Sunday, September 14, 2025
Another World And Time
Due
to the widespread influence of Tolkien on fantasy, there has been
a lot of overlap between High and Medieval Fantasy genres to the
point of the two often being one and the same. Technically High
Fantasy does not need to be set in the medieval times of its world, it just has to be set in a world separate from our own with its own set of
magically rules. In reality the majority of High Fantasy visual
novels are also Medieval Fantasy and so the two must be talked about
together to get a proper overview of their workings. One of the most
common elements of these genres is the way magic is out in the open
and normal knowledge for all those in the setting which changes how
characters engage with it and see their own role within their society.
From the Medieval side comes the political structures and general
aesthetics where towering stone castles and golden temples are ruled
over by monarchies with knights and princess and this influences the
kind of narratives these games like to tell. The distancing of the
player from the familiar through the worlds of High Fantasy tends to
lead to it focusing on using its world as an exaggerated reflection of
our own where the core themes are writ large in every action. Let’s
weave a tale of sword and sorcery and discover the extent of what
these genres have to offer.
Magic In The Open
A
common feature in many titles of these genres is the presentation of
magic or magical elements as a natural part of the world and
something known to all. This contrasts with games from genres like
urban fantasy which often have magic being a hidden side to the
familiar everyday reality of modern life. Having magic be a
fundamental aspect results a variety of changes to how social and
political structures operate since there are people or creatures capable of
reshaping the world at their whims. Titles of these genres often
operating on a higher power level with magic not being accessible to
all and tending to have a society where those who do have it
generally hold a higher value. Many Eushully games like Kamidori
Alchemy Meister and Madou Koukaku broadly fit into this space where magic
often equals special treatment while angels, demons and other
divine forces play an active role in deciding the fate the world.
Kamidori is a smaller scale version of this outline with it being
focused on the lives of those running an alchemy shop and their
inevitable magical encounters. Here the grand forces and powers are
shown through their influence on the individual lives, angels are
objects of faith who follow their convictions while humans
possessing magic offer their services to those who pay them and
elemental spirits lazily live out their existence. Grand power
scaling is common in these genres and yet they can still leave room
for the everyday operation of these worlds.
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| There are all kinds of fantasy races on offer in Kamidori |
On the
diametric opposite side sits Madou Koukaku due to its focus on
miliary might and the struggles for control over an empire. Magic is
a tool of war in this story and the Magical Machine Dolls are the
keys to winning the war. This higher perspective on the affairs of an
empire places magic firmly as an instrument of power and those who use
it or command such individuals gain positions of authority. Magic is
presented within the world as another weapon like a cannon or even an
atomic bomb and so it is easy for the player to understand why they
would be such importance through its comparison to real world conflicts.
A lens like this is important for something as abstract as magic
since its fantastical nature can stretch its believability and cause
a disconnect with the player.
King, Queens And Castles
From
the Medieval Fantasy comes many of the political structures found
throughout both genres which come to shape the themes they
choose to handle. Some form of monarchy is the most common style of
political institution among titles in these genres with all the
associated kings and princesses alongside their magnificent castles.
This is of course a reflection of real world medieval Europe although
sometimes it will extend out into medieval Japan with its Emperor and
hierarchy, but it still maintains the focus on a single ruling
individual holding the majority of the power. Since these genres tend
to lean into the idea of an escapist fantasy, they often find
themselves glorifying monarchy with its rulers holding good intent or
the person the characters help raise to power leading to a virtuous
age. Any evil is just a few bad apples who are not symptomatic of a
wider problem and just need to be removed for everything to be
better. No real attempt is made to provide an even presentation of
the realities of the system and these games make sure to distract
away from this fact so it will not sour the experience. The power
politics and backstabbing under a single ruler adds an important
element of danger beyond the characters’ control and to keep the
player guess where danger will come from next. The Utawarerumono
titles Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth both take this political
danger and make it a bed of thorns for their protagonist the
navigate. All of the struggles centre around the emperor of
Yamato and the young princess and heiress with the various factions
and people positioning themselves to gain favour and power around
them. This is given even greater importance from the special magical
masks given out to those who hold the emperor’s favour and it
neatly ties the magical element of the world into the struggles for
dominance. The protagonist is a reluctant player in these battles
which works to absolve them of seeking power for their own gain and
helps frame them as a virtuous righter of wrongs in this pit of
snakes so the player might cheer for them.
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| Got to love the power struggles of succession |
Monarchy is not the only
system present in these genres as a few of them choose to add
elements of theocracy into their narratives. Here a religious
organisation or figure hold a major sway over the affairs of the
nation and in many stories are not mutually exclusive with monarchies
even if the two will often butt heads as a result. Overtones of faith
and belief as well as religious imagery tend to find there way into games
involving this system of governance alongside tests of that faith for
the zealous characters and the idea of forgiveness and sin. Aiyoku no
Eustia engages in a mixing of monarchy and theocracy in a floating
city ruled by a king and kept afloat by the prayers of a saint.
Obviously the idea of a city flying due to religious fervour places its
fate in the hands of the church who have the saint at their centre
and want to keep her on their leash. It also uses a large amount of
vaguely religious imagery in the form of the people growing wings and
the idea of angels which it constantly circles back to and forms its
core theming. The growth and development of the saint is where much
of the testing of faith comes from as she rebels against the church’s
hold on her and the true nature of her role. Pushing this theocracy
angle gives the game a strong visual and narrative identity it would
not have without its use of religious elements.
Beyond The Real
By
choosing to set a visual novel in alternative world with its own
rules distinct from our own, the developers gain a freedom to shape
the bigger picture of their narrative in more exaggerated and to the
point ways than in a real world setting. Using the very fabric of the
world as a canvas to paint the core themes and ideas is the main
advantage of following this path since it makes it difficult for the
player to miss them. It also offers a way to ground the magical
elements of the setting within an easy to digest core point around
which it can be contextualised and given substance. For The Second
Reproduction, the big element it uses to write is its various demons
and their powers. They are both the darker aspects of human nature
while still holding many positive qualities and the contrast they
offer to the humans in the story holds many of the key themes of the
work. Placing these demons within the context of an ongoing war
further drives home this emphasis on the extremes of human nature and
how engaging in one extreme does not exclude you from the other while
also adding a tension to every interaction with the demon characters.
From this dynamic the magic fights and powers are given the role of
representing the conflicting aspects of humanity through the methods and
directness of the powers they wield against each other.
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| Having a magical race be a mirror for human nature is a fairly common idea |
Not every use
of alternative worlds needs to be quite so grand and leveraging the
same tools can create jokes just as well as themes. Despite its
almost aggressively standard sword and sorcery setting, the Rance
series seems to hold its setting in contempt and regularly makes
jokes at its expense. Each title has everything you would expect from
a world of this type, wizards, knights, castles and princess who are
all made a mockery off by one very horny guy. It still knows how to
take somewhat seriously when needed but the unique characteristics of
the world are flexible enough to swing either way since they are well known to the player so can be supported or subverted
depending on the situation. Everyone else except the titular Rance
takes their world entirely seriously and their magical conflicts and
kingdom spanning strife are of dire importance. They are the straight
man for Rance’s antics as they struggle to deal with his absurd
choices which fly in the face of the expected reaction of a hero in
his place.
Conclusion
Despite
how bound at the hip Medieval and High Fantasy are there is still a
lot of variety to the way they implement their narratives. With magic
being an open aspect of so many of these stories, it changes the
social and political structures of their worlds and makes them more
flexible when it comes to their approach of engaging with their
characters. Since these worlds operate on such a different set of
rules to our own they offer more opportunities to shape them to
showcase core themes and ideas or just for the sake of humour. The
political structures inherited from Medieval Fantasy tend to be
either monarchy or theocracy and shape the direction of the narrative
and the imagery it chooses to invoke. Overall there is a lot on offer
when choosing to this meshed dual genre and it definitely demands
more creativity and imagination to get the most out of or risk
appearing cliché or seeming to have a world with inconsistent rules.
