Underrated Characters:

[Ordinaryundone]

but Jacob....

Ive played ME2 time and time again, and after all that..It's still "yeah..Im Jcob, used to be aliance but I joined cerberus because they get shit DONE!...Im kind of a nice guy, oh and my dad was distant but Im totally over that so its all good"

seriously..thats all I get from him, I'd be interested to hear your take on it

Well, I like him mostly because of what he represents. Jacob is one of the few "good/Paragon" leaning characters that doesn't support the Alliance, but also doesn't really agree with Cerberus. He's just a good guy who wants to get stuff done but has been forced to choose the greater of two evils to do so. And he does it without playing up the "bad cop" persona like Garrus. He's a good template for why a Paragon Shepard would choose to ally themselves with Cerberus in ME2. And, again, it's nice to see a Paragon human character who isn't allied with or supports the Citadel OR the Alliance. They've already got Anderson, Hackett, Ashely, Kaiden, Udina (kinda...), and even Shepard most of the time. It's nice getting an alternate perspective that isn't colored by an obviously Renegade disposition like The Illusive Man.

Also, his loyalty mission was somewhat unique in that there weren't any shades of grey, which was nice in the Grimdark leaning ME2. You land on that planet expecting there to be some big moral delimma, but nope. Jacob's dad is a complete asshole and deserves his fate. You just have to help him decide whether he wants to keep being the "Good guy in bad circumstances" or let him give in to his surroundings. Thats why Jacob is "over" his dad. They make it very clear that it's not a matter of revenge or closure for him.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I don't know why but I have a soft spots for the Marvel villian turned superheroes Songbird and Mach 6.
Sure they have their own comic (Thunderbolts) and had their own story during those story arc (Dark Reign, Seige and Fear itself etc) but I think they are still minor characters compared to the likes of Spiderman, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor etc.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

I may be in the minority here, but I really liked Roman from GTA IV. Yes, he was annoying. Yes, all he did was complain about things and spend your hard earned money to build up his gambling debts. Still, he was a genuinely sympathetic and insecure character. You could see it in his failing business, his shitty apartment, and his dependent relationship with Brucie. Niko coming to America was probably the best thing that happened to him (at first) since he had first got off the boat. Sure, in the end he gets together with the girl and rebuilds a successful cab company indirectly thanks to Niko, but between that he gets shot, beaten, kidnapped, burned out of his job and home, and pulled into gang wars because of him. Through it all you can see him grow up from whatever mentally regressed baby state you found him in, to the point where's he genuinely horrified by how much of a fucking psycho Niko is. And despite this, he still has the balls to go out of his way to try and show Niko that life in America isn't as bad as it's made out to be and steer him away from the path of revenge and self destruction.

 

[Endersgate1321]

My top two favorite characters Impluse back in the Young Justice days my first comic I ever collected and Morph from the Age of Apocolypse. Both were comic relief I know but I always felt that deep inside they were hurting and alone. Morph from Exiles you get to see some of the strife but also the way that even though they were not the most powerful of the group they did more self sacraficing then anyone else did.

 

[Dedtoo]

I personally like Goregutz 'Eaduhunta.
Some might think of him as a coward, as he has run off when he loses in every game hes been in, but with one of the Ork's mottos, he's a winner waiting to happen.

Ork motto: Orkses is never defeated in battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fighting so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!

 

[runnernda]

I think Repede from Tales of Vesperia is underappreicated. He is a DOG with a PIPE. You cannot get more badass than that.

One of my other favorite characters is also one of the most classically underrated. Luigi. I've always liked him better than Mario, just like I like Daisy better than I like Peach. Mario and Peach are the golden couple, though. Peach is always in another castle, and Mario's always the one who's going to save her.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Nightwing. This man is my favorite character in the DC Universe. I like him even more than Batman. Crazy right?

Not crazy at all. You're right on the mark with Nightwing. He's my favorite DC hero of all time.

For underrated comic characters, I'd go with Spoiler. She's one of the most interesting sidekicks out there.

In anime, Usopp from One piece and Hinata and Shino from Naruto. These characters are awesome but are never given anything to do.

 

[Raika]

Oerba Dia Vanille is one of the most criminally under-appreciated video game characters in history. She is a shockingly intricate, remarkably layered, and disarmingly well-written character who serves as the real focal point of Final Fantasy XIII. People shit on her, though, because she's not a token 'badass' like the substanceless Lightning.

I think we can all agree on Sazh being a pretty cool guy, though.


Oh, also underrated is Duke Nukem. It's not his fault you don't get the joke.

 

[woodaba]

Kreia. Anyone who has played KoTOR II, knows what I'm talking about. One of the most interesting female characters in history, and a subversion fleet for the universe she walks around in.

 

[Yopaz]

Q.
I mean, it's used so often in the English language, but no one appreciates it.
Think about it! Qatar. Quaint. Quidditch. Liquidity. All these words have Qs in it, but we don't appreciate their value!
I demand equal rights for Q!

Pfft, Q is just an O with a dick.

Randy Disher from Monk. He's hilarious and even though nothing ever goes his way he stays positive. He's a funny character even though he's not very important.

 

[krellen]

-Sharon of Rose Cassidy

It's actually Rose of Sharon Cassidy.

 

[ABLb0y]

Vanille from Final Fantasy 13. She is just so awesome!

I mean, she has a staff that shoots razor wire, what's not to love?

 

[DolorousEdd]

Jacob and Ashely from Mass Effect. They are both pretty deep, likeable, and (in Ashely's case) believably flawed characters who unfortunately get completely overlooked because they aren't fan bait or alien.

Ashley, okay, I always appreciated her unexpectedly blunt intolerant comments as a part of characterization, but Jacob is just a filler, someone who does his "job" without attracting much attention, but who also has a little tidbit of "deep feelings" if you care for it...

 

[TilMorrow]

The Horses in chess.
Everyone undervaluates them but they're so awesome.
Striking from the most strange places EVAH!!1!!!

Bishop from chess. Really good backup for cornering others

I see your Horse and Bishop and raise you a Pawn.

They may only be able to move forward two spaces at the start of the game and one for the rest, but that small blockade at the front lines takes all the hits first. And each one have the potential to turn into queens and flip the game.

Kreia. Anyone who has played KoTOR II, knows what I'm talking about. One of the most interesting female characters in history, and a subversion fleet for the universe she walks around in.

She was definitely an interesting character but I found that the Handmaiden and HK47 were better to learn about and talk to. Though that twist at the end was kinda clever.

 

[Shiftygiant]

Probably Flash Thompson. Dude got wounded in Afghanistan and became venom. He was the better spiderman 'cause he was humble with his new look on life!

 

[Diablo2000]

Viola and Leo from Zone of the Enders. But then again Z.O.E. was an underrated game itself. Viola was the game's villain, she wanted to kill the little boy Leo, the main character of the game with a big passion. Not sure about her motives. What made me an impression was the fact that the little boy had developed a relationship of fear and hidden admiration/affection towards his Nemesis, Leo actually never wished to harm Viola, even though he knew her intentions, which all lead to a very touching finale.

Her motives are better explained in that OVA that released along with the first game... Her motives in the beginning of the game are her mission of capturing Jehuty, after that her massive survivor guilt (as explained in the OVA) kicks in and she see in Leo a rival that could have the skill to end her suffering (life), point that she could have killed Leo but prefed to shot his girlfriend instead making him angry enough to persue after her.(By that point Leo had finished "his" mission and has going to back out of all of it.)

 

[Zen Toombs]

Jacob and Ashely from Mass Effect. They are both pretty deep, likeable, and (in Ashely's case) believably flawed characters who unfortunately get completely overlooked because they aren't fan bait or alien.

My thoughts exactly. I am slightly saddened by how it looks like Bioware took Ashley in ME 3, but we'll see what happens on the 6th (Because I'm buying it on launch regardless, like the good little mindslave I am).

 

[C F]

Not enough love for Jolee from KotOR. He's a cool old dude who has his funny moments, he's got hidden wisdom, he's caring, and he really warms up to (Light-side) you. Plus, you can saddle him with whatever powers you want without any sort of cost penalty due to his Consular class and neutral alignment.

 

[darksakul]

I am surprise no one said Luigi from the Super Mario Bros series.
Always overshadowed by his brother, almost never has a self titled game (yes I am aware of Luigi's Mansion).

And almost no one picks Luigi in many multiplayer games

Hell on 2 player mode, everyone fights to be Player 1 (Mario) on the Original Super Mario bros on the NES

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Amarant from final fantasy IX although it is kind of square's fault for not giving him much backstory.

Well... He did have that one moment where he shares his past with Freya Crescent... At least, if you chose to view all the ATEs. Besides, not knowing much about a man's past can really help to make a character more interesting (to steal an example from the nostalgia critic: the Tim Burton Batman was the best Batman, while the Christopher Nolan Joker was the best Joker.)

Incidentally, for this topic, I'm going with Freya Crescent. Truly one of the strongest female characters I've ever seen - and that without over-sexualizing the character (she's an anthropomorphic rat!). Well, her and Beatrix.