Darien: Most annoying Solstice NPC or nah?

joshisanonymous

He's just so ridiculously whiny. I'm really tired of hearing about his self-esteem crisis just because for once in his life he's not the hero.

SilverBride

I don't find him the least bit annoying. But then I've known him 11 years now and am aware of his history and what he's been through.

And I still find him incredibly attractive, too.

xbluerosesx

keep my husbando's name out your mouth!

edit: this is a joke, I'm not that easily butthurt about pixels

joshisanonymous

Haha, well I guess I'm being overruled by his sex appeal.

Veinblood1965

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't find him the least bit annoying. But then I've known him 11 years now and am aware of his history and what he's been through.

And I still find him incredibly attractive, too.

He's my first cousin, I can introduce you for a bottle of skooma and 12 gold lol.

SilverBride

Veinblood1965 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I don't find him the least bit annoying. But then I've known him 11 years now and am aware of his history and what he's been through.

And I still find him incredibly attractive, too.

He's my first cousin, I can introduce you for a bottle of skooma and 12 gold lol.

I'm tempted!

Rohamad_Ali

Poor Darien got really bad problems. Nothing is worse then not knowing who one is. Yes, He was most annoying because he was never like that before Gabriel. Now it's Gabriel this Gabby that..

Syldras

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

Nothing is worse then not knowing who one is.

Only if one cares for categories.

Ilsabet

joshisanonymous wrote: »

Haha, well I guess I'm being overruled by his sex appeal.

This reminds me of the time years ago when a pair of sales reps stopped by the office where I was a receptionist. The woman and I (also a woman) got into a conversation about football player JJ Watt and the great game he'd had that weekend. The man was like "heh, I can see why you ladies like him." We just looked at him, and it wasn't until later that I realized he was implying that we only liked JJ Watt because he was cute and not, y'know, because he was a beast on the field.

I mean yeah, Darien is hot, but if you don't also appreciate who he is as a person and the way his character has grown over the course of the game (up to and including facing an existential crisis when he believes he can't live up to the purpose for which someone he cares dearly for made a huge sacrifice), then just being hot probably isn't gonna do that much for you. Fortunately, some of us do see what's below the surface and appreciate it, which is enough for us even if he's not everyone's cup of tea.

joshisanonymous

Ilsabet wrote: »

This reminds me of the time years ago when a pair of sales reps stopped by the office where I was a receptionist. The woman and I (also a woman) got into a conversation about football player JJ Watt and the great game he'd had that weekend. The man was like "heh, I can see why you ladies like him." We just looked at him, and it wasn't until later that I realized he was implying that we only liked JJ Watt because he was cute and not, y'know, because he was a beast on the field.

I mean yeah, Darien is hot, but if you don't also appreciate who he is as a person and the way his character has grown over the course of the game (up to and including facing an existential crisis when he believes he can't live up to the purpose for which someone he cares dearly for made a huge sacrifice), then just being hot probably isn't gonna do that much for you. Fortunately, some of us do see what's below the surface and appreciate it, which is enough for us even if he's not everyone's cup of tea.

I don't mind the identity crisis in general, but every dialogue I have with him involves having to convince him that he's the best guy in the world, after which he snaps out of it and is like, "Oh yeah, you're right. I am the best guy in the world!", and makes some corny joke. And it's a lot of dialogues like that, not just one or two. It's just really shoved down your throat throughout the whole Easter Solstice story. Rather than informing his character's behavior, it's the only behavior he has.

Ilsabet

joshisanonymous wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

This reminds me of the time years ago when a pair of sales reps stopped by the office where I was a receptionist. The woman and I (also a woman) got into a conversation about football player JJ Watt and the great game he'd had that weekend. The man was like "heh, I can see why you ladies like him." We just looked at him, and it wasn't until later that I realized he was implying that we only liked JJ Watt because he was cute and not, y'know, because he was a beast on the field.

I mean yeah, Darien is hot, but if you don't also appreciate who he is as a person and the way his character has grown over the course of the game (up to and including facing an existential crisis when he believes he can't live up to the purpose for which someone he cares dearly for made a huge sacrifice), then just being hot probably isn't gonna do that much for you. Fortunately, some of us do see what's below the surface and appreciate it, which is enough for us even if he's not everyone's cup of tea.

I don't mind the identity crisis in general, but every dialogue I have with him involves having to convince him that he's the best guy in the world, after which he snaps out of it and is like, "Oh yeah, you're right. I am the best guy in the world!", and makes some corny joke. And it's a lot of dialogues like that, not just one or two. It's just really shoved down your throat throughout the whole Easter Solstice story. Rather than informing his character's behavior, it's the only behavior he has.

Those conversations do get repetitive, mostly because they tend to follow the exact same beats (Darien feels bad about himself -> we give Darien a pep talk -> Darien feels better -> now we can go get stuff done). That's one of the few complaints I have about his writing in this story, but I also appreciate the acknowledgment that this kind of depression isn't something that gets fixed after one conversation, as much as the person might put on a brave face and pretend like everything's fine. (Compare that to something like Azah being sad about Merric and then we say one thing to him and he's fine.)

Darien using humor to cover up his insecurities and deflect from stressful situations is also a foundational part of his characterization, so I can't fault him for that. But that's also something that won't appeal to everyone, so YMMV.

AScarlato

Darien and Gabrielle are my favorite NPCs, so I can't relate. I'm also totally fine being emotional support for people/characters I care about.

joshisanonymous

Ilsabet wrote: »

I don't mind the identity crisis in general, but every dialogue I have with him involves having to convince him that he's the best guy in the world, after which he snaps out of it and is like, "Oh yeah, you're right. I am the best guy in the world!", and makes some corny joke. And it's a lot of dialogues like that, not just one or two. It's just really shoved down your throat throughout the whole Easter Solstice story. Rather than informing his character's behavior, it's the only behavior he has.

Those conversations do get repetitive, mostly because they tend to follow the exact same beats (Darien feels bad about himself -> we give Darien a pep talk -> Darien feels better -> now we can go get stuff done). That's one of the few complaints I have about his writing in this story, but I also appreciate the acknowledgment that this kind of depression isn't something that gets fixed after one conversation, as much as the person might put on a brave face and pretend like everything's fine. (Compare that to something like Azah being sad about Merric and then we say one thing to him and he's fine.)

Darien using humor to cover up his insecurities and deflect from stressful situations is also a foundational part of his characterization, so I can't fault him for that. But that's also something that won't appeal to everyone, so YMMV.

That's true: I wouldn't want him to suddenly feel fixed after one pep talk.

Jaimeh

I think the writers did Darien dirty in Solstice; it wasn't about him showing vulnerability--that was understandable and helped make him feel more realistic--it was the fact that it happened in almost every piece of dialogue, and it became repetitive to the point that it felt tiresome to keep having to reassure him. And the repetition felt a little out-of-character as well, because Darien would have known better and leave the heart-to-heart until after the impending doom was taken care of, or at least not in every chance the Vestige had to speak with him. I didn't romance him for my character, but I generally like him, and honestly I prefer to think of him the way he was before Solstice.

AScarlato

Jaimeh wrote: »

I think the writers did Darien dirty in Solstice; it wasn't about him showing vulnerability--that was understandable and helped make him feel more realistic--it was the fact that it happened in almost every piece of dialogue, and it became repetitive to the point that it felt tiresome to keep having to reassure him. And the repetition felt a little out-of-character as well, because Darien would have known better and leave the heart-to-heart until after the impending doom was taken care of, or at least not in every chance the Vestige had to speak with him. I didn't romance him for my character, but I generally like him, and honestly I prefer to think of him the way he was before Solstice.

I personally thought it was worse throwing in a random bread joke where they did over the emotional issues. Just felt so random and forced given the situation. Also I never really thought the ongoing bread obsession was even good humor to begin with.

Ilsabet

The bread thing is literally this meme.

SilverBride

What is the bread thing?

metheglyn

SilverBride wrote: »

What is the bread thing?

He ate bread once during a quest. In Rivenspire, I think it was.

SilverBride

metheglyn wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

What is the bread thing?

He ate bread once during a quest. In Rivenspire, I think it was.

Is that enough for it to be considered a "thing"?

metheglyn

SilverBride wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

What is the bread thing?

He ate bread once during a quest. In Rivenspire, I think it was.

Is that enough for it to be considered a "thing"?

Not for me, but it seems to have become one. I think ZOS even features bread in some of the official art they use for him.

Ilsabet

I think he actively eats bread like twice in the base game (at the Lion Guard camp in Glenumbra and then in the infamous shirtless scene in Rivenspire), but fans kind of glommed onto that and started calling him bread boy and drawing art of him with bread and such, not to an excessive extent but enough for it to become associated with him. And now in Solstice the writers have gone overboard with having him mention bread in every other conversation.

SilverBride

I guess I just never noticed.

AScarlato

metheglyn wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

What is the bread thing?

He ate bread once during a quest. In Rivenspire, I think it was.

Perhaps if you only have played half of the DC storyline - it's much more now. (He ate it twice in DC/Base Game).

SilverBride wrote: »

I guess I just never noticed.

How is that even possible? It's always so jarring and out of place.

They even have him ask about bread 2 minutes after Gabrielle's death.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Darien_Gautier

You can search for bread in his script and he brings it up about 8 times just in Solstice. They even give our PC a dialogue option with bread in it.

Anyway this over-reliance on bread for characterization really is just another addition to my rolling my eyes at some of the writing direction. Also just distracting given what is supposed to be a more serious storyline.

SilverBride

Bread is a common word and it's not unusual for someone to eat it, so it never stood out to me.

metheglyn

AScarlato wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

What is the bread thing?

He ate bread once during a quest. In Rivenspire, I think it was.

Perhaps if you only have played half of the DC storyline - it's much more now. (He ate it twice in DC/Base Game).

I've played the entire DC storyline; I just don't remember him eating bread more than once, though I don't dispute that he did. Someone eating bread isn't that remarkable, in and of itself. He's certainly not the only npc to ever hold onto a loaf of bread. Anyway, I never really associated him with bread, though I was aware other people did.

AScarlato

Well, I envy your ability to not notice these things; likely makes the writing styles more enjoyable than it is for me.

xbluerosesx

Ilsabet wrote: »

The bread thing is literally this meme.

that's what writers call flanderization