(03-05-2014, 06:12 AM)LandStander Wrote: I think you are taking the "brainwash" quote a bit too serious. From my understanding, they are simply fed tons of propaganda (as do all countries do to their soldiers) to make sure that they believe that what they are doing is right. You can get someone to murder innocents and even children if you can get them to believe it is for the greater good. Just look at the stuff we train our soldiers to do in the Middle East.
Being a Garlean soldier doesn't mean you have to act like a brainwashed robot waiting for someone to input your commands. Every soldier will have their own personality (as we even seen in the main story line) and have lives that exist outside of the military. There is nothing wrong with playing a quirky soldier or perhaps one that takes things too far. Being an oddball or jokester does not mean that you are not part of a well trained division of soldiers, as long as you know when you are in uniform you have to cut the crap.
I do agree that just slapping the term "Garlean" on a character to just do horrible things to seem like a villain is extremely lame though. They have culture, personality, and to them they are doing the right thing by trying to rid the world of beastmen in order to save the planet. Garlamald is an empire, and just like any empire it will constantly invade other countries until it conquers all. Eorzea is probably seen as a place filled with people who worship primals (the beastmen primals and the Twelve seem to share some traits) and ally themselves with beastmen (the slyphs) allowing them to continue to drain the world of aether to summon the power of their false gods whose mere existence threatens everything.
I am happy to see that someone else is interested in doing the Garlean thing though. There are so few Garlean characters out there and it will be great to see more full-timers.
I don't know if that was directed toward me or Amarchia, but if it's meant for me, that's not what I'm saying at all. In fact, that's what I'm arguing against. x_x Someone can believe in a cause and follow orders yet still have a personality, and even doubts from time to time. "Senselessly rebellious" isn't the only personality-type in the world; that's just silly. However, rebelling against orders or being reckless would get a Garlean soldier executed or otherwise harshly punished. In real life, most of us follow laws and usually behave in general, and believe in the values our society teaches us--I don't think that makes any of us boring or personality-less.
