I'M SAD :(

Yeah? So? Namco doesn't have a copyright on character development or anything, so don't let something like this stop you from telling the story you want to tell. You have your own way of writing characters, so give them the voices and development that only you can give them and you'll be fine.

Besides, the idea has been done plenty of times before Berseria was even a design document. Just because you've seen it done doesn't mean you shouldn't do it yourself. Otherwise, there would only be two stories ever written in the entire world: One where the protagonist resolves the conflict, and one where the protagonist doesn't resolve the conflict.

There are no new ideas, everything's been done, but you could execute your ideas in a different way.

Like, I never knew that my game shared a number of plot beats, character arcs, and even names from Dragon Age 2 until I played that for the first time last year. Seeing all the similarities in one game was demotivating as hell at first, but in the end it did give me some ideas on how to differentiate my game's mage oppression plot from DA2's. (well, in a 'what not to do' kind of way)

OK so here's the thing: people are WAY too focused on new stories and new ideas, when, if you look at what's enduringly successful, the ideas and the novelty don't mean shit.

What's important is how that stuff is executed. You could give five different creators the same basic story structure, and you'd get five different kinds of story out of it, because what you're ideally doing in storytelling is trying to get your own point of view across to someone.

Yamamoto Naoki wrote a story with two kids bonding. You will write Terozu's two kids bonding story, and- if you're doing it right- it'll be your own thing. All you have to do is focus on what you bring to the table in terms of philosophy and life experience.

Maybe it's the same general idea. Maybe it's not as fancy as a Namco-backed work. But it's a story that only you can tell, because only you have the experiences of your own life.

"There are as many stories as people are involved in it" .. Now I want to rewatch Baccano!. The introduction made the point that, as journalists they are trying to convey a story, but even setting a certain starting point already changes the story told vastly.
Setting a certain invidivual in its center changes it entirely as well.

And it concludes with that being the fun in it. That they are infinite possibilities and stories even within the same frame.


Aaaanyhow. I am with Sooz. Art and creation is a form of self-expression. You mirror yourself and affect what you put out depending on where you are and what you are trying to convey.
You can see this even more strongly in games here that are usually created by a single person in its entirety.

It changes. And even if the main idea, plot devices, turns are the same, it will feel different.
There will always be comparison and similar things as we are by and large having similar struggles n impulses in life, sure, but the many details coming into play are unique to you.

If you care about it for its own vibe go for it! If you want to adjust to have something different for yourself, go for that. *chuckle*
Whatever feels right.

I would agree with that. It's hard to divert from the unlikely -> reluctant -> coming of age hero with redeemable sub-villain but non-redeemable super villain story structure. (Star Wars)

Nothing wrong with following that skeleton as Kentona said. No one's going to think about skeletons when they're just trying to be convinced of the fiction that is your story - it's all perception and feels.

Indeed