Worst Protagonists.

[Necromaniacal]

No i meant character oppoite but with the same abilities, though fat athletic guy would be awesome no? And i meant lady, and i missed the reply button going bed i failed to hard today

 

[wewontdie11]

Arbiter! Ruined Halo 2.

Haha yea I thought the arbiter really did suck, thrilled you didn't have to play as him in Halo 3.

I really wasn't too keen on Kane from Kane & Lynch. He just got a bit tiresome and depressing after a while.

 

[windfish]

as much as i like link, i'm sick of every story starting out as he got shipwrecked/abducted/exploded/barbecued/etc-- and waking up in a bed. i don't really understand the storyline. i mean, i can understand the SL of a single game, but not the series. coz sometimes its in hyrule, sometimes its in hyrule but completely flooded, sometimes its not there at all! there are very few constants more than you wear a green nightcap, you can learn a spin attack, you can dig up a hookshot, you have to save the world from gannon (or some variant of such), and you have to deal with that annoying d!ckhole, Tingle. i would honestly like someone to explain it to me, because there doesn't seem to be any real story progression other than in windwaker *SPOILER*, that hyrule got bible-flooded and only the mountaintops exist, but at islands.

Well, this is a little off-topic, but there are several storyline theories about the Zelda games. Generally, with the exceptions of games that clearly are direct sequels of each other (OoT-MM, ALttP-LA, WW-PH, Z1-Z2), Zelda games come in eras about 100 or so years apart, with a different Link, different Zelda (mostly), and the same Ganon. Link is usually a descendant of the Knights of Hyrule, or simply just Chosen by the Gods. The name Link is unimportant, since Zelda games encourage you to name your own character. The name Zelda is important, and is explained in Zelda II. (Ganon isn't in all of them - my favorite is Link's Awakening, in which he is represented only by a Nightmare.) In general, as long as you put OoT first, the order of the games doesn't matter so much. I generally think of it this way:



Era 1:
1) Ocarina of Time - Ganon gets his hands on the Triforce. First Hero of Time
2) Majora's Mask - Hero of Oot gets sent back to his childhood, saves Termina. (No Ganon)
There is a possibility that the timeline splits here, because of the time travel. This allows for some Gaiden chapters.

Era 2: At least 100 years later. Different Hero, different Zelda
3) Link to the Past: The seal on Ganon's prison is weakened, and he is able to send a portion of his spirit through as the Wizard Aghanim.
4) Link's Awakening: After the defeat of Ganon, the Hero goes on a voyage to learn how to better defend Hyrule from future evils. Shipwrecks on Koholint Island. I won't spoil this one any more, since it's my favorite.

Era 3: Same deal, probably much farther in the future.
5) Zelda I: Somehow, Ganon has risen again. Link reduces Ganon to ashes.
6) Zelda II: Link learns of the original Princess Zelda, and learns that she has been in a cursed sleep for hundreds of years. The worshippers of Ganon endeavor to revive him by sprinkling Link's blood on his ashes.

Other eras:

Wind Waker and Twilight Princess could conceivably go anywhere between these gaps, since both have a clearly different Link. If there was a split timeline at Oot-MM, it is possible that these occur in parallel eras.

Also the Four Swords games and the Minish Cap could go anywhere, but I tend to think of them as either after Zelda II, or before Ocarina of Time, since Ganon doesn't appear in them. (I think - I haven't played Four Swords Adventures.) I think that the Oracle of Seasons and Ages games could also go anywhere, but I like to put them either between Link to the Past and Link's Awakening or After Zelda II.



All in all, though, the timeline isn't important. Just have fun playing the games, allow yourself to be immersed in them.

 

[type_zero]

Henry Townsend from Silent Hill 4, the gut basically had only one line which was continuously repeated-"What the Hell?" and was dry, apathetic and boring.

 

[Usnota]

I would have to say that the worst video game protagnist is master cheif, faceless, nameless silent badass is cool, but wears off after a few levels

as for the best, I will have to go with Kyle Katarn *prepares against hail of rotten tomatoes* or Revan, if had a voice he would be the badassiest!

 

[SteinFaust]

Well, this is a little off-topic, but there are several storyline theories about the Zelda games. .....
.....All in all, though, the timeline isn't important. Just have fun playing the games, allow yourself to be immersed in them.

Kay thanks, Windfish ! i sorta get it now, but unless anything definite happens, i'm filing the entire series under "Parallel Universes Highly Succeptable to Deus Ex Machina" lol

 

[Asymptote Angel]

There are quite a few on my list of hatefuls:
-Sora from the KH games (Whiny. Annoying. Childish. For once, a silent protagonist would have been more effective)
-A long succession of Final Fantasy characters
-At least half of the playable characters from the Guitar Hero games
-Nero (more so than Dante because although Dante is unbearably smug, he's better than Nero's pseudo-masculine whiny personality)
-Gimli from Two Towers and Return of the King (absolutely no mobility, a horrible detriment when you're fighting that many people at once)
-Anakin Skywalker in every Star Wars game he's in
-Not a protagonist, but Kaiden from Mass Effect is pretty bad. It's a shame how much this stood out considering how strong the rest of the cast is.

Good protagonists that jump to mind include:
-Alucard from SotN
-The cast of CoD4
-The Arbiter (the Master Chief is a pretty flat character, but playing as the Arbiter was different since it's the Chief's fault he's in the position he's in)
-Shepard (badass no matter how you play him)
-Sam Fisher
-Again, not a protagonist, but who doesn't love HK-47? Easily my favorite video game character ever.

 

[Housefly]

Damn straight, meatbag. "The function I perform has been referred to as wanton slaughter."

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

I would have to say that the worst video game protagnist is master cheif, faceless, nameless silent badass is cool, but wears off after a few levels

as for the best, I will have to go with Kyle Katarn *prepares against hail of rotten tomatoes* or Revan, if had a voice he would be the badassiest!

Revan is the meaning of badass! So right now we are just discussing how to make him stand out.

For the best besides revan i'm going to bring up the HK-47 or whatever from KOTOR and KOTOR2. Hes not a protagonists but if he was it would be awesome!

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

Theoretically, if you're talking about protagonists that don't have any back story, you could mention Jack from Bioshock, Gordon Freeman, that guy from TimeShift, ect. Most of them have very shallow backgrounds, and their main purpose is to allow the player to interact with the game, making it seem as if they are in the game. There's nothing wrong with them, just that they aren't very fleshed out.

I thought the protagonist in Bioshock did have a fully explained background; Son of Andrew Ryan with some stripper chick who gives the baby to Fountain who like accelerates his growth and does the whole "would you kindly" thing to him.

I hate when people don't delve into a game and don't know the story and then call fall on it.

 

[TobyMobias]

The 2 dudes from the Turok remake
Most of the characters from the Resident Evil series
Travis from Silent Hill: Origins
Jaws from "Jaws: Unleashed" (the game itself is what made him shit)
Superman from Superman 64 (see above)
Link, for sounding like "someone kicked him really hard in the balls and now all he can do is that high-pitched...squeally noise..."
Edward Carnby from the new "Alone in the Dark" (And WTF happened to Emily Hartwood?)
Lara Croft in the newer ones, aka the "Trying Too Hard" Saga.
The bloke from the Prince of Persia after, as Yahtzee so delicately put it, "he started listening to Linkin Park and letting his mum cut his hair".
Altair and great-great-great....great-grand relative from Assassin's Creed (works for a plot device, but not very deep)
Crash Bandicoot (I'd prefer playing all the levels with his sister because she actually spoke and had a personality)

 

[The Bandit]

Theoretically, if you're talking about protagonists that don't have any back story, you could mention Jack from Bioshock, Gordon Freeman, that guy from TimeShift, ect. Most of them have very shallow backgrounds, and their main purpose is to allow the player to interact with the game, making it seem as if they are in the game. There's nothing wrong with them, just that they aren't very fleshed out.

I thought the protagonist in Bioshock did have a fully explained background; Son of Andrew Ryan with some stripper chick who gives the baby to Fountain who like accelerates his growth and does the whole "would you kindly" thing to him.

I hate when people don't delve into a game and don't know the story and then call fall on it.

I hate when people expect everyone to be just as obsessed with a game as they are.

 

[SilentHunter7]

Arbiter! Ruined Halo 2.

Worst non Halo protagonist

Toad "The princess is in another castle!" Fuck you Toad.

Hey, I liked the Arbiter (at least up until Bungie relegated him to being the Robin to the Chief's Batman in Halo 3). I think he and half-jaw were better characters than 95% of the humans. And they didn't get any book time.

 

[Housefly]

To be fair, the whole growth-acceleration thing in Bioshock is pretty stupid. The "would you kindly" twist made up for it though.

 

[SimpleReally]

Roy from fire emblem 6, he's cliched, he's annoying, he's not even old enough to go to high school, but he's leading a resistance against the big bad empire.
also he is the weakest main character in any fire emblem series ever, so you have to protect his sorry ass in every battle or else its game over.

i cant believe this loser got into super smash bros while vastly superior (gameplay and storywise) characters from other FEs like hector and ephraim didnt.

 

[Volstag9]

I would say anyone from any medal of honor game

 

[gejsiv]

as much as i like link, i'm sick of every story starting out as he got shipwrecked/abducted/exploded/barbecued/etc-- and waking up in a bed. i don't really understand the storyline. i mean, i can understand the SL of a single game, but not the series. coz sometimes its in hyrule, sometimes its in hyrule but completely flooded, sometimes its not there at all! there are very few constants more than you wear a green nightcap, you can learn a spin attack, you can dig up a hookshot, you have to save the world from gannon (or some variant of such), and you have to deal with that annoying d!ckhole, Tingle. i would honestly like someone to explain it to me, because there doesn't seem to be any real story progression other than in windwaker *SPOILER*, that hyrule got bible-flooded and only the mountaintops exist, but at islands.

Now, to be fair, I was obsessed with Link back when I was a mindless foaming fanboy, but here's the skinny:

Link's story is cyclical. The first time Ganon tried to take the triforce, he failed. So, he simply waited until the hero of time would be dead and tried again. Unfortunately, the hero gets reincarnated and comes back to beat Ganon everytime. Its why Link's name is "Link", as in the link holding together all these attempts at universal domination. Both link to the past and Twilight Princess hint at this. Granted, there are occassional deviations where the developers are trying somethign new (majora's mask) which can be seen as other exploits of a "Link".

As for the topic, a lot of people are choosing characters based on their usefulness (or lack thereof) in the game. You can have a good protagonist who just isn't being used to their potential by the gameplay. For example, I really like Micaiah's character from Fire Emblem radiant dawn. Her sarcastic quips with Sothe were well appreciated and I liked the duality of her character. I just hated using her as a main character because she was so slow...

Gerald from Witcher was a bad character. I should have known better, but amnesiac-misogynist-asshole-cliche doesn't make for a compelling game.

That Wayne guy from Lost Planet. Actually, everyone from Lost Planet. "Hey, there's this super awesome fuel source located in the bodies of these giant insects! Lets kill them all so we can live here!" Except, you know, if you kill them all how do you harvest the afore mentioned fuelsource?

 

[Usnota]

I would have to say that the worst video game protagnist is master cheif, faceless, nameless silent badass is cool, but wears off after a few levels

as for the best, I will have to go with Kyle Katarn *prepares against hail of rotten tomatoes* or Revan, if had a voice he would be the badassiest!

Revan is the meaning of badass! So right now we are just discussing how to make him stand out.

For the best besides revan i'm going to bring up the HK-47 or whatever from KOTOR and KOTOR2. Hes not a protagonists but if he was it would be awesome!

Hell yes! KOTOR 3 with HK-47 as the main character, its Freakin' brilliant!!

 

[gejsiv]

Roy was present in Melee, which came out in 2001. Hector's game didn't come out until 2003, Ephraim until 2005.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Roy as much as the next guy. I also would have much preferred Hector or Lyn to show up as playable characters (assisst trophy doesn't count). I mean, they were the first lords anyone besides the japanese were allowed to play, and the ones most people connected with. Except Eliwood, whose only usefulness was for rescues after promotion...

 

[SimpleReally]

like father like son, even their critical hit animation is cheesy

one aspect that really pissed me off with fire emblem is that they don't let you choose your main character until you finish the game. If you want to play with Hector as main, you have to replay the game with increased difficulty, around 3-4 different levels, almost identical dialogue and an inferior soundtrack