Showing posts with label Genre Deep Dive. Show all posts
War – Genre Deep Dive
Conflict’s Final Form
Human
history has been shaped by war and so there is not a storytelling
medium on the planet which it has not found in and naturally this
includes visual novels. It is a genre of fiction with quite a wide
range of tones and content in a way few others can manage in part due
to the differing reactions and presentations of War within cultures
across the world. The least serious use of War is as a heroic fantasy
were great warriors clash for power and dominance. On the opposite end of the
tonal spectrum are the stories about where war is a destructive force
which leaves suffering and death in its wake and even once it is over
its shadow remains in the lives of those it touched. Related to this
serious tone are titles where the war is not against humans but some
kind of monster which cannot be reasoned with so the focus becomes on
the suffering of a single side in this conflict. Let’s
pick up our banner and find out how each of these depictions of War
change what stories can be told.
A Time Of Heroes
A
common use of the War genre is as a stage for the great deeds of
larger than life heroes. It downplays the damage and death of warfare
in favour of a lighter tone where banter is exchanged and defeated
leaders join the good guys with a smile. The overall moral compass of
such games tends to be on the simpler side with the protagonist and
co. being undeniably right while facing an evil so direct in nature it is
completely in the wrong. Neutral heroes which the protagonist has to
overcome are presented as either being tricked by the evil or doing
their duty to their people. This makes the clash between them and the
side of good being something which can ultimately be ironed out upon
their defeat when faced with the protagonist’s generosity and
uprightness. Another element often found in these titles is the fact
the characters tend to be of the opposite gender to the protagonist
meaning that through the recruitment of former enemies a harem ends up being created. How much each game ends up playing into this
fact varies but it always remains in the background of the narrative
space especially when romance is introduced into the mix. Here War is
treated as a playground for the player’s fantasies and writes them
on the exaggerated scale such conflicts are fought on to provide a
feeling of grandeur.
 |
| It is easy to forget about the average soldier when they are so small |
Koihime Musou has a double layer of fantasy
applied to it for it is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
and so is also a fictional version of the real conflicts which took
place in China. Naturally everyone who is male in the original story
has been changed into woman leaving the protagonist as the only important man
in the story. Couple this with the game’s heavy emphasis on romancing
these girls and the result is the player being encouraged to interact with
as many of the heroes as possible with there even being a harem
ending should they desire it. In terms of the actual conflict it more
or less plays out like a simpler version of the book it is based on
with the protagonist’s presence being the determining event which
pushes his faction towards victory. This is presented through a
series of simple strategy mechanics where the player must choose
formations and who will fight in order to achieve victory. The heroes
are always front and centre of these battles with the individual
soldiers nothing more than indistinct shapes in their conflict. These
larger than life exaggerations of even their book counterparts
dominate the experience and they will be the part of the game which the player
is going to remember long after it is over.
In many ways Eiyuu *
Senki is a larger scale version of the concept presented in Koihime
Musou. No longer confined to China, but to the whole world, it can
bring in historic figures from all over and turn them into women while
playing up their already distinctive personalities to the logical
extremes. What makes Eiyuu * Senki stand out by comparison to Koihime
Musou is the way it handles evil and the effect having so many heroes
has on their presence in the narrative. The presentation of evil is extremely simple with an absolute antagonist playing
puppet master from the shadows and even using mind control to
manipulate some of the heroes. This makes the overall conflict black
and white and the protagonist’s side in the right for their attempt
to unify the world. It also absolves the heroes they come in conflict
with since they have been lied to so making the War a result of a
misunderstanding rather than malice. Moral complexity never even
appears as a concept in the story and instead it pushes the conquest
into a jolly upbeat ride which is further reinforced through the
bright visuals and soundtrack. When it comes to the sheer number of
heroes in Eiyuu * Senki, the effect is there can only being a small
amount of time to flesh out each one before the next one comes along.
Earlier heroes fair the best since the recur enough to have a
memorable identity but everyone else is more like a plastic action
figure to be collected. It also further pushes the player away from
the concept of any damage which might be done through War since even
the largest personalities are reduced to nothing more than small dots
to be connected. Funnily it means the harem outcome is inevitable
since no single hero gets enough focus so they all end up evenly around the
protagonist.
The Shadow It Casts
In
the real world War is an immensely destructive force which brings
death and ruin in its wake and even after it is over people live in
its shadow. The War genre can lean into this man-made
force to drive their narratives and influence their tone or
messaging. It tends to focus around the human cost of these conflicts
both in terms of the solders who die and the civilians who get caught
in the middle. Having an active conflict leads to an easy and
repeatable source of drama as the War drags the
characters into its different theatres where they must fight the
opposing side. This roller-coaster style of War narrative can end up
assuming elements of the heroic type since there needs to be recurring
characters in order for the player to have something to grab onto and
a recognisable enemy. If the story wants to deal with the damages of
War then being set in its aftermath to better captures the problems
and trauma surrounding the conflict. Here War is not actively present
with no clashing of opposing armies but instead it sits silently in
the memory where it influences people’s actions. There is a general
favouring of letting the player sit in the quiet pain of its cast and
how far into the future the echo of War can travel. Hope can still be
found here, yet it is always a fragile thing in need of protection
and nurturing lest a new conflict swallow it whole.
In many ways the
Utawarerumono games are perfectly suck in the middle between the
damaging effects of War and its heroic fantasy. Being a SRPG hybrid
necessitates a core cast of strong personalities to play as and to be
boss enemies so the story has to bend around this need and the War
becomes defined by these individuals. All the major changes in the
War rest in their hands to be fought over until there is a victor
with the antagonists vanquished. It also helps create a stronger
narrative flow since big events can happen in the conflict and it can
be easily moved into new areas to keep the gameplay fresh. Yet these
titles undeniably have a poor opinion of War with the terrible things
done in its name being bemoaned by the cast at every turn. Greed and
ambition are the things shown to be the culprits of this suffering
and become the defining characteristics of the antagonists. This is
doubly true of the civil war from the Mask games where former
comrades now kill each other and it messy nature of such a conflict is shown where even victory is hollow since it is damage inflicted upon their
own country.
 |
| War always remains long after it is over |
One visual novel which has an interesting take on living
the in aftermath of War is Rose Guns Days with its alternative
history were Japan was divided between America and China. The effects
of the War are apparent throughout the each season as the damage it
caused underpins the motives and actions of the cast to the point of
being inescapable for them. Even when not being talked about its
shadow finds its way into the conversation and it is only towards the
end of the narrative where things beyond it start to come into focus.
While Rose Guns Days has its fair share of action scenes, there is a
greater focus given to witnessing the consequences of the War and the
suffering in a contemplative and emotive fashion. Doing this not only
heightens the contrast with the dramatic moments but it also serves
to smoothly establish the stakes and world building in a manner which
the player can easily parse since the pain it presents is framed from
the personal level of its cast. The messaging which results from this
approach is written clearly for the player to see without it having
to spell it out directly and instead have them witness it first hand.
Against An Unfeeling Foe
Not
all War in fiction need to be fought against a human foe, sometimes a
story calls for the opposition to be a horde of monsters crashing
against civilisation. This removes the moral ambiguity of a real
world conflict by making other party an objective and unthinking evil
which cannot be reasoned with and must be destroyed to survive. As
such the focus of the narrative shift onto the allied side to hold up
the weight of drama, character and plot since a monster cannot offer
much in the way of complexity. Here the effects of War on the
internal structures and people who run them become the stars and the
picture is often a mixed one defined by bickering and backstabbing
even as their troops continue to die. The practical side of military
operations often comes into focus with the life they lead during the
conflict being a major source of drama while providing a grounded
sense of identity through its connections to the way real world armed
forces are organised. Underpinning this is a sense of tragedy at the
losses to the machine of War and the trauma it can inflicts on the
survivors.
 |
| Alternative is not a happy setting |
By far the strongest example of this monster focus can be
found in the Muv-Luv Alternative games featuring their iconic BETA.
The original Alternative is decidedly more militarily focused than
its previous entries with a lot of time give to the internal
conflicts of the setting and the utter devastation of the BETA’s
advance. This is further expanded upon in Total Eclipse and
Schwarzesmarken which lean even more heavily on the personal cost of
the War both in terms of losses and how it twists the morals and
identity of those fighting within it. Each Alternative title takes a
lens to a relatively small cast to best showcase this damage in a way
the player can easily empathise with due to its human scale and it gives a face to the people fighting this War so they are not faceless soldiers but
characters they have come to feel for. Its presentation of War is as
a tragedy inflicted upon these people and mourns their suffering and
loss at every turn.
Conclusion
As
the final form of conflict it should come as no surprise that War has
a complex relationship with fiction in visual novels. It can be a
stage for the heroic deeds of larger than life characters where a
light hearted and upbeat tone results in grand tale of love and
battle. Against unfeeling monsters the dynamic becomes tragic and
focuses on the loss and trauma caused by War. Human conflicts can
also be made to speak of the follies of War and how even after it is
over the people trying to rebuild their lives will always live in its
shadow. Overall War is genre which demands its inclusion be carefully
moulded into the structure and ideas of a game for it to be effective
and fundamentally changes the tone of the entire work.
Tournaments – Genre Deep Dive
Elimination Matches
Competitions
and Tournaments act as a sub-genre for a fairly limited group of
stories with it being inherently part of the sports genre and
particularly popular in all sorts of action shonen titles. It has an
enduring appeal which keeps it popping up time and time again and so
it should come as no surprise to find it in the visual novel space.
One of the biggest advantages it offers is the way it provides a
reason for the larger than life cast to clash with one another and
generate the narrative drama needed to keep the player invested. Due
to the heavily regulated nature of a Tournament, it can have clear
boundaries as well as heroes and villains without needing to bring in
the moral complexity of the real world. The match structure gives a
natural vehicle for pacing across the experience with its moments of
tension and calm conveniently building towards the climax. Let’s
step into the stadium and discover why this sub-genre remains a
staple in fiction.
Battle Of The Egos
The
mixture of smaller rounds between groups or individuals and the
larger scale rising stakes makes the perfect stage for the larger
than life characters found in visual novels to show themselves off. Finding a
place to properly showcase the colourful personalities who drive the
story can be a complex challenge and it is here the standardised
structure of a Tournament helps alleviate this tension by providing a
space where they can be believably forced to interact. This is
especially true for any competition involving combat where the
beliefs of the combatants clash as they exchange blows and their
hearts are put on full display for the player. Since there is no
actual danger to the contestant’s lives, both the victor and loser
gain valuable lessons about themselves so they can continue their
character development as opposed to the finality of conclusion in a
more serious situation where the stakes were higher. The Majikoi
series is defined by its absurd and over the top cast so it can make
use of the Tournament genre to parade them around which it does in
Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! S. Here the old members and the new
comers get a chance to demonstrate their identities and motives one
after another in an orderly fashion where they get their undisputed
moment in the sun. Beyond the battles themselves, the cast get a lot
of time to scheme and bounce off one another to sell their
contrasting egos and values. When it comes to character
development none stands out more than Momoyo since
the whole event and the involvement of Tsubame were all done with the
aim of getting her taste defeat and grow as a person. This major push
forwards for a main heroine acts as a capstone to the other smaller
arcs distributed among the rest of the cast over the competition’s
duration. It brings into focus the many entertaining battles which
occurred and how it has brought the cast together as a community.
 |
| Combat forms the backbone of most Tournaments |
When focusing on a Tournament between factions rather than
individuals the scope of the colourful interactions narrows to the
group the player is following. Yumina the Ethereal’s election war
is a prime example of this trend with it being firmly locked onto the
debate club and those they fight and not playing attention to what
other clubs are doing at the same time. In taking this approach the
game achieves several important aims chief among them being to allow
the characters a chance to endear themselves to the player in a
relatively low stakes environment before the big twist of the second
half throws them in the deep end. By having the focus being on how
their personalities clash with the current opponent, the scope of
interactions can be controlled in order to give a better showcase of
their thoughts and the outline of the arcs which will come to define
later on. Another aim which plays into this smaller scale is the way
its conveyor belt of opponents maintains steadily escalating
challenges and tensions for the narrative. When a new antagonist comes
to confront the debate club they are immediately a threat while also
making the competition as a whole easier to keep track of in a way a
Tournament which jumps between contestant could not achieve due its
sprawling nature.
Controlled Environment
Boundaries
and structure are what give the Tournament genre its distinct and
easily recognisable feel. Regardless of how outlandish the nature of
the competition, all of them adhere to the same basic form the player
has experienced or witnessed in their own lives. This ensures the
game will have at least this base level of grounding in reality it
can then springboard off in order to sell their own unique premises.
It is also a fundamentally ‘safe’ environment, in that the rules
generally protect the contestants from harm which makes the stakes
rely more on the emotional weight of the contestants success rather
than on an immediate sense of danger. These combine to create and
easy to understand and focused narrative space where a variety of
character arcs can be neatly lined up alongside the rising tide of
competitive drama. ‘Sports’ style Tournaments are the most common
structure found in this genre, these being individuals or small
groups fighting each other and the winner progresses to the next
stage. This frequency is primarily because they are simple to understand and
generate excitement when compared to the ‘Humanities’ style where the
entrants submit something and then are given a final standing on a
set date rather than having to directly contend with other people.
A
popular example of the Sports type is Aokana - Four Rhythms Across
the Blue and its Flying Circus which even referring to its
contents as athletes. The spectre of this big event cast a shadow
over the story and the lives of the characters even when it is not
actually taking place. Since the baseline expectations for what the
Flying Circus will entail is established early, the title can have
its individual events parsed through this rigid lens
in order to make each heroines engage in the event specific to them while adhering to the same overall outline. By being a ‘Sports’ type, the cast can be conveniently placed opposite other contestants who
can push them to develop or challenge their values without it coming
across as contrived. These opponents are established earlier in the
narrative and their interactions with the main cast are believable
since they are all heading towards the same destination but only one
of them can make it all the way. A desire to win defines much of the
cast with it pushing the ideas of how competition can lead to healthy or unhealthy growth and traits depending on the way a character
chooses handle their feelings.
 |
| Sci-fi Sports are such a strange beast |
‘Humanities’ type competitions are
an even stranger beast since most exist to enhance already established narrative tension. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki utilises them
multiple times across its story from writing competitions to
popularity polls. Each one is placed in the context of the
protagonist’s relationship with another character and the emotions
surrounding them. It provides a legitimate reason for the cast to
clash while not bringing in any negative associations given such
competitions are more of a chance to show off their skills rather
than undermine each other. The game makes sure to frame it in this
positive light as an opportunity for mutual growth and sorting out
their complicated feelings. Rather than lingering and building up the
drama like in a ‘Sports’ type, this is an affair which creates a
small bit of tension before rapidly disappearing when the story wants
to move on.
Build Up And Cool Down
Perhaps
the single most valuable part of the Tournament structure from a
developer’s view point is the natural peaks and troughs created due
to the round system it employs. When a new round starts the
participants are generally announced meaning the characters get to
know who they are up against and this begins the rising tide of
emotion. The two opposing groups then get more interactions and
emotionally clash over who is going to be the winner. Then the
climatic of the curve comes in the actual match and it outcome before
plummeting back down during the cool down following the victory. Some
form of this cycle appears in almost all titles with a Tournament of any kind unless they are engaging in subversion or only
want it for a short duration. The reason this structural outline is
so important lies in how it offers a quick and impactful skeleton on
which the developers can hang the meat of the narrative without
having to constantly worry about pacing the overall experience.
Obviously they still need to consider it on the smaller scale and
towards the finale where their own unique spin needs to be more
apparent in order for the player to not lose interest due to the
structure's repetitive nature.
Koiken Otome leans heavily into this
structure for large part of its playtime in order to fill the void
created due to a lack of external threats. Instead it puts the
emphasis on the cast’s pursuit of personal improvement and rivalry
with their peers. This lack of danger means the ups and downs of each
round serve as the main pacing mechanism while allowing an extremely
protagonist centric flow of events in order to ensure he gets enough
interactions with the heroines. One trait the game inherits from
others in the genre is the way attending a magic or superpowered
school always leads to some kind of battle Tournament so as to frame
this activity as a legitimate competition rather than training child
soldiers. The lack of danger hold an important position here since if
there was a chance of real harm then it would bring up moral issues
such titles are not equipped to address.
 |
| Every section ends with a master + servant battle |
Not all games using this
structure are so devoid of threats and Fate/EXTRA demonstrates how
the spectre of death can elevate this outline. The holy grail war on
the moon uses the round based style where two masters are put up
against each other and the survivor gets to advance to the next
stage. Having this mixture of large scale competition and single
adversary focus gives the room to create a sense of escalating danger
as the contestant numbers dwindle and allow the player to get to know
each master on a personal level. It also lulls the player into a
false sense they know what is coming only for the game to
increasingly subvert it as the quality of the opponents ramps up.
Since each master is both a danger to the player and someone they
sympathise with, the structure gives an inevitability of each final
battle and helps it hold both the cathartic release from death and a
sadness at the loss of the person they have grown to care about.
Conclusion
When
pitting two people against one another their beliefs and motives can
be more clearly viewed through their actions and it is this which the
Tournaments genre in visual novels capitalises on. It provides a
stage on which the colourful cast can act out their play while
allowing both sides to experience growth and continue their journeys
after the match. The structural outline of a Tournament gives the
story a perfect framework to naturally curate its narrative pacing so
can focus on its own unique twists. Competitions of all kinds offer a
sense of familiarity to what might otherwise be an outlandish setting
and helps being the wild conflicts onto an understandable level for
the player to empathise with. As a sub-genre it combines flexibility
with rigidity to form a diverse space for storytelling so it is no
wonder it is popular with both players and developers.
Coming Of Age – Genre Deep Dive
On The Edge
Transitioning
to adulthood and leaving the days of childhood behind is a common
thematic trope throughout history so it should come as no surprise
for visual novels to make use of it. Coming of Age rarely holds the
sole focus of the narrative and instead exists as a genre only
visible once the characters' arcs have been completed and they gain
their maturity. Playing directly into drama of entering the adult
world and assuming the responsibility which comes with age is the
simplest form of the genre given it places it directly in the
player’s face to make the theming clear. Since maturity can be
subtle in nature there are games which choose not to tie it to age
and rather present it as something gain through personal conflict
beyond the process of growing up. Not all presentations of the Coming
of Age are entirely positive with many dwelling on what has been lost in the face of the inevitable march of time.
Let’s put on our big boy shoes and find out how a genre can extract
drama from the act of getting older.
Stairway To Adulthood
There
is an inherent layer of conflict built into ageing as the march of
time changes people and forces them into uncomfortable new
situations. Periods of transition bring these feelings to the
forefront and few are more dramatic then stepping into adulthood.
Gone are the protections of childhood and the characters are thrust into a
world of responsibility which they must contend with. This is by far
the most direct type of the Coming Of Age story since it is a literal
coming of age rather than a purely emotional one. Since it is so
immediate in its presentation these visual novels tend to deal with
the realities of adulthood such as jobs and having children. They
push the idea of responsibility in a series of smaller scale changes
to a character’s life before leading them into the life shattering
conflicts required for an exciting finale. Titles looking for a slow
build up while pushing a continuous Coming Of Age theming tend to
pick this style for exactly these reasons since it gives incremental
emotional moments to keep the player engaged in the lead up to the
pay off while also appearing to be a natural extension of its ideas.
 |
| YU-NO's cast are often defined by their immaturity |
One of the most prominent examples of this jump to adulthood is
Clannad, in particular the After Story section. Tomoya has to deal
with the responsibilities of being an adult as they are thrown at him
one after another from getting a job, marriage and preparing for a
child. Many of these end up being minor hiccups used for comedy but when combined they create a sense of Tomoya’s growing maturity
through him overcoming them. They lay the foundation for the bigger
hurdles of his journey into adulthood in the form of dealing with a
child. Forming a connection with his child presents the greatest
challenge for him given all the personal and emotional baggage
surrounding his own life and only by finally coming to terms with it
can he be a good father. This acts as the climax solidifying the
final stage of his Coming Of Age where he can cope with the
responsibilities and maturity appropriate for his age. Not all uses
of this style need present day or real world connections to be
impactful since maturity is an internal quality. YU-NO presents this
approach in its later section where Takuya is whisked out of our
world and ends up being trapped there leading to him having to
quickly learn to be an adult. Since this is a loosely fantasy world,
adulthood means a maturity and responsibility to those around him
rather than the specific expectations for the modern world, hence why
he does not get a job but instead involves himself in activities related
to his survival. Interestingly just like Clannad the final stage of
this journey into maturity is connected to a child but this time it
is the pursuit and reconnection with the child after they are
kidnapped. The idea of successful raising a child is a common
narrative beat to end the arc on since it is seen as the most taxing
aspect of being an adult.
Maturity In The Face Of Change
Not
all Coming Of Age stories need to be focused around a transition to
adulthood and they are more often based around a looser idea of
personal maturity. This makes for a malleable source of drama and
development suitable for appearing alongside other styles of
narrative without distracting too much from them. It can take the
conflict at the centre of story and have the cast mature in the face
of this challenge and can co exist with each specific character arc
to create a complete sense of transition out of childish traits into ones
demonstrating growth. These tend to be focused around negative
internal elements like trauma which haunt the character and need to
be resolved so they can move on with their lives. What is important
to emphasise here is the idea of the growth as maturity must be
pushed by the game, either explicitly through text or implicitly
through the character’s place in the world, just overcoming the
negative aspect is not enough in of itself to be considered Coming Of
Age. However, it is exactly this slight overlap with other genres
which allow it to be so freely used within a complimentary context to
those same genres. Little Busters encapsulates this approach to
Coming Of Age drama as it entangles this journey to maturity with a
variety of different narrative threads. For the majority of the game
it stays in the background of the thematic mixture so the romance and
supernatural threads can be the focus yet still contextualises those
as steps towards a growth in overcoming trauma. This continuity
of its underlying presentation makes the shift into it being the core
message during the finale a natural one where the revelations about
reality and its sadness are contrasted against the cast’s known
ability to grow beyond it. So as they move into a maturity they
previously lacked there is a strong sense of catharsis where the
title’s conclusion becomes a final release for a quiet build up and
it is a powerful emotional moment to end on.
 |
| His age should not be the reason he accepts... |
The Melancholy Of Growing Up
Growing
up is not all sunshine and rainbows, some aspects of childhood and
innocence are forever lost in the transition and, no matter how much
the person might want to recapture them, they can never truly be
restored in quite the same way. For visual novels this manifests in a
sense of melancholy at this transition into maturity where the lost
is dwelled upon for dramatic effect and the cast wrestle with its
passing. How these emotions all play out varies wildly from game to
game since melancholy is an extremely vague feeling being anything
from the partner for depression to a loose acceptance of change. Its
shifting nature makes it unsuitable to be the main thematic push so
it often ends up forming the underlying tone present through each
step along the Coming Of Age journey. Despite this position in the
narrative structure, its use is limited by the emotional state it
invokes not always being compatible with the kind of stories told
alongside this genre due to the more positive spin on growing up they
aim towards. While melancholy might not be immediately negative,
there is a connection with dwelling in the past and loss which forces an
introspection on maturity and demands a slower pace for it to have
its desired impact. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien demonstrates this use of
Coming Of Age drama through the way it ties into the romantic
progression. It focuses on the characters’ loss of innocence due to
the gaining of responsibilities both to themselves and to the one
they love. There is juxtaposition between the childishness of their
love triangle and the realities of relationships where it plays out the drama to its extremes through this transition and its consequences.
The game continuously rubs in this melancholy into the wound to fully
immerse the player in the vat of emotions it has concocted so it can
make the catharsis of their resolution all the more powerful.
Transitioning out of these darker feelings is key to their success
since they are never entirely escaped, but merely something to be
pushed beyond as the characters move into maturity.
 |
| One birthday closer to the inevitable march of adulthood |
Conclusion
Utilising
the genre of Coming Of Age can be a surprisingly flexible process
which reflect the vastly different experiences people face in their
journey into maturity. The transition into adulthood due to age is
the most common way to use this idea since it is an easy to
understand experience the player can be expected to be familiar with.
Growing up may not be a universally positive process for the cast so a
title may choose to focus on the melancholy from a loss of innocence
and freedom as a means of creating an emotional tone. Maturity is not
necessarily a quality inherent to a certain age which means titles can frame their narratives within the context of personal
maturity in order for a more flexible application. Tying all of these
versions of the Coming Of Age genre together is the idea of
transition and growth so its appeal to developers as a means of
expressing a character arc is the foundations of its use in visual
novels.
Posts
