I am analyzing protagonist design in motion role-playing video games, and my conclusion up to now is that mounted, written protagonists constantly permit for deeper and more practical storytelling than clean, customizable avatars.
FromSoftware is an efficient instance. Bloodborne, Darkish Souls, and Elden Ring use totally customizable characters with no identification, no voice, no previous, and no private pursuits. Sekiro makes use of an outlined protagonist with a character, a voice, a narrative, and an emotional motivation. The distinction in narrative potential is gigantic.
Based mostly on this sample, my bias is evident: authored protagonists create stronger narratives. What I would like is to know the design and manufacturing causes behind the choice.
My query for builders and narrative designers is:
Does selecting a customizable clean protagonist inherently restrict the narrative constructions a sport can help? And to what extent is that this alternative merely a approach for studios to keep away from the price and dedication of creating a powerful, outlined character?
Extra detailed sub-questions:
• Does the shortage of an outlined protagonist cut back the alternatives for character arcs, inside conflicts, and emotional stakes?
• Does personalization pressure the story to orbit the world as an alternative of the protagonist, weakening narrative cohesion?
• What manufacturing elements push studios to go for clean protagonists (value of voice appearing, complexity of animation, concern of alienating gamers, and so on.)?
• And most significantly, how typically is that this alternative motivated by useful resource limitations or danger aversion slightly than artistic intent?
From the skin, customization typically looks as if a shortcut that avoids writing a protagonist with calls for for depth, voice, story, animation, or narrative penalties.
I do not intend to be impartial right here. I feel written protagonists are higher for narrative power. However I would like enter from the folks in sport improvement: How do studios actually weigh these trade-offs, and the way a lot narrative potential is sacrificed by selecting a customizable avatar as an alternative of an outlined character?
