Unlikeable Lead characters

[Maeta]

Sonic... forever Sonic... and Mario...
Then going with how I played them, my first Oblivion character simply cos I was weak and consoled stuff in... I feel bad for that... then one time Cole from Gun because I killed 4 times as many innocents as bad guys...
Vince from Vice City Stories as well... I played this after LCS, with very little gap, and overall I found LCS the better game despite all the new stuff added to VCS like the helis and swimming and blah because there were more issues, but also because I couldn't stand anyone in VCS. Vince compared to Toni should have worked for the former, but I liked the sort of power hungry edge to Toni as it made for a cooler story than Vinces... And I've rambled too much for disliking a character slightly more than another, when I didn't really hate him...
So for the one I'd say I truly despise it would be Harry Potter in any of the Harry Potter games. Don't judge me for playing them: we bought 3 and 4 as a joke when they were dead cheap and we'd basically completed, got bored of or broken all the games in our house... only to realise that the games had got worse since the first one (which I completed while I was off school seriously ill for about a month when I was like 13 (so 8 or so years ago)). Playing 3 and 4 more recently just out of curiosity, Harry (and the other 2) control so badly, and jumping or just falling over depend on the camera angle, which is call enough to hate them, but then the v/os are badly done and annoying, they spout the same crap every 4 seconds, and the 'customisation' was basically irrelevant and irritating... Plus I didn't like Harry in the books, so it made it worse... And then to rag on the game a bit more, on top of the character that I so detest, I can't stand Stephen Fry and his patronising voice, especially since this nature programme on at 9pm where he narrated it as if he was doing the show for 3 year olds.... gah I've gone insane because I needed to deviate away from the 2 lines of dialogue Hermione, Ron and Harry drone at you in Prisoner of Azkaban...
then again, Sonic's taunt of 'you're too slow' grated when my housemate always used him on SSBB and always spammed the taunt... so Sonic and Harry Potter can both burn...

 

[Dorian6]

Final Fantasy X. So much. I don't think there are any characters in the game I like less than him. An arrogant whiny idiot with a nasal voice. Bwuh!

And he looks like Meg Ryan

 

[Slash Dementia]

Final Fantasy 7's Squall. He's just so annoying that just having him in the game makes me not want to really play it. I guess the other characters in the game aren't any better either.

You do realize Squall is from Final Fantasy 8 right? Cloud is Final Fantasy 7's protagonist.

Now I do--thank you. I always get confused because I hardly pay attention to what number it is.

 

[Aircross]

We saw FF XII through Vaan's point of view, but he and Penelo were just tag-along kids that had very little to do with the story. Hell, the game could have gone on perfectly without them.

 

[Dorian6]

Raiden from MGS2. Prissy teen and nowhere near as as cool as Snake. Snake fights an army of Metal Gear Rays and Raiden fights one man in a rooftop. At least in later games he becomes a cyborg ninja though.

Um...no Raiden is the one who fights the Metal Gears while Snake stayed behind to fight Fortune.

 

[TheDarkestDerp]

Every FF. Except the VIII, i hated everyone there.

Exactly, agreed entirely. FF has long had a controlling share of the market when it comes to flakey, confused or just plain uninteresting lead characters with a much better defined supporting cast.

To further, in Disgaea 3, I was almost certain if I heard Mao say "honor student" or "delinquent" one more time, I'd shoot my TV. On that merit alone, Mr Champloo was far more enjoyable to listen to. Plus, Champloo was insane.

Lara Croft has always been as interesting to me as peat moss...

As much as the series is told from the P.O.V. of whichever character is selected, the Street Fighter games have always centered around Ryo of the Uppercut family, and he is BORING as fuck-all. The generic "wandering warrior" archetype, no real personality or character to him, just the drive to compete. Any othe character in the games, even Oro, is more interesting.

 

[Genericjim101]

I gotta say that every iteration of Hawke in Dragon Age II is completely unlikable. At least without a voice, there was some ambiguity in the delivery and I could make it up as I went.

I would also add Shepard to that list, parcticularly because in ME2 (s)he is such a giant tool for clearly evil incompetent assholes that I hated my own character. The lack of obvious resolution choices and decisions leaves only 2 canon versiosn of the character, both of which can't think for her/himself and can only wholeheartedly agree with intergalactic terrorists or act dickish toward them but still do everything they ask.

Ah yes, THAT problem with Mass Effect 2... If I'm honest Cerberus should have had next to no hold on you after a few missions since "We resurrected you" as leverage should only get them so far.

Off Topic: Is it ever explained why Cerberus knows about the Reapers but basically nobody else does?

Yes it is but on supporting material like the books and comics. Lets just say the Illusive man got those eyes after dicking around with Reaper tech and had a Shep like vision.

 

[Images]

Without a doubt its Marcus Fenix. I couldn't even push myself to finish any of the games just because the entire cast are complete tools. I started siding with the bugs! It just ruined the entire game for me. They're not even brooding, or hardened, just dicks! Every line is "Grr! Arg! Kill!". Shit, I know its a war game but FFS! SHOW SOME EMOTION! It doesn't make you a pussy to sound like you give a damn.

Most recently though Sam B in Dead Island is a very close contender. The only saving grace he has is that "Who Do You Voodoo *****!" is quite a catchy (but still terrible) track.

 

[Bradeck]

But to really answer your question, most of the people who are saying that Nathan Drake is unlikable are really only saying so because Yahtzee said it in his review. People really like to parrot that guy.

This. A thousand times. People like to hate on Drake because they are hipsters. Drake is the modern day Indiana Jones. Seriously, aside from a whip and fedora, they have almost the exact same mannerisms. Well, Indy was a bit of a womanizer in ToD, but whatever.

Drake is a mass murderer? And other game leads aren't? Name me one shooter game where the main protagonist doesn't rack up at least 100+ kills. "But Drake does it while joking! He's insensitive! WAAAAAAA" Oh boo fucking hoo. Get off the Nancy Train Susie.

And finally, people choose to belittle Drake because Drake is cool, and this flies in the face with nerd culture. Nerds inherently cannot identify with Smart/sexy male leads, who visit exotic locations and rescue beautiful women. Unless they are wearing POWER ARMOR and wielding the sword of Dragonmar!

Drake needs to appear on Archer, and they can team up. That would be awesome.

 

[rohansoldier]

Unlike most people it would seem, I actually like Marcus Fenix. He might not show much emotion, but he seems to take the weight of saving humanity on his shoulders and is able to bear it. That kind of pressure takes its toll a man but thats what makes him a hero.

OK, so I might be reading too much into this but I am a Gears fanatic ok?

 

[Maeta]

This. A thousand times. People like to hate on Drake because they are hipsters. Drake is the modern day Indiana Jones. Seriously, aside from a whip and fedora, they have almost the exact same mannerisms. Well, Indy was a bit of a womanizer in ToD, but whatever.

I always found Indy as likeable as ebola... truly, I despised those films.
Thing is, I haven't played Uncharted, and yes my view of Drake has been tainted by Yahtzee ragging on him, but not enough to make a definitive dislike that would stop me from ever playing the games (I can't afford them) or whatever, but now you back up the whole Indiana Jones comparison, I can see why people hate him...

Drake needs to appear on Archer, and they can team up. That would be awesome.

I think that would be a bit weird, largely due to the differing graphical representations... that and Archer is utterly peerless, and the lack of sorta relationship decay with Lana if he was paired up with Drake instead, it would make it a bit eh...

 

[TastyCarcass]

Doctor House.

Seriously, after that last season, sheesh

 

[Saris Kai]

So my question is this, have you ever played a game where you end up liking a supporting character more than the lead?

Mass Effect. I really can't stand Commander Sheppard with his poor acting skills and dead flat voice. I'd rather control any other NPC from his crew. :|

Looks like someone played male Shepard for no conceivably valid reason.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

Vito Scaletta from Mafia II. He's utterly dull and unlikeable compared to Thomas Angelo (the protagonist in the first game). His motivations for his actions are either frivolous or glossed over entirely. Just got back from the war? Get into organized crime! Why? Because regular work is for suckers. What's that? You got arrested and imprisoned for years after working with some guy you barely know, and only just got out of the joint? Work with him again!

He's not the only one. I can't say I found any of the characters in that game very interesting.

 

[Raika]

Japanese games seem to love making terrible protagonists, but the king and queen of "no appeal whatsoever" are The World Ends with You's Neku Sakuraba and Bayonetta's titular anti-heroine. Granted, there was no redeeming value in The World Ends with You as a whole, but Neku was the real icing on the piss-cake. Bayonetta at least softened the blow by having a slightly-above-average combat system. I mean, yeah, Devil May Cry and God of War are much better, but still.

 

[Febel]

Oh Nathan Drake, your gameplay is so good but you're such an unlikeable prick that I want to punch in the face for no readily discernable reason. I feel so conflicted.

 

[XMark]

I guess they've been mentioned already, but Kane and Lynch. Particularly in the second game. Through the whole second half of Dog Days the only thing that's really at stake is the lives of these two assholes with absolutely zero redeeming qualities.

 

[Matrixbeast]

I'd say Sonic, but I fucking hate everyone in those games (The only character I tolerate, Metal Sonic, never fucking shows up anymore either)

So, I'm gonna say...Kratos.

 

[Mallefunction]

Pretty much all the JRPGS I've ever played had horrible leads and supporting casts.

I admit that looking back on it now, I really didn't like Altair from the first AC. Even if he 'apologized', his voice acting was so wooden that it almost felt like it was sarcastic. I hated him anyway for being a dumb twat and then of course the sheer arrogance. I think Desmond counts as well for this. He's dumb, he's boring, he's annoying, and he just sucks every time I have to play as him.

Shepard in Mass Effect was also annoying or at least the male Shepard was. Hawke I didn't mind as much but that was probably because I avoided the 'witty/snarky' responses like the plague.

 

[Mallefunction]

Also Kratos of God of War. Pointlessly violent. Macho. Annoying.

Kratos Macho?

Really?

He never brags about how powerful he is. He never tries to act tough to gain respect or whatever.

Yeah he's excessively violent, not because he's showing off but because he's an unstable man filled with hate and rage.

This is pretty much how I always saw him. I understand people not liking him because he's a murdering monster, but arrogant or macho? Not really...