LogFAQs > #977780199

adjl posted...

And it's that other 10% that shakes things up

But you don't need to shake things up with the story. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

adjl posted...

It was good as a long-running side quest (which is kind of how all three "Roads" were framed, actually), but if you gave me a game where the entire main plot was "Meet dude, find out dude's dog is sick, collect items to cure dog," I'm not going to praise that game for having a good story (and not just because sad dogs are often a really lazy way to add emotional impact to a story). It's a compelling side plot and he and his dad's backstory made for interesting characters and world-building, but it's just too limited to be good as a main story.

I disagree. I think it could have been a fine main story. Obviously the scope of that game would be shorter but thats fine. I would have been very pissed if my getting the sandwiches ultimately made no difference in the dogs health. Hell, I'd be pissed watching that in an anime. Don't waste my time on story beats that ultimately come to nothing. Reminds me of katanagatari, a show where 95% of the anime might as well not have happened because both parties actually started the show with all the tools they needed to win. The journey was entirely invalidated.

To shift it again though, how do you feel about freiren airing right now? That's a show that realistically has no need for the characters to ever fail a combat encounter and it has quite a good story. I think it's even rated #1 on MAL right now, largely because of the emotional story. There's far more ways to tell a good story than just following the classic heroes journey. Hell, iyashikei anime has proven people can enjoy a story with no conflict whatsoever, internal or external. Just pure pleasant escapism. Something fantasy rpg video games are even more suited to.