OOC - Personality Breakdown
This is the first OOC post I'm doing on this journal. Ominous. :O
...And it's me ranting about the character. Because Serph has no visible personality in canon, this will be me trying to analyze what personality he does have. This is partially to give him more of a personality, and partially to help me figure out where I want to go with him... As opposed to the current nowhere.
Now, I'm warning ahead - I play Serph the way I responded with him while playing DDS. I refused to betray the Maribel, refused to attack Heat in the amusement park and my response during the mansion query was "It doesn't matter.". Finally, in the end of DDS2, I had Heat in my party.
I'll start with figuring out what is known about Serph. First of all, Serph isn't one character. He's three chars, with each next one depending on the previous one and a bunch of outside effects.
First is Serph who existed before the Junkyard. I'll lovingly name him Serph v1.0. At first glance, he's soft-spoken, charismatic and a genius psychiatrist who is doing his job. Beyond the facade, though, is a manipulative bastard who will do anything to achieve what he wants. For him, people divide into tools to use, obstacles to exterminate and everyone else who can be ignored. He throws huge temper tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. From his attitude, I suspect he's a spoiled brat from a rich family who never learned how to treat people because he didn't have to.
Serph 2.0 was created by Sera and is everything she wanted Serph 1.0 to be. He's kind, loving and gentle... And nothing more. He's there to fill Sera's need for a knight in shining armor and is completely dependent on her. There's not much of a personality there.
Finally, Serph 3.0 is the one you play as. He's an AI created for the Asura program and only existed as data until recently. Despite him (and his butt) having the most screentime, his personality very hard to analyze. Generally, he's considered to be an amalgam of Serph 1.0 and Serph 2.0. Let's see how much of it is true.
The first thing noticed about Serph is that he's very quiet. His body language is minimal and he only says simple sentences when he has to say things. He does smile and scowl sometimes, but that's mostly portrayed with his eyes' expression. Otherwise, he's a very silent type. Something that drives Heat completely nuts.
Serph inherited a lot of v2.0, even if he no longer limits his affections to Sera. He has a strong sense of loyalty, to the point where he won't betray a person if they trust him - even if the person is a former enemy. He trusts his comrades to make their choices in life, he's happy if things work out and ready to support to them in difficult times. He won't hurt an ally even if circumstances demand it.
Serph deeply cares for his friends, but it's hard to notice if you don't read into him. He always tries to fill in the role they miss in their lives, a comrade for Gale, a rival for Heat and a sibling for Argilla and Cielo. While it's a generous existence, it's also a problematic one - while Serph has roles to play for his friends, he doesn't have a role of his own. He probably realizes that his existence will become pointless when everyone in the Embryon finds their place in the world and won't need him anymore, but prefers to not think about it.
Did he inherit anything from v1.0? Judging from how Serph treats situations Embryon gets into, a lot of it. He's ruthless and vicious toward his enemies, he easily adapts to his surroundings and has no problems with killing to get the job done - just look at the cold precision he uses to kill the officers in DDS2's opening. And judging from how he shatters Angel's control in the end of DDS1, something a program shouldn't be able to do, he lets nothing stop him from achieving his goals.
Overall, while Serph won't admit it, he's an 'end justifies the means' type of person. While there are things he won't do, he's otherwise ready to kill, threaten and brainwash people in order to achieve his goals and keep Embryon safe.
I instinctively avoid adding anything to his canon, which I consider to be one of the problems with my playing of him. While the photography and scrapbook things felt logical from how I play him, other things just don't seem to fit very well.
These days, I'm trying to figure out where to go next with him. Since we're having a plot planned out currently, I'm planning to feed him information on his past and probably make up something to involve the original Varna. I'm also thinking of finding him a job in New York City. So far, the ideas were a photographer and a policeman. I'm trying to decide which one would be more natural for the char.
Well, this is it. Serph is one of the chars I had problems figuring out. I had to read into the cutscenes pretty hard. :B
...And it's me ranting about the character. Because Serph has no visible personality in canon, this will be me trying to analyze what personality he does have. This is partially to give him more of a personality, and partially to help me figure out where I want to go with him... As opposed to the current nowhere.
Now, I'm warning ahead - I play Serph the way I responded with him while playing DDS. I refused to betray the Maribel, refused to attack Heat in the amusement park and my response during the mansion query was "It doesn't matter.". Finally, in the end of DDS2, I had Heat in my party.
I'll start with figuring out what is known about Serph. First of all, Serph isn't one character. He's three chars, with each next one depending on the previous one and a bunch of outside effects.
First is Serph who existed before the Junkyard. I'll lovingly name him Serph v1.0. At first glance, he's soft-spoken, charismatic and a genius psychiatrist who is doing his job. Beyond the facade, though, is a manipulative bastard who will do anything to achieve what he wants. For him, people divide into tools to use, obstacles to exterminate and everyone else who can be ignored. He throws huge temper tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. From his attitude, I suspect he's a spoiled brat from a rich family who never learned how to treat people because he didn't have to.
Serph 2.0 was created by Sera and is everything she wanted Serph 1.0 to be. He's kind, loving and gentle... And nothing more. He's there to fill Sera's need for a knight in shining armor and is completely dependent on her. There's not much of a personality there.
Finally, Serph 3.0 is the one you play as. He's an AI created for the Asura program and only existed as data until recently. Despite him (and his butt) having the most screentime, his personality very hard to analyze. Generally, he's considered to be an amalgam of Serph 1.0 and Serph 2.0. Let's see how much of it is true.
The first thing noticed about Serph is that he's very quiet. His body language is minimal and he only says simple sentences when he has to say things. He does smile and scowl sometimes, but that's mostly portrayed with his eyes' expression. Otherwise, he's a very silent type. Something that drives Heat completely nuts.
Serph inherited a lot of v2.0, even if he no longer limits his affections to Sera. He has a strong sense of loyalty, to the point where he won't betray a person if they trust him - even if the person is a former enemy. He trusts his comrades to make their choices in life, he's happy if things work out and ready to support to them in difficult times. He won't hurt an ally even if circumstances demand it.
Serph deeply cares for his friends, but it's hard to notice if you don't read into him. He always tries to fill in the role they miss in their lives, a comrade for Gale, a rival for Heat and a sibling for Argilla and Cielo. While it's a generous existence, it's also a problematic one - while Serph has roles to play for his friends, he doesn't have a role of his own. He probably realizes that his existence will become pointless when everyone in the Embryon finds their place in the world and won't need him anymore, but prefers to not think about it.
Did he inherit anything from v1.0? Judging from how Serph treats situations Embryon gets into, a lot of it. He's ruthless and vicious toward his enemies, he easily adapts to his surroundings and has no problems with killing to get the job done - just look at the cold precision he uses to kill the officers in DDS2's opening. And judging from how he shatters Angel's control in the end of DDS1, something a program shouldn't be able to do, he lets nothing stop him from achieving his goals.
Overall, while Serph won't admit it, he's an 'end justifies the means' type of person. While there are things he won't do, he's otherwise ready to kill, threaten and brainwash people in order to achieve his goals and keep Embryon safe.
I instinctively avoid adding anything to his canon, which I consider to be one of the problems with my playing of him. While the photography and scrapbook things felt logical from how I play him, other things just don't seem to fit very well.
These days, I'm trying to figure out where to go next with him. Since we're having a plot planned out currently, I'm planning to feed him information on his past and probably make up something to involve the original Varna. I'm also thinking of finding him a job in New York City. So far, the ideas were a photographer and a policeman. I'm trying to decide which one would be more natural for the char.
Well, this is it. Serph is one of the chars I had problems figuring out. I had to read into the cutscenes pretty hard. :B