Board 8 > Who are the most unlikeable video game protagonists?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Some names I've seen thrown around:

Marche Radiuju (FFTA)
Corrin (FE Fates)
Alex Eggleston (YIIK)


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Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga)
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Corrin in Conquest specifically gets my vote

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Joel (The Last of Us)

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I take issue with calling Marche a protagonist tbqh

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FFDragon posted...

I take issue with calling Marche a protagonist tbqh

villain protagonist is a thing
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Even though he gets much better later (so much so that his awfulness early on helps bring out how great a character he really is), Luke is unbearable for the first third or so of Tales of the Abyss.

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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Joel (The Last of Us)

This came to mind.

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Underleveled posted...

Even though he gets much better later (so much so that his awfulness early on helps bring out how great a character he really is), Luke is unbearable for the first third or so of Tales of the Abyss.

applies to HOUOUIN KYOUMA as well

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Vaan
Raiden in MGS2 (though it works in the game's benefit, and he's much more likable in later games)
Amy Rose if you count her


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Snake5555555555 posted...

Vaan

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Kirby and Yoshi, who really are just grating sound effects with no real depth.

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Vaan.

Literally the worst. Tell me ANYTHING you gain by having him there.

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there are different types of unlikable protagonists

there are ones you're not supposed to like, or aren't supposed to be heroic or good people (Brood War Kerrigan, i guess Joel, and people take issue with Marche's choices). well-written, but not likable

then there are ones that aren't likable because they have zero charisma and are just empty space where a personality is supposed to be. Gordon Freeman is a good example

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JoeBobTheGreat posted...

Vaan.

Literally the worst. Tell me ANYTHING you gain by having him there.

Hey bucket head!

I'm Basch!
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Joel (The Last of Us)

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I thought Vaan was just an empty avatar. I forgot most of his deal.

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Vaan literally only exists because Square didn't think they could sell Basch as the protagonist because he was too old and not bishie enough
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Every character in GTA.

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Lloyd Irving

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No one for original series Kratos, huh? I thought he got named for this a lot.

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paperwarior posted...

No one for original series Kratos, huh? I thought he got named for this a lot.

He's over the top stupid, but I think Joel took over his spot. At least Kratos can be parodied (and has a cool design). Joel is a milquetoast in design and abilities and was intentionally portrayed as an unlikable douche.

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Came in to say Joel

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Mario. We like him so little that he keeps having to remind us all "It's-a-me Mario!". We have also collectively launched him off a cliff more than any other character. What other protagonist can possibly claim more abuse than what this poor plumber has gone through?

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Patroklos (Soul Calibur V)

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SovietOmega posted...

Mario. We like him so little that he keeps having to remind us all "It's-a-me Mario!". We have also collectively launched him off a cliff more than any other character. What other protagonist can possibly claim more abuse than what this poor plumber has gone through?

Probably a number of GTA protagonists that we keep getting killed by the cops for the lulz.

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Original series Kratos

Main reason I still haven't played the new game

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Luke cause I dont agree that he ever got better

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definitely that dick from ffta

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linkhatesganon posted...

Lloyd Irving

I'll fight you.

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Underleveled posted...

I'll fight you.

Lloyds a total moron, but plenty likable.

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I didn't much like the dude from TotA but I'm told I wasn't really supposed to at the time

I am still willing to repeatedly die on the dangan ronpa 3 hill

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I think its difficult to make someone more unlikeable than Marche.

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First-week Neku is completely insufferable, but to be fair, that's kinda the whole point of his character.

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Hope
Snow

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Snrkiko posted...

Hope
Snow

I mean if we're including all good guys then the list gets really long

pretty sure Raka was just talking about main characters
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banananor posted...

personality is supposed to be. Gordon Freeman is a good example

Why do you suggest he's supposed to have a personality? It was an FPS without cutscenes... Maybe in HL2 but originally he's just a Link.

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Donte from DmC

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Though more of a party member than full on protagonist, Ryuji from Persona 5. Like Jesus Christ. They ended up finding a way to create the most useless, obnoxious, detrimental, and perverted asshole of a party member. The amount of shit he does that fucks over the Phantom Thieves throughout the story is just mind boggling. I mean, Ann isn't much better, but you have to wonder why Joker, Morgana, and Makoto even let this guy hang around them, much less know he exists.

As far as full on main characters go, probably Luke or Vaan. I tried getting into Abyss again, but Tear and Jade can't seem to outshine just how petty and unlikeable the game makes him out to be. I think if the game didn't spend every 5 minutes doing the "Jade calls him stupid or sheltered, Luke HAS to react like a bitch" angle over and over and over and over AND OVER, it might have been more tolerable. I've heard he gets way better, but it's really hard to sit through the game constantly reminding you how much of a bitch he is.

But yes. Vaan ISN"T the main character, shouldn't even be IN the game given how little he contributes or revolves around the main story, and just...exists. Luke and Haseo (ANOTHER asshole in his own right) might be written to be completely unlikeable and dicks to party members, but at least they are probably fashioned as important and integral members of their games.

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Caim from Drakengard

Psychos can be fun, but he can't even talk so there's no sense of abandon, it just comes off as very disquieting.

Nathan Drake is also hard to like, but that's more due to implication than the actual framing of the series. At the beginning of each game, before he knows there's some world ending bullshit behind each treasure, he instigates pretty much every conflict and mows ppl down by the thousands. Usually mercs who can hardly be called evil, as they have no idea what the big bad's plans are and are just defending their charge from some asshole who starts snapping their necks and has ZERO CLAIM to the artifact.

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Three of my top 6 favorite gaming characters have been mentioned so far.

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2B

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LeonhartFour posted...

Vaan literally only exists because Square didn't think they could sell Basch as the protagonist because he was too old and not bishie enough

I love FFXII and it makes me so sad that it could have been even better had this obvious mistake not been made!

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Yeah, the only people who are "main characters" in the game are Ashe (who the story revolves around a LOT later), and Basch, who has ties to Ashe enough that you can do the "Knight/Protector" thing with him as a viewpoint. Vaan does none of that, and outside of Penelo, he has no agency to the plot other than to be some dink on the ground floor of the Rabanastre slums dreaming of "being a sky pirate." I don't even know if meeting Balthier and Fran ends up as a good enough B plot to justify him being there.

Not that Penelo fares much better, but she gets some scenes with Larsa...so who knows.

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I mean, the entire crux of FFX is Tidus being in another world and being filled into the ways of how everything works. My guess is they tried that with XII, but it was A: a much less involved and fleshed out world, and B: more political intrigue than "fantastical apocalyptic doomscape." There's just less for Vaan to be "told about."

X for instance has a separate race of people, language, a world fucking sport, 5-10 different cities that all interconnect, religions, and other things. XII does a few of those things, but never to that level of detail.

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Yeah, FFX actually does the "protagonist who doesn't know anything" thing really well, unlike FFXII.
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Strife2 posted...

Luke and Haseo (ANOTHER asshole in his own right)

Wait...

...who is Haseo???

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Sora (post KH2)