Everytime I see cutscenes from this game it's a pleasure... the dialogue is like silk that never wears.
Judge Bergan and Marquis Ondore in particular I think I'll never tire of watching their words dance.
I absolutely love that the trailer begins with the sound of Ashe breathing. So true to the game.
Yeah the game used gasps of breath or darting eyes to pretty great effect.
A lot of the parallel development of Ashe and Vaan's similar delusions of grander as coping mechanism are portrayed by just quickened breaths or gritted teeth.
The cutscene directors did wonders with emotion nuance.
Ashe and Vaan in particular at the Ridorana Cataract is probably one of the most important, but it serves so much of the charm of the story, too, like the Balthier 'ah' above or the way Vaan is caught staring at Fran but then darts his eyes ... and those eyes dart and then hold once he gains his composure.
It's really well done and I think the game doesn't get enough credit for its cutscene directing. Even the way the game often uses Vaan, Penelo, and Larsa as background symbolism. Engaged in jokes or play in the background, they serve as a symbol of 'what they're fighting for' against the foreground of Basch and Ashe discussing that precise thing -- what they're fighting for. The same symbolism is used with Ashe and Balthier at Phon Coast.
It sort of helps justify Vaan and Penelo, too, as storytelling vehicles for Ashe's story and her main personal conflict 'what she's fighting for.' And, how she also uses that to delusion to cope with her loss of her husband, the same way Vaan uses his sky pirate delusions of grandeur to cope with the loss of his brother. Which then in turn, when Vaan finally realizes he's been using his delusions of grandeur as a coping mechanism at Ridorana, that's when Ashe realizes it, too. It's Ashe's story but Vaan helps her rather critically through it.