The Only "R" in the world - Vol. 1 Ch. 3 - Those that keep running

[Metazoxan]

@Crazyperson117 What I meant was because the manga is trying to blend real world with gatcha game settings it would be better if each one was a "Sole hero" for each world as it would more naturally blend with Gatcha game logic. Because as it stands there are two major issues in the setting based off this issue alone.

1. How is the Demon King a threat when there are so many heroes? Again the premise of any Gatcha game is that YOU have the power to defeat the big bad. Even if you do away with the concept of "one chosen one" the fact remains each one should still have that sort of power. But with so many they should be able to make an army out of heroes ALONE! In fact why even bother with Gatcha companions when they could do ALL HERO parties? Like you said series that make the "Multiple hero" thing work are generally MMO inspired and they are structured differently with the hero teaming up with either other players or NPC's and the premise in most MMO isn't that you are the "chosen hero" but that you're "A hero that may or may not even be helpful". But this game is clearly writing the hero characters based off a Gatcha game's premise where the hero is THE ONE. But then they have multiple heroes anyway in order to make jokes about gatcha players are a community.

2. In a Gatcha every "hero's" story starts when they make their account with them at the center. This obviously doesn't work in a world where not only do countless heroes exist but they reset by suicide. First of all the Demon King should either be dead or have conquered the world by now and that's just the beginning. Again this is why this kind of premise only works with a MMORPG type game. Where the premise is there is an ongoing issue and you're just joining in. Either way it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have all the heroes in the same world given the premise the author went with. A better way to go about it would be like in "overly catious hero" where the gods are in charge of countless worlds and pick heroes to send on individual journeys where they find companions and such in their individual worlds.

 

[Crazyperson117]

1. I think a bigger question is how are there still demons with so many money/exp hungry heroes hunting them all down (aside from mmorpg infinitely respawning enemies logic)? For how much of a threat the heroes are to the demon king, maybe "hero" just means "blessed by god" like being able to reincarnate and stuff? Or they're all to busy grinding loot to care about killing the demon king. Though, I just remembered a manga, with a similar (non-mmorpg) system of having multiple heroes, where

Spoiler

the heroes intentionally kept the demon king alive just so they could continue killing demons for money. They could've easily killed the demon king the entire time but it would (and did) make their jobs pointless if the demon king died.

As for having gatcha companions instead of other heroes, maybe greedy heroes just don't want to share loot/exp with other heroes?
Edit: And as for "if heroes aren't a threat that's more reason the demon king should be able to take over the world" it'd probably be hard to hold the world when the heroes constantly kill off all his minions for loot. And it feels like I mention heroes being greedy a lot, but so far that's basically their defining trait and I can cite 5 examples.
1. The way they treat the R/SR people with disdain because they weren't the SSR they were hoping for.
2. This chapter (suiciding just for free stuff)
Examples 3,4, and 5 are (kindaish) spoilers of ch6, 10, and 11.1.

Spoiler

3. Ch6 pg14-17, the absolute glee they take with massacring and looting the demons (and getting the rewards for kill counts).
4. Ch10 pg7, the heroes may save villages but they also rob the villagers, and again the above is mentioned with them taking glee in cutting open demons to loot their insides.
5. Ch 11.1 pg2, demons attacking human villages are apparently a result of their hatred against heroes for massacring them.

2. While having having multiple worlds with a starting "gatcha dimension" isn't so bad an idea, the biggest problem is it changes the plot at it's very core. Each gatcha companion having been a resident of that world, each with their own background/backstory of how they came to be part of the gatcha system. Without a core world, where did all the gatcha companions come from? Inb4 mentioning the second

Spoiler

RS Urus that just "appeared" to be a pair with the sister. That's explained away as "gatcha system logic" (even if it's weird and hand wavy). But, still, the 2nd Urus came about as a result of the 1st Urus' character growth with his sister during the demon attack against the gatcha shop on the core world.

Not to mention the plot follows Urus who came from the specific core world who wants revenge against the demons of that specific world.

Edit: Forgot to @Metazoxan

 

[Metazoxan]

@Crazyperson117

1.That's a good point although that more just reframes the issue rather than getting rid of it. The fact demons should not even be an issue with so many heroes killing everything they can for EXP means demons should be extinct except MAYBE those strong enough that only top ranked "Players" could win. Also sure they could just be greedy to hord loot but if you grind faster then you'll get more loot in the end anyway. Instead they are suiciding to get good starting rolls of companions. Think of how much loot they are losing spending 15+ years reincarnating for just a single RNG chance? Clearly it would be more efficient to just partner up with other heroes. Or even just assemble other hero teams with their companions and go at it Raid battle style. Even of the companions are all R units they'll still be good agro sponges.

2.You're entirely wrong on this one. Multiple worlds from a gatcha dimension would PRESERVE the core of the series. "Without a core world, where did all the gatcha companions come from?" You're talking as if they each world is fake. IF each world is real then they can just be residents of that particular world. If we make them PARALLEL worlds then it would even explain the same characters showing up in every world which would work BETTER than how this series tries to pull that off.

In the end we can both certainly agree this manga absolutely failed to blame the logic of a real world with real history with Gatcha mechanics. The gatcha logic was just sloppily translated to IRL logic without any real thought to world building or development.

 

[Crazyperson117]

@Metazoxan
1. I think this topic is basically settled. At best I could guess something about SSR ranks making life so much easier that it's worth spending multiple decades (even centuries) trying to get one via suicide.

2. When you said "multiple worlds" I assumed they would each be different worlds for some reason. Like sci-fi, medieval & magic, medieval w/o magic, steampunk, etc. I was imagining something like a wizard ending up in a futuristic world or a soldier ending up in a medieval world. But yea, much better for them all to be identical parallel worlds. Only issue I can see there is the possibility of world dissonance which in itself could make interesting stories of the gatcha characters going to parallel worlds somewhat different from the ones where they came from. Plus the companions issue could be ignored for the sake of plot (wouldn't be the worst plot issue being stepped over) with exceptions for stuff like

Spoiler

Urus R and Urus/sister RS existing in the same space because the latter are from a world where they weren't seperated.

The potential (companion) issue being stuff like: Companion A comes from world A where demons destroyed his village so he joined to fight demons, but in world B a hero prevented his village from being killed by demons and he later joined to help heroes like the one that helped him, and in world C a loot-hungry hero destroyed his village for loot and so companion C joined the gatcha to find/kill heroes for revenge.
The parallel worlds thing reminds me of yet another isekai manga that basically has the same concept (except without a gatcha). Multiple parallel worlds with a hero sent to each one. Though, other heroes (besides MC) aren't seen until

Spoiler

much later nearer to the end of the chapters translated to mangadex (and it's only 1 other hero). Many more are seen in the light novels.

 

[phil777]

Good thing I never liked Gacha games. Now I feel even more vindicated.

 

[Deathhappens]

Rerollers deserve to explode IRL.

 

[Velsy]

This is so bad.

 

[Jinyo]

This is pretty great.