I’m not only a clown, I’m all the circus. Every week after I known as him Genshin’s most annoying character, Scaramouche’s storyline crushed my coronary heart into itty-bitty items and brought on me to spend gacha foreign money on him. Ever since Genshin launched two years in the past, gamers have been grumbling nonstop that the dialogue selections within the story “didn’t imply something.” Now it lastly does, and I agonized over it final night time for a number of hours. This was in all probability probably the most tough alternative that I’ve made in any online game this 12 months.
Scaramouche is a recurring villain who’s been a ache within the ass since his debut again in November 2020. He at all times had a impolite persona, however he first earned my ire for serving to to create weapons that killed their unknowing wielders. A number of months later, I discovered that he was utilizing a stolen divine object to remake himself as a god. Once more, I perceive that is all from a textbook villain arc, however what actually irritated me was his superior angle. He’s a synthetic puppet who feels deserted by his creator, however that doesn’t actually excuse his horrible persona. Or his want to grow to be a god-tyrant.
The newest important story quest makes an attempt to redeem him. After we defeated his god type within the final patch, he turned an assistant to the God of Knowledge. She confirmed him a traumatic reminiscence from his previous that proved his family members hadn’t betrayed him. The revelation was so stunning that Scaramouche tried to erase himself from actuality utilizing a fantasy supercomputer. It labored, form of. The world created one other model of him to interchange the one which disappeared on this new timeline. That’s the one that you simply pull within the character gacha. Extra importantly, you get to present him a brand new identify. This identify will seem in all cutscenes and interface textual content. Whereas that is regular for a recreation like Pokémon, having the ability to rename playable characters is a primary for any gacha character that I do know of.
Right here’s the catch, although: The brand new man gained’t simply settle for any identify. Gamers report that you simply can’t give him his old name. You can also’t identify him after the mother who “abandoned” him. He rejects any names based on his former coworkers, since they’d abused and exploited him. He has a customized response to every rejected identify, which some have identified is just like the naming mechanic in Undertale. If you happen to determine to present him your individual identify, he expresses approval. The sport will let you rename him sooner or later, however warns that it will probably solely be accomplished a restricted variety of occasions. The builders actually need you to be considerate about naming the character and deal with it as significantly as names deserve.
I used to be pleasantly shocked by the method, as a result of naming online game characters can usually be a means of stripping company from them. It’s grow to be a meme to present the rival a humiliating identify in Pokémon Crimson and Blue. However by demonstrating clear preferences towards particular names, the Scaramouche clone feels extra like a “actual” individual to me. Giving him a reputation didn’t simply really feel like a matter of private aesthetics. It felt like I used to be fulfilling a selected emotional want that he had been denied for thus lengthy. Regardless of all of this, you’ll be able to nonetheless identify him Bootyshaker69 or biggestchungus. One popular identify that has swept via the fandom is “babygirl.”
Fortunately, lots of people are extra considerate about it. Some individuals are making lists of potential names like they’re a primary time father or mother. One fan even created a whole Google Survey to ask different gamers about which identify they’d picked. Others are wanting up the meanings of sure Japanese names, since his homeland relies on Japan. Actually, that is simply such an unimaginable gameplay expertise. I can’t consider every other inventive medium that would compel gamers to place a lot effort into simulating the expertise of selecting somebody’s identify. In choice-centric video games, I’m used to creating selections about which NPCs dwell and which of them die. This one took me on an emotional choice making course of that felt completely private.
I used to be met with a conundrum. Names are new beginnings. It’s inconceivable to make use of names to explain the previous or current. So I gave him a reputation that represented my hopes for his future. Shohei (soar, even/flat) appeared to suit his new wind-based Anemo aspect. And identical to his mom, I additionally needed to present Shohei some freedom and company—however with out the tragedy that Scaramouche skilled. His earlier incarnation felt deserted whereas he wandered the world. Wherever Shohei goes in his new life, I hope he goes with objective.