A side character who was better than the hero

ABLb0y

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Eddie Rigg from Brutal Legend was so bad, so annoying, I gave up on the game.

However, Ophelia was a brilliant character, genuinly funny, sweet and lovable. Pity Eddie drove her to suicide.
 

Denamic

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Realitycrash said:
Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.
VARRIC goddamnit!
Varric was just plain good.
Even if you think the game's a pile of shit, Varric was simply a great character.
 

dmase

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Auran from FF X. Tidus and Yuna end up coming off as annoying in some cases but Auran is the man.
 

HHammond

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I was thinking about this the other day but the other way round.

Can you think of anything where the main character is the most interesting one? It's always the side characters who are the most interesting! Except maybe Mal in Firefly.
 

TheYellowCellPhone

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Lightning Delight said:
The Arbiter from Halo 2/3. That guy was so cool, and he had a personality. When Master Chief was all "Grr. I kill things now," Arby was making fun of prophets as he killed them. It's too bad he got shunted to the side in Halo 3.
Gah, I loved the Arbiter, how he made alliances with the humans or how he hated the prophets due to his history and the cool stuff he did with Johnson.

But yeah, forget the aliens, back to humans...
 

CrimsonBlaze

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Pretty much every character that isn't Vaan in FFXII. He just flat out sucks as a main hero and I often mistake Balthier, Ashe, or Basch as the main character. Everyone has a reason for being int he party except for Vaan.

I could also include Tidus from FFX, but he is actually useful throughout most of the game and has an iconic weapon, the Brotherhood.
 

Dragoon

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DanielDeFig said:
Roxas in Kingdom Hearts
Agreed, Roxas was way better than Sora and if I could change the protagonist for KH it would be a tie between him and Riku who is also much better than Sora.
 

Realitycrash

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Denamic said:
Realitycrash said:
Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.
VARRIC goddamnit!
Varric was just plain good.
Even if you think the game's a pile of shit, Varric was simply a great character.
Well yeah, but that wasn't the point? Question was: "Side character who is better than the hero", and to me, every god-damn sidecharacter, even the boob-lady, is better than the main character in DA2, because the main hero is a nitwit with twats for family and laughable dialogue-options.
I played Rogue/Mage/Warrior, both male and female, and I always ended up hating my own character.
 

tzimize

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wgmovies said:
Johnny Gat in saints row he is just badass
Hahaha, yeah. I love it in SR2 when he smashes the head of some asian guy through the glass table in his house and shoots him in the head (I think that was how it went), and then his wife says something along the lines of: "Johnny, I just cleaned!" and he says "Relax babe, it'll wash out!" And then you have to go our bustin up gangmembers while he has to stay at home and clean...HAHAHA! Man...what a game.

CrimsonBlaze said:
Pretty much every character that isn't Vaan in FFXII. He just flat out sucks as a main hero and I often mistake Balthier, Ashe, or Basch as the main character. Everyone has a reason for being int he party except for Vaan.

I could also include Tidus from FFX, but he is actually useful throughout most of the game and has an iconic weapon, the Brotherhood.
What about Vivi from FF9? One of my most favorite bi-characters ever.
 

nukethetuna

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Besides any game with a silent protagonist?

Most RPGs. Pretty much every Final Fantasy game. Kain, Edgar, Red XIII, Quistis, Vivi, Auron, Basch, Sazh as opposed to whoever the protagonist was. I liked Zelos over Lloyd in Tales of Symphonia, Raven (slightly) more than Yuri in Tales of Vesperia (though in terms of protagonists, Yuri is one of my favorites).
I prefered Zero to Megaman X, but apparently most people did because he got revived, promoted to deutertagonist, and then shared the main character spotlight... and then he got his own series.
Alucard over whatever Belmont (or Soma) is in that Castlevania.

The issue I guess with main characters is that you're much more likely to get angsting and dramatics from them, because they are the centerpiece of the story. The side characters won't act as melodramatic just by virtue of having less focus.
Also a ton of them follow the "JUSTICE HEROOOO" archetype, which is annoying to me because they not only have an infallible sense of justice and righteousness, but the means to carry it out and change the world. If they're not that, then there's a chance they swing too far in the other direction and try to be an anti-hero, and that can make them feel like they're trying too hard to be edgy.

Honestly, if I do like main characters most it's because they're believable and realistic, or because the rest of the cast is absolutely dull or unlikable.
 

Crenelate

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Side characters generally are the more interesting, as the hero has to deal with all the main shit while the side guys can get up to zany antics or witty quips. Also, as they're less explored there's more for the audience to imagine/mystery about them. Luna Lovegood vs Harry Potter anyone? Han Solo vs Luke Skywalker? Larten Crepsley vs Darren Shan?

The only books I cant manage to apply this to are the Discworlds. Sam Vimes and Granny Weatherwax cant be beaten!
 

Shadowcreed

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Quite an obvious one - Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden is such a wimp compared to Pliskin...
yes, that's Snake under-cover ;)
 

suitepee7

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samwise gamgee from LOTR? frodo had the burden, but he wouldn't have made it very far without his sam
 

Reaper195

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donisaac said:
Well, I think that everyone in L.A Noire, I hated Cole Phelps after he... I swear, everything he did after that part was bad, any connection to him was lost.
No, his partner in Vice was even worse. Seriously....that guy was everything IO stand against. When I first placyed my first case with him, I crashed and destroyed his car, and then ran him over. First time in a video game I have actively hated a character.