Zenophilious Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 Just wondered, since Kyousuke from G-senjou not having a face is kinda bugging me. I get that a lot of works of fiction purposefully don't describe the protagonists in great detail so that the reader will identify with them, but I've never really cared that much about putting myself in their place. I mean, I'm reading a story about them, not about me, right? I identify more easily with characters if I understand their motivation and personalities, not if I have the same physical features they have. Anyway, is it more common for the protag to actually have a face and other physical characteristics, or just to make their body average for the target audience and avoid showing or describing their face? EDIT: Wow, they just showed Kyousuke's face right after I made this topic. My point still stands, though, since I know some other VNs never show their protag's face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 A significant (probably the large majority) of bishoujo titles create protagonists with extremely thin personalities, they're ciphers. These games create harem situations and want the player to more easily imagine themselves in those situations, so they make the protagonist like that to create as little resistance as possible. Sometimes even VNs with a much heavier focus on story with strong protagonist personalities fail to completely avoid this trope. G-Senjou no Maou is still a bishoujo title and on some levels I suppose the creators wanted the readers to be able to put themselves in Kyosuke's shoes during the scenes in which you can see him (the sex scenes). It's not like I have an accurate tally, but I would say that most VNs that feature romance with a male protagonist have a faceless protagonist. I will give props to the companies who have the balls to do otherwise. I'm not a big Overdrive fan or anything but I really liked that not only did the Deardrops protagonist have a face but it was shown on every one of his lines. I believe they've done this for everything they've released since. That's very uncommon for a charage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenophilious Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 A significant (probably the large majority) of bishoujo titles create protagonists with extremely thin personalities, they're ciphers. These games create harem situations and want the player to more easily imagine themselves in those situations, so they make the protagonist like that to create as little resistance as possible. Sometimes even VNs with a much heavier focus on story with strong protagonist personalities fail to completely avoid this trope. G-Senjou no Maou is still a bishoujo title and on some levels I suppose the creators wanted the readers to be able to put themselves in Kyosuke's shoes during the scenes in which you can see him (the sex scenes). I guess that makes sense if you're reading G-senjou with the goal of successfully whacking it, which I'm sure Akabe predicted some of their customers would be doing, but honestly, his lack of a face until now only served to annoy me. He has such a unique personality compared to most of the protags I've seen so far that it made no sense to not show his face that many times. Trying to get readers to put themselves in the place of narrators has annoyed me ever since I read this Oatmeal comic. I mean, that's an extreme example, since Twilight has absolutely no redeeming qualities in the slightest, but still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albedo Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 Some old titles (YU-NO, Eve Burst Error) also did this. Divi-dead might do this, but I don't remember well enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krill Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 g-senjou is actually one of the few visual novels iv read with a good reason (within the narrative) for not providing a good look at the protags face. but not showing characteristics is pretty common as was stated the protags are often just player stand ins in a bishoujo or dating sim game, any game where conquering a heroines route is a huge part of the games appeal really has the opportunity for player stand ins in the protag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiddle Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 There's actually a vndb tag for games including protagonists with a face. It also seems that there used to be one for faceless protagonists, but they couldn't draw the boundary line between super-shady-mysterious face and actually not showing them at all. -_- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 About 90% of moege and almost all nukige have faceless protagonists. About thirty-percent of story focused have faceless protagonists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboxcarracer Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 I guess that makes sense if you're reading G-senjou with the goal of successfully whacking it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 The ones that mostly focus on romance prolly have dem faceless protags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwd2 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 puppet protagonists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenophilious Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 How do you guys feel about faceless protags? Like I said, it annoys me, but I'm sure some people have got to either like it or tolerate it. Added a poll because why not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamitamales Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 To be honest, faceless protagonists kind of freaks me out. It's really creepy...especially if you add in a smile with it... theboxcarracer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMN Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 How do you guys feel about faceless protags? Like I said, it annoys me, but I'm sure some people have got to either like it or tolerate it. Added a poll because why not. i couldn't care less on how the protagonist looked to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklord Rooke Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 How do you guys feel about faceless protags? Like I said, it annoys me, but I'm sure some people have got to either like it or tolerate it. Added a poll because why not. Whenever a visual novel has a male, faceless protagonist I always imagine he looks like this. Female, faceless protagonists have a slightly shorter beard. And no eye patch. Zenophilious, OriginalRen, Down and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenophilious Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 Gimli: It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men.Aragorn: [whispering] It's the beards. Nimbus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InvertMouse Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I find faceless protagonists to be pretty distracting. If they have no faces, they may as well not appear on screen at all . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimbus Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I would prefer the protagonist to have a face but I don't find it all that creepy if they don't. Having a face gives the protagonist a certain depth and provides more insight into their emotions such as when the ferocity in Yuuji's face when he protects Yumiko from the thugs in Grisaia or the surprise in Hisao's face when Hanako kisses him at the end of her route. You do get these emotions with just the dialogue but you get a better idea of the depth if it has a face to project from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krill Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 im indifferent most times on the faceless protag. if the game is more about conquering the heroine routes and not very story driven then faceless-kun is fine and even a good thing at times, on the other hand if its story driven with plot and action or mystery then i prefer to have a protag with features that show expression and personality. so for me it all depends on the amount of plot in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OriginalRen Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 About 90% of moege and almost all nukige have faceless protagonists. About thirty-percent of story focused have faceless protagonists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydro Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I dislike anything made for the purpose of "self-insertion". Faceless protags, lack of a name, lack of a personality, all of it. I view VNs the same way I do anime and other stuff, just a set of stories or character interactions for me to enjoy. I have no interest in pretending I'm the main character, and as such prefer them to be fleshed out as possible. It was part of why I stopped playing Time and Eternity recently. To be honest, faceless protagonists kind of freaks me out. It's really creepy...especially if you add in a smile with it... Zenophilious, Nimbus, krill and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Only slightly worse than the actual faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjg92 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 One of my favorite things about Rewrite is that the protagonist is an actual character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipsed Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Faceless protagonists with personality I can live with but faceless and bland protagonists just so I can "relate" better, no thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funyarinpa Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Three words: Vİrtue's Last Reward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kratoscar2008 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 What about others? I think this work better in date sims because you have much more arrays of dialogue choices and interactions with the game to allow self insertion. It doesnt works well in VNs because the MCs have their own personalities, name and motivations. Honestly it bugs me more the lack of VA, to me that is just lazy rather than an attempt for player insert. My opinion is they should stop doing this unless you can name them otherwise they are just half assed characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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