Favorite game protagonists

[Vault101]

Commander Shepard. Female version, because she's voiced by Jennifer Hale. Anyone who could live through something like Akuze is a legend in my books.

Strelok

Come on, who else do you know who can run through a screwed up and mutant/military/bandid infested russian countryside, and end up killing a small army worth of brainwashed soldiers, aquiring huge volumes of artifacts and guns along the way, and then shooting up the evil group consciousness thing that has been doing all the brainwashing....

and all he starts off with is himself, a leather jacket, and a shitty 9x18mm pistol...who needs superpowers when you can be russian.

Oh god yes. When it comes to people who start with nothing and can still accomplish anything, Strelok is your man.

Also, his knife. I want his knife. It's made entirely of metal.

Not to go off-topic, but I can only get invested in a romance these days if there's some kind of legit obstacle against it. I don't find two schmucks standing around blushing and stuttering whenever they try to admit their feeling particularly enthralling, nor do I care about the token action movie love interest. But with the way people go around wussifying every other half-decent scenario, incest seems to be the only kind of romance that doesn't make me yawn these days. Mainly because no one has the guts to explicitly state it, so you get more subtlety and emotion.

Play ME2, and instead of romancing Miranda (the token love interest) or Tali (the backup), romance Jack. She's suffered physical and psychological horror, and romancing her is... interesting, to say the least. Do it wrong, and she's gone.

Yeah Kaiden was sweet and all but hes NOTHING compared to Thane, of coarse thane was specifically designed for this

I havnt romanced Garrus yet but I am on this playthrough

Jacob may be human but he's kinda bland,

 

[Shade184]

Not to go off-topic, but I can only get invested in a romance these days if there's some kind of legit obstacle against it. I don't find two schmucks standing around blushing and stuttering whenever they try to admit their feeling particularly enthralling, nor do I care about the token action movie love interest. But with the way people go around wussifying every other half-decent scenario, incest seems to be the only kind of romance that doesn't make me yawn these days. Mainly because no one has the guts to explicitly state it, so you get more subtlety and emotion.

Play ME2, and instead of romancing Miranda (the token love interest) or Tali (the backup), romance Jack. She's suffered physical and psychological horror, and romancing her is... interesting, to say the least. Do it wrong, and she's gone.

Yeah Kaiden was sweet and all but hes NOTHING compared to Thane, of coarse thane was specifically designed for this

I havnt romanced Garrus yet but I am on this playthrough

Jacob may be human but he's kinda bland,

I didn't romance anyone when I was playing FemShep. As I guy, I just found it too weird.

I played a female Shepard just to see the other side of the story. And for the voice. ^_^ In that area, male Shep was pretty bland in terms of quality.

 

[Vault101]

Gordon Freeman. I like that fact he's silent and quite blank. It's so easy to relate to him.

And most of all, the protagonists I've created myself, as that's what I want to do. I'm not a fan of protagonists that have a preset personality and actions they do themselves. Can't relate to them barely at all.

I think thats more to do with the fact that they are often bland action guys
for example Default comander shepard, blander than plain rice, especially when compared to the cast of ME

but (now this isnt for everyone) if you make shepard female and with the better voice acting it makes shepard 100 times more interesting (for me anyway)

although I didnt play assisns creed 2 much I found etzio quite sympathetic where as everyone seems to hate desmond I wonder why? as for altier I don't know why but I liked him for some reason...he was sort of badass in a cool/restrained kind of way

 

[Trolldor]

Kyle Katarn, with his lightsaber of lightsabery goodness.

 

[Shade184]

Kyle Katarn, with his lightsaber of lightsabery goodness.

Oh god, I forgot Katarn! How could I have forgotten Katarn? [http://darth.wikia.com/wiki/God] D:

 

[Vault101]

Not to go off-topic, but I can only get invested in a romance these days if there's some kind of legit obstacle against it. I don't find two schmucks standing around blushing and stuttering whenever they try to admit their feeling particularly enthralling, nor do I care about the token action movie love interest. But with the way people go around wussifying every other half-decent scenario, incest seems to be the only kind of romance that doesn't make me yawn these days. Mainly because no one has the guts to explicitly state it, so you get more subtlety and emotion.

Play ME2, and instead of romancing Miranda (the token love interest) or Tali (the backup), romance Jack. She's suffered physical and psychological horror, and romancing her is... interesting, to say the least. Do it wrong, and she's gone.

Yeah Kaiden was sweet and all but hes NOTHING compared to Thane, of coarse thane was specifically designed for this

I havnt romanced Garrus yet but I am on this playthrough

Jacob may be human but he's kinda bland,

I didn't romance anyone when I was playing FemShep. As I guy, I just found it too weird.

I played a female Shepard just to see the other side of the story. And for the voice. ^_^ Male Shep was pretty bland.

lol fair enough, they were originally going to have gay options, even then you can still get with Liara as femshep (I think, I havnt tried that yet)

if I did play as male shep (I dont think I would, I know Im biased) I would romance jack, because thats the only way you can really "fix" her (My Paragon side, I have to fix everything)

 

[Shade184]

I didn't romance anyone when I was playing FemShep. As I guy, I just found it too weird.

I played a female Shepard just to see the other side of the story. And for the voice. ^_^ Male Shep was pretty bland.

lol fair enough, they were originally going to have gay options, even then you can still get with Liara as femshep (I think, I havnt tried that yet)

if I did play as male shep (I dont think I would, I know Im biased) I would romance jack, because thats the only way you can really "fix" her (My Paragon side, I have to fix everything)

Yeah, I agree with you there. I was going to go after Tali, but I really wanted to help Jack heal.

 

[Rhaff]

J.C (jesus christ?) Denton hands down.

 

[captaincabbage]

How about EVERY character in Team Fortress 2? They're all hilarious and they've all intriguing tidbits of information in each and every part of the game.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes.

I don't know why, I just find him awesome.

 

[Byere]

Agree on Kain and Guybrush from previous posts, but I'm going to have to add a couple too:

George from Suikoden V: Strong-willed, powerful and willing to do anything for his country, even if it meant sacrificing his queen to do so...
Imoen from Baldur's Gate 1+2: While she's very unsure of herself she gains confidence as the game progresses, going from a young and helpless maiden-esque character to a powerful ally and great friend throughout the course of the two games and their add-on packs. Such character development that you rarely see in games nowadays.

 

[octafish]

Cate Archer, Jade, April Ryan these are a few of my favourites. They are just some of the best written characters I have played. Oh and the Nameless One.

 

[Vrex360]

The Arbiter from Halo 2 earns a lot of points for being an interesting character on a journey of discovery about his own faith and for humanizing the Covenant and daring to paint an image that they aren't neccecarily all evil just for being aliens.

Also Raz in Psychonauts because he's very likeable. Lots of personality and quirks combined with real emotional depth and concern for the well being of others, he's a kid most of the times but other times he shows his maturity.

 

[Rkiver]

Kain from Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, and all the follow ons (Soul Reaver et all). He's awesome. "Alas poor Nupraptor, I knew him well. Well....not really."

JC Denton from Deus Ex. I love the way his view changes over the game. sure it's contrived, but it's fun. Also, you know you will now go and install Deus Ex again.

Max Payne. If you need to ask, you need to play the games.

The player character from System Shock 2.

James Raynor from Starcraft series. That man has guts of steel, but a heart too.

Arthas from Warcraft (as in so much as you can play as him, and then even after, up to and including his defeat). A great well thought out story.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Fugitive Panda]

I didn't romance anyone when I was playing FemShep. As I guy, I just found it too weird.

Yeah. I normally play females in games if I have a choice, because I just find it easier to roleplay a character totally different from myself. But when it comes to romance, I freeze up. It's hard to choose a romance when you're not actually romantically interested in anyone, but if you stay solo it just feels like you're missing out on a big part of the game.

Not to mention, I get protective of my female characters, like they're my children. And I look at any potential suitors like snot-nosed teenagers trying to taint my little angel.