Another topic that comes up a lot in KyleKallgrenBHH's videos on Shakespeare is how suggestive Stage Plays are, especially of the Elizabethan era. Just actors reciting dialogue and monologues in front of a backdrop that only slightly changes.
Visual Novels, which get accused of being pretty boring, are very similar. The story is mostly told by just the text, which consists of dialogue and inner-monologues of the main character, and perhaps notes or such things the MC might read. Visually the characters are represented by what look almost like Cardboard cut outs in front of a handful of stock background pictures. But some key moments might have specially drawn images that get refereed to as CGs.
Because Visual Novels are one of the least respected mediums of story telling right now, my suggesting a parallel to one of the most respected can be written off as an attempt to defend them. I personally have never played one yet, but I've spent a decent amount of time watching Let's Play footage of some. Thing is, the Stage was not a respectable medium in Shakespeare's time, while he lived Shakespeare was probably viewed as the Zack Snyder of his day.
In my opinion Visual Novels ultimately shouldn't be classified as Video Games, they are their own medium of story telling that happens to typically use the same hardware as Video Games. They have an interactive element, but still not exactly what I'd call a game.
There are however video games that incorporate Visual Novel elements, like the Neptunia games, as well as visual novels that are written with plot points and story elements that take advantage of the assumption that it's mostly gamers playing them.
Visual Novels sometimes have voice acting, it might be an optional feature that can be disabled. But one factor that can tend to discourage that is if it wants the player to be able to name the player character.
However because the art of Acting is sometimes there, the most important difference between a Visual Novel and a Stage Play is the interactive nature. Including the multiple routes and endings.
And that is why my mind has started thinking about the prospect of adapting famous plays to the Visual Novel format. A lot of Visual Novel stories are already about trying to prevent a tragic outcome, from Higurashi to Steins;Gate. So why not take the Tragedies that have come to define what a Tragedy is and present players with the challenge of averting them?
The ideal Good Ending for King Lear would be to end with Cordelia on the Throne, which is how the original myth ended in Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Brute Tysilo and I assume also Holinshed's Chronicles. But you can also add the potential to screw up and make things even worse. How could Hamlet's ending be made even worse? Imagine if Denmark didn't even have Fortinbras to provide stability in the end? Oh, wait, most movies leave him out anyway leaving the impression Denmark now has no government at the end. As far as giving Hamlet a good ending goes, it could again return to the original myth Shakespeare adapted to have Hamlet take the throne at the end, the original story was more of a traditional Hero's Journey.
Marlowe's Edward The Second would make a great Fujoshi Bait visual novel. But a few Shakespeare plays have Yaoi potential as well.
From there my mind wanders to ideas that had already been in my head about adapting Shakespeare to Anime or other Otaku centric media. Like re-imagining Richard III in the context of the Student Council of an all girls Japanese High School. Whatever setting you give it however, Richard III is definitely the best model for a visual novel where the villain is the player character.
So, yeah, I think this is a pretty meaty parallel to make.
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