It's not about the theoretical, it's about what ALWAYS happens. At this point we seem to either just say "well Val is just going to do it this way so whatever", or through some circumstance the direction of the game defaults to going one way regardless of anyone's input (Saya resorting to mindrape, all of the gods blowing up offscreen, etc). In the case of the latter, sometimes things happen that are just beyond our control and that is okay. The problem is the former, when the narrative just decides to roll the same way that one person was pushing of it's own accord.
This is purely speculation, of course, but sometimes I feel like not just some of the players, but even Ana decides "eh **** it, just give Kanz what HE wants." Again, purely speculation, but nobody gets exactly what they want all the time quite like you do. I'm not accusing anybody of favoritism here now, but like, you keep getting so many things that nobody else does and it contributes to the whole "Valerian is unstoppable, especially to an individual in the party" problem. Which is the other problem, Valerian is goddamn unstoppable if he ever wanted to seriously butt heads with anybody else in the party. It's so mechanical that it's obvious in character.
The big issue is basically this: This has always been "Valerian and Friends" and never "The New World Outlaws Show".
To clarify what I'm talking about, this issue extends not only from combat, but to narrative. The Blade of Kings happened out of nowhere and obtaining it was practically an inside joke in itself. Like seriously, "I had a dream that I beat someone in a duel and now I have this ludicrously powerful supersword just kind of because." There was no big quest to obtain it, there was no rhyme or reason for it, it just happened. You could argue your new super sword was a means to "nerf" yourself, but no. No it really wasn't, not when you're still swinging around a special snowflake ubersword when nobody has anything that is anywhere near that level of BS.
The other thing is the deathlight crap. That's literally just saying "hey Ana, the laws of the world work my way, and I'm going to get upset whenever an imaginary soul-eating doesn't work." Like, really, that's something that has always bothered me and I question why Ana allows silly things like this.
I kind of think that this is coming across more hostile than it should be. And I want to stress I'm not really MAD over any of the issues I have, I'm just frustrated. Valerian specifically seems to get the best treatment out of anybody and it contributes to the uselessness of anybody else that wants to steer in a different direction from him.
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Accel R8
(This space for rent)!