Game protagonists who show weakness

[redmoretrout]

I cannot think of a single protagonist in a videogame who shows weakness, which may be one the primary reasons why games tend to be terrible at character and plot development. The lack of a interesting and believable protagonist will hold back any story no matter how good.


My theory suggests that in an attempt to my the player feel empowered, game designers have severly inhabited there protagonists from acting like people with faults and weaknesses.


Can you name a game protagonist who has weaknesses and contradict my theory?

 

[Erttheking]

Crysis 2 had Alcatraz show weakness at several times throughout the plot, mainly because, as Yahtzee put it "he's basically a collection of beef stew, and the suit is a combination of wheelchair and iron lung and is the only reason that he's still vertical" For pete's sake, you even have to use an automated defribulator on him after a helicopter crash, and when you're suit runs out of power, you're basically screwed, you can even run back to cover.

 

[hazabaza1]

...Dark Souls?
Dunno if that counts.
There's Alcatraz, as mentioned above, and lots of JRPGs have "supposed to lose battles" near the start of the game. There also seems to be a trend of games having a sequence where the protagonist gets all fucked up and bloody and has to basically drag him/her (probably him)self across to victory or something similar. But then this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.392341-Games-that-devolved-into-absurdity#15816968] (spoilers for Sleeping Dogs) tends to happen and any feeling of weakness gets yanked away rather suddenly.

 

[ChupathingyX]

You mustn't play many games if you can't think of a single one.

In Crash Twinsanity Crash's stupidity and recklessness leads to many screw ups (though it does saves him sometimes[footnote]Much to Cortex's annoyance of course[/footnote]). Cortex, the deuteragonist, also has plenty of weaknesses.

 

[The Madman]

The Longest Journey with April Ryan.

'The Exile' (Player character!) in Knights of the Old Republic 2.

'The Nameless One' in Planescape: Torment, hell the entire games plot is based around his weakness in a way.

There are plenty of games which feature a protagonist showing weakness, it's just generally not a primary character trait. For example in Mass Effect 3 it's possible to play Shepard just breaking down mentally and taking it out on Joker. It's not central to the plot and players can even ignore it or not have it happen, but it's a possibility and I liked that the game gave me that option.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I cannot think of a single protagonist in a videogame who shows weakness, which may be one the primary reasons why games tend to be terrible at character and plot development. The lack of a interesting and believable protagonist will hold back any story no matter how good.


My theory suggests that in an attempt to my the player feel empowered, game designers have severly inhabited there protagonists from acting like people with faults and weaknesses.


Can you name a game protagonist who has weaknesses and contradict my theory?

Fei Fong Wong (Xenogears), Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII), Ashley Riot (Vagrant Story), Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics), Denam Pavel (Tactics Ogre), Lenneth Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile), Dante and Nero (Devil May Cry), Ragna the Bloodedge and Noel Vermillion (Blazblue), Aya Brea (Parasite Eve), Samus Aran (Metroid), etc. Common element between these: they're all from Japan. I might be able to pull one or two from Western devs, but most of them are just wish fulfillment dolls. This is why I've never bought that the West writes better stories because they RARELY try to write protagonists as a character and not some ego trip for the player.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Uhhh, there's a bit an hour or two into Persona 4 where the MC gets bitten by Teddie and you can make him almost cry over it. I have to pick it every single time because Chie's reaction is so goshdarn cute :3

The ending of Dragonage 2 is weakness on Hawke's part all the way through. Say what you want about DA2 but the ending is so amazing people misunderstand it and slam Bioware for lack of choice... That's the point you blithering idiot! It's to show that for all Hawke's combat prowess and silver tonged words s/he still can't stop her own city from falling into ruin.

It's all done through gameplay as well, that's the genius of it. No matter which way you go, no matter how many dialogue speech checks you pass you end up exactly where you started. With Mages and Templars about to throwdown spectacularly.

The Ace Attorney games frequently have the main character (usually Phoenix) have somewhat of a breakdown almost every trial.

 

[skywolfblue]

- Alan Wake (Pretentious writer who has a tendency to snap at his wife)

- Shepard (Suffering from "the child he/she can't save", snaps at some of the crew, etc)

- Issac Clarke (He's progressively going more and more insane, haunted by the vision of his dead girlfriend)

- Ezio (Brotherhood -> Cristina Memories, Revelations -> He kills the wrong guy)

- Starcraft 2 (Jimmy is a nasty drunk at times)

Plenty of games with flawed protagonists.

 

[redmoretrout]

For example in Mass Effect 3 it's possible to play Shepard just breaking down mentally and taking it out on Joker. It's not central to the plot and players can even ignore it or not have it happen, but it's a possibility and I liked that the game gave me that option.

Are you sure the developers intended there to be an option where Shepard has a nervous breakdown and takes it out on Joker? Are you sure you didnt come up with that yourself and impose it on vague dialogue options meant to cover a wide array of emotions and reactions? I think you are giving this writer far too much credit.

I think it is far more likely that the writer intended you feel empowered (not weakness) when you are able to give a lesser crew member (who arguably caused the player's death in part 2) shit.

 

[The Madman]

Are you sure the developers intended there to be an option where Shepard has a nervous breakdown and takes it out on Joker? Are you sure you didnt come on with that yourself and impose it on vague dialogue options meant to cover a wide array of emotions and reactions? I think you are giving this writer far too much credit.

I think it is far more likely that the writer intended you feel empowered when you are able to give a lesser crew member (who arguably caused the player's death in part 2)shit

It's made pretty clear what with the comments made "Your suit is registering insane levels of stress" that Shepard was lashing out. The other crew members make similar comments around that time as well if you interact with them and it's even mentioned that Hacket is concerned for Shepards mental health as I recall. The following dialogue being almost exclusively, presuming you don't want to play as a dick, 'I'm sorry' to Joker also helps give that impression.

So yes, I think it was intentional. Pretty obviously so as well. Besides, who cares? It was a fun scene that gave the possibility of adding some emotional depth to your character, that's something I'll always encourage.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

There's tons of games with flawed/vulnerable protagonists, there's just very few with good ones.

Weirdly enough, now that I think about it I reckon my favourite examples of such characters in games are Alcatraz from Crysis 2 and Artoym from Metro 2033, probably because they never speak in game and therefore don't piss me off.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Go play the Shadow Hearts games. Yuri is one of my favorite characters in ANY game, but really gets fleshed out in SH2: Covenant.

Considering the bad ending in the first game is the canon one, and there isn't really a "good" ending in SH2...yeah there are some pretty strong emotions amidst all the crazy stuff going on.

SH3 was more lighthearted, and he isn't in it.

Even in Koudelka, James showed weakness. You get the best ending by losing the final fight. Its actually his weakness that allowed crap to get so bad to begin with.

 

[FalloutJack]

SNIP

Let's not forget some of the more heartaching moments of Persona 3. Persona 4 was pretty upbeat until the Wham Episode, but P3 had...

Spoiler

Mitsuru's father killed by a man you thought was trustworthy.
Shinji getting shot (and only savable if it's P3P and you're the female protagonist).
Chidori giving up her life and power for Junpei to survive.
Yukari coming to terms with the death of her father at the hands of Nyx.
Aegis getting wrecked in a fight with Ryoji.

They all suffered and the main protagonist didn't fair much better.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Sonic the Hedgehog cannot breathe underwater or even maneuver properly underwater, despite real hedgehogs being able to swim. Other characters that you get to play as can maneuver more effectively in water and are just as fast as Sonic (strictly from the video games).

 

[Battleaxx90]

Dunno if this counts, but in Xenoblade Chronicles, this happens around two thirds of the way through the story...

Spoiler

 

[Milkman]

First off, can I say that this is an excellent forum? I wholeheartedly agree that protagonists need to show more of their humanity. I wrote a blog on Red Dead Wiki about how John Marston is one of my all-time favourite characters, because of how human he is.

I agree that a lot of it may be simply for the sake of empowerment, and its a trend I wish would stop. Off the top of my head, I can say that I like Ethan Mars, simply because he's an average bloke.

 

[Yopaz]

Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia.

Spoiler

After escaping from The Tower of Salvation he realize that he risked dooming the world simply to save a friend and feels like a selfish hypocrite

Yuri from Tales of Vesperia

Spoiler

He got trust issues and has sees how the poor and powerless suffer from corrupt leaders so he acts in ways that are illegal to set things straight.

Luke from Tales of the Abyss. He's spoiled douche who snaps at everyone.

Batman in Arkham City

Spoiler

He's sick most of the time

Oh, and Kingdom Hearts, full of flawed protagonists.

 

[Eddie the head]

A lot. I mean I a lot. Solid Snake for one, and then there is Cole form Infamous and Infamous 2. Sheppard form Mass Effect and A lot more I don't want to list.

 

[Kalikin]

There are plenty, and I believe none of the following have yet been mentioned:

Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2, as the reality he believed in is proven to be false.
Naked Snake from MGS3, with his wavering loyalties between personal and professional spheres.
Old Snake from MGS4, with both his new physical weaknesses and the growing belief that none of his actions have ever mattered.
Jackie from The Darkness, who gives in to his weakness to get revenge.
Vincent from Catherine is wracked by guilt the whole game.
Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza series in portrayed as generally extremely strong, but there are moments of weakness in there, particularly in the third game which is all about his newfound vulnerabilities.