Worst Protagonists.

[the protaginist]

There are few genres in gaming that don't have a protagonist.the protagonist is the character that drives the game along.only some protagonists drive like a man blind in one eye on crack. Now,I love saints row(if anyone's played that game,they might agree.) but,the protagonist in that game had nothing that made him believable.he had no back story,no name,and (technically)no voice.have you had a run in with a terrible protagonist?


P.S. if there is a topic like this, sorry.I did a search and nothing showed up.

 

[brenflood]

Saint's Row is hard to beat on that.
This will probably get me lynched, but I think Link is a pretty weak protagonist. He never speaks. I've never liked the controls in the series. Also, he's just a stiff character.

I can't really think of anyone else.

 

[mechsword42]

Here's an easy one: Raiden from MGS2. Possibly one of the worst protagonists ever.

 

[BladesofReason]

While they are fresh in my mind, I will first have to go with Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. He had some good aspects to him, his story was compelling and in many ways interesting, he had some good supporting characters to help center his character but he had absolutely zero development I thought throughout the game.

Secondly I would have to go with Master Chief from Halo. He didn't even have any character in the first place and to my mind is a stereotypical example of a protagonist that I care nothing about (which is fairly common in FPS's as far as I can tell, I can only think of a few that I really did like). I hesitate to even call Master Chief a "character".

 

[CartoonHead]

I agree with Saint's Row and will also put Army of Two out there.
More background to them I grant you, but they were just so amazingly irritating and boorish.
Jesus, that was an absolutely awful game...

 

[brenflood]

Here's an easy one: Raiden from MGS2. Possibly one of the worst protagonists ever.

I understand that he's less awesome than Solid Snake. But worst protagonist ever? At least he has a back story, and he drives the plot along just fine.
He's not stiff. His voice acting isn't bad. I think he's an excellent protagonist even if he is a pussy.

 

[qbert4ever]

Bubsy the bobcat.

Top that one.

 

[PurpleRain]

No way can you get any worse then CJ from GTA:SA. I hated him and wished he'd shut up for once.
"Fo' sho."

 

[The Wooster]

Nero. He redefines 'Douchebag'

 

[CartoonHead]

Nero? Who is Nero?

 

[fulano]

Dante from Devil May Cry: He remembers me of the assholes I went to middle school with.

 

[hayashi38]

Link is a prime example of a silent protagonist done WRONG. Claude from GTAIII is a much better example of how a character can be silent but still compell.

worst protagonist in my opinion is Leon from RE4. He spits out too much unneeded dialogue and would've served the game better as a mute. If theres one thing worse than a silent character in a story driven game, its a horrible/stereotypical personality in a story driven game.

but I do agree, Link, Cloud, Master Chief, and Marcus Fenix need to be killed off and incinerated to make way for originality's sake.

 

[mechsword42]

Its not entirely that he was less awesome than Snake. Its just that by putting him as the main character it took an awesome action packed series with a dark storyline with occasional social satire and turned it into a freakin soap opera. I'm just saying he's a terrible protagonist because he doesn't mesh well as one for the Metal Gear series. I'd also like to point out that he doesn't even become cool until he is no longer the main protagonist, like in MGS4, which is really weird.

Oh, and I know I'm gonna catch flak for this next one: Superman. And no, its not because I hate him, its just that in every game I've played as him in he was either horribly nerfed due to "balance issues" or, in the case of Superman 64, just played like he swallowed a Kryptonite ruffie.

 

[7dollarbill]

Squall from FF8. What a whiney douche.

 

[brenflood]

Ah yes, Squall: The master of Ellipses.

I agree that Superman is a horrible video game Protagonist. He's fine in his cartoons and some of the better movies, but every single Superman video game has been a stinky pile of suck.

 

[BladesofReason]

Squall from FF8. What a whiney douche.

I'd agree with you for the same reasons I dislike Cloud, except that I felt there was at least some change to Squall. He was a better character (and coincidentally a better person) by the end of the game, but yes, he does spend a good part of the game as a pretty sullen emo thing.

 

[Unmannedperson]

A lot of the main characters from RTSs that try to have story lines. AoE3 I'm looking at you!

 

[The Wooster]

Nero? Who is Nero?

Guy from Devil May Cry 4. Imagine Dante but... even doucheier.

 

[JD4566]

any character from any JRPG.
there're usually loud, obnoxious, and say their men while they clearly wear bras and panties.

ugh...anything anime annoys me very much.

 

[PEWPEWGreenLaser]

Here's an easy one: Raiden from MGS2. Possibly one of the worst protagonists ever.

Dude. Why the Raiden hate? No argument that Snake > Raiden, but all in all he wasn't that bad of a guy. I think most of the hate comes from the let down of being shocked by his appearance as the main playable character in MGS2, but that could just be me.

Raiden had a perfectly legitimate storyline and is actually a fairly interesting parallel to Solid Snake; a soldier born and a soldier bred. The interaction between the two is also pretty awesome. I dunno... maybe I don't hate Raiden because I didn't hate MGS2.

For me the worst protagonist ever has got to be... hmmm. I guess I avoid games with crappy characters... c_c;;