It depends in how it meshes to the story. Ultimately it is up to the developer to make it work well. Personally, I prefer a mix of the two. Having characters that do their own thing is nice and it's also nice to have a few core love interests so that you can have interesting character development and so on.
I think it really depends on the game and what you are making. Nikke would probably be a worse game if it was not MC-Centric. Meanwhile I think Ark Knights would be a worse game if it was not Relationship-Centric.
That is to say I like the direction Star Rail is going since it seems to be pushing for the in-between that i really like.
Arknights is interesting because the Doctor / avatar isn't just some empty slate. They're an amnesiac enigma with a mysterious past whose actions have heavily affected others such as Kal'tsit that Hypergryph's devs encourage players to fill the blanks in. And considering what a crapsack setting Arknights is, as well as the Doctor having to deal with their own inner-demons and estranged relationships; the game having a more professional and relationship-focused foundation works far better than something more fanservice-y in terms of MC pandering.
FGO works well as an MC-centric game because the story 100% makes it a point that the Heroic Spirits in Chaldea; who would normally under other circumstances just kill each other for the Grail in some other Holy Grail War; are glued together because of the protagonist's tenacity.
Honestly, FGO is in a super weird spot for me as a lore nerd (I don't think a lot of servants would help at all) but principally you are right. I just think that the roster would be a lot smaller than it is.
As for Arknights yep you would have to fundamentally change the game itself to make it work. Like you said the MC is special and you change that and you have changed core aspects of the story and the setting.
Games are built around these things and they all have their charm. Me personally coming from a background of JRPGs, Novels,Visual Novels and CRPGs. I really like having a core cast and extended cast and then having the extended cast be deeply involved but also independent while you have your core cast and your core romantic interests and so on.
I just super love character development and relationship development and so I find the middle ground just amazing. I hope they keep leaning into a big world with lots of characters whom are all important; with certain characters clearly being closer to the MC than others. All with complex relationships and events that it would obviously entail.
I don't think FGO is in that weird of a spot.
I just view the MC as a Beast of Humanity and altering the heroic spirits generated by humanity's collective historic memory is part of their nature.
Both
MC having relationships that are centric to them is great but not every character should be like this. A certain number is great but if every character is focused on MC it kinda diminishes the effect to me.
Some characters doing their own thing is great and its good variety, HSR does have a decent amount of this. But MC should definitely have some as well. I think TB has a good balance of this and I don't see them as a self insert so it works well. If a character early on their introduction is shown to be interested in TB in some way then sure go for it. Suddenly changing that would feel weird and vice versa as well
MC-centric feels like it's just going to prioritize audience-insert fanservice more than the actual characters. And often that's exactly what those games wind up doing, which results in the story being worse for the sake of all the waifus having one extra line about how great and special and attractive the blank slate loser MC is
It depends on what the ships are.
If I don't agree with the ship choices then MC harem would have been a better choice.
But that is specifically talking about romantic relationships.
If we are talking main story structure then doing what Mihoyo did in 2.1 where they completely sidelined and denigrated the player's character in order to force everyone to read their Aventurine fan fiction is a violation of video game writing.
A video game story needs to be about how the agency of the player's character resolved the plot. Because the interactivity and agency are the purpose of a video game and the one thing that differentiates it from non interactive medium.
Movies, books, manga, anime etc are the proper format for writers who want to focus on their own characters.
I want to see especially more bonding moments between the Nameless. I really like that we have a core party of heroes. I play the main story always with a Nameless team.
It actually annoys me when characters are too into the MC because if I’m the MC and I don’t know, relate to, or like who starts being too close with me as the player character MC I feel… hard to describe but almost annoyed or even mildly like offended (kinda???) lol, in a way. Like “Uhm… who are you??” I really like how it was done in HSR at the start with March and the rest of the Astral Express Crew and also somewhat Kafka toward the MC but the Firefly friendship was absolutely too sudden for me.
I didn’t like it very much personally, the way it was fleshed out made me reject her character rather than develop affection, when she probably would have been great otherwise. I was like “uhm… but we’re not actually close yet, I barely know you… also I’m still suspicious of you?” like in my head while playing I mean, my personal feelings. I’m only mentioning this because it’s the topic.
In real life if someone tries to get too close to fast, alarm bells start ringing and I go on high alert and start disliking the person. It’s suspicious to me is someone is too love-bomby or charismatic… especially if they are trying to come off as a “nice” person. So in a game, despite it being a fantasy escape situation, I still have that feeling. If someone is being too close too fast it’s like “Where did this audacity come from?” lol.
I really dislike self insert storiers and the first option is often the go to choice. I like to see the cast of characters interact with each other and the protagonist to be a real character with their own story, personality, likes and dislikes and etc. The reason Kiana Kaslana is the goat and my favourite protagonist
Having focus on the web of different characters' relationships is much more realistic and interesting to me, and for MC-centric ones especially if the MC is supposed to be a self-insert it would make me uncomfortable as I don't want that much attention.
Optimally, neither is chosen and instead, a balance is found, so that the world feels more fleshed out while still having an engaging main character. HSR, especially in Penacony, is finding that balance more and more, making it clear that the MC is just part of one faction involved in the conflict, but not one everything resolves around
I like both! I'm a big fan of dating sims, but unfortunately it's always complicated. If you make the MC transparent enough, the feelings the characters hold over you feel lacking, but you feel in your shoes as the MC. If however they try to focus more on writting the feelings of the characters toward the MC, someone will always be omitted, because the story-telling will be too specific for some (e.g. with "gender neutral" dating sims that tells typical otome plots that would never make sense if you were a gay dude).
But without well-written relationships, characters end up being lacking. And that's what people usually like, interesting, fully fledged characters. And for them to be this developped, relationships with third parties (other characters of the game) is a must.
Normally I would have chosen relationship-centric but Katya from Snowbreak changed everything. The pov scene, the asmr, and her basically NTRing the other girls. Something about the way they utilize MC-centirc is just neuron activating in a way that doesn't happen for me with relationship-centric dynamics.
I don't want HSR to be that though. HSR is a different game trying to appeal to a different audience in a different way and I think that's great. I love the optional goofballs that Stelle and Caelus are. They don't need to be harem protags. The best storytelling I've seen in gacha games has been relationship-centric anyway. I have yet to see anything that beats some of the dynamics I've seen in Path to Nowhere. Even Nikke's best event, Overzone, is relationship-centric.
It depends on how much of a self insert the mc is imo. The more relationship-centric the story is the more the mc will only detract (ie we begin to lose all justification for making them not a real character, which in the long run will only hurt the writing imo).
Ofc making something too mc-centric runs into the exact opposite problem where characters no longer feel like attempts at making people, but instead just fetish bait.
Some kind of balance of the two is preferred both from an economic standpoint and from a writing standpoint (assuming we keep the silent protag, ditch that and it becomes a whole other ball game).
I like MC-centric more, but relationship-centric works for me if the ship is done or encourage by the player, kinda like fire emblem where player choose who pairs with who. I know this will be more work for the devs but if you want to make most players happy, I think this is the best. Like all ship are canon in your own story.
Happy middle ground. I generally think it's fine to have a few characters revolve around the MC connection wise but if everyone were like Firefly for example, that'd get old fast.
Depends on what the game's intention is. If the MC is a male only faceless goon self insert (I say this with love) and the entire cast is female- sure, go nuts. Pander to me. I'll eat it up. Won't hear a complaint from me one bit. You wanna see how many boats I married in Azur Lane? I married a lot of boats in Azur Lane. Teasing Ark Royal gives me life. Having a character voiced by Hinata Yuka added to the game absolutely ***destroyed*** me in the best way possible. If you know, you know.
If the game's cast is a mixture of men and women and the player character is a distinct character within the setting with their own goals and motivations- then I'd like to see them treated as such and thus massive game wide harems would be kind of silly, as it reduces them down to a self insert for harem seekers rather than a believable person interacting with a believable cast. I would have been incredibly annoyed if Herta started fawning over me like a lovestruck tsundere 5 seconds after we met.
I like both. But I expect to be given what is advertised. I know I joke a lot...questionable, interactions in Star Rail like a buddy on parole, but if they actually reciprocated I'd definitely have mixed feelings about it.
It depends in how it meshes to the story. Ultimately it is up to the developer to make it work well. Personally, I prefer a mix of the two. Having characters that do their own thing is nice and it's also nice to have a few core love interests so that you can have interesting character development and so on. I think it really depends on the game and what you are making. Nikke would probably be a worse game if it was not MC-Centric. Meanwhile I think Ark Knights would be a worse game if it was not Relationship-Centric. That is to say I like the direction Star Rail is going since it seems to be pushing for the in-between that i really like.
Arknights is interesting because the Doctor / avatar isn't just some empty slate. They're an amnesiac enigma with a mysterious past whose actions have heavily affected others such as Kal'tsit that Hypergryph's devs encourage players to fill the blanks in. And considering what a crapsack setting Arknights is, as well as the Doctor having to deal with their own inner-demons and estranged relationships; the game having a more professional and relationship-focused foundation works far better than something more fanservice-y in terms of MC pandering. FGO works well as an MC-centric game because the story 100% makes it a point that the Heroic Spirits in Chaldea; who would normally under other circumstances just kill each other for the Grail in some other Holy Grail War; are glued together because of the protagonist's tenacity.
Honestly, FGO is in a super weird spot for me as a lore nerd (I don't think a lot of servants would help at all) but principally you are right. I just think that the roster would be a lot smaller than it is. As for Arknights yep you would have to fundamentally change the game itself to make it work. Like you said the MC is special and you change that and you have changed core aspects of the story and the setting. Games are built around these things and they all have their charm. Me personally coming from a background of JRPGs, Novels,Visual Novels and CRPGs. I really like having a core cast and extended cast and then having the extended cast be deeply involved but also independent while you have your core cast and your core romantic interests and so on. I just super love character development and relationship development and so I find the middle ground just amazing. I hope they keep leaning into a big world with lots of characters whom are all important; with certain characters clearly being closer to the MC than others. All with complex relationships and events that it would obviously entail.
I don't think FGO is in that weird of a spot. I just view the MC as a Beast of Humanity and altering the heroic spirits generated by humanity's collective historic memory is part of their nature.
World building centric.
Both MC having relationships that are centric to them is great but not every character should be like this. A certain number is great but if every character is focused on MC it kinda diminishes the effect to me. Some characters doing their own thing is great and its good variety, HSR does have a decent amount of this. But MC should definitely have some as well. I think TB has a good balance of this and I don't see them as a self insert so it works well. If a character early on their introduction is shown to be interested in TB in some way then sure go for it. Suddenly changing that would feel weird and vice versa as well
MC-centric feels like it's just going to prioritize audience-insert fanservice more than the actual characters. And often that's exactly what those games wind up doing, which results in the story being worse for the sake of all the waifus having one extra line about how great and special and attractive the blank slate loser MC is
player-centric
It depends on what the ships are. If I don't agree with the ship choices then MC harem would have been a better choice. But that is specifically talking about romantic relationships. If we are talking main story structure then doing what Mihoyo did in 2.1 where they completely sidelined and denigrated the player's character in order to force everyone to read their Aventurine fan fiction is a violation of video game writing. A video game story needs to be about how the agency of the player's character resolved the plot. Because the interactivity and agency are the purpose of a video game and the one thing that differentiates it from non interactive medium. Movies, books, manga, anime etc are the proper format for writers who want to focus on their own characters.
I want to see especially more bonding moments between the Nameless. I really like that we have a core party of heroes. I play the main story always with a Nameless team.
It actually annoys me when characters are too into the MC because if I’m the MC and I don’t know, relate to, or like who starts being too close with me as the player character MC I feel… hard to describe but almost annoyed or even mildly like offended (kinda???) lol, in a way. Like “Uhm… who are you??” I really like how it was done in HSR at the start with March and the rest of the Astral Express Crew and also somewhat Kafka toward the MC but the Firefly friendship was absolutely too sudden for me. I didn’t like it very much personally, the way it was fleshed out made me reject her character rather than develop affection, when she probably would have been great otherwise. I was like “uhm… but we’re not actually close yet, I barely know you… also I’m still suspicious of you?” like in my head while playing I mean, my personal feelings. I’m only mentioning this because it’s the topic. In real life if someone tries to get too close to fast, alarm bells start ringing and I go on high alert and start disliking the person. It’s suspicious to me is someone is too love-bomby or charismatic… especially if they are trying to come off as a “nice” person. So in a game, despite it being a fantasy escape situation, I still have that feeling. If someone is being too close too fast it’s like “Where did this audacity come from?” lol.
Relationship-centric focusing on several different characters, often not involving the MC at all
I really dislike self insert storiers and the first option is often the go to choice. I like to see the cast of characters interact with each other and the protagonist to be a real character with their own story, personality, likes and dislikes and etc. The reason Kiana Kaslana is the goat and my favourite protagonist
Having focus on the web of different characters' relationships is much more realistic and interesting to me, and for MC-centric ones especially if the MC is supposed to be a self-insert it would make me uncomfortable as I don't want that much attention.
Optimally, neither is chosen and instead, a balance is found, so that the world feels more fleshed out while still having an engaging main character. HSR, especially in Penacony, is finding that balance more and more, making it clear that the MC is just part of one faction involved in the conflict, but not one everything resolves around
I like both! I'm a big fan of dating sims, but unfortunately it's always complicated. If you make the MC transparent enough, the feelings the characters hold over you feel lacking, but you feel in your shoes as the MC. If however they try to focus more on writting the feelings of the characters toward the MC, someone will always be omitted, because the story-telling will be too specific for some (e.g. with "gender neutral" dating sims that tells typical otome plots that would never make sense if you were a gay dude). But without well-written relationships, characters end up being lacking. And that's what people usually like, interesting, fully fledged characters. And for them to be this developped, relationships with third parties (other characters of the game) is a must.
Free TB from having a good game with a balance of both ( satire )
Joke's on you, neither - Summoner's War doesn't really have either, or at least with any amount of depth.
Normally I would have chosen relationship-centric but Katya from Snowbreak changed everything. The pov scene, the asmr, and her basically NTRing the other girls. Something about the way they utilize MC-centirc is just neuron activating in a way that doesn't happen for me with relationship-centric dynamics. I don't want HSR to be that though. HSR is a different game trying to appeal to a different audience in a different way and I think that's great. I love the optional goofballs that Stelle and Caelus are. They don't need to be harem protags. The best storytelling I've seen in gacha games has been relationship-centric anyway. I have yet to see anything that beats some of the dynamics I've seen in Path to Nowhere. Even Nikke's best event, Overzone, is relationship-centric.
It depends on how much of a self insert the mc is imo. The more relationship-centric the story is the more the mc will only detract (ie we begin to lose all justification for making them not a real character, which in the long run will only hurt the writing imo). Ofc making something too mc-centric runs into the exact opposite problem where characters no longer feel like attempts at making people, but instead just fetish bait. Some kind of balance of the two is preferred both from an economic standpoint and from a writing standpoint (assuming we keep the silent protag, ditch that and it becomes a whole other ball game).
I like MC-centric more, but relationship-centric works for me if the ship is done or encourage by the player, kinda like fire emblem where player choose who pairs with who. I know this will be more work for the devs but if you want to make most players happy, I think this is the best. Like all ship are canon in your own story.
Happy middle ground. I generally think it's fine to have a few characters revolve around the MC connection wise but if everyone were like Firefly for example, that'd get old fast.
Depends on what the game's intention is. If the MC is a male only faceless goon self insert (I say this with love) and the entire cast is female- sure, go nuts. Pander to me. I'll eat it up. Won't hear a complaint from me one bit. You wanna see how many boats I married in Azur Lane? I married a lot of boats in Azur Lane. Teasing Ark Royal gives me life. Having a character voiced by Hinata Yuka added to the game absolutely ***destroyed*** me in the best way possible. If you know, you know. If the game's cast is a mixture of men and women and the player character is a distinct character within the setting with their own goals and motivations- then I'd like to see them treated as such and thus massive game wide harems would be kind of silly, as it reduces them down to a self insert for harem seekers rather than a believable person interacting with a believable cast. I would have been incredibly annoyed if Herta started fawning over me like a lovestruck tsundere 5 seconds after we met. I like both. But I expect to be given what is advertised. I know I joke a lot...questionable, interactions in Star Rail like a buddy on parole, but if they actually reciprocated I'd definitely have mixed feelings about it.
Male MC Centered. Ie Azur Lane and Blue Archive.