Games you love with horrible protagonists

[vledleR]

Pretty straight forward. Try to avoid the "blank slate" characters, such as Doomguy or Gordon Freeman.

Bayonetta - Bayonetta series
The first Bayonetta was one of my favourite console games of last gen, if not my favourite, but the woman is completely one-dimensional. Power and sexuality are her only defining character traits. Whenever she tries to convey some sort of empathy, it comes across as so wooden and stiff, it's almost cringe worthy to watch. Lots of people seem to think that the fact that she claims her sexuality and power adds character. It doesn't.

Henry Townshend - Silent Hill 4
My second favourite SH game. Could've probably been my favourite if Henry didn't act so lobotomized. He puts zero emotion into anything, and reacts to all the bizarre things around him in such an inhuman way.

Tidus - Final Fantasy X
One of the most insufferable protagonists in video games. Not only is he responsible for the most unintentionally awkward scene I've ever seen in any media, the story takes WAY too long for this dude to get over his daddy issues and put his big boy pants on. Yuna was a much better protagonist in the sequel.

wbu?

 

[Xeros]

Bayonetta

While "cringe worthy" pretty much sums up her character, everyone else's character, and the story as a whole, the gameplay was so damn solid, so much fun, and the art direction so surrealistically beautiful, it's among my top 10 best games of all time.

OT: Sora - Kingdom Hearts series.

You don't play Kingdom Hearts for Sora. He just feels like LittleKuriboh's impression of Tea Gardner, but trying to play it seriously.

 

[sextus the crazy]

All of them.

Okay, okay, I'll try to think of one.

Uhh, ummm. Fire Emblem Awakening's protag is pretty boring. Come to think of it, most of them are. Always bland goody-goodies.

Luso from FFTA2 counts, I think.

 

[Evonisia]

Master Chief, especially so in Halo 2 where we actually get a different protagonist who has desires and flaws (that honour obsession, yo). MChief is just so bland and exists to allow the other characters to do more interesting things. Cortana is the most important aspect of his character, and the decision they make near the end of Halo 2 is less damning for the Chief and more for the player. The novels try to add stuff to him, but it still doesn't really work.

Just replayed ODST, and even the Rookie through physical actions shows more personality.

 

[baddude1337]

God of War, a fantastic fun to play game. Kratos however, I find completely unlikeable. As much as Kratos has legitimate beef with the gods, it's hard to really get on his side when his actions and rampages start to destroy the entire world and everyone in it. He also needs to learn to turn off that caps lock button.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Pretty straight forward. Try to avoid the "blank slate" characters, such as Doomguy or Gordon Freeman.

Bayonetta - Bayonetta series
The first Bayonetta was one of my favourite console games of last gen, if not my favourite, but the woman is completely one-dimensional. Power and sexuality are her only defining character traits. Whenever she tries to convey some sort of empathy, it comes across as so wooden and stiff, it's almost cringe worthy to watch. Lots of people seem to think that the fact that she claims her sexuality and power adds character. It doesn't.

Henry Townshend - Silent Hill 4
My second favourite SH game. Could've probably been my favourite if Henry didn't act so lobotomized. He puts zero emotion into anything, and reacts to all the bizarre things around him in such an inhuman way.

Tidus - Final Fantasy X
One of the most insufferable protagonists in video games. Not only is he responsible for the most unintentionally awkward scene I've ever seen in any media, the story takes WAY too long for this dude to get over his daddy issues and put his big boy pants on. Yuna was a much better protagonist in the sequel.

wbu?

That final fantasy X scene was done on purpose. You have obviously never tried to make someone in a bad mood feel better.

OT:

Vaan from final fantasy 12. Baltheir was suppose to be the hero, and a better hero he was.

Absel , from tales of graces F, man that boy was dumb. Tiger festival? Really?

 

[vledleR]

That final fantasy X scene was done on purpose. You have obviously never tried to make someone in a bad mood feel better.

OT:

Vaan from final fantasy 12. Baltheir was suppose to be the hero, and a better hero he was.

lol no need to get judgemental for my tastes in video game cutscenes, now.

Vaan wasn't a very good character, I agree. Definitely no hero, but he shared good relationships with the other characters.

God of War, a fantastic fun to play game. Kratos however, I find completely unlikeable. As much as Kratos has legitimate beef with the gods, it's hard to really get on his side when his actions and rampages start to destroy the entire world and everyone in it. He also needs to learn to turn off that caps lock button.

They never really went anywhere with Kratos' character after the first game. They just keep making reasons to confine him to what he is. Very little development, in that regard.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The God of War games. Though I'd argue Kratos is a good protagonist for the games he's in, he just happens to be an asshole.

 

[MeatMachine]

Marche Radiuju from Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. Quite possibly the biggest douchebag in existence, in spite of being in a pretty fun game. Him and everyone he knows gets sucked into an alternate dimension where they all have the one thing that they want the most - and he sets out to undue all of it.

Wimpy self now full of courage? Destroy the new world.
Paraplegic little brother can now walk? Destroy the new world.
Terrorized best friend now a benevolent monarch? Destroy the new world.
Other best friend now socially loved? Destroy the new world.
Best friend's alcoholic loser dad now a respected authority figure? Fuck it, destroy the new world.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Master Chief, especially so in Halo 2 where we actually get a different protagonist who has desires and flaws (that honour obsession, yo). MChief is just so bland and exists to allow the other characters to do more interesting things. Cortana is the most important aspect of his character, and the decision they make near the end of Halo 2 is less damning for the Chief and more for the player. The novels try to add stuff to him, but it still doesn't really work.

Just replayed ODST, and even the Rookie through physical actions shows more personality.

I'm right there with you. As much as I love Halo (pre-4 at least), Master Chief was easily my least favourite aspect. For the most part, he had precisely zero character traits that could extend beyond a description (living, doesn't talk much, probably smells to high heaven), although, credit where credit's due, 343 did give him some semblance of a personality in 4. What bugs me most is that he pretty much steels the limelight from the Arbiter, who was a vastly more interesting character (seriously, why has no one made a game with him as the lead).

 

[Evonisia]

Snip.

I would bleed for a stealth Halo game with the Arbiter as the protagonist. Sadly, his missions didn't seem to be well regarded when compared to MChief's in Halo 2, though (blasphemy, fanbase, curse you!).

 

[silver wolf009]

No one's done it yet? Alright then, I'll pick the low hanging fruit...

This pile of spaghetti. As the game itself said at one point:

"The target exhibits a classic low affect personality, psychopathic disregard for others, narcissistic world view punctuated by self-obssessive disorders."

Spoiler: Massive Prototype Spoilers.

And that's BEFORE he turns into a lump of viral biotissue with not only the excuse, but the means to commit genocide.

 

[silver wolf009]

Snip.

I would bleed for a stealth Halo game with the Arbiter as the protagonist. Sadly, his missions didn't seem to be well regarded when compared to MChief's in Halo 2, though (blasphemy, fanbase, curse you!).

Then you should look into ODST, which has traditional missions punctuating an almost open world approach to gameplay as you skulk around a ruined New Mombassa, trying to find your squad.

And not to mention, no joke, the best Halo OST ever made.[footnote]Yeah yeah yeah, opinions and blah blah blah, HALO ODST OST IS FUN TO SAY.[/footnote]

 

[jademunky]

See now Kratos could have been a great protagonist if the writers truly understood just how horrible he had become. I love me a good villain protagonist, Godfather, Breaking Bad, give me a somewhat sympathethic character whom i can grow to despise and I'm hooked.

Kratos, on the other hand, they tried to feed us all some bullshit about 'oh no Zeus had been corrupted by Pandora's Box and Kratos was righteous all along because blah blah blah'. By the end I felt like the game was being written by Kratos's battered spouse who was desperately trying to convince all of us that he was really good deep down.

 

[FPLOON]

Vincent from Catherine

Sure, you could say that he was seduced by another women because he was drunk, thus leading to all of the bad shit that has been going on beforehand to now happen to him, but dude... You cheated on your girlfriend and are not even going to own up on it until either it's too late, you break up with her, and/or you die as a sheep...

Other than that, I'm drawing a blank here...

 

[jademunky]

Vincent from Catherine

Sure, you could say that he was seduced by another women because he was drunk, thus leading to all of the bad shit that has been going on beforehand to now happen to him, but dude... You cheated on your girlfriend and are not even going to own up on it until either it's too late, you break up with her, and/or you die as a sheep...

Other than that, I'm drawing a blank here...

Oh c'mon, I loved that about Vincent. He was just such an indecisive loser that you can't help but feel for him (at least I couldn't). Not that I have ever cheated on my SO but I can certainly identify with someone who doesn't know what he really wants, is terrified of commitment, even more terrified of being alone and needs a moment of personal crisis to discover himself.

I'd say that he was one of the most human video game protagonists I can think of.

 

[Skatologist]

Haven't seen that smug asshole Nathan Drake picked yet, so I'll go with him. You know, for a person who looks like he's gone through mounds of shit through his adventures and me actually not having a long list of fictional characters I hate (including Drake), it's surprising I still don't feel anything for Drake when he is at his weakest in games.

OT: Sora - Kingdom Hearts series.

You don't play Kingdom Hearts for Sora. He just feels like LittleKuriboh's impression of Tea Gardner, but trying to play it seriously.

Yep, when he isn't boring, he's annoying. Almost every other protagonist of the series is more likable than him.

 

[Towowo]

Marche Radiuju from Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. Quite possibly the biggest douchebag in existence, in spite of being in a pretty fun game. Him and everyone he knows gets sucked into an alternate dimension where they all have the one thing that they want the most - and he sets out to undue all of it.

Wimpy self now full of courage? Destroy the new world.
Paraplegic little brother can now walk? Destroy the new world.
Terrorized best friend now a benevolent monarch? Destroy the new world.
Other best friend now socially loved? Destroy the new world.
Best friend's alcoholic loser dad now a respected authority figure? Fuck it, destroy the new world.

While that is a pretty good interpretation, I think the intended message was that it was wrong to live in a fantasy like that and ignore your problems, I believed it being described as escapism?