Matrix Dragon Wrote:I admit, it's a pet peeve of mine, but I've found that stories about characters being beaten down, beaten down some more, and then beaten down again for good measure, tend to annoy the hell out of me. Going 'Oh, but in the end they'll be mostly alright!' doesn't really help, especially since this is often debatable.
For me, it depends on the author's attitude. It's pretty subjective, but when it starts really feeling like they're looking forward to how much shit they can pile onto a character, I start not wanting to hang around for it, even if I have a reasonable expectation that they'll do something else later.
It's something I remember seeing a lot in late 90s self-insert fics. There seemed to be a certain perception that if they piled it on enough, their SIs wouldn't be hated for being SIs. But for me, who approaches SI characters the same way I approach crossover characters from fandoms I don't know, it was just tiresome.
As for Halkegenia Online in particular... wake me up when Louise is regularly interacting with multiple SAO cast members again.
-Morgan.