Leonex Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 I've seen lots of discussions regarding the story and gameplay of these 2 games and how they compare to each other but I rarely see people talking about the MC, the playable character, us in game basically. Now this might seem unimportant since they're both just characters for us to play and they don't even really have any dialogue other than the ones we select to choose the path of the story and such. That's the thing though. I notice Rejuvenation's MC doesn't really feel like a total blank slate character but also not a fully fleshed out character either. It kinda feels like somewhere in the middle if that makes sense. Quick disclaimer, I haven't finished Rejuvenation and am just at the part where we just got Magma Drift but I just feel like talking about this point and I think my arguments here should still be valid since it's not entirely related to the plot or progress of the story. Story spoilers: Reveal hidden contents One thing that made me really notice this was during the moment where our mom died. After this scene, our characters goes to a depressed state and barely interacts with the others because we're obviously supposed to be sad, right? The thing is, I wasn't lol. I was more sad when we found out Melia "died" because I personally had more connection with the character Melia than the character Mom since throughout the game, it's not like our mom was there. We've had more interactions with other characters so naturally I've "bonded" with them more despite canonically, of course our character would be closer to their own Mom. I think this point is valid for when Melia died as well. Venam and Ren being depressed was a given, but it felt like I was also forced to be depressed when it wasn't necessarily true that I would actually like Melia. I mean I do, but that's not necessarily true for everyone right? In Reborn however, our character feels way more like a total blank slate. Emotions aren't explicitly being forced upon us during the story. On the surface, our character is just there to put ourselves in a spot where we can progress the story, whether that be linear progression or in certain times, branching plot lines, if that makes sense. This sort of allows us to put our own emotions and feelings into our imagination and interpretation of the character since the MC is basically indifferent to everything on the surface. You actually like Fern? Well we can imagine our character feeling or responding positively during interactions with him. Don't actually care when a character dies? That's fine since our character is acting indifferent to it anyways. Actually sad that someone died? You can also "imagine" your character being sad since it's not like they're responding to the situation with anything. Now I'm not saying these blank slate characters are always the way to go but IMO, but I think the Rejuvenation MC is still obviously trying to pass as that blank slate model but still has some form of default character to them. As in it's not 100% blank. This feels weird because I wanna think that character on the screen is me, but this me is feeling or doing things I'm not or wouldn't. I think ideally, we either have a fully blank character like your classic Pokemon game, or have a clear pre-written character, and not somewhere in between as that kinda leaves us in an awkward spot as the player. A good example of a pre-written playable character in Pokemon I think is Red in a Fire Red romhack called Pokemon Adventure - Red Chapter, where the game follows the story of the manga version, so we play as the character Red from the manga. The story itself isn't exactly a masterpiece of course, but it shows that playing as a pre-written character in a classic RPG works. If you want another example, then The Witcher series is an obviously great example. It's an RPG, role-playing game, but we don't necessarily need to role-play as a new character. We role-play as Geralt, a character clearly written by the story writers. Basically what I'm trying to say is I think it's better to just pick one. On a side note, the upside to a blank character is that you'll never end up with a badly written character. I mean, that's not really possible if it's blank right. Basically a safe option, The thing with a pre-written character, however, is that you can create something really excellent but also risk creating an unlikeable character than the player has to play throughout the game. Just some story related discussion I'd like to have, what do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmalade Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 What I'm going to say isn't particularly pertaining to the spoiler provided, but way later down the Rejuvenation story, there is more insight provided on the MC that might add more depth to the whole 'blank state' topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eloquent Liar Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 On 4/4/2022 at 2:21 PM, Leonex said: Quick disclaimer, I haven't finished Rejuvenation and am just at the part where we just got Magma Drift but I just feel like talking about this point and I think my arguments here should still be valid since it's not entirely related to the plot or progress of the story. Expand You're allowed to make arguments and have opinions at any stage in your playthrough and that's valid, but the fact is that you barely scratched the surface- no, you haven't even done that in terms of who the MC actually is. Your assertion is that the MC acts as both a character and a blank slate at times, and to that I say (vague late game spoilers)- Reveal hidden contents well you're a little closer to correct than you think, but approaching it at a weirdly incorrect angle because you're still so early on and don't understand how literal this can be taken. Without spoiling anything out here, where you are is absolutely early to be discussing the MC in full depth, and I would hold off until you're caught up because V13 flips everything on its head. Whether that's in a good way or a bad way, you really should reserve your judgment until you know the true nature of the character you're playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhtonium Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 My man, if you are done with the game you will see that the protag of rejuv is way more serperior in terms of showing emotion and writing. as of episode 18. Mayby 19 will have some insight nin who the protag is, but I don't have high hopes for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faint Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Yeah your analysis of the rejuve MC is way off. Trust me, finish v13 and then see what you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonex Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 Fair enough, I'll finish the game first since everyone's saying it matters. Though to be honest at the moment I'm not as invested as I was when playing Reborn. it's definitely good, but I'm not getting the same feeling of wanting to know what happens next asap as I did with Reborn. Maybe it's just me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulN7 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Actually, it's in V13 that the Rejuv MC got a great development, thanks to the complete revamp of the entire story, early game included. Now, the character is more able to show his/her/their emotions with options and dialogue choices, plus from midgame, the MC got a great part of the lore's spotlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonex Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/8/2022 at 8:42 PM, FuntimeDude said: Actually, it's in V13 that the Rejuv MC got a great development, thanks to the complete revamp of the entire story, early game included. Now, the character is more able to show his/her/their emotions with options and dialogue choices, plus from midgame, the MC got a great part of the lore's spotlight. Expand That's kinda the point I was criticizing though, that the MC is getting a bit too much emotion for what I assumed to be a blank and mute character. I've always associated blank and mute characters as "me" when I play games like Pokemon and the MC showing emotions that I myself am not feeling makes it seem awkward for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyphre Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, Leonex said: That's kinda the point I was criticizing though, that the MC is getting a bit too much emotion for what I assumed to be a blank and mute character. I've always associated blank and mute characters as "me" when I play games like Pokemon and the MC showing emotions that I myself am not feeling makes it seem awkward for me. Expand Reveal hidden contents This is because our MC is a combination of us, the player (at least in our current understanding of the Interceptor), and the "soul hotel" as community aptly named it. Basically Rejuv MC is a different personality that was to a degree conjoined with a mind of an Interceptor, or the player. While he is similar to a blank slate character, it is far from what is going on in reality. If you played Deltarune, it is almost an exact situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mei-o_Scarlett Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 deltarune having this :hmmm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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