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Hero's Journey in VNs


Zalor

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What VNs have you noticed can be broken down into the structure of the Hero's Journey? If so, which elements of the Hero's journey are most present? I don't think most follow the structure exactly, but I'm willing to bet that a decent amount of story based VNs follow the structure loosely. Particularly Chuunige. 

I would argue in a very roundabout way Suba Hibi follows the general structure. There is a call to adventure (going down the rabbit hole). Delving into the unknown. A road of trails

(dealing with Mamiya).

And the achievement of the freedom to live (幸福に生きよ!)

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Hmm, I'd say Ryuu Kishi Bloody Saga fits pretty well in a lot of ways. Most of the points are pretty spot on, honestly. While not all of them play into the "journey" directly, most of what goes on in Roy's mind, and the way he changes through the game very much follows that structure.

It's a pretty underrated game in my opinion. Definitely worth checking out.

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I feel like The Second Reproduction fits pretty well, though it also serves as a subversion to this kind of a story. It's an otome title that starts when a princess of a human kingdom is sent to the country of demons to kill their king, but it quickly becomes apparent that the demons aren't the creatures of pure evil as the humans believe, so the actual story is more about the princess finding her place in life.

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22 hours ago, Dergonu said:

Hmm, I'd say Ryuu Kishi Bloody Saga fits pretty well in a lot of ways. Most of the points are pretty spot on, honestly. While not all of them play into the "journey" directly, most of what goes on in Roy's mind, and the way he changes through the game very much follows that structure.

It's a pretty underrated game in my opinion. Definitely worth checking out.

Hmm it looks kinda nice :D Could you tell me how hard is the language in it? I'm just starting out reading with machine assistance and would like to know if I should read it sooner or rather later :)

As for the topic, the first thing that immediately popped into my mind is Monster Girl Quest. I don't think you can get more "Heroe's Journey" than that.

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16 minutes ago, TheCrimsonFucker said:

Hmm it looks kinda nice :D Could you tell me how hard is the language in it? I'm just starting out reading with machine assistance and would like to know if I should read it sooner or rather later :)

As for the topic, the first thing that immediately popped into my mind is Monster Girl Quest. I don't think you can get more "Heroe's Journey" than that.

I'd say it's at least intermediate. The fight scenes can prove especially tricky, so I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner. That being said, if you really want to read it, there is no harm in checking out the trial to gauge whether or not you'd be able to comprehend the rest of the game at your current level.

Akabeisoft is quite annoying, as they block IPs that aren't Japanese from accessing their website, but you can still download the game's trial from sites that sells the game, like Getchu. (Just hit the "体験版DL" button on this site.)

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16 hours ago, Chronopolis said:

Ahh, I hate the monomyth, as benign a concept it may be.

Haha, its one of those literary theories that is surrounded by a fair bit of controversy isn't it. As a metaphor for life, I rather like it though. What do you particularly dislike about it?

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I prefer stories with multiple characters... Every hero need not follow this kind of journey, and the world need not revolve around the hero. Enjoyment-wise it feels like a specific movie genre, where all moments supposed to awe you are all the same.

As well, it feels like its trivializing those individual events those by listing out as a template.

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54 minutes ago, Chronopolis said:

I prefer stories with multiple characters... Every hero need not follow this kind of journey, and the world need not revolve around the hero. Enjoyment-wise it feels like a specific movie genre, where all moments supposed to awe you are all the same.

As well, it feels like its trivializing those individual events those by listing out as a template.

Yes, from a literary standpoint I completely agree with you. I don't much like stories that too easily fall into the monomyth structure myself. Although I would argue, the significance of the theory is that there is something in the human collective subconscious that produces these stories without even trying. The fact that every (or at least nearly every) mythological story follows this structure says a lot more about us as a species then about the works themselves. But when fictional works intentionally write according to this model, as oppose to following it subconsciously and effortlessly; that is when I get disappointed. Controversial option, but I didn't like the Star Wars movies for this reason. The Hero's Journey felt forced as oppose to natural (among other issues). 

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