Your Ideal Protagonist

[Hero of Lime]

Link! I like that he(they) let's his actions speak louder than words. In the context of gaming, a protagonist like Link is literally "Gameplay the Protagonist." He is there to play as, he has a set motivation yet if you so desire, you can project personality, motivation, etc. He and by extension other silent or near silent protagonists are my ideal protagonists.

Plus I like having a goody-two-shoes hero, sure a main character with unsavory traits is nice, but in the Zelda games, Link fits perfectly as the hero. This is opinion of course, I know most people don't think much of silent protagonists here.

 

[Lord Garnaat]

I like my heroes tough, quiet, implacable, inflexible, and incorruptible. Think Stannis Baratheon from Game of Thrones, Joshua Graham from Fallout, or O-Chul from The Order of the Stick. They're utterly righteous, completely and unquestionably driven and determined, and incapable of being stopped or reasoned with. They're pure purity in its purest form, and that's pretty damn terrifying sometimes.

 

[DRTJR]

A man of Strategy and tactics, whose greatest weapon is his mind not their brawn. A man who makes their own fate, and leads by example. A character who is surrounded in mystery and leaves as soon as they are no longer needed. An adviser to the true Hero, some times he is known as a Courier, sometimes a Tactician, sometimes a Shepard, but always an easier path is presented by Caesar, Conqueror, or just an illusive man.

 

[Dreadman75]

My perfect protagonist in one word...COMPETENT!

I have gotten so sick of seeing various forms of media that feature individuals that are either morons or have some crippling inability to learn from their mistakes. This is most prevalent in certain TV shows and anime but my point stands.

Let me explain what exactly I mean by competent just so I'm clear:

1. They don't have to be perfect, but they have to be intelligent, and have the common sense necessary to deal with whatever they come across. You can still have an everyman hero, even a funny one, that still has common sense.

2. Any mistakes they make, they learn from them.

3. Then genuinely make an effort to correct any problems/flaws they may have.

More often than I'd like, I see characters that don't follow even one of these guidelines when, in theory, if wouldn't be that difficult to do so. Hence, this list is what makes my perfect protagonist.

 

[Saltyk]

Remember how there's no perfect pasta sauce? (Thank god for Jim) Well, there's also no perfect protagonist.

First of all. Thank God for Jim.

Second, I agree with this post. The perfect protagonist fits the game. Or the show or movie. Sora was the perfect protagonist for Kingdom Hearts, while Lelouch was the perfect protagonist for Code Geass and John McClane was the perfect protagonist for Die Hard.

Thirdly, I make a pretty mean pasta sauce.

 

[Roberto Hadi]

Mega Man.
But the one I really want to see in a videogame at some point is the anti-villain criminal protagonist. Like the guy from The Killer. Or even better, Leo from the comicbook "Criminal".
The guy is a thief, considered a coward by the other criminals in his city, except those who really know him. He gets pushed into a really crappy situation and spends most of his arc trying to get out of it. Untill he is pushed too far, then he goes nuclear.

 

[Black Reaper]

I like protagonist's who break or don't fit into a stereotype

My favorite kind of protagonist is a main character who is interesting. Not good, not bad, not necessarily proactive, but interesting. Someone who exists to exhibit a question or show an idea through their actions or inactions. Someone who embodies something. I don't need a goodie two shoes, I don't need an angsty anti-hero, I want you to be saying something substantial with your characters and material dagnabbit!

I may have misunderstood you, but i agree with what i understood from your post
I don't like heroes of Justice, they always believe they are in the right and their enemy is unquestionably in the wrong

I loved Emiya Shirou in the Heaven's feel route because he realized that to save Sakura, he would have to abandon his ideals of being a superhero, since by saving her he was condemning other people

Minato Kageaki was also great, he's not an extremely attractive generic shounen lead, he's not an invincible hero who has 0% chance of losing, he's not the chosen one or anything, he's just a normal guy who was at the wrong place, at the wrong time

I also liked Ryougi Shiki since she is a complete badass/psycho, since the first movie/novel you learn that she is missing an arm, but when you see how she lost it, you might gaze in awe at the sheer badassness of it
I also really liked her character, it would be too complex to describe here, but i really liked her room

Spoiler: room image

It is so simple, she only has what she needs to live (bed, fridge) plus a phone, it is such a small detail, but it screams psycho

My perfect protagonist in one word...COMPETENT!

I have gotten so sick of seeing various forms of media that feature individuals that are either morons or have some crippling inability to learn from their mistakes. This is most prevalent in certain TV shows and anime but my point stands.

Let me explain what exactly I mean by competent just so I'm clear:

1. They don't have to be perfect, but they have to be intelligent, and have the common sense necessary to deal with whatever they come across. You can still have an everyman hero, even a funny one, that still has common sense.

2. Any mistakes they make, they learn from them.

3. Then genuinely make an effort to correct any problems/flaws they may have.

More often than I'd like, I see characters that don't follow even one of these guidelines when, in theory, if wouldn't be that difficult to do so. Hence, this list is what makes my perfect protagonist.

That is why i liked Yuri from Tales of Vesperia(apart from his awesome personality)
Reaction upon seeing a clearly evil man
Yuri: looks like someone won a one way ticket to an exclusive all you can eat dinner of Yuri's sword
Asbel(protagonist of Tales of Graces): guys, he's our friend, there's no way he could be evil!

And that that dinner part reminds me,
Any Yoko Taro(the guy that wrote Drakengard 1 and 3 plus Nier) protagonist
Caim for example has such a simple personality(mute murderer), but it works so well

And that competence thing reminds me of Nowe from Drakengard 2, he is simply retarded, the whole plot of Drakengard 2 could have been solved if he used his head for an instant

 

[The Wykydtron]

Arg super snips are hard.

Oi, Ai is Tsundere as fuck and should be afforded all the respect that title demands. It doesn't help that even the most generic, by the book Tsundere character is like my favourite thing ever. I CAN'T HELP IT MAN, IT'S SO ADORABLE!

Walking backwards? Ha! That only works if you're the scrub who throws out an IK at the moment he's about to lose out of pure desperation. It's like the best read and punish in the game except Chie's IK cuz it's faster.

Spoiler

Perfect example. Dat read. Also apparently you can cancel fucking everything into Ziodyne... Glad that super has so many hits it does fuck all damage. Cross Slash on the other hand...

Ok maybe you've got me with Minato banging Elisabeth. That is pretty damn swag. Unless I tell you that Elisabeth is widely considered the outright worst character in P4A... Are tier lists canon? :3

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I gotta mirror previous comments and say there is no perfect protagonist, just perfect protagonists.

I like confident, capable people who are outside the norms of what we usually see, and are interesting.
I.E.
John Marston of Dead Redemption
Fem Shep of Mass Effect
Bayonetta from the game of the same name
Lee Everett from The Walking Dead
Boss from the Saints Row series
Ruby from Wet
Nariko from Heavenly Sword
The protagonists from Tenchu are pretty awesome. Rikimaru got mo-capped by Sho Kosugi. Onikage by Kane Kosugi.
I'd say Elder Scrolls, and the Fallout protagonists but they're a bit too malleable, but the games they are in are nice, and they fit certain moods.

That's a brief list.

They don't have to be morally upright, or perfect. I like some spice in my chracter.
Heck their flaw could be that they're Maru Sue/Gary Stu.

I'd like to play as a modern Catburglar, like Catwoman. Comic Version, not Hallie Berry. An Anti-hero/anti-villain. Skulking, parkouring, defeating alarm systems, infiltrating, acrobatics, hanging offa ceilings, maybe use a cat now and then, and of courrse run from the cops, and/or batman.
Hopefully she'll have a better traversal system than she did in Arkham City. I was kinda dissapointed in the lack of thievery and the brevity of her story in that game.
I'd really love a good Gotham City Sirens (A comic series that starred a team up of Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn) game, though I'm not sure how it'd get pulled off.

I'd not mind female protagonists who are sexy, and know it, and own it like Bayonetta, but not her. Like more protagonists like that. Not afraid to use sexuality as a tool, but you don't have to get super trashy unless you want to, to get things done. Maybe some Lesbian/bi characters in the same vein.

'm not always in a prim, and proper mood.

I have a preferrence (not set in stone, or absolute) for female protagonists.

 

[HardkorSB]

My ideal protagonist would of course be me.
Not some buffed up and/or sexualized imaginary version of me like they let you create in some games but me - same strengths, same weaknesses, same charisma, same personality, same everything.
That way, I could ideally perceive the game world, from my point of view.

I hope that someday someone will make a game that will be capable of providing this kind of experience.

 

[ExtraDebit]

The perfect protagonist for me is one that is mechanically in game weaker than the enemies, angry story wise and with a personality to kick some ass while working around his weakness.

 

[A Weakgeek]

For the fun and awesome type I say

Spoiler: the typical 80's action hero.

For srs stuff it really depends. I do want them to be believable, and because of that, the typical heroic/good alingment doesn't hold up with me most of the time. The protagonist needs personal reasons to risk themselves

 

[Plasticaprinae]

A person who doesn't give up and has a variety of emotions. They might prefer one emotion over the other, but they can still show everything. I also like it if they are challenged morally or challenge the viewer morally, like Walter white or something. Or heck, Zuko and Aang from Avatar the last airbender get a lot of moral issues to deal with.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Arg super snips are hard.

Oi, Ai is Tsundere as fuck and should be afforded all the respect that title demands. It doesn't help that even the most generic, by the book Tsundere character is like my favourite thing ever. I CAN'T HELP IT MAN, IT'S SO ADORABLE!

I like the Tsundere character type too, but Ai and her creepy obsession with you (if you stay lovers) is, well...creepy.

Walking backwards? Ha! That only works if you're the scrub who throws out an IK at the moment he's about to lose out of pure desperation. It's like the best read and punish in the game except Chie's IK cuz it's faster.

Spoiler

Perfect example. Dat read. Also apparently you can cancel fucking everything into Ziodyne... Glad that super has so many hits it does fuck all damage. Cross Slash on the other hand...

Yu and his insta-kill has a long wind-up time, as long as you don't screw yourself over with long attacks against someone with 100+ SP, you are fine.

Ok maybe you've got me with Minato banging Elisabeth. That is pretty damn swag. Unless I tell you that Elisabeth is widely considered the outright worst character in P4A... Are tier lists canon? :3

I dunno, she was an absolute beast in Persona 3, a character is only as good as the person who plays them, I have seen some people kick people senseless with Elizabeth (although to be fair, I still can't find out how the fuck she works)

I got the "best friends" ending with Ai. Since i'm planning on saving myself for Naoto this is a good thing :3

[sub][sub]Too bad I need to tell her the best friend position is already taken by Yosuke[/sub][/sub]

Long range attacks with long wind up times?! Who does that remind me of?!

Spoiler

Oh...

To be honest, Elisabeth has the combos and the damage. She's just relies on her Persona so much and has so few tricks up her sleeves it's not had to punish and predict her every move.

1. She will command grab you. This is fact.

2. She will bait you with knockback roar thing. Keep an eye on the start of that animation to determine whether it's a command grab or roar before throwing *insert move here* out to effortlessly break it.

3. If you go in, she will Shuffle Time you away. This is fact.

4. Once she knocks you back she will in all likeliness fire a beam at you. MYRIAD TRUTHS IMMEDIATELY. GG SON

Anyway, everyone knows the real bullshit Persona is Konohana Sakuya. Hands off my Yukiko please, I insist.

The best Persona in the game is the pink girly one... Swag?

 

[Fox12]

Batman. My ideal protagonist is Batman.

 

[Mikeyfell]

My ideal male protagonist is voiced by Troy Baker.

That's it. Anything else can be portrayed in the nuance of his performance. He is the greatest (Primarily voice) actor ever. And he is absolutely sublime when ever he is put in a lead roll.

(Nolan North can either shut the fuck up, or stick to supporting and background rolls, because that's where he shines)

But I guess you want actual personality traits and whatnot.

Mostly Jaded, very cynical with a one track mind. Not necessarily showing utter disregard for others. But his trust and respect need to be earned.
Morally slightly darker grey, and logical.
Not stoic. Not at all. He needs a full range of emotions. You need to be able to picture him having a good time despite all the things the plot calls for him to do.
He needs to have an evident connection to the events of the plot. Some reason why this stuff is happening to him, or a reason why he's motivated to do it. His skills or lack of skills are appropriate to his back-story.


My ideal female protagonist has well to be blunt, there is more opportunity for different female characteristics to lend them selves to the roll of protagonist.

The traits associated with "Lead females" are more closely associated with "Supporting males" Who can do what ever the fuck they want and the plot can't stop them. Which is awesome.

Where supporting females are usually understated with a singular developmental track (Kind of like leading males)
I know weird huh?

So almost any interesting female character can carry an entire story more or less on her own. Where it takes a very specific type of male to carry a whole story.

Personally I like my female protagonists to have deep seeded anger issues or neurosis about something, (And voiced by Tara Strong, Harley Quinn, Twilight Sparkle, Juliet Starling. Seriously you can't go wrong)

Basically their growth track should change over the course of the story (Which is a type of growth on it's own)
Her negative traits should challenge her but the story should never be about them. It's never her goal to undo the the things that have been bottled up inside her for so long. Status Quo is over rated and she doesn't need normalcy to accomplish her goals anyway! FUCK NORMAL!

 

[Austin Howe]

My ideal protagonist is a well-written character with a good arc, be it heroic or tragic, noble or villainous.