Of Character Arcs and Closure

[Hiss13]

So, in the process of solidifying my fan game idea...and writing my own short and longer stories…and making an RP…and being a part of RPs…

I've been thinking about character arcs. As I was walking from the bus stop to work today, I was thinking about the closure point of the character arcs of a pair of characters in my own fan game idea. But that's not the point here. That eventually led my thoughts to the character arcs of the characters we have met throughout Reborn up to this point and I started to have this worry.

I thought about the various character arcs such as Titania, Sigmund, Amaria, Taka, etc and realized that a good majority of them are nowhere close to their turning points let alone their closure and the only one character who did reach closure did so because he committed suicide.

And that beckons my worry that all of these character arcs will be given rushed conclusions in the last two or so episodes of Reborn and from a storytelling perspective, that's a huge red flag. Storywise, it can be very interesting to have a character who's character arc closes somewhere before the end phase of the story and use that end phase to demonstrate who that character has become as a result of their own arc and how they've matured/progressed/changed. But, I feel like Reborn is going to lack that.

I don't know…are my worries unfounded?

Edited October 14, 2015 by Hiss13

[Etesian]

I recall reading somewhere that the entire story was finished before the actual game was started, so it's most likely been thought through well. And about the character arcs, the 4 you mentioned, those aren't all that complicated.

-Since the Watertreatment Center, really not that much is left with Titania, her conclusion wipl most likely be connected with Amaria's story.

-For Sigmund, his story is really juat that he threw in with the Meteors. When they break up, he'll either go down with them or, most likely, try to bail out, which will either succeed or Solaris/Sirius stop him, possibly killing him.

-For Taka, I guess it'll be like Sigmund above, but instead of him trying to escape, maybe we'll have the option to spare him when they're going down. The only bigger thing I can see about him is about his backstory, maybe done in the same way Terra's reason for joining the Meteors was given.

-Honestly, Amaria's sub-plot is the only one that'll take a bit to complete out of the 4 you gave. Other than that, what's left? The people following the MC (which I guess now also includes Heather?) and the Meteors, but those stories can be dine while we're pursuing the main story.

[ZEL]

I don't think Sigmund's arc is gonna end with just him/Meteor going down or him trying to bail out.
I believe he'll still play a role in connection to Lin's story, not to mention there's got to be an eventual showdown between him and Saphira at some point.
Sigmund has made it clear that he doesn't care for Meteor's ideals or approve of their methods. He joined in with them because they offered to help him capture the orphans, and he said that he decided to stay because there's something he's interested in finding out.

Personally, I think he might even be a help to us at some point.

But he's far from a strong supporter of Team Meteor, so I don't expect their fate to be too tightly bound to his, except in relation to Lin.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Ama

[Etesian]

Yeah, but everyone from the orphanage is somehwo connected to Lin, I think he'll only play a minor role i that one. And what I meant by his plot being tied with the Meteors os that he'll use them while it's beneficial for him. When they start crumbling, he'll try to cut his ties. It's just because there's so.many sub-plots left and that one of the gym-guidey PCs had Ame say he Sigmund broke some rules by not allowijg gym battles that I think he'll just slip away.

[Dragon116]

We also need to know more about Hardy and the E4.

[Commander]

I think you're worrying a bit too much and far more characters have had closure than you think. Shelly is one of them. ZEL's is almost done and I don't know about the rest of Meteor but in the coming episode's it'll tie together. Titania and Amaria don't need much screentime to finish what's been set up, and most of the others don't need that much time to finish. The only one that needs a ton of time is Radomus and El because we've barely even touched on them for like the past 4 episodes at all. Heck, El is one of the few characters we haven't even faced yet, but I'm speculating something is going to happen soon.

But your issue is something I call having a lot of characters. When you have a story featuring a lot of characters, most of them aren't going to get a lot of screen time. They don't need it either to be very good or very entertaining (such as Corey...and by that I mean his one Episode appearance was quite amazing). I have to go through a lot of this for Revolution's storyline and let me tell you how easy it is to try and jam everything at the end (most games try to do that when they're compressed for time...and movies too). But my priority is to make sure the main plot flows very well and is consistent (and trust me, it's a behemoth in and of itself) and to then slowly include a bit of the side stories, but many of them are put as optional quests or completely optional entirely as not everyone cares about them.

Think about it this way: each episode brings some more pieces to solve the puzzle. In fact if you read carefully, you can start to figure out what exactly is going to happen or have some very good predictions. Remember how Radomus had a Meteor outfit? He also has the Amethyst Pendant so we may eventually see him in the coming episode and perhaps shine light on the mysterious character. Also, did you forget how Cal and Shelly met again and resolved that conflict that has been known about since Episode VII? There's a lot of build up that has happened for all the character (usually it's 1 or 2 episodes) so there's not much needed to finish them. Just look carefully and you'll be surprised how much you missed the first go around.

[Felicity]

They'll travel with Noah to a land of happiness and sparkles yeaaaaaay

[Amethyst]

There's a lot to keep up with, you're right. And you know, there's a decent chance that not every character arc will be fully explored in the main story. The ones you mentioned though, all have a good bit left for them though.

And in any case, post game is a thing.