User blog:Unfortunate Mermaid/Succubi: So Interesting That they Are Boring

Grouchy face on, waiting for a very late book and feedback for a university application don't exactly make a happy person, but they do help give that bit of a kick up the arse to write stuff. I guess this one's a borderline rant but it's nothing serious and is actually more of a thought after seeing depictions of certain monsters in other media.

So... Succubi.

In various media Succubi are some of the most developed monsters known, that said their powers aren't exactly conveyed that well, after all they just steal souls through intercourse in their original depiction (linked to night terrors and sleep paralysis most likely). With that lack of initial definition it's obvious they need something else to push the envelope.

Generally the creative license goes a bit far though. It's not always bad at first, after all you have to build up something that is two dimensional as a demon who's only characteristic is to rape.

Generally monsters are coherent with their abilities or reasons to do what they do, they have limitations and can't do literally everything with their body (well, barring slimes, but even then their maleable form is also a limit). This keeps a lot of monsters unique, a very important factor in a game where you essentially get raped in various different ways depending on what kind of monster got you and what their characteristics are.

The thing is that Succubi simply have a ridiculous range of powers, in MGQ alone they have arcane powers, pheromones, secrete oils, use of magic and a ridiculous amount of physiological powers. That tail can be used as a vagina or a penetrating tentacle, their actual genitals can morph in all sorts of ways depending on how they feel, they can suck out other things besides semen, their scent is scintillating, even their bellybuttons can turn into a vagina and suck semen directly into their stomach.

On a wider scale in other media the list get's larger, be it groing futa to various degrees, the ability to turn anything else into a Succubi, the ability to use any of their body fluids to convert people, the ability to hypnotise people with dancing, raping people with their eyes, the ability to possess people and many, many other ideas.

Altogether Succubi monsters are a sounding board for various ideas but at the same time become overpowering and maybe a little stale, a lot of creative outlets have fallen into this trap, including Kenkou Cross, many other games and some novels.

And that's a bit of a shame, because it's all very counter intuitive, people have tried making one of the most two dimensional creatures into something a lot more eye-catching and give some depth, but like everyone who comes up with a Sonic fan-character the massive additions lend to an equally massive lack of balancing, sending Succubi back down to the depths of the one-dimensional Sue.

Of course, not all balances have to be physical, things like character development also help bring things to a more intriguing level, a monster may be ridiculously powerful but deficiencies in other areas can keep the character in question more tolerable at least or lovable at best.

With Succubi being all-powerful, maybe something else can be added to the fold to keep them from being too perfect, hopefully Chapter 3 can deliver on that.

Unfortunate Mermaid 18:32, April 20, 2012 (UTC)