Worst Protagonists.

[TheTakenOne]

I'm a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series, as anyone who knows me knows, but one thing it never really did well for me was have a good main character. It was odd for a series that boasted about 40+ characters each and gave them all fairly good to very good characterization despite not telling too much about them.

First we have Eliwood, the redheaded vanilla do-gooder with less personality than fighting ability who probably has sex with a dragon(depending on your choice of supports) and has a father who dies halfway through. Nothing interesting there.

Then we have Roy, the redheaded vanilla do-gooder with, quite literally, an entire harem of potential brides, less fighting ability than his father and also coincidentally the offspring of said dragon-humping(maybe). Oh, and his advisor is a merchant who has apparently been taking fashion advice from Hulk freakin' Hogan.

Moving on we have the vaguely incestuous twins Eirika and Ephraim from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. There's not a whole lot I can say about them considering nearly the entire story felt like an afterthought to the game.

Ike is a notable exception. His father is killed in front of him, he's thrust into a position of leadership of a band of mercenaries which causes two of the members to bail, and he and his group are suddenly targets of an entire enemy nation, all in the span of a few days. What does he do? He takes it like a man. Totally awesome. He had a pretty cool personality, too.

I like Micaiah, too. Maybe it's the silver hair.

 

[SimpleReally]

Concerning the sacred stones i thought most of the characters were shallow except for Ephraim (incest notwithstanding) and maybe Lyon (in ephraim's route where you learn more about him).

Eirika pales compared to lyn in every possible way

I'm just glad they removed merlinus and stopped adding fake difficulty by not allowing you to shop between battles

P.S: i wish they made Raven the main character instead of Eliwood, that guy had maybe 5 lines all game and he managed to be more interesting, plus his picture is badass

 

[HeyZeus_Ezekiel_Jesus]

The guy from UT3. Which begs the question why have a campaign in UT3 when you could just make a Unreal 3?

 

[the protaginist]

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.

i know this makes no sense at all,but i think TP was what happened between the seven years that passed when link pulled the master sword in OoT.
i liked all the zelda games

 

[gim73]

The Prince from Suikoden V. Everyone in that game hates that character. Half the characters can be missed perminantly if you don't say the right thing to them before a certain point. There are like five times more bad endings than good endings. If you ever aspire to be something great in the 'Queendom of Falena' you wind up dead. The Dawn rune was pathetic. I wish I could trade it in for a useful true rune like the Bright Shield rune or Soul Eater. It felt like a struggle to recruit most of the characters. Most of them hated you cuz your mother got pissed and nuked a town. Others hated you cuz you incited a civil war against your little sister and were backed by an evil senator. Of course, Georg Prime makes this game worth playing.

As for all the hate for Shu because of his 'I'm never gonna give up' thing, that gets actually covered in the game. Really, Shu is a very interesting character, especially when put side by side with the antagonist Nene, who is causing strife and disorder in the world just because he's bitter about being old and likes to watch people suffer. The only thing I hold against him is his constant need to kick EVERYTHING in the ENTIRE WORLD. This fault is also found in Radiata Stories, which is a far better game, even if the dwarves come across as the weakest of the non-humans.

Alot of final fantasy haters out there as well. Cecil was awesome and I'm almost tempted to buy a nintendo system for the first time in 11 years just so that I can play the handheld version. Terra/Celes as protagonist of 6 both work as good characters who have great storylines. Cloud bashing is common in forums, mostly because even haters really want to see 7 re-released for a current system. Squall deserves to be abused, and is often by Quistis. The real flaw with 8 was the entire last disc was crap. Zidane was a decent enough main character. Knock him for being a thief all you want, but he did have some cool overdrive moves. X wasn't about Tidus, it was about Auron. He may have been dead, but he was the first character you met who wasn't imaginary. XI was about Tarutaru dancing in Jeuno for gilz. In 12, Vaan was the first character you could play, but I believe Balthier when he says that he's the lead man. I hope the protagonist in 13 is actually a girl.

 

[PEWPEWGreenLaser]

...
-The cast of CoD4
...
-Again, not a protagonist, but who doesn't love HK-47? Easily my favorite video game character ever.

Yes and yes. CoD4 is the first shooter I've played in a VERY long time where the protagonists didn't feel like super-masculine caricatures of actual soldiers. They felt like real people. I actually gave a shit when these people were hurt or otherwise imperiled. I also felt a HUGE sense of accomplishment when helping them from afar (Spectre Gunship mission anyone?)

As for HK-47 well.. he sort of speaks for himself...

I would have congratulated him, if he had not been sizzling and incoherent at the time. If you will excuse me, I will meditate on the face of my old master as he was being electrocuted. I find it most soothing.

 

[Nikomikiri]

I also hated Vaan from FFXII, I was WAAAAYYY more interested in Ashe, Basche, Balthier and Fran and I'm stuck playing this little *****? Goddamn.
......
Is Johnny "Irritating worthless mother fucker" Garland from Shadow Hearts: From the New World. They replaced Yuri, the most awesome RPG lead EVER with this little fucker? He's an annoying amnesiatic fucktard, why should I care about him? Oh wait, there's no story, so it doesn't matter.

I hated Vaan. Basche would have been a much better main character. I can't even put my finger on exactly what bugs me about him.

I hate to play that game because Yuri wasn't the main character. You don't start off making a series of games with mostly the same characters, then cut them all out of the new game and keep the title.

 

[Housefly]

It worked for Square.

 

[Booze Zombie]

The worst protagonist... ever? Fuck... I've really gotta think about this.

Uh... Ah-ha, I got it! Reverent Ray from Call of Juarez. He's stupidity, self-righteousness and religios fervor held together by an iron cuirass. He fights "in the name of the lawd" and yells scripture at bandits to confuse them.

Oh, that's *awesome*. Fucker... he embodies all I hate, as do the enemies in the god damn game.

 

[Stagger P]

Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor from Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit.

 

[Cpt. Sarcastic]

Again. people that say the chief has no backstory havent read the books.

as for HK-47, yes he was a very amazing character. i think im going to go play KOTOR 2 now.

CoD4 would be my favorite game of all time if they didnt kill everyone in the end. (or miraculously survive the 20,000 some-odd bulletholes that you take in the last few levels)

 

[Housefly]

Again. people that say the chief has no backstory havent read the books.

The Halo books are fanfiction funded by a publisher. Is there a reason it wasn't possible to put Master Chief's backstory in the source material for the books, which is to say the games?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Belial from Painkiller: Overdose. He made me belatedly thank People Can Fly for making Daniel from the original game a silent protagonist. I got sick of Belial's Duke-Nukem-wannabe voiceovers five minutes before I got sick of the demo itself- and that's really, REALLY saying something.

 

[Dyskresiac]

Cloud Strife.

If he didn't have spikey hair and a big sword, 90% of people would hate him. That WAS his personality.

 

[Erana]

Tingle from the Zelda series. He has his own game over there in Japan. >.>

 

[Imperator_2]

*Throws kunai at the Link-haters*
He's supposed to be mute(at least he's not Gordon Freeman), and as such, sometimes has a compelling reason for what he does(In Wind Waker, his sister gets dragged off, in Twilight Princess, he gets hounded[literally] by an imperious living shadow that for the first part of the game Link simply wants her out of his life), and, while he's supposed to allow player immersion in the world around him(actions speaking louder than words), he clearly has a character all his own. Besides, maybe Miyamoto caught wind of fanfic, eh?

As for the Chief, leave him be. Similar concept to Link, but you read even more into his character by what little he says(look at what he says to Cortana and Johnson) and what he does(that whole promise to Cortana, for instance). He's a professional soldier, and in the middle of a combat situation, a professional soldier doesn't need to talk. You just have to engage your brain a little more to see the character.

Worst you asked? Most of the male protagonists from the latter Final Fantasy series. I can see why Yahtzee has contempt for them. Angsty, whining, and with a disturbing lack of masculinity, these "heroes" irk me. However, in most FF games, there is a quiet, tank like badass that makes up for it, and who usually has a cool story behind him(Auron, Ashe, Vincent).

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Being a lazy person I don't feel like reading this whole thread, could someone inform me of roughly how many people said "Master Chief."

I'm gonna say the BioShock guy. Doesn't even talk in a vague, off screen sense like Link. Gordon Freeman is that way too but he isn't the worst because he has a name, a face, a story, and a degree in theoretical physics from MIT.

EDIT: Wait, I remember that "BioShock guy" actually does have a story and I think someone said he was named Jack (I would never have figured that out unless someone tells it later in the story than I am now). Gordon still has the face and physics degree over him though.

I'm going with a "recent games" approach to this topic. Obviously the Doom Marine is pretty terrible but that wasn't a big deal back then.

EDIT2: Dammit! Now that I'm thinking about it I'm starting to like BioShock guy. Let me think about this now.

 

[Imperator_2]

Dunno, but it's a rather silly count...