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VN thoughts: Charage and heroine perspectives


Clephas

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Recently, I've had reason to consider precisely what it is that makes the difference between a strong charage and a kusoge charage.  There are a lot of important elements involved, from levels of character development to the overuse of the non-person protagonist.  However, there was one element - or rather a tool - that seems to get overlooked a lot, despite its ubiquitous presence in almost every first-class charage.  That tool is the heroine perspective.

The heroine perspective is where the narrative switches from following the protagonist to following one or more of the heroines.  To be blunt, this is probably the single most powerful tool a charage writer has to make you fall in love with the heroine as a person, rather than as a one-dimensional talking doll.  If a charage writer is failing to drop you into heroines' perspectives on a regular basis in the common route, it isn't a good sign.  A single twenty-line peek into a heroine's head can often mean the difference between a wonderful, round heroine and a flat, boring heroine.  Few heroines have the personal charisma necessary to leave memories inside your heart without at least one scene like this one, whether it is in a charage or otherwise.  Whereas the everyday interactions between them and the protagonist provide you a broad outline of their character, it is the heroine perspective that is often needed to provide a drop of paint to the canvas, aiding in the process of filling in the lines.

I mean, cute only goes so far. 

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You're right basically, knowing inner thoughts of a person is easiest way to know and symphatize with this character.

But consider this:
Charage are usually 'put yourself in' stories. That's why we have such a bland protagonists, obviously. But if you want to have that immersion into game/vn/story, you cannot show inner thoughts of any other characters than protagonists. It's immersion breaking because protagonists does not know what other characters are thinking.

Switching perspectives is a good thing and it suits story driven VNs/books/anything. It's a simple yet strong writting tool. But when it comes to charage, where immersion is really important, it's just of putting. And lazy.
Why lazy? Well, when comes to 'put yourself in charage' writter must show heroines and other characters interesting by their dialogues, actions and interactions. Which is sometimes very hard to do. Going into their heads is lazy, it's like cheating. It's basically the same type of 'tool' as "protagonists is secretly reading heroines' diary and get to know what she thinks". Both are shitty, both are lazy.

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8 hours ago, Vorathiel said:

You're right basically, knowing inner thoughts of a person is easiest way to know and symphatize with this character.

But consider this:
Charage are usually 'put yourself in' stories. That's why we have such a bland protagonists, obviously. But if you want to have that immersion into game/vn/story, you cannot show inner thoughts of any other characters than protagonists. It's immersion breaking because protagonists does not know what other characters are thinking.

Switching perspectives is a good thing and it suits story driven VNs/books/anything. It's a simple yet strong writting tool. But when it comes to charage, where immersion is really important, it's just of putting. And lazy.
Why lazy? Well, when comes to 'put yourself in charage' writter must show heroines and other characters interesting by their dialogues, actions and interactions. Which is sometimes very hard to do. Going into their heads is lazy, it's like cheating. It's basically the same type of 'tool' as "protagonists is secretly reading heroines' diary and get to know what she thinks". Both are shitty, both are lazy.

In my experience, it is rare for a charage to have the necessary depth necessary for a true 'dive into the story for a vicarious experience' experience in the first place... simply because the perspective provided by most charage protagonists is less than compelling.

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