So what is your thoughts on the new sapphire weapon fight? What I find interesting is they dont seem to be letting Gaius walk away from what he did if that Duskwright's dialogue is anything to go by. Add in how Gaius still recalls his children's name yet the leader Valeth? Couldnt I am seeing some interesting lines the fact they showed him without showing him makes me think he and Gaius have a history. But man was that fight fun.
Second time I ran it I was listening to the Pacific Rim soundtrack. The fight itself is fun (the lighting is fantastic) and it’s a crime we seem only able to play it once. You betcha I got shots of posing with the mech, too. Terncliff is lovely.
I really like Val and his backstory was good to get, also how he and Gaius met and just how long they’ve traveled together (technically he’s an Adder deserter, but I won’t tell Kan-E if you won’t). Hoping we learn more of Severa next go-round, and what her deal is; that would make sense.
As for the overarching plot: I am on the fence still. I agree with Val’s assessment that Gaius is much the same; his big change is in realizing how much of his life in the Empire was a manipulation and cruel joke by the Ascians, but much of the rest? We have no real indication he’s changed his mind on many things, or realizes some of those actions he and his soldiers perpetuated were wrong for the people he tried to rule. His agreement that Val can kill him at the end of their work--nebulous as that is--indicates he knows he did harm, but figures once he’s done something useful to make up for some of it he can die to make everyone happy.
Which is not the healthiest mindset, honestly, but I can see it as an old warrior deciding it’s the “honorable” thing to do. Though I doubt it will happen that way; bringing Gaius back years later just to kill him again would be a waste, really.
Gaius has always cared about people, and paid more attention to even the non-Garlean people around him, even if his methods have been decidedly unhealthy and ultimately selfish, which he maybe now realizing, seeing the results in the Werlyt group.
New Legatus is definitely set up as a foil for Gaius and is meant to make the Old Wolf look better by having this new guy be a short-tempered creeper, in the shadows with the children in the room and treating Alfonse that way. The final scene with Allie also skeeved me hard, as I’ve had a fear from the beginning she’s going to have an emotional lynchpin moment; she’s either going to be deadset against Papa Wolf in the final battle, and/or used as bait. New Guy DID know her name and is purposefully being very manipulative of both her and Alfonse (and I worry about that correction chamber and what that entails).
This is especially since the writers have corrected Milisandia’s age to be much younger, and Ricon was only 17. The story really is leaning hard into the mecha genre with teen/young adult pilots (with daddy issues), and New Guy seems even sketchier around kids, where Gaius has mostly been a terrible role model and looking to prove his rightness.
Not showing the Legatus is an interesting point; they normally all are helmed, but he was intentionally shadowed, too, before donning his armor with the help of the children. So maybe there is further connection, or maybe a way to build suspense, or pull a trick on us later.
Still no Nero, despite Ultima being his baby in ARR. Seriously, you can’t tell me Cid knows more about the Weapons project, even with putting together the G-Warrior. No talk, with all these kids in the picture, of Gaius’ foster daughter Livia and how that all turned out either (and I have the feeling given the way that looked to a lot of folks in ARR that they might be shuffling that under a rug and hoping she’s forgotten; hells, she’s not even mentioned by Gaius in ARR after her death, you’d think he’d bring up the fact we killed her to the WoL at some point in Prae). So there are still things not sitting right with me, or seem to be missing, but we have 2 more parts to go and see where our mecha adventures take us.
And honestly, it might just end up being “cool trials and mech battles, what story? No story here” for a lot of folks.
