Which game 'Heroes' are more entertaining than their 'Villains'?

[Drummodino]

Joel from The Last of Us. To be fair, TLoU doesn't really have an arch-enemy, just a bunch of unsavory people. Joel and Ellie were great characters though and they really carried the game's narrative.

I'll say Booker > Comstock, but Elizabeth is the real star of Bioshock Infinite.

Cole MacGrath from Infamous. He's so much better than his villains that:

Spoiler

The series best villain is just Cole from an alternate timeline

 

[Alfredo Jones]

If I had to name on protagonist I liked more than the villain, it would have to be Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia. Unlike the typical "brooding pretty boy" heroes you see in JRPGs, Yuri actually has a sense of humor to him. He spends most of his time in a laid back demeanor, and only really starts brooding during situations where pretty much anyone would be feeling down. It makes him feel a bit more human compared to the likes of Cloud Strife. Plus any of the times he picks on his teammate Karol are good for a laugh.

 

[RJ 17]

I'd say the party members in Dragon Age: Origins. Teryn Loghain was a twat. That's pretty much all his character summed up to be: a twat. A twat stuck in the past who thought that relying on the Grey Wardens for help was a sign of weakness for Fereldin.

His daughter is a twat too, two-faced back-stabbing ***** that she is.

The heroes in DA:0 are much more likeable. They've got stories and personalities and, despite the fact that you play a silent protagonist, it's fun to converse with them.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Raz from Psychonauts is pretty darn fun. Also, most any of your party members in any of the Shadow Hearts games. Giant talking cat who practices drunken kung fu and directs movies? Check. Danish ninja who learned ninjutsu from Brazilian ninjas and uses a bus stop sign as a weapon (among other things)? Check. Gay luchadore vampire? Check. The Shadow Hearts games are completely bonkers, by the way.

 

[Glongpre]

This guy...but this might be cheating

Spoiler

He is kind of both the hero and the villain.

I second Zidane from FF9, he is the best protagonist they have created.

 

[skywolfblue]

Dead Space 2 would be a good example. Tiedemann is virtually non-existent as the main villain. Instead, the whole narrative is driven by the battle going on inside Issac's own head, his fight to free himself from the madness and leftover emotions of his dead girlfriend.

Alan Wake. The dark lady Barbara Jagger, is pretty typical. Alan Wake's mental state on the other hand is the glue that drives the narrative. A pretentious and arrogant writer, given a taste of his own hubris and now trapped in his own story.

 

[PFCboom]

Mass Effect (series) has a stellar cast of heroes. Shepard is okay, but let's be honest, it's his/her teammates that make the game. Mordin, Mordin, Mordin. Mordin The Man Solus.

 

[bafrali]

Dante From DMC 3 and 4.

Guy just brings so much energy to wherever he goes and whatever he does. He loves his job, he is stylish and he is a riot to play around with. Most of his villains are nothing special (except for Jester in the cutscenes who is pretty entertaining.) but how is one supposed to follow that act when it involves nosediving from a tower and gunning down blood gargoyles along the way after a near death experience.

Best you could hope to achieve is to become a Devil Arm and join the stylish extraveganza.


Almost Shakespearean, wouldn't you say?

 

[Evonisia]

I have another one, Rayman. That little guy always got this big smile on his face regardless of the horrific situations he's put in, almost as if he knows that he'll overcome all his villains and the dangers in his way.

 

[Trivea]

The protagonist, Agent York, was easily one of the most entertaining parts of Deadly Premonition.

Constantly talking to himself about other people right in front of them and reading prophetic messages in his coffee, while the villain was a mystery for a good majority of the story.

I'll second this one. Especially since, when the villain(s) were revealed, they were already some of the most boring characters in the story.

Spoiler

This doesn't include Thomas, but really, who didn't think Thomas was going to go off the deep end at some point?

Also, Final Fantasy X if you can count everyone EXCEPT Tidus, because Seymour was an irritating little prick and Sin was a big scaly nonentity.

 

[Vegosiux]

And of course Laharl.

Being able to play the part of someone who views it as morally right to be "evil" is quality.

Laharl is awesome, but I always preferred Etna in that regard, because, well...nobody can intimidate prinnies like she can, dood!You might get away with slighting Laharl slightly, but woe on you if you piss off Etna, dood!

Oh and this has to be said. The Bard from The Bard's Tale. Though he's more a "protagonist" than he is a "hero", true...

 

[Chaos Isaac]

If I had to name on protagonist I liked more than the villain, it would have to be Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia. Unlike the typical "brooding pretty boy" heroes you see in JRPGs, Yuri actually has a sense of humor to him. He spends most of his time in a laid back demeanor, and only really starts brooding during situations where pretty much anyone would be feeling down. It makes him feel a bit more human compared to the likes of Cloud Strife. Plus any of the times he picks on his teammate Karol are good for a laugh.

He also takes care of shit. Instead of brooding, he thinks about it, considers options and offers mercy, but doesn't hesitate when it comes down to it.

Then there's Dante, many Tales of characters. (Yuri being the standout, though that cast I adore entirely.) John Marston, Niko Bellec, protagonists of Persona 3. (Some people may want to say four, but dude they just leave their friends in hell-realms for weeks to do... whatever.) The Boss from Saints Row. Joel and Ellie. Some FF characters. (Tifa, Yuna, Balthier, Zidane, Sazh.) Lee and Clementine... Vyse from Skies of Arcadia.

Hrm. There's a lot now that I think of it, so i'll just end it here.

 

[EternallyBored]

pretty much 90% of heroes in all games ever, that's kind of the point, we mention great villains that overshadow the heroes, but most games have generic, abstract or standard villains. The great villain that steals the show is the exception not the rule, that's part of why we hold them up, because a great villain can make a mediocre story great. Characters like Vaas can save an otherwise uninteresting story, otherwise the hero is almost always the only character with any sort of fleshed out story.

 

[WhyWasThat]

Uncharted's Nathan Drake steals the show every time.