Lurker > KamikazePotato

4. Vyse (Skies of Arcadia)

http://www.renders-graphiques.fr/image/upload/normal/vyse-skies-of-arcadia.png

"Impossible is just a word to let people feel good about themselves when they quit."

I'll openly admit Vyse is a legacy character. I seriously doubt I would care about him if I played SoA for the first time today.

I also don't care. To me, Vyse will forever represent the spirit of adventure. All Vyse wants to do is everything he possibly can, and most importantly, he wants to do it with style. Vyse is arrogant and confident but backs up his attitude with boundless bravery and determination. He accomplishes never-before-done things on a regular basis - not even really because he's more competent than everyone else, but mostly because he's oftenttimes the first one with balls big enough to even try it. And when he does fail, he dusts himself off and gets back to it, because doing anything else would be betraying the very core of his character.

Vyse is practically a shonen anime protagonist within a video game. Skies of Arcadia can be boiled down to a lot of "That's impossible!" followed by Vyse going "Oh really?" and then jumping headfirst into danger as a crowd by people giving reaction shots can be seen in the background. I wouldn't have it any other way. Skies of Arcadia is an extremely lighthearted, uplifting game, and its cast of characters - Vyse obviously included - is the biggest reason why. They're simple, but not boring or flat; they just refuse to let themselves to fail when there's even a sliver of a chance left remaining for them to succeed. They're a such a positive force on that world that it's hard not to smile when playing as them. Vyse and crew leave every place they find in a better situation than when they first found it, which is...the exact opposite of what every explorer through actual human history did, but ignore that. Point is, playing as Vyse is fun. Lots of fun.

And besides all that, Vyse is a freaking sky pirate. He's got cutlasses and sails through the air to find navy ships to relieve of their valuables. You take a wrong turn somewhere and oh look! You found a long-lost momument only talked about in myth and legend. Despite sky pirates being an incredibly cool concept, no games before or after Skies of Arcadia have managed to the execute the theme as well as SoA did. The world it created is one that's timeless, and Vyse is the perfect guy to help take you exploring through it.

What? This writeup's not two posts long? You'll get a longer one whenever SEGA re-releases Skies of Arcadia in HD. Preferably on Steam.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I'm not a huge fan of Abyss, no, although Luke is aight.

Also, why were there so many Normin costumes?
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Velvet made me not care about the outfit by being a great character, but it definitely wasn't a great first impression!

I appreciate that games are giving you more dress-up opportunities, but for soemthing like Tales I stick pretty close to the defaults simply because it's jarring to see them looking different in their menu portraits, skit portraits, anime cutscenes, ect. A friend I have specifically does not do this and likes to give characters a really dumb outfit the first chance he can. This did not work for Berseria, as he ashamedly told me he changed Velvet back to default after another scene popped up that reminded him that there was actually a plot to care about this time, and that the top-hat was kind of messing with the atmosphere.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

To add on to that - Velvet makes being in the world of Tales of Berseria interesting, no matter where you are or what you're doing. An extremely common building block of plot structure in fiction is that villains act, while heroes react. Velvet is considered to be the hero of the story by absolutely no one (least of all herself), so have I got good news for you! The first major thing Velvet does in Berseria is start a prison riot to use as a distraction for escaping. The second major thing she does is set fire to a town's main economic resource to use as a distraction for stealing a boat. She drives the plot instead of taking part in it, and it is oh so fun to take part in. Later on in the game when it's finally time to have a showdown with some of the main antagonists, Velvet is the one to threaten them to come fight her where she is, not the other way around. At some point even just walking around as Velvet becomes fun, simply because the notion of a pariah feared by the entire world heading into town to buy Apple Gels is a novelty in and of itself. Berseria makes full use of Velvet's status as the game's 'villain' to strong dramatic (and sometimes comedic) effect.

In keeping with her personality and role in the world, Velvet's fighting style does a great job at reinforcing her characterization through gameplay. Having been 'gifted' a big scary red demon arm through the power of plot, Velvet uses her new body to its full effect by beating the crap out of things with it. Activating the arm makes Velvet belt on an impressive scream and hulk out on the enemies, with the screams being increasingly pain-filled when she fights people directly related to her main mission of revenge. You also have a lot of slashing and kicking moves courtesy of some Assassin's Creed hidden-blade esque weapons, but they resemble less of a fighting style and more Velvet slamming into things until they break. She also has a mechanic where she can fall to 1 HP and stay there as long as you keep a combo going, and on tougher difficulties you'll...be spending most of the game at 1 HP. All of this makes playing as Velvet feel desperate, reckless, destructive, and showcasing a supreme lack of self-care. It ties in perfectly with her character and it's pretty fuckin' fun too. Velvet is the easiest character in the game to play and is pretty spammy but it's hard to care when I had a smile on my face almost the entire time.

Velvet is a character I was extremely invested in from start to finish. Her character, despite evolving greatly throughout the course of Berseria, never loses the main driving focus that makes it so compelling. Her relationships with Laphicet and Eleanor (especially Laphicet) are captivating to watch. Her journey summoned legitimate emotion out of me, which is not nearly as easy to do as it was when I was young and playing these kinds of games for the first time. Velvet does what any truly great protagonist does - she takes the experience and elevates it.

Not bad, Tales Of. You've earned the right to disappoint me with your next game.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

5. Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria)

https://pa1.narvii.com/6333/90b76ea7e1be65bb4e9a4cbf544fe8abb9f5cbfc_hq.gif

"I really thought I could have my old life back, and I could forget everything else. I tried to act like I was doing it for him, but it was all for myself.
...But I can't forget. I shouldn't forget."

The 'Tales of' series is one that gets harder to appreciate the older you get. Symphonia will always have a special nostalgia-filled place in my heart but it definitely hasn't aged well in any way whatsoever. Vesperia's flaws are starting to stick out more; a big problem being that Yuri Lowell is the soul of that game and he just isn't as special of a character as he used to be. Graces constrained its amazing gameplay with some poor design decisions and its plot was a mess. Xillia came and Xillia went - that's about all I can say on the game! I haven't played Zestiria but considering the public reception it had, I feel safe in my decision not to. In general the Tales series feels like it has been on a slow downward spiral since Symphonia, and I was fairly content in not playing any more of them. Then Berseria went on sale and I figured...why not? Aside from blowing away my expectations and giving me renewed faith in the series (that I know is bound to be broken), Berseria's plot gripped me in ways the series hadn't been able to since I was 13 years old, and at the heart of that plot is its main character, Velvet Crowe.

I'll get the negatives out of the way. Velvet's outfit design is bad - it was in the first promotional material I ever saw for the game and immediately made me roll my eyes. It legitimately looks like something an edgy deviantart teen would make as an outfit for a female lead. Velvet is also prone to monolouging a bit too much at times, and every now and then (especially early on in the game) her voice actress Cristina Vee sounds like she's trying too hard to be dark and brooding. And Velvet makes you ignore all that because of how damn compelling her story arc is. While the rest of the cast of Tales of Berseria is largely stellar, you might as well not have the game without her. There is a more typical save-the-world JRPG plot in Tales of Berseria, but it wisely takes a backseat to Velvet's journey that's full of a lot of emotional highs and lows. This is the kind of bet you take only if you think you have a compelling main character on your hands, and fortunately for Berseria, it paid off.

The concept of a Revenge Story is not even close to being an original one, but Velvet's sheer unbridled pain over what she experienced in the prologue manages to keep tensions high even after dozens of hours into the game. Velvet is an extremely emotional person who is trying to be bottle up all of her pain for the sake of carrying out her glorious revenge. Yeah, because that always makes people feel better. While Velvet usually speaks calmly, preferring to talk in varying combinations of sarcastic, dismissive, or resigned, you always get the sense that there's something bubbling under the surface just waiting to burst out. This is continuously reinforced by the various emotional outbursts Velvet experiences throughout Berseria. Rage, grief, sadness, regret...there is no one-note emotion that defines Velvet, and you'll see all the ones she has before the game is over. Considering the context of each bit where Velvet loses some of her shit, they tend to make for the absolute best scenes in the game, especially since Cristina Vee really brings her A-game when it comes time to scream. They're also paced very well; any more would have veered into melodrama, while any fewer would have dulled the impact. Velvet is one of those rare protagonists that keeps you on your toes even when she isn't doing anything, which is important for sustaining emotional gravitas over 80 hours of JRPG gameplay.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

The former. It's just going to be really long. Even considering that, the episode count is insanely padded with tons of filler, as well as episodes specifically paced slowly to keep up with the manga release. The manga is a much more reasonable experience to take in.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Dojima

Get Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I'll be trading for Yosuke again in ~45 minutes, get it while it's hot
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yukiko
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke right now
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ddlc
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Up
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Drakengard is what makes it pretty nuts, yeah. There's alternate timelines all over the place.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Will continue tomorrow - I'm busy today and these writeups always end up a lot longer than I thought they would.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

LeonhartFour posted...

Zero Escape is convoluted because of all the different timelines across three games, and it can be hard to keep straight what happens on which timeline.

Drakengard + Nier is this but five times worse
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

How about we have a final that isn't just Waifu vs Waifu
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Akihiko again then
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Akihiko
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

auto trade for Akihiko can save now

Can trade in 3 min

Get Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Dojima
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Drakengard + Nier puts KH to shame
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

New update for the new page!

6. Raiden (Metal Gear Solid series)
7. The Nameless One (Planescape: Torment)
8. Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney series)
9. Kaine (Nier)
10. James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2)
11. Ike (Fire Emblem series)
12. Vivi (Final Fantasy IX)
13. 9S (Nier Automata)
14. Dante (Devil May Cry series)
15. Hero (Dragon Quest V)
16. The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3)
18 & 17. Joel & Ellie (The Last of Us)
19. Alistair (Dragon Age: Origins)
20. Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)
21. Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts series)
22. Roxas (Kingdom Hearts series)
23. Garcian Smith (Killer7)
24. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)
25. Sans (Undertale)
26. Tidus (Final Fantasy X)
27. Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)
28. Auron (Final Fantasy X)
29. Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia)
30. Futaba Sakura (Persona 5)
31. Otacon (Metal Gear series)
32. Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)
33. Laphicet (Tales of Berseria)
34. Delita Hyral (Final Fantasy Tactics)
35. Luca Blight (Suikoden II)
36. Eleanor Hume (Tales of Berseria)
37. Lee Everett (The Walking Dead)
38. Tali (Mass Effect series)
39. Morte (Planescape: Torment)
40. Wrex (Mass Effects series)
~Rhys (Tales From the Borderlands)
~Flowey (Undertale)
~Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney series)

HM:
Magilou (Tales of Berseria)
Eizen (Tales of Berseria)
Ness (Earthbound)
Nier (Nier)
Emil (Nier series)
2B (Nier Automata)
Zelos Wilder (Tales of Symphonia)
Maya Fay (Ace Attorney series)
Makoto Yuki (Persona 3)
Soren (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)
Lucina (Fire Emblem: Awakening)
Lyon (Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones)
Elincia (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)
Stocke (Radiant Historia)
Jowy Atreides (Suikoden II)
Mordin Solus (Mass Effect series)
Garrus (Mass Effect series)

Will start to the Top 5 a bit later.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Then Metal Gear Rising came out and did the impossible feat of fusing Raiden's MGS2 and MGS4 iterations while furthering his character all at the same time. He's still got the vaguely rebellious/sarcastic attitude he had in MGS2, and he's still dedicated to fighting against oppressive authority, but he also kept the ninja flips and cuts a Metal Gear RAY in half in the first half-hour of gameplay. In the same vein as Dante, Raiden in Metal Gear Rising is extremely fun to play as because he's over-the-top and sounds like he's having the time of his life - which actually ties into his character arc, where his Jack the Ripper origins come full circle. Raiden has to save children being 'programmed' from birth into soldiers the same way he was while also dealing with the killer instinct that never really left him. Considering the game wasn't written by Kojima, it's really impressive how the details of his previous characterization were paid attention to. His eventual character arc of 'it's okay to be a crazy killer as long as it's for a cause I believe in' is not the lesson most heroes learn, but it's true to his character. Then he gets to a fight a senator (made of nanomachines) trying to control the public consciousness. On top of a Metal Gear. MGR got to have its cake and eat it too.

I just really like Raiden. The MGS series imploding is sad and all, but I'm most disappointed about losing the possible Rising sequel than I am MGS6. Raiden still had places his character could have gone, and I would have loved to see what strange thing the writers did to him next.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I think the moment where I really started to take a closer look at Raiden is one line where, after shooting down the Harrier, he flat-out tells Snake that if he could he would be "Out of here in a second". Raiden does not want to be on the Big Shell, cleaning up the mess that Solidus and co. made, but he was never given the choice. This concept of choice and free will was repeatedly expanded on and I found it all pretty engrossing. Raiden was raised from a young age to be an unthinking weapon, so he never had a choice in whether or not he became a killer - let alone one so vicious that he was dubbed Jack the Ripper. Raiden fell in love with Rose, but it was a relationship based on lies as she tailored herself to be his ideal woman, so that was barely a choice either. He was sent to the Big Shell against his wishes, then fed misinformation, then fed further misinformation that was phrased as the 'truth' because the previous information was admitted to be a lie. From the moment he was born, Raiden was not allowed to think for himself or be his own person. For me, the bit that ties it all together is when Rose mentions that his room resembles a threadbare dungeon with no personal furnishings whatsoever. Raiden has no self. He's not allowed to have a self.

The poor guy gets jerked around by literally everyone in MGS2 (except the Emmerich siblings because they're too good for this world). Probably the most demoralizing line in the game is how, after Raiden has a heartfelt conversation with Snake about passing on your legacy, the GW AI directly tells Raiden that his newfound philosophy is just "something Snake told him" and that he's still not thinking for himself. It's not until Raiden throws away his dog tags in the ending cutscene that it really feels like he's freed himself from at least some of the shackles the world put on him, and it's an extremely powerful moment (in an understated sort of way). MGS2 Raiden is a fascinating character with an arc I've revisited many times. He's not as effortlessly cool as Snake is but I still liked him a lot and was really hoping for things to get better for him.

Then MGS4 happened. Raiden in MGS4 is okay, but it doesn't really feel like him. Kojima was trying too hard to make him cool. That's the exact opposite opinion of a lot of people but hey, my list my rules! There's something to be said about Raiden - the human raised to an unthinking weapon - willingly becoming a weapon so he could protect those he cares about, but whatever statement that could have made is sidelined in favor of more ninja flips. Still, his scene with Rose at the end is one of my favorites in the series and "I am lightning, the rain transformed" is the best worst line I've ever heard in my life, so I still liked him.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

6. Raiden (Metal Gear Solid series)

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--zjhMSj5s--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/pyng97ky8wixxtsuhxzn.png

"They -- they built us from the ground up, into killing machines... We were fed once a day. I can still taste the gunpowder they mixed into the food."

Raiden is kind of a schizophrenic character. He's gone through many changes over the years as the series has continually re-tooled him to fit the purposes of each new game. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he was a vehicle for the story, subverting the player's expectations of playing as the Legendary Solid Snake in order to further the game's narrative. Then people rebelled against the character, so in Metal Gear Solid 4 he was turned into a flippy cyborg ninja trying really hard to be stoically cool and spouting off awful/amazing one-liners. Then Platinum took the reins with Metal Gear Rising and changed Raiden again to better fit that game's atmosphere of fun, high-energy action, making him into a more lighthearted, sarcastic version of his MGS4 self...who is also trying not to go crazy with gleeful bloodlust. Yeah. Considering how jerked around Raiden is both in-game and out-of-game, it's amazing that it all comes together to make a great of a character as he is.

My favorite 'version' of Raiden will always be his MGS2 incarnation. It's the one I first got really attached to. While I can understand why Raiden on release would have pissed people off - the degree to which they hid him from the marketing was frankly impressive - but I played MGS2 well after the fact and knew that he would be kicking Solid Snake to the curb fairly soon into the game, so the twist didn't bother me. If anything, I was looking forward to what Raiden was going to be like. What kind of director would sideline their iconic, beloved mascot/protagonist of their series in favor of a character that probably wasn't going to go over well with their established fanbase?

Kojima's given a lot of varying reasons for why he made Raiden the way he did, but one of the more consistent ones is that he wanted Raiden to be more a player surrogate than Solid Snake, which is supported by how you get to type in your own name at the beginning of MGS2. On that front - at least for me - he failed. I never viewed Raiden as being any more similar to me than Solid Snake was, and not because I thought he was lame like a lot of people did on-release. Raiden interested me from the start as own person from the moment he changed his codename away from Snake. His conversations with Campbell were stiff and far too formal, even when taking into consideration that he lacked the same relationship with Campbell that Snake did in MGS1. He was described as a rookie with nothing but VR training under his belt but clearly knew what he was doing, outpacing elite troops and even Snake himself at times. His relationship with Rose was corny but actually kind of sweet and gave Raiden something to live for outside of the mission. And while there were some iffy lines like "Did you say nerd?" and "We've MANAGED to avoid DROWNING!", I though Quinton Flynn did an excellent job portraying him. Raiden was different, and Raiden wasn't Snake, but that was okay. Raiden just had to be Raiden.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

tag
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Nier
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

The New 3DS version is a shockingly good port for a game of its size on a handheld, but it's still better played on the big screen.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Oh right. Edgeworth. Chock up another character who probably would've been on my list if I had remembered him. Here's his writeup:

Edgeworth is a cool dude with a good character arc and is a great foil to Phoenix. "Objection! That's...objectionable!" is one of the best lines in the series. His time spent as a defense attorney in 3-5 is hilarious. Edgeworth helps make the 1st game as great as it is, and after his character arc has most concluded he wisely limits himself to appearing just every now and then so he still feels like a special character.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

7. The Nameless One (Planescape: Torment)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/torment/images/c/c7/PC-NamelessOne.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100421052454

"What can change the nature of a man?"

This quote is not actually spoken by TNO, but it's the mantra of Planescape: Torment and is more relevant to him than any other line from that game.

You know nothing about The Nameless One when you first see him - and neither does he. He wakes up on a slab in a mortuary, completely bereft of any memories, while a talking skull claiming to be his ally starts blabbing to him and offers to read the message carved onto your back. It's probably the most bafflling introduction to a protagonist I've ever seen, made even more effective by how utterly strange his appearence is. Despite having the physique of a stereotypical D&D hero, his hair is wiry, his skin has a mottled gray color and is pulled tight across his muscles, and there are lines of age etched across every inch of his body. The Nameless One looks less like a person and more like a zombie - which is honestly not far from the truth.

The more you learn about The Nameless One, the more you're less sure of who he is. Cursed to never fully die and losing his memories every now and then, TNO has lived dozens of lives and left a deep scar on the world with each one. Traces of 'you' pop up everywhere you look, and little of it is...pleasant. One of the first sentient beings you encounter is a ghost who voluntarily bound herself to a singular spot, for all eternity, for the sake of helping you, because of a love she holds for you, that you openly do not reciprocate. That...kind of sets the tone from then-on. If I had to pick one thing to describe as a commonality between all of The Nameless One's lives, it would be 'selfish'. Even your nicer incarnations were self-centered and willing to use others without much hesitation. And why wouldn't they be? What repercussions could they ever truly face for their actions? And will you, the most recent incarnation of The Nameless One, be any different?

Can you be any different?

The Nameless One is both a player-insert character and not one. You are him, the one waking up on the slab in the mortuary, but while you control his actions and make his decisions, both of you are shaped and guided by the echoes of your past lives. The question Planescape: Torment poses is "what can change the nature of a man?", and it is through the character of The Nameless One that that question is explored in fascinating detail. Torment: Tides of Numenara - a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment - came out recently with a protagonist very similar to The Nameless One, and while the game is great, its writing doesn't come close to what Planescape accomplished with TNO. In terms of WRPG choose-your-own-personality main characters, he's easily the best of them all, and I doubt he'll ever be topped (sorry Shepard).
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Lopen posted...

In my best attempt to be objective he's worthy of being that high but he's not one of my personal favorites.

Some character just don't click with us. Sometimes I think it's that simple - like, I can recognize Cloud is a pretty good RPG protagonist but I've never been able to bring myself to care about him.

I don't feel quite the same way about courtroom dramas as you do though. They can get me pretty tense! I do agree that the series needs more cases 2-4 but that's more because 2-4 is the best in the series.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

8. Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney series)

"OBJECTION!"

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelvscapcom/images/9/98/Phoenix-wright-objection.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110729174157

I'm going to keep this brief, because there is not a single person on B8 who doesn't know about Phoenix Wright. He's the ultimate underdog - even though you know he's going to win almost every case he participates in, the games sell his hopeless situation so well that you still end up holding your breath every time the judge is about to pronounce the GUILTY verdict. Phoenix gets knocked down again and again and again, sometimes physically (who the hell lets a prosecutor bring a whip into a courtroom?), but he gets back up every single time. Doesn't matter if you're a genius prosecutor who's never lost a case - Wright won't hesitate to come at you with everything he's got. The reason his famous OBJECTION is so memorable is because, every time you throw one out, you're grasping for that tiny ray of truth in a dark pit of lies and misinformation. Finding it is oh, so satisfying, and Phoenix's reaction perfectly mirrors the same sort of smug glee you're feeling in that moment.

Wrighto is potentially the most inherently likable character in existence. He's this perfect combination of competent, dorky, earnest, and sarcastic. He's dressed to impress but also has an extremely back-spiked anime haircut that must consume a bottle of hair gel every morning to get right. Despite the numerous difficulties he faces due to being a lawyer, he's extremely proud of his profession and is (begrudgingly) willing to take cases pro-bono even he can barely afford to buy Maya a burger. He acts shocked and/or rolls his eyes when confronted with the many ridiculous people/scenarios he encounters in his cases, but is always quick to adapt and even use the weirdness to his advantage. The legal system in the Ace Attorney world is a draconian farce where the police and prosecutors hold all the cards - making it a pretty faithful representation of the Japanese legal system - but that didn't stop Phoenix from building up such an image that they made a literal statue of him. Phoenix Wright is both an everyman and a hero, and is the perfect protagonist for a series like Ace Attorney, where normal people must become heroes to those forsaken by everyone else.

Also, the stuff in AJ never happened to him. Capcom wants you to think so and I'm more than happy to oblige.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Congrats to Dojima for being the only non-Party Member left.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I dunked the armor one fairly easily with Robin/Burger King/Sheena/Arden. Won't have any trouble with those going forward.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yeah, I'll just have to try again when I've got them. I can almost make something work right now, but the multiple Lunges are messing with my ability to wall off enemies.

It'll take a lot more to get a flier team going. I don't know if I'm willing to invest heavy feathers/SI into them when I know the reason it's so tough in the first place is because all the good ones are locked behind seasonal banners.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Elizabeth
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

This kind of limits the options available but let the records show that I am still trading for Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I took a 2-3 month break after +250 orbs didn't get me Ike when he came out. They haven't re-run Xander/Camus since.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Xander and Camus are myths.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

The entire Nier 1 cast is stellar. I think that's one area it definitely beats out the sequel in.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

9. Kaine (Nier)

"Weiss you dumbass! You better start making sense you rotten book, or you're gonna be sorry. Maybe I'll rip your pages out one by one, or maybe I'll put you in the goddamn furnance! How can someone with such a big, smart brain be hypnotized like a little bitch, huh!? Oh, Shadowlord, I love you Shadowlord, come over here and give Weiss a big sloppy kiss, Shadowlord. Now pull your head out of your goddamn ass and start fucking helping us!"

http://cdn2-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/2009/09/3928611560_204e9fb9f2.jpg

The above quote is heard approximately 3 seconds after booting up Nier. It's hard to forget.

Kaine is a character of excess. Her voice, fighting style, outfit, and language are all extremely over-the-top in a game that otherwise isn't. Nier's story has a bunch of fantasy/sci-fi elements in it but every other character in it feels way more grounded than Kaine, including the floating talking book and whatever the hell Emil is supposed to be. And they're not hesitant to point it out, either - Nier and Weiss' first lines when finding Kaine are somewhere along the lines sof "what's up with her?"

It's a great contrast to the emotional vulnerability she displays. Kaine is quite clearly coping with a lot. She never tells people exactly what she's coping with, but you can see it in how upset she gets by certain events that happen in the story. There are times when she goes from verbally flipping off someone to quiet and depressed within the span of an instant. While at first it seems almost out of character, it doesn't take long to realize that it IS her character. Kaine's bombastic personality is what she uses to cover up all the pain she's feeling inside, and while it never makes her any less of an entertaining character, it does add much more nuance to how she acts.

And she's definitely entertaining as hell. Laura Bailey is maybe the best voice actress in the business and Kaine is probably my favorite role she's done. I could listen to Kaine yell at things all day. Half the background dialogue in the game is of her bickering with Weiss and it never gets old. Every other character in the game is stoic, earnest, pompous, subdued, or just plain tired. Kaine is the only one who's loud and she provides a very-much appreciated contrast to the rest of the world.

Kaine is also the central focus of one of the most memorable segments in the game. The Nier series is fond of utilizing pure text/book formats to illustrate some of its flashbacks, and the one depicting Kaine's upbringing is the best one they've ever done. It's completely jarring when it pops up, happening right in the middle of a dramatic scene, and then fifteen minutes later I realized I was entirely engrossed in this story of a young Kaine and her relationship with her grandmother. It added so much context to Kaine as a whole and she ends up being the most fleshed-out character in the game as a result.

The only flaw I can think of with Kaine as a character is her outfit, which is...a little too far out there even when considering how it ties into her personality. Everything else about her is great. If Nier 3 can have another character as memorable as 9S or Kaine in its cast, I'll be extremely impressed.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Can now officially trade for Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke in ~10 minutes
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I don't know if it's possible for me to do this flier GHB quest. I never bothered getting any of the seasonals so my options are...limited. Cavalry quest isn't much better because I never bothered with them either.
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Tokoyami posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

Trading for Yosuke right now

I knoW you might hate it but morgana?

Morgana
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke right now
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yosuke
---

Black Turtle did a pretty good job.