If you don't pick Jenks, then did you really enjoy gaming in 2015?
2015's best new characters
So many good choices. It's been a helluva year.
Flowey from Undertale probably takes it. (Yes, I know the demo was in 2013 but the character doesn't count until he's in a full release.)
Catherine Chun, SOMA
How has no one said Catherine yet? Her character arc, place in the fiction, dialogue, carefree way of speaking and her interactions with the main character?
My other picks would be:
D-Dog, Metal Gear Solid V - No character development? You find him as a puppy, he grows up, he has an eye-patch and later in the game you can give him an eye implant.
Nick Valentine, Fallout 4
Em, Until Dawn
Peter Stormare, In general but also for his performance in Until Dawn as Dr. Hill
Fiona, Tales from the Borderlands
Singing Shopkeeper, Crypt of the Necrodancer
and, of course,
The Entire Cast of, Contradiction
Until Dawn: Mike; the ultimately brave and soft-hearted bro I expected to hate but ended up loving.
SOMA: Catherine. Though your AI companion, she never ventured into Cortana territory. There were long stretches of the game where I wished I could hear her voice. She was also a flawed yet well-meaning character in her own right.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture: Rev. Jeremy Wheeler. A kind-hearted man who violates his personal ethics in the hope of being moral.
Fallout 4: My own character, Emily, and intrepid, humanitarian reporter Piper Wright. We make an adorable couple.
Jenks (Contradiction), the woman in Her Story (I forget her name- their names), Chloe Price (from Life is Strange), Piper (Fallout 4), and Lorraine (the Park). That's all I can think of at the moment. That's probably the order of my top five characters this year actually.
I was trying to think of a cool character from Bloodborne to add, but while there are cool characters (Father Gascoigne for example) they're best for their back stories and not necessarily for what happens with them in the game.
Nick Valentine - Fallout 4
@cornbredx: The Doll mane.
"I am a doll, created by you humans. Would you ever think to love me? Of course ... I do love you. Isn't that how you've made me?"
D-Dog and Luda had some pretty powerful lines but that's some deep shit.
"May you find your worth in the waking world."
I want to nominate the cast of SOMA in a separate category, namely "Grounded and Straight Characters". Since they don't stand a chance in the usual rigmarole that only ever includes the funniest characters or satirically handled archetypes, I think they deserve a mention for stellar voice acting and good writing.
Moira "Fucking Technology" Burton Is definitely up there for me. Not really because she swears so much (in the English version of the game), but more because she helps return the series to the camp early beginnings and writing of the first three Resident Evil games.
Loaderbot for sure
I think I'm going to side with this one. There is no other character this year that zapped me into a state of glee as quickly with screen-presence. Loaderbot is the one-time joke that just kept giving, and giving, and giving. And by the end of the series, he both literally and metaphorically carried the journey to its incredible closing.
Edit: I'm going to spoiler that. Just in case. It's pretty indirect?
Drinking Buddy from Fallout 4 (Curie, Nick, Ironsides Whitechapel Charlie...I could just name every bot/synth in the game)
Bloody Baron and Johnny from The Witcher 3
Huey from MGSV (they truly give you great reasons to hate him and he's now a stark contrast to his son which is something I appreciate)
Gortys and Loaderbot from Tales of the Borderlands
And then of course Inspector Jenks from Contradiction
It probably is actually Jenks. He's almost certainly the funniest.
Huey is the standout guy from MGSV. Chloe is probably the one in Life is Strange. Undyne was the one I liked the most in Undertale.
Ranked from greatest to least:
Dr. Catherine Chun - SOMA
The Doll - Bloodborne
Nick Valentine - Fallout 4
Marie - Splatoon
Quiet - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
And I'm only a couple minutes into Spooky's House of Jumpscares but I dig Spooky a lot, if only for design.
PSA: Please remember to say what game it's from for the benefit of those of us who don't play every single triple A title! I have no idea who a few of y'all are talking about.
That said, I just went through my top 10 or 15 or so games, and not a one character stood out to me. Holy crap. That's pretty damning for my game choices this year.
Edit: My PSA goes double for indie games since there are a bojillion of them.
I can see Chloe being a very important character for sure. The story gives her a lot of room to be developed. I also like Chloe, I never once found her annoying. Chloe was exasperating in the same way a friend can be exasperating...but you would never leave them.
On topic: Definitely Chloe Price from Life Is Strange. I've known enough broken people that she hit really close to home.
I actually found her plenty annoying, irrational, confrontation, and just plain bitchy at times - but that's what made her such a good character.
Jup. I think some people sometimes make the mistake of confusing sympathetic and unsympathetic character traits with whether a person is badly written or not. With that in mind I'm on the same boat as a lot of other people in saying that Emily is fucking awesome
Nick Valentine.
came here to post this. flying pretty close to the sun here admittedly, but yeah, great character.
This a million times, and the Bloody Baron. Both their character arcs were my favorites in 2015.
Max is my favorite new character. The rest is sort of unlisted:
- Max Caulfield, Life is Strange
- Jenks, Contradiction
- Quiet, MGSV
- Emily, Until Dawn
- Hannah, Her Story
Ciri - The Witcher 3
Jenks - Contradiction
Emily - Until Dawn
Nick Valentine - Fallout 4
The Doll - Bloodborne
Bloody Baron - Witcher 3
Loader Bot - Tales from the Borderlands
Evie Frye - Syndi....sorry, Assassins Creed: Syndicate
Chloe Price - Life is Strange
Catherine - SOMA
There. Top 10 in no particular order.
If we're trying to guess what the GB list will be I have to echo:
- Nick Valentine
- D Dog
- Jenks
- Peter Stormare in Until Dawn
-Catherine Chun, SOMA
-Dr. Hill, Until Dawn
-LoaderBot, Tales from the Borderlands
-Max Caulfield, Life is Strange
-The Bloody Baron, Witcher 3
A great year for new characters. Final vote is probably for Chun, as I've never seen myself reflected so much in a game character and it was refreshing. She's so pragmatic without being villainous or sociopathic. She just cares about things within a range of priorities and possibilities. Often it makes her (and me) feel like an alien around other people.
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