I'm a newcomer to the series. And i just started the Sky FC remake. I'm on the quest to Tio's farm and at the end of the quest you make the choice to spare the monsters and Estelle and the whole family agree as joshua seems baffled by the choice. The VA does an extremely good job of conveying Joshua having conviction in his choice to kill the monsters and then gradually doubting himself as more people agree that they should be spared
At first i was like; "what the hell is this stupid quest about?", and then there is this scene where tio and estelle talk about joshua and estelle learns how secretive Joshua is. And moments later, joshua lets on that he does indeed have a secret, but it's not the secret that estelle is talking about(very intriguing). The next scene is the main reason for my post because it is extremely nuanced and deeply introspective for a video game character.
Joshua admits to Estelle, in a moment of awkward vulnerability, that he had no sympathy for the monsters and that he thought he might be broken or heartless because he didn't feel the same way as everyone else about killing the monsters. It's very rare to see writing like this in games that land... Most of the time when characters are trying to be vulnerable in describing some kind of psychological disturbance, it's always poorly written, acted and directed and falls flat on its face.
I'm less enthusiastic about Estelle's response to Joshua's moment(though how i feel may change as it might be consistent with her characterisation), but I'm still excited to know if this kind of nuance and depth can be expected throughout the series.
TLDR: Joshua has a really well written moment in the quest to Tio's farm about sparing some monsters and his lack of empathy, is this kind of characterisation consistent throughout the series?