"However many characters may appear in a story, its real concern is with just one: its hero or heroine. It is he or she with whose fate we identify, as we see them gradually developing towards that state of self realisation which marks the end of the story. Ultimately it is in relation to this central figure that all other characters in a story take on their significance. What each of the other characters represents is really only some aspect of the inner state of the hero or heroine themselves.”
Despite the book originally being dismissed by various reviewers, many novelists, playwrights and academics praised it highly, such as Fay Weldon, who said: "This is the most extraordinary, exhilarating book. It always seemed to me that 'the story' was God's way of giving meaning to crude creation. Booker now interprets the mind of God, and analyses not just the novel – which will never to me be quite the same again – but puts the narrative of contemporary human affairs into a new perspective. If it took its author a lifetime to write, one can only feel gratitude that he did it."
We was then informed about the seven plots themselves that the book focuses around, although taking on further research, there are actually nine basic plots (the other two being Rebellion Against 'The One' and Mystery). However, these last two plots are only mentioned later on in the book, and Booker himself states that these other two are "quite rare for most of history". We were then tasked to work in pairs and create a list of games that followed one of the seven basic plots. My list below gives a brief summary of each type, and then a plot summary of each game's story in order to show how it ties to that basic plot. I decided to pick games I had actually played in order for me to give a proper summary of each game's story in relevance to the basic plot.
Overcoming Evil - hero sets out to stop an antagonistic force from destroying the land.
-Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is the third game in the Shantae series, and in this game Shantae has lost her magic powers after the events of the previous game. Her old nemesis, Risky Boots, confronts her about a curse that is overtaking the land in preparation for the return of The Pirate Master after losing her minions and Pirate Gear, to which Shantae agrees to help Risky Boots save Sequin Land and retrieve the dark magic inhabiting Risky Boots' minions. It is discovered that this dark magic is actually Shantae's old genie magic, and eventually regains her genie magic in order to stop The Pirate Master.
Rags to Riches - protagonist starts of low class/poor/downtrodden but eventually matures and acquires wealth, power and a mate.
-Pokemon X and Y
Whilst all main series Pokemon games follow the same route, Pokemon X and Y is the latest addition to the series that isn't a remake of previous games. Pokemon X and Y follows you starting as an ordinary child just as they set off on their adventure into the world, and as you travel you defeat gyms, defeat the evil organisation Team Flare, and capture various Pokemon. Eventually you reach the Pokemon League and defeat the Elite 4 and the champion, becoming the new champion of that region with allegedly the strongest team of Pokemon around. At the end of the game, a large celebration is held congratulating your victory and rise to fame.
http://pokedream.com/games/pokemon-xy/17-pokemon-league.php
The Quest - protagonist goes on a journey to acquire an object or find a location, often with companions.
-Tales of Symphonia
Lloyd Irving and his friend Genis Sage accompany Colette Brunel, the chosen, alongside her guardians Raine Sage and Kratos Aurion on the journey of world regeneration, where the chosen must travel to various continents in order to break 5 seals and awaken the summon spirits, slowly becoming an angel. Once the chosen has fully transformed into an angel, the world is regenerated. However, they discover that there is a second world that lives parallel to their own, and once one is restored, the other world begins to deteriorate, as well as discovering that the party has been used by the angels. The party head for the other world in order to find a way to save both worlds.
Voyage and Return - protagonist goes to a strange land, overcomes any evil or threats there, and returns more mature.
-They Bleed Pixels
They Bleed Pixels follows an unnamed young girl as she arrives at the Lafcadio Academy for Troubled Young Ladies, where she is affected by nightmares where she becomes a clawed creature and has to traverse hostile dreamscapes filled with monsters and traps. She awakens from each nightmare with a grimoire (textbook of magic) on her bedside table, as well as looking more and more like her monstrous form after each nightmare. She repeatedly tries to rid herself of the book, but only for it to return the next morning, with the nightmare representing how she tried to remove it from her life. Eventually she awakens fully transformed into her nightmare self by a dark ritual performed by the Headmaster of the Academy. After finally destroying the book, she awakens fully human and departs from the Academy.
Comedy - Starts off with a divided community but ends with a happy and cheerful ending, often by marriage.
-Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Whilst Super Smash Bros. franchise is typically just a fighting game with very little story that uses a lot of popular Nintendo characters, but Super Smash Bros. Brawl does have a mode dedicated to a vague story called Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. In this world, when a character is defeated, they turn into a trophy and can be revived by touching the base. In this mode, it starts off as a fight between Mario and Kirby, but soon progresses into a fight against the Shadow Bug army after the Battleship Halberd flies over the arena Mario and Kirby are fighting in and pours the Shadow Bugs into the stadium, all before a Subspace Bomb is set off, transporting the stadium into Subspace. As the Ancient Minister, who is seemingly in charge of the army, makes the shadow bugs advance, the various playable heroes in the game team up throughout various parts of the map in order to stop the army, whilst the playable villains are using the dark cannons to convert them heroes into trophies to harvest their power. The heroes slowly begin to gather up and slowly advance to the villains, who are seemingly ruled by Master Hand, only to discover that a being known as Tabuu is in charge of it all. The heroes and the villains team up for a final battle against Tabuu in order to save the Smash Bros. universe and succeed.
Tragedy - protagonist is a villain, or is slowly becoming one, where you watch them fall from prosperity to destruction and eventually defeated.
-Skullgirls
Whilst a slight twist on this, the various stories in Skullgirls revolve around one of the playable characters defeating numerous characters before fighting the current Skullgirl, Marie, and either obtaining the Skull Heart for themselves, or facing a terrible fate themselves. The Skullgirl is a powerful female being that is a result of an "impure" woman making a wish using the Skull Heart, which is an object that will later merge with it's user and slowly takes over the host's body. Skullgirls are tasked with destroying the world as mindless servants of The Trinity. The plots for each character are as followed:
-Filia: Wakes up with a parasite called Samson living on her head as a full set of demonic hair. After defeating the Skullgirl, instead of wishing for her forgotten memories, she wishes for Carol (Painwheel) to return to her former self. Deemed impure due to Filia's guilt of Carol's fate thus attempting to improve herself, the Skull Heart begins to slowly transform Filia into the next Skullgirl.
-Cerebella: The leg-breaker for the Medici Mafia/circus sensation, Cerebella desires the attention of the mobster Vitale Medici. In order to do this, Cerebella and her powerful living weapon hat called Vice-Versa set out to retrieve the Life Gem from Ms. Fortune. After defeating the Skullgirl, Ms. Fortune attempts to steal the Skull Heart, only to be crushed by Vice-Versa. Cerebella is then seen in a bunny costume sitting on Vitale's lap after congratulating her, only for her to feel regret over killing Ms. Fortune.
-Peacock: After having her body gruesomely mutilated by slave traders, she is rebuilt with reality-defying biomechanical weaponry, with her damaged psyche and love for cartoons shaping her toys into a gang of cronies. After defeating the Skullgirl, Peacock destroys the Skull Heart and vows revenge on the people who made both hers and Marie's miserable. She is next seen confronting the head of Medici family and fighting his secret weapon.
-Parasoul: Becoming fiercely protective over her country and family after the previous Skullgirl was her mother. After defeating the Skullgirl, she tries to save her sister (Umbrella) after Umbrella gets too close to the Skull Heart by wishing for Umbrella to never become the Skullgirl, causing Parasoul to become the next Skullgirl instead. In preparation of what is to come, Parasoul begins training her sister in order for Umbrella to be able to stop her in the future.
-Ms. Fortune: The last surviving member of the Fishbone Gang after a failed attempt to steal the Life Gem from the Medici lead to the death of them all, Ms. Fortune swallowed the Life Gem and making her unable to die. After defeating the Skullgirl, she destroys the Skull Heart after thinking that her new friends are enough for her. She is next then informed that her friends have been abducted by the Medici and goes after them.
-Painwheel: Kidnapped by Valentine and delivered to the Anti-Skullgirls lab Lab Zero, Carol was transformed from a normal schoolgirl into a monster by being infused with Skullgirl blood and implanted with two synthetic parasites, having become unstable and violent, as well as controlled by Lab Zero's psychic director Brain Drain. After defeating the Skullgirl and destroying the Skull Heart to claim her freedom, she returns home only to be shunned by her parents. Brain Drain tells her to return but Painwheel then vows that he is next as her eyes glow like the Skullgirls'.
-Valentine: The only survivor of a special Anti-Skullgirls Labs operative group after they were killed by the Skullgirl, Valentine now works for the Skullgirl whilst planning revenge. Eventually defeating the Skullgirl and knowing that wishing for the revival of her team called The Last Hope, she becomes the Skullgirl and vanishes.
-Double: A devout follower to the Skull Heart and the Trinity, Double begins hunting for the next candidate to be the Skullgirl by gathering up the other playable characters. She eventually declares to Marie that the Trinity are tired of Marie not following their agenda and defeats her in combat. She receives new orders stating that she has already found a suitable candidate and thus absorbs the gathered characters into herself. The story then cuts to where the Trinity lives as they play the game themselves and begin breaking the 4th wall by implying that each character's story mode is a timeline that might have been, and conclude that there is a timeline where all of these stories converge.
-Squigly: Killed by the Medici, Squigly ended up becoming one of the undead mindless minions of the Skullgirl (who at the time was her mother), but the parasite Leviathan, which lives inside her head, spares her this fate. Having been revived once more with Marie's rise as the Skullgirl, Squigly sets out to defeat the Skullgirl. After defeating the Skullgirl, she teams up with Filia to defeat Double. Squigly then learns that Double is the one to give her mother the Skull Heart, so she destroys Double and the Skull Heart. Squigly then dies once more and are to reawaken when the Skullgirl returns. Filia is then seen putting flowers on Squigly's grave.
-Big Band: Originally a police officer, Big Band was beaten and left for dead, forced to spend the rest of his days in an iron lung with his broken body. He later agreed to undergo experimental procedures by the Anti-Skullgirls Labs, he was melded with machinery that allows him to breathe, granting him an array of powerful pneumatic weaponry. After a series of events, Big Band teams up with Peacock to tackle the Skullgirl, defeating her. They escape, and apprehends that Peacock, Painwheel and himself are possibly the future of Anti-Skullgirls Labs and are likely the ones that will have to take on the next Skullgirl.
-Fukua: Fukua's story is set as a nightmare for Filia whilst she sleeps (Fukua being an evil clone of Filia). Fukua fights every playable character until she reaches Filia herself. After defeating Filia, Fukua skins Filia's head and wears the skinned head over her own, claiming to be the true embodiment of Filia. Filia wakes up, goes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, only to see Fukua in the reflection.
-Eliza: Eliza is a popular singer in New Meridian who carries the parasite Sekhmet as her skeleton, and uses the blood she gains from 'charity work' to keep herself young and beautiful. The Medici discover this and begin blackmailing her. She is then tasked by the Medici to retrieve the Skull Heart. After defeating the Skullgirl, Eliza is attacked by Double and retreats to Gehenna, absorbing all the blood there, and defeats Double with ease. She then begins plotting how to prepare for the Medicis when they realise she betrayed them, only to be attacked by Filia and Squigly, defeating the duo. Squigly falls back into death since the Skull Heart is gone, and Squigly is locked in a catacomb to use as an alarm for the Skullgirl's return, whilst Filia is bound in a blood sarcophagus. Eliza then merges with all the blood she has ever collected and begins her attack on the Medicis as a giant figure resembling a lion.
-Beowulf: Famous for felling the Gigan warrior Grendel and for his career in the wrestling ring, a mediocre acting career ruined his legacy, he yearns to reestablish his image, taking the arrival of the Skullgirl as an opportunity. Grendel's arm, which Beowulf kept as a trophy, attacks him, and it is discovered to be caused by the arrival of the Skullgirl, only fuelling his desire to defeat the Skullgirl since he wants to keep the trophy. After a series of events, he reunites with Annie, who he cameod for on her TV show, and learns that the fight with Grendel and his mother was nothing more then a set up. Eventually both he and Annie defeat the Skullgirl and Double, and Annie offers Beowulf a new spot on TV, which he accepts, this time taking a more important role on the show.
-Robo-Fortune: Created by Brain Drain after looking over Valentine's notes on Ms. Fortune, he decided to make a superior robot version of Ms. Fortune set on hunting the Skull Heart. After Robo-Fortune defeats the Skullgirl, she takes the Skull Heart to Brain Drain, who then thinks of creating a new generation of machines using the Skull Heart, creating an army of giant Robo-Fortunes that turn on humanity. A small group of survivors (all of which were potential DLC characters from the Indiegogo campaign which were not chosen) take on the invading army.
Rebirth - similar to Tragedy, but a serious of events makes the protagonist change their ways and makes them a better person.
-Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
This story follows the Legend of Zelda character Tingle, where he goes from an ordinary middle-aged man to his green-clothed fairy persona. One day, Tingle finds an old man called Uncle Rupee, who promises Tingle a new life in a paradise known as Rupeeland, providing Tingle feeds enough Rupees to a pool. Once enough rupees are fed to the pool, the tower underneath grows upwards into the sky, eventually allowing Tingle to enter Rupeeland. Tingle accepts this offer, and over time Uncle Rupee is shown to go from an emaciated old man into a very wealthy deity. Tingle realises he has been deceived, causing Tingle to battle Uncle Rupee.
It's important to note that the stories featured in Skullgirls can also tie into other plot types, like how Squigly's somewhat ties into Comedy, with Squigly's hatred for the Medici for killing her and Filia's blood relation to the Medici and how the two join together despite the differences and Squigly's hatred for them. All of them also tie into Overcoming Evil and some of them match The Quest, such as Big Band's and Squigly's.
After looking further into all of these plots, it is very clear that a lot of games, if not all of them, follow at least one of these basic plots, regardless of whether the game was created before or after the book (the book releasing in 2004, way after video games were being created).
We was then introduced to The Hero's Journey, a concept brought about in Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The Hero's Journey is a common template used for writing stories, appearing in multiple platforms such as drama, myths, story-telling and many more. Joseph Campbell's book has influenced many different mediums, including being a strong influence for the Star Wars film franchise. There are 12 steps to this template, those being the following:
1) The Ordinary World
2) The Call to Adventure
3) Refusal of the Call
4) Meeting with the Mentor
5) Crossing the Threshold
6) Test, Allies and Enemies
7) Approach
8) The Ordeal
9) The Reward
10) The Road Back
11) The Resurrection
12) Return with the Elixir
This format, whilst not used in every story, is definitely a huge impact in various industries. Campbell's book itself has inspired various movies including the Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises, and Disney's Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Lion King, all of which have a big cult following. It is a formula that is both incredibly common yet beloved by many, which is why The Hero's Journey is still successful to this day.
http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/seven-basic-plots.html
http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm
http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html
http://thewritepractice.com/bonus-plots/
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