Sunday, March 10, 2024
Mixing Words And Chess
If you want gameplay that mixes the grand feeling of strategy while still maintaining a strong character focus then the SRPG is generally the way to go. Hence why visual novel developers find this style mechanics appealing and select it to form a hybrid with in order to compliment the visual novel's narrative tone. Here the SRPG will be defined as a strategy game using a grid systems where the player and the enemy take turns moving their units such as in Fire Emblem or Disgaea. The stories using SRPGs tend towards two types, a grand strategy tale about big conflicts between factions or one with a larger cast where a lot of them are involved in combat. These share the common trait of being on a scale beyond the normal small groups and personal conflicts and needing something equally big to properly express them. Just copying and pasting basic SRPG mechanics to form a hybrid often leads to repetitive feeling battles and adding in a some unique element is required to make it more distinctive. However, this is something the SRPG can struggle with and is reflected in many hybrids. Let’s checkmate our opponent and explore how SRPGs function in visual novels.
Expressing A Strategy Centric Narrative
Grand
is the stage of a story pitting groups of people against one another,
be they between villages, nations or anything in between. As such a
visual novel focused around such a topic must have equally grand
mechanics in the form of the SRPG. Its function here is to help sell
the scale and manoeuvring involved in the conflict without the
narrative having to spend valuable space spelling it out in a
potentially dry manner. Having the player act out these sequences
creates a sense of how the character in command feels when dealing
with the complexities of combat and this frees the visual novel from having to
express these ups and downs and it gives emphasis to greater story by having it as the secondary focus. There is also an
understanding of how important the planning and macro movement which
occur outside the SRPG sections is in creating a steady sense of
escalation. So when the plan is put
into action and the player is pushed into the SRPG, they experience
the sense of being the one to put into action the cleaver tricks and tactics
the characters have thought up.
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| Knowing how to up the stakes is something Utawarerumono does well |
The Utawarerumono franchise is a good
example of how this is put into practice on various scales of
conflict. Each game starts with low stakes encounters for the sake of
building a bond between the player and those they are commanding.
There is understanding in these games that the SRPG must follow the tempo of the VN
given the slower ramp up it has to follow or the two would start to
clash given vastly different focuses. As the narrative escalates into
an increasingly grand scale, so to do the mechanics of the SRPG grow
in complexity to create a united sense of the actions of the cast.
Even as the scope increases the games never lose sight of the
characters who made this journey possible through their duel role as
powerful units and the emotional core of the narrative. The two
halves of Utawarerumono weave in and out of each other without ever
stepping on each other’s toes creating a harmonious experience
which the player feels the increased impact from both since they aim for
the same ends.
Stand In For Large Group Combat
Not
all visual novels using SRPG mechanics are interesting in grand scale
conflicts. There are many aiming for a smaller focus around a large
cast on a personal and local level to their lives. Presenting the
conflict through the lens of an SRPG allows for a stage on which all
the characters can be shown working together to help further the
camaraderie found in the narrative. It also gives each a unique
flavour through their skills and abilities which showcase the
identity the player has come to love. Everything
about the SRPG seeks to emphasise the feelings of intimacy formed in
the visual novel and make them kinetic in a practical setting. Here
the choice of an SRPG over a more traditional strategy game provides
both the benefit of scale without zooming so far out as to lose the
relationship and bonds visual novels thrive on.
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| The cast is so large that it can be difficult to choose who to add to your party |
Take Kamidori Alchemy
Meister, this is game focused around the lives of a slowly expanding
group of friends as they run their alchemy shop and get wrapped up in
each others issues. The SRPG works in this context to show the
increasing number of people surrounding the central four characters
and their slow development as a group in a manner where their
assistance has a greater direct impact on the player. Placing
characters first and foremost matches the contents of the visual
novel parts and allows it to synergise with the established tone so
it can sell it effectively. In addition it makes the expansive cast
more manageable to the player by having a constant reminder of who is
working with them through its mechanics and their involvement in the
conflict in both a practical and narrative context. This is
especially important when the cast gets into its later stages and it
can be hard to keep track of who is who as characters come into the
fold at such a rate.
Issues With Creating Mechanic Distinctiveness In SRPGs
From
a mechanical perspective the SRPG is a type of game which has always
struggled with diversity. It has a specific set of expected features
and there is little room offered for a new game to expand it to leave
their mark. Some do try to add their own unique spin on the formula
but it is rare for them to have any meaningful impact on the overall
experience of play. This is not as important to hybrid visual novels
as it is to a pure SRPG since it wants the broad and tactile emotions
the SRPG invokes rather than its complexity or difficulty. However,
that does not mean it is above suffering from the issues of
mechanical repetitiveness and many still try to include something unique to create a more memorable experience.
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| If only digivolving actually meant something |
Digimon Survive
attempts to do exactly this with its digivolution system. This is where
partner digimon have the ability to change into higher and more
powerful stages of evolution at the cost of continually draining
their SP and after running out they will return to their original
state. The idea here is clearly to encourage the player into the
shoes of the humans supporting the digimon by giving them access to
the same powers as the protagonist characters and make
them careful consider when to unleash it to swing the tide of the
fight. In practice there seems to have been some fear of actually
committing to this interesting idea and the SP cost is rendered
irrelevant through high SP totals and easy SP recovery meaning there
is never any reason not to go straight to the highest stage of
evolution at the start of the battle. This is an
extremely common trend among hybrid visual novels with many of them
adding theoretically engaging unique mechanics only to not properly
utilise them and render the SRPG feeling extremely standard and
uninspired. Its status as a secondary element might well be to blame
as resources are funnelled into the visual novel portion due to its
greater importance which results in these extra elements being
starved of what they need to shine.
Conclusion
When
considering the SRPG for a visual novel hybrid there is a great deal
it can offer in terms of thematic synergy and pushing an elevated
perspective on events. It provides the game with a sense of grandeur
through the scale it operates on and allows the player to put themselves
in the shoes of the character commanding this battle. Despite this
perspective it still has a much more personal angle to the units
being controlled than other types of strategy games which gives it a
greater compatibility with visual novel narratives. The major
downside to using an SRPG is the way it can be difficult for the
gameplay to feel unique especially when it is secondary to the visual
novel and as such has less development time to get it the mechanics
right. Nonetheless, if you are looking for style of secondary
gameplay that works with a larger cast or a grander scale then you
cannot go wrong with the SRPG.
