: Re: How to make side-characters look competent next to the chosen one? I'm writing a storyline for a game where the forces of evil have humanity cornered. Truly everything seems lost, that is, until

@Shelton455

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There are certain tricks available to you when writing for a video game that aren't available in other media, and it's well worth taking advantage of them.

Because players have direct agency over player characters, players tend to like characters who help the player character. You can break this - many a game has had a jerky sidekick who players grow to hate - but quirky characters like Solaire, in Dark Souls, who is memorable and offers assistance in the rare times he crops up, are beloved by players even though they only appear infrequently.

Try a similar approach: have Dave's path cross with Bob's on occasion before he becomes a regular face, and always have Dave lend some kind of assistance to Bob when he appears. This doesn't have to involve Dave actually killing monsters alongside Bob; if Dave keeps turning up in dangerous areas, players will infer that Dave can handle himself.

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