Ha ha, yeah, I do need to hold back a bit with the cutscenes. Though I do think I'm doing a better job of spacing them out better for Chapter I, and using more subtle, quick interactions to get the point across. So that's a plus.
As for Ibrahim, he's still Osvald as far as the character and personality goes, just with a different name and appearance. I changed his name because I decided that Mein Exan, the kingdom where he's from, should be Arabic-inspired. Before, Mein Exan was supposed to be a weird kind of Germany-analogue, but I decided that I had a few too many Europe-centric countries represented in the game (i.e Lorimaris is Great Britain, Aternelle is France, Galbraia is Israel). Instead, I decided to have an Arabic country act as inspiration for one of the game's kingdoms (mostly because that area of the world is fascinating and you don't really see it represented in games too often). :p
*end long rambling explanation*