Lurker > KamikazePotato

List Update:

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)

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

Only 14 left!
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I'm actually confused about why people expect/want Melee to be dropped, at least more than other things.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

LeonhartFour posted...

Like Big Boss can even remember down to the hour how long it'd been since she left. That definitely did some serious emotional damage, and then compound that with her betrayal followed by finding out it was all a set-up from the start, and it's no wonder MGS3 is his loss of innocence/start of darkness tale.

I wish the game had had more time to focus on that. As good as The Boss' storyline is, the initial betrayal feels way too weak, at least to me. It's a side effect of the Virtuous Mission being so short, I suppose.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

15. Hero (Dragon Quest V)

http://faqsmedia.ign.com/faqs/image/article/958/958445/dq65.jpg

"..."

Say hello to the one and only silent protagonist on the list! While they can make games fun by allowing yourself to self-insert, I usually don't end up caring about them their as their own character as a result. Hero (I don't even know if this dude has a real name) is the exception.

While Hero doesn't have strong, easily identifiable personality traits, what makes him so endearing is how invested you become in his personal life story. You first play as Hero when he's a kid, and you end with him after he's started a family. You see him go through loss, heartbreak, love, and triumph. I'm not going to sugercoat it - Hero goes through some real shit. He's got one of those mega tragic backstories you see in a lot of RPG character except you're living it in real time.

The first act of Hero's journey is when you play him as a kid. It's way more fun than it should be, all things considered. Nothing of note in the main plot happens. You meet up with your childhood sweetheart, make friends with a bratty prince, and pal around with your dad. You also save a fairy kingdom but that part is basically filler.

Then you decide to go cave exploring with the bratty prince and it turns out to be the worst decision of your life. You're captured by some of the main villains, and when your awesome dad comes to save you, you're used as a hostage and forced to watch as he allows himself to be struck again and again until he's burnt to cinders. It's absolutely gut-wrenching. Then Hero is taken into slavery and forced into hard labor for 8 fucking years! Man!

You eventually escape because no one can keep a good Hero down, but not before the years have hardened you, both mentally and physically. While it's never outright stated, I don't think it's a concidence that Hero's 'weapon' is essentially a walking stick, which he only starts using after years of labor he went through. Savoring the sweet taste of freedom, you explore the world, discover more about the main villains, reconnect with your childhood sweetheart and marry her (unless you're a heartless monster and choose someone else), and even discover that you're of royal blood and technically a king. You rise to the throne and your wife has twins and...man. You've got a home again. You've got a family again.

Then your wife gets kidnapped by the bad guys and you both get turned to stone trying to rescue her. Eight years pass as you spend your time - I'm not exaggerating - as someone's fucking lawn ornament. Your kids eventually come and rescue you, and they're stoked to see you, but you were still robbed of seeing your kids grow for most of their childhood. Eventually you rescue your wife, beat the bad guys, and finally, FINALLY, you get your happy ending. It's so incredibly satisfying when you do.

There's one detail about the game I like that really helps sells the theme of the game. You eventually find the legendary weapon/armor needed to beat the main villains, but you can't equip it. Only your son can. He's the prophecized hero of legend - not you. Your story is not that of the typical video game protagonist destined to save the world. It's just...your story. Dragon Quest V has a main plot, but it's never the focus. The game is about you, and it's why Hero is so memorable despite never speaking a single word.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Oh, yeah. That was definitely her bad.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Doesn't Melee get really high views?
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yeah The Boss probably could have done a bit better in that regard though. It was a tough situation though - she had to make sure Big Boss still thought of her as an enemy so he could kill her and complete the mission. It's amazing how much stuff happened because Volgin decided to fire a mini-nuke for absolutely no reason.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Probably because she didn't know The Boss as well? The people who were closest to The Boss were hurt too much by her death I think. Or maybe she's just more perceptive, which wouldn't be hard because Big Boss is kind of dense.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yup. Like I said, The Boss is so selfless that the people she actually knew couldn't comprehend it. It took another natural hero to pick up that torch she left behind so many years ago.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

16. The Boss (Metal Gear Solid series)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/metalgear/images/7/79/Mgs3-5.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131012111300

"What about you, Jack? What's it going to be? Loyalty to your country, or loyalty to me?"

Outside of Solid Snake himself, The Boss is the biggest hero in the entire MGS world. She's such a selfless and principled character in every respect. While few can match her status as a warrior, what truly makes The Boss such a legendary figure in-universe is the aura of respect she commands from virtually everyone. Volgin is a crasy, arrogant, uncaring, sadistic fuck and he still doesn't mess with The Boss. People respect The Boss so much that her last wishes - misinterpreted as they are - reverberate through history many decades after her death. And what's even more amazing is that you don't realize any of this until the very end of Metal Gear Solid 3 (and a ways into Peace Walker).

The first major thing you see The Boss do is betray her country and defect to the Soviets. It's actually the one major flaw I can say about her character - she gets very little screentime before that twist. She's introduced as Snake's mentor and 5 minutes later she's changed sides. I feel like more time to build her up would have made that hit pretty hard but it is what it is. Regardless; to Snake, the betrayal shakes his worldview to its core. The Boss is his mentor and the closest thing he had to a mother, and now he has to kill her. Taking on Volgin and The Cobras is nothing compared to the emotional turmoil caused by the very idea of The Boss being his enemy.

Further muddling matters is the fact that The Boss doesn't seem to want to take him down either. She has multiple chances to deal with the threat that Snake poses and passes up on it every time; the most blatant example being when she saves his life when Snake is being tortured by Volgin and even helps him escape. Despite defecting, The Boss doesn't lose one bit of that untouchable presence she has. It seems increasingly implausible that a person like this would ever commit such a self-centered betrayal, and, well...

Snake vs. The Boss is considered one of the greatest final boss fights in gaming, and for good reason. The atmosphere is incredible. The Boss' pre and post-fight dialogue are words that define the MGS series. In an almost suicide-by-cop situation, The Boss eggs Snake on to surpass her and complete his mission, which he does. The game even forces you to press the button and take that final shot! Dick move! It feels extremely tragic even before you find out that, whoops, The Boss defecting was ordered by the US and she allowed herself to be scapegoated for the sake of preventing a nuclear war. Snake becomes so disillusioned with the US and politics as a whole that he leaves the country, starts Soldiers Without Borders, and the rest is history.

Which is a shame, because if he'd listened a little more closely to what The Boss was telling him, he'd realize that none of that was what she wanted. The Boss wasn't loyal to the US or any other nation. She recognized that there was never any true enemy except the times themselves, and that protecting the world from a threat - wherever it may come from - was the sole mission of any true soldier. This shown evidently in Peace Walker, where an AI version of The Boss (it's complicated) directly states that she would shoot the President if he was about to order the nukes to be fired. And then the AI version of The Boss sacrifices itself AGAIN to help save the world, because that's just what The Boss does. It's so selfless that no other character in the series can really wrap their head around it. The word Hero is thrown around a lot, often undeservingly, but The Boss not only deserves the title - she elevates it.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

How many rounds has it been now that Elizabeth went into Page 2 with 0 votes and managed to squeak by anyway?
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

LeonhartFour posted...

The story mode is a lot more manageable than Arena's, actually.

I've heard, but I have a huge backlog.

greengravy294 posted...

top 5 predix

ike, Danta, Edgar, I don't know, and probably vergil

I don't know why i named Edgar

Spoilers: Edgar is not on this list.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

18 & 17. Joel and Ellie (The Last of Us)

https://static.blog.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-Last-of-Us-Remastered.jpg

"...We don't have to do this.
You know that, right?"

"...What's the other option?"

"Go back to Tommy's. Just...be done with this whole damn thing."

"...After all we've been through.
Everything that I've done.
...It can't be for nothing."

I can't imagine these characters as anything but a unit. Their character arcs are so intertwined with each other that talking about one without the other is pointless.

At the start of the main storyline of The Last of Us, Joel is a broken man who has lost everything. He's cold, violent, and seems to care little about anything except surviving. Joel has no sympathy for others. The game hints about the many horrific acts he's had to commit over the years to survive, but anytime it's mentioned, Joel brushes it off as things that were just...necessary. Any guilt he may still possess has been buried so far underground that he's not capable of feeling it even if he wanted to.

It's not a surprise that he butts heads with Ellie when they first meet. Ellie is different in ways that press a lot of Joel's buttons. Unlike Joel, who witnessed life before the cordyceps outbreak and is fully aware that the world will never go back to the way it was, Ellie knows no other way of life, and ironically is much more optimistic because of that. It's easy to go up when you're starting from 0. She's the first recorded person in history to be immune to the infection and truly believes that a cure can be developed if she gets to the right people. In contrast, Joel is both skeptical and uncaring, only going along with it due to being morally blackmailed by multiple people.

It's through the lengthy interactions of these conflicting worldviews that Joel and Ellie are forced to change throughout the course of the game. Some of Ellie's naivete is lost as she's subjected endless killing and some truly horrific scenarios, resulting in her being forced to take up arms herself despite being like...14 years old. She grows and learns but little of it is in a positive way. The zombie apocalypse teaches harsh lessons. Joel is still a broken man, but his pain is eased...somewhat. Ellie becomes the first thing he's cared about in years and it grounds him in reality once more. He's no longer a man simply going through the motions of survival.

Unfortunately, that's the problem. Despite the deep understanding and father/daughter relationship that Joel and Ellie develop, their worldviews never truly align. To Ellie, the world is still a place worth saving. To Joel, Ellie is the world. The devastating conflict this produces in the game's ending is one of the most emotional stretches in gaming I've ever experienced. I'm not sure if The Last of Us 2 can possibly live up to it, especially due to how Joel and Ellie's relationship is permanently altered by what happens.

All of this works because the interactions with Joel and Ellie are perfectly executed. Half of the game's appeal is watching them talk to each other and it works because their relationship is sold super well. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson turned dinto career-defining performances and Naughty Dog proved they can do good dramatic writing after their essential failure with Uncharted 3. They're truly the heart and soul of the game and The Last of Us wouldn't be anywhere near the experience it is without them.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I'm offering free cookies
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Hmm, I have no time to play through that story mode but I might check it out on youtube.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Koro
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Still trading for Yosuke
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Makoto
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I didn't even know that Celes was a continual bridesmaid-never-bride. I just saw Ramza and voted Ramza because I literally made a character writeup for Ramza two days ago.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke right now
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yosuke
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I didn't, actually. Anything I should know about from there?
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

NowItsAngeTime posted...

If you don't like shipping Yosuke with Chie P4Arena did ship Labrys with him a decent amount in his ending to give him some thing

Yeah I was surprised they did that. Yosuke's got a robot girlfriend somewhere on the horizon.

pjbasis posted...

I should play dragon age origins again.

Or the rest of the series first

Inquisition is super long but pretty great. DA2 is okay.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ramza 5
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ramza 4
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ramza 3
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

19. Alistair (Dragon Age: Origins)

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/37900000/Alistair-Dragon-Age-Origins-alistair-theirin-37934661-799-588.jpg

"You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."

How does someone in a dark fantasy setting who is constantly traveling manage to have hair like that...?

A good amount of my appreciation for Alistair stems from the fact that I've played Dragon Age Origins about 5 times. I love that world and its characters. I've gotten to know really Alistair through all those hours spent marching around Ferelden - not that he didn't give me a great first impression, being the only person in the game at that point who could do their job well and crack a joke at the same time. My time spent with him only got more nuanced from then on. In my first playthrough he was my best bro. In my second, he tore my character's heart out (not literally). Multiple playthroughs in a WRPG can be fun times.

Alistair is a fun character to watch because of how self-aware he is. He's more or less the straight man of the game. While far from incompetent, he prefers following over leading as long as it's a cause he agrees in. He's very sarcastic and doesn't mind stating that he employs it as a defense mechanism. The other weirder members of the party insult him often for various reasons, but he lets it roll off his back and gets a few piercing retorts in every now and then. I could listen to Alistair and Morrigan bicker for days. In general Alistair is just a really fun character to talk and listen to - I almost never take him out of my party because someone needs to be around to make fun of the crazy death cultists, and it can't be me because I'm the one who has to pass the Persuasion checks.

It's also worth noting that he's the one party member most devoted to the cause. Outside of one specific plot instance, Alistair cannot be completely kicked out of the party, nor will he ever leave, no matter how much he hates you. Everyone else can either be asked to leave or will simply take off if they think you suck. Alistair has mission to fulfill, and by god will he finish it even if you're telling him to "piss off" in the middle of the final battle (that is actual dialogue). He's also one of the most altruistic and caring of the group, appreciating every little moment the main character takes to do some good in this world even outside of their main mission.

He's not without weaknesses, though, which are also fun to look at because he doesn't hide a single one. Alistair has major hangups over his family, his birth, and his experience with romance. He'll also talk about these openly and ask for advice on many of them. The guy is very honest and trustworthy and it's pretty refreshing to have that in-between listening to one dwarf backstabbing another dwarf for dumb political reasons. You get a real feel for his character, which makes the roads you can help him down more satisfying and interesting. Will you advise him to become king or acknowledge his wish to stay as a Grey Warden? Will you tell him to keep an idealistic outlook after being spurned by long-lost family or tell him to harden his heart? I've done it all, and every time I came out understanding and appreciating Alistair a little more.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yeah the other P4 storylines are mostly dry (Yu), blatantly comedic relief (Kanji), or super bland (Yukiko). Yosuke's is by far the big standout one until you get to some of the P3 cast.

Edit: Man all that posting and I still forgot to mention that Yosuke's title in Persona 4 Arena is Captain Ressentiment, which he even admits is pretty accurate.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Also, fun fact: The Persona 4 Arena manga mostly followed Yosuke's storyline instead of Yu's. Probably because Yu's storyline is pretty weak, but I think them choosing Yosuke's instead of any of the other alternatives makes me think the writer of that manga agrees with me on a few things...!
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

To me Yosuke is Yuri Lowenthall's best performance. He's a great VA whose done about a million roles, but Yosuke is the first one that pops to mind whenever I think about him.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

And Yosuke knows this. And hates it. I think the moment I knew that Persona 4 was going to be really good was when you met Yosuke's shadow, because it immediately cut super deep into his personality. The mere suggestion that one of your heroes is subconsciously using the murder of someone he cared about to prop himself up as a hero - or even worse, just because he was bored - is not something that's allowed to be said. Like, in general, for any media. Yosuke also attaches himself to Yu really quickly, immediately calling him partner and trying to become the best of friends. Yu actually reciprocates but it's pretty clear that he craves attention and validation. But it's okay, because Persona 4 is about accepting all parts of yourself, even the bad, and attaining inner peace/strength by doing so, right?

Nope! Persona 4 Arena continues Yosuke's character arc and it's actually where I started to 'get' Yosuke's character. By Arena, pretty much everyone has made peace with their inner demons. They aren't gone but they don't let themselves be dragged down by them anymore. Yosuke is the exception. Now that the murder incidents are over and he has no more any distractions, Yosuke is forced to face the fact that he's still Yosuke. Persona 4 Arena uses a silly storyline about forcing the cast to fight each other via a 1 v 1 tournament, invisible barriers, and overdone illusions of them insulting each other so they'll get angry. Every person outside of Yosuke sees through the illusion, because they all know their friends would never say stuff like that to them. Yosuke does not, because he CAN see his friends saying stuff like that to him, because he doesn't like himself either. The conclusion of his Arena storyline isn't that he overcomes his weaknesses - it's him acknowledging that he'll probably always have that weakness, but it's okay as long as he continues to fight it (and allow himself to rely on the people who care about him sometimes). It's not at all the character arc I was expecting when I bought a spinoff fighting game, but it was definitely a very satisfying one.

To me, Yosuke isn't just a flawed character, but an extremely realistic one who is shockingly well-written. I don't even find him very likable outside of him being your best buddy when playing as Yu, but he's a character I think about a lot, and one that I found myself rooting for way more than I thought I would. Sometimes that matters more than being the best, or cool, or badass, or a genius.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Starting the Top 20! This writeup turned out way longer than I expected.

20. Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)

https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_small/11/115901/2125679-yosukep4g.png

"I'm weak. I'll probably always be weak."

Looking over my list, Yosuke is probably the most 'flawed' character on it. When people talk about liking flawed characters, what they usually mean is 'idealized character with acceptable issues'. Like someone who is headstrong and immature but otherwise competent at a lot of things (Tidus, Zidane, a lot of RPG protagonists), or someone who is bad at fighting and outwardly cowardly but makes up for it by being a genius tech support with inner courage (Otacon), or someone who is. Or (if you're Japan) and create a character with an actual serious mental issue with a questionable personality, you can just make sure they're a cute girl and call it a day (Futaba). I'm using my own characters as example because I'm like that too! We want our heroes to be heroes, especially likable heroes. There's a reason why Mishima in Persona 5 is such an unpopular character even though he's very realistically written and has a better character arc than most of the playable cast - he's super weak (in many ways) and completely lacks charisma. Shinji from Evangelion and Eren from Attack on Titan are examples of the protagonist being in this boat, but even then they're still important and usually useful in a fight.

I started with all that because I don't think Yosuke fits into the 'idealized character with acceptable issues' criteria for a lot of people's favorite 'flawed' characters. Yosuke isn't charismatic. In fact, he's the opposite. Persona 4 Arena dubs Yosuke 'the disappointment as soon as he opens his mouth' and it's amazingly accurate. Yosuke can be very rude and outright mean at times. Sometimes intentionally in the good-natured-ribbing sort of way, but often unintentionally, and even when doing it intentionally he usually has to be directly told when he crosses a line. So, naturally, he's not very popular at school. You can partially blame the Junes situation (his dad is in charge of the store and it's crippling their small-town economy) but it's really only making things worse instead of being the source of the problem. Yosuke doesn't seem to have many friends when you arrive in town, and I doubt he ever would have formed a bunch of close friendships like he did with the Investigation Team if that whole incident had never occurred.

The worst part is, Yosuke doesn't have that many good parts about him. He's loyal and a true friend to the end but that's like...everyone in Persona 4 (and a lot of games) so he doesn't stand out. He's not particularly smart, not particularly good at fighting, and in general doesn't excel at a single thing I can think of. It's easy for me to name at least one thing that every other party member in Persona 4 excels at. I'm not saying Yosuke is a dumpster fire of a person - not even close. But he's far from idealized. You could walk up to any random dude in Japan with Tidus hair and wearing headphones and find a Yosuke.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ramza 2
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

My current voting record for the Choose Your Free Wallpaper site:

Vanguard Ike
Lyon
Felicia
Donnel
Soren

Not sure what else to go for. Probably Lucina, Dorcas, Katarina, Sheena, Lon'qu and...someone else.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Koromaru is literally just a dog and Morgana is the worst character in P5
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Ramza
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Elizabeth
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Kanji
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Lopen posted...

Too many FF characters !

There's not that many! They just all came in a row!

There's only one left remaining anyway
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Gatarix posted...

I never really got what was going on but it was fascinating

Killer7 in a nutshell

Apparently they cut out something like 90% of the full story they'd written before making the actual game, but didn't change any of the scenes they used to accomodate that. It was probably better this way.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I don't even dislike Johnny but Yuri is a real tough act to follow!
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

21. Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts series)

http://rs1011.pbsrc.com/albums/af233/TheStudList/R-Z/Yuri-sh02.jpg~c200

"Bite me. You know where."

There are few RPG main characters more entertaining than Yuri. He's crass, aggressive, and honest. The lines he spouts out are childlishly hilarious. Some villain will act all dramatic or go on a monologue and he deflates their atmosphere with two words. He got Grigori Rasputin to respond with "No, YOU WILL BITE ME!" Yuri is the perfect protagonist for a series like Shadow Hearts, where humor and dark themes mix together in the strangest way. He's enough of a straight man to play off of the weirdness well, but also enough of a weirdo himself to fit well within the universe. He also punches things and there's not enough RPG protagonists that punch things.

The lighthearted aspects of his character help offset his dark and depressing character arcs. Yuri is a Harmonixer who can change into demons when fighting, which is super cool except that his abilities will eventually kill him, much like it killed his father before him. Neat. His internal mental space where he interacts with his literal inner demons is called the Graveyard, and it's not metaphorical. There's a not-so-subtle metaphor of Yuri slowly digging his own grave (which might be the best scene in the series). This isn't a plot point that's ignored - at one point Yuri tries to control the spirit of a demon, fails, blows up part of Japan, and then goes AWOL for months. When they find him, he's barely Yuri anymore, and it takes Alice being awesome to bring him back.

And right after the curse of the Harmonixer takes away the most important thing in the world to him, he gets double cursed at the beginning of Shadow Hearts 2 to eventually lose his memories. All while he's still dealing with the grief of what happened in Shadow Hearts 1. Neat.

I've already made this clear, but Yuri goes through several character arcs, each of them both nuanced and satisfying. His relationship with Alice is one of my favorite romantic relationships in an RPG due to how well they play off of each other and support each other. Yuri's got the likability factor on lockdown and his personal story more or less carried the story of each Shadow Hearts game (the main plot is not so interesting). Shadow Hearts may as well have ended with Yuri when his story did. Sorry Johnny, but you aren't cutting it.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I mean to be fair is the stock market really indicative of the markets? As long as it doesn't crash entirely, I mean. Rising stocks certainly weren't translating to rising wages.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Trading for Yosuke
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

22. Roxas (Kingdom Hearts series)

https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_small/3/39164/1181282-untitled_1.png

"Sora, you're lucky. It looks like my summer vacation is... over."

Is it possible to really like a character solely because of sympathy? I'm not sure, but Roxas comes close.

Not that he isn't a good character in his own right - the slow buildup in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2 instantly made him a far more interesting protagonist than Sora ever was. Since then he's had more appearences and even his own game to flesh him out. Watching Roxas grow into his own person throughout 358/2 Days is easily the best characer arc in the Kingdom Hearts series. His friendships with Axel and Xion are very memorable. Even his somewhat silly lines like "who will I eat ice cream with?" are pretty endearing when considering the context of the situation. The idea of these weird, sort-of-emotionless beings that sprank into existence through weird Kingdom Hearts plot stuff finding solace through sitting on a clock tower and eating lots of ice cream is one that I like a lot.

I'm also been pissed off at Square Enix ever since Kingdom Hearts came out ~14 years ago. They build him up to be this interesting new character and oops, Sora's back and Roxas got absorbed. What? I kept waiting all game for Roxas to make a big return or at least for Sora winking him out of existence to be expanded on, but it never materialized. I have been mad at that wasted potential for literally over a decade and time hasn't dulled it. Roxas deserved better. He STILL deserves better (Kingdom Hearts 3 better fix this). There's something to be said about a tragic character but Roxas' tragedy isn't one I feel like I have to accept. He was born from nothing, forgot the memories of one of his best friends through plot BS, got kidnapped by Riku and put into a sick and twisted simulation of a normal life, and then got eaten by Sora. If there is any justice in this universe, Roxas will have a happy ending. Or at least a proper conclusion.

What it comes down to is that, simply put, Roxas is a character that I have a lot of emotions linked to. I like him a lot and I hope things turn out okay for the guy. Sometimes it's as simple as that.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

23. Garcian Smith (Killer7)

"Look. I'm a cleaner. I can feel no remorse when seeing a dead body. To me it's merely cold, rotting flesh."

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/suda51/images/b/bc/Big_Garcian.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110928071402

Having Garcian on this list is almost cheating. He's technically seven people...but also really only one. It's complicated okay?

On the outside, Garcian has the appearence of a cold and professional member of the assassin group called Killer7. No matter what happens, he's completely unflappable, never losing the calm cadence in his voice or demeanor. It's the ideal personality for a cleaner - someone whose job is to dispose of dead bodies with simple efficiency.

Of course, Killer7 being Killer7, things are always much more than they seem. The Killer7 are all part of the same body, a group of seven consciousness...es that take turns manning the wheel. All of them are unhinged in their own special ways, and for most of the game, Garcian actually takes a backseat to the rest of them. He's probably the 'main' personality, being the first one you control and the one to set up missions in-between chapters, but he's rarely the focus. No character plots are devoted to him. His personality is by far the most reserved and the most sane (relatively speaking). He's even the one you'll be using the least - Garcian is poor in combat and really only comes out to revive dead allies if you ever lose, which is rare.

This changes dramatically in the final parts of the game. Part of what makes Garcian so memorable is the nature of Killer7 itself - everything only half makes sense, so your mind is constantly trying to piece together what the hell is going on.
And then, in the middle of the final chapter dropping plot bombs on the player, Garcian begins playing a game of Russian Roulette for essentially no reason. While his opponent is freaking out and ranting about how both of them are twisted adrenaline junkies, Garcian neither confirms nor denies and continually pulls the trigger without a single moment of hesitation. It's as equally mystifying as it is messed up, but in the midst of learning about Garcian's troubled past, it makes an unfortunate amount of sense.

I'll leave off there because spoilers (for a game no one here will play if they already haven't, but still). Suffice to say that the things you learn in the final chapters about Garcian, his past, his actions, and the nature of the Killer7 themselves are chilling. And confusing. Like I said, Killer7 only ever half makes sense, and Garcian is no exception. There's an air of mystery about him that never goes away even when you've got some of him figured out. It's part of the reason why he's such a memorable character. If I perfectly understood Killer7, it would make the experience a lot less fun.

And man, look at that outfit. Garcian's got a damn fine sense of style.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Yosuke
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

hmm
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

GANON1025 posted...

Why are all these videos using the Japanese voices

When did those types infiltrate DBZ
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.