It’s just silly when you are also reading the supports and they read like they are put together by an entirely different team. By the end you’ve got a team of several dozen characters, at least half of which are dynamic, confident, impulsive or stubborn enough (and major heroes in their own right!) to not just stand around while a single enemy NPC somehow manages to make ~36 heroes unable to move or interrupt at any point. It’s like you go from a fantasy general, leading an army, that’s had personal pep talks from a dozen mythic figures, to just one unarmed, unsure person in the cut scenes as if the dozens of heroes sworn to support you are all on a tea break or something whenever some random clown turns up to mock the force again.
It’s like, what exactly were the more confident leaders and warriors (Diamant, Vander, Jade, Timerra, Saphir, amongst many others) and their troops doing when the people that trashed their countries are monologuing? Just because the Divine One is unable to make a decision to act somehow means all the more competent characters have to carry the idiot ball too, just so they don’t overshadow the lead. I don’t get how you can have a team put together an amazing fantasy battle game with an expansive, varied and interesting cast, good visuals and music, great and fresh combat mechanics following a thirty year franchise history, but have the main story, script and cut scenes be this bad. I realise I keep banging on about it but they are so formulaic and bookend each chapter and never change.
