These are just my favorite characters in video games, dawg. Maybe I'll update it from time to time (probably not).
I'm putting down characters as I think of them, so everything after #2 is a massive WIP, rank wise. If I ever actually get around to doing more of this, that is.
GAZE IN HORROR as you slowly- over the course of this list- come to realize that 90% of my day-to-day thought process is dominated by Final Fantasy Tactics and Persona 4!
Also, spoilers.
Okay, so I actually like my #2 entry on this list more at this point, but I'm giving Agrias the #1 spot as my legacy pick. Watching my brother play the prologue of FFT at seven years old and seeing Agrias use Stasis Sword for the first time BLEW MY FUCKING MIND. It still does a little bit, honestly.
To be entirely frank and give you TOO MUCH information: The fact that I'm attracted to capable women in real life can probably be traced back to that exact moment! Probably. Seven IS an impressionable age.
Unfortunately, the unique recruitable characters in FFT really don't have any dialogue or story after you recruit them. Bummer! Agrias still managed to make enough of an impression on me to clinch my (legacy) #1 spot, though. Hell, I named my dog after her!
Naoto is best girl, don't fucking @ me
(Unless you ALSO think Naoto is best girl, then you can totally @ me)
Seriously, this is my real #1. Remember what I said about capable women? Yeah, definitely my thing. I love everything about Naoto.
I love Kanji. I can't even think of a way to really joke about it, I just love the guy. His characterization in phenomenal, and Troy Baker turns it what is probably my all-time favorite VO in video games.
Sorry I stole your crush, dude. But That's how it is on this bitch of an earth.
I identify with Rin a lot! That's almost certainly a bad thing, huh?
Shit.
Easily my favorite route in Katawa Shoujo. I tend to think KS is pretty uneven (I only think 3 of the 5 routes are good, and varying degrees of good at that), but Rin's Route holds a very special place near and dear to my heart.
Lady steak. Meat girl. Carnivorous Kung-Fu. You probably shouldn't call Chie any of those things, but they're there if you want to. Free of charge. I think I stole the first one from Jeff, even. And let's be honest, that second one was as half-assed as it gets.
What can I say about Chie that a million people haven't already said? She's fucking great. One thing people tend to gloss over, however, is that her Social Link story is actually pretty fuckin' bland. But Chie transcends that in a major way, because of how fantastic she is.
My favorite FF protagonist. He's naive. He's easily manipulated. He fucks up more than a few times over the course of the game. He's the epitome of the "truth and justice, always do the right thing" protagonist.
But Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that trades almost exclusively in dramatic irony and people being enormous, irredeemable pieces of shit. Ramza doesn't fit. At all. And I find that super compelling.
Despite the fact that he gets disowned by his elder brothers (and, by extension, the rest of Ivalice's nobility), despite the fact that he gets branded a heretic, despite the fact that history will either completely forget him or forever spit on his name, he soldiers on. Ceaselessly. Set against the bleak backdrop of Final Fantasy Tactics, I find his otherwise staid characterization highly interesting.
I hate Delita so much that the post-credits scene in FFT may legitimately be may favorite video game cutscene ever. But he's also maybe the best video game character, period.
Incredibly interesting, eminently detestable. Perhaps the biggest piece of shit in a game filled with festering fecal folk.
But the fucked up thing? He's RIGHT. He sells his soul (figuratively; an important distinction in FFT) and turns himself into a facsimile every manipulative, self-serving asshole he hates just to keep Ivalice from falling apart. He's so far gone that he lies to everyone without a second thought. Even himself.
Y'know how some people are now talking about Solas from Dragon Age as being this really interesting character? Like, super hate-able but actually a great character who is ultimately really important to the story?
Yeah, Delita did it first, and better. Get outta here, egghead!
Yeah, he's a high school dipshit. I found his high school dipshittery to be DEAD-ON accurate, too.
But, unlike most real life high school dipshits, he legitimately cares for his friends, so that's a win in my book.
Tragic hero, twisted by fate (and demons). I love Wiegraf's arc, and he will forever be the guy I WISH I could recruit in FFT.
Also one of the most infamous boss fights of all time. Love it.
They were in Sacred 2! Kinda cheating, eh? One of my favorite bands, and they have a character page, so FUCK IT.
Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.
Fuckin' yeah
A player cypher, yeah. But my favorite of the Modern Persona protagonists. The main thing I go back to with Persona 4 is just how much the main characters GENUINELY care for each other, and I felt that Atlus was able to integrate that intrinsically into Yu's character without removing player agency.
He just seems like the best dude in the world to be friends with.
I actually really like Yukari! Not always the most popular opinion online, and I get it. I do. But I also get Yukari's (divisive) point of view, and I empathize with her.
And she's cute. Can't I be at least a LITTLE shallow once in a while, goddamn it?
My second favorite girl/route in Katawa Shoujo. Mostly lighthearted, but got heavy in a way that didn't seem fake.
Bubbly and fun, a great counterpoint to Rin!
And again, cute.
Shepard.
A bit boring, maybe; cliche, even, if you're feeling particularly saucy- but she's just goofy enough in a way I find highly endearing to ultimately rise above that.
As more P4 playthroughs go by, the more I like her (Within reason- she'll never supplant Chie or Naoto).
This dude's nuts! Literally!
One of the playable lieges in the much maligned, highly underrated strategy RPG Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena/ Grand Edition. Dryst is the insane one. He does whatever he pleases at any given time, with no regard for personal safety- his own or anyone else's.
The absolute most "Dryst" moment comes at the end of the game, after you've defeated the rest of the monarchs and united the country. Dryst, deciding that the war was just TOO MUCH FUN to stop now, announces that he'll be bequeathing the territories previously owned by the rival leaders to his top generals, and they're gonna do the war all over again.
Y'know. For funsies.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't let you play this second war. I would love that.
Dragon Age II is not a great game. This is coming from a one-time defender of said game. Every time I try to play through the entire Dragon Age series (which happens every two years or so), I can't stomach playing more than about half of DAII anymore, at most. Then I just say fuck it and fill out the DAII stuff in the Dragon Age Keep thingy.
HOWEVER, I will fight ANYONE over the fact that I think DAII has Bioware's best character writing in any of their games overall. Shame that it's saddled with a mediocre game.
Merrill is my top pick from II. Quirky, fun personality in a way that doesn't feel gimmicky. Super lovable, but has some more sinister things going on. Great arc.
THE archetype of overpowered characters in video games, and an overall cool dude. Just look at that beard! It's like he walked straight out of Amish country! Killer.
Though I almost never use him in playthroughs anymore, eight year old me viewed him as the golden fuckin' ticket to beating the game. 'Cause he is, basically.
Forever calibrating my heart.
