165. Ilya Platiere
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It would be really, really funny if they played it straight and had some kind of 'Excess estrogen detected in the rivers of Erebonia' news article in Daybreak.
I originally had Ilya a decent bit higher actually. Well, on my 'concept of a list' that I had in my head before I actually made it. She wasn't crazy high, but she definitely wasn't low tier. Then I played Reverie. Man, the phrase "character assassination" is not strong enough here.
I don't know why they felt like they had to make her into a villain for what is virtually no reason. There is no payoff from her plotline. I think they just wanted an excuse to put her into a more revealing outfit? That's basically the only thing they gained from saying 'Hey, let's stick another fucking mind control mask on someone, the people love those, right?' I swear to god if I see a mask in Daybreak I'm just turning the game off. I'm so, so tired. You know who's got a cool mask? Bleublanc. If they say that he's been mind controlled at some point I actually will just quit the franchise on the spot. They would never do that to me though, surely.
Ilya to me was a pretty fun character during the Crossbell arc. I liked that she was kind of a diva, singularly focused on her dancing at the expense of everything else in her life. The sexual harrassment stuff, eh. It was funnier when Mariabell did it. I don't know why they needed two blonde women groping people in Crossbell, that's a bit overkill. But throughout the games she was a decent source of comic relief otherwise. Though when she had her whole coma arc, that obviously killed the mood a bit. I don't want to say it, but seeing people in hospitals is depressing, man. I feel bad for her and all but it did lower how much enjoyment I got out of the character, plain and simple. She spent the next half of the series just sitting in a hospital bed, so not much good came from that that helps her spot here.
But then Reverie just put the final nails in the coffin. They used an industrial strength nail gun. It was probably the straw that broke the camel's back for me too; I was already annoyed with Victor but then the next game they do it to Ilya and it just frustrated me to no end. Everything about the 'Dusken Dancer' plotline was tedious and brought no enjoyment to me. I guess other than seeing Rixia and Elie team up to take her down, but it's not like that hadn't happened before in Azure. Seeing it in 3D was nice! I mean I enjoyed Reverie, but that plotline was a miss.
Ultimately I really wish they had gone a different direction with her character, because Ilya in Zero really is a high tier character for me. They clearly put all their love into Rixia instead. I mean, I don't really blame them, but...well, hopefully Ilya can rest in peace from here on out.