This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Jisu: The phrase "air pirate" is actually used multiple times in-game. :P
Tanto: That quote doesn't have anything to do with Not Compensating for Anything, the trope. Not Compensating for Anything deals with the fact that main characters always use swords.
Much later: And still does.
Rebochan: I don't think Fina and Aika qualify as a Betty and Veronica. Of the two, only Aika is ever played as a potential love interest to Vyse, but the game has no overarching romantic subplots. The lack of any sexual attractions in the scenario kills the trope.
Jisu: I'm a canon stickler and refuse to accommodate anything that contradicts it, and I'm pretty sure they both were, despite the open ending.
Arrow: I can't really see how the nighttime scene at Crescent Island before the final battle doesn't count as more than enough evidence here. Even if that was the only time Fina ever really displayed any feelings vaguely in that direction during the entire game.
Rebochan: No, that's actually more evidence against. If the only time it came up is extremely vague and the rest of the game never did anything with it, it's not a love triangle, thus no Betty and Veronica.
Octavo: One True Sequence lists Skies of Arcadia as a super-solid aversion, but this page lists it as a super-solid example. Which is it? Or both?
Arrow: It's pretty much an aversion that LOOKS like it's going to be played straight at first due to the game's linearity. Can't really call it a full out subversion since I'm pretty sure the creators didn't actually plan it like that. At any rate, I'll change the text here to better match what's listed at the OTS page.
Rebochan: Is it physically impossible to appreciate both the light-hearted heroes of this game and the darker ones of other games? For some reason, the vast majority of this game's fandom spend a lot of time bashing other games for their "emo" heroes compared to this one. I never saw a problem with either this game's oddball happy heroes or the Final Fantasy-esque complexity.
Wild Knight: I think it's okay to like individual darker heroes and still be annoyed at the sheer amount of them, and thus still find SOA's reconstruction a breath of fresh air.
Rebochan: Well from that view, I can understand it - at the time this game was new, it was a nice breather to have an optimistic game with a cheerful determinator as the hero and I remember feeling that way. To be honest, though, a lot of times heroes like Vyse don't work because they sacrifice personality and complexity for "I'm the hero and I'm gonna save EVERYONE YAY WOOHOO." I always liked that Vyse really is abnormal - that people point out his unusual behavior and that he has to actually prove himself. People like that are rare, and rarer still the people that can carry out what he does. He works because the game makes sure to ground him in reality. Well, you know what I mean. He's a traditional hero archetype that's given the necessary depth to still be believable.
