Board 8 > Japanese fan poll ranks Tales of series protagonists

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https://noisypixel.net/tales-of-protagonists-popularity-poll/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/0/2/AAB6RfAAEIuO.png

Got the right #1

Didn't know there were some protagonists that were less liked than Emil XD

Number 1 and 2 are good, but Id swap them.

Luke #1 gang rise up! Nice to see he's so easily in first. TotA remake let's goooooooo.

El Oh fucking El Sorey, I know it's because of the BL side of the Fandom stacking consolidating, but still funny to see.

Velvet obvious 3 or 4 spots too low.

Velvet, Milla, and Jude too low. Asbel too high but if you put Milla and Jude above him it's not bad. Sorey too high too probably but didn't play his game so couldn't say definitively. Didn't know Reid was that popular.

luke way to fuckin high
yuri too low
senel wasnt great but below emil is kinda uh

it's hard to think of Tales games where the protags are the best, but Yuri & Velvet are probably the easy picks in that regard.

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

Didn't know there were some protagonists that were less liked than Emil XD

Emil/DotNW aren't as unpopular in Japan iirc

Velvet anywhere but #1 is a joke

Hbthebattle posted...

Emil/DotNW aren't as unpopular in Japan iirc

there was definitely a lot of Emil merch while I was staying, his VA was even there for Tales of Festival that year!

and I got me a couple emil throw pillows aww yeah (one Emil one Ratatosk)

Kanata shouldn't be this low TBH, he's pretty decent! Of course it's most the first couple chaptersbwhere he holds his own.

Although I don't know if you can even play Crestoria anymore.

Kanata is Top 5 easy

Crestoria's story deserved better than an aborted gacha

KamikazePotato posted...

Velvet anywhere but #1 is a joke

I would go Luke, Velvet, then Yuri, but I certainly wouldn't say no to Velvet #1 either. Definitely 3rd for Yuri. After that I don't reaaaaally care about the order much? Like, I don't even necessarily even hate Sorey, it's just his game that's a war crime.

KamikazePotato posted...

Kanata is Top 5 easy

Crestoria's story deserved better than an aborted gacha

Remember that first trailer?

https://youtu.be/cOwH3YlLfo8

I would have killed for this to be a real Tales game, nothing about the story was gacha trash until it started doing the crossover stuff.

Strong top 2. Velvet too low, Sorry WAY TOO HIGH.

From the ones I've played...

1. Luke (the only correct #1, period)
2. Velvet
3. Yuri
4. Jude
5. Milla
6. Lloyd
7. Asbel
8. Ludger
9. Sorry
10. Emil

I only hate the last two. Ludger could've been higher if he actually talked.

I can understand Luke at the top even though I'm not an Abyss fan, but my opinion of Yuri has gone down over the years. At the time he was special because there were basically zero JRPG protagonists with his level of maturity, but I think the genre has evolved somewhat since then. Doesn't help that his character arc feels unfinished.

Basically exactly how I feel about Yuri, but that still doesn't drop him below 3rd.

Japanese fandom sexist confirmed.

why do a protagonist poll when the side characters are generally better? I'd much rather see a poll with none of the protagonists

(tho I assume Mikleo dominates that cuz yaoi)

rip every tales of the world protag (sure half of them are just generic templates but lol)

As far as the games with English releases go, the proper order is...

1. Luke
2. Yuri
3. Jude
4. Velvet
5. Lloyd
6. Milla
7. Reid
8. Stahn
9. Kor
10. Ludger
11. Alphen
12. Senel
13. Asbel
14. Cress
15. Sorey
16. Emil

So I think my only real big complaints are with Sorey and Jude's placements. Pretty solid results overall.

since when was luke so popular, I thought he was pretty divisive. I thought yuri was like de-facto #1 tales character period, not just protag.

KamikazePotato posted...

I can understand Luke at the top even though I'm not an Abyss fan, but my opinion of Yuri has gone down over the years. At the time he was special because there were basically zero JRPG protagonists with his level of maturity, but I think the genre has evolved somewhat since then. Doesn't help that his character arc feels unfinished.

It really is a shame. They had such a good thing going with the vigilante approach dilemma and they just dropped that and the rest of Yuri's complexities completely in the second half.

Where are all these other post Vesperia JRPG protags as mature as Yuri?

Surskit posted...

It really is a shame. They had such a good thing going with the vigilante approach dilemma and they just dropped that and the rest of Yuri's complexities completely in the second half.

Well much like everything else in vesperia, the 2nd half felt not as great. But I am curious, what exactly is the end to that character arc that you want to see? Part of being mature means you're more set in your ways, I think it would've been less in character for yuri to suddenly go "Yeah flynn you're right, this isn't the right way to do it."

As it stands, it basically ended with him and flynn agreeing to disagree, which is how lots of things in real life are resolved. I think that is as good an ending as you're gonna get that doesn't just do a 180 on either of yuri/flynn's established morals.

Also, isn't there a sidequest at least that delves further into his vigilantism? IIRC there's another npc who starts doing that but more extreme and yuri is like "woah guy you're taking it too far" so clearly there is a line. But also, easily missable sidequest so I'm fine not counting that as development.

Emeraldegg posted...

since when was luke so popular, I thought he was pretty divisive. I thought yuri was like de-facto #1 tales character period, not just protag.

Oh good, it wasn't just me who thought this. I thought I was going crazy

Edit: Velvet is comfortably my favorite main protagonist. I can't think of a stronger character pairing than Velvet and Magilou who are probably 1a and 1b for my favorites out of the entire series.

Emeraldegg posted...

since when was luke so popular, I thought he was pretty divisive. I thought yuri was like de-facto #1 tales character period, not just protag.

It's a Japanese poll. It doesn't reflect the whole fandom.

Yeah, in the global popularity one or whatever I recall Yuri got retired or something because he kept winning every year

Oh I thought yuri was tops prior in japanese polls too not just global, my bad

KamikazePotato posted...

my opinion of Yuri has gone down over the years. At the time he was special because there were basically zero JRPG protagonists with his level of maturity, but I think the genre has evolved somewhat since then. Doesn't help that his character arc feels unfinished.

The other part of your comment isn't worth convincing you over, but I do agree about Yuri here. Always have. I always really, really enjoyed him for his personality and harder edge than the typical JRPG protagonist, but never found his actual story to be all that compelling. Yes, he delivers the two best scenes in the game, but the story of his vigilante assassinations comes to a grinding halt and the game's themes of "justice" fall flat.

Vesperia's entire second act is pretty atrociously written save for the Cumore death scene; the party lacks the chemistry that was starting to build in Act 1 (which is the start of the game through the Ragou assassination) and there are far too many stretches where it feels like nothing is happening. Abyss had stuff happening like crazy and that made it more exciting, plus we got a party where everyone hated each other at one point or another, which made for more complex relationships and actual chemistry. Vesperia had none of that, and many things were discarded as soon as they arose. So it's not just Yuri. The entire product suffers.

The JRPGs that have stood the test of time haven't done so because of their battle systems. They've only done so because of their storytelling. Vesperia would've been long forgotten if Yuri hadn't been so badass and done things that many other JRPG heroes would never have dreamed of before that point, and his popularity certainly started pushing the genre away from the whiny kids who thought it fine to let a villain just walk away as a plot device.

All that said... Luke has always been #1. He's one of the best-developed characters ever created; someone to whom you are privy to every complexity, every subtle growth. So not only is he extremely well-developed, we get to see all of it without anything hitting the cutting room floor. Yuri was designed to be something different, even though he got his name from Luke's English VA (because someone at Bamco looked at that cast list for inspiration, never telling Lowenthal a thing), a contrast to Luke. It worked in personality but not in story, because Vesperia's disjointed writing - a different person wrote each of the three acts, then they just threw them together without figuring out how to make the pieces fit together (thus it's no coincidence the best-written is by far Act 1). They built a good world and never really did anything with it.

Velvet is #2 because Berseria is clearly her game the same way Abyss is Luke's; Berseria was definitely using the Abyss formula because they recognized that Abyss was their best game, so why not go back to what they knew worked well after the disaster that was Zestiria? Good protagonists - and antagonists - definitely correlate to the better Tales games; Abyss and Berseria have top 3 in each. Meanwhile Emil and Sorry are shit and their games are too.

Frankly, Tales is one of those series where I legitimately don't get why anyone would disagree with the characterization of Abyss and Berseria's protags reigning supreme. It's such a clear leap ahead of the rest, a lot of which are jaut generic RPG protags with maybe 1 or 2 twists at best. I at least understand the Yuri nostalgia, but it falls apart quite a bit on a replay. It's still a good game, he's still a good character, but the definitive edition really hurt my rose tinted view of it, and really opened my eyes to Baba's grubby little fingers all over the last third of the game.

Of course there are the Lloyd people, but typically they're in that fairly sizeable group over here who only played Symphonia, so you really can't count them.

For me, I like luke but he is also supremely annoying the first part of the game. Yes, I beat the game, I understand why, it makes sense. I appreciate the level of growth he experiences over the course of the game. But that doesn't make him less annoying in the first half, enough that he's not tops for me.

Like I get it, but it's just not for me. I don't appreciate the first part act like lots of others do.

The hell is Sorey so high for. Ludger too cause he doesn't damn talk.

most_games_r_ok posted...

The hell is Sorey so high for. Ludger too cause he doesn't damn talk.

cuz Sorey x Mikleo is the most popular Tales couple in Japan

Elle x Ludger very popular as well

MacArrowny posted...

Tales couple

Elle x Ludger very popular as well

uhhhhhhhh

1. Luke
2. Velvet
3. Yuri
4. Lloyd
5. Milla
6. Ludger
7. Asbel
8. Jude
9. Stahn
10. Cress
11. Reid
12. Senel
13. Sorey
14. Emil

That's about my ranking. Though it's been a long time since I played Eternia and I never completed it.