Discussion OP MC's and their direction of growth

A pleasant morning/night/or anything in between. It's me again! I'm out of my lack of something to read phase and is currently reading kidnapped dragons. It got an OP MC (for those unfamiliar with the term it simply means Overpowered Main Character) and as we all know, with one area already maxed out from the start, it would reduce the options in which character development could go. Most of the time novels with OP characters would focus on the emotional side of the growth. Like in this novel, it seemed like Yu Jitae's past regressions have left him like an empty shell. He kinda numbed himself or maybe it was the result of all his previous failures.

Anyway, it is also possible that novels with op characters would just develop a different skill set and yet still be OP. I find those fun to read but it sometimes lack a sense of depth and real growth is that's all there is to it. Novels with this type of development... hmm... it's been a while since I read it so I'm not so sure but EER comes to mind and Main Character hides his strength. Overgeared not so latest chapters (I think the last chapter I read was ch1121,

Spoiler: spoiler

the Sahara emperor just died iirc)

also come to mind, I haven't seen much development in Grid. I mean even Invisible Dragon went the emotional development at the end... sorta

So, thoughts? What novel with OP MC have you read where there was still visible growth on the character? Or maybe you like the OP character staying the same? Can't think of other questions but I wanna hear your thoughts

 

I like the stories where the OP MC starts out as a cold canvass, and when they interact with others the author paints a warm color to their otherwise blank state, where as they continue to grow emotionally it paints the world in a myriad of beautiful colors.

 

I like those too, except when I'm reading revenge novels. For some reasons I feel a little robbed when the MC decided to play house instead of achieving his original goals.

 

So, I've read plenty of novels featuring OP mcs, and one of the most 'memorable' has been
When a Gun Nerd Is Reincarnated to a World of Magic He Established a Harem Army With Modern Weapons!?

I dropped it tho... but I like the OP MC genre and would prefer character development/emotional development, but I will read anything. ANYTHING. My sense of good and bad novels has been altered beyond repair... >.>;;

 

One of us. One of us...

Mine too, reading too much translated novels eroded my brains that I don't care much for not so obvious plot holes anymore.

 

Web novels are hell holes that you fall into and never come out again, instead, losing and gaining abilities in the art of the Crappy Skills. Example: You get used to the every-once-in-a-while grammar mistakes and then complain to the translator, and then get mad at regular novels for not having them to complain to the author about...

 

Once in a while grammar mistakes is way better that almost mtl quality

 

I've read 1 or 2 revenge novels and for me the revenge part kind of gets boring after awhile~ well the villains in them were so one-dimensional it broke me out of reading them.

 

I've always had a fascination for OP MC's since they almost act as the other side of a coin for the common hero's journey archtype, except instead of being the hero they take the role of "supernatural helper".

 

I don't really care. Lazy King had no growth of mc at all (emotion-wise) and the growth in terms of power was not relevant to the reader but it was still good.
Overlord had the mc literally degenerate emotionally (undead characteristics) but it's one of my favourites.
What I mean is, a good author will find a way for the story to move and develop in any setting

 

I'm between liking and disliking them. It's always fun to see a strong MC owning his opponents, but it gets boring fairly fast. When you know he'll win easily it stops being all that fun unless it's really well done and has comedy. Usually it's just the author wasting your time with bullshit during the fight so that it doesn't end in two sentences. And it's also kinda shitty when you know the MC will not lose, die, whatever. It takes the excitement out of the novel, because you already know the outcome of all fights.

 

I love reading about the trash being crushed.

I only feel that gets boring if EVERY single enemy is being crushed and when every single villain has to be killed by the MC. For example, when the seniors can't fight against anyone, and by seniors I'm talking about seniors brothers/sisters and elders.

As long as some strong enemies appears sometimes, I can't get enough of people being crushed.

 

I like stories that focus more on emotional development. To me it doesn't matter if the MC is OP or not, it depends on how well the author writes the way the MC uses the power and resources they have to deal with their problems.

 

I can't even remember the last well written villain I've read. But hmmm UnOrdinary presented the Man vs Man conflict well in its lastest arc.

I like supernatural helpers too. When an OP MC just watches everything indifferently, I feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, they could be a little aloof but they should care when it's time to care. I guess that's what turns me off from reading most cn cultivation novels.

True, a good writer could even make simple stuff look interesting, much more so some well thought of concepts.

I think that's how I feel when fights don't have meaning. Or there were shallow reasons why the fight broke out. Was thinking that there should be other conditions for a fight to consider it winning to make situations more tense. I remember when I was watching Mob Psycho, every time mob goes OP mode, I feel a little conflicted because it was obvious that he doesn't want to use his powers and it leaves a burden on his mental well-being. I like something like that where even if a character is OP, their actions have consequences on them.

I like strong enemies as long as they were at least foreshadowed haha. The satisfying feeling of watching weaklings get trashed lessens for me when weaklings appear out of nowhere like mushrooms.

Interesting, what novels do you consider to fall under this category? Have any recommendations?

 

Actually I don't like drastic change to a character that much.... Cuz most of the time it feels forced.......
That's why I like a character which is already perfect and the whole story is revolving around a certain plot.... Not like xianxia where MC's goal is ambiguous....

 

I kinda get what you mean, sometimes authors fail to bring a satisfying growth

 

I feel that the OP is sort of missing the point. When it comes to this kind of question, the most important factor isn't about powers or anything like that; it's about what kind of book it is. Is it about combat? Is it reliant on dramatic tension? Is it about problem solving? Is it about cleverness? Is it a comedy?

It's only with a good understanding of these factor that you can figure out what kind of story elements are best suited to get the most out of it. If the story wants to make fights important and to get the reader invested in them, then there has to be some question as to the outcome. If the fight is one sided all the way then that part just isn't going to work as well.

That said, there is a place for fights where protagonist is overwhelmingly powerful, and that place is found in dramatic irony. And for those who are unfamiliar with dramatic irony, this is about letting the reader feel that they're privy to information that the characters in the story don't. This is basically how isekai novels work so it's a highly effective technique. However, it also has the major weakness of wearing it welcome unless the author has the writing chops to back it up. This too is something that happens to almost all isekai novels.

 

I can't really delve into specifics, can I? I tried to be as general as possible because I want a wider breadth of responses.

But at the same time, I was hoping people would point out novels and specific cases. I'm not even saying that fights are automatically boring or that development of other story elements are irrelevant it's just that I want to focus more on the factor known as OP MC's/characters and see how people think they should be developed.

P.S. I'm really not good at wording my thoughts so I doubt this will make you change your mind about anything or if it will have an effect at all. Just want to show that I'm not thinking about novels as a whole but only focusing on the the different depths of the same character archetyp.

 

I don't really care about powers and such so I don't read this kind of book all that much any more, but there are tons of examples out there. Here's some classic ones:

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils
Smiling Proud Wanderer
The Heaven Sword and the Dragon Sabre

All of these books have the protagonist gain super powerful skills by 1/4 into the book. They still gain new abilities; mostly filling out their skillsets but these are mostly just a trick to get the reader into the story. The books themselves rely a lot on dramatic tension, but most of this isn't really about the fights. Instead, the books use a large variety of narrative tricks to pull this off. Jin Yong knows how to write, and it's readily apparent how much better he is than the other stuff on NU.

See here's the thing: it really shouldn't be about archetype. It's more about the kind of story that's being told and the techniques used to tell it. The way the protagonist is put together and the way he grows only exists to serve this purpose. Ignore that aspect and you're just going to miss the point of it all.

 

I enjoy OP MCs for as long as the story doesn't focus on battles~

Like, I want it to be a fluffy slice of life, or a cute romance or something like that... If the story is the OP character showing off their OPness, then it gets boring real fast.