Great video game heroes and villains

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Minic

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What main characters in video games - MAIN characters, not just quirky bit part characters you found amusing - have you genuinely vouched for or loved to hate?

We'll exclude GLaDOS, too. Yes, I know how kickass she is but I'm sure we're all still aware of that. I'd like to hear some more diverse answers.
 

ZenMonkey47

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Greatest villain of all time has to go to Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate II fame. Brilliantly voiced, charismatic, intelligent, callus, malevolent and manipulating. And the best part is, after everything he puts you though you walk away feeling for the guy.

close second (I wish there was some way to say this without sounding like some kind of stunted fanboi) Sephiroth of Final Fantasy VII infamy. Granted he's obviously overcompensating for *cough* something *cough* with that sword and has about as much personality as a wet sponge, you can't help but love to hate this guy. He's about as badass as you can get and he makes you REALLY want to take him down when he "permenately KO's" someone that by this point of the game is near and dear to you. Not to mention he has one of the best soundtrack in Videogamedom.
 

shadow skill

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The Dahaka from Prince of Persia Warrior Within. That asshole always wanted to show up at the worst time. God I hated him. Kratos, I don't think I need to say anything else. Let's not forget Id from Xenogears he was just pure awesome.
 

jezcentral

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Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango) and Jim Raynor and Tassedar (both StarCraft). All involved in moving stories that got me to identify with them. I've yet to find a non-scripted (i.e. sandbox-type) game that manages to draw characters with enough depth for me to care about them.

Also, I was younger then. I think that makes it easier.

J
 

Mr_Cynical

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Dec 3, 2007
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not so much a great villain, more one that annoyed the crap out of me...
Liquid Snake. i HATE that guy so much, he just wont die!
you soot the crap out of him while he's in the hind, shoot the crap out of him while he's in metal gear, TWICE, beat the crap out of him on top of metal gear, and kick his smug behind off the top, shoot the crap out of him while he's in a jeep and finally the crash at the end of the tunnel, only to have the bastard die of a freakin heart attack!!!
and to top it all off the tosser comes back in revolver ocelot's arm in metal gear solid 2.
bastard...

oh yeah, add my vote for Raynor and we'll throw Karrigan into the mix as well
 

Kikosemmek

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ZenMonkey47 said:
Greatest villain of all time has to go to Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate II fame. Brilliantly voiced, charismatic, intelligent, callus, malevolent and manipulating. And the best part is, after everything he puts you though you walk away feeling for the guy.
Totally agree.

For a protagonist, I'm going to still dig into BG2 and say Minsc. He's basically a big, muscular guy who knows how to fight, has a pet hamster who he claims to be a miniature giant space hamster and to whom he often talks to and confides in. He's taken "a few hits to the head," and though Minsc exhibits quite a bite of insanity, he still upholds a moral personality and proud demeanor. He hates evil mages and people who harm innocents, human and animal. He's positively the funniest character in the game and one of the best melee combatants one can enlist in BG2. You also meet him in BG1 and, if you want, you could have him adventure with you. In BG2 he appears right in the beginning of the game and you really learn to like and trust him. Awesome character.
 

ExileNZ

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At the risk of sounding old-fashioned here (and of repeating myself, since I think it's come up in all three of my posts so far) I'm going to have to say Shodan. Not just from Shock2 but from the original - she was already established in the second one so was tremendously arrogant, but in the first one she was just plain creepy (though Shock2's ending takes the cake, the plate and the whole damned table).

Now, to show some sliver of originality (because I need a break from Shock2), some others:

Kafka from FFVI - at least as detestable as Sephiroth, more wily and that EFFing laugh of his... (Abridged series fans should know the pronunciation of "EFF" in this case). Never before has a 2-bit laugh made my skin crawl so much.

Moebius from the Legacy of Kain series. Any game, take your pick, but obviously best if you've played all of them. Cunning, manipulative and just a little bit mad, he even manages to make his presence felt despite spending much of his time dead (that's not really a spoiler, just for reference). And of course his story has probably the most satisfying end of any of the LOK characters. Well I revelled in it, anyway.

Raziel and Kain from same - Moebius is just awesome enough to warrant his own mention. Hell, any of the main LOK characters, from Kain and Raziel to Vorador and Janos, even Hash and Umah. All well-thought-out, well-developed and of course, well-voiced (Bell, Templeman, Jay and Auberjonois). That reminds me, Elder God, though he has a couple of inconsistencies I'd like explained.

Cortana. Come one. She was essentially Master Chief's personality, only portable.

Durandel - all the personality and playfulness of Cortana with none of that "saving Humanity" stuff. Quite an achievement when you consider he never even had a voice actor.

I could think of some others but that'll do from me.
 

Girlysprite

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Kikosemmek said:
ZenMonkey47 said:
Greatest villain of all time has to go to Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate II fame. Brilliantly voiced, charismatic, intelligent, callus, malevolent and manipulating. And the best part is, after everything he puts you though you walk away feeling for the guy.
Totally agree.

For a protagonist, I'm going to still dig into BG2 and say Minsc. He's basically a big, muscular guy who knows how to fight, has a pet hamster who he claims to be a miniature giant space hamster and to whom he often talks to and confides in. He's taken "a few hits to the head," and though Minsc exhibits quite a bite of insanity, he still upholds a moral personality and proud demeanor. He hates evil mages and people who harm innocents, human and animal. He's positively the funniest character in the game and one of the best melee combatants one can enlist in BG2. You also meet him in BG1 and, if you want, you could have him adventure with you. In BG2 he appears right in the beginning of the game and you really learn to like and trust him. Awesome character.
Totally agree. The characters in BG1 and 2 are all great anyways. They had an actual personality, and the ingame interactions and party conversations were brilliant.

Another hero (or anti-hero) is Garrett, from the thief series. Working for himself, somewhat cynical and being a brilliant thief; I like him.
 

ExileNZ

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Oh yeah, Garret. Second that. Though you have to start from Thief 1 or 2 - if you don't know his background he just comes across as a cocky bastard in Deadly Shadows (in fact his attitude in the T:DS demo pushed me away from the whole series for ages). But yeah, once you know him, he's awesome.

Also, Viktoria and Constantine both rocked. The Hag may've been scarier but she just didn't click the way the other two did. She felt kinda... tacked on, comparatively.
 

rougeknife

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Jan 2, 2008
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Third Garret. Great character, great voice.

Laughing Jack, Vampire:TMB.

Loved him from the moment he laughs at you in the ally and offers some help right until the moment you discover his motives. Hell, every character in that game was well fleshed out, voiced and written, from the Prince you hate from the moment you meet right on down to Fat Larry looking for his hardcore-terminator type and Sang with his 'Herb Remedies' and 'High Calibre' Peace-makers.
 

Chalee

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Jan 14, 2008
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I love characters who have memorable things to say so I'll go for:
a) Minsc 'GO FOR THE EYES BOO! GO FOR THE EYES!'
b) Mr Andrew 'A slave choose a man obeys' Ryan

Hey is there a thread on most memorable video game quotes?
 

Gansasalite

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Jan 2, 2008
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ZenMonkey47 said:
Greatest villain of all time has to go to Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate II fame. Brilliantly voiced, charismatic, intelligent, callus, malevolent and manipulating. And the best part is, after everything he puts you though you walk away feeling for the guy.
Totaly Agree, Serovok was bad but i didn't see him as evil. I know he was, but Irenicus just seemed more. You watch the way he acted and how he treated people you felt hatred towards him, and that pest Bohdi.

Hero I would say goes to Tassadar and Alyx Vance.
What Tassadar did was amazing and was an awesome character. And Alyx, well, Valve did a good job of making me Become atached to her. I hated every moment she was in danger.

Yeah, I know, im weak.

Now to redeem myself and say somthing original, Johann Strauss from Quake 4. He was annoying, but i liked him.
 

Apone

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Jan 13, 2008
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As with others in this thread I loved the Baldurs Gate characters, as well as Metal Gear and the Legacy of Kain series.
God I hope they finish that, I doubt they will now but it really needs to be rapped up.

And yes ExileNZ, Moebius's story ends very well (*grins with satisfaction).
 

Gansasalite

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Jan 2, 2008
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Chalee said:
Hey is there a thread on most memorable video game quotes?
Yeah, go a searching in Game Discussion and you'll find it. Fairly certian it's called "Favourite Video Game lines"
 

Blayze

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Dec 19, 2007
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Hmm... Let's see...

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Villains
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Jonoleth Irenicus - Baldur's Gate II. The guy has some of the greatest lines I've ever heard, and is a great character in and of himself. I never really liked Bodhi (She never really seemed to be a threat), but Irenicus was always there to make my protagonist's life a misery. Sarevok wasn't even a real concern.

SHODAN - System Shock 2. I haven't played the original, but SHODAN in SS2 was one of the only parts of the second game that felt creepy.

Kefka - Final Fantasy 3/6. The man killed an entire town simply because it would be the quicker method. And for once, a villain actually did manage to take over the world. That's got to earn him some kind of respect. Also, he was hilarious, especially when he had sand on his boots.

Andrew Ryan - Bioshock. Although he never really was any kind of threat at all, at least he was well-developed, and I suppose that's all you can ask for.

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Heroes
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Minsc (And Boo), Imoen, Edwin and Jan - Baldur's Gate I/II. Some of the best interactions come from these three. They're not devoid of personality like Valygar or annoying and whiny like Anomen and Aerie. Minsc was a great source of humour, especially when Jan took an interest in Boo. Jan himself was hilarious when he annoyed random members of the party with his tales, and Edwin was... well, Edwin.

And as for Imoen? Well, if she was only something other than a Mage/Thief (About a quarter of the cast seem to be! Thank God for mods...), then I'd have absolutely no reason not to take her with me in every party.
 

Booze Zombie

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Most awesome, eh? Well... I have a great admiration for Naked Snake and The Sorrow, awesome characters that they are. But, I also like The Darkness and Agent 47... also awesome.