DISCLAIMER: This topic is for fun observations…let’s please not mock or pick on anyone/story in particular. These don’t have to be negative observations at all infact, sooo let’s be kind, yes? Good.
Anyone ever notice how often a character(s) “touch or rub the back of their neck(s)” in…like EVERY Cog/wip!!! I was reading one the other day where a different RO did this in nearly every chapter and I am now wondering how often I do this small action in life? I am pretty sure i only touch the back of my own neck when it itches, but I am going to definitely keep an eye out for friends/family to do this gesture in life. I totally get what the authors are trying to convey when they write it so I don’t find it to be a negative thing…just surprised at how often it is used in many many different stories.
Anyone else notice odd little similarities in different works like this when reading?
Maybe the fact that the main character always starts off quite weak, but eventually becomes OP, but can still automatically black out whenever the story calls for it.
Ya; I understand “why” it happens all the time in these games but it still strikes me as “very common” that true love is found at a moment’s notice … I’d even hazard a guess that it happens more than 90% of the time in these games.
But … you were just created a moment ago as a fully matured and developed young adult! Don’t you want to see the results of your maker?
Ah, the path of the slow burn, I understand completely. An odd thing…does starting a story by jumping straight into an action only then to slow down the tempo count, in your opinion ?
I know the CoG style of writing is to jump right into an action scene that explodes but I really appreciate the games like XoR (Choice of Rebels) or Cataphrak’s Dragoon series that actually do some world building and explanation to begin with.
One of the biggest weaknesses with official games (ymmv) is their world-building and lack of attachment to that world for the MC.
I agree. Sometimes starting your game with information can be just as important. Personally, I am ‘straight into a action’ kind of guy (thank you narrative writing for English) but when needs be, I can slow down a tempo or build up the world. (Here’s hoping I get about with my WiP(s) )
The irredeemable antagonist. This is a shortcut to making your mission seem that much more important, but I hate this technique, and it shows up all the time. Even if you are constantly nice, they still look for ways to hate you and treat your character like shit.
I’ve gotten to outright abandoning games, regardless of genre, when I see this cliche.
Asking the reader about the protagonist’s sexuality, gender/pronouns, and other questions of that nature.
I feel like a lot–not everything–of the things others have mentioned aren’t necessarily common to interactive fiction as much as they’re common to amateur writers or worse, lazy writers. I’d argue it’s more common in traditional fiction because the market is easier to jump into, but movies and video games tend to be just as bad.
I think it depends partly on the kind of story - you can get away more with that in a historical or epic fantasy. That said I’m still not a fan of stories (traditional or IF) that throw five pages of dry exposition at you right off the bat before even getting to the actual characters.
Hence why I quoted @Eiwynn in my post, those two games were the examples of the genres you mention, though I should have clarified better.
Once again, this is why I said I’m a “straight to the action” guy. Plus I’m a speed reader by nature so this has never personally affected me regardless.
I mean it’s pretty obvious why and pretty necessary in most stories but the way the MC starts out basically having no relationship/ knowing no one. Apart from like a few characters I’m also guilty of this though.
I don’t know if anyone have said this already but in if games I noticed that its common for the mc parents to never be mentioned or if they are mentioned only mentioned in a line or two.
Except half of the games have the 1 RO who has been your bestie since you were a kid and one of you has always pined for the other one for years and years…that seems like it should be a scenario where you hop in the sack right away. In my personal experience, thats usually what happens
True, but how would you tackle this issue, if you wanted to write one, self-contained game of say no more than 350000 words, instead of an epic, like XoR?
Ps. I always pick the bestie RO or the super flirty RO because thats wgat i tend to be irl…maybe the shy folks see it differently which is also super cool. I absolutely love how differently we can play these games based on personality! Just beautiful. !
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