GTCvActium

Elves don't really need buffs beyond maybe some additional exclusive skills for magic. And a buff to their magic missile (should be usable when in FS mode) so that magic doesn't do 30 dmg with a fully decked out wand.

Here's the deal, Saga is disliked because it has actual poor writing. First and foremost is the Millitian is never really engaged in the story at all. The Millitian, the player, in saga itself could easily be replaced by any of the character present and it would not matter. In fact the player could easily be lumped in with the greater collective of "The Millitian race" and it wouldn't matter. This is the first poor writing, it made the player, whom the game and story is suppose to engage, feel like they weren't participating. The players will more than likely feel like just a normal grunt handling all the work and barely being acknowledged as being there. So the first point is that the story fails to engage the player/viewer.

Next are the character arcs. The characters we are shown and get to know have no character arcs. Millia starts off angry at the Millitian and ends up angry at the Millitian, only in a coma. Her story never finishes, she, like the player, was just there as plot coupons. Akule starts and ends off a smug shaman only now he's ACTUALLY homeless since he sealed a dragon in his homeland. Here's the deal, none of the characters introduced were actually likable, except maybe Akule in his homeless man persona. All of them treat you with contempt and hatred throughout the entire Saga 1, like you're only tolerated because you're the only one on the cast dirty enough to do all the lifting while they camp out at their trailers putting on more make up. None of them evolve. Erawen is beloved because she had a legitimate character arc. She starts off mistrustful of the Millitian and gradually opens up, turning from a spoiled princess to a responsible and wise queen. Her character is deeply tied with the actions done by the player and it engages player's emotion, we become invested in her story, and as active participants, we feel a strong connection to her. The saga characters do not invoke these feelings.

We also need to find what the point of view is from. In the game, this is easy, the player. The point of view has to be from the player's perspective, because unlike movies or TV shows, we are actual participants in the world. Our avatars are the actual window in this world. Saga shifts focus away from this point of view which is confusing. We are not really relating to any of the characters present because the story shifts to their point of view and then back to us with no rhythm or reason. The characters and plot no longer feel like they have any meaning to the player anymore. Past generations (Chapter 1 is a great example), the point of view is always on us. Our victories, successes and failures feel like us. The plot progresses because we as a character in the story did actions. The story in saga on the other hand just feels like the times we do anything is just to pad out the run time, which is boring. Its poor writing, we feel detached, we're not engaged, we're not part of the story.

Now let's move on the Tarlach and Ruairi. Ruairi has lost everything, but Tarlach hasn't. He still has someone caring for him, Kristell, and he knows this. Second, Tarlach and Ruairi's actions are rendered completely meaningless before the story even began. Their goal is break the control of the Gods over mortals, which has already happened. The remaining active Gods are sealed, dead, or retired from activity. Their plan hinged on inviting foreign Gods to combat the ruling Gods so that the divine elements will destroy each other and free mortals from divine influence. Except Erinn's Gods, due to infighting, are ill equipped to combat outside threats. As we see in G19-G21, having other Gods come in is even more horrible than normal. We have a possibly hostile God on par with the strongest deity of the world that wants to convert all the mortals into mindless troops to invade and conquer other worlds. Tarlach, being a close confidant at no point ever asks the Millitian for help in breaking free from the Gods, at which point he'll find out that Morrighan has retired, Nuadha is sealed, and Cichol is dead. Tarlach's change in suddenly asking for help is when he suddenly realized that summoning the goddess of destruction, is 'oh crap' we just summoned the goddess of destruction with a hard on for destroying the world.

Ruairi is probably the only person to have a character arc, and that's just a distant and far off affair. He begins the story as someone who's just following the motions, he's the black knight on the behest of his friend. He own hesitation and jumping to conclusion causes him to hurt people he wants to care for even more and by the end of saga he has finally found a resolute motivation. By killing himself and punching a hole in the protective barrier keeping all of the filthy xenos and serial killers from invading Erinn. So we have that.

Finally we have the overall impact of saga. Which is none. We're introduced a shadowy organization formed from the descendants of the first settlers who have legitimate beef with a certain goddess... Who promptly just disappear after the story ends. Bhafel and Langu don't even contribute anything to Saga 2, they were, for all intents and purposes, not even really bosses for the B-plot. We could very well just skip all of saga, and none of the events would impact the general memory of the over all story. Bhafel and langu could just be regulated to the OTHER dragons that pop up to wreck things, and the whole outworld gods invading could be Morrighan leaving Erinn and weakening divine power over the world.

This is why saga is poorly written, poorly received, and was overall just a poor addition to the game. It was unengaging, the characters were bland cardboard cut outs (more than usual), there was almost no character arcs, we have poor character motivations, no lasting impact, no emotional investment in the characters beyond riding on investments from OTHER more successful stories and was over all, forgettable. In fact, one of the main characters gets a BETTER character arc in the chain of destruction than in saga 2 where he stars. Merlin opens up to you over the story revealing that he's more than a 1D character, his show of confidence hides some of his insecurities and buries his failures, at that point he became more than just the poster boy for the magic update he was the created for. G21 also continues that trend, writing him with an actual character arc even though he was a side character for that story. And in a turnabout way, HIS actions influence the character. His honestly, and opening up may or may not cause the PLAYER to begin trusting him enough to let them in on a world important plot of their own decision. THAT was good writing.

This should get applied to everything, because nothing hurts more than spending a ton of time, effort and resources on a run only to DC moments before the boss goes down.

ChaosShadow wrote: »

One for glasses too please. Too many times have I despaired at not being able to wear glasses with a particular wig... :L

I honestly believe glasses, ears and wigs should get their own dedicated slots.

To be fair lore wise its possible cause Shakespeare says he has rebirthed into elves and giants (and stolen their unique skills). Plus a race change would help shift populations and not alienate any players of one race when an update comes along that shoots out both their knee caps.