Snake Watches Re:Zero, Because He Too Wants to Die and Escape Reality

[Sithdarth]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

It's one thing in that kind of context to write in an unexpected twist that surprises, but creating a whale in a universe where the whale has no context to compare it to or understand it with and giving the audience no understanding of its powers whatsoever before the fight creates a situation where literally anything whatsoever can happen and the audience just has to roll with it, which kills dramatic tension for the opposite reason -- there's no tension because literally anything could happen and I'd just have to roll with it and say "Okay, that's how that works now."

In my opinion, a single source of uncertainty works -- maybe you don't quite understand how a Sith's single specific new power works that differentiates him from others you've seen before -- but you gotta have some baseline, some degree of comprehension or there's no reason whatsoever for me to invest myself in the conflict because I barely even know who or what the antagonist is.

This is basically the root source of our disagreement and it probably goes back to my education and job. I have a bachelor's in physics and am basically done with a doctorate in materials science (thesis writing is a pain). Just about any explanation of how a fictional world works at any level of detail is going to destroy my suspension of disbelief because I can usually find many inconsistencies. I prefer to form my own explanations based on what I observe because that's kinda what I was trained to do while learning to do science and any inconsistencies in the explanations I come up with are hidden from me by my brain. Also, exposition feels way too much like reading a scientific paper which I do for work and sometimes fun but not something I want to happen when I'm attempting to escape from reality for a bit.

Honestly, I usually don't even bother to come up with any explanations because again that's basically what I do at work. I consume fiction (that is not in interactive form) for the express purpose of not thinking critically because that is literally what I do all day and if I don't spend some time not doing it I'll burn out. I do still care about the motivations of the antagonist but explanations of how/why the abilities of the antagonist work are generally superfluous. Motivation is important but what the force is and how living things interact with it (midi-chlorians) is largely irrelevant to me unless it ties into someone's motivations directly.

I guess because I see all explanations as equally implausible asspulls it doesn't bother me by default when an explanation is skipped. Though it still can be done poorly.