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The issue (?) with protagonist

A topic by PeanutButt created Feb 24, 2024 Views: 552 Replies: 2
Viewing posts 1 to 2
(+2)

So I'd just like to point out that this is not me hating the game or anything, just wanted to ask a question and share my opinion & if anyone wants to join in and share theirs, you're most welcome to do so! Also, I haven't seen much discussion about her on steam and I'm not currently on discord.

So far I've only played Chapter 4 twice, once with each LI and I do have to say, Kaisar's not only my favourite LI, but also a character as well. I feel like he's a bit underrated, but he's a liar and people do tend to distrust those lol. No idea why.

But about the protagonist, I wanted to ask if there's gonna be more options to make her be more assertive, or cunning even? I remember playing the first Demonheart game years ago and feeling so happy and excited that I get to act like the 'villain' that I've always wanted to be play as. Now, there obviously are similar choices in TCT, and it's been a while since I played the first game so I might be wrong but even though Bright has just become a demonheart, it didn't exactly feel the same way it does with the TCT protagonist. Again, this may sound like I'm hating but I need to get my thoughts out somehow, so I apologize in advance if it sounds bad. With her, it feels even more like she's a damsel in distress, always needing someone else to stand up for her, protect her, heaven forbid she defends herself on her own. Also, some other characters' comment made me think this as well. Bane's, for one, saying something along the lines that MC is useless and doesn't have any skills, which, I know he could just be a dick for the sake of it, but it made me realize... he's kinda right? I mean, MC's a demonheart, let's do some demonheart-y stuff and save the day! I'm half joking here, but it really makes me feel like MC isn't capable of defending herself on her own, and I get that some stuff just needs to happen, like her getting thrown in the shackles and I also get that she may be weak from not eating much and whatnot, but 4 days have passed and so far... I'm impressed by almost every character, just not MC. She can't outrun Leona (again, I'm blaming it on feeling weak/dizzy, and the fact that ✨Things Need To Happen✨obviously, but still), if she fights anyone, she basically just goes and dies, when she ends up in the shackles, she can't do literally anything, she just seems to automatically think Kaisar betrayed her and wants to kill her, which, in my opinion doesn't make sense at all, because he repeatedly hinted at or even directly said things like 'hey, I kinda want to team up with you but if I have to lie, don't worry, you and I are still in the same camp' (haha, sorry). It just makes me feel like MC's defaulted to a naive damsel in distress that just waits for someone to save her. I may be wrong, but that's the feeling I got and the reason for this question. I can't remember if it's been said anywhere how long she's been a demonheart, but I would expect to have some stuff explained to us (the players) by her, not other characters like the witch, for example. I'd also expect her to be more experienced with all this stuff, but she feels weak in comparison to Bright, who we have seen become a demonheart.
There are choices asking like, do you like Vita? No? Ok, anyway she died- Wait, why are you crying?! Which, again, I'm really trying to explain that MC was worried about her own hide (because I most often play as evil Bright & evil TCT MC) but it's still weird to cry. I'd honestly prefer her to keep calm and think of herself, but instead she's choking on her tears over the 'corpse' of someone she despised. IIRC, 3 out of 4 choices are like 'Oh no, I'll miss you', and the last one is basically 'So what do I do now'. Which would be appreciated, if only, again, MC wasn't crying over 'Vita's' remains. Then again, sometime later Ran (I think?) calls Vita MC's ''friend'', so it really seems like it doesn't even matter what I choose, because Vita is MC's friend and Ran is her 'boyfriend', even though my MC keeps being absolutely nasty to him at every single step. But again, let's face it, Raze & Brash were obsessed with Bright, Kaisar & Ran are with TCT's MC and that's fine, but the fact that even Kaisar calls Ran her 'boyfriend' is just... 

That was longer than intended (not really, I have more to say but I'll shut up now), but it all really boils down to my question, will there be an option for MC to become more assertive, confident, I don't wanna say ''powerful'', but just more capable overall in the upcoming chapters?  I realize some people enjoy playing that kind of protagonist, not my cup of tea, but I'll play the game countless times anyway, as I genuinely love your work. It's just something that's been bothering me for some time now and waiting till November to actually see the answer to that question would be pure torture 😩

Developer(+3)

Hello,

I'm feeling overwhelmed after the release of the new chapter, and I still haven't written the other ones, so I can't give a clear answer.

A few players have already brought to my attention the MC's crying after Vita's death, and there are already conditions and branches in which she acts differently depending on "VitaApproval" and alignment. Mainly, a Good MC will be the most stressed, as well as an MC that had a good relationship with Vita. Some players like her a lot, so I didn't want to underplay it, I felt like that would be worse. Now, it's very difficult for the "game" (my code) to read a player's mind, so I made it so in order to pass a relationship check, you only need to get around 70% of that character's relationship points. Then the game will "think" you liked Vita. Tactful Evil may be particularly difficult, since the MC could be lying. It's still in early access, so it's something I could take a closer look at. Maybe I'll need to assign some additional variables to some choices to indicate you actually hated Vita and make that a priority. In any case, I wanted the MC to be shocked and at least be scared because she is a demonheart as well, so she could be looking at the death from that perspective - "it could be me."

Some other things, as you said, "things have to happen" for the story to progress and have the intended events and twists. Including meaningful choices that branch the story right away would make my work impossible - if it branches into 16 completely different scenarios, it would take me 16 years to finish. So I intend to leave the most meaningful choices (which will make the MC feel more competent) for the end.

(+3)

I wasn't crazy about Vita because I resented being forced to team up with her multiple times and to sleep in the bed with her (while holding hands) despite what choices I made, on top of the other characters calling her my friend and saying things like "we shouldn't split them up". The way she kept coming back for more abuse from the MC even if I picked all the mean choices felt weird. I did appreciate the option to say I was crying out of fear for myself when she died because the other options all were mourning her.