ok so the big elephant in the room with Lyse is Yda

The whole turning Yda into a brand new character thing is so fucking weird

And from I understand there isn't anything like, legacy about Yda that would necessitate more or less creating a brand new character

So I'm still ??? why we needed to make Yda into Lyse

Lyse is a better name tho I'll give it that

Anyway I have like no real attachment to Yda as a character she is just such a non entity

Even if your starting city is Gridania she's just kind of. There.

Thancred (Ul'dah) and Y'shtola (Limsa Lominsa) have stronger introductions as your initial Scion contacts than Yda and Papalymo do

And she just kind of continues to be a non entity for the rest of ARR even her friendly bickering with Papalymo just kind of have no bite to it

It's hard to judge ARR stuff because it was very jank and very "we're trying to follow typical MMO conventions" story wise

but this gives us some room to work with to make the transition from Yda to Lyse easier

I'd like to make it clearer that she has Ala Mhigan heritage sooner

Since there's no way you would be able to tell from her character model (since Highlander women just didn't exist yet lmao)

Just like have her mention she's Ala Mhigan and that she works as a Scion liason to Gridania because of her unique understanding of Gridanians due to the shared albeit tense history between the two

Like yeah she left Ala Mhigo as a young child but she does feel strongly about her home country

Maybe mention that Papalymo was her mentor and now they're partners

I would also like her to be more involved in the Ala Mhigan portions of ARR MSQ

like she should be there when you're dealing with the Ala Mhigans stuck in Quarrymill with a wounded comrade

She should be there during the Little Ala Mhigo arc where you first meet Wilred

of course the reason she's not is because this is writing backwards from Stormblood

They weren't planning this way back when

But this is a what if scenario

But if it were, it would help a lot, she could help with dealing with the initial hostility of the people of Little Ala Mhigo

And sympathize with Wilred and his crew as they're in the same position as her: young people who've never got to thrive in their homeland and yearn for it

Help her spark her revolutionary feelings and also maybe try to talk some sense into stupid teenagers trying to make a Rhalgar primal

Anyway we can kind of just skip Heavensward since she is Miss Not Appearing In This Expansion

(should she do more during the Banquet? No not really she has much more pressing matters to worry about)

Anyway one big change for Stormblood I would have made is just. Do not kill Papalymo.

Like it was such an obvious cast thinning move lmao

And I think we just never really get to explore Papalymo and Lyse's relationship in the game

I get the narrative idea is that Lyse has to find her way without Papalymo to guide her but it doesn't really work when we've never seen him guide her to begin with

And I think Stormblood could have been a good opportunity for that, and it would do wonders for Papalymo as the Most Forgettable A Team Scion

Maybe Papalymo can die later on in Stormblood but having him die before it sucks

Anyway I actually mostly really like Ala Mhigo part 1 of Stormblood and I wouldn't change much of it

That is only a half true I would change a lot but none of that relates to Lyse and isn't the point of this plurk

I like that Lyse has her lofty ideals of Ala Mhigan liberations smashed

I like that she has to learn that it's easy to talk about revolution when you're not the one who's had to live under 20 years of cruelty and oppression

which came after Ala Mhigo was weakened after the mad king's tyranny

So instead we go to the part that the writers actually cared about Doma

I think a huge missed opportunity here was having Lyse and Yugiri connect with each other

Like Lyse, Yugiri is chomping at the bit to spark a rebellion and fight for freedom

But like Ala Mhigo, Doma is not ready to fight yet

like Lyse should see that Yugiri is making the same mistakes she did: trying to push too hard too fast

Asking too much of the people for the moment

Lyse should be trying to dissuade Yugiri from that stupid ass Zenos Assassination Attempt

It makes sense for Gosetsu to try, but Lyse should be there too, warning Yugiri that it isn't going to work

And that what happened to Rhalgar's Reach might happen to the House of the Fierce if she tries

I still don't like the Stupid Ass Zenos Assassination Attempt but this would make it seem a little less out of character for Yugiri and weave it more naturally into the story and make it seem less "we need another scene where the WoL gets their ass kicked, but slightly less hard this time"

And Lyse should do what she learned from Ala Ghanna: that you have to win the trust of the people first and show them that fighting back is possible, and that you have to start small

You just can't jump straight into revolution

So they help some people out, do some small rescues, some Namai villagers start standing up for themselves, etc. combine that with what we saw in the Ruby Sea and we're now ready to go find Hien

man there's like nothing for Lyse in the Steppe that's just a Hien story maybe they can bond a little more while sitting in Magnai Jail about yearning for a country they've technically never truly experienced

We liberate Doma, hooray time to try with Ala Mhigo

Anyway one thing I want see more of is I want to establish Lyse and Fordola as more direct rivals

The game tries to do it but it doesn't really succeed

Fordola still comes off more as an opponent for the WoL

But the two are natural opposites. Lyse believes in Ala Mhigan freedom and Fordola believes in Ala Mhigan submission

They should clash more openly

Fordola should confront Lyse with the fact that she's not a "real" Ala Mhigan and she doesn't understand what the "real" Ala Mhigo was like and what "real" Ala Mhigans did to Fordola and her family

And that she believes that Imperial rule is better

They have two differing visions for Ala Mhigo and are fighting over it

Also for the love of god do not make her the commander of the resistance after Conrad dies

it's completely nonsensical

The new leader should be M'naago

BUT I could buy that Lyse becomes an officer in the resistance

the command destroyed twice and they need to take who they can get Lyse is probably like legitimately qualified at this point to be an officer

and this is where Lyse starts seriously thinking about her future

oh uhhh

I wish to address The Outfit

The traditional Ala Mhigan outfit is very nice but I do have one teeny tiny qualm about it

We have Lyse saying that she needs to step out of her sister's shadow and to be her own person and then...she puts on the outfit, which she says something along the lines of it was her sister's

That's certainly A Choice

either keep her in the Liberator outfit (I like it better) or just have it not be Yda's old outfit like come on

It could just be a symbol of her dedication to Ala Mhigo without the Yda baggage

and the indication of where her future is: in Ala Mhigo and that her time with the Scions is coming to an end

Overall I'm pretty fine with everything else

Lyse is over all an ok character there were just a few weird decisions with her and parts that I think could have used some reinforcement

I'd find a way to make the Fordola solo duties more focused on Lyse and Fordola fighting, instead of Fordola and the WoL fighting to better reinforce the rivalry they tried to establish between them

I would also have Lyse acknowledge the wrong that was done to Fordola and be the first step in them reconciling and finding common ground

"What about Papalymo" well I'm not 100% sure what would happen to him but it should kinda be addressed

if we still want Papalymo to die, I think an ideal time would be at the same time Conrad die

We would have been able to fully explore the bond between Papalymo and Lyse at this point and make this the point where Lyse is being forced to move on without him

Or we could also have him live and Lyse makes that decision on her own believing in her own readiness

Revolution over, Lyse as proved herself and truly earned a place in Ala Mhigo and she gets promoted to Ala Mhigan Government, unfortunately for her

Freedom was only half the battle Ala Mhigo now needs to build itself a new government and society

Royalty didn't work out for them so time to try something new