Mentally challenged characters in video games.

kissthebottle

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I think it would be cool to see less non-neurotypical folks in games (in a positive light). Because I honestly can't think of many. The only one that really comes to mind quickly is Sandal from Dragon Age. And I guess to an extent also Bartrand if you don't end up killing him.

Also not sure if you're talking specifically characters who are mentally handicapped or any type of mental disorder because I can think of plenty of characters who would fall under the realms of having PTSD or are sociopaths.

Like I RP my main Shepard in Mass Effect as having PTSD from Akuze and such (because I relate to struggling with past trauma), but I don't think it really counts if a character is written as such.
 

Gdek

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I think we can agree that NPCs you have to escort tend to be on the mentally challenged side.
 

Ironman126

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Higgs303 said:
Enchantment! A rather tasteless gag by Bioware when viewed under a certain light.
I was going to jokingly say Alistair, but I had forgotten about Sandal. I'm not entirely convinced he's a running gag, but the way he keeps showing up does make me wonder. That said, there's lore as to what might have caused his rather obvious impairment and he does sort of become a mage in DA2. Sort of.
 

kissthebottle

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Ironman126 said:
Higgs303 said:
Enchantment! A rather tasteless gag by Bioware when viewed under a certain light.
I was going to jokingly say Alistair, but I had forgotten about Sandal. I'm not entirely convinced he's a running gag, but the way he keeps showing up does make me wonder. That said, there's lore as to what might have caused his rather obvious impairment and he does sort of become a mage in DA2. Sort of.
I feel like this is why I was super disappointed he and Bodhan didn't show up in Inquisition. I really want to know more about Sandal's origins and how he came to be a magical savant since dwarves aren't in theory supposed to be able to be mages or have magic. I love that usually near the end of both games you find him in a room full of felled enemies and how capable he truly is.
 

KingOfGreyfell

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I think Andy from Advance Wars qualifies. Kid needs to be told what an airport is.
Actually, let's add whoever added that idiot to the command structure to the list.
 

Ironman126

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kissthebottle said:
I feel like this is why I was super disappointed he and Bodhan didn't show up in Inquisition. I really want to know more about Sandal's origins and how he came to be a magical savant since dwarves aren't in theory supposed to be able to be mages or have magic. I love that usually near the end of both games you find him in a room full of felled enemies and how capable he truly is.
He does that in DA:O as well? I've played that game like... several times and I've never seen him anywhere except in the camp (and on the road when you first meet).
 

kissthebottle

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Ironman126 said:
kissthebottle said:
I feel like this is why I was super disappointed he and Bodhan didn't show up in Inquisition. I really want to know more about Sandal's origins and how he came to be a magical savant since dwarves aren't in theory supposed to be able to be mages or have magic. I love that usually near the end of both games you find him in a room full of felled enemies and how capable he truly is.
He does that in DA:O as well? I've played that game like... several times and I've never seen him anywhere except in the camp (and on the road when you first meet).
Yeah, at the very end of the game inside Fort Drakon. Like right before you go out to battle the Archdemon, you have one last chance to buy/sell things to Sandal:
 

ObserverStatus

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I suppose you could call Christine Royce from Fallout: New Vegas mentally challenged. She did have a brain injury which prevented her from reading and writing.
 

Virtual Boy

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TheMigrantSoldier said:
Isn't it hinted that Chell is mentally challenged by the time of Portal 2? I mean jump and speak are not too related as functions.

Unless I read it wrong.
I think it was more of a joke about the effects of her being in cryostasis for an extended period of time. I remember the explanation about her not talking was that she didn't want to give GLADoS the satisfaction of hearing her complain.
 

Eddie the head

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ObserverStatus said:
I suppose you could call Christine Royce from Fallout: New Vegas mentally challenged. She did have a brain injury which prevented her from reading and writing.
On that note God/Dog. Even if you don't want to count multiple personality's. Dog is played very sympathetically. He just doesn't understand that God is there to help him.
 

Ihateregistering1

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I'll have to nominate Sheva Alomar from RE5. Anyone who has 100 rounds of Sniper Rifle ammo, but chooses to use her pistol to shoot at bad guys who are 300 meters away, is definitely mentally challenged.
 

ProtoChimp

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The only ones I can think of that haven't been mentioned so far are the people in the insane asylum in Indigo Prophecy, which is the most offensive representation of mentally challenged people I've ever seen in a game. David Cage really doesn't like people with mental issues.

Sorry does mentally challenged also mean mentally handicapped? I mean the ones in Indigo Prophecy act like the biggest fucking stereotype/unrealistic characters ever so *falls through soapbox*

Ow.
 

CaitSeith

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Wasn't Duke Nukem mentally challenged? That's how Yahtzee described him...
[video=3581]
 

TheMigrantSoldier

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Virtual Boy said:
TheMigrantSoldier said:
Isn't it hinted that Chell is mentally challenged by the time of Portal 2? I mean jump and speak are not too related as functions.

Unless I read it wrong.
I think it was more of a joke about the effects of her being in cryostasis for an extended period of time. I remember the explanation about her not talking was that she didn't want to give GLADoS the satisfaction of hearing her complain.
Makes sense. Did the explanation come from Valve?
 

MrFalconfly

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Does it matter if the game is a bit retro?

Because I'm fairly certain that "mentally challenged" would describe a certain Bandicoot to a tee.



Or if that's a bit too retro, then there's always this guy in Rayman Origins.

 

Gearhead mk2

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I think "mentally challenged" in this case means characters that have some sort of damage or disability or neurodiversity, not ones that are insane. If we are talking about insane guys, I nominate basically everyone from Spec Ops The Line.

On the neurodiverse side, there's Sarah from The Walking Dead. I have mild autism myself, so I felt she was handled well and could understand her point of view even when she was difficult. I also remember Ted from Dead Rising 2. He's one of the minibosses, but he seems like a nice guy and the only reason he fights you is because your character accidentally says something he finds pretty offensive. I felt really bad that I had to fight him.
 

BarryMcCociner

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Zhukov said:
Well, in the old Fallout games you could...

Oh.

God damnit.

The only other example that comes to mind is Sandal from the Dragon Age games. ("Enchantment!") Honestly though, I always found him a bit painful. If he was intended to be funny then, well... I certainly didn't get the joke. Likewise if he was meant to be endearing.
Sandal is probably the closest you'll get to an autistic savant in fantasy games. The most common type of autistic savant is a calandrical savant, also known as "human calendars", they can calculate days, weeks and months with extreme speed and precision because their minds aren't as stuck in a base 10 number system as most people. There's other types, savants can display incredible musical, mathematical, artistic and spatial skill. Sandal just happens to display extreme enchanting skill.