Games you didn't want to play because of the main protagonist

[Ulkjen]

I loved Duke in DN3D. Over-the-top stupid one liners and such. Blasting alien pig people with rocket launchers. Its all good fun! Duke in DNF was just... ugh. WTH. I am beginning to think his own creators just wanted him to be as much of a controversial asshole as possible. He might have always been an immature and sexist man but some of the things in DNF were just a bit too far passed the threshold.

 

[floppylobster]

Gears of War
God of War
(maybe the titles had something to do with it as well)

Never been much of a fan of Mario either. Love most of the games he's in but find the character unappealing and dull. Don't mind Luigi half as much, at least he has some personality. (Though oddly Paper Mario is okay with me).

Also, any Link since playing Wind Waker Link. Now I'm only interested in Wind Waker Link.

And -

Spyro - Trying too hard.
Devil May Cry - Get a new wardrobe.
Bayonetta - See above.

 

[lacktheknack]

Normally, I like Lara Croft.

And then I saw footage of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, where she directly threatens an old lady, and I was like "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO LARA?"

And as it turned out, the game was bloody awful! It's OK, though, both the game quality and Lara got significantly better in Legend.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

Also, that flying companion thing seems even more irritating than Tails.

Fidget(Yup.)

Aw, you guys don't like Fidget? I thought she was adorable.

That, and she shoots fireballs/lightning, etc.

 

[Fox12]

I'm more worried about David Cage than I am about Ellen Paige. He's not a good writer, which is bad when the whole crux of your game is the story. Also, there's a female protagonist, so I'm not looking forward to seeing what creepy, fetishistic, rape culture situations he forces her into. Honestly, Heavy Rain wanted to make me vomit. He needs some professional writers to help him not suck. I am grateful he's had an influence on other, better, developers, especially adventure game developers. Tell Tale games was influenced by him, despite the fact that the are far superior to him in every way.

 

[Woodsey]

The Batman Arkham games.

I played them, but Batman himself is easily the least enjoyable aspect of them.

Try cracking a fucking smile once in a while you miserable, joyless, gormless, constipated, uninteresting, zero-dimensional prat.

I think half the problem is Saint Kevin Conroy, who can apparently do no wrong. He's unbelievably bland in Asylum and only marginally better in City. I can deal with a perpetually growly/angry character, but not one who just sounds ever-so-slightly bored all the way through.

I'm more worried about David Cage than I am about Ellen Paige. He's not a good writer, which is bad when the whole crux of your game is the story.

I'm still not sure if it's funny or horrifying that a man who so plainly cannot write considers himself some messianic figure out to save mainstream gaming, and that the press is so willingly sucked in by it.

Yes, it would be nice if mainstream gaming was more than just shooty-shooty. No, you don't have to suck the dick off of the first dude to say that just because he's got a budget.

 

[Zhukov]

The Batman Arkham games.

I played them, but Batman himself is easily the least enjoyable aspect of them.

Try cracking a fucking smile once in a while you miserable, joyless, gormless, constipated, uninteresting, zero-dimensional prat.

Are you sure you know who Batman is...? He's supposed to be like that.

A) Intentionally boring, one-note and joyless is still boring, one-note and joyless.

B) I remember other versions of Batman not being built from purified scowl. The animation series I watched as a kid allowed him some levity and normal human interaction on a regular basis. Hell, even Christian Bale managed to smile a few times. As I recall, both those Batmans were pretty well received.

 

[ninjaRiv]

The Batman Arkham games.

I played them, but Batman himself is easily the least enjoyable aspect of them.

Try cracking a fucking smile once in a while you miserable, joyless, gormless, constipated, uninteresting, zero-dimensional prat.

Are you sure you know who Batman is...? He's supposed to be like that.

A) Intentionally boring, one-note and joyless is still boring, one-note and joyless.

B) I remember other versions of Batman not being build from purified scowl. The animation series I watched as a kid allowed him some levity and normal human interaction on a regular basis. Hell, even Christian Bale managed to smile a few times. As I recall, both those Batmans were pretty well received.

I can see your point, although Bruce Wayne was responsible for many of those smiles and jokes. I would appreciate some of Batman's dark humour in the Arkham games, though. But I'm pretty sure he cracked a couple of jokes in these games. In fact, I know he did but I can't remember them. It was between him and Oracle...

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this version of Batman.

 

[HardkorSB]

Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

His name is Edge Maverick.

And that should tell you how fucking stupid the cast in that game is. My wife played, and the battles are fun, the game mechanics engaging, but that whole cast can jump off a cliff. Whoever wrote them is a terrible.

I was going to post the same thing.
I stopped playing when the robot character revealed that he has a fetish for glasses... like in a crappy anime series.
The cast were all anime stereotypes.
I wish that the battle system from this game was in FFXIII. Then Square would have one decent game instead of 2 bad ones.

 

[Norithics]

Most video game protagonists, I care nothing about. It seems like the field is just smattered with macho meatheads, jarheads (even more insufferable), or anime kids who have that bizarre Japanese melodramatic silent staring/lateral conversation thing that's boring and pointless to me because I'm not Japanese.

I guess another aspect is that I basically want the inverse of what's being offered to me. What exist now are a lot of semi-normal modern humans with antisocial or macho personalities. Instead I'd like more fantastical characters with more variable and gregarious personality.

 

[Silverbeard]

There was a period in time when Jap RPGs would present protagonists (always male) who were absolute twats with no understanding of human interaction and so much testosterone that their common sense would be drowned in it.
Case-in-point: The fellow from Front Mission 3. I do not remember the lads name (he might not have had one- player decided name and all that) but whoever he was, he was the lease intelligent character to have ever graced a video game. His plan for wanting to determine the status of his sister (working at an army base at the time) is not to pick of a phone and call her, but rather to steal secret army tech and shoot his way into the base, killing at least five of his fellow countrymen, causing immense property damage to the base and guaranteeing himself a date with the firing squad if he ever shows his face in public ever again.
Those types of protagonists vex me. They vex me greatly.

 

[Terratina.]

I cringed a fair bit while playing the early .hack//GU games. Haseo is a thoroughly unlikeable asshole (although her mercifully mellows out as his character develops) and it made me want to reach into the game and punch him from time to time.

Yeah, it's even worse in .hack//Roots. In the first half, he's just your regular gruff jerk, then stuff happens and he turns into the most angry asshole ever with a Masters in brooding. Just because online drama happened. Seriously. I dunno, I just think the jump from regular jerk to a pissed-off asshole was a little much.

OT: Lightning, again. She's just so boring.

 

[xmbts]

Infinite Undiscovery.

Not only the main character but every other one, I get that you're supposed to develop them and get to know them better as the game goes on but starting them all off as arrogant obnoxious jerks isn't the best way to hold my attention.

 

[Stabby Joe]

A good chunk of Final Fantasy comes to mind and then of course there's Heavy rain with shall we say "less than rational" bunch.

However it's usually supporting characters that end up irking me the most... and having to save them... urg...

 

[Woodsey]

I'm still not sure if it's funny or horrifying that a man who so plainly cannot write considers himself some messianic figure out to save mainstream gaming, and that the press is so willingly sucked in by it.

Yes, it would be nice if mainstream gaming was more than just shooty-shooty. No, you don't have to suck the dick off of the first dude to say that just because he's got a budget.

I don't mean this to be contraversial, but I'll go in for it anyway. Why do Cages overly dramatic, predictable and barely interactive "games" get universally pissed on, but stuff like TWD is praised as zombie jesus cometh? Seriously, did NOBODY else think to themselves 'what's the most cynically shocking and depressive thing that could be done with these two characters...' and immediately spoil the whole thing for themselves? Was it actually just me?

Asking the wrong dude, I thought TWD was OK but that's about it. Indeed, I'll raise your controversy with a greater one: I thought Clementine was annoying.

Likewise, the variations of cause and consequence weren't particularly impressive considering they're basically just stitching Mass Effect cutscenes together and not doing anything else with the game in between.

And to drag it slightly back on topic, Lee had the voice of a man twice his age.

 

[Chocolate Mousse]

The Last of Us. Loved everything about it except that sociopath Joel. He started growing on me a bit more halfway through, but eurgh.