Post by Cole Geass on Apr 9, 2017 2:43:05 GMT
I just bought the new PS4 game Persona 5 and I must say it's a very enjoyable game. I'm only an hour in, but I've already noticed something very peculiar. The main protagonist is tall, I mean really tall. He's the tallest character model in the game, above even athletic students and adults. This makes me believe the character would be somewhere around 6'5'' to be taller than absolutely everyone else around him.
The main character who you select a name for, happens to be someone who's wrongfully accused of a crime and is more or less an underdog that the player is meant to sympathize with but at the same time, feel constantly disadvantaged. I wonder if the game designers felt that given the scenario of a character with the whole world against him, making him taller than everyone else around would make the players feel like they still got a shot to power through it. Like, although the whole world hates me, at least I'm tall, so there's that. It could also be to make the main character seem more important than not only the supporting cast, but also the backround NPCs, make him stand out the most because he's the tallest character in the entire game. This makes the player feel more proper in the role of the leader of the group, and savior of the world.
I know that this one game doesn't speak for all video games, and there have been several video games with short protagonists, like Super Mario. In the past I think it made more sense for your character to be smaller, to make the video game feel larger and more challenging. But then there are also games like Gears of War or Darksiders where you play as a big dude, much larger than normal everyday people, so both tactics have been used. But the reason I bring up this particular game is because the main lead character isn't more buff, stronger, faster or more physically important than the other characters. The game relies on magic, and strength of the spirit for battles, so the only real reason I see them making the main character the tallest is to make him seem more important than everybody else.
Any of you seen this "technique" before in games, tv, or film?
The main character who you select a name for, happens to be someone who's wrongfully accused of a crime and is more or less an underdog that the player is meant to sympathize with but at the same time, feel constantly disadvantaged. I wonder if the game designers felt that given the scenario of a character with the whole world against him, making him taller than everyone else around would make the players feel like they still got a shot to power through it. Like, although the whole world hates me, at least I'm tall, so there's that. It could also be to make the main character seem more important than not only the supporting cast, but also the backround NPCs, make him stand out the most because he's the tallest character in the entire game. This makes the player feel more proper in the role of the leader of the group, and savior of the world.
I know that this one game doesn't speak for all video games, and there have been several video games with short protagonists, like Super Mario. In the past I think it made more sense for your character to be smaller, to make the video game feel larger and more challenging. But then there are also games like Gears of War or Darksiders where you play as a big dude, much larger than normal everyday people, so both tactics have been used. But the reason I bring up this particular game is because the main lead character isn't more buff, stronger, faster or more physically important than the other characters. The game relies on magic, and strength of the spirit for battles, so the only real reason I see them making the main character the tallest is to make him seem more important than everybody else.
Any of you seen this "technique" before in games, tv, or film?