LogFAQs > #986474750

193. Cedric Arnor
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/302e874f.jpg
Trust me, you can't handle her, lil bro. Settle for less.

The youngest prince of Erebonia has some big shoes to fill, and boy does he do a terrible job. There is a part of me that empathizes with Cedric, given how youngest princes have been treated throughout actual history (they don't get to do very much) and his less-than-ideal upbringing. I don't think the "being kept political prisoner into death machine pilot" pipeline is one known for turning out well adjusted men. My ability to empathize with him pretty much dies there though, because the rest of his decision making and characterization are not endearing to me.

For starters, his role in CS3 split into two parts. The first is largely to be an arrogant noble that looks down on the main cast for *insert reason here*. That was a plotline that was done to death in general over the first two games, getting to experience it again didn't add anything interesting to the franchise for me. The latter was to be a pawn of the Ironbloods in helping them woo the general populace to their side with propaganda. If he were actually a power player like Rufus I would respect that, but the game gives no indication that he's influencing events with his own will, he's pretty clearly just a royal pawn for Osborne. He does play the part pretty well from what I remember, so pity points for that, but I hate to see someone with so much inherent political power bend the knee to a third party willingly. What did he get out of it? I'm sure there was something but I don't remember. Was he just grateful for being given the divine knight so he helped them, and wanted more power like that? Or was there some other reason? Did he think he would be given a position of power in their new world order government if Osborne's plans ended up succeeding? I guess that's as good of a reason as any, but I don't recall his motivations that well.

Ultimately he ends up joining Ouroboros because he had nowhere else to go, which I guess makes sense to some degree. I don't like his daydream in Reverie where he becomes an Enforcer however. I guess any royal would have some degree of military training but Cedric was never shown to be a particularly skilled combatant at any other point in the franchise from what I recall. Him just kind of willpowering his way through Shirley's test felt cheap to me. I know they just want to give every portrait and voice acted character some title worthy of them, but Cedric really feels like more of a Gilbert to me than a Shirley or Sharon or what have you. It just felt unearned.

Oh and his personality sucks. I talked about it a little bit before but arrogant noble hiding insecurity has been done to death, and it doesn't make me like you. He never really has his 'come to Jesus' moment given that he becomes an Enforcer and all. Ultimately, I never felt any sense of payoff from his story.