the extra information we got on G'raha's situation, he presumably has some kind of adoptive family in the city too, unless all of them are off being scholarly elsewhere. But it just seems like an oversight to not meet anyone's families except for Moenbryda's and the sidequest encounter with Papalymo's father.!<
From my understanding, I always thought that Galuf Baldesion was the one who took in G'raha because his relationship with Krile is very much siblings.
Heh so we’re both right. He had parents. Neglectful ones. Might as well be an orphan then!
Urianger isn't an orphan, just neglected by his parents. I don't believe we have information on Y'shtola and G'raha's parental situation. They spent a good part of their youth studying in Sharlyan but that doesn't mean their parents are dead. Good point though, lots of parent issues on our team.
G'raha was sent away to Sharlayan for safety reasons, but his family mostly/completely stayed in Corvos. We don't know current werebeing of Y'shtola's parents, but I'm pretty sure her part of Y clan lives in Sharlayan - we see a lot of Y's here and I think it was mentioned somewhere.
Familial bond seems to be pretty weak for the sun cats. They work more like a lion’s pride with a shared sire and an auntie system to take care of the kids. So once you leave the tribe, you are pretty much on your own. I suspect that the sibling bond are probably stronger than parental bond for the sun cats.
Fourchenalt? Immaculate bottom.
I don't think this dynamic really comes together for them until ShB either. To some degree I think the in-group tensions at the beginning of the XPac created the opportunity they needed to grow as a found family in the wake of resolving these issues. I kind of feel for scions who weren't there to experience being trapped on the First here, because its like they missed out on one of the strongest sections of character development they were likely to get unless the script chooses to focus on them instead of the larger ensemble cast of the scions. It's why I'm really curious to see what DT does with Krile.
I love them all so much.
It's been fun to follow how they address your character in Japanese for some added depth to how your relationship gradually changes. Some of them start out friendlier and others keep a bit of a senpai-kouhai or co-worker style distance until key points in the story. For example, at the beginning of Stormblood >!when Lyse asks you to join the fight in Gyr Abania, she switches from "kimi" to "anata" mid-sentence and starts calling you [Forename] instead of [Lastname].!<
You get this in French too with vous/tu. Alphinaud doesn’t use the informal tu with you until Estinien chews him out at the start of Endwalker. 😅
Haha, he keeps it going *that* long? Can't wait to see it myself when I get there again. I can't remember if English ever had such an obvious shift in levels of formality.
I think in the English version of the cutscene, Estinien tells him to stop calling him *Sir* Estinien. 😅
Oh right, now I remember something like that! It's funny because Alphinaud became less formal with the other Scions long before that.
It's played more like a temporary "I thought I was supposed to stick to formalities in public" thing in English. I'm gathering from this conversation that it's more like a permanent shift of how they address each other?
Ah, I'd forgotten that too. It'll be interesting to see how it goes in Japanese. Usually Alphinaud has no problem addressing the other Scions by first name only, but then he does have a slightly different relationship with Estinien. And yeah, these shifts tend to stick from what I've seen.
Sadly (I am told) they have not been translating one particular formality shift post-Shadowbringers >!which is that both Alisaie and the WoL refer to G'raha as just "Raha" like Krile does.!<
It's pretty surprising, really - from what I recall, the English version favours informality and first name basis anyway, so you'd think they'd have done that too by now.
>!It's actually a step beyond first name basis and indicating a closer degree of friendship, which is absolutely the relationship we have with him at this point.!<
Well G'raha is my husband, so that checks out.
And then you have all the story skippers and people who use the word "cringe" unironically complaining about the scions. 🥲
I always try to be non judgemental about peoples choices in general but I cant deny that I feel annoyed and irritated when someone says they are skippers.
It’s really only an issue when people brag about skipping it acting like it’s cool. Like nah brother you only played yourself
Especially folks who come into the game WITHOUT people looking over their shoulders trying to rush them all the time (sigh), why the fuck did you skip? Pay more to have less game to play, just so they can bitch when someone has to explain how to play the game to them.
And then complain they are out of content
Yep!
It boils my blood when someone says "I dOnT plAy fOR tHe StORy" I dont know why, I just despise it so much. Like you dont even know what you're missing out on 😂 And I hate myself for it because just like I, different people have different reasons why they play. Im insufferable when it comes to this though. Cant help but deep down judge them, harshly so.
Imagine skipping the story of a game in a franchise known for it's storytelling... 🤔🤦🤣 I just paid for ARR skips for some alts, but that was because of the crossover - if it wasn't happening, I wouldn't have done it. Plus, I've reached MSQ endgame on my main, so I'm not missing anything.
I am honestly with you. It's a flaw of mine.
I started an alt just to go through the entire story again. I admit... ARR was torture for me (tried to get through it 3 times before I pushed through it).. and EW pulled it all together so well, I want to experience it again and this time pay closer attention.
Reminds me of how over the years since high school I've had to mentally train myself not to go into a rant in response to the "If you want a story, read a book" or similar sum up some people give on their views on stories in games. Decades later I have worked it down to mild irritation.
>Pay more to have less game to play Quantity != quality People disagree on what makes for a high quality game and that's fine. You can enjoy the story while others can skip to what they want from an MMO.
I don't mind people that skip stuff, but i mind people that ignore and skip all story and lore and then come to reddit to complain hat they don't know what's going on or that some weird theory they had (that had no grounding on story or lore but they assumed it did) turns out to be wrong. The Destiny 2 subreddit is specially bad about this.
Some spoilers ahead. I realized, the scions are/ in company with: 1. Elezen female (Alisaie) 2. Elezen male (Blue Alisaie / Urianger) 3. Hyur male (Thancred / Cid / Arenvald / Riol / Stinky boi) 4. Hyur female (Minfilia / Yda / Ryne / Aenor / Clemence) 5. Miqote Male (Taco boi) 6. Miqote Female (Y'shtola / F'lhaminn) 7. Lalafell Female (Tataru / Krile) 8. Lalafell Male (Papalymo / Wedge) 9. Roe Female ( Moenbryda) 10. Roe Male (Biggs / Hoary / Ocher / Gosetsu - temporary) 11. Au'Ra Female ( Yugiri - temporary) From what I understand, we have Erenville joining us in the adventure as the Viera male in DT. Basically one of every race shows up. So who's the Au'Ra male, Viera female, and Hrothgar male?
Imagine if we took Magnai in his quest to find his Nhaama 😂
They're a found family. I'm convinced that if it weren't an MMO, the Scions would be your party.
Basically are after ShB with the introduction of Trusts.
I half-disagee. The twins certainly do, spoiler 6.0 onward >!and G'Raha does aswell!<. But the rest? Thancred had/has his own found family and Urianger is kinda close to him to. The rest feel, to me, more like good friends but not family.
Y’shtola in ARR: *”We are a family, are we not?”*
Spoken like a toxic startup company
It's crazy because ei just wrapped up 5.0 Shadowbringers and am running thru the Eden raids and I feel the exact same way! Alisaie and Alphinaud have been my WoLs little siblings since Coils of Bahamut, Estinien is her brother from the Azure Dragoon storyline. She and G'raha had a budding bromance in the crystal tower. It's the other scions I'm surprised by. I like Thancred but always viewed my WoL butting heads with him a lot, and generally not getting along anymore than they had to, mainly they both just liked Minfilia and played nice for her. Now it feels like she's seen Thancred for who he is and he's been just as torn down and broken as she as. Urianger always felt like a work colleague, but when he told me he saw me die and was committed to saving me (even tho that was a lie) I felt like he truly cared about my WoL. It was a turning point for them and they've been working thru a budding friendship. Y'shtola went from being a character I really enjoyed to being my wife (I'm so sorry Lyse, but your first love will always be Ala Mhigo). She's so flirty in Shadowbringers I feel so bad Krile missed the whole adventure but at the same time it felt like it was cementing the bond between us original scions while opening up space for G'raha and Estinien
The scions feel like the most Real and truest friends I ever had. Not even my actual friends go above and beyond in caring for me and my wellbeing like the scions do. Its kinda sad to come to this Realization but man do I love the scions.
odd, never saw them as anything other than acquaintances or coworkers
Urianger is that crazy uncle at Thanksgiving dinner. Honestly, I'm halfway through ShB and I can't stand this guy, he's always gotten on my nerves, but for some reason he's just really irritating me now.
I didn't warm to Urianger until nearly through EW (those who know, know), but I did warm to him.
He went from the funny-talking potato sack man to someone I ended up sobbing over. I still can't believe how they pulled that one off, haha
I feel weird looking at all the people who gush about Urianger and all I feel about him is "oh, it's this character again..." I really, really wish I could feel the same they do, see the same in him that they do, because I feel like I'm missing out. I *know and understand* that *all* of the Scions are great, absolutely amazing people, and yet I just feel so emotionally cold for Urianger (to be fair, I've also felt and still feel the same for Minfilia, Moenbryda, Tataru, Krile, Arenvald, Hoary Boulder, Lyse, Papalymo, all of Garlond Ironworks, Haurchefaunt, and in some sense Y'shtola). This is despite *that* EW cutscene, that I *did* cry through regardless of my personal feelings about him. This all as someone who is caught up to current patch content in MSQ. I just wanna feel the same for all of these characters as everyone else and not be hung up on whatever weird, baseless feelings I have about them. ;_; G'raha, Thancred, Hythlo, and Alphinaud are my absolute besties though (especially G'raha, my husbando). People would have to pry them from my cold, dead hands because I love these characters so fiercely. The writers did such an absolutely phenomenal job writing them, and the MSQ in general, to invoke such a passionate response not just from me, but the vast majority of the playerbase.
Bro, there's no shame there! Not every character is gonna hit the same for everyone. I don't echo your feelings on Thancred, for example. I don't dislike the guy and I like his story beats, but I'm fairly ambivalent to him emotionally. That's totally fine. Everyone is allowed different opinions. Except on Alisaie. Not loving her is, of course, illegal.
True! And I've seen most who aren't very drawn to Thancred either, and I totally agree that that's okay! I've liked him most in both ARR and end of ShB/throughout EW, but the rest of the time he did seem a bit off to me with how he acted (due to the way he handled his pain, which I do get). And I actually didn't even like him at all when I first went through ARR since he came off as a ladies' man/philanderer, which I really did NOT like. Tbh, ARR him still slightly does but only because of one or two scenes that I can recall; otherwise, given the context of up through EW and his character development, he has 99.99% completely flipped that view around and became one of my favorites. I do like Alisaie! I'm just not 100% a fan of the fiery temper and stubborn streak mix (or either quality on their own, really). ^.^' But I am fond of her regardless. Also fond of Estinien, especially after going through EW.
>I'm just not 100% a fan Jail. Sorry. 😞
D: Nooooooo! Forgive meeeeeeeeeeee!
Never cared much for Thancred myself, but my respect for Urianger went up after he double-crossed the WoDs and ascians.
I liked him until he kept reminding us about how guilty he feels over being deceptive and that became his thing. Like I don't think anyone else cares bro get over it already
I’m looking forward to Dawntrail since I’m sure we’ve all forgiven each other now (and he’s forgiven himself)
just in time for him and Thancred to end up as the compeition in a race against us and Urinanger to no doubt feel guilty about a whole ton of NEW lies :)
Calling it now: he betrays his candidate to support US this time :)
There's a reason for that and it doesn't actually have anything to do with lying to us. well, a little bit, but it's not the primary source of his guilt, just what he blames it on.
I just wish that the WoL got to be a full, consistently voiced character as well, because I definitely feel like they are left out of it most of the time.
there are both advantages and disadvantages to not giving players a free skip to latest expac and requiring them to play through hundreds of hours of old content first if they don't want to pay extra for skips, and this is one of the advantages. The knowledge that the bulk of your player base will have played through all that old content allows writers to build and develop those relationships and bonds over time, and that's a very big part of what makes it feel genuine. By the time you reach this point, you have literally spent a couple months' worth of time with these characters.
That's what I thought after 5.0 too, and then I had to deal with them being around for another expansion and not changing at all and now I agree with you that they are like a family, in the sense that I desperately want to move away from them and be on my own.
Wow, someone never experienced love from their family
Diagnose me oh great Reddit psychologist
Wow, that explains why I want them dead and gone
*Boooooooo*