Foreshadowing: My experience in VNs
Entry posted by Clephas
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Foreshadowing is one of those elements in all forms of literature and entertainment media that is pretty much unavoidable. To be specific, it's been around since at least the time of the Greek tragedies, lol.
However, how a story uses foreshadowing says a lot about its style. In a lot of chuunige, for example, it gets laid on pretty thick, though they generally choose their moment for 'grand effect' and melodrama. In nakige, it is usually as a prelude to a tear-jerking event in the immediate future. In an utsuge, it is a hint of disaster... and in others, it is an overused tool of a hack author.
It just depends on how you use it.
Understand, I have nothing against it as a tool in and of itself. It's unavoidable if you read fiction, unless you actually go out of your way to avoid stories with narrative and dialogue that hints at a potential future.
However, I occasionally run across games (not since a year ago, so this isn't a recent thing for me) that transform foreshadowing from a mere element of the story to an intrusive alarm bell constantly ringing in the background. For some reason, the more meta the theme of the story, the more the writers want to constantly bash you over the head with various levels of cues to be ready for what happens next. I/O does it, Subahibi does it, and even Futagoza no Paradox did it sometimes.
Why is it that VNs that are trying to fool you do their level best not to fool you?
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