I’m making this a series, let me know if there’s a character you want me to break down.
come check out the stream at twitch.tv/giblesdestruct
Why Alphinaud has main character syndrome – https://youtu.be/NOPajMVw5V4
source
I’m making this a series, let me know if there’s a character you want me to break down.
come check out the stream at twitch.tv/giblesdestruct
Why Alphinaud has main character syndrome – https://youtu.be/NOPajMVw5V4
source
first
We are currently live on twitch.tv/giblesdestruct
literally everyone is the main character but you
And here I am hoping people stop calling me WoL. I wish there was option if you wanted everyone and everything dance around you or to have a bit more modest role of being kind of side character. I personally imagine myself a mercenary. Sure is hard during heavy moments, but then it's more dramatic that the fate of everything fall into hands of ordinary soldier of fortune, which try to live through another hell and may be save the world of catgirls along the way.
I remember playing halo3: odst. They really nailed that little man in big story.
About the WOL thing… IMO is hard to be at that title height in my opinion.
I came for another games with "Yo-yo" characters (and awful and ludopatic… Yes! Gachas! Genshin! Ugh!!!) and here in the FF XIV, everyone was so kind at the beginning. I didn't feel worthy to the WOL title, so I made an obsesion in mastering and leveling every single job into the game, merely for that reason! "A worthy WOL needs to be a master in every War and Magic art", my mind keep telling me that today (mostly of my jobs are 80 already… Almost finish that little trauma!)
Where I found love in Lyse's character was how everyone around her forced her to reevaluate herself
Hien is destined to lead and had to find his own path, she spent time with him in the prison on the steppe to better understand who she wants to become
Fordola is who she can't let herself become, ironic given we know now that she's the child Yda died to save
M'naago doesn't think she has it in her to lead, but Conrad died with that as his wish so she's honoring said wish
Zenos is a chance for her to prove that Ala Mhigo can rise from the war and show they're better than just being warmongers itching for a chance to kill him
Really enjoyed this video and break down on Lyse's character arc! I think she receives a lot of unearned hate from the community and I always enjoy seeing people talking about her in a less hateful way.
Speak of Lyse, actually I didn't like her character development in SB at all.
When compare to Alphinaud's growth from ARR – HW. Lyse… she still muscle-brain until the end. Especially when she reject Foldora's reason and still call her traitor.
Great video analysis! I think for me, one of the highlights for Lyse's character that I really enjoyed was when she was in that cage with Hein just there and taking in the things he said. I really love the quiet moments in each expansion tbh. Same with the campfire scene in Heavansward.
My only real issue with her (based purely on lingering impression and vague memory) is she doesn't accomplish, or meaningfully contribute towards anything.
She doesn't participate in any of the plan-making meetings, nor she isn't a significant fighter in that she doesn't win any notable fights.
The only notable action I recall her taking at all, was knocking out the Namazu in Kugane and carrying it back to The Ruby Bazaar.
Yet despite that, she gets metaphorically crowned queen of Gyr Abania, and heads the victory parade. It felt undeserved.
If her contribution is being a figurehead for her people, I guess that's great, but it's not a role I hold in high regard.
I still stand by the fact that stormblood would've been better if Lyse pulls off her mask to reveal herself as a second Hien and we would've had two good characters.
As opposed to Hien and a character that always makes me say "shut up already" whenever she talks.
IMO, issues with Lyse are not really about her character. It is more that, when you have a look at the whole plot, her story and her place in it does not make sense.
1. We know her father and sister were resistant leaders and that she had to flee Ala Mhigo when she was very young. We have very little information about her ties to the resistance until the start of the expansion. The fact that she has to introduce herself as the daughter of a resistant / a scion kind of tells you that she was not involved with the resistance that much before. She remade her life in Eorzea. Why is she even there? To get revenge for her family? To finish what they started? To free Ala Mhigo?
2. There are at least 3 other characters in the game who could fit the returning resistant poster child rôle and would be more legitimate than her: Raubahn, Widargelt and X'rhun. All of them were involved when Garlemald attacked and fled to Eorzea. All of them actually get a story arc in the expansion and all decent explanation as to why they get involved again or not. And that is without taking into account that there was no reason to kill Ida and replace her with Lyse in the first place.
3. The beginning of the expansion does make it clear that recruiting for the resistance is hard due to years of Garlemald ruling. 2 levels into the expansion, the resistance get wiped and the poster child of the resistance goes to Doma (for reasons I still don't understand). Evezn if Conrad passed her the torch, why would anyone accept her as leader after this? At best, it looks like she is running after Zenos for revenge and does not really care about the resistance. At worst, it just looks like she fled when the resistance was at its lowest. Yet, they don't even have a disgruntled resistance member mention it.
Overall, I think she actually becomes a better character after the expansion, but you barely see her anymore.
Were witnessing the birth of a leader in real time. where as other leaders were written into the story far ahead of where we begin on our journey. Lyse and Hien had to climb their way to the top and im very much glad we got to see that. if we hadnt gotten the development that we did then i dont think we would be treating either of them as equally fundamental forces to their respective nations compared to the other leaders. realisticly i dont think we can ever see our character in the canon as the main character. as an mmo were constantly getting new characters new locales and new plot threads at a slow but steady pace. its the world that is the main character and our character is the observer that gets to watch its story unfold. MMOs can never adhere to a traditional narrative structure of Main Character Beginning Middle and End. its part of the reason i find them so fascinating from a writing pov
I don’t think Lyse should have been left to be leader of her people and it really felt like just an excuse to get rid of her so Estinien could join the Scions in the future. She had no remaining family members and Raubahn had more experience as a leader than she did. Whatever obligation she had to her people was fulfilled the moment they were liberated. We could have probably gotten more out of her if she had been able to journey with the others to Novrandt or show up in EW to do more than help save the Garleans, but we didn’t. Instead, Lyse and Ala Mhigo both remain so far removed from everything else going on in the world that they may as well no longer exist. Hien staying behind to help Doma made sense because he was their leader by birthright. Lyse, aside from her outfit, exits the stage remaining indistinguishable from other resistance members like M’naago.
While I do appreciate you doing these, I do have to disagree on Lyse being a good character. Her arch in my opinion is sub-par at best. From our perspective she does very little. I do see where you are coming from with foils and such, it makes total sense. However I disagree Fordola gave up on everything, her character a lot of the time was imo doing the best she could with what she had, her own people treated her like garbage, so when she had to stand for a cause she stood for whatever gave her and her friends the best chance, where as Lyse rode off to coat tails of those better then her. Our combat power as teh WoL, hell even Raubahn was making all the top stragey decisions, yet the game gave the credit to her. I don't really think it's Lyse character development that people have issues with, more her always being placed to steal glory from those who did the work. From us fighting on the front, Raubahn leading and calling the shots for the liberation, even to her landing a blow on Elidibus at teh gyhmlt after Hien went 1 on 1 with the dude to buy us time to show up. I may be wrong and am willing to admit that her character arch is very downplayed and overshadowed by the dislike for her. I do also believe they should have given her, her own more significant achievements and not let her ride and take credit for everyone else's more capable nature around her. Great video though thank you for it <3
Gonna be honest. Stormblood bored me when Yugiri and the Far East weren't mentioned or on screen.
as someone who played 1.0, not that they gave her a ton of personal development, but I definitely feel like I have a long history with Yda. The switcheroo when she becomes the sister I actually found that kind of intriguing and her over arcing story was really engaging to me. It just sort of brought it full circle and her decision to leave the science. I thought was actually kind of a perfect end to her arc. She definitely reminds me of some of my siblings who are just crazy hot heads, so maybe that’s why I personally related to her more than some!
Honestly, I still wonder if Lyse would've been more impactful and sympathetic if FF14 didn't do the switcheroo and kept her as Yda. I never played 1.0 so I don't know her original character but for me Lyse just feels…like us. Too much like us. If anything, in A Realm Reborn she felt like a parallel to us, the WoL. She was a blank slate. Nothing special. The 'ditz' that others had to explain things to, as an excuse to explain them to the player without seeming like the protagonist was an idiot who wasn't worldly- because that's what we should be: worldly. We don't know what happened to us before the 2.0 intro, but we were an adventurer. lvl 1, but still. Then post Heavensward she started getting a bit more personality, more investment but when Lyse happened it just felt like she was a brand new character again and ARR was kinda wiped clean on an already blank character.
It didn't feel like Lyse had a connection to anything really. She was a young child when they fled Ala Mhigo, limited memories of her family, her homeland, etc. Whereas Yda fought in the resistance, Yda was involved, Yda became a Scion… she had the tattoos of an archon and we don't know how she got them. Then after she died, Papalymo gave those to Lyse as part of the disguise, which would've been an interesting avenue to explore in Endwalker if Lyse was able to come to Sharlayan, even though she would've been just as useless. I would've totally believed that Yda, fleeing the war, initially joined the Scions to kinda be a spy/plant in order to steer the Alliance into retaking Ala Mhigo, as a foil to Ilberd, and kept Lyse as the young sister she was training so when Yda became the Resistance leader, Lyse would stay with the Scions and fill Yda's role with big boots to fill.
Just my take. Keep in mind I just started Endwalker myself so it is possible I missed some lore somewhere and Lyse's story isn't finished but that's what I'm feeling going forward