Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism / Visual Novels

• The Ace Attorney series are very, very strongly on idealism's side, as the characters and games always believe in doing the right thing in court, on pursuing the truth and justice above everything else and on how doing so always end up bringing happiness to others. Also, chances are, anyone who laughs or mocks at the protagonists for being "too naïve" or "too inexperienced" because of their beliefs will either realize the mistake of their ways in the end or will be proven to be the villains of the case at hand. Or both.
  • The nature of the law is examined in several cases, asking whether one should follow the law or follow their heart. This is particularly poignant at the end of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, where the Big Bad says "the law is absolute", whereas the good guys throw it back in their face by saying that the law is always changing based on what people think is good. Thus, it argues that in the decision on whether To Be Lawful or Good, "good" is always the right choice, painting an idealistic look at the law and human nature.
  • The cynical parts of the series are when people exploit the law for their own means. This is examined in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. The former has the "dark age of the law" coming from the public at large not trusting the law anymore after a series of cynical lawmakers decided that "the ends justify the means" and started ignoring it to get ahead. The latter is an oppressive state where just defending an innocent person could get you the death penalty because the people in charge want to hold onto power by any means necessary, and La Résistance is fighting against this oppression. In both games, the ones fighting against this oppression and cynicism are the idealistic heroes.
• Three (in)famous games by ClockUp vary on the cynical part of the spectrum:
  • Euphoria: The Power of Love saves you and your lover from the continuous torture.
  • Maggot Baits: Happier than Fraternite due to the endings, but not by too much.
  • Fraternite: Cynical and depressing all the way. No matter what ending you get, you can't save anybody.
• Danganronpa:
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc seems to be near the middle but leans toward the idealistic. While it's certainly not above showing anyone can die and anyone is capable of murder, it also drives home that the people involved often have understandable motivations and reasons for doing so, even if they know it's wrong, and that not all victims are innocent. At its core, the series is about the importance of holding onto hope even in the worst times, and the negative effects of despair. In the end, even when shown that the world outside is a violent hellscape, the survivors choose to escape anyway.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair takes it up a notch with The Reveal that all of the students used to be members of Ultimate Despair, the most violent terrorist group in history. However, after they were captured, they were placed in a virtual reality therapy program to give them new memories and a chance to start over. This was screwed up thanks to the machinations of the Big Bad from the previous game, but five of them manage to escape with their memories intact. While the others are left comatose, it's heavily implied that there's a chance they could be restored.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony pushes things much further toward cynicism. First with The Reveal that, with just six of them left alive, they manage to reach the exit to the facility they're trapped in...only to learn that they're the final survivors of the human race, stranded on a ruined Earth after a meteor impact. It's enough to drive many of them past the Despair Event Horizon and into a suicidal depression. And second with the reveal that it's all a lie. Not only is humanity fine, they're glued to their seats to watch the killing game the students are participating in. The whole thing is a TV show in its 53rd season. Before their memories were altered, the students themselves were fans of the show and actively chose to participate, with interview videos showing them as misanthropic and violent. Of course, this should all to be taken with a grain of salt, since it's made clear that the Big Bad could be lying about everything. Indeed, the survivors take the show down in the end and escape the facility as themselves, complete with a "Ray of Hope" Ending.
• The first route of Fate/stay night starring Saber is firmly on the idealistic side, playing out almost like a stereotypical "Good triumphs over evil" story. The second route sees Emiya Shirou's ideals challenged and shows that his way of thinking is severely flawed, slipping into cynicism while still maintaining bits of idealism that with good intentions, maybe things will turn out for the best. The final route has Shirou's ideals completely abandoned as he becomes cynical over what he's doing, and the story shows that unfortunately, being idealistic isn't always right. In short, the routes go from firmly idealistic to firmly cynical.
• With a focus on deconstructing many of the tropes associated with heroism, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa is ruthlessly cynical with any kind of idealism within the setting always coming with some kind of caveat, be it naivete or insanity, with any kind of idealistic action usually having some kind of nasty downside or price when looked at beyond a surface level. Even the storys central message of Thou Shalt Not Kill ends up both espoused and critiqued with seemingly no satisfactory solution other than embracing the darker aspects of humanity.
• The various entries and routes within the Shinza Bansho Series pingpongs all over the place in terms of tone, but usually settles somewhere on the idealistic end. Some entries such as Avesta of Black and White even manages to be on both ends of the scale simultaneously.
• Silver Crisis has a huge part of the story focus on whether Strength comes from raw power, or from your own will/mindset and the help of others. The Scale slides towards the Cynical Side for most of the plot, with moments such as Lucas’s constant losing streak and status of being a burden to Lucario, Silver and Ganondorf’s Overwhelming Power, and the Corruption of Lucario’s former trainer in pursuit of this leaning on the side of “Raw Power means everything”. But by the end of the story, the scale lands firmly on the Idealistic side, showing that the trust Lucas and Lucario had for one another is what truly defeated Silver, as well as Lucas’s strength of heart and willingness to better himself being what allows him to truly unlock his hidden power and become truly strong.
• Swan Song starts off very, very cynical and keeps going downhill, with worse and worse actions being taken and more and more tragedy happening as it progresses. While some heroic characters exist, don't expect them to actually make anything better. Until the true ending, where things are hopeful and finally improving, at least a little.
• While Muv-Luv Unlimited is mixed but ultimately idealistic, its sequel, Muv-Luv Alternative, as well as anything else that takes place in the Unlimited verse, is very cynical and painful, dealing with nationalist humans waging a civil war and actually fighting the BETA after them being hyped up but unseen in Unlimited. Rather than learning that humanity is losing miserably against them, you're seeing it firsthand, and only very rarely does something actually go well. In the end, it's on a mixed note. The BETA's leader has been removed from Earth and valuable information has been uncovered about them, but the moon and Mars are still heavily populated by them and there's 10^37 (or 10000000000000000000000000000000000000) total other worlds the BETA inhabit. Yuuko estimates that an additional 30 years has been bought for humanity as a whole by the events of Alternative, too.
• Songs and Flowers, while it can be mixed and does delve into serious subjects, particularly the discovery that the protagonist's Missing Mom was actually murdered, it's much closer to the idealistic end with its emphasis on friendship, love, support, and personal growth.

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