can a character be too powerful to be a game protagonist?

[Reishadowen]

Having watched xmen first class this week and seeing how incredibly badass magneto is I was thinking about the possibility of a magneto game but my thought is that he's just too powerful. Sure it would be fun killing soldiers with their own guns and crushing enemies in rolls of barbed-wire but as a game it would be far too easy. I felt the same with force unleashed, with that level of force powers you were just too powerful for the game to be a challenge

Do you think its possible to have a character TOO powerful or is it just a case of devs not being imaginative with different enemies and challenges

Well, it really isn't as much about how powerful the protagonist is in relation to the rest of the world, it's more about how powerful they are, in relation to the obstacles before them. Let's take Superman for example. Invincible as all f*ck, but yet is charged with the duty of protecting people and saving the day. Even without the element of Kryptonite thrown into the picture, and as strong as superman is, the story could have too many people to save or be set-up in a situation where super-speed and strength just will not solve the problem.

Now, I haven't seen the movie X-men first class, but say Magneto was overpowered: What kind of obstacles does he have to face? Maybe the obstacle the protagonist needs to deal with isn't crushing an army with their own guns. I'm failing (epically) to think of any good examples right now, but not every problem can be solved by wailing on it until it's HP falls to zero.

Also, taking note of Yahtzee's notion, you could also start out with a godly powerful character, then make them "level down" as the plot progresses. (Gah, I don't do it justice. Click here and read for yourself. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8661-Extra-Punctuation-What-if-We-Leveled-Backwards )

 

[Demonicdan]

As long as you limit the amount of metal objects in "difficult" levels and have telekenetic mutants as enemies it wouldn't be too easy. Being overpowered depends on the strength of the enemies in comparisson to yours.

If theres no metal objects, he'll just rip the metal from inside you out. Like in the film.

I beleive that was because he had all that extra iron from the tablets, it probably wouldn't work that well normally.

 

[Legion IV]

Devil May Cry. End thread.

Dante killed our equivilent to satan in the first game!. Yet The devil ay cry series is incredibly difficult and i love it

 

[Amondren]

No but if they were powerful enough it could be a challenge (Dr. Manhattan).

 

[cydvis]

If the character is too powerfull even for a geek's common sense, the devs just need to add some rules to limit/control that power.

Exemple:
- thoses wall you cannot put a portal on in Portals games
- make that time mechanics in sands of time require some sand to work
- in Outland, make those enemy randomly change their color to make them harder to kill
- in Castlevania: symphony of the night, make the game more about exploration than fighting stuff (Alucard is over-powered as soon as you learn soul steal). In that case the stuff you have to kill is more of an obstacle in your way than a goal in your quest.