User blog comment:Sargenttacos115/Why are Sting and Rouge so weak?/@comment-24016459-20131110061912/@comment-4829046-20131110065003

Indeed.

One of my challenges is to make a story where "plot magic" is not standing out so much as to be an issue. And man is it hard... it means having to come up with lots of battle tactics and subtle differences in concentration of energy attacks and a slight mishit of where a stab or punch should go that aids in the antagonist's defeat rather than, "I'm the protagonist or I'm the good guy. I always win." It also means using very brutal tactics where the good guys lose lots of blood and body parts(like in Rave) and the ones who were incompatible with fighting a certain enemy are instantly defeated, regardless of how strong they are and each person has a different way in which they survive a fight. And another device I use is "illusions". No, not the kind like Sharingan per se. Its more like a guy appears unscathed by any attack but in reality he was very close to dying, he simply uses various tactics and abilities to cancel it and make it seem like he is invincible. Granted, there still are beings that are indeed invincible until they are heavily pressured. But these would change from individual to individual. And I suppose another important thing to do is a lot of well-planned and subtle foreshadowing prior to an event. That way it doesn't feel like an ass-pull that was completely random. It is very tough to do and I don't think I can do it so well. ( _ _)