I feel like Nenio is a case of the writers knowing that you can't have a realistically well rounded cast if -everyone- was likeable to the standards of the audience. One could say it's a fundamental difference in writing philosophy, in that the WotR cast may be written largely to enhance the overall narrative, rather than to solely please the audience.
What I mean is that the writing is self aware enough that the rest of the cast occasionally dunks on Nenio as the game progresses, and the player character also gets many opportunities to disparage her in dialogue too. Because why the hell would they not? A self-professed know it all scientist that's only a stone's throw away from embarking on the same path as the exact kind of person responsible for the state of the region should rightfully get heavily scrutinized. That said, I think she's just as important to the narrative as everyone else for this reason, and ends up being likeable in the end in a very roundabout way as a result.
The only thing I'll say that exemplifies how even the rest of the cast may be just as baffled as the player is... Well, you should take Nenio along in the Lost Chapel in chapter 2, if you also found and brought a certain wand with you.
I've heard very spicy things from other beta testers who brought Nenio and Regill together in their parties too. Apparently ultra spicy if throw Woljif into the mix on top of that.
(There's also other curious pairings such as Ember and Daeran that I never brought along together in my main party, of which I've only heard good things about how those two interact. How they treat each other is apparently not what you’d expect from neutral good and neutral evil characters. Incidentally, I think a big part of Daeran's popularity seems like it might come from this exact pairing, which is really tempting me enough to consider benching Lann in favor of Daeran for my main party in order to see this for myself, especially since my Eldritch Archer and later Arueshalae together already covers most of what Lann does.)
