Character Relationships

[Vumsy]

Army of Two: Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem. It's allways fun to hear them conversate like gamers, while killing muslim suicide-bombers. ("On the borderline of tasteless..." Said by Yahtzee.)

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

The love-hate relationship that is Banjo and Kazooie. I always was intrigued what the story behind those two was.

I'd also add to your own suggestion of Wanderer and Mono and also suggest Wanderer and Agro

And of course one of the most interesting relationships in video game history, if you ask me: Lady & Killer (Shadow Hearts: To the New World)

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey, they are a great hero and sidekick combination, Phoenix becomes a good friend to Maya after the loss of Mia who was a mentor to him.

I think it's a great relationship because they often have interesting and hilarious conversations where Maya is the silly character and Phoenix the voice of reason. They talk a lot throughout the game making the player feel as though they aren't playing solo, and they both have a strong bond of friendship which isn't a generic fall in love plotline.

Anyway they are one of my favourite duos.

 

[fedpayne]

My, aren't you going to have a fun time with research.

Kyle Katarn's relationship with Jan Ors in Jedi Outcast is the main driving force behind the plot - which is why an above shout of Max Payne and Mona Sax is a good shout, you can talk about all sorts of hardboiled and noir institutions, most predominantly femme fatales and damsels in distress.

 

[Madrak the Red]

I quite like the relationship between the chief and cortana. It's a pretty standard game love-interest thing, but between a gentically engineered cyborg supersoldier an a true AI, which makes it interesting- though you don't really see it until halo 3. Some of the dialogue the have is pretty fun as well-'So, what's the plan' 'Well, I was going to shoot my way out' 'You look nice' 'Thank you'*slightly awkwardly*. I mean, c'mon- a 1.5 ton supersoldier being awkward towards a girl- rather amusing. Though I personally could not relate to this very much, so my observation is purely speculative- read into that what you will.

I now apoligise for this being crap, I kinda lost my train of thought. I think it ended up in Manchester.

I can feel my testicles shrink as I write this. Oh well, ho-hum, it's not like i'm using them a lot. And you know what, I don't really care.

 

[Crunchy English]

Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum and her "Little Sisters" in Bioshock. She is perhaps the only one who TRULY understands the little "monsters" she's created. It's odd that only after she's more or less destroyed these little girls that she feels any affection for them.

Also, as is pointed out in the game. They are NOT her children. She literally took them from their and often from loving parents. But after they are... changed, they become "her children". A strange sort of theft.

EDIT- Gotta say I'm confused that someone brought up Andrew Ryan. He's an interesting enough character seperately, and he does taunt you a bit before his death, but for the majority of your time in rapture he's completely confused or downright wrong about who you are.

By the same token though, Atlas is a great point once you've beaten the game and view it in hindsight.

 

[Aeviv]

Snake and Otacon, because i feel thier relationship builds over the first game and it shows in 2 and 4, and how they are so different and yet so similar

 

[faytmye]

I kinda lost my train of thought. I think it ended up in Manchester.

It's a good thing I currently live in Manchester then

Sorry I cannot respond individually to all of you due to the amount of replies, there has been so many excellent suggestions so far I am really pleased! Thank you all so much for this, I guess I have a lot more games to play (too many as it is).

 

[LewsTherin]

Arthas and Jaina, WC3.....Arthas and any of the other main characters in the Human campaign, really. While on that train of thought, the relationship between Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan was convoluted indeed.

 

[videot76]

Ohh, those are good too. How about Jaheira and Irenicus?

I felt that one did not amount to more than Jaheira vowing to find and kill Irenicus at the start - it is never brought up again, except in general terms - and every character in the party has about the same relationship to him. (i.e. an enemy who must die)
All the Baldur's Gate romances are good though, and if you are writing an essay you should most certainly mention the fan-made expansions that greatly add to them, as it is a very interesting aspect (people liking them so much they spend a lot of time and effort to make them even deeper, and so on. Such things are always good for extra credit.

A high-profile game like GTA IV could also be worth looking at, since it forces you to spend a lot of time cultivating interpersonal relations. Of special note is the relationship between Niko and his cousin Roman - it is very well written, and central to the story.

 

[Jumplion]

The Player and the Game.

Sortof a joke suggestion, but part of the relationship between characters is the relationship between yourself and the characters.

But hey, most of us gamers are cold heartless bastards eh?