Quote Originally Posted by Behold the Void
One of the reasons why some characters defeat others is because they are indeed more powerful than the others. That's just the way it goes. I take into consideration what all of the characters do and portray it in as best a way as is possible. I've done it before, I will do it again, people will disagree with some of my decisions but since I'm the one choosing the write the story I claim the ability to be able to interpret character abilities as I will.

I generally don't have characters "hold back" more than need be. They fight at the level they need to fight to win, which may be less than what they are capable of. If you can defeat your opponent with a quarter of your energy, why use it all?

And I know characters are explicitly described as surviving such attacks. I also know that if you get shot or stabbed in an FMV, you die, even if you'd just survived all sorts of horrid attacks just prior to the moment.

The way I generally choose to interpret a character's toughness is their ability to turn aside a fatal blow. If any character gets hit in the heart, I still consider it to be pretty much fatal. That doesn't mean that characters aren't skilled enough to dodge or block, however.
Fair enough. Though characters don't always die from being shot or stabbed in a vital organ, even in FMVs, but in those cases they usually end up knocked out, which could be counted as a victory.