Hello, everyone.
This is a difficult post for me to make. A hard update, but one I think many of you saw coming.
As I said in my previous update, I had shared some of my difficulties in writing and continuing to update SHINOBI: The RPG. I also felt as if I had to continue to work and write it because...well, the reason being that I needed closure. Still need closure and I feel like its a story that needs to be told. So it is with heavy heart that I must inform all of you that SHINOBI: The RPG - Act 2 will receive no more updates. I hope my reasoning will become clear as I tell you guys my thought process and then give you guys an announcement that will hopefully soften the edge...assuming it doesn't make it worse.
But before I get into that, let's talk about the fic itself.
What Worked.
When I first started writing SHINOBI: The RPG all those years ago, I went in with a few goals. The first being to use the game system to highlight the MC's flaws. I figured that by doing so, I'd take away from how stupidly OP most gamer fics made their protagonist. This is why there were almost no intelligence checks in the original draft of any story; I didn't want the game to tell Daisuke he was awesome. It was an announcer of how dumb Daisuke was to dump charisma at character creation, a constant reminder of how this one decision ruined his life for years. It was to make Daisuke believably obsessive on his goal of
Almost Perfect, to make him so laser focused on solving his problem in this one way that he couldn't possibly fathom how it could go wrong; because he couldn't
afford for it to be a terrible decision. Then, when I actually hit him with what was coming, it turned into one of the most cathartic scenes I had ever written. All that build-up finally had a pay-off worth the wait.
The second thing I did was, that by limiting the protagonist's power, I was able to keep up a slow and steady pace and keep gradually introducing threats that would continue to cause problems as he leveled up. By constantly forcing Daisuke to hit checks that he failed, he never ever truly felt overpowered. He was a minmaxer crippled by his lack of foresight, a bad RPG player slowed by his inability to truly plan ahead, a man who never grew up.
This was the source of his problems. Not his dumpstat, which he constantly complained about, not the game which he always blamed, but his terrible personality.
The third thing is that I mined my own experiences as someone with Asberger's Syndrome for everything it had and then some. This is how Daisuke was so...compelling as a character. So sincere. Frankly, I turned my own suckiness as a person into a dynamic character that smacked around with every failure. I was able to turn my experiences on their head, examine them, understand why and how things happened the way they were and I was, ironically, able to grow up. When Daisuke finally accepted that he died, I was able to accept some of the crappy things that happened in my life...the ones that were really my fault and I didn't want to face it. I grew up.
What Didn't Work.
Alrighty, then. Let's start with some issues.
I didn't plan everything out correctly. I planned out the skills, I planned out his leveling curve, but I made one terrible decision that crippled the whole story; I allowed Daisuke to learn any jutsu available with enough skill points and let him get EXP for it. All of the problems that Act 2 suffers from come from the simple fact that I was trying to compensate and salvage the dumpster fire the story was turning out to be thanks to this one decision. This single thing made the foundation of the story rot, twisted the viability of my time-table (he was supposed to get Almost Perfect after Naruto's chunin exams) and caused my well of ideas to run dry.
Second was my stubbornness in regards to this one plot detail. Let's take that scene for Almost Perfect above; I did everything I could to shut down every single solution people had to offer for him to solve the charisma problem before he got the perk. I didn't want the scene where Daisuke finally realized what a terrible person he was to be compromised. Items that increased charisma? Outlawed by the Hokage. Better henge? No. Planning out how social interactions are supposed to work? Absolutely not! I wanted to write this awesome scene and as a result of my attempts to preserve it, I twisted it into a blight on act 1.
The third...I should've let the story end. Way back when I was first writing the story, we came to chapter 44; the Vault. I said I was going on a long hiatus, and then people started sending me PM's about how this was goodbye since most stories didn't come back from such a long hiatus. I panicked. I didn't want to lose my audience. Let's be honest, I knew the charisma deprived Daisuke was what was pulling people in. They were enchanted by this eldritch abomination that learned how to care for his friends and became was incapable of really showing them. So I couldn't let Daisuke's problem be solved. So I...cut my hiatus short and then tried to rush things. What I should've done is let the story end on that chapter and not come back to it in a very long time.
Fifth, let's talk about the characters. Honestly, as good an idea as Daisuke and Anko is...I could've done better about their set up. It being so sudden, wreaking of unfortunate implications, then including the harem (a topic I do want to cover) and all it's crap. Hisako's mental illness and abandonment complex compromising her integrity as a character, Ino...being the only sane woman. Katsuki, a character I've been looking forward to introducing into the fic for a while was
botched by her awe of Daisuke's power level. Jashin and Shinigami are awesome additions, but them just
showing up out of nowhere kind of threw things for a loop and the
payoff of what they're trying to do is taking too long for me. I'm bored of writing it, so I can't imagine you're all not bored of reading.
Act 2's payoff is taking a long time, and I don't have the ideas present to actually make the wait bearable and I'm afraid it won't be worth it.
Sixth...I outgrew the story.
That's just it. The social anxiety that inspired Daisuke's characterization is gone. The chapter where he accepted what happened was when I got over it. Something deep inside me came loose and
finally I let go of a lot of the crap I went through. When that happened, I'm sure you guys realize; Daisuke's characterization changed. He became different, unrecognizable, even. And you should know that it's because the part of me that was feeding his personality died. Or if you'd prefer, the oozing, open wound that my muse drank from healed. And thus, when I look back at act 1, who Daisuke was...I just see something that doesn't exist anymore. The only thing I see is my own stubbornness and pride, which is rich given that's basically his characterization. Since there's no emotional resonance beyond embarrassment, I only see the stories flaws, which I detailed above.
So I'm sorry. This story, as it stands, is dead.
However!
That doesn't mean that I don't still feel like I need to finish it. Because I do feel like I need to finish it, but frankly, I ain't doing it on this draft. The whole thing is rotten to the core and I want to reach into the past and strangle myself for failing to plan as I did.
So...
I started a rewrite.
A rewrite from Act 1 onward. I expect that, since is going to be the third rewrite, most of you will be doubting whether the story will ever actually be finished. I want too; but if I'm ever going to finish this story...it's got to be one with a better foundation. One that isn't threatening to tear my story to pieces. I've got five chapters done and I was hoping to not post anything until I finished both the acts. But I will say that, since I know what was important the first time and the second time that it'll be easier to actually get to the meat of the story and cut out the stuff that never went anywhere.
If you guys are tired of all this crap, I don't blame you in the slightest. I expect to lose some of you with this transition. But this story...is done. At least this draft is. But no matter what, if you guys want to drop everything I ever wrote right now or if you're sticking with me to the end, just know that I appreciate all that you guys have done for me. All the conversations, all the feedback, good, bad and ugly. Your readership means the world to me and I love you guys. I hope you're being safe in these trying times and that, if I can help make things easier for you guys, I will.
Until the next time.
~Fulcon