Favorite character arcs in gaming

For me, I would have likely picked, once again, the Mass Effect trilogy, this time its squadmates. I really liked how each of the squadmates I've gathered in the trilogy developed, changed, and come into their own. Examples:

• Garrus goes from C-Sec officer, to Archangel, and eventually Primarch Victus' military adviser.
• Liara goes from Prothean archaeologist, to intel broker, to eventually the new Shadow Broker.
• Wrex goes from bounty hunter, to leader of Clan Urdnot, all the way to leader of the entire krogan race.
• Tali'Zorah goes from a teenager on her pilgrimage, to crew member of the Neema and Normandy, all the way to admiral of the quarian flotilla like her late father.
• Kaidan/Ashley goes from Staff Lieutenant/Gunnery Chief, to Staff Commander, all the way to full-fledged Spectre like Commander Shepard.

And that goes for the ten Mass Effect 2 squadmates who do not rejoin my squad. Seven of them survive to see their own arcs receive satisfying conclusions. The remaining three die, but not before resolving their arcs just as much as the aforementioned seven squadmates. Joker and EDI go from rivals fighting for control of the Normandy, to friends sharing control of the ship, all the way to romance partners upon the latter hijacking Dr. Eva Core's robot body. James Vega gets himself promoted to the N7 rank, despite him sacrificing an entire colony for intel on the Collectors. And Javik... didn't really have anything in the way of a character-arc, other than that he wants to avenge his species and die peacefully with them, too.

Kanji. Get bent!

Not a single character arc specifically, but the number one thing that springs instantly to mind is Joel and Ellies relationship arc during The Last of Us.

Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite, I remember when it first hit me that her character had gone from a naive happy girl to more hardened and cold. It was a bit of an emotional gut punch where I realized, yeah, all of the shit going on around her would be rather depressing and terrible, damnit, I wanna go back to the dancing scene now.

I'm also on board with @frodobaggins saying the The Last of Us, the whole flow of their arc together was great. My favorite part is where after Joel finds Ellie right after she killed the leader of the group who were after them and it skips forward and now Joel has obviously come to like her being around and wants to engage with her, but Ellies trauma has obviously effected her and she's a bit more distant and their roles have very naturally switched between who is and isn't cold, Brilliant.

I'm even a bit of a sucker for Moira Burton in Resident Evil Revelations 2. Going from I hate guns to I just saved my dad with a gun while not unpredictable and still with that notable Resident Evil/Capcom cheese, she was just such a fun character that it felt good.

First character that came to mind. My second favorite from the game is Ai. Her arc over the course of her social link is quite beautiful and she real changes as a person in the game. Really wish Jeff and Vinny played that SL out in the ER.

Miranda is a really good character arc over the course of ME2 as she is this hard ass but as her and Sheps become closer she begins to see the world in a different light, can even go against the Illusive Man.

Kind of a long shot but Max in Max Payne 3 has a pretty good arc over the course of the game itself. One of the few things I actually liked about the game but by the end he tries to do what is right and clean himself off, even earns a walk into the sunset ending.

Mass Effect characters all seemed to go through big changes, with some being considerably more likeable and some not. The biggest risk they took was probably Thane, going from this lethal killer to someone slowly preparing to die. It was incredible and very well done. "It's freeing to find no requirements placed on me. No responsibilities, no fears. It is a good end to a life."

Starcraft and Brood War had huge, gigantic shifts with characters. It's easy to sum up, but you're there step by step and everything feels natural. I'll just list a couple.

And just a bunch of other stuff. So good.

And Gabriel Belmont in Lords of Shadow, his change from holy warrior to spiteful monster also seemed believable and justified. I only got an hour into Lords of Shadow 2, but seeing him as pure evil in Mirror of Fate made me think "man... we've come a long way."

I thought Kenny was brilliantly written throughout season one and two of Telltales' The Walking Dead. Some seriously aggravating character flaws, but he's so fiercely loyal and always there to help you. He keeps messing up by being too rash in his decisions, but he always means well and he genuinely cares for the people he tries to protect. His attempts to constantly replace his lost family is heartbreaking when you think about it.

Man, I don't think I want to sit here long enough to think of a "for-sure" answer, but that Monk in Persona 3 is great. His social link was the best part of that whole game for me.

Hilarious that I don't even remember his name.

@frodobaggins: Completely agree. The arc of Joel and Ellie's relationship is what I will always point to and say "No, video-game stories can't just be about on par with film and literature; sometimes they can be way better!"

I'll also go with Naked Snake's arc in MGS3, real "birth of a warrior" type stuff in the best way possible. And yeah, like half of Mass Effect's cast has this in spades (particularly Garrus and Wrex).

Wheatley's arc was cute too, though not super-complex it was a lot of fun to see.

@eternalnothingness: I realize Mass Effect isn't exactly a new game, but you still may want to spoiler tag those - and possibly the topic title as well. You've basically laid out the entire trilogy in those few short sentences. It would be pretty disappointing to read that if you were someone who hadn't played the series yet.

For some reason I can only think of Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia. I played it a long time ago, so I may not be remembering this right - but he fights with his feet, keeping his hands in chains. You later learn it's because he killed his girlfriend (at her request) with his hands and now keeps them bound so that he may never use them for killing again. (but he can totally kick people to death) I don't know why, but I found this really cool when I first played it and it has stuck with me all these years.

@lackingsaint: Ooh I forgot about Wheatley, that was fun to watch. Portal 2 has very satisfying writing.

I've always thought that Warcraft 3 has some interesting character arcs. Arthas's fall from grace, Grom Hellscream overcoming his wild rage, Illidan's exile from the Dark Elves, Kael'thas leading his people away from being second-class citizens to humans, et cetera. By forcing you to play as each faction, Blizzard makes you identify with each faction's set of characters so that you can understand and sympathize with their plight, even if they become antagonists in the end.

Metal Gear Solid 3. Particularly Snake and The Boss and their relationship. What's amazing about it is that even through Kojima's generously applied cheese, the character drama in this one manages to cut through. I don't think Kojima's written a story half as affecting before or since, though the other Metal Gears have their moments.