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How To Stop Suffering From Main Character Syndrome

We’re not as important as we think we are.

Eric S Burdon
7 min readSep 23, 2024

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As a video gamer, I’ve seen plenty of role playing games over the years. I’ve played through Super Mario RPG, seen plenty of play throughs of Final Fantasy titles, Kingdom Hearts titles, and many others.

But one franchise that I’ve recently heard of that is unlike so many others is the Trails in the Sky series. There’s actually a remake of the first part of the series coming out on the Switch in 2025.

Just like many RPGs, the story follows a group of individuals as they bolster their ranks with quirky allies who all join up to accomplish a specific goal. Not only that, but the main characters are often the ones that move the plot along and everything that happens around them is a direct result of their actions.

But the Trails series takes a slightly different turn to this formula.

While I’ve only seen one part to this extensive franchise, I’ve seen enough to know that the protagonists you’re controlling don’t make as much of an impact as a typical RPG protagonist would. Sure you’re facing off some massive global threat and “save the day” in the end, but it’s not really just the main characters doing it.

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Eric S Burdon
Eric S Burdon

Written by Eric S Burdon

I write (and sometimes do videos) about self-help for those who don't like self-help. Complete with the occasional memes and riffs on the industry that I love.

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