Can we have more male characters in the main story?
I don’t know how other people see it, but I really think the main story could benefit from having more male characters in the main cast. I know Wulfguard had a sizable enough role in Valley IV, but Wuling has been really dry with male characters.
Lifeng and Dan Pan for the most part are pretty irrelevant characters in the story. They are nice when they do show up, but they only show up twice all things considered. Ardashir has more relevance to the story but:
A) He is a villain
B) As such, he has sparse appearances
C) When he does show up, he kind of just vague posts a bunch and then dips
I’m not saying that I don’t like Ardashir as a character, nor that he won’t be a more important character in the future. I am intrigued by what he has to offer for the story/world, as well as the lore. But I think it’s fair to say that up until now (and most likely in 1.3 too), he’s played a more passive role in the story so far.
Obviously, what caused me to type this up was Camille. I was very excited when he was revealed, not only because his design was cool, but because we might finally be getting more male characters in the story. However, in the livestream, it’s confirmed that he will only be appearing in a side story in Valley IV. I’ll make it clear this does not mean him as a character or the story itself will be bad, as we’ve seen with Laevatain. But it does confirm he probably won’t be showing up in the main story, at least not anytime soon. I still look forward to the mission, but I still find it disappointing.
Now, why does this matter? In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t the biggest issue. OG Arknights players will know that the main story relevance of a character is not indicative of their relevance overall, since side stories/events are the real meat of the story. However, I think that it’s worth pointing out because I think it brings down the main story. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy waifus as much as the next guy. But would it really kill Hypergryph to have a male character that is as relevant to the cast as Zhuang Fangyi/Mi Fu/ Tang Tang/Li Zhiyuan? We have an abundance of female characters in Wuling, a little diversity would be nice to change things up, especially since the main trio is locked with Endmin/Perlica/Chen.
Obviously, gender diversity isn’t the biggest problem with the main story, we all know this. But I think more male characters could bring a refreshing change of pace for the story, which I think is valuable because I WANT the main story to be the best it can be.
Let me know what you guys think, I’m open to discussion. And sorry about the ramble, but this topic has been on my mind for a while with this game.