Least Favorite Protagonist

[Mauler]

Main male character from super robot wars J from start to the point when he meets the archangel... He made me not play game for a month because i thought he would whine all the way through but no it ended all right...

 

[solidmetal]

The protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei: Noctrune. If you survived the end of the world and thought you were one of the last remaining humans (even if you are a demi-human) and you ran across anyone much less an old school friend, I would think the conversation would be a bit more then... "Oh hey, how you been?" "Yea some crazy shit going on around these parts, see you later."

i like him, he just doesn't give a shit to the rest of the world because what's done is done. And he may also aware that all the human he meet after the Conception is bunch of idiots (seriouly, that Isamu brat and that ***** Chiaki) so he fuck all the Reasons (in my game) and conquer god with lucifer. The demon ending of that game is awesome.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Micah from Fire Emblem Radience Dawn. well the first part of the game when you played as her. I just did not cared for her cause to rebell and her attitdue toward Ike, the hero from the past game.

 

[Gearran]

Ahh, the whiny glory that is Tidus from Final Fantasy X. I can't remember the last time I wanted to bludgeon something inside my TV WITH my TV. Seriously. Compared to him, even the characters from FFXIII are bearable (barely).

Now, as something of a tangent to this thread idea, there are legions (LEGIONS I TELL YOU!) of characters that aren't so much "least favorite" as they are "bland, forgettable cardboard cutouts." Most characters that you play as in FPS games, for example. Or Dante from the Devil May Cry series (yes, all of them).

 

[Chaos Isaac]

Asbel Lhant.

I genuinely hate this guy. I can't think of a useful thing he's done. He did something somewhat relevaaant, about twice, but Hubert could easily have taken this guys spot as lead.

I'd say he's worse then Tidus.

 

[Joffas16]

Definitely that guy from Far Cry 3.

I can't remember his name so I'm going to refer to him as Dubstep Douche-tats. I seriously hated this guy, every time he opened his mouth I wanted to reach through my TV and choke him. I just found his personality so unlikeable, and his friends to, they can also die. They were like the stupid teenagers from some terrible horror movie.

Also early on there was a huge rift between his actions and how he acts. At the start of the game he is supposed to seem scared and out of his element, but then minutes into the game your scaling a huge radio tower, Ziplining down, picking up an AK-47 and murdering about twenty people and several exotic animals.

Douche-tats taught me to appreciate silent protagonists.

 

[Jessta]

definitely gotta go with Kratos.
I can't even think of a close second, maybe... I played as Urgot once and he was pretty bad.

 

[hazabaza1]

Connor Dickhead native whatever. Annoying prick with no personality and one of the worst voice actors I've heard.

 

[Manji187]

Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. Just a gravel-voiced meathead with no real substance to him.

Spoiler: Oh yeah, and he has a dad

Seriously, fuck this franchise with a hamer drill.

 

[I.Muir]

I find it difficult to actually dislike silent protagonists because of their complete and utter lack of personality
Alpha protocol guy was kind of an all round douche
I can't remember but there has been one or two occasions where characters have done that no I can't kill him that would be wrong whilst standing in front of a pile a corpses high enough to block out the sun and the recently defeated is so obviously going to come back and haunt us

 

[ThreeName]

Batman from the Arkham games.

Miserable, joyless, humorless git with no personality whatsoever.

Oh God yes. Fucking hell, I think he had all emotion lesioned out of his brain. Intolerable.

 

[DanielBrown]

So much hate for Kratos. He's an antihero, not a protagonist. ;(

My choice would be Tidus, of obvious reasons. He wasn't that annoying when I was 12, but when I replayed the game recently all I could think about when I heard his voice was vicious murder.
Snow from FFXIII would be a very close second.
Also Hope.

Actually, most JRPG protagonists are my least favorite.

 

[Legion]

Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. Just a gravel-voiced meathead with no real substance to him.

That is unfortunately a failing on behalf of the games writers. In the extended universe they explain a lot more about him, and he does actually have a fairly deep personality.

Not that it's an excuse, because games shouldn't rely on outside media for character development and back story. It's one of my most hated things about the series overall. The games atmosphere tries to be serious and deep, but the writing turns it into a B Movie with cheesy dialogue. If they'd kept the same atmosphere in the games as they had in the books, it'd have been a lot more liked, rather than being seen as yet another bro-tastic" shooter.

 

[NoeL]

The main guy from Final Fantasy 12. Can't remember his name, but he was pretty lame. I imagine I'd hate all the other FF leading guys too if I ever played them. Tidas looks like a wank.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

The protagonists from Prototype 1 and 2
nothing made sense character story and gameplay-wise

 

[Canadamus Prime]

So much hate for Kratos. He's an antihero, not a protagonist. ;(

Apparently you don't know what the word "protagonist" means. The protagonist is the main character of the story. He/she can be a hero, villain, anti-hero, or anti-villain. It doesn't matter, as long as he/she is the main character of the story and it's his/her struggles around which the story revolves.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I'm playing Persona 3 for the first time right now (recommended by an Escapist poster, wouldn't you know!) and I don't understand the hate for the main guy. I like him!

I can't think of any protagonist I don't like but the Silent Hill ones (as much as I love the series) could do with freaking out a bit more. Their acceptance of ROADS DISAPPEARING is a little annoying. "Oh, hey, the road is gone and now there's only a bottomless, foreboding hole. Guess I'll go around."

 

[SecondPrize]

Who, in your opinion, was your least favorite person to play as in a video game?
Jeez, who do you think my be the worst protagonist in a game?

I'm tempted to say Joel from Last of Us, just because

Spoiler

of the disgusting ending to the game, what with the lies and selfishness (good ending, hated that it happened)

But I think that my least favorite character I've played in a game would be any character in the original Medal of Honor and Call of Duty games (Before Pacific Assault and Modern Warfare, respectively)
I'm also tempted to say Rochelle from L4D2.

But let's keep this interesting: a player you have played as, not any game character.

Not Frank West from Dead Rising 2. I can't remember his name, but this guy was just an unlikable douche. It didn't help him that I was pissed they took out my photo minigame but even on his own, he sucked. In summary, whatshisnuts: Douche face, douche jacket, douche attitude, douche character. Also, anyone in Dead Island.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

But srsly tho, Minato would have been fine if his character had developed even slightly out of the antisocial loner archetype. Nope, full Dickhead Mode forever. What even is a game revolving around magical friendship powers?

I don't know, I still believe you're being unfair to him. I mean, yeah, Yu is definitely more likable than Minato, no questions here. But, my opinion of Yu fully formed only after Persona 4: Animation that managed to give him some sort of a character. Yu also had his share of possibly dickish answers, but just like Minato, you're never forced to pick it.

You know what really gets me though, the fact that whenever something important happens I.E a party member gets a new Persona by serious character development, it will cut to your main character standing around in his room having nothing to do with it.

Well, this is also just a matter of perspective and overall narrative in games. Persona 3 focused on its characters being more independent or reliant on each other, rather than on their leader. And, I actually liked it more. In Persona 4 none of your teammates, except Teddie, will get their resolve unless you help them, in Persona 3 some event and encouragement from teammate basically forces them to do it! Yukari helped Mitsiru, AKihiko helped Ken, Natsuki helped Fuuka, and everyone helped Aigis.
So stop bashing on Minato god damn you! He's a nice guy and basically Jesus! Although he does LOOK a little douchy, I'll give you that.

Probably Kratos, especially in God of War 3. Completely despicable character with stupid motivation who is basically a teenage boy in a powerful body. URGH!

And the thing is, they could've very well made this work if they simply outright turned him into the villain. I mean, he's basically already fucking up the world and everyone in it. But then the game tries to turn him into this tragic character who releases...*ugh* hope into the world, and Zeus is the real bad guy...

Worst part is the scene where he uses a poor slave girl as a doorstop, who gets brutally crushed to death as a result, which is immediately followed by Kratos being all worried about Pandora. Yeah, my heart bleeds for you, Kratos, you fucking asshole.

Yup, that part was when Kratos dies for me as a character. What gets me in that whole segment is just how fucking unnecessary evil it is! Kratos goes out of his way to drag and protect that innocent girl just to use her as some sort of doorstop! Are you seriously telling me that he couldn't use any of numerous corpses laying around?!

 

[TheRussian]

So much hate for Kratos. He's an antihero, not a protagonist. ;(
-snip-

From Wikipedia:

A protagonist, meaning "one who plays the first part, chief actor") is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, who ends up in conflict because of the antagonist.

You play as Kratos. He is the protagonist. He can be a hero, villain, anti-her, anti-villain, but his repulsive persona just doesn't work for me, and for many other people it seems.

On the subject, I'd probably go with Galen Marek (Starkiller [sub][Seriously, "Starkiller? FFS"][/sub]) from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Everything from his sloppy design to his Marty Sue-esque abilities ruined whatever fun the game could deliver.