Stories that left you disappointed for a reason

[Gone_Dead]

From an author's perspective, it can be difficult to include indifferent/passive options since that's kinda... like admitting that your readers might not give a damn about your plot lol
If you go down that route, you pretty much have to make it so outside circumstances force the MC into it anyway, and then this reluctance is still something that should be reflected in the narrative.
I think that, if your story is more linear in terms of plot, it needs to be written in a way that makes it clear why the MC would want to go along. "But why?" is a very useful question to ask yourself as an author, in general. Ideally, the narrative should funnel the MC's and the reader's feelings into going along so that it doesn't feel forced even if it kinda is.
Either that, or you're stuck with Wayfarer-levels of branching, which is cool, but difficult to pull off.
...I think that AMR author might simply be eager to get the plot going, so MC's inner workings were left somewhat... neglected. But it's difficult for me to sit through all these introductions and loredumps when all I want is to see what the old crew is doing :')

As much as I'd love to confront the old crew, I have to be honest, I'm interested in the dynamics MC and Tahlia could have. I'm still undecided about the Arcadia RO's tbh. In the old demo, there was the fact that Yurui was related to the Saintess we kill in the first game. It gave depth to her character and her arc. The author did a good job at making Tahlia less of a plot device to keep MC at Arcadia from the old demo. Frankly it was humiliating that she had complete control over MC and that she could read our mind and all that. Idk maybe thats still the case for the year we are indentured to her and we might eventually have a way to tune her out.

As for the story, its clear there's going to be conflict between Arcadia and the rest of the world. There's also the fact that the Empire overseas plans to use Arcadian resources to take over the continent. So its going to be a three way war with the primary antagonists as the Empire and other one choice dependent or none at all. There has to be a really compelling and hard reason to side against Param or Arcadia. It shouldn't just depend on the MC's allegiences and their whim, if this is the case then it has no narrative impact on the readers whatsoever. Both sides should have extremely valid casus beli. Its something thats never explored in stories involving war. There's just an half assed answer to why one country attacks another.

One of my personal wishes is that halfway towards the book where we might have to choose sides, I really hope that MC is proficient enough in all the fields and are able to use all 4 of their phantasma's to their full extent. Technically MC should be the strongest person in the game since we have 4 phantasmas, 5 including the strongest one we got in the latest demo. If MC managed to survive the binding of all of the phantasmas, then they should be able to use them since its just there uselessly. I kinda think this might happen in the future since there was hints towards this in the old demo.

 

[Ireth313]

There is no visible trauma.

Tbh I wanted the Exile levels of various coping/not coping mechanisms (and, hey, look, the Exile MC is also someone their homeland used and then threw away terribly mangled, isn't that a nice coincidence?), from burning self-destructive anger, to wallowing in self-pity, self-deprecation, depression or even decisevely moving on with middle finger raised high and proud but then I realised that AMR is like the Disney version of Exile when it comes to maturity...

I really want to play nuclear revenge route in AMR2, because f Param for hypocrisy, but it's like the author is incapable of writing MC experiencing anger at all

 

[Fuffff]

Is 'A Tale of Heroes' that IF where you're the superhero with generic powers, weaker than everyone else, and treated like a side character so the author's OC can be the main star (and he steals your girlfriend no matter what you do)?

 

[Vamp-kun]

Is 'A Tale of Heroes' that IF where you're the superhero with generic powers, weaker than everyone else, and treated like a side character so the author's OC can be the main star (and he steals your girlfriend no matter what you do)?

That c*cking from the sidekick (author's favorite) reminds me a lot of the conclusion of the Lorien Legacies book series.

At least I have the movie of the first book to keep me company in the eternal darkness...

 

[Gone_Dead]

Is 'A Tale of Heroes' that IF where you're the superhero with generic powers, weaker than everyone else, and treated like a side character so the author's OC can be the main star (and he steals your girlfriend no matter what you do)?

What? These kinds of authors have to be projecting. That's multiple times ive seen RO's cheating, MC being a bum and the author's self insert character in IF's. No way its a coincidence. The unhinged ones are slowly showing themselves. Why not a harem story or something like WLGYL lmao, id pay for a good harem story. (I'm looking at you AC, make it happen.)

 

[Fuffff]

What? These kinds of authors have to be projecting. That's multiple times ive seen RO's cheating, MC being a bum and the author's self insert character in IF's. No way its a coincidence. The unhinged ones are slowly showing themselves. Why not a harem story or something like WLGYL lmao, id pay for a good harem story. (I'm looking at you AC, make it happen.)

I searched, and the character who cucks you for no reason other than being the OC's favorite romance option (and past lover) is named Ignis, I think. It's so random, why make her cuck you? Why can't the author just have Ignis and the OC be past lovers, but she moves on with the MC?

It's a wonder that WIP still has people following it. My main gripe even before I knew your character would get cucked, is that you can't choose your powers. Come on, even Unsupervised lets you customize your power, and it's a half-baked game. Maybe it's just my personal opinion, but I find superstrength/flight so generic and I had hoped I'd get to choose something else.

Also, probably an unpopular opinion, but I prefer overpowered MCs, or at least ones that start weak and become the strongest. Bum/average MCs just aren't my type. Especially A Tale of Heroes where you're condemned to be a bum... and a cuck. At least it's only for one RO, but I wouldn't be surprised if the author makes their OC have a harem of all the ROs in the game, and you end up being cucked no matter who you choose.

 

[Parallax]

I searched, and the character who cucks you for no reason other than being the OC's favorite romance option (and past lover) is named Ignis, I think. It's so random, why make her cuck you? Why can't the author just have Ignis and the OC be past lovers, but she moves on with the MC?

It's a wonder that WIP still has people following it. My main gripe even before I knew your character would get cucked, is that you can't choose your powers. Come on, even Unsupervised lets you customize your power, and it's a half-baked game. Maybe it's just my personal opinion, but I find superstrength/flight so generic and I had hoped I'd get to choose something else.

Also, probably an unpopular opinion, but I prefer overpowered MCs, or at least ones that start weak and become the strongest. Bum/average MCs just aren't my type. Especially A Tale of Heroes where you're condemned to be a bum... and a cuck. At least it's only for one RO, but I wouldn't be surprised if the author makes their OC have a harem of all the ROs in the game, and you end up being cucked no matter who you choose.

There aren't even that many IFs with overpowered MC. This is generally seen as something cliché... And when you're pathetically weak compared to NPCs, oh what an original trope, how refreshing it is.

Duh.

 

[SasariRomanii]

There aren't even that many IFs with overpowered MC. This is generally seen as something cliché... And when you're pathetically weak compared to NPCs, oh what an original trope, how refreshing it is.

And then if we want a powerful MC we get made fun of because how dare we want a power fantasy where we're capable and not constantly dragged down by the NPCs!

Like this for example: https://www.tumblr.com/god-syndicat...wers-are-very-annoying-i-hope-we?source=share

Though surprisingly the people in the comments actually call out the author and not filled with boot lickers. Now that's new.

Also, for being a side character that's not even an RO and is only there to be cucked by Dame and MC, why does he gets more asks answered than Ares??? Take a look at this. Seriously.



Also, also, considering he's the God of victory, the narrative will be flipped around instead so MC's the one being cucked. Dame sucks. Sigourney all the way.

 

[mrstankylegs]

And then if we want a powerful MC we get made fun of because how dare we want a power fantasy where we're capable and not constantly dragged down by the NPCs!

Like this for example: https://www.tumblr.com/god-syndicat...wers-are-very-annoying-i-hope-we?source=share

Holy molly, that's a defensive, hostile response. Where did that come from lol? Anon finding Johnny annoying doesn't necessarily correlate with them wanting MC to be OP for a 'power fantasy.' It doesn't even mean they can't 'engage with the story.' If anything, it's the opposite, since a character emotionally resonates with anon enough for there to be a reaction. An emotional response. An opinion. (Worse than readers finding your character 'annoying' is your readers having nothing to say about your story at all whatsoever.) Annoying isn't even that negative a word, it's not as if they said 'Johnny and his powers are very annoying, you're a bad writer, and I'm not reading your IF anymore,' they only hoped there won't bee too much interaction. (Which...being, you know, an interactive fiction, players should have some choices over which characters they wish to engage with regardless.)

There's even a passive aggressive vauge-rebloggingg after this ask was published too ?!

'Don't insult the reader's intelligence' is writing 101. Good lord, I'm gonna be staying far away from this IF.

 

[God]

Actually a lot of Authors and even players think just because you don’t like something that happens in a story they just think you want a “power fantasy” and try to put you down that way. “ this isn’t your typical power fantasy” which is hilarious to me tbh because in the IF community that’s not a valid excuse because I think I can count on both hands the amount of active “power fantasy” games there’s way less than people realize. There’s like 10x more angst and drama IFs compared. Just because I don’t like when plot makes the MC do something dumb doesn’t mean I want them to be perfect.

 

[veil]

Out of topic but what's up with all music IF writers being so obnoxious? Does the fame get to them or what?

 

[Gone_Dead]

Out of topic but what's up with all music IF writers being so obnoxious? Does the fame get to them or what?

You've seen irl musicians right? Probably think it's cool when they do it, but the thing is it's the farthest thing from cool even if someone famous does it.

 

[seneya]

Like this for example: https://www.tumblr.com/god-syndicat...wers-are-very-annoying-i-hope-we?source=share

Holly cow, why does this reply sound so conceited? "Until you learn the basics of narrative" dude... Are you a famous author or what? Critically acclaimed? Lots of awards under your belt??? And even if you were, there are like x100 ways to word that same thought without coming off as an a-hole.
Also, if you want there to be conflict, why won't you be happy someone finds the character annoying lol... Or is the current zeitgeist that every single character needs to be cherished and loved or whatever

what's up with all music IF writers being so obnoxious?

And here I realized I don't follow a single music IF author. Did something happen?

 

[mrstankylegs]

Out of topic but what's up with all music IF writers being so obnoxious? Does the fame get to them or what?

This is a safe space, you can just say Amy /j

 

[seneya]

I thought everyone worshipped Amy
*not a /j

This is a safe space, you can just say Amy /j

 

[SasariRomanii]

And here I realized I don't follow a single music IF author. Did something happen?

There are three music IF authors with Tumblr as of now. Amy (Infamous), Liza (Press Play), and last but not least, Mara (Can't Save Your Love From Dying also REMEBER, YOU WILL DIE). And all of them are obnoxious c8nts in their own right. Although Mara has been obnoxious before Can't Save Your Love (why the f8ck are her titles always so extra and long), and so does Liza just not as much. I think I've posted some of the Tumblr dramas involving Liza and Mara over here somewhere, if you go back a bit you're bound to find them. Amy is... Amy, no more need to be said.

 

[realman]

There are three music IF authors with Tumblr as of now. Amy (Infamous), Liza (Press Play), and last but not least, Mara (Can't Save Your Love From Dying also REMEBER, YOU WILL DIE). And all of them are obnoxious c8nts in their own right. Although Mara has been obnoxious before Can't Save Your Love (why the f8ck are her titles always so extra and long), and so does Liza just not as much. I think I've posted some of the Tumblr dramas involving Liza and Mara over here somewhere, if you go back a bit you're bound to find them. Amy is... Amy, no more need to be said.

I know Amy is probably the worst of them because she's the most well known, but what'd she actually say/do? Don't feel like scrolling through that trash fic's tumblr, no offense to it's readers

 

[seneya]

I know Amy is probably the worst of them because she's the most well known, but what'd she actually say/do? Don't feel like scrolling through that trash fic's tumblr

I'd like someone to ELI5 for me, as well. As I said above, my impression was that the general consensus is that Infamous is the best thing to ever grace the Earth since beer, and that Amy is a goddess generally well-liked (but then again, I also don't spend much time on Tumblr...)

 

[eightiesboi]

What the heck do y'all mean? Of course Infamous is one the best things ever happened to us humans on Earth especially IF readers! Don't you feel that doki-doki feeling when Seven stares at you with contempt?
Someone even actually made a (permanent) tattoo just like the MC in the game just to show how much they love that masterpiece.

Spoiler

sarcasm aside, I automatically assume you're an idiot if you do things like this.

 

[ADB446]

What the heck do y'all mean? Of course Infamous is one the best things ever happened to us humans on Earth especially IF readers! Don't you feel that doki-doki feeling when Seven stares at you with contempt?
Someone even actually made a (permanent) tattoo just like the MC in the game just to show how much they love that masterpiece.

Spoiler

View attachment 22293

sarcasm aside, I automatically assume you're an idiot if you do things like this.

Yeah, I was flabbergasted when I saw this. Ultimately none of my business, but I seriously don't get what sets this game apart from others so much that people even get tattoos of it . I like it well enough, but dang.