#rasler

[reksigh]

there'll be happiness after you

[terendelev]

Vayne Carudas Solidor + textposts for @necroticpetals

[miphasinori]

[aberooski]

Not me seriously sitting around for at least an hour today trying to cast the GX characters as the cast of Final Fantasy XII 😂😭

[tarnishedxknight]

"Because I love you!"

Basch hadn't been ordered to lend support to Nabradia, he'd volunteered. King Raminas would have been just as happy to have his knight captain remain close at hand inside the capital, for there were plenty of other knights and generals who could lead a Dalmascan battalion in solidarity with their sister nation. But Basch was not one to sit idle while people were dying.

The architects of Archadian warfare cared nothing for civilian casualties or destruction of infrastructure. Their particular brand of war, he knew firsthand as one of Landisian blood, was brutal and cruel. In his mind, if he was present, then that was one less soul who might have died or been gravely injured in his place. One less soul who might have been traumatized or haunted by what he saw on the battlefield. It was why Basch became a career soldier in the first place... to fight so that others would not have to.

He knew the risks, and he knew the horrors of what Archadia had waiting in the wings. It was entirely possible they would choose to use nethicite again, as Raminas feared, as the Nabradian king feared, and even as the Elves feared. Still, he asked to be given leave to go to the front, to fight as much to defend Nabradia as Dalmasca, for if Nabradia fell, Dalmasca would be next. He just could not sit idle. His conscience would not allow it.

Faegalad had seemed... troubled with the news that Basch would be leaving to head straight into the fire. As the battalion prepared to leave, loading an airship with supplies, Basch told himself that it was the implications of it all that made her so nervous. It was the idea that the war was progressing, escalating, and the threat of nethicite doing harm to lands all over the world that upset her, surely. But as he questioned her as to why she seemed to not want him specifically to go while he headed towards the ship that would take him away... her answer was one he was not prepared for.

Basch looked back at Faegalad when she'd said it, showing her a soft smile. How could he not smile when someone he'd come to care so much for had spoken those words to him. And yet, the smile faded almost as soon as it was formed, for he knew he could not let her confession be a reason why he stayed.

"Then, if I leave my heart here with you and in your tender care, will you keep it safe for me, my lady?" he said warmly. "For I love you as well, dear Fae." And yet... "But I cannot remain here, safe and with your smile to light my days as brightly as would make jealous the sun... while our Nabradian brothers are dying."

He wished he could stay here in Rabanastre, with Fae and with all else he held dear, but the consequences of his misguided youth had all but beaten the selfishness right out of him long ago. "We do not embark until dawn," he said. "We've the rest of this day..." he then whispered.

So short a time for so new a love.

[thorinoakenbutt]

Am I actively workshopping my Dreadwolf protagonist because of the leak? Perhaps

[carcharsaur]

ffxiv bwagi is so funny compared to ff12 bwagi because in 12 he’s literally a scooby doo villain that chases you with a chainsaw because of how much he hates balthier as a rival sky pirate and then just vanishes until like 10+ hours later where he uses a bait-and-switch hunt mark to try and kill you again like mustache twirling level shit. and then in 14 he’s just a cool guy who loved the princess. what da hell happened

WAIT it wasn’t even bwagi it was ba’gamnan. well he was still there.

[autopotion]

Ppl always talk about how Penelo, Vaan, and Fran get very little content compared to the other three, but tbh Basch hasn't had anything to do for like. Hours. I think he had a couple lines in Jahara and that was it (I'm at the Stilshrine of Miriam).

Fran's content is slight but like, I think it actually has a leg up on the others for being complete; the Eruyt arc is short, but it is an entire arc, with interesting supporting characters, key character moments, and ties to the overarching plot that don't get in the way of the arc (the nethicite, the brief appearance of Venat). Balthier got stuff that didn't get in the way of Fran's stuff, and was the perfect supporting character for her. Vaan even had some good moments where he feels like the guy he was in the first five hours again. Like it's actually extremely solid as far as the story arcs in this game go, and a rare moment where I felt like every writer was on the same page, in this case about what kind of character Fran is.

I don't feel that way about the rest of the cast (barring Balthier who is so obviously the team favorite). Vaan is WILDLY inconsistent as a protagonist; he got over his hatred of Basch like an hour after he met the guy, and it's clear the dev team had conflicting ideas about what to do with him after that, so he slingshots between "hothead kid who is earnest but impulsive" and "the wise commoner kid who reflects sagely on his own shortcomings in earshot of the impulsive vengeance-questing princess so she can one day learn those lessons too." Like I'm not saying he can't be both--ideally he should be both!--but the writing absolutely does not straddle that line at all, but faceplants in one direction depending on what they want from the scene. It's such a shame because I actually really like Vaan and think there are a number of interesting ideas in his concept, but I don't think those ideas stick the landing. The most damning thing about him is he doesn't feel like the protagonist of the game. He doesn't even feel like a deuteragonist in an ensemble cast, he feels like the kid sidekick (like Laphicet). I just don't think that's any way to treat your leading man, and it leads to a lot of writing confusion, and fan confusion, about what the character arcs even are.

And I also don't feel like Ashe herself escaped the inconsistent writing! I think in some ways her plot is very clear, but in most of the scenes she's in, she's hardly interfacing with the party like... at all. I hate to say it, but she often has more dynamic relationships with the guests, most strikingly Vossler and Larsa, than she does with party members who aren't Basch (and later Balthier). She does talk to Vaan, like they're clearly trying to do the "commoner foil to the princess" thing with them, but... again, I feel like those Vaan scenes are written inconsistently, so it just kinda comes off as Vaan spouting off unearned platitudes while Ashe is like "oh I see! [continues to pursue vengeance for the next fifty hours until the last Vaan Speech finally sticks]"

Idk. I feel like a much more interesting arc for Vaan & Ashe is like... okay, so Ashe is the Occuria's candidate, right? But it's implied they're also grooming Vaan as an alternate if Ashe doesn't work out. While Ashe sees Rasler, Vaan sees Reks. But while Ashe still feels so much fury about Rasler, Vaan stops expressing anger about Reks after he's resolved his shit with Basch in the first five hours of the game... so he seems like a pretty weak candidate for the Occuria to pin their hopes on. I feel like an interesting pitch would be for Vaan and Ashe to actually be in lockstep for like, most of the game (which is what the Occuria's illusions seem to suggest anyway). Vaan learns Basch didn't kill his brother. Cool. Someone still did though, which means someone's still to blame, which means he can't let go of his anger yet. Easy enough to make Gabranth his new target. And then, in the later hours of the game, after their big adventure, Vaan is waffling more, thinking about what Ashe's vengeance would mean for his home, and the other common people of Dalmasca, and firmly plants his feet on the side of No Vengeance, Not Like This, just in time for the climax at the Pharos. In many ways I feel like the pieces of that plot are already there, and may or may not be what the dev team thought they were writing! But, as it is, it just kinda falls flat. Tbh I think that's because the writers had inconsistent visions about what Vaan's internal world is like.

As for the others... I mean, Penelo got all her shit cut, which is beyond sad. But Basch also gets his rough edges smoothed out after Vaan stops hating him--I mean, I think he gets some good stuff with Vossler and his own brother, but he's curiously absent from a lot of Ashe's conversations about power-seeking, mostly just kinda watching her from afar with either stone-faced concern or a bland smile. Though many fans point to Basch's existence as like "see! this one's not like the other Final Fantasies, it's got this grizzled old guy in it who's closer to the main plot of the game than the protagonist is!" (and also bcuz they're still on that Basch Was Always Supposed To Be The Protagonist theory that got debunked), Basch doesn't actually get all that much content, let alone enough to carry him as the protag.

Idk. This is the same criticism of FFXII that people have made many, many times, but it really is just a wildly inconsistently written game. The first several hours are extremely strong, and then not only is the story doled out in increasingly smaller portions with less frequency, but the writing loses track of what most of the characters actually want. No wonder fans attach themselves to Balthier, he's easily the most consistently written character in the game. Every other character either suffers from inconsistencies (Vaan, Ashe), or is consistent, but runs out of material (Fran, Basch), or has basically been written out of the story (Penelo).

DGMW I still love FFXII though. Definitely a GOAT for me. It just clearly and obviously suffered from the abrupt change in the development team and Matsuno's fraught departure.

[starcchild]

@tarnishedxknight (Basch) sent: "No harm shall come to you, Carter. I swear it." It had been spoken like a solemn vow. "I failed to protect her husband. I will not fail to protect you." It was a guilt he carried around with him like a heavy weight on a chain, the sight of Ashelia kneeling by the side of Rasler's coffin forever etched onto his mind. He couldn't bear to watch her heart break again, and he genuinely cared for Carter's safety. (~for any verse you like where Carter is dating Ashelia!)

His words took her off guard. It was what he said. The way he spoke them like a vow. Her brow furrowed, and she looked... almost confused. "Basch, you- you don't--" she began, but stopped as he continued, and--

Oh. Oh.

Carter's heart sank as it clicked in her mind why Basch had made such a promise. Ashelia had told her about Rasler, and what had happened to him. Her confusion changed to a sympathetic understanding, and she tilted her head slightly. A brief, sad smile flickering across her lips. "I- I have no doubt abou-about that," she said softly, "but I'm- I'm okay. I- I know how to- to play it safe, and I'm- I'm not the one go-going on missions. The- the worst I- I gotta deal with are- are rude custo-tomers."

She was joking. Somewhat, anyway. But he couldn't help with that and she knew how to keep herself out of trouble. If it was something her father would do, then... she just needed to think twice about doing it, was all. She kept herself under the radar - kept her nose clean. She knew she wasn't completely safe - the past had proved to her as much - but... she was safer than the others, all things considered. Still...

With a soft sigh, she hesitated for a moment, before she shook her head. "I- I want you to- to look af-after yourself too, y'know. You're- you're a good- good friend, Basch, and I- I don't want to- to lose you. And I- I know Ashe does-doesn't, either." Carter offered another small smile - her gaze a little warmer. Less worried. Less sad. "Your- your promise means a- a lot, Basch, but I'll- I'll be alright."

[reksigh]

but i swear you were there

[terendelev]

to think of it... it is weird how they decided to transform Basch and Noah to ffxiv not as twins but as father and son (they are also deranged now)

[meowww-ffxiv]

Too easy to play the "everyone Maedwyn knew in Dalmasca is dead".

Plenty of people he knew were still alive. Many he taught survived and participated in the Resistance, though just as many died. Most remarkably, he used to recommend recruits to the Saraab, the covert royal guard, and their leaders often sent their trainees to Maedwyn so he could help them gain softer skills like diplomacy and...uh, some less savory stuff. Not that he knew they were Saraab agents in training, lol. He just thought this whole time he was training run-of-the-mill royal spies and informants.

Those who lived to join Lente's Tears, the resistance group led by Fran. They recognized Maedwyn, and though some had mixed feelings about him -- last they heard, he had been an indentured conscript, after all, and there were rumors that Maedwyn caused the death of Prince Rasler -- the rest were bloody glad he was alive. And he they.

One of them was just straight up like "Don't you want to die at home? You're getting on in years, and you went through a lot..."

Maedwyn: 💀💀💀 Sweetheart. I'm--

Maedwyn: *realizes he's on like, year 240+ out of a 300 lifespan and had indeed been tiring far quicker lately*

Maedwyn: --too angry to die. Lol.

Fran wouldn't break the whole news to Maedwyn about just how ass deep he was in Saraab operations because why would she. But he was. And it was usually his willingness to not dig deeper than he was allowed that made Maedwyn valuable to her.

Not just as an asset, though he treated himself as such and begrudged her nothing, but as an ally. Maedwyn always worried more about protecting the operatives rather than satisfying his own curiosity, for all that he said he was nosy. He met Fran only once during their long years serving the country, and had trusted her implicitly since.

That he was captured at all by Garleans even before the fall of Dalmasca was also partly her fault. She figured he was going to be fine, and left him to his own devices rather than sending anyone to protect him. And then she was wrong, and Maedwyn was sentenced to the conscript's fate, all the information he was privy to being used to hamper resistance efforts.

"You could have sent someone to kill me, you know," Maedwyn said. "It would have been a mercy."

"It would have," Fran agreed. And left it at that.

Maedwyn: [yikes.jpg]

[andromeda3116]

I'm yelling and shouting over your post about FFXII. Ashe's single mindedness, and how her revenge was meant to be used by powers beyond her, has always stuck with me. And she realized it and relented!

Not gonna get into Vaan at this time of night on a Sunday, but I did like their scenes together, where she's allowed to be a bit righteous, very angry, and this little kid looks at her like, "okay, but what if no?".

like, i adore how it's handled -- your rage is entirely justified, but it makes you easy to manipulate. because it does! the occuria absolutely play to her righteous fury and try to mold her into their puppet! but they handle it without ever suggesting that ashe is wrong to be angry. it's just that she has to let it go for the sake of her people and her future.

it's very similar to scar's arc in fma:b -- you cannot forgive, but you must learn to abide. to move on.

i liked how they played vaan with and against ashe because vaan realizes much earlier that his anger has left him adrift, and if he wants to have a future, he has to let it go and move on. but the moment at the pharos when gabranth says that the dead demand justice, and he and ashe look at each other and they both breathe out, as they both realize what vaan says a few moments later: what would it change? no amount of vengeance will bring the dead back to life. there is no amount of violence they could bring to the empire that would un-kill their loved ones. it would just be more blood on an already blood-soaked battlefield.

that scene at the pharos is one of my favorite video game cutscenes of all time, when ashe cuts through "rasler's" ghost, i am no false saint for you to use!, how she talks about the dalmasca she wanted back, and sighs as she drops the sword, letting it settle on her shoulders. it's both a triumph and a surrender, as she realizes that she has to let this chance for ultimate power go, that the price tag -- of being the puppet of the occuria, to her people's detriment -- would be too high.

ffxii has some flaws -- i feel like the story lost its focus around the draklor laboratory and never quite regained it, i feel like penelo and fran were under-utilized, and i have strong feelings about how bahamut should have been an esper rather than an airship -- but it has such a great, meaty plot and fantastic characters, amazing gameplay and sidequests, and frankly i could forgive every flaw of the story for the sake of ashe's character arc alone. i cannot stress enough how phenomenally rare it is to have a female character allowed to have such burning fury within her, without judgment or condescension. she is such an amazing character, i adore her.

[tarnishedxknight]

14. What was the most traumatic moment in your muse’s life?

(for everyone!)

Angsty Character Questions

{out of dalmasca} Oooh, this is a good one too! Below the cut for length. =)

14. What was the most traumatic moment in your muse’s life?

{ For these, I'm going to go with their main verse (albeit the dark ones, of course) rather than any MCU verses, only because I feel like simply being taken out of their entire world would hit #1 on the trauma list for most of them. So I'm only counting events from their dark main verses (main canon timelines and world, but with the Dark!Ivalice events thrown in, which basically is just... if the world/game was more realistic to a medieval world, like Game of Thrones or something... pulling no punches), and not anything from after they're yeeted to modern times. }

Basch: Raminas' assassination and Noah's reveal.

Reaching his king to find him dead and Noah standing there looking exactly like him, right down to hair and armor, was extremely traumatic. And Noah had killed some very young soldiers in addition to the king (Reks, etc.) to further make Basch look bad. With his deception complete and having no more need to be "identical" to Basch, Noah slashed Basch's face with his sword to scar him in a very noticeable way so that 1) Basch could never reciprocate and use Noah's appearance against him in the future, and 2) they would never be identical again. There's... a lot to unpack here for Basch and it all hit him within the span of a few minutes.

He realized he'd failed his king, his guardsmen, and Dalmasca. He sees his twin brother again after twenty years of estrangement, but it's like this. His brother has done these totally callous and cruel things, but instead of being shocked at what Noah had become, Basch instantly blamed himself like, well this is what my betrayal has wrought in him. Then to have his face painfully wounded and in a way that affects his identity forever, combined with being arrested for murdering his king, a man he loved and was loyal to, and instantly losing all titles and standing within the kingdom because of it... All of this just hit Basch like a baseball bat to the skull.

He'd come back from the fall of his homeland, the terrible mistake of abandoning his brother and mother, and complete poverty at having struck out on his own at sixteen... to become a respected and beloved Knight of Dalmasca. Basch isn't one for pride, but he was happy with his life, he loved his king, he cared for his soldiers, everything was fitting and working for him and... in an instant, he lost it all, lost his king, saw the effects of his betrayal on Noah... it just all came crashing down. It was the symbolic end of his life as he knew it.

Ashelia: Oh gosh, I... Wow, it's really hard to choose for her, she's had so many very traumatic events happen to her. Potential candidates include: Vossler's assault, Rasler's death, her father's assassination, Basch's conviction and death sentence. All of those were incredibly traumatic for her for various reasons, but... if I have to pick the one I think traumatized her the most, I'm going to say... seeing Rasler lying in his coffin.

Rasler was only eighteen in canon when he was killed, and Ashelia was seventeen at the time. Just seeing someone her own age, admittedly a very young age, lying in a coffin was very traumatic. People aren't supposed to die that young, they're not supposed to die just days after getting married, and they aren't supposed to die after you just spoke to them not too long ago. Like, obviously that's a naive way of looking at things, but for sheltered Ashelia, this death hit her hard. Ralser was so young, and he hadn't really even begun his life yet, in her eyes. Neither had she. And that's another aspect too, the idea that... well if someone as young as he can die, then so can she. So can anyone. No one is safe. That feeling was very frightening to her.

Also, Rasler dying (when his own father and king had just been killed a short time before him too), leaves Ashelia and her father alone. She'd lost half her brothers before she was even born, and the other half she only has limited memories of before they, too, were either killed in the war or were taken by the plague. She'd already lost her mother, her father was aging, and now suddenly she is the last remaining heir of her kingdom, the neighboring kingdom's royal family has been wiped out, and what does this mean for her future? She was wrestling with the idea of being a powerless figurehead sitting in the palace in Nabudis while Rasler became king someday... and now suddenly she realized she may very well be the last one standing for both kingdoms (which sadly came to pass after her father was killed). It was as if seeing Rasler lying in that coffin made her age from 17 to like 25 in seconds, it struck her that hard.

She'd also never seen any of her brothers die. Those sick with plague were kept from her to prevent spread, and those who died in battle were buried before she ever saw their bodies. Her mother she saw shortly before she died, and then not after. She was very much like... protected from that, from seeing her loved ones' bodies. Largely because she was female and therefore of "delicate fortitude." *rolls my eyes at the sexism* But Rasler was her husband so she was permitted to attend his funeral. So he was the first person she was close to whose corpse she actually saw, and it was extremely upsetting to her.

Noah: Basch betraying/abandoning him.

Although there have been other traumatic events in his life (e.g. dealing with Amoretta, her murder, Gramis' assassination, and Drace's execution), no other event has broken him quite as badly nor had such lasting effects on his life and personality as this has. Noah was always the black sheep, hated by his father and unwanted by his mother. Basch was always the perfect son, the favorite, the one to whom Noah was compared. Some of the only solace Noah found from his parents emotional abuse of him was with Basch. No matter what, his twin would always be by his side, supporting him. Because Basch promised him as much. Until... that promise was broken.

When Basch chose to leave and strike out on his own rather than go with Noah and their mother to Archadia, it shattered not only Noah's emotional dependence on Basch as well as his idea of himself. Instead of relying on Basch to lift him up emotionally because he thought of himself as a bad person, a failure, and/or an unwanted blemish on the world, he suddenly became assertive, independent, and fiercely defended and promoted himself to others regardless of what he felt in his heart. It was almost like, because this one person he thought would never betray him had done just that, he'd decided... fuck it, I need to be my own best advocate because nobody else cares and neither do I to have their care. It changed his personality forever.

The betrayal was a horrible loss of innocence for Noah. As long as he had Basch, there was something soft in him that would never die. As long as he had his twin brother with whom he shared a face if not a name, he would always have that safe place, that home that he needed, because home was indeed a person to him. Basch's betrayal... taught Noah that all people are out for themselves. Kindness, empathy, altruism, honor... they're all either lies or jokes. Deep down, everyone only wants to save themself, and he was a survivor, hell bent on spitting in the face of whatever gods were obviously trying to beat him down.

The irony is that he went on to care a great deal about people, to care about the future of an empire and the safety of its populace, to serve his emperor loyally, to fall in love with Drace, to do the best he could in guiding Larsa even if he couldn't be a true father to him. Ironically, Basch, who had begun life so loved and valued by others, had ended up very much emotionally alone, while Noah had been surrounded by a lot of love and support. And despite his insistence that he is a monster, a butcher, someone filled with nothing but cold cruelty, he has one of the softest and most vulnerable hearts a man could have. He just keeps it behind the thickest walls he can, showing it only to those who manage to reach that level of trust with him that Basch once held.

Drace: Seeing the destruction of the Republic of Landis (and later, the city of Nabudis, pictured below after its destruction) firsthand.

Drace was deployed to Landis after the use of nethicite to assess how badly the land had been damaged and the local population had been suppressed. What she saw was horrific. Bodies everywhere, people actively burned by the Mist and laying dying, trees and buildings blackened and charred, dead animals and fish everywhere, the ominous orange Mist hanging in the air, and the sense that a great immoral tragedy had occurred. She arrived with a mask that helped her to breathe, armor to protect her from Mist and people alike, and a ship to carry off willing survivors. She was met with an odd combination of hatred and apathy from those still left alive.

It was extremely heavy and uncomfortable for her emotionally speaking. Although she neither utilized the nethicite herself nor authorized the use of it, she knew that she was part of an empire that had done this, she served an emperor who had ordered this, and to these poor people, she represented the evil enemy. It made her feel terrible, honestly, and was one of the few times when she almost felt ashamed to be Archadian.

Many years later, she saw the same destruction and suffering in Nabradia's capital of Nabudis after Judge Zecht tested a piece of nethicite at Dr. Cid's behest, as ordered originally by Lord Vayne. It brought everything back to her from being in Landis years ago, and that's when she realized just how affected she had been by what she'd seen there.

Caelen: The first time he killed someone.

Caelen is a decently brave individual. His opposition to being a soldier and getting involved in the war in Ivalice wasn't borne of cowardice or a lack of any sense of duty, but rather it's because he absolutely cannot stomach taking the life of another. In fact, the first time he killed an enemy soldier on the battlefield, Caelen had a violent, visceral response, in which he felt physically ill, nauseated, and dizzy, as well as emotionally panicked and traumatized. Something about the way the sword felt different in his hand as he plunged it onto the other's body, about the way the man's eyes looked as he died, about the sounds of agony he made... it all thoroughly traumatized Caelen and made him feel like he was pure evil.

It was a feeling he never wanted to feel again, and so the next couple times he was forced to go and fight in Dalmasca's name, he tried very hard to only wound people instead of killing them. He went for the legs, the arms, he distracted them or tired them out, anything to not have to kill someone. And the third time he was deployed, Caelen was seriously injured, and was mistaken for an Archadian soldier as the wounded were collected and brought back to the empire. He used this as an opportunity to leave his former life behind and start anew. He never would've felt the need to do something that drastic had he not been so thoroughly traumatized by having to kill someone in the first place. And with his father being so unbending on the idea of all his sons becoming soldiers, Caelen knew there wouldn't be a way out unless he made his own way.

Munoh: Being cast out by their Occurian peers as a heretic.

Even though Munoh doesn't regret their decision to break from their Occurian comrades, they were traumatized by the way in which they were cast from the "family." These are ancient beings with multiple millennia of history behind them, in which they all stuck together. And yet, when Munoh voiced their concerns at the others using humans like pawns to maintain a morality and power balance that may or may not even need to be attended to by a caretaker race, they were immediately met with rage, intolerance, hatred, and rejection.

The other Occuria do not tolerate dissention or individuality. They are all one mind in this, that humes need to be guided for they cannot govern themselves properly, and that governing humes will maintain the balance. The way in which they "govern" is by choosing champions upon whom they bestow gifts of immense powers of destruction to turn the tides of whatever has caused the imbalance in the world. In Munoh's case, it was their treatment of Ashelia and their willingness to place nethicite in her angry, arrogant, and grief-stricken hands that finally caused Munoh to question things. They just didn't think it was right, and wanted to explore other options before taking this extreme route.

Instead, they were immediately labeled a "heretic," which in their culture is an extremely offensive thing to be called and a shameful and dishonorable thing to be labeled as. "Heretics" are basically... those who stray from the hive mind mentality of the Occuria. And if you're labeled as one, you are instantly and forevermore shunned by the collective. Both the speed with which they were excommunicated from their own race and the sheer venomous vitriol with which it occurred really shocked and upset Munoh. It was easily the most traumatic thing that ever happened to them. Nevertheless, they accept their fate because they believe their decision to express dissent was the right one. To this day, they refer to themself as "I" and "me" instead of the collective "we" and "us" their peers say.

[cielsosinfel]

Trying to collect screenshots of all the Rabanastre NPCs who mention Reks... I'm sure there were more than this, but the NPCs' lines all change as the plot advances, so I missed a lot probably.

There's something about how inconsequential NPC dialogue reveals how much people in Vaan's community do care about him, as annoyed as he makes so many people... That annoyance at his antics stemming from concern, because if the stubborn and overly-rash little brother gets himself imprisoned or worse because he picks the worst targets to steal from, because he lets his emotions (his grief) cloud his head, what did Reks die for in the end?

It really does help give a sense of Vaan actually existing in the city, actually being a part of it, actually being someone who lived and grew up there, not just an avatar running around because I need to stock up on gambits and turn in quests.

Also the fact Vaan has so many people who remember his brother on a personal level, who he can reminisce over him with, who he could theoretically grieve with. And then there is Ashe, who has absolutely no one who knew Rasler as an actual human being, and not just a distant figurehead, an emblem, a symbol, a near-divinity. Well, maybe no one except Basch? But then Basch was still very far from being Rasler's equal, even if he was closer to the man as an actual man than a king, and Ashe refuses to accept any form of sympathy or solidarity with him anyway.)

I wish we got even half as many tidbits about Penelo's own past and relationship to the city, but :UUUUU

[revenantxprince]

@illbringthechaosmagic sent: You agreed to this marriage and didn’t even dare to ask my opinion on the matter.

"I--" Eclipsis looked startled, but could not shake the immediate guilt that pierced through him. "My- my apologies, my Lady." Gods, could he make himself sound any more hollow? "I... I had thought neither of us had choice..."

No, he just took that away from Wanda the moment he agreed. And that thought... was sickeningly sobering.

From what little he could remember and what he had pieced together, was betrothal had never been on the table for him. There had been no princess from other kingdoms for him to be married to, which was the complete opposite for his sister. Raminas had been given the chance to pick from a variety of potential suitors before he settled with Rasler, while he could only set in place two simple rules for his sons to follow: to find a woman of high rank, and to gain his permission to wed her. He could decide, unlike Ashelia.

But... that had changed when Wanda came into the picture. Eclipsis knew his father was desperate to secure Dalmasca and her future, and upon learning of Wanda's abilities, he was not surprised when Raminas brought up the idea of a betrothal. Perhaps he had more of a say than he realized, but Eclipsis had accepted it with no visible reluctance, although he felt more useless in that moment than he had since his return to Rabanastre. After all, Wanda would be stuck with a Prince only in title - denied the chance to fight once more for his kingdom, and quietly pushed further away from the throne in favor of someone sound in both mind and body. He could not fault Rasler for his father's decision, yet... not could he fault his father, either. This arrangement was nothing more than Raminas finding use for him.

And he failed to seek Wanda's say in the matter. He had taken her autonomy without second thought, and the guilt shone clear in his eyes and face. He faltered, and lowered his head in shame. "I can still call it off, if you wish," he rasped. "It has yet to be announced to the kingdom, and even if so, I can find a reason to push my father to dissolve our arrangement without sullying your good name." Not that would change what he had done. "I am listening now, when I should have done much sooner. Whatever you wish done... I will see what I can do to right this."