Poll: Do you ever feel sorry for a protagonist?

[Hectix777]

When I say it, it's not in the sense of," Ah man, this game sucks but I like the main dude, kinda sucks that he's stuck in his crap game/anime/cartoon/manga/comic," I mean it as in," Oh my God! He really does this stuff!? Wow, being him sucks!" Like to where it's basically sucks out loud to be that guy. I know we all have that one guy we want to be because he's awesome, whether it's someone like Aragorn or Travis Touchdown and we all have our little plans on how we would do it differently from what they did, but we all have that one main character that we would just hate to be. For me it's the main character from Bioshock (I call him Jack Nealson, seems like a real late '50's kinda name). As if being stuck underwater in a sea city with mutants, robots, and big daddy's isn't bad enough, the plasmids have got to suck worst of all! It's not like magic where it forms at the hand than leaves it so you don't feel a thing, the plasmid develops inside his own flesh! That bee power up plasmid doesn't just make a swarm appear from nowhere, they hatch and evolve inside his skin. Plus, have you seen the size of the needles on the EVE Hypos? Those things have to hurt like a ***** when he injects himself. And the whole time we don't even know his name, we just remember,"would you kindly," and whatever the religious splicer sings(I'm sure there's more I don't know about). Runner-up goes to everyone's favorite non-space marine space marine, Alcatraz. As if getting blown-up by aliens is bad but losing the ability to speak, becoming bonded to the suit because it's life, and being forced to interact with the alien plague to make a cure is just pouring salt on the wounds. What's worse is that he can't tell anybody that he's a US Marine and not Prophet so they can stop shooting him and let him help people.

So who do you feel sorry for and why? Regardless of game, comic, anime, etc.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

Luigi, poor guy, stuck in between his show-boading brother and a dumb blonde he occasionally has to save when Mario isn't bothered, Everyone cheers on Mario but Luigi is left to pick up the pieces eg getting green stars in Galaxy 2

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I feel really, really bad for Sazh from FF13.

Spoiler

Losing your wife...and then losing your son to moment you meet him again

I also feel terrible for Good Cole in inFamous 2. He's villainized by a lot of the people he's trying to help.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Roxas instantly sprang to mind. Robbed of his emotions, his friends, HIS FUCKING BREIF, DEPRESSING LIFE, just to restore a ponce to life, and barely mentioned again. Oh, until he got his own game where he was robbed of his emotions, his friends, HIS FUCKING... you get the idea.

 

[Hectix777]

I feel really, really bad for Sazh from FF13.

Spoiler

Losing your wife...and then losing your son to moment you meet him again

I also feel terrible for Good Cole in inFamous 2. He's villainized by a lot of the people he's trying to help.

Look on the bright side, he becomes a saint in the end. To me, that's probably the highest reward a video game protagonist could earn, yeah Kratos became a god but all he had to do was kill the last guy. Cole actually did a lot of good and earned the title of Saint, St.Cole MacGrath. That's probably the highest honor I've seen a protagonist earn! Plus he's not dead, remember that bolt of lighting that hit the freighter in the ending and how John (aka the Beast) said a truly powerful Conduit can bring themselves back to life? That bolt could be Cole's defibrillator, he could go from Patron Saint of New Marais to Patron Saint of Conduits.

BTW:

Spoiler

Conduits can still be alive, the generation of Conduits that were alive when Cole activated the RFI may have died but the gene still exists. It's like
X-Men rules, the parents aren't mutants but the kids are. It's like CC=non-Conduit, cc=Conduit, Cc=non-Conduit majority. There could still be Cc Conduit carriers in the world, maybe Zeke is Cc and finds a girl thats Cc and give birth to a boy that is a Conduit, and name him Cole.

 

[EvilPicnic]

*sniff*

*sniff*

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I feel really, really bad for Sazh from FF13.

Spoiler

Losing your wife...and then losing your son to moment you meet him again

I also feel terrible for Good Cole in inFamous 2. He's villainized by a lot of the people he's trying to help.

Spoiler

Look on the bright side, he becomes a saint in the end. To me, that's probably the highest reward a video game protagonist could earn, yeah Kratos became a god but all he had to do was kill the last guy. Cole actually did a lot of good and earned the title of Saint, St.Cole MacGrath. That's probably the highest honor I've seen a protagonist earn! Plus he's not dead, remember that bolt of lighting that hit the freighter in the ending and how John (aka the Beast) said a truly powerful Conduit can bring themselves back to life? That bolt could be Cole's defibrillator, he could go from Patron Saint of New Marais to Patron Saint of Conduits.

BTW: Conduits can still be alive, the generation of Conduits that were alive when Cole activated the RFI may have died but the gene still exists. It's like
X-Men rules, the parents aren't mutants but the kids are. It's like CC=non-Conduit, cc=Conduit, Cc=non-Conduit majority. There could still be Cc Conduit carriers in the world, maybe Zeke is Cc and finds a girl thats Cc and give birth to a boy that is a Conduit, and name him Cole.

Spoiler tags. USE THEM.

I highly recommend editing them into your post.

 

[Hectix777]

I feel really, really bad for Sazh from FF13.

Spoiler

Losing your wife...and then losing your son to moment you meet him again

I also feel terrible for Good Cole in inFamous 2. He's villainized by a lot of the people he's trying to help.

Spoiler

Look on the bright side, he becomes a saint in the end. To me, that's probably the highest reward a video game protagonist could earn, yeah Kratos became a god but all he had to do was kill the last guy. Cole actually did a lot of good and earned the title of Saint, St.Cole MacGrath. That's probably the highest honor I've seen a protagonist earn! Plus he's not dead, remember that bolt of lighting that hit the freighter in the ending and how John (aka the Beast) said a truly powerful Conduit can bring themselves back to life? That bolt could be Cole's defibrillator, he could go from Patron Saint of New Marais to Patron Saint of Conduits.

BTW: Conduits can still be alive, the generation of Conduits that were alive when Cole activated the RFI may have died but the gene still exists. It's like
X-Men rules, the parents aren't mutants but the kids are. It's like CC=non-Conduit, cc=Conduit, Cc=non-Conduit majority. There could still be Cc Conduit carriers in the world, maybe Zeke is Cc and finds a girl thats Cc and give birth to a boy that is a Conduit, and name him Cole.

Spoiler tags. USE THEM.

I highly recommend editing them into your post.

Got it editing now

 

[gibboss28]

I feel really, really bad for Sazh from FF13.

Spoiler

Losing your wife...and then losing your son to moment you meet him again

I also feel terrible for Good Cole in inFamous 2. He's villainized by a lot of the people he's trying to help.

Regarding Sazh

Spoiler

and then finding out that the person who caused you to lose your son is essentially the person travelling with you, I really wanted him to shoot Vanille after that one.

 

[squidbuddy99]

Spoiler: Red Dead Redemption spoilers

Rest in peace, John Marston, whose only sin was in trying to redeem himself in a world that didn't care (also, murder). You were shot in the back, helped overthrow the Mexican government, got mauled/trampled by cougars/coyotes/wolves/bobcats/bears/buffalo/wild pigs/zombies, and killed your friends and father figure just so you could get the chance to repent for your past and live a normal life with your long-lost son and smokin' hot, ex-whore wife. And for your troubles, you were shot in cold blood by the very men who forced you out into the world. Goodnight, sweet prince.

On that note, fuck you, Edgar Ross.

 

[thegirlwiththesoap]

I teared up during the last Christina memory in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Scratch that. I cried deeply.

 

[grimhammer]

Isaac Clarke from Dead Space, the first one.

Welcome to the ship Murphy's Law.
"Hey isaac, could you go around and fix EVERYTHING THAT EVER EXISTED? We'll be here safe and sound in locked rooms."

The reason he doesn't say anything in the first game is that he's so filled with rage at these spoiled lazy bastards he's unable to form words.

 

[Woodsey]

Games: The Prince from SoT. I remember finishing it, coming away, and 5 minutes later I was practically in tears I felt so sorry for him. The ending presents itself as somewhat positive, but when you think about it, and what he has to give up... fuck.

TV: Every character on Lost pretty much. Especially Jack (and Desmond, and Locke, and Richard, and Ben, and ALL OF THEM), and especially after this bit:


Film: Sam from Moon comes to mind. The entire film is a superb metaphor for loneliness (especially for men I think), and there's a few scenes that are heartbreaking.

Its funny, I cry like a ***** at a fair amount of media (especially Lost - I could never watch it with anyone!), but in real life I can't even remember the last thing I cried at. Well, I say a fair amount, I mean in comparison to not crying at all at anything in life.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I know a lot of Escapist would rather gargle lemon-soaked, salt-covered razor blades then play Warcraft/W.o.W (I don't even play anymore), but I always felt badly for Arthas Menethil (edit: I know a lot of people consider him the antagonist. But I don't - and I'll basically explain why in this TL;DR post.) Especially after I read the novel based around his birth, childhood, teens, and eventually becoming the,

Spoiler: Lich King

Ever since he came into contact with Kel'Thuzad, he was just a pawn who was easily played because of his emotions and want to serve and protect his people. He really felt he had no other choice when he picked up Frostmourne. He was driven' nearly mad with the thought of his people turning into walking-corpses and in the pursuit of the sword, itself. Which made him an even easier target to manipulate. By the time W.o.W players managed to reach Northrend and begin the final assault on Icecrown Citadel, we became aware that Arthas wasn't actually Arthas (though if anyone had really been paying attention - they would have known that already), and he hadn't been for a very long time. As soon as his hand touched the hilt of Frostmourne, he was only a vessel for Ner'zhul.

But the last scene (which I was able to witness personally because my guild kicked his ass *cough*) , shows that Arthas was aware, even if only just. A part of him was still buried deep inside the vessel being used by Ner'zhul - he just didn't have any control. It also revealed that there will always be a Lich King, like some terrible cycle (which Highlord Bolvar Fordragon [of Angrathar the Wrathgate] took willingly in hopes to disguise to everyone what really happened to him when his body was burned by the Red Dragon Fire and then tortured by Ner'zhul). Really, Arthas made a very big sacrifice for not just Lordaeron, but the whole of Azeroth by becoming something that 'needs' to be; even if he was only aware of his being apart of it when it was already too late.

Spoiler: Cinematic

I'm just going to go geek it up over here for awhile after this post. lol *sits in corner*

 

[Mr Shrike]

The only guy I really felt sorry for was John Marston in Red Dead Redemption.

He just got fucked around so much... and for what end?

I cried so hard at the end of that game. Really need to get around to replaying it some day.

 

[DrStupid87]

The only guy I really felt sorry for was John Marston in Red Dead Redemption.

He just got fucked around so much... and for what end?

I cried so hard at the end of that game. Really need to get around to replaying it some day.

That ending would have been much better if he...

Spoiler

hadn't walked out to ultra-death. Why not stay behind the barn door and toss dynamite into the massive clusterfuck of a deathsquad?

...That'd be an instant and satisfying ending.

As for other protagonists, never really felt that bad for them. I did however have my heartstrings pulled by the Mass Effect 1 side quest "I Remember Me". You know, the one where you have to...

Spoiler

talk down Talitha, a recently freed slave girl who's lost her marbles after years of slaver torture. Talking her out of suicide

...actually sold ME1 a hell of a lot better for me.

 

[Hectix777]

*sniff*

*sniff*

Dunno who to feel sorry for, Klonoa or the birdguy

 

[Javarock]

I do and for link, He does all this crap beacuse he's randomly dragged into for a lame excuse for a reason... And receives nothing. The most I saw him receive was a kiss, No gold, No house.... Nothing...