Torna (the org) is just... it's so frustrating the game never seems to come to a point with them. They steal core crystals and in Temperantia Jin drops that speech about Indol controlling the core crystals and it's like okay, so they're well intentioned extremists wanting to liberate blades from—say what, this will never come up again in the game?
I was hugely bummed out by that because the game never really shows blades as existing as people independent of their drivers outside of Torna. Even with Vess, when they're not fighters, she still exists in conjunction with her driver. And I don't think this was the implication they intended, but it did leave me wondering: are blades socially allowed to do their own thing? The game never really gets too into theology but there was some blabla about the architect sending blades to serve humankind or something, wasn't there? So slotting a storyline about the pressure on blades to Behave As Blades, in other words work with whatever their driver does, would have worked really well to flesh out Torna and give them an actually coherent goal as a group.
(Malos says they all wanted oblivion but that's clearly just him projecting, it makes no sense otherwise lol)
With regards to Akhos, Patroka and Nia, I just think the game should have given us more on the status of flesh eaters in the world. I got the impression people see them as a bad thing, but it's all so frustratingly vague and all three of them suffer for it as characters.
As for N... WHERE DO I EVEN START, lol. The simple and easy answer is that my favourite character type is best summed up as "mental health issues", which, I mean. just look at him. Do I need to say anything further. But that's also the lazy answer, because if it was just that I don't think I'd be quite as obsessed with him as I am. Where it really comes from is the interplay of N and Noah, two characters who seem to be entirely different on a surface level; I mean, one is a cruel and callous maniac, the other a kind and compassionate heroic figure etc. etc. BUT when you dig a little bit deeper there's a wealth of characteristics they share, they just express them in entirely different ways. More to the point, the traits that led to N becoming Moebius are exactly the same traits that enabled Noah to take the final step and end Aionios. They both mirror and contrast each other in that way, and Noah getting N to move forwards again not (just) with the usual defeat means friendship but by accepting that he's capable of doing the same in the wrong circumstances and meeting N with compassion is, on a meta level, a potent statement on acknowledging your own flaws and still working to better yourself.
And I fucking love that. I eat that shit up like it's candy. I'm obsessed with them a normal amount.
*clears throat*
I may ask to pick your brain about Isurd at some point, if you're amenable! I don't think I have a firm grasp on writing him just yet.
Re: (This is gonna be a wholeass essay lmao)
I was hugely bummed out by that because the game never really shows blades as existing as people independent of their drivers outside of Torna. Even with Vess, when they're not fighters, she still exists in conjunction with her driver. And I don't think this was the implication they intended, but it did leave me wondering: are blades socially allowed to do their own thing? The game never really gets too into theology but there was some blabla about the architect sending blades to serve humankind or something, wasn't there? So slotting a storyline about the pressure on blades to Behave As Blades, in other words work with whatever their driver does, would have worked really well to flesh out Torna and give them an actually coherent goal as a group.
(Malos says they all wanted oblivion but that's clearly just him projecting, it makes no sense otherwise lol)
With regards to Akhos, Patroka and Nia, I just think the game should have given us more on the status of flesh eaters in the world. I got the impression people see them as a bad thing, but it's all so frustratingly vague and all three of them suffer for it as characters.
As for N... WHERE DO I EVEN START, lol. The simple and easy answer is that my favourite character type is best summed up as "mental health issues", which, I mean. just look at him. Do I need to say anything further. But that's also the lazy answer, because if it was just that I don't think I'd be quite as obsessed with him as I am. Where it really comes from is the interplay of N and Noah, two characters who seem to be entirely different on a surface level; I mean, one is a cruel and callous maniac, the other a kind and compassionate heroic figure etc. etc. BUT when you dig a little bit deeper there's a wealth of characteristics they share, they just express them in entirely different ways. More to the point, the traits that led to N becoming Moebius are exactly the same traits that enabled Noah to take the final step and end Aionios. They both mirror and contrast each other in that way, and Noah getting N to move forwards again not (just) with the usual defeat means friendship but by accepting that he's capable of doing the same in the wrong circumstances and meeting N with compassion is, on a meta level, a potent statement on acknowledging your own flaws and still working to better yourself.
And I fucking love that. I eat that shit up like it's candy. I'm obsessed with them a normal amount.
*clears throat*
I may ask to pick your brain about Isurd at some point, if you're amenable! I don't think I have a firm grasp on writing him just yet.