How literally do you interpret fiction?

[AlexanderPeregrine]

I assume everybody over the age of six has learned that fiction doesn't represent reality. Just because you see Superman flying on the screen doesn't mean anybody in our reality can fly through force of will alone. This question is a bit deeper than that.

The best way to look at it is to think about musicals. It's easy to mock them for the idea that people spontaneously spring into perfectly choreographed, orchestrated song and dance at a whim, but one article pointed out that the audience generally keeps the songs separate from the story in their mind. The idea it presented is that musical numbers are metaphors for the characters' emotions and motivations that only the viewers see.

Another way to look at it is through the stock footage transformations and attacks in Voltron/Sailor Moon-style shows. These moments abstract backgrounds of speed lines, stars, bubbles, and other things so they wouldn't have to animate the actual location. Beyond that, I once read that Sailor Moon in particular had multiple points where the characters transformed or performed spells in less than a second when it wasn't a climactic moment, suggesting that the elaborate stock footage was just a slowed-down, beefed-up version of what was actually happening for the benefit of the audience.


Video games are an easy example: it's obvious that within the story of turn-based RPGs, people don't actually line up and take coordinated, individual swings every couple of seconds or are aware of exactly how much DEX or CHR they have. It's for the simplification of the player controlling the action.

My question is where do you personally place the line between what's literally happening within that universe versus a metaphor for the viewer? Do you believe the characters in Streets of Rage actually find and eat whole roast chickens in random places? Do you believe the heroes in shooters literally kill hundreds or thousands of people over the course of their adventure? In cartoons, do you think people actually see each other as two dimensional, flat shaded caricatures? Going really nitpicky, do you think when a movie character hangs up a phone without saying goodbye, it's just that second was glossed over for the audience?

I'm sure we could come up with quite a few interesting moments thinking about it this way.

 

[Lilani]

What you're talking about here aren't meant to be "metaphors." You're talking about suspension of disbelief--that is exactly how much the audience is willing to forgive in terms of believability in order to enjoy the story. For example, people accepting Dobby in the Harry Potter films as a character rather than a computer-generated special effect. Or never questioning why nobody ever seems to poo in fantasy video games.

This varies from person to person, but I think it's pretty understandable that so many people dislike turn-based fighting. Considering how removed turn-based battle are from any sort of real battle, I think it's safe to say if you want to get the player engrossed in the thrill and dynamics of the battle the turn-based style isn't the best method. You're right--the system came about in order to simplify controlling the characters in battle (and it was modeled on D&D style tabletop RPGs). However, with the technology and wide ranges of interfaces we have now, it's understandable that people aren't as convinced as they used to be.

Asking people who have played Skyrim and Kingdom Hearts to be as engaged in the battle system of Final Fantasy I as they are in those games is rather like asking somebody who has seen the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to be engaged in a movie like Flash Gordon. The special effects are, quite frankly, shit. It's not far from the best they could have done for the time, mind, but that's how it is.

In order for your audience to suspend their disbelief in order to continue to enjoy what you're doing, the other things that are happening need to matter more to them than what you want them to forgive. Yes the dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are highly caricatured drawings, but people forgive that and still read them as real because they are engaging characters that are easy to identify with. It is a necessary thing to achieve within the realm of fiction.

However, if what you're trying to get your audience to forgive overpowers everything else, then it's not the audience that has failed to suspend their disbelief. It's you who've failed in giving them enough reason to suspend it. People aren't bored by turn-based battle systems because they aren't "doing it right." They're bored because the system is outdated and never flows between the rest of the gameplay. As Yahtzee put it, it's like putting a steel wall made of tigers between the battle system and the rest of the game. It's not engaging, it doesn't enhance your understanding of the world, and as stated by both you and me at this point it doesn't accurately represent what is actually supposed to be going on. It's simply too jarring and tedious for many to bend their minds around it, especially when they know that nowadays games don't have to rely on that style of play in order to have a battle system.

The story of Final Fantasy VII is interesting, but the battle system is an absolute bore. I'm not bored because I think the characters are stupid for waiting in line to fight rather than jumping in there and fighting. I'm bored because the interest and engagement I felt in the story completely dissipates as soon as I enter a battle. All pace is lost the moment a battle starts. And yes, I understand they couldn't have done much better for the time, but that doesn't mean it's any less flawed.

I think I've allowed this post to get so long because I feel like you're trying to say people are wrong for being bored by turn-based battle systems. Which it's not--it's not anymore wrong than you are for liking the system. However, if you're going to start sharing opinions on game mechanics, don't let your personal feelings color your objective criticism of a mechanic. Yes all battle systems require some suspension of disbelief, however enough has to be there in order for the audience to go along with it.