Anyone else feel like the characters are kinda boring?

[SHIZAAAAA]

Playing this right after finishing hades 1 for the first time and i feel almost disappointed i guess(?) with the characters. While in the first game i cant wait to finish an attempt so i can get new dialogues, i find myself almost wanting to skip them i this one. None of the new characters seem interesting, most of them seem way too serious in a boring way, and the ones that are supposed to be more comedic, like Dora and Narcissus, don't even come close to the funny interactions with Dusa or Theseus. Even most of the gods from the first game feel stripped of their uniqueness and the new ones range from "they're here i guess" to borderline bad (i have a lot of problems with how Hestia is portrayed but maybe it is too early to judge), and Melinoe herself lacks any form of charm her brother had. I get that the tone is more serious than the first game but serious doesn't have to mean boring. Anyways, i'm still enjoying the game overall and hope the rest of the game proves me wrong

[Pi]

Originally posted by Demon Swords:

I think the issue is most characters feel indifferent or actually hate Melonie and Melonie is a bit too serous to have interesting conversations with those type of characters. Melonie is also a little too flat and needs to be more emotional. Zagrues and the hade's 1 story was a lot more jovial, so Zagrues would joke with just about everyone even on those that hated him (so the conversations were actually fun.) And on the few serous parts Zagrues could get really emotional making the scenes impactful.

- At first I liked the Dora + Melonie dynamic felt like friends messing around, but after awhile I realized Dora really doesn't care about anything and Melonie doesn't call Dora out on it. Every single time Melonie says she does anything (whether good or bad) Dora will respond saying she either doesn't care or doesn't understand and then conversation pretty much just ends.
- I also had a bit of anticipation about Hecate and how much she is denying she is Melonie's Mother. Whether she is in actual denial, trying not to disrespect Melonie real mother, or if she is trying to be distant so Melonie meeting her mother is more meaningful, I was wondering which it could be. But they didn't really expand upon it past the hide and seek flashback. Nyx and Zagreus had a nearly identical relationship, but it was a lot clearly about how much Nyx cared for Zagreus (like when Nemessis claimed Helecate was using Melonie I could actually believe it, definitely would not do the same for Nyx.)
- Nemesis starts really hating you then eventually only hating you a little.
- Herculas doesn't even want to talk to you at first (because he hates the Gods) then he eventually tolerates you enough for small talk.
- Narcisses doesn't want to talk to you because he is afraid of being loved, then he only talks to vent about his struggles.

The only Olympian I like is Hermes because he is just so confident and brags about how he messes with the other Gods. Most of the other gods feels stiff and never mention what they or the others are doing in the literal war they are fighting in. I want to hear the interesting ways the Gods are using their power to completely devastate the Cronos Army. I want hear the Gods gossip about how the other Gods messed up (especially between Gods that hate each other, or the parents bashing their children in a fatherly/motherly way)

The only other new characters I like is Archane and Circe. Archane is very kind but also Multi dimensional in how much she hates the Gods and conflicted about Melonie trying to help the Gods. Circe I also like partially because of her kindness but also how unashemedly herself she is. She just wants to chill on her island being all peaceful and maybe she will report on the war while she is at it.

I guess I also like most of the Villains (especially Scylla and Eris) because they are just so shameless and messes with Meloine (a little too serous of a character). I know some people hate Theseus for Hades 1, but he and the Minotaur were my favorite bosses. Zagreus called out Theseus for his bullsh*t lies. Zagreus and the Minotaur eventually had a mutual respect causing Zagreus to start calling out Thesues for how abusive he is to the Minotaur. A lying scumbag getting roasted, a mutual respect between enemies, and a character arc. it was a fun three way dynamic to me.

We have several characters that have a cold-hate relationship with Melonie that really only changes to be slightly better.

THISSS.

-Dora was fun the first 2 times I talked to her. After that, I can't handle her attitude any more. What's the point of having her there? She gives 0 fcks about anyone and anything. Hypnos always has sth to say about Zag's death.
-I think they try to make it clear Hecate is not the mum figure because they probably make Hecate a possible love interest?
-Nemesis is basically Meg but Than. Meg in attitude but Than as a role.
-Moros is Than but less personality.
-Odysseys is Achilles but also 0 personality.
-Selene is basically "I'm shinning on u", "you go girl", "us moon girls rule the world"

And so I absolutely agree about the gods, oh god they are boring now. They can focus on fighting and STILL be interesting and fun. They can still sht on each other or report about what's going on. Or maybe the environments can change or their dialogue can change reflecting how well/bad Melinoe is doing.

[Simple Tora]

A lot of people seem to keep comparing personalities as if the tone of both games aren't drastically different. Zag was a rebelling "teen" basically who was just breaking out of hell to spite his father and learn more about their mom. Everything was fine though overall.

Hades 2 Mel is basically, from birth, trained to stop an opposing force that the entire might of olympus to stop. This is brought up in dialogue that apparently most of you are skipping but a lot of the characters are missing their humor due to their roles/current events and eventually you do change them a bit. Lots of the complaining i'm seeing regarding personality has a reason for it. They are literally at war not trying to kill boredom like they were with Zag.

I do agree SOME of the VA and personalities could be a bit better like Odysseus is just uninteresting all around, character, va, lore etc. but most of these complaints are just ignorant

[Pi]

Originally posted by SHIZAAAAA:

Playing this right after finishing hades 1 for the first time and i feel almost disappointed i guess(?) with the characters. While in the first game i cant wait to finish an attempt so i can get new dialogues, i find myself almost wanting to skip them i this one. None of the new characters seem interesting, most of them seem way too serious in a boring way, and the ones that are supposed to be more comedic, like Dora and Narcissus, don't even come close to the funny interactions with Dusa or Theseus. Even most of the gods from the first game feel stripped of their uniqueness and the new ones range from "they're here i guess" to borderline bad (i have a lot of problems with how Hestia is portrayed but maybe it is too early to judge), and Melinoe herself lacks any form of charm her brother had. I get that the tone is more serious than the first game but serious doesn't have to mean boring. Anyways, i'm still enjoying the game overall and hope the rest of the game proves me wrong

I'm fine with Melinoe being up tight because how can she be lax and chill and take things lightly when her whole life, everything is about vengeance. Even Chaos acknowledge what a snooze fest Melinoe is and I think it's cute.
Zag thought Nyx was his mom and was given love and care, even grew up with "siblings". Melinoe was taught from day 1 that she needs to take down Chronos. Even when Hecate tried to give her some childhood, it was still about vengeance. Then when she relatively old enough, everything around her is crumpling down.
And to add to that, while I think Melinoe's VA is still doing a good job, she is no where near Zag's VA. I noticed that she said some same stuff with what Zag said but just sounded boring.

[mauxrhee]

The first game was a wildly different tone compared to "Here's a newly minted young adult who has been in a deific level constant war since birth, trained with the singular purpose to end this constant war, with anyone who could help her being under constant siege that is taking every single gods effort to just survive."

This isn't a silly funny romp of a silly funny angsty teenager. This is the very desperate fight of someone who very well may be the only person who can save her family. It's made the funny moments all the funnier for it.

[Demon Swords]

Originally posted by Simple Tora:

A lot of people seem to keep comparing personalities as if the tone of both games aren't drastically different. Zag was a rebelling "teen" basically who was just breaking out of hell to spite his father and learn more about their mom. Everything was fine though overall.

Hades 2 Mel is basically, from birth, trained to stop an opposing force that the entire might of olympus to stop. This is brought up in dialogue that apparently most of you are skipping but a lot of the characters are missing their humor due to their roles/current events and eventually you do change them a bit. Lots of the complaining i'm seeing regarding personality has a reason for it. They are literally at war not trying to kill boredom like they were with Zag.

I do agree SOME of the VA and personalities could be a bit better like Odysseus is just uninteresting all around, character, va, lore etc. but most of these complaints are just ignorant

I do acknowledge that those things happened and could lead someone to be a serous and single mined character, but Melinoe doesn't have the personality or drive to match it. If she actually was 100% serous about taking down Cronos, she should forcefully shut-up all the ridiculous bosses that are stopping her for little to no reason.

- Hecate: After you fight her a few times to prove your "worthy", why does she keep fighting you? If Melonie is really supposed to be single minded about fighting, she should get angry at her master for constantly wasting her time and energy, instead of only slightly questioning it like Melonie actually does.

- Scylla: Why is Melonie fighting Scylla and only slightly questioning it? All Scylla wants is someone to listen to her music and whatever desires cause her to drown people. Scylla doesn't care about Cronos and Melonie can't even die (so she can't really be drowned), so why doesn't Melonie try reasoning with Scylla more or raging at how much of a waste of time dealing with Scylla is. Melonie never tries to convince Scylla that she'll listen to the music when she is done with Cronos nor does she try to use Odysseus's connection to Scylla in any way. Lots of characters say Odysseus is a cleaver planner for the war but since we know so little about whats happening, it does not really feel like he does much. So why don't we just take odysseus and sacrifice him to Scylla. Odysseus is a shade, so he can't really die anyways, and if it would actually have Scylla let us pass it might be a win-win. (Sure it would be very cruel thing for Melonie to do, but it sounds like something a revenge hunger person would actually try at least once.)

Cyclopes: The Cyclopes just wants to eat and sleep and doesn't seem to really know about Cronos until after Melonie brings it up several times. Since Melonie can't die (so how could she be eaten?) and the Cyclopes seems ignorant about Cronos why doesn't Melonie try reasoning with the Cyclopes more? Or just get angry at him for wasting her time when fighting her doesn't even fit his goals.

Eris: Presuming that Eris actually wants Chaos for the sake of Chaos and that is not just an excuse to hide a bigger plan, there isn't really any way to reason with her. Even with that said, Melonie is waayyy to accepting of Eris. Melonie only gets a bit flustered and does not get truely angry with Eris, and Melonie is even willing to make a peace offering and try to understand Eris point of view. This once again does not sound like the behavior of someone who is truly single mindly hellbent on revenge.

What actually seems to be the case is that characters are telling her she is supposed to be angry, but because she doesn't even know the family she had taken from her and has a foster family like relationship with several others, she can't truly feel that way. Now if the devs wanted to the story to go into that direction for Melonie, it could be interesting and fun, but right now its just does not work. Melonie is not dark enough to fit a fully serous tone (and several other characters don't either) and many of the characters she should already have a pre-extisting relationship treats her coldly both overtly and in sub-text (Dora and Hecate are vary clear examples of this.)

If they wanted a fully serous tone the protagonist should have be Nemmesis or Melonie should have had a nearly identical personality as Nemmesis.

Also several people played the first game in part because of Zagreus's personality and the banter he had with others. So its not strange to think people would be upset that things are not what they expected or hoped for and what replaced it is a disjointed mess.

[Bean Acquisition Drone]

Yeah i personally agree with you so far the only characters that are interesting are mel and nem. Artemis and Schelemeus are basically the same so they seem fine. Most of the other characters that are just really lacking in flavor and uniqueness when compared to the first Hades.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Originally posted by Pi:

Originally posted by Morton Koopa Jr.:

I dislike her voice acting but mells personality is far better zag. Zag was charming only cause he was a Mary Sue or a character.

Dusa is honestly an insufferable character. But that's just my opinion. It'd be arrogant for me to say that dusa is a worse character than Dora or Arachne (which is actually the dusa analog here, not Dora, so the comparison with dusa and does is just superficial).

I hate narcissus (mainly the VA) but I like him a lot more than Theseus. Theseus dialogues were the most cringy part of the Hades 1 runs.

I saw everyone compared Dora and Dusa but I think it's more suitable to compare Dora to Hypnos. Dora is playing the role of Hypnos, the one who greet you when you come back to life after a run. And I think Dora is absolutely horrid at that. She is the typical millennial writing. The writer tried to write her as funny, casual, quirky but I think she is a huge miss because she is none of that. Her "don't know, don't remember, don't care, u good" attitude makes me want to skip all her dialogues (I never skip any dialogue in Hades 1). I'm even happy whenever I come back and she's not there.

Agree about Narcissus VA tho, I think his voice is not a great fit. But I liked Theseus, he is cringe but comically cringe. I also think Apollo's weak both in dialogue and in VA, he is soooo neutral there is 0 personality.

We disagree on Dora but your analysis is on point with comparing her to hypnos. I didn't quite realize that but that's definitely the point.

Yeah agreed with your take narcissus vs Theseus. I think Theseus va did a great job, I just don't like the character at all, it was abrasive to me in my runs.

Lol I don't even have any idea of Apollo's personality lmfao.

[SHIZAAAAA]

Originally posted by Ting:

Mel has an incredible voice actress who makes me want to like her despite the absolutely awful writing

I feel the exact same, i was so hyped when i saw her in the animated trailer but her writing is about as bland as an mmo quest giver

[SHIZAAAAA]

Originally posted by Pi:

Originally posted by Morton Koopa Jr.:

I dislike her voice acting but mells personality is far better zag. Zag was charming only cause he was a Mary Sue or a character.

Dusa is honestly an insufferable character. But that's just my opinion. It'd be arrogant for me to say that dusa is a worse character than Dora or Arachne (which is actually the dusa analog here, not Dora, so the comparison with dusa and does is just superficial).

I hate narcissus (mainly the VA) but I like him a lot more than Theseus. Theseus dialogues were the most cringy part of the Hades 1 runs.

I saw everyone compared Dora and Dusa but I think it's more suitable to compare Dora to Hypnos. Dora is playing the role of Hypnos, the one who greet you when you come back to life after a run. And I think Dora is absolutely horrid at that. She is the typical millennial writing. The writer tried to write her as funny, casual, quirky but I think she is a huge miss because she is none of that. Her "don't know, don't remember, don't care, u good" attitude makes me want to skip all her dialogues (I never skip any dialogue in Hades 1). I'm even happy whenever I come back and she's not there.

Agree about Narcissus VA tho, I think his voice is not a great fit. But I liked Theseus, he is cringe but comically cringe. I also think Apollo's weak both in dialogue and in VA, he is soooo neutral there is 0 personality.

100% agree with you on Dora, i was thinking of comparing her to Hypnos too in my original post but i felt like since he is in the game and hasn't woken up for me yet it was too early to make that comparison. Also glad you brought up Apollo, i like his design a lot visually but i can't tell you a single thing about his personality

[SHIZAAAAA]

Originally posted by mauxrhee:

The first game was a wildly different tone compared to "Here's a newly minted young adult who has been in a deific level constant war since birth, trained with the singular purpose to end this constant war, with anyone who could help her being under constant siege that is taking every single gods effort to just survive."

This isn't a silly funny romp of a silly funny angsty teenager. This is the very desperate fight of someone who very well may be the only person who can save her family. It's made the funny moments all the funnier for it.

I get that the tone of this game is supposed to be more serious overall but that still doesn't excuse it feeling boring. Not to sound harsh but i'm of the opinion that if they couldn't write interesting dialogue for this premise they should have either changed it or cut about half of the redundant dialogue about how bad the situation is. Also i agree that this would make the funny lines funnier, but most of the jokes don't land to begin with

[Rod, of eight toes]

Aside from Hecate and Nemesis, I haven't found a reason to care about any of the other characters. They're seemingly just... there. They all have a pre existing relationship with Melinoë, but no pre existing relationship with the player. We're just a third wheel watching two people have a work conversation.

Seeing Charon is still awesome because, well, Charon is awesome. I like arachne too, because of her vulnerability which lets the player know something about who she is and gives us a reason to connect with her.

I miss getting to know the NPCs and Gods the way we got in the first one. But, this is early access so I'm hoping it's something that SG can improve on.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Originally posted by mauxrhee:

The first game was a wildly different tone compared to "Here's a newly minted young adult who has been in a deific level constant war since birth, trained with the singular purpose to end this constant war, with anyone who could help her being under constant siege that is taking every single gods effort to just survive."

This isn't a silly funny romp of a silly funny angsty teenager. This is the very desperate fight of someone who very well may be the only person who can save her family. It's made the funny moments all the funnier for it.

Precisely. That's largely why I find the dialogue in this game so entertaining.

And I'm shocked by how so many players prefer zags daddy issues.

Like they like that, but this is boring?

[SHIZAAAAA]

Originally posted by Demon Swords:

I think the issue is most characters feel indifferent or actually hate Melonie and Melonie is a bit too serous to have interesting conversations with those type of characters. Melonie is also a little too flat and needs to be more emotional. Zagrues and the hade's 1 story was a lot more jovial, so Zagrues would joke with just about everyone even on those that hated him (so the conversations were actually fun.) And on the few serous parts Zagrues could get really emotional making the scenes impactful.

- At first I liked the Dora + Melonie dynamic felt like friends messing around, but after awhile I realized Dora really doesn't care about anything and Melonie doesn't call Dora out on it. Every single time Melonie says she does anything (whether good or bad) Dora will respond saying she either doesn't care or doesn't understand and then conversation pretty much just ends.
- I also had a bit of anticipation about Hecate and how much she is denying she is Melonie's Mother. Whether she is in actual denial, trying not to disrespect Melonie real mother, or if she is trying to be distant so Melonie meeting her mother is more meaningful, I was wondering which it could be. But they didn't really expand upon it past the hide and seek flashback. Nyx and Zagreus had a nearly identical relationship, but it was a lot clearly about how much Nyx cared for Zagreus (like when Nemessis claimed Helecate was using Melonie I could actually believe it, definitely would not do the same for Nyx.)
- Nemesis starts really hating you then eventually only hating you a little.
- Herculas doesn't even want to talk to you at first (because he hates the Gods) then he eventually tolerates you enough for small talk.
- Narcisses doesn't want to talk to you because he is afraid of being loved, then he only talks to vent about his struggles.

The only Olympian I like is Hermes because he is just so confident and brags about how he messes with the other Gods. Most of the other gods feels stiff and never mention what they or the others are doing in the literal war they are fighting in. I want to hear the interesting ways the Gods are using their power to completely devastate the Cronos Army. I want hear the Gods gossip about how the other Gods messed up (especially between Gods that hate each other, or the parents bashing their children in a fatherly/motherly way)

The only other new characters I like is Archane and Circe. Archane is very kind but also Multi dimensional in how much she hates the Gods and conflicted about Melonie trying to help the Gods. Circe I also like partially because of her kindness but also how unashemedly herself she is. She just wants to chill on her island being all peaceful and maybe she will report on the war while she is at it.

I guess I also like most of the Villains (especially Scylla and Eris) because they are just so shameless and messes with Meloine (a little too serous of a character). I know some people hate Theseus for Hades 1, but he and the Minotaur were my favorite bosses. Zagreus called out Theseus for his bullsh*t lies. Zagreus and the Minotaur eventually had a mutual respect causing Zagreus to start calling out Thesues for how abusive he is to the Minotaur. A lying scumbag getting roasted, a mutual respect between enemies, and a character arc. it was a fun three way dynamic to me.

We have several characters that have a cold-hate relationship with Melonie that really only changes to be slightly better.

I agree on Hermes, he is the only one that feels similar to how he was in the first game, the rest sound incredibly flat. I havent met Eris or Circe yet so no opinion on them but i do like Scylla well enough, especially the songs, though not even close to Theseus and Asterius

[Simple Tora]

Originally posted by Rod, of eight toes:

Aside from Hecate and Nemesis, I haven't found a reason to care about any of the other characters. They're seemingly just... there. They all have a pre existing relationship with Melinoë, but no pre existing relationship with the player. We're just a third wheel watching two people have a work conversation.

Seeing Charon is still awesome because, well, Charon is awesome. I like arachne too, because of her vulnerability which lets the player know something about who she is and gives us a reason to connect with her.

I miss getting to know the NPCs and Gods the way we got in the first one. But, this is early access so I'm hoping it's something that SG can improve on.

That's part of the actual story. Melinoe doesn't actually feel anything towards that part of her family as she doesn't know them. She brings this up multiple times, she's doing what she is because she was told this is what she had to do since she was a child, they're also in the middle of a war so there isn't much room for gathering around Hestia's fire and having chats.

You're free to have an opinion and all but it just seems weird to me that SO many people in this thread don't seem to understand what character development is. Maybe it's because Zag lacked so much of it in the first game since he was already kinda fleshed out at the start and was more-so just lashing out for answers. Melinoe is just a trained killing machine she wasn't given the freedom of choice like Zag was with her life

[SHIZAAAAA]

Originally posted by Washing Machine:

Mel's a bit bland and I'm kinda torn on that. On one note, she really doesn't add much to anything, but on the other hand, I would complain just as much if she was just Zagreus 2.

I kinda feel we're missing a lot of the sass in this one? I did like stuff like Ody having beef with Scylla, but outside that he's not saying much of interest. Most of dialogue just feels like repetition of "Hey how's it going out there?" "Pretty good." "Okay keep it up." "I will."

Yeah it's a hard thing to do right when you change protagonist. It feels the same as in DmC4 where the new protagonist was much more serious and debatably bland so he would feel different to the old one, though in that one they did have the old protag show up quite frequently to lighten up the mood. If they can't differenciate Melinoe from Zag without making her bland, they should at least have someone else be the sassy one. The problem is that no one in this game fills that role, and with the way the dialogue system works one character wouldn't really suffice in the first place