What is the most common Japanese word to use when referring to any kind of enemy in a video game. I know the word モンスター is common for non-human enemies, but is there just a general term for any kind of enemy? Thank you
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Native speaker here. 敵{てき}キャラ might be what you are looking for. You could use 敵 if you wanted to but that word is so general that it is used in a war in real life as well. 敵 just does not give off the fun feeling that 敵キャラ and モンスター do for the player.
answered Nov 5 '13 at 23:47
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As far as I know, the most general term for an opponent or enemy is 敵【てき】. This applies to enemies in games, as well.
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Thank you. After a few Google searches for game enemies, it seems like 敵 is almost always followed by キャラ like 敵キャラ. キャラ being an abbreviation for キャラクター or character. Is using 敵 by itself just as acceptable? – smkraft Nov 5 '13 at 23:47
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4To his credit, 敵キャラ is what you would say outside the context of the game in specific reference to it as a type of character. Inside the game they wouldn't say 「敵キャラをやっつけてください」 – ssb Nov 6 '13 at 2:07
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3I agree with ssb, we say [敵]{てき} when actually playing the game, eg ほらそこ、敵！/敵が来た！/ここ、敵多い！rather than ほらそこ、敵キャラ！/敵キャラが来た！/ここ、敵キャラ多い！ – user1016 Nov 6 '13 at 13:40
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@ssb: Clearly characters in a game do not refer to their enemy as an “enemy in a game” unless it is a metafictional reference, but I do not think that this is what this question is about. That said, as ちょこれーと stated, we sometimes use also 敵 to mean 敵キャラ. As far as I can imagine, this happens either (1) when the meaning is clear from the context or (2) when the speaker feels that he/she is inside the game. In the case of (2), the speaker is essentially acting as a character in the game. – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 10 '13 at 22:20
