Too much angst?

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kikon9

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Aug 11, 2010
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Does anybody else think games today have too many angsty characters?

Also this: http://kevinbolk.deviantart.com/art/PPWBHATEA-XVII-quot-Box-Art-quot-178639395
 

diego_2112

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Jan 28, 2009
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That's what sells! They have to cater to the "I'm so misunderstood, no one could possibly see the real me, I need to be all dark and brooding and stuff," crowd. Makes the character a ponce... er, relatable!
 

oplinger

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Sep 2, 2010
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Not particularly no.

I think they're more....misunderstood.

EDIT: okay let me rephrase that a bit. No i dont think any character suffers from acute anxietyor painful sadness. I think they more come across as they have no freaking idea what they're doing, or the proper emotional response....which isn't angst.
 

Sacman

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May 15, 2008
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of course every character is like a Shinji/Batou(Innocence) hybrid now...
 

SturmDolch

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May 17, 2009
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Hm... Recently released games I played... Mafia II, Dragon Age: Origins, and Starcraft II. None of those really had angsty characters. I guess Raynor sometimes, but it was understandably-albeit-very-cliche angsty.

Maybe it's more in Japanese games? It seems like every 4/5 games that come from that country feature an angst-ridden androgynous boy.
 

AvsJoe

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May 28, 2009
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Games are just trying to be more artistic, and everyone knows true art is angsty [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrueArtIsAngsty].
 

Sassafrass

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Aug 24, 2009
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I don't think so, no.

And I'm mad enough to point to Hope from FF XIII as an example of an angsty character and defend him.
Yeah. I'm that mad...
 

Blue_vision

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Mar 31, 2009
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Skorpyo said:
Oh, I beg to differ. There's that on Prince of Persia game...
Prince of Persia actually did it for a purpose though. The prince was not only an actually rather well characterized angsty person, but he had an actual soul behind it. JRPG characters almost universally have less dimensions than a cardboard cutout. There's no development other than the very occasional "yay, I was actually able to overcome my problems for once."
 

MegaManOfNumbers

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Mar 3, 2010
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c'mon, angsty characters? what is this? 2005?

Unrelated: Isn't Shinji Ikari the poster boy of angsty characters?

....

or was it Cloud?
 

Serenegoose

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Mar 17, 2009
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I prefer it when you bring a strong character low, rather than start off with an angstcake and just have them arbitrarily get over it. I'm a sucker for the 3 act formula of intro, darkest hour, and eventual triumph, what can I say.
 

Treeinthewoods

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May 14, 2010
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I was going to respond to this thread, but then I realized that it wouldn't matter what I said because nobody understands me.

Now I'm going to go look into my very dark closet and think about how it's a metaphor for my soul.
 

Thick

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Treeinthewoods said:
I was going to respond to this thread, but then I realized that it wouldn't matter what I said because nobody understands me.

Now I'm going to go look into my very dark closet and think about how it's a metaphor for my soul.
You, sir, win.

OT: Ubiquitous angst is more a symptom than a problem, like a sore throat (or sore soul, as it were). The problem is cliche characters. Angst-written kid, infallible badass, overpowered woman, dickish villain, etc etc. It's those that recent games have too much of.

Also, always good to see JRPG haters making another appearance. It totally never gets old.