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Author: MiinU

Jul 18th 2011 at 2:48:21 PM

^^@AFP -- I respectfully disagree. In my mind, GreatOffscreenWar would be ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: the war we hear about, yet never see. This trope seems to suggest that the war in question may or may not be seen and still has ramifications; thus being used as a catalyst to set the story in motion.

The Great War in TalesOfVesperia would be a prime example of the trope you're referring to. The gamer only hears about it, but is never shown so much as a glimpse of it. Raven and Duke, both survivors of the war, offer occasional tidbits on it, but that's about it. The closest we ever come to seeing anything of it, ourselves, is found on the mural in Myorzo.

The war with the Fire Nation, on the other hand, seems more like what this trope is suggesting. The very first episode begins with Katara giving a recount of how the war began, via a voiceover, set to images of it. As the series progresses, we're shown more as the series revists the past. The reason we don't see more than this is because the point was to keep the plot moving forward. A hundred years is a long time and way too much ground to cover without clogging things up. Frankly, I'm impressed by what they managed to squeeze in while keeping things moving at a steady clip.

Anyway, I think this one is valid enough to be a trope on its own. At the very least, it could be a companion or sister trope of GreatOffscreenWar. Just my 2 cents.