Which Videogame Characters Have the Most Tragic Stories?
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I feel kinda sorry for whole cast of Persona 3. Almost all of them had pretty tragic background. On top of that, during game they lost a team member, had to face a betrayal and after all the struggle
their leader, best friend and world savior dies for unknown reasons leaving them completely devastated.
I'm pretty sure I just won this thread with Clementine from the Walking Dead...
Such a sad, tragic child.
Such a sad, tragic child.
James Sunderland.
Never have I played a character so beautifully morose.
His tragedy is not brought forth by something like the zombie apocalypse, but rather from life's misfortunes and his own design. Silent Hill is his punishment, but due to him repressing key memories he is unable to grasp its real purpose until the bittersweet end.
He is also a rather interesting depiction of a broken man.
He has lost the one thing in life that meant anything to him, and alternates between a softly spoken individual that runs from conflict and a frustrated soul capable of some heinous things. He fumbles up with certain things due to losing focus on life and being in a almost perpetual daze. The creatures all represent an ugly part of his mind (save for one, who represents someone else's mind) that he wishes not to accept, and refuses responsibility for until it's over.
After playing through that game a few times, I find it hard to think of anyone else that fits the bill.
Never have I played a character so beautifully morose.
His tragedy is not brought forth by something like the zombie apocalypse, but rather from life's misfortunes and his own design. Silent Hill is his punishment, but due to him repressing key memories he is unable to grasp its real purpose until the bittersweet end.
He is also a rather interesting depiction of a broken man.
He has lost the one thing in life that meant anything to him, and alternates between a softly spoken individual that runs from conflict and a frustrated soul capable of some heinous things. He fumbles up with certain things due to losing focus on life and being in a almost perpetual daze. The creatures all represent an ugly part of his mind (save for one, who represents someone else's mind) that he wishes not to accept, and refuses responsibility for until it's over.
After playing through that game a few times, I find it hard to think of anyone else that fits the bill.
Niko Bellic has had it pretty rough in his life, especially since moving to the "Land of Opportunity" his life has become arguably worse.
And the protagonists from Dark/Demon's Souls. You know why
And the protagonists from Dark/Demon's Souls. You know why
why did you have to make me cry againDaystar Clarion said:I'm pretty sure I just won this thread with Clementine from the Walking Dead...
Such a sad, tragic child.
Hmm I guess Carl from BlazBlue. Simply because his dad is a fucking bellend.
Y'know that creepy marionette that lurks by him at all times and fights alongside him? Well there's a reason he addresses it as his sister. He's not just hopelessly attached to it for no reason.
It's not too much of a spoiler to say since Carl is probably the least story important character there is, skip my entire post if you're worried
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Ok, so his dad turned his sister, Ada Clover into the weapon marionette Nirvana by shoving her soul into it, worse still he stopped halfway and Carl had to finish the job to save his beloved older sister. You need a human soul to create a Nox Nyctores grade weapon so he used his own family for some reason. Because mad science.
"Oh that's the Nox Nyctores Nirvana isn't it?"
"That's not my sister's name."
Oh then later on it turns out Relius used his own wife's soul to create his own personal battle marionette called Ignis. So that's Carl's sister and mother killed by his own dad. So technically the entire Clover family is fighting each other, brother and sister vs mother and father
Oh and nevermind Carl's bad ending. Ouch. Hazama, has anyone told you you're kind of a dick?
By the way Relius is Easy Mode Carl. Carl has to move Nirvana around the stage constantly and figure out what to do with her since his own moveset is limited but lol jk Relius just summons Ignis out of the ether and pops her in and out of the fight whenever he pleases. His own moveset is solid as well.
Y'know that creepy marionette that lurks by him at all times and fights alongside him? Well there's a reason he addresses it as his sister. He's not just hopelessly attached to it for no reason.
It's not too much of a spoiler to say since Carl is probably the least story important character there is, skip my entire post if you're worried
PAGE BREAK
PAGE BREAK
Ok, so his dad turned his sister, Ada Clover into the weapon marionette Nirvana by shoving her soul into it, worse still he stopped halfway and Carl had to finish the job to save his beloved older sister. You need a human soul to create a Nox Nyctores grade weapon so he used his own family for some reason. Because mad science.
"Oh that's the Nox Nyctores Nirvana isn't it?"
"That's not my sister's name."
Oh then later on it turns out Relius used his own wife's soul to create his own personal battle marionette called Ignis. So that's Carl's sister and mother killed by his own dad. So technically the entire Clover family is fighting each other, brother and sister vs mother and father
Oh and nevermind Carl's bad ending. Ouch. Hazama, has anyone told you you're kind of a dick?
By the way Relius is Easy Mode Carl. Carl has to move Nirvana around the stage constantly and figure out what to do with her since his own moveset is limited but lol jk Relius just summons Ignis out of the ether and pops her in and out of the fight whenever he pleases. His own moveset is solid as well.
Not sure about most tragic but I always thought Sylvarias story was pretty tragic from Valkyria Chronicles I actually felt quite sorry for her, usually the story of a character may be tragic but I dont care that much this isnt exclusive to games though the same could be said of tragic stories in films and books I just dont care enough to feel for them mostly.
Jack, Mass Effect 2.
Honestly, I think they actually went a bit overboard with her backstory. Let's see now...
- Kidnapped as an infant because of her biotic potential and given to a laboratory full of hilariously unethical scientists.
- Subjected to various experiments, many of which apparently amounted to little more than torture.
- Isolated for her entire childhood. Even the other subjects hated her.
- Forced to kill other children, then injected with happy drugs when she did.
- Eventually escapes, but only after telekintetically slaughtering everyone in her way.
- Sexually abused by her "rescuers", then sold.
- Used and/or rejected by practically everyone she met, mostly criminal bands and cults.
- In and out of the nastiest prisons in the galaxy. Raped at least once in prison.
- Eventually ends up with a partner who actually cares about her, until he dies to save her, leaving her with a nasty case of survivor's guilt.
Like I said, a wee bit overboard. Although half the reason I like her character was that instead of becoming a "broken bird", her response to all that was to shave her head, get tattooed from head to toe and tell the galaxy to bring it the fuck on.
For a more grounded example, I'll just go agree with Daystar on poor little Clementine from The Walking Dead.
*Witcher 2 Chapter 1 spoilers*
Probably the mother of Commandant Loredo. Her name escapes me at present, but her life is just one big mess. When she was younger, she was raped and tortured by Aedernian soldiers, which caused her to become addicted to fisstech (drug) to blot out the memory. She became a husk of a person in this form, almost enslaved by her son (who probably came into the world via the rape). She eventually dies by the sword of Geralt if you side with Roach, still high from taking fisstech. No doubt she was a lovely woman before the rape, and was turned into a foul creature. Kinda like the Gollum story.
That's the first thing that popped into my mind, at any rate.
Probably the mother of Commandant Loredo. Her name escapes me at present, but her life is just one big mess. When she was younger, she was raped and tortured by Aedernian soldiers, which caused her to become addicted to fisstech (drug) to blot out the memory. She became a husk of a person in this form, almost enslaved by her son (who probably came into the world via the rape). She eventually dies by the sword of Geralt if you side with Roach, still high from taking fisstech. No doubt she was a lovely woman before the rape, and was turned into a foul creature. Kinda like the Gollum story.
That's the first thing that popped into my mind, at any rate.
To be honest, I think most of the boss characters in Dark Souls have more tragic stories than your own character.The_Blue_Rider said:
Ceaseless Discharge: Son of the Witch of Izalith, that was transformed into a huge monster, who's experiencing neverending pain due to the lava pouring out of his skin. Decided all he can do now is guard over his dead sister's corpse in the Demon Ruins. You know, that corpse you looted?
Sif: The loyal companion of the Knight Artorias. Together they followed Lord Gwyn's orders and tried to stop the spread of the Abyss in Oolacile, but failed. Artorias managed to save Sif by creating a barrier for his trusted wolf with his shield, but was consumed by the Abyss himself. The player finds Sif and saves him. If you then go to fight against Sif, he recognizes you, lets out a howl and the fight starts. He is either honorbound to protect Artorias's grave or maybe he's trying to stop you from getting to Abyss and ending up witht he same fate as Artorias
Lord Gwyn: Helped in the war against the ancient dragons, officially started the Age of Fire. With the fire dying, he tried feeding his own humanity for the flame, it devoured him and destroyed most of his Silver Knights. When you go battle him at the end, he's just a husk, the shadow of his former self, trying to protect a flame that has ceased to exist a long time ago.
Sif: The loyal companion of the Knight Artorias. Together they followed Lord Gwyn's orders and tried to stop the spread of the Abyss in Oolacile, but failed. Artorias managed to save Sif by creating a barrier for his trusted wolf with his shield, but was consumed by the Abyss himself. The player finds Sif and saves him. If you then go to fight against Sif, he recognizes you, lets out a howl and the fight starts. He is either honorbound to protect Artorias's grave or maybe he's trying to stop you from getting to Abyss and ending up witht he same fate as Artorias
Lord Gwyn: Helped in the war against the ancient dragons, officially started the Age of Fire. With the fire dying, he tried feeding his own humanity for the flame, it devoured him and destroyed most of his Silver Knights. When you go battle him at the end, he's just a husk, the shadow of his former self, trying to protect a flame that has ceased to exist a long time ago.
Just a few of them there
Her entire M-O just screams broken bird though; "I have a very obvious tragic past which I hide behind a tough ***** exterior, but nothing your masculine but sensitive disposition can't cure." Everything about her felt so blatently designed for ManShep to crack open and reveal the fragile girl inside who just wants to be loved.Zhukov said:
As for tragic Mass Effect characters, I think Samara does a better job. Also because she ultimately doesn't let you in.
Clementine from The Walking Dead already got some points, but I'd like to give a shout out to Lee as well. Throughout the series he constantly has to deal with a group of people who are eating away at eachother when the zombies aren't. All the while he tries his best at making sure Clementine gets as little fucked up as possible by the whole experience. It's also Lee's voice acting which just sounded so hagered and emotionally exhausted.
Master Chief. Now, before everyone starts flaming me for that, hear me out. True, his backstory isn't explored a massive amount in the games, but the books and comics do give a big insight, and in Halo 4 a large part of the backstory comes into play. There are also plenty of references in Halo 4 to the backstory of all the Spartan-IIs as well. SPOILERS BE HERE FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED IT, ANYONE WHO DOES CARE WILL ALREADY KNOW THEM THOUGH, BY THIS POINT...
Kidnapped aged six, forced against his will into an intense training program to turn him into what effectively amounts to a child soldier. Fighting against other humans, by the way (this was long before the Covenant turned up), he witnesses half his adopted 'family' (i.e. fellow kidnapped child soldiers) killed in horrific surgeries that would make even Dr Steinman think twice (well, maybe not) for the purpose of making the surviving kids even more powerful as soldiers. Also, bear in mind the entire project is run by the government's military arm, and overseen by a young (at this point only in her mid twenties) woman who has a reputation for being distant and mildly sociopathic, as well as being an obsessive control freak. Of the survivors, about half disappear, spirited away by the intelligence services on black ops, over the next 30 years while almost all of the others die in various missions - about 90% of those survivors die on the guys last op before the games begin, meaning as far as Master Chief knows he's the only survivor of all those kids he was raised with and trained to fight with. Oh, and his very first mission where he killed fellow human beings? One death on his team, where he was team leader. And he was only 15 years old.
Also, he has a childhood friend who he meets while fighting in New Mombasa - he can't tell her it's him because the government/military won't let him. Not to mention that although he finds he isn't the last one of his kind left after all, those who are still around are seperated from him again on further ops, and another half of them die just after he finds they're still alive. The next time he meets the woman who raised and trained him and his fellows, she's in custody for war crimes and kidnapping one of his comrades. And finally, the one constant for the past 5 years of all this, starts to slowly go more and more insane and finally 'dies' in a self-sacrifice which still fails to stop an entire city being massacred.
Yeah, given the sheer amount of pent-up PTSD here, I think John-117 is pretty damn tragic.
Kidnapped aged six, forced against his will into an intense training program to turn him into what effectively amounts to a child soldier. Fighting against other humans, by the way (this was long before the Covenant turned up), he witnesses half his adopted 'family' (i.e. fellow kidnapped child soldiers) killed in horrific surgeries that would make even Dr Steinman think twice (well, maybe not) for the purpose of making the surviving kids even more powerful as soldiers. Also, bear in mind the entire project is run by the government's military arm, and overseen by a young (at this point only in her mid twenties) woman who has a reputation for being distant and mildly sociopathic, as well as being an obsessive control freak. Of the survivors, about half disappear, spirited away by the intelligence services on black ops, over the next 30 years while almost all of the others die in various missions - about 90% of those survivors die on the guys last op before the games begin, meaning as far as Master Chief knows he's the only survivor of all those kids he was raised with and trained to fight with. Oh, and his very first mission where he killed fellow human beings? One death on his team, where he was team leader. And he was only 15 years old.
Also, he has a childhood friend who he meets while fighting in New Mombasa - he can't tell her it's him because the government/military won't let him. Not to mention that although he finds he isn't the last one of his kind left after all, those who are still around are seperated from him again on further ops, and another half of them die just after he finds they're still alive. The next time he meets the woman who raised and trained him and his fellows, she's in custody for war crimes and kidnapping one of his comrades. And finally, the one constant for the past 5 years of all this, starts to slowly go more and more insane and finally 'dies' in a self-sacrifice which still fails to stop an entire city being massacred.
Yeah, given the sheer amount of pent-up PTSD here, I think John-117 is pretty damn tragic.
Raiden's got a pretty bad one:
So he starts out a rookie sent on his first field mission. A mission that involves a bomb threat, hostages and a freaking vampire! Eventually it's revealed the leader of the terrorists is his adoptive father. Of course, Raiden doesn't remember this, due to his memory being erased.
When he finally does begin to remember, he tells his girlfriend about his childhood. To keep it short, it turns out he is in no way a rookie, and in fact is possibly more experienced than Solid Snake. "I can still taste the gunpowder they put in the food."
After all this, it turns out even his girlfriend isn't real. According to her, she completely changed her appearance, personality even the way she walked in order to appeal to him, all for the sake of spying on him. After all this, he is order to kill his adoptive father, for the given reason of "it will amuse us" by artificial intelligence using his girlfriend as a guise. His adoptive father also killed his real parents.
A couple years later, his girlfriend has had a miscarriage with his child. This, coupled with his haunting memories of his childhood, causes him to leave her, get kidnapped and experimented on, turning him into a cyborg.
During Liquid Ocelot's insurrection, he is critically injured and when he's finally ready to get back in the action, he cuts off his own arm and stops a 630 meter-long submersible battleship. With. One. Arm.
And that still isn't the end of it. Now he's lost both his arms, what does he do? Board the battleship anyway and fight with his sword in his teeth. He was eventually overwhelmed but thanks to Snake, was saved.
Then gets a new body and no doubt will be tortured even more in Metal Gear Rising. Seriously, Grey Fox has a sad story, but Raiden's is just as bad, if not worse.
When he finally does begin to remember, he tells his girlfriend about his childhood. To keep it short, it turns out he is in no way a rookie, and in fact is possibly more experienced than Solid Snake. "I can still taste the gunpowder they put in the food."
After all this, it turns out even his girlfriend isn't real. According to her, she completely changed her appearance, personality even the way she walked in order to appeal to him, all for the sake of spying on him. After all this, he is order to kill his adoptive father, for the given reason of "it will amuse us" by artificial intelligence using his girlfriend as a guise. His adoptive father also killed his real parents.
A couple years later, his girlfriend has had a miscarriage with his child. This, coupled with his haunting memories of his childhood, causes him to leave her, get kidnapped and experimented on, turning him into a cyborg.
During Liquid Ocelot's insurrection, he is critically injured and when he's finally ready to get back in the action, he cuts off his own arm and stops a 630 meter-long submersible battleship. With. One. Arm.
And that still isn't the end of it. Now he's lost both his arms, what does he do? Board the battleship anyway and fight with his sword in his teeth. He was eventually overwhelmed but thanks to Snake, was saved.
Then gets a new body and no doubt will be tortured even more in Metal Gear Rising. Seriously, Grey Fox has a sad story, but Raiden's is just as bad, if not worse.
.................I can barely type through all the tears streaming down my cheeks.spartandude said:why did you have to make me cry againDaystar Clarion said:I'm pretty sure I just won this thread with Clementine from the Walking Dead...
Such a sad, tragic child.
How about Ethan from Heavy Rain? This one really depends on the ending you got. Anyone remember the one called "Tears on the Rain"
Ethan's youngest son is killed in a car accident at the beginning of the game. His wife leaves him(she seems to blame him). Then he has horrible nightmares that leads him to believe he is a serial killer. Then, his other son is kidnapped. THEN, he is forced to cut his finger off while searching for the boy. And in the 'Tears in the Rain" ending he fails to save his son, then shoots himself in the head above the boys grave.
