Generic MC Spoiling the Story

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Not sure if this is a common complaint or if I just have weird tastes. To me, strait-laced perfection is the most boring character trait imaginable. I'm halfway through the game and can tell it's building up to a climactic reveal about MC's past, but he has such a bland personality that I genuinely don't care where his story goes. What's more, his role as the centerpiece of every scene leads to sterile exchanges between otherwise interesting characters. I'm convinced at this point that any other member of Class VII would make for a better lead, even the obnoxious ones like Machias (at least his rants are amusing).

That said, maybe the Sky trilogy spoiled me. Estelle had such a dominant personality and strong character arc that it might be unfair to hold other games to the same standard. I just see a lot of wasted potential in CS specifically since it comes from the same people, has a good premise, and absolutely nails the world-building. Gripes aside, I'm still enjoying my first playthrough; a weak MC is all that's separating it from a glowing review.

[Debrel]

I don't particularly dislike Rean, but he's definitely a jarring contrast to how amazing Estelle and Kevin are, which might be a bit of a redundant statement considering how difficult it is to live up to protagonists like them. Maybe your opinion of him improves as you keep playing.

[Hat8]

Can't say I disagree.

This whole MC is special thing is also abit annoying.

[Vicious]

4240876367 původně napsal:

Can't say I disagree.

This whole MC is special thing is also abit annoying.

Yeah but Joshua was special too, and he was pretty cool. Though, I suppose it's debatable if he or Estelle were the MC.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

To me, it's the other way around. Estelle, Kevin, and Lloyd were fine, but Rean is by far the most interesting protagonist - and indeed, the most interesting character - in the Kiseki series. Marx-91 has already written his wonderful dissertation on the character, but that involves ending spoilers for CS2. However, you're quite early in the story, so I'll remind you that he hasn't had a chance to shine yet.[imgur.com]

[Mandrake42]

I quite like him. I find his selfless generosity and kindness appealing. I also like how oblivious he is about it and how blissfully unaware he is of how unusual his behaviour and outlook is, and the way his fellow students continually make fun of him for it.

Edit: In fact I would argue that this is why he has reluctantly ended up in a leadership position. He is a conciliator who can get even people with opposing views to work together. He is also the only member of the group nobody really has any animosty for. Even when they tease him for his compassionate attitude its with a level of respect (some of it grudging admittedly).

[EdgarAllenSwole]

All fair points. My opinion might change as the story unfolds, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Still, I think the key to strong character development is establishing imperfection early on. Take the Sky series, for instance: Estelle starts out as childish, reckless, and goofily overconfident in an endearing (but still problematic) way. She has obvious weaknesses that she either works hard to overcome or transforms into personal strengths. In Rean's case, all I see is a character who excels at everything and wins people over with almost cartoonish altruism. Rather than bringing a unique perspective colored by his own flaws, biases, and emotions, he just says exactly the right thing at exactly the right time so the game can progress to the next set of problems for him to solve. For argument's sake, imagine if Jusis were the main character and had to reconcile his arrogant attitude with the practical need for teamwork. Or if the whole game focused on Machias slowly losing confidence in long-held prejudices. In theory those two scenarios sound much more entertaining than following around a guy who stole God's answer key. That's just my two cents, though I'll try to keep an open mind moving forward.

[Mandrake42]

EdgarAllenSwole původně napsal:

All fair points. My opinion might change as the game progresses, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Still, I think the key to strong character development is establishing imperfection early on. Take the Sky series, for instance: Estelle starts out as childish, reckless, and goofily overconfident in an endearing (but still problematic) way. She has obvious weaknesses that she either works hard to overcome or transforms into personal strengths. In Rean's case, all I see is a character who excels at everything and wins people over with almost cartoonish altruism. Rather than bringing a unique perspective colored by his own flaws, biases, and emotions, he just says exactly the right thing at exactly the right time so the game can progress to the next set of problems for him to solve. For argument's sake, imagine that Jusis were the main character and had to reconcile his arrogant attitude with the practical need for teamwork. Or if the whole game focused on Machias slowly losing confidence in long-held prejudices. In theory those two scenarios sound much more entertaining than following around a guy who stole God's answer key. That's just my two cents, though I'll try to keep an open mind moving forward.

Its really going to come down to personal taste in the end I think, I hope he does grow on you considering he is the central character. For me its his obliviousness that makes it work for me, I think if he were kind of swaggering and self confident and had all the answers Id find him harder to like. As it is he doesn't even realise he is saying or doing the right thing , which is where I mentioned the humour in the team ribbing him about it (which he also doesn't get), they know he has basically stumbled upon just the right approach.

As you probably guessed more does get revealed as the game goes on, but Im only just at the tail end of Chapter 5 myself so Im not even sure myself where it is going to go.

As it stands I do like Estelle and Joshua better, but then I spent three whole games seeing them built up as characters so its kind of hard to remember what I thougth of them initially. That said, these games do seem to be good at characterisation so Im curious to see where they take Rean. I felt that Trails in the Sky earnt its big emotional bits and Im optimistic that Trails of Cold Steel will too.

Edited for typos

[Dragon]

You could say the same about Josh in Trails in the Sky, who is the second main character. He's super bland.

[EdgarAllenSwole]

Estelle compensated. If Rean had an equally entertaining co-lead then I doubt I would've made this post. The problem (so far) is that he's constantly the center of attention with no one to really counterbalance his dry behavior. I thought Joshua worked pretty well as Estelle's straight man.

[Stabbey]

Rean is somewhat more generic than Estelle, it's true. That said, he does get some interesting and unique characteristics later in the game, making him less generic.

[myhr2]

Maybe he's a little bland...but a major arc of his story is finding his place in the world, as a teen. Not everyone has a very pronounced personality, and not everyone matures at the same rate. Estelle shines like the sun in comparison, and I really love her character. But Rean...Rean I can relate to, because I was a little bland at his age too. Still, he has a character, it's subtle, but there are elements that are very proper to him and explain why he act the way he is. His martial training, his honor, his reliability, his doubts, and his conflicting nature (early game spoilers : The fact that he was adopted, and that he's noble by title and not by birth.

To be fair, I prefer Estelle,...but as I said, it's like comparing the sun and the moon. You can prefer one of them, and say there are both the most famous celestial objects besides Earth...but one is a star, the other is a satellite, one brings daylight, the other can appear during the day or the night...right from the beginning, Estelle knows what's her place in the world, she's a bracer through and through, and everything she does follows this logic. Rean is figuring out who he is and what he wants to do.

[Oguzhan]

Out of all the MCs in the trails universe rean is easily my least favorite. I love him in action , he is really good there but when things slow down he is just a second rate Loyd. That being said I do like him as a character. Out of everyone in the class he is the only one without a goal. The others have a goal or something akin to it, its just that they need to work things out but rean has nothing. He is a man trying to find his place in life which is why he is the MC I believe. The other characters would make a one side MC. For example jusis would deal with his Nobel up bringing but that doesn't connect others. Honestly the only other characters I can see as MC in this cast are Crow and Gaius. But Gaius is also a person who has clearly solved all of his issues and matured at an early age so he can't be one. Crow , I kinda wish was the MC but Rean is good enough too. I kinda wish he wasn't a harem male characters though or at least he wasn't dense or at least went after the girls. Loyd was a chick magnet too but he had Randy as his wingman and jealous friend who would probably strangle him if he got any more girls.

[Mandrake42]

4240876367 původně napsal:

Can't say I disagree.

This whole MC is special thing is also abit annoying.

This is kind of par for the course for almost any RPG really. Hell its par for the course for most fantasy and sci fi, and I don't just mean in games but across the board.

[Xialoh]

Mandrake42 původně napsal:

4240876367 původně napsal:

Can't say I disagree.

This whole MC is special thing is also abit annoying.

This is kind of par for the course for almost any RPG really. Hell its par for the course for most fantasy and sci fi, and I don't just mean in games but across the board.

I mean...when you're telling a story of extraordinary things, you generally want to select an extraordinary individual to build around. It's a nice bonus element, and justifies MC being able to pull off certain things most of the time. Picking someone completely ordinary is just another way to do it.

I personally get bored of "MC is just a regular nobody overcoming impossible odds with the help of his more impressive special friends".

[󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧the.jester]

I think this is where the Cold Steel story being split up into 4 games becomes a weakness, as Rean't character development also ends up poentially being spread over 4 games too.