As a huge fan of Fall-from-Grace, Arueshalae feels like a missed opportunity. I don't want to ascribe intentions towards the developers, but I do feel that Arueshalae exhibits many typical "waifu tropes" - often times in disservice of her arc and character. Some minor spoilers below.
It's not just that she's characterized as soft-spoken (i.e. like Sosiel or Ember). It's as others have pointed out - it's the package of overt submissiveness, the "cutesy shyness", and the almost awkward, cartoony-melodramatic innocence. I.e. the self-imposed "horny jail", or the lines like: "I have to break with everything demonic in me but please, Desna, let me keep my beautiful irresistible wings?" I know the game justifies some of her innocent behavior with the "previously-unfeeling-android-learns-human-emotions plot-line", but this doesn't change the fact this is all in service of the writers' choice to characterize her as such.
On its own, this characterization isn't even a major issue. Characters can be cutesy and innocent and be well-written. The problem is, given her premise, that none of this is balanced by a proper focus and introspection on the horrid nature of her previous existence, which is what would've given her arc weight, and her character depth.
While the writers definitely do tell you how horrible she used to be, there's little effort made to make you feel it. Her words, action, and storyline feels much more like dealing with a teenager learning to work with her emotions (to love and to forgive) than dealing with a reforming mass murderer. You really do not sense the gravitas of the thousands of years of evil - the feelings of guilt and regret of an immortal who has seen and done some truly despicable things.
This is most noticeable in how the game frames the memory of her victims - the sources of her guilt. They're almost universally portraited as belligerent and intensively spiteful. In fact, I'd go so far to say that the game deliberately goes out of its way to downplay her victims' relatability, make them unsympathetic, and shift the victimhood over to Arueshalae. The ghost tormentors in her dream are unrelenting in their hatred and abuse (and yes, I know technically they are manifestations of her guilt). The specific victim you meet in the abyss is characterized more like an overly-attached, psychotic ex-boyfriend that the player has to deal with (another romance trope btw), than a genuine victim.
Those encounters seem to be designed to make the player feel protective of Arueshalae, rather than force them to confront the reality of who she used to be. And I think that's the biggest mistake in her writing.
For me, the former, that invoking of the "she's sweet and adorable and must be protected at all cost" instinct ultimately feels very manufactured. It feels like the game is trying too hard to make her likeable. Whereas I think forcing the player feel and understand the depth of harm and pain she has caused, and thus the impossibly large mountain of crime she has to repent from, would've been so much more interesting. It would've given the weight of her struggle real meaning. Her choice to repent, despite knowing that almost no amount of good she can do now will ever erase the evil she has committed, would've made her a truly remarkable character.
Instead, I think Owlcat really chose to play it a bit safe, and the game suffered for it.
This is a very well written analysis. I may or may not agree with what someone is saying, but It's fun to read solid reasoning put together nicely, because it's not just another plain hate/love post. This analysis really nails it but of course I myself can never write up anything this eloquent.
Originally Posted by Topgoon
It feels like the game is trying too hard to make her likeable.
"Trying too hard" is what I've used quite a lot both on these forums and in the reddit discussions. To me the game constantly feels "trying too hard" - at the very least for both the general plot and the companion writing - and without the appropriate amount of subtlety, finesse, and buildup the results feel forced and rather mediocre. For how grandiose and dramatic the companion stories are, they'd need to be a lot more involved with more buildup, more exposition, more development.
Take Kivan from BG for example. When you know his story - he and his loved one were caught and tortured, but only he made it out alive while the woman died - you easily feel a sense of injustice and feel like exacting vengeance on the ones responsible. His story is very easy to relate to - someone you care about being the victim of some injustice and you feeling the urge to do something about it. Later on your party run into the main guy responsible for his suffering, and he says something about that, acknowledging the situation. And when you finally kill the guy, he says something very simple but very fitting. That's about it for Kivan's "quest" - extremely simple, but extremely real and relatable. This, combined with the fact that he is portrayed as a man of few words, quiet, stoic (something like Ekun from Kingmaker) - which is understandable (and classic) for someone who's been through what he's been through, makes him a very real, relatable, and likeable character. His story is very simple, but I really like his character.
Or Coran. His "quest" is picking up a wyvern head after killing the thing then turning it in to a temple for 2000 gold. Takes about 10 minutes. But his character is very well portrayed - a fun-loving, free-spirit kind of guy, the witty, joker guy of the group who you'd never see get angry throughout a movie. His character is consistently portrayed through the short whistling which is one of his selection lines, his banter with Safana and other party members, as well as his his encounter with Brielbara in Baldur's Gate. Again, his character is very easy to relate to, very easy to imagine. Epic, profound backstory involving planar travel and demon lords? Nope. But I really like the guy.
On the other hand, for the life of me, I can't like Ember. She's essentially a kid and her understanding of life is like that of a kid, except she seems to have some sort of super ability to see through someone's soul and feel what they truly feel, even if that someone is a demon lord. She's also not right in the head (which the game uses as an excuse for her super naive thinking and naive ideas), and just wants to preach to a demon lord, no big deal. And after 3 chapters and a half BAM you actually get her to face the aforementioned demon lord and let her do her preaching. And OF COURSE her preaching does have some effect on said demon lord to the point that, apparently, she even comes to the mortal world during the final confrontation of Ember's quest even though the demon lord is supposedly very busy with all of her cosmic-level scheming. BAM. Oh, and Ember also becomes some sort of living saint to cultists and demons alike, who worship the hell out of her, as a by-the-way kind of thing. And you can achieve all this just by letting her tag along and supporting her with a couple of simple dialogue selections, even with just the Neutral selections. Personally I just can't imagine how all this could possibly pan out at all, and how something so ludicrous could actually work out. I can't relate to this story, and don't feel like I care about it, at all. And in the end I don't think I like Ember at all as a character, even though she's a must-have of the party because she's my buffbot.
Owlcat tried to make a massive, epic masterpiece with a scope way beyond their budget and capability, and their game suffered for it. They tried too hard to create epic, outstanding characters with epic, dramatic backstories with profound ideas and life lessons, and their game suffered for it.
Last edited by Try2Handing; 01/12/2104:39 AM.
"We make our choices and take what comes and the rest is void."
