What are your favorite 'main protag in a very large cast' vg characters?

Board 8

Board 8 » What are your favorite 'main protag in a very large cast' vg characters?
Johnbobb
04/04/2025
09:36 PM
#1
Like for games like RPGs or fighting games or other games where you've got a bunch of characters that all get significant screentime, are there any where the main protagonist is actually your favorite? Not so much looking for games where the protagonist alone is 99% of the game

Like for instance, I've always thought Ryu was one of the less interesting Street Fighter characters, but Jin is one of my favorites in Tekken (though it's tough to say he's my #1)

For Soul Calibur, I think arguments could be made for either Siegfried or Kilik as the main protagonist (depending on the entry) and Kilik is probably my favorite SC character
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Mega_Mana
04/04/2025
09:39 PM
#2
Counting everyone including those outside the main groups, Estelle Bright in Trails in the Sky FC & SC.
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azuarc
04/04/2025
09:39 PM
#3
It's statistically unlikely in games like that not because the protagonist is only 1 in n characters, (though that is a factor,) but because typically the side characters are allowed to be more eccentric in a way that one or more of them tend to be very likeable -- either in general, or with a specific sub-audience. I don't know if there's anyone who prefers Commander Shepard over all of Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Mordin, and whoever else you want to throw in. Shepard themselves is just too much of a neutral blank slate, and this is in a game where you can specifically play as a "paragon" or a "renegade," and thus Shepard often does show some real personality.

I guess I have to ask, how large does the cast have to be to be "very large?"
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Underleveled
04/04/2025
09:41 PM
#4
Squall in FF8, Clive in FF16

Lloyd in Tales of Symphonia... when I first played it I vastly preferred Sheena, Zelos and even Kratos, but Lloyd has slowly inched his way to the top for me over the years.

Chrom and Ike in their respective Fire Emblem games

Those immediately come to mind. I'm sure I'll come up with more later.
darkx
Leonhart4
04/04/2025
09:45 PM
#5
azuarc posted...
I don't know if there's anyone who prefers Commander Shepard over all of Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Mordin, and whoever else you want to throw in.

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redrocket
04/04/2025
09:45 PM
#6
Ramza in FFT
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MacArrowny
04/04/2025
09:49 PM
#7
Estelle from Trails is a good shout. She was probably my favorite until Zero, at least.

Underleveled posted...
Squall in FF8, Clive in FF16
a game with six playable characters and a game with one playable character
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
LeonhartFour
04/04/2025
09:51 PM
#8
excuse you, FFVIII has nine playable characters

"large cast" doesn't necessarily mean just the playable ones anyway

Regardless the protagonist is the best character most of the time if the game is good
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Johnbobb
04/04/2025
10:00 PM
#9
azuarc posted...
It's statistically unlikely in games like that not because the protagonist is only 1 in n characters, (though that is a factor,) but because typically the side characters are allowed to be more eccentric in a way that one or more of them tend to be very likeable
I mean yeah, that's kinda the basis for the question. With rpgs and fighting games, it's especially common that the main character is kinda the "plain" one, but some series do more to make them distinguished than others

Like I know there are people whose favorite P5 character is Joker, because even if the personality is a blank slate, they still like his design/story/etc

And Mario still does the best of every Mario character in every character battle for an example that's not rpg/fighting

azuarc posted...
I guess I have to ask, how large does the cast have to be to be "very large?"
I think it's less about the actual size and more about how proportional the roles are. Like Uncharted has a handful of characters but Nathan Drake is getting 95% of the screentime, so his personality has to carry it. But something like a party-based rpg, where your characters basically all get a full story and are constantly with you, it becomes much more even
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Snake5555555555
04/04/2025
10:06 PM
#10
Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2 counts and I'm sticking with it
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LeonhartFour
04/04/2025
10:09 PM
#11
Snake5555555555 posted...
Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2 counts and I'm sticking with it

yeah I guess she does but she's still a major step down from FFX Yuna

so in essence this is sort of an indictment of FFX-2's cast as a whole

(Shuyin and Baralai are pretty good though)
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Snake5555555555
04/04/2025
10:36 PM
#12
Well I like her in it!
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MrSmartGuy
04/04/2025
10:38 PM
#13
Honkai Star Rail
Play Outer Wilds
MacArrowny
04/04/2025
11:22 PM
#14
Snake5555555555 posted...
Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2 counts and I'm sticking with it
Doesn't pretty much every FFX character show up in X2?
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
LeonhartFour
04/04/2025
11:27 PM
#15
MacArrowny posted...
Doesn't pretty much every FFX character show up in X2?

Sure, but they're playing different roles in the story, so I'd still judge them differently. Except for Yuna and Rikku, the main playable characters have pretty minor roles, for instance.
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Kenri
04/05/2025
12:08 AM
#16
For RPGs I feel like it's... almost all of them. The main character typically gets the most development or at least has the best scenes. I'd have a much harder time thinking of games where I truly prefer a party member or NPC.

Fighting games are a totally different beast though, I have no connection at all to the main guy in most of them.
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KamikazePotato
04/05/2025
12:15 AM
#17
Kenri posted...
For RPGs I feel like it's... almost all of them.
Probably over half of RPGs either have silent protagonists or self-insert protagonists (or a combination of both). A well-done main character with a strong personality is rarer than it seems, although Final Fantasy doing it so often makes it feel more common than it actually is.
It's Reyn Time.
MZero
04/05/2025
12:55 AM
#18
Roy in Fire Emblem 6
Chrom in Awakening

Johnbobb posted...
Like I know there are people whose favorite P5 character is Joker, because even if the personality is a blank slate, they still like his design/story/etc

Joker isn't a blank state, you can tell a lot about his personality through his actions, mannerisms, etc.
pjbasis
04/05/2025
01:02 AM
#19
I feel like the nature of the question is more like "main character in an ensemble cast" kind of thing. Hard to pull off in games that are not multiplayer.
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Janus5k
04/05/2025
01:07 AM
#20
Tidus (FFX) and Velvet Crowe (Berseria) both come to mind.
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WazzupGenius00
04/05/2025
01:08 AM
#21
Female Hero of Dragon Quest IV

not that shes well-written, she just has a good design mostly. And what story does exist for her isnt bad.
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kateee
04/05/2025
01:11 AM
#22
i've thought about this before for some reason and the closest i can think of is Tales of Vesperia but even then it doesn't actually fit because my fav is Estelle. but Yuri is a very very close second.
UF8
04/05/2025
02:50 AM
#23
does rosa from bw2 count if i factor in her pokemon masters iteration lol

definitely best girl of that game, but obviously there's not much to really work with in the mainline games lol
Kenri
04/05/2025
01:06 PM
#24
KamikazePotato posted...
Probably over half of RPGs either have silent protagonists or self-insert protagonists (or a combination of both). A well-done main character with a strong personality is rarer than it seems, although Final Fantasy doing it so often makes it feel more common than it actually is.
This is true and I didn't really think about it because I don't play many like that (and a lot of the ones I have played don't have writing worth talking about anyway). I guess those would be more like fighting games for me, where I'm picking a favorite based more on gameplay and vibes.
"You're childish. What are you getting? Are you getting strawberry? Ha! That's such a childish flavor, only children eat strawberry."
Alanna82
04/05/2025
01:15 PM
#25
Serge from Chrono Cross.

He's not my favorite. (Marcy and her family have my favorite story) but he is the strongest.
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Lopen
04/05/2025
03:18 PM
#26
I mean yeah I'd say Squall and Lloyd Irving of those mentioned in here but are these "very large" casts? I don't really think so? For games with like dozens of major characters I'm struggling to think of any...
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NFUN
04/05/2025
03:27 PM
#27
Estelle, Tidus, Ichiban (Kiryu isn't eligible)
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Leonhart4
04/05/2025
03:37 PM
#28
is Kirby technically the main character of Smash Bros.

Because if so he's my favorite there

Ryu is my favorite Street Fighter character too
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Xuxon
04/05/2025
03:40 PM
#29
Marth and Sigurd

and like half the FFs if they count but I don't really think they do
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Board 8 » What are your favorite 'main protag in a very large cast' vg characters?