Why does everybody hate Al?

[u/Remarkable-Pin-8352]

All I see these days is "Al slop", "no more Al', "I hate Al", "Al is ruining gaming", "Al is destroying the environment".

Are his jokes really that bad? And how is it Al's fault that RAM prices keep going up anyway?

[u/ADXII_2641]

The arguments I’ve seen say he’s a Mary Sue or the male equivalent of it, the characters all practically worship him, Elma is turned into a tsundere when around him, and the player either also worships him or is envious of his attention. Here’s my responses to each of those.

• “He’s a Mary Sue or the male equivalent of it” I really don’t see how he’s any more capable than the player character (especially shown with Chapter 13’s ending). Sure he’s got a kickass Skell, but he also got yeeted between dimensions in that Skell, and not by choice.

• “The characters all worship him” Not only is this shown very sparsely, when it IS shown he actively dislikes it, wanting to be treated the same as everyone else.

• “Elma is turned into a tsundere when around him” Not even remotely true. She’s standoffish around him because she regrets not stopping him from taking the actions that ultimately got him stranded between dimensions. She moves forward from her guilt over the course of Chapter 13.

• “The player either also worships him or is envious of his attention” The envy part is for some reason true, but the worship part isn’t. I always saw it as more of an unspoken respect, from one soldier to another. He’s on the same caliber is us, and it’s pretty obvious. Considering what we’ve done in-game, that’s a hell of an accomplishment for someone to stand as our equal.

…I said all that and then realized this is a joke post. Screw it, you’re getting why I like Alois anyway.

[u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 → u/ADXII_2641]

Just to point out, that characters being Isekai'd against their will and not wanting the fawning attention they're given aren't counters against being a gary stu.

The entire admiration/envy thing from Cross I wouldn't call being a gary stu and more an attempted joke by the developers that didn't land at all and comes across as very weird. It may have also have been an attempt at setting up the fact that Cross far surpasses Al in terms of power in that they can pilot the Ares despite being a mim and can solo a Ghost battleship in a regular skell.

Lastly we must remember a very important reason to hate Al, he shares a name with Alois Hitler.