I already know, so why won't you just say it?

Really enjoyed the moment where you get to fight as Thancred, it was up there with fighting as Hien/Lyse/Yugiri in terms of how tense it felt and how desperately you had to hold that line.

Maybe I'm just melee/tank trash tho, I don't fucking understand mages and healing in this game yet, so having to fight as Alphy and Y'shtola was just giving me Arishok war flashbacks....

Anyway, that was a good moment, would have been nice to see him at all try to convince this poor little girl that he DOESN'T hate her or resent her or think she's weak or useless beforehand, but.

Well, I guess he really is her father-figure, he's as emotionally unavailable as the real thing.

Minfilia becoming Ryne and reconciling with Thancred is on paper a good moment. It... would have been nice to have seen this super special deep bond he had with original Minfilia back when they had the chance in ARR but the writing and voice acting were so weak we never got the chance. I guess you had to play 1.0 to unlock that catharsis.

I think they salvaged it as much as they could here in Shadowbringers by at least making it a bit clearer through having Thancred fucking open up a little bit that yeah, he maybe he did keep the original Minfilia at arms' length because of the guilt he felt for her father's death. What he's feeling now is regret for not being there for her more when he had the chance, not just, "I failed to protect her."

The two Minfilias conversing and then everyone talking about how much the originals "kindness and compassion and unyielding character" will live on through the chance she gave Ryne. And I'm like... are you sure we mean the same Minfilia?

Idk, I know there is a tendency for a narrative to place dead characters upon a sacred altar once they die. I've seen it happen with Aerith and Haurchefant, but the difference here is those characters had... fucking personalities that you missed when they were gone, lol. And even then, those serene angelic qualities attributed to Aerith and Haurchefant are actually really depressing because those are two characters who were so fun and vibrant and full of vim and fire. That was the point of them. That's why their loss hurts so much. Minfilia was just... kinda there. Then she wasn't. Her role in the Scions was so fucking expendable that they literally didn't bother to replace her once she died because yeah, we don't... need a useless figurehead. She didn't even have enough moral conviction on her own to refuse blood money from the monetarists in Ul'dah without her mommy around.

This new little girl was born into a dying world with an impossible burden placed on her shoulders and given no chance at a life, a name, or an identity of her own. She was held to impossible standards despite having not one moment of agency and bore the burden of Thancred's anguish and ire directed at her every day for three solid fucking years, hating herself for not being the real savior these people wanted and needed to deliver them from Doom. She was willing to die just to secure a shortcut to access the strength and power she needed to be of any use to people because the world was running out of time.

You got a way better daughter out of this deal, Thancred. I'm glad he finally accept that she's here to stay and that she's a good kid in her own right and she needs him to be the adult here and be there for her. Now hug this girl and tell her you're proud of her or I'll fucking kill you myself.