by mento
Oh hey, apparently one vitriolic forum-wide competition concerning the previous generation of games wasn't enough and Hailinel is busy working on a separate one that looks at the most memorable characters from the last eight years of modern console and PC games.
Because a lot of his/my nominated characters for that poll are from JRPGs, I figured some of them might require a bit of explanation for those who haven't played the games to which they belong. Beyond that, though, this is just my own little list of characters I've enjoyed. It might help people decide who to vote for in match-ups where one or both characters are from games they've never played, but probably not? I dunno if I'll get around to everyone worthy of acclaim but for the time being this is an unordered list of some of the finer folk I've met in my virtual ventures. There might be a spoiler or two here, but in most cases I'm discussing one of several possible endings.
(I'm doing the maximum of two per game, one of each gender, otherwise I'll be here forever. As well as the better developed characters, I tend to favor a lot of fun one-note badasses so you're going to have to take some of these with a grain of salt. As always, post your own suggestions both here and in Hailinel's nomination thread.)
[WORK IN PROGRESS]
Showing 1-10 of 50 items
I keep wanting to type "Yuri Lowenthal". (He's voiced by Troy Baker, for the record.) Yuri's just a cool customer. Kicked out of the Imperial Knights for being too awesome, Yuri just kind of roams around fighting injustice his own way like an androgynous anime Batman. He's a lot smarter than most anime protagonists tend to be (*cough*Lloyd*cough*) and despite being somewhat laid-back can really throw dark at times. If you're playing a 60 hour JRPG (more like 100 in my case, damn grindy achievements), it's nice to have a main character that can constantly surprise you.
Pretty much Yuri's counterpart as far as not really giving a shit most of the time, Judith is a scantily clad spearmaiden of the elusive Kritya (elves, just... they're elves) tribe. While she's walking cosplay-bait, Judith's detachment is played up for laughs more often than not and she settles into a relaxed big sister role in the group, despite spending the previous section of the game as the party's chief antagonist. She's also one of the most fun characters to play as, since she dominates with air combos and juggles. Y'know, because all Tales games are secretly Street Fighter.
Hard to narrow this one down. I considered Riki, as a rare example of a mascot/comic relief character that didn't grate every time he opened his mouth (making him a middle-aged conman in heavy debt and with a Catholic-sized family of kids to feed was an interesting touch too), but Dunban wins because of the badass thing again. Despite being effectively crippled by the Monado, since he was very much not attuned to the devastating weapon for plot reasons, he still somehow managed to destroy an entire Mechon army with it singlehandedly. You know, because he could. He spends much of the game in a wise mentor role, but there are times when he absolutely loses his shit (disparaging his family tends to be a trigger) and it is a marvel to behold. Really a bad idea to piss off the greatest warrior that ever lived.
Fiora and Sharla both go through a lot of gnarly business, but their storylines end more or less on a happy note. Melia's does not. Groomed to be Empress of the isolationist High Entia from a young age, there's a lot Melia isn't quite prepared for: duplicitous and envious nobles, "trials" which seem designed to kill future rulers rather than test their worth and holy shit the last third of the game took its toll on her people. She doesn't even get the guy at the end either. Still manages a stoicism through it all that would make a British person envious, which implies an impressive inner-strength.
Zael's the only character of any note from The Last Story (comic relief are comic relief, Calista's a little too perfect, less said about Dagran's arc the better) but he's a solid hero type. Not happy being a mercenary all his life, Zael aspires to knighthood and the respect and admiration that comes with the position. Last Story doesn't really subvert cliches too much, so it's probably not a spoiler to say that the knight life's not all it's cracked up to be.
Pandora Tower's deuteragonist isn't the big hero her beau Aeron is, so while he's out gallivanting around towers and chain-whipping monsters like they were Homestar Runner at a bread sing-a-long, Elena quietly suffers her curse and makes the best of a bad situation. Excusing the whole helpless damsel angle for a moment, since I know that's a sore point with many, Elena's a well-established character whose backstory, hopes and dreams are slowly elaborated upon as the game progresses. The game really wants you to care about her so the plot punches at the end hurt all the more (though, in the interest of spoilers, I will say there are multiple ways the ending can play out).
Travis makes himself out to be a ruthless sociopathic killer, but really he's just an emotionally-stunted manchild and the No More Heroes games make no illusions about it. His violent and obnoxious attitude is as often played for humor as it is for the sake of a cool showdown, and that edge of self-awareness (on the game's part, not Travis' part) elevates Travis above most character action game badasses.
Stocke's a big question mark upon beginning Radiant Historia. For one thing, he's considered one of the best agents of a paramilitary organization that more or less assassinates people and does other shady cloak and dagger business. It's initially quite hard to place where his allegiances lie or where his mind is at. Part of the game's brilliance is that he discovers who he really is as the player does, as he is forced to make more and more decisions about the fate of the world and processes the pros and cons of each possible outcome from the perspective of a guy who just wants to do right with the least amount of human suffering.
Just superficially speaking a big reason why I like Aht (also of Radiant Historia) is that she's a little girl character who isn't obnoxious or way too precious. Walking Dead's Clementine also pulls off a similar balancing act. What the game does a subtle job of is proving how much of an asset Aht can be, as her abilities as a Shaman make her one of the most powerful people in the world - yet at the same time she is still a child with all the willful obstinacy and naivety being that age entails. She's a veritable powerhouse, but also just a kid, and that makes for an interesting contrast. (It's fair to say also that I pretty much waltzed through the game with her help. Goddamn, those elemental traps of hers. Yowch.)
Nier spends much of the game a broken man. He devotes his entire being to the happiness and health of his daughter Yonah, and doesn't take it well when she is kidnapped by a shadowy figure. The ensuing pursuit is played out as they often are in these games, with him teaming up with a friendly sentient book and taking on increasingly powerful shadowy entities who may or may not know where their King is hiding. Upon a second playthrough, you really start to understand more about what this game is trying to say through its hero's single-mindedness and how little he seems to acknowledge his companions or anything outside of his grief-induced tunnel vision. His slow development eventually leads to what might be the most selfless act ever performed by a video game protagonist. In other words, think Kratos but with actual growth.
