Brute force Vs. Strategy Vs. Protagonist correction

[Cipiteca396]

'No plan survives contact with the enemy.'

In almost every case, I would go with 2. Strategy and planning are interesting. They let you see your characters' thought process, their morality, knowledge, whatever.

What they shouldn't do, is give you a free win. It can be really cool if the protagonist outsmarts the enemy with an ingenious Batman's Gambit once or twice, showing their amazing intelligence. When it's the only thing they can rely on, and it always works out with no errors... It turns into 3. Like I said, that can be interesting... once or twice.

But knowing that 2 will always devolve into either 1 or 3, I pick 1.

Brute Force is the best solution. Even if you just have to use it to escape and start planning again.

 

[Jemini]

'No plan survives contact with the enemy.'

In almost every case, I would go with 2. Strategy and planning are interesting. They let you see your characters' thought process, their morality, knowledge, whatever.

What they shouldn't do, is give you a free win. It can be really cool if the protagonist outsmarts the enemy with an ingenious Batman's Gambit once or twice, showing their amazing intelligence. When it's the only thing they can rely on, and it always works out with no errors... It turns into 3. Like I said, that can be interesting... once or twice.

But knowing that 2 will always devolve into either 1 or 3, I pick 1.

Brute Force is the best solution. Even if you just have to use it to escape and start planning again.

This problem can be solved pretty easily by only applying their near perfect planning to only 1 small area of strategy, and demonstrate how other less expected areas tend to break down.

I like to put my characters into ultra hard-mode type scenarios, and then have them think their way out of it. But, as they try to manage all the divergent threads of the problem that is continually running away from them and getting more and more out of control, their amazing plans are able to somewhat mitigate the damage but not completely settle the larger problem.

Pretty much, all the planning in the world is just enough to prevent death, but the underlying issues are still there and you know this is going to come back at them somehow.

 

[Deleted member 57675]

2 if only one choice. 1 and 2 combined seem epic. 1, 2 and 3 sound even more fun. All depends how its done

 

[T.K._Paradox]

All three can be used in interesting ways, it just takes talent on the author's part to make it good.

 

[Maldon]

It depends, seeing a big boss beaten quickly with pure brute strength is boring, but having an extensive galaxy brain strategy for every mook can be tiring. Both have their place in a story.
Protagonist correction is like salt imho, a little of it makes most meals better, but a lot of it just ruins your food.

 

[AliceShiki]

How about the "start crying about your circumstances and about your lack of power and about how you're unable to do anything to improve your situation without relying on others" option?

>.>
<.<

Does it count as protagonist correction if a child protagonist needs to rely on her parents/guardians to take care of her problems because she can't do it herself!? xD

 

[Cipiteca396]

How about the "start crying about your circumstances and about your lack of power and about how you're unable to do anything to improve your situation without relying on others" option?




Does it count as protagonist correction if a child protagonist needs to rely on her parents/guardians to take care of her problems because she can't do it herself!?

Only if they, as the Protagonist, were born with an exceptionally powerful parent/guardian. Like an S rank adventurer or a dragon.

Of course, the balance would be that that parent/guardian would then become the circumstance that threatens the protagonist's life through Spartan training, accidental too-strong hugging, or coddling them and leaving them unprepared to pull their own weight.

 

[AliceShiki]

Only if they, as the Protagonist, were born with an exceptionally powerful parent/guardian. Like an S rank adventurer or a dragon.

Of course, the balance would be that that parent/guardian would then become the circumstance that threatens the protagonist's life through Spartan training, accidental too-strong hugging, or coddling them and leaving them unprepared to pull their own weight.

Ah, I was thinking of something more along the lines of...

Child Protagonist starts crying because she was scolded by her tutor on noble manners... Then her mother goes and comfort her until she stops crying, then gently starts trying to help her through the parts she was confused about~

... I like Slice of Life more than Adventure... Teehee?

 

[BearlyAlive]

Two. Strategy all the way. I only use brute force for my MC after big "screw it" moments. Most of the time it would be observe, react, counter.

 

[DutyInternal]

Every novels requires a problem and it's the main characters duty to solve those. (or at least that's what people said)

the question is, in which fashion you prefer the main character to solve the problem at every arc?

• Brute Force

It doesn't matter whether the main character are OP or not, there's a locked door? just break it. there's a Boss class monster ahead? just use special skills. demon lord march their army towards us? let's kill them all!
why even use tedious strategy and asking a help from other characters if you can just wipe all the problem by yourself.

• Strategy

A true value of a main character is their decision making. from positioning all of your party member formation, until predicting the final move that the boss has in their sleeve. the point is : the best victory is a planned victory. a problem solving with strategy is proving that the main character isn't just about muscle but brain as well.

• Protagonist Correction

You wouldn't need anything else if you can just be lucky. A seal that haven't been opened for a thousand years? no worries, your main character just happened to have the ability to release the seal from day one. One of the heroine mom are sick and the only cures are a legendary flower that bloom only once every 20 years? What a coincidence, i just found them on the grass few days ago.
no matter what the problem is, the main character just happened to already have the solution lying around at their inventory.


so which way you prefer your main characters to solve a problem? Tell me why in the comment.
(consider a deus ex-machina as protagonist correction by the way, i just didn't really bother to make an example. I got lazy)

brute force or strategy, never have I enjoyed plot armour, unless it's a legitimate part of their abilities

 

[cryum]

I'm surprised protagonist correction is so low, considering how many popular novels rely on that while claiming to use strategy.