Did anyone else think that the characters seemed to joke around a little too much?

This is something that's always bothered me about this game - when something serious or tragic happens, the characters always seem to forget about in just a few seconds and instantly start joking and acting silly.
The first example of this is during the events at Doma Castle - while Cyan does have a very realistic reaction in the beginning, he seems to take pretty light on it far too quickly, and Sabin even cracks jokes about "starting to talk like Cyan".
It seemed a little off to me, given their situation.
Another good example of this is during the events in Thamasa at the end of WoB - this is probably one of the most tragic and overwhelming plot twists in the whole game, and yet it only takes a few minutes until everyone suddenly seems happy and cheerful again - (SPOILER)Cyan's reaction when he hears about Leo is also rather cynical, and can pretty much be summarized as "Wut?! He died? Oh that sucks, okay so be it then".
I was honestly expecting him to at least seem bothered by this for at least a little while.

(SPOILER)The scene that I found to be one of the more convincing ones was Celes' suicide attempt, she really seems to act exactly as someone who's just given up life and hope - there are no "cheerful" one-liners or joke attempts from her, she really seems distraught and altogether depressed.
I think the realistic seriousness of this scene is what makes it so powerful, and I wish more tragical and dark scenes could be treated the same way.

It seems to me like SquareSoft couldn't really decide whether they wanted to make a dark or comical story, and they switch between solemnity and comedy far too often.
Yeah it's cool when the party laughs at Ultros after beating him up at the Opera House, but that whole part of the game was never really supposed to be serious, so that works.

I guess what I want to earn from this thread is that I hope you can convince me that the "joke scenes" have a realistic point.
I would be very grateful if you could do that, since this is pretty much my only problem with this game.

I never noticed..

Maybe the quality that allows them to put aside thier grief and charge on through is what makes them fit to be heroes.

I disagree with your scene choices, for Cyan and his family, he is in fact relatively moody for most of Sabin's sequence, but he's also the quiet solemn warrior type as well so its not like he's going to really angst out loud about it. I always felt Sabin's humor was a case of just his lighthearted nature whereas it would be strange to have the happy guy suddenly go all emo about everything just because another character had a very dark moment in another place. Sabin is at least sensitive to Cyan's situation like when he talked to Gau.

As for Thamasa, 1) Witnessing Leo going from being killed to skipping to his funeral, suggests that the grieving period was done off screen 2) Cyan did remark on Leo with a respectful regret, but its also not like the two were terribly close beyond the one bit of dialogue at the Emperor's banquet, so it would seem strange for the guy who hated the Empire the most, to suddenly give a major reaction to a former enemy's passing.

I like the humor of VI because it contrasts the heavy elements of the games plot. VI is a pretty grim game in terms of its plot, and the cast is mostly made up of wayward souls dealing with their own personal demons. XIII has shown me, that set-up doesn't lead itself well for several straight hours of doom and gloom, so the humor contrasts those moments, and I feel the humor has the same affect as cleaning an emotional pallat of the player so your never feel too far into either the mature or comical parts of the story.

This helps to make the really dark moments strike more of an emotional chord with the player because the humor often makes the player forget how unforgiving and cruel VI's world is. It lulls the player into a false sense of security about the characters and world and when everything goes dark it just blind sides you a bit more. I mean notice how the World of Balance is where the majority of the games humor is found and then contrast that with the World of Ruin where the joking is a bit more scarce throughout. That use of humor in the beginning and its eerie absence in the third act only makes the hopelessness and mood of the World of Ruin stick out more for the player. So I feel it really did what it set out to do, I mean even FFIV, VII, and IX utilize similar style contrasts to varying degrees.

There needs to be some kind of joke right after Leo's funeral, because the player needs it, something bad has just happened, and they're using comedy (Relm cussing out Sabin) to lighten the mood a little. It's a time-honored dramatic device that goes all the way back to Shakespeare. Right after Macbeth and his wife murder the king, the Gatekeeper has a scene where he does this whole monologue while drunk.

At this time, we 'humans' aren't impartial enough to see that it's only a fictional device. As for Shakespeare

>>> Avoiding your common set up.

is boring. I suppose the whole fictional community will have to die and be revived three times before a real gamer notices.
And you played FFVI/III at some point because it's the 'game' to play.

Yes. No one is allowed to joke in this serious game. Death to all who joke! This is why only Umaro and Gogo stay in my party and the rest sold to the whorehouse! :mad2: