Yep, i''m making another post. I thankfully haven''t seen this type of thing in recent games but it seemed like at the beginning of the ps1 era this was a fad: Reluctant Heros. Your main character has been asked to save the world but he doesn''t want to do it. He''s afraid, or he''s a jerk, he can''t open up, he doesn''t like to share his feelings, he doesn''t care what happens to anyone. Personally, i don''t like this to be the personality trait of a main character. If they show this personality enough, it just becomes whining. I like it when the main character is a standard hero or at least a good person on the outside and in. If the main character is not motivated, it makes me unmotivated to play the game.

It should be up to the player.. He should be able to chose dialogue options like "No way! I''m not getting into this", not only "Yes SIR! Right away SIR". Forcing the charater to be reluctant is bad and forcing him to be "eager" is bad. Most people would probably like their hero to be heroic, but some might like him to be "sensible"

Yeah, except Final Fantasy VII (Cloud Strife) has been hailed by many magazines/websites as possibly the greatest RPG ever.

It''s a well known storytelling device. By making the character resist his mission, the audience finds themselves involving themselves with the character more, urging him to go on etc. In theory.

Perhaps it doesn''t work so well in an interactive environment. After all, the character is your avatar in the game, so he should be as willing or reluctant as you want him to be.

quote: Original post by Sandman
It''s a well known storytelling device. By making the character resist his mission, the audience finds themselves involving themselves with the character more, urging him to go on etc. In theory.

Perhaps it doesn''t work so well in an interactive environment. After all, the character is your avatar in the game, so he should be as willing or reluctant as you want him to be.

That makes sense. Which leads me to a tangent that may be a good thread all by itself: Do you like when the character has no voice other than an option you pick for him? If i remember chronotrigger correctly, the main character doesn''t have any lines except for the rare times where you make a choice for him: Yes/No.

I personally don''t like this but i think that might be just cause i''m not the role-playing type. I''d rather the main character have his own personality than one i pick for him.

I was going to start a thread on that a while ago, but never got around to it. I think the fact that chrono had no dialouge helped that game as it ensured that all his personality is either being created by the player themselves, or is only being expressed through his actions or other peoples re-actions. It avoided the pitfall of the main character saying stupid things and being an ass (for example, in the PSX/SegaSaturn game Grandia, I would of given anything for that little shit to shut up!!)

"Hardcoding" the way the character acts tend to make the game more linear. By allowing the player to choose what the character says and does allows for more nonlinear gameplay. The player get the illusion that he is in control, but then something happens so that he gets back into the story.

When it comes to RPGs, it doesn''t work to have *ALL* of the heroes reluctant, otherwise the whole game is spent at the Cross-Town diner trying to determine what to have for lunch. However, having one such hero is a great literary device, and can make the character seem more believable. However, its important to note that with literary devices, everything needs to be kept in balance. A hero that doesn''t want to save the world needs a friend to drag him along, at least until circumstances changes the hero''s mind. Also, from a gaming standpoint, you don''t always have to make the hero the playable character. Imagine being the 17 year old squire working for the 30 year old Knight who''s having a moral crisis, and having the story being about you fixing his problem. Though, I guess gaming hasn''t matured beyond it''s rebellious teen years where everyone wants to be Lancelot.

And yes, FF7 was a great game. But Cloud wasn''t so much reluctant as he was apathetic and single minded. Being a jerk was his defense mechanism against having to form meaningful relationships, not just something to make him look cool. Ever see Good Will Hunting? Same concept, less random battles.

quote: Original post by Inmate2993
Ever see Good Will Hunting? Same concept, less random battles.

LOL. Can you imagine movies with random battles :-)

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster

quote: Original post by Inmate2993
Ever see Good Will Hunting? Same concept, less random battles.

LOL. Can you imagine movies with random battles :-)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

-Luctus
Statisticly seen, most things happens to other people.
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