Restoring Restorer in Gensokyo
krisslanza!l6ZeLPD4F6 2019/04/16 (Tue) 02:03
No. 15757
[Reply]
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Hello THP, it has been a while, hasn't it? I'm not dead, by the way. Though I haven't exactly been writing things for THP in many, many years. But at the same time, RiG still floats into my mind from time to time, mostly as a reminder of perhaps my greatest failure. Failure in the sense that it is probably my single most successful thing I've ever written, and I never finished it.
And that greatly bothers me. Yet at the same time, I am unsure if I could ever really give RiG a very satisfying conclusion, given it was my first real CYOA and the plot was basically built up as I did it. While I still have the general outline of what I wanted to do in mind, it does beg the question if it'll be a very enjoyable ending by this point, and further, what really makes a good ending to a CYOA?
A part of me has also toyed with the idea of starting RiG from scratch with a far more concrete idea in mind, and less of my constant readjusting/adding/removing 'content' and 'features' at a whim. Yet at the same time, I am fully aware this may not really accomplish much by starting Reina's journey over from scratch. Particularly because I am sure the faithful readers, still want to see more of the relationships that were already cultivated, and it isn't like starting it over is going to help them there.
This is a kind of rambling post to say I'm not dead, I think of RiG all the time, and I strongly feel I need to find a way to continue it, or finish it. It really puts a hamper on my other ideas and projects, because RiG always sticks in my head as the story I really, really want to write and finish. Which is part of why the Teahouse CYOA fizzled out and died, because I did not like writing something on the same 'scale' as RiG, without having actually finished it!
Well, that and it turns out I never did figure out what Isuke's power would be, and since she's a Gensokyo native, I really need that before I can write her again.
Anyway, what are your thoughts, those of THP who still remember the days of Restorer in Gensokyo? Would you be happy with my attempting to salvage what I remember of my vague plotlines of
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Anonymous 2019/04/17 (Wed) 18:36
No. 15767
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RiG seems to be both your first victory and first defeat, and it's arguable those are things that are best left in memory. Like chasing the glories of one's youth, it can show you how you've grown or just repeat past failures.
I enjoyed RiG. It was fun, comfy, low-stakes, and a little bit indulgent. Amusingly, being what is essentially slife-of-life isekai actually made it a bit of novelty, so that's also a plus. Would I want to see it continue though? The answer is a big maybe.
Since RiG was so easy-going I don't feel a dying need to see out Reina's journey. There was no grand plot that I could speculate the resolution of and then be deprived of it like some other stories, and so looking back it's hard to hype myself up. Of course that's just the nature of laid-back stories, nothing wrong with that.
You have to ask yourself, what makes this time different? In the end everyone's probably going to be interested no matter what you do, but if you don't have a clear path in mind it can only end in failure. Do you truly know the end to Reina's journey? Does she even have one?
[ ] Let it die: The road to catharsis, bittersweet but freeing.
[ ] Finish what you started: The road to closure, fraught with nostalgia.
[ ] Retread the same path: The road to triumph, a gamble of your pride.
Anonymous 2019/04/17 (Wed) 21:21
No. 15768
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>>15767
Some good points here. And truth be told, the best I can think of that restarting it would do "differently", is trying to focus better on balancing out Reina's life and work. Changing RiG from its comfy slice-of-life isekai wouldn't be on the table, since Reina just being a (mostly) normal Outsider brought into Gensokyo is sort of the point.
Just in hindsight, a lot of her actual work was never really done all that well. I flip-flopped on having money be a thing, then never really got a good way to handle Reina actually doing her work beyond, "Do you want to actually work, Y/N", which is kind of a pointless, dead choice.
And then there was never anything to actually use the money on, so what was the point? I would probably want to try and get RiG to better focus on Reina's personal and professional life.
Which is really, mostly because I kind of like balancing the slice-of-life with management-style sim things. As for what I'd consider an 'end' to Reina's story? That is truly the tricky one, since it IS a slice-of-life, and there was really only one thing Reina had to really solve herself.
Thinking of some other SoL CYOAs, the most logical ending to RiG, would probably be when the one major issue in her life is resolved, and then her getting married or something.
I think your opening statement is pretty true though. I'm mostly wary to just let Reina go, because I feel like she deserves getting some kind of closure. I only have one other OC who is really developed (and has any art) that is suitable to use, and that'd be Ichidou Isuke from the Teahouse CYOA. Who would certainly be very different from the shy, uncertain Outsider brought to Gensokyo, as Isuke is an assertive, womanizing Oni who is quite at home in Gensokyo... sort of.
krisslanza!l6ZeLPD4F6 2019/05/14 (Tue) 21:44
No. 15794
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So I think I have a rough idea of how I'd want to handle the teahouse business side of things, I'm just a bit unsure on the overall end goal. This is still a bit like RiG, in being a pretty slice of life thing, so I suppose that isn't too unusual to not have a clearly defined end goal...
I'm also a bit unsure where I want to place it. I recall last time I did on the road to the Youkai Mountain, which may still be the best choice. Though, I may end up just posting it in /th/, since I don't want to just focus on the Youkai Mountain group.
Just giving you all a little bit of an update.
