The Neccessity of 'Low Stakes'

[StaticMania]

It recently occurred to me that when a series has such a large cast of characters like this but also primarily focuses on stories where the conflict is always high stakes, it is quite easy for the writing to fail on the aspect of characterization. Some characters have traits that only really work in a low-key scenario and don't really get chances to shine once the conflict gets too serious for a character's usual quirks to not be out of place or jarring.

In a situation where the conflict has gotten serious and the world is in imminent danger, what defines characters like...Tails and Amy in these scenarios are their unrelenting optimism, Tails' humility and bravery, Amy's heart and ability to step up when needed. Sonic's all about his never give up attitude and his excitement in the face of danger. These character traits are pretty strong and made stronger by a heavy conflict.

But every other character would just treat a high stakes situation just as seriously as you'd expect and that's good.

Let's take a game like Sonic Forces though and how pretty much no one besides Sonic, Tails, and Infinite really had much in the way of characterization despite the fact that they were talking to you throughout the entire game. There were so many characters in this game, but the conflict was that Eggman had taken over the world and Sonic was defeated & captured...there's pretty much no down time in this game because the situation doesn't ever allow for it. Everyone is taking the situation seriously 95% of the time and simply spouting exposition outside of a few humorous comments and the ending.

This type of thing applies to stuff like Sonic Adventure 2 (to some extent), Sonic Nex Gen, Shadow the Hedgehog too...but it was especially pronounced in Forces because unlike those games there's literally no levity at all in the story.

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This is a cast of characters you really want to see interact with each other, live their lives, and be casual. Sometimes.

Very few Sonic games allow for this because the games are so focused on taking themselves seriously.

You want to see this series present an actual world, show some world-building, let other characters get the spot light...mix and match different character combinations in unique light-hearted adventures.

But most importantly allow them to be actual characters, let those supposed traits they have be the driving force of the story. Characters don't actually develop if we never learn anything about them and we can't learn anything about them if they're always in serious situations.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

What you’re detailing has less to do with traits and stakes, and more to do with the scenario and effort the show runner wants/has put into the scene.

You use Forces as an example and how only Sonic, Tails, and Infinite had characterization. It’s an example of high stakes, yes, but it’s also a strong example of how to all around screw up a story like that.

Take Mass Effect 3, for example, which—barring that atrocious ending—manages to deal with a lot of high stakes, but then has moments within its story where the characters can relax, and the Citidel DLC is basically a giant humorous side-story with even the most serious and dark characters can go about goofing around or getting into unlikely yet funny scenarios. All this despite the fact the the overaching story is a galactic-wide apocalypse where all hands are on deck for survival of an alliance of species.

That’s not to say you don’t have a point on having characters be characters outside of tense situations. But this has a lot more to do with the general structure as well as the creativity of the one directing the experience. 
 

In short…not sure what to say that hasn’t already been said before when it comes to the quality of writing. You can only get what the person in charge is willing and able to show based on their own skill.

 

[PinkFloydMania]

I'm gonna echo that sentiment too. Character interactions and world-building can be done in a satisfying manner regardless of the stakes. Eggman can either be planning a grand prix as a wacky trap or blasting the planet apart to awaken an evil god, a good writer will bring the characters to life either way and make them shine. We just had a bit of a drought in the mainline games where the characters and lore weren't really kept consistent, but it seems like Sonic Team is making a conscious effort to correct that now.

[StaticMania]

Character interactions can be done justice anywhere if they're allowed to have a dynamic.

A main complaint I've had about most of the stories in this series is that there's pretty much no levity or breather scenes, it's not entirely that the stakes of the stories don't allow for them, but the fact that they're just non-existent.

You don't really expect character quirks to always come through in serious scenes and that's not really my problem, sometimes characters only need to talk in order to deliver the exposition. My problem is that delivering exposition is generally the only time this happens.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, in events like that, whoever’s writing needs to learn how not to infodump. It’s one of my personal gripes and something I had a problem with in Frontiers, mainly with Tails on Chaos Island.

As much as speech is used to convey information, there is a way to do so without being “expositive” (if that’s even a word) and more natural.

Such as the part where Tails miraculously figures out that an ancient structure is an “Environmental Analyzer.” Here’s how I would’ve written it:

Sonic: “Sup Tails! What’cha doin’?”

Tails: “Trying to figure out what this giant thing is. Could be anything. The way it’s positioned with all these cannons makes me think it’s some kind of sensor, but who knows what kind and what for?”

Sonic (shrugs with a smile): “If anyone can figure it out, it’s you, lil’ buddy.”

Tails (grumbles): “You say that, but this thing is so old it hard to figure anything out. I wish I had my tools with me.”

*Sensor then activates and sends them to the time when the cannons shoot into the skies*

Tails: “Whoa! What was that?”

Sonic: “Something that happened in the past.”

Tails: “How’d you figure that out?”

Sonic: “I’ve…ran into a few flashbacks like this with Amy and Knuckles.”

I’ll let you guys be the judge of how well that works out compared to Frontiers’ attempt. But I tried to do it in a way that felt more natural and working with Tails as an intellect while not making it so…obvious and forced? I don’t know, but you get what I was aiming at.

[StaticMania]

That's not exactly fixing the problem I was talking about.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

26 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

That's not exactly fixing the problem I was talking about.

I can only detail so much with words without being overly descriptive.

You want levity and and breather scenes to show more about the characters other than exposition, but the scene I wrote can be visualized in a pretty lighthearted and sarcastic manner with two friendly characters.

 

[StaticMania]

I guess it gets the point across well enough without spoon feeding information, but I was talking about exposition scenes being the only times characters get to interact in general.

What you're doing fixes an entirely separate issue with how cutscenes in this series usually present information.

Sonic games have relatively few cutscenes compared to other story-driven games and characters rarely interact in a hub world area, Sonic Frontiers is the first game to have optional scenes that aren't really relevant to the story. I just think we could use more stuff like that.

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Sonic Rush and Rush Adventure are games that have the exact type of thing I mean.

You know, how during the early parts of Blaze's story you get scenes of her meeting everyone and building her friendship with Cream just through the interactions.

Or...in Rush Adventure as you progress in the game you meet the inhabitants and some of Marine's friends and you get to learn a bit of that world.

These aren't optional but because the early story isn't focused too much on the conflict you get stuff like this.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I get what you mean.

You’d have a setting and scenario to work with, as well as the characters that take their core personalities and clash with them in ways that are intense and conflicting, but portrayed humorously. It’s kinda like the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC example.

The best example I can think of is Archie Comics Fighter Arc during the Reboot. And unfortunately we’re not likely to see moments like that any time soon in the games until possibly the next entry at the earliest.

Problem is, again, they just don’t really structure them with that degree of variation and fall too far towards extremes—either it’s serious or it’s relaxed.

And it doesn’t help that they haven’t been consistent with characterization, leading to characters to act in ways that they haven’t acted in previous similar scenarios. That and the lack of character variation in terms of interaction—how often do we see Shadow palling around with Cream, or Amy with Rouge? They don’t seem to interested in exploring things outside their comfort zone.

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

Some characters do work better in low stakes environment.

Rouge is probably the biggest victim. She's a grey morality thief, so her thing should be low creating conflict but in non-lethal scenarios. This is why she works so well in Sonic X or Battle. Treasure Team Tango would be great too, if Sol Dimension wasn't dying without it's magic stones.

If world-threatening scenario is happening, Rouge will be helping heroes. She can't even steal Chaos Emeralds, as they are vital part of saving the planet. And since every mainline Sonic game deals with world ending situation, she's rarely used to her full potential.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I see it less as which characters work better in a low stakes setting and more “does the way this character is acting in this scenario fit based on their history and circumstances given.”

Throw Shadow in a low stakes setting and see what you come up with. Ideally with more range than simply being grumpy—you could make him disinterested, bored, maybe reminisce about how Maria would have been if she were still with him, or he’ll he could actually find some fun and be genuinely competitive and cocky with a bit more thorniness than Sonic’s more friendlier spirit.

Free Riders was able to get something out of it with him. I don’t see why this can’t be repeated.

[Blazermaze00]

i feel the same way! i think it's gotten to a bad point where people interpret any form of downtime in fiction as just "filler" because the writers can't think of ways to move the plot forward. in fact, it's actually the best time to build relationships between characters and explain worldbuilding mechanics without our heroes getting interrupted in the middle of talking every 5 seconds!