Learning that they redubbed some of Asahi’s ENG lines in 4.3 to be more unhinged (like Fandaniel) is making me feel some kind of way. Not really sure it’s a good feeling. While I get that they were probably trying to match the feeling of the animations better—and I do admit that there was a dissonance of seeing those animations with that quiet voice during patch day—I’m not sure I’m okay with it.
A lot of Asahi’s (English) characterization is about how in control he is even when he’s motivated as something as violent as revenge, and those lines really worked to make him feel even more unsettling. And it makes me really, really concerned that they’re not going to make Asahi and Fandaniel’s characters different at all, and instead rely on Asahi being unhinged to arrive at Fandaniel’s introduction. Like—a large part of why Fandaniel was effective during the patches was because his scant mannerisms were so much more exaggerated than (most of) Asahi’s, and he really did kind of feel different, at least to me.
I feel like the redubbing opens up this slippery slope of not having a clearly defined character line between the two, and just instead merging them together so that way they’re one continuous whole. Which like… Fandaniel is an Ascian possessing a corpse, with serious problems regarding the memory of Amaurot and his status as a pseudo unsundered. That’s not at all how Asahi’s character is motivated by an obsessive love over an unattainable Prince, while assimilating into Garlean culture and becoming entrenched in it. They’re two very, very, very different people, with different motivations and wants, and I’m concerned that this is just eroding the differences between the two.
I can separate them, but I have, at multiple points, rp’d both of these characters for various reasons. I like to think that I have a fairly good grasp on what drives them both, and have done a lot of thinking on them. The average casual player likely has not done the same, and… I dunno. It’s not that I’m like “everyone has to read the text correctly”, but eroding distinctions like this makes me wary.
Like, sure, Asahi’s face was chosen to elicit a reaction from the player base, I know that. The devs know that he’s an extremely polarizing character, and they used that to garner emotional investment. Love him or hate him, it’ll get people talking about the new character. I’m not really sure I’m alright with that choice either, but it is what it is.
Who knows, maybe I’ll end up being surprised by EW ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
