Why the bashing?
I'm not too active in forums, or roleplay, or even the Pit, but in what little I participate in--and even in some communities here on LiveJournal--I see a surprising amount of Jaffar bashing, and it's a little...confusing, to tell the truth.
So, since the bashing is almost unanimous--with one or two Jaffar fans defending him and getting their heads bitten off in the process--I figure there's no better way to introduce myself in a new community than by defending him.
Jaffar's way too emo. He needs to cheer up!
While I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's emo--a title I reserve for specific people that really need to shut up--I will admit that he's very depressing. But who wouldn't be, in his position? In later chapters, we learn that Nergal found him--this alone arouses suspicion.
Let's take a small side trip to Nergal and his Morph-posse, then--Nergal is an asshole. Plain and simple. He is egotistical, he is power-hungry, and he is just an all-around scathing type of person. And his Morphs? With Ephidel, the ego is watered down a bit, Limstella is minus the mean-spiritedness, and Sonia? Don't get me started. And Jaffar has had to grow up in this. It's all he's ever known, is black-hearted people, not to mention the pressure from the start to be the best killer out there.
I'd agree that his gloominess could stand to lighten up by a lot, but considering that he's travelling with people that vrey likely hate him, that can't happen, and I must say that I'd be disappointed if it did.
And let's not forget Nino's influence. Bright, chipper, ever-happy Nino has--under the right conditions--gotten Jaffar, supposed heartless Angel of Death, to say Those Three Words and have a family, a concept that until then, Jaffar had been apathetic, and borderline disgusted by.
So no, Jaffar's not emo!cutter!goth!-type thing. He's a normal human, and he's acting like one.
OMG JAFFARNINO! EWWWW, PEDO!
...(Sigh) This argument...it just...(sigh).
Allow me to clarify. Nino? She's not ten. She's not six, or anything in between. She is fourteen.
And Jaffar? No, he's not twenty-five, or twenty, or even eighteen. He's only sixteen.
Meaning that their relationship is perfectly legal, and okay, and commonly practiced among people in general. Hell, I even asked my dad on this one--my old fashioned "Touch my daughter, I kick your ass" father--and he agreed with me.
What really gets me are the OswinSerra shippers that say this. Don't get me wrong--I'd so get the Oswin-Serra A support if I wasn't currently going for Lucius-Serra. Hell, I still might, and just go for B and LuSer, but come on, fandom. A 30-someodd and an 17-year old is perfectly okay, but a two year difference, and the guy has to go to hell? Wtf?
He's a pre-classed unit! OMG, Jeigan! DIE!
Yes, he's pre-classed. Yes, you get him late in the game.
No, he does not suck. In fact, on several of the games I've played, I've had both Legault and Matthew at the same level as Jaffar, and the stats never seem to be quite as good.
So, to reiterrate, Jaffar kicks ass. If you think he sucks so much, don't get him, you masochists.
He killed Leila. Hector and Matthew need to jump him srslylieknao.
But Ephidel is teh smex? And how about Raven? In the chapter you get Raven, he's very likely to kill off every guard that's helping you, which...isn't nice.
Besides, Jaffar and Matthew talked that out. They're not exactly BFF now, but Matthew starts to see him as a human being in their A support, and some of the tension of that point is pretty much gone.
So yeah, he killed Leila, but it was his job, and if you take the time to get Matthew's A support with him, and keep levelling him up, then he's working on repenting.
So come on, fanthings. Give Jaffar a break. =/
So, since the bashing is almost unanimous--with one or two Jaffar fans defending him and getting their heads bitten off in the process--I figure there's no better way to introduce myself in a new community than by defending him.
Jaffar's way too emo. He needs to cheer up!
While I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's emo--a title I reserve for specific people that really need to shut up--I will admit that he's very depressing. But who wouldn't be, in his position? In later chapters, we learn that Nergal found him--this alone arouses suspicion.
Let's take a small side trip to Nergal and his Morph-posse, then--Nergal is an asshole. Plain and simple. He is egotistical, he is power-hungry, and he is just an all-around scathing type of person. And his Morphs? With Ephidel, the ego is watered down a bit, Limstella is minus the mean-spiritedness, and Sonia? Don't get me started. And Jaffar has had to grow up in this. It's all he's ever known, is black-hearted people, not to mention the pressure from the start to be the best killer out there.
I'd agree that his gloominess could stand to lighten up by a lot, but considering that he's travelling with people that vrey likely hate him, that can't happen, and I must say that I'd be disappointed if it did.
And let's not forget Nino's influence. Bright, chipper, ever-happy Nino has--under the right conditions--gotten Jaffar, supposed heartless Angel of Death, to say Those Three Words and have a family, a concept that until then, Jaffar had been apathetic, and borderline disgusted by.
So no, Jaffar's not emo!cutter!goth!-type thing. He's a normal human, and he's acting like one.
OMG JAFFARNINO! EWWWW, PEDO!
...(Sigh) This argument...it just...(sigh).
Allow me to clarify. Nino? She's not ten. She's not six, or anything in between. She is fourteen.
And Jaffar? No, he's not twenty-five, or twenty, or even eighteen. He's only sixteen.
Meaning that their relationship is perfectly legal, and okay, and commonly practiced among people in general. Hell, I even asked my dad on this one--my old fashioned "Touch my daughter, I kick your ass" father--and he agreed with me.
What really gets me are the OswinSerra shippers that say this. Don't get me wrong--I'd so get the Oswin-Serra A support if I wasn't currently going for Lucius-Serra. Hell, I still might, and just go for B and LuSer, but come on, fandom. A 30-someodd and an 17-year old is perfectly okay, but a two year difference, and the guy has to go to hell? Wtf?
He's a pre-classed unit! OMG, Jeigan! DIE!
Yes, he's pre-classed. Yes, you get him late in the game.
No, he does not suck. In fact, on several of the games I've played, I've had both Legault and Matthew at the same level as Jaffar, and the stats never seem to be quite as good.
So, to reiterrate, Jaffar kicks ass. If you think he sucks so much, don't get him, you masochists.
He killed Leila. Hector and Matthew need to jump him srslylieknao.
But Ephidel is teh smex? And how about Raven? In the chapter you get Raven, he's very likely to kill off every guard that's helping you, which...isn't nice.
Besides, Jaffar and Matthew talked that out. They're not exactly BFF now, but Matthew starts to see him as a human being in their A support, and some of the tension of that point is pretty much gone.
So yeah, he killed Leila, but it was his job, and if you take the time to get Matthew's A support with him, and keep levelling him up, then he's working on repenting.
So come on, fanthings. Give Jaffar a break. =/