>>3852026
>put yourself in their shoes and realize the emotional weight certain events carry from their perspective
A good example of this in FF4 is Edward. Almost everyone who played FF4 back in the day HATED Edward: he's a stupid spoony bard who sucks in battle and cries like a pussy just because his kindgom got firebombed and his girlfriend died. Boo-fucking-hoo. But here's the thing—accept that and put that in context of what happens in the game. Despite being weak, he still puts his big boy pants on and gets shit done; he leads everyone to the Antlion nest, he flexes his political clout as a prince in Fabul to help the heroes' cause, and despite being incapacitated, he drags his busted ass out of bed to save everyone's life from the Dark Elf with his harp. He never allows his feelings of inadequacy to stop him from taking action.

I think it's a uniquely western/American/individualist thing to still shit on Edward just because he's a semi-useless in battle and "all he did was give us a tour and play a harp", as he still managed to accomplish things that only HE could accomplish. Despite being physically weak and wracked by grief, he stepped up and earned the respect of the party AND especially Tellah, who proudly refers to him as a son-in-law, after all is said and done. THAT is Edward's tale of redemption. It's not as glorious or dramatic as Cecil's or Kain's, but it's still very well-executed. Everyone on this board fucking wishes they were HALF the chad that Edward is.