--Now, a posible problem with the story is that the mc is a Gary Stu, he is great at magic, at melee, with a bow, and on top of that he learns thing super easily. The only reason anyone is better than him at something is because he has not studied that particular thing for a long time.
Usually, if a character is good at magic, he is weaker at melee, so he needs someone to help him with that. Or if he is really strong, he is not that good with studies, making it so others can help him with the more intelectual tasks.
But the way you set him up, the only people that can beat him at anything, are the ones that have much more practice than him.
So now i think that your only option to balance him is probably to make a really big threat that his Gary Stu powers cant deal with alone... but if you do that, you will also need to make some characters also grow a lot in specific fields to be able to suport him meaningfully in the story.
Thanks for the review! I really appreciate it! Though, there are a couple of issues you brought up that I would like to address.
First, I'm only 3.5 chapters into a
very long story. I can understand how some people might see MC as a 'Gary Stu' for the moment, but it's because he still hasn't left the comfort of home and there haven't been any real conflicts yet. I mean, there are definitely
some intended 'Gary Stu' elements to him, the game is meant to be a bit of a power fantasy, after all... But if you give it a little more time, you'll see that things are actually pretty well balanced on a global scale.
Yes, usually it's better to spread skills and talents out evenly amongst your cast of characters, however, without delving into my reasons why, MC is more of a "
Jack of all trades, master of none" type (
Someone who has dabbled in a wide variety of skills, rather than gaining expertise by focusing on only one). Generally, the goal was to have more options for players to choose from throughout the story.
Second, just because he has
a lot of affinities, it doesn't mean that he's 'great at magic'. It's explained in Maryn's first scene that usually the more affinities you have, the weaker each one will be. So, yes, he's a good healer (at least compared to Maryn), but it's mentioned several times that he's not a great mystic... Remember, Maryn became a master in Mysticism after 5 years, and MC took nearly 3 years just to master a single 'pocket dimension' spell. The Mysticism skill divide between them is
immense. I was aiming for that "Jack of all trades" angle with the magic as well.
I also feel like I should point out that MC has been in 4 on-screen fights so far and he only
(sort of) won once! I may be wrong, but I thought that 'losing' wasn't exactly a common trait for Gary Stus. Not to say that losing these mostly inconsequential fights would disqualify him for Stu-ness, but I think it's still a valid point against it. Also, he admits that several of the other characters could kick his ass and he openly praises people for being better at a lot of the things you pointed out (i.e. Tells Ariana that he knows she's smarter than him but that she just doesn't try, tells Lydia that she's a better archer because he's gotten too bulky, and mentions that Cordelia could easily kick his ass if she ever wanted to.)
After a couple more chapters, everything will come into focus.
Anyway, I'm rambling now... Thanks again for the review and sorry for the text wall.
I hope nothing above comes across as anything but cordial.
