Okay, I know I'm infinitely slower than everyone else, but after playing the first two games, I find that my "new game" effect has already worn off, and I'm struggling to beat it. (Obviously related to what Merc said in his topic)
Anyway...
So I went into these games knowing that the story sucked because everyone kept saying so. So up until this point--that is, the point when Scarlet dies in Revelation--I've just kind of been handwaving everything and not giving a care.
However, the chapter where Scarlet dies--which is almost literally right after you get her--is where things took a MAJOR turn for the worse. It's like the writers wrote in this whole RyomaxScarlet thing JUST to make things a little more dramatic, but this fails because obviously they don't care enough about Scarlet to really do anything beyond "ohey she died. CARRY ON."
She at least got a "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" out of the avatar, but Ryoma's reaction to the whole thing completely defeats the purpose of shipping the two in the first place. He takes it very calmly...and probably just grieves off screen. Okay, whatever. It's not like I really cared about Scarlet.
The real sin comes a few chapters later. I'm sure you all know what it is if you've gotten this far. The enemy commander makes a comment on "I knew you wouldn't listen to reason. So I brought a friend of yours." so I was just like "k, who is it?" I scan the battlefield, realize it's Scarlet because she's the only unit who's died at this point, search for a wyvernrider, find her, and then go "Okay, the game better make a big deal out of this."
Then the game lol'd at me and was like "yeah nope."
Nothing. Absolutely nothing is said beyond what the enemy commander hinted. Scarlet attacks one of my units--now possibly this could have been different if she had chosen Ryoma or the avatar, but she picked somebody else--and dies. And nobody ever says anything. NOBODY CARES THEY JUST RE-KILLED SCARLET. NOBODY CARES THAT SHE WAS EVEN THERE.
And the scene after the battle was completely taken over by Azura's mother. It's like the devs started to bring Scarlet back for dramatics, but either completely forgot about this, or decided that it would be better to focus on someone else instead.
As a writer, I understand that the biggest thing about storytelling is making the reader forget they're reading. To do this, you need to NOT break the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. Now, various people have various levels of willing suspension, and I find that I am somewhat more lenient than most when it comes to weak stories. (A lifetime of playing Pokemon games is probably the culprit there.) I have been willing to ignore my suspension being broken thus far with the former two variants of this game, and even FEA the first few times around, but the moment Revelation did this. The moment they brought Scarlet back and completely forgot about it, was the moment my suspension shattered. And I don't think it's going to recover.
I don't really care about Scarlet, but the way the writers went about this is absolutely irritating.
You don't kill someone off just to kill them off. You don't bring them back as a reanimated corpse just to show you can. There's a rule for storywriting which says that every detail needs to be important. Now, I don't stick to that clause 100% because I do like giving details about surroundings or whatever, but in this instance, I feel it really applies.
There was nothing said. Her re-existence wasn't even acknowledged, except by the enemy. If she wasn't brought back to make the characters go D8 !! "OHNO! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" then pray tell, what is the point of bringing her back at all? Her reappearance has nothing to do with the story. It brings nothing to the plate. She's there just because she's there. Now, yes, she might have had special dialogue with a couple of people, but because of the way she attacks on her own, and because you really can't reach her before she reaches you, it's very, VERY unlikely you'll get to see whatever special dialogue exists.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to playing Sims 3 because that's FAR more entertaining.