LogFAQs > #934916142

Not the greatest start to the list for xp, I guess. At least you resisted the urge to put him in your predictions!

#90 - Emil Castagnier (Symphonia)
Courage really is the magic that turns dreams into reality.

The meticulously crafted protagonist of the highest-budget self-insert fanfiction ever.

Look, I dont hate Emil because hes timid and wimpy. Im all for trying something different with the main protagonist. I hate him because its all so poorly executed.

For starters, I have to figure that part of the idea was to make him immediately more sympathetic and relatable. Heres the problem: any of the goodwill that that kind of characterization would ordinarily build up is eliminated by having his main motivation for a good 50%+ of the game be a hateful vendetta against the widely beloved main character of the previous game. Weve (presumably) played the original Symphonia. We know that Lloyd Irving isnt going around slaughtering innocent people and that something else must be up. Do we, as the player, then have any reason to support Emil on his quest for vengeance? It makes everything he says come off as so hollow and misguided. Its not like its his fault, mind - he saw it with his own eyes - but you cant have a disconnect between the player and protagonist like that. And what is his fault is the way he treats some other people because of it. How many times do we have to watch him get all pissy because someone that traveled with Lloyd in the first game is more inclined to trust in him than in some petulant, whiny child they just met two minutes ago? And then, to top it all off, he doesnt even seem particularly angry with Decus for what hes done after Decus gives the party his little sob story. So hes not even consistent.

And Im not gonna praise all the timidity to begin with, because hes too timid. We already have a chronic apologizer in the Symphonia cast, so he doesnt need to make it a competition, but he does. Richter gives him a little advice in the first few minutes of the game and that sets off a hero worship thats insane and over-the-top even without taking into account that he spends most of the game trying to kill Marta.

Then youve got the Ratatosk side of his personality, which is essentially a violent psychopath crossed with teen angst whose inner conflict goes straight from Why does Marta like Wimp!Emil better than me?? to Should I destroy the entire world or not? Really, though, the whole double-identity thing is so silly and ridiculous that I dont even want to talk about it. Both personalities suck.

I could keep going. I could talk about his insanely idiotic plan to fix everything at the end of the game or how he consistently falls for obvious traps or how he never actually says anything interesting or memorable, but Ive probably spent too much time talking about this cash grab already. Ill just say I did enjoy his playstyle and think his costume is pretty good and be on my way.

TL;DR: https://i.imgur.com/V9y3EcE.gif

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https://imgur.com/UYamul2
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