Who is your favorite protagonist?
WarChiefZeke
Member Posts: 2,669
Title is fairly self explanatory. Who is your favorite protagonist from any form of media, be it video games, books, etc, and why?
I think mine would have to be Ramza Beoluve from Final Fantasy Tactics. In return for going against the grain of society for what he thought was right, his brothers disowned him, his deeds were erased from history, and his best friend took all the credit for what he did. He wasn't exceptionally cool or heroic, he didn't "get the girl" in the end or anything like that. He was simply an ordinary person, bound by circumstances beyond his control, and tried to do something about what he saw as unjust. This is a lot closer to reality, where there is often little reward for virtue.
I think mine would have to be Ramza Beoluve from Final Fantasy Tactics. In return for going against the grain of society for what he thought was right, his brothers disowned him, his deeds were erased from history, and his best friend took all the credit for what he did. He wasn't exceptionally cool or heroic, he didn't "get the girl" in the end or anything like that. He was simply an ordinary person, bound by circumstances beyond his control, and tried to do something about what he saw as unjust. This is a lot closer to reality, where there is often little reward for virtue.
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Tactics is also just a really (really) good game. He's an excellent vehicle for the story to be consumed by the player.
I dont know that I can limit myself to one protagonist, particularly since it can be from any media. So I'll just pick perhaps the first video game protagonist that comes to mind: Nathan Drake. The uncharted franchise really hits the Indiana Jones nostalgia vibe on the head, and Nathan Drake is both extremely well written as well as fantastically voiced (Nolan North, IIRC).
As a side note - video game protagonists are an interesting set of characters. In RPGs, they are commonly silent or at least are malleable so that the player can make meaningful choices for them - they sort of become who you want them to be in a lot of circumstances. For that reason, I struggle to think of too many mainstream RPG protagonists that I really adored.
My mind keeps going to Arthur Morgan from RDR2 as he is the most recent, well written protagonist of a game I played. His loyalty, ‘ah shucks’ attitude and awkward unsociable nature make him an unique character when it comes to protagonists.
I guess I'd go with Lucas from Mother 3. A young child when the game starts, he lives in small, almost utopian village. The game VERY quickly sees his family fall apart, and strangers invading his home and making it unrecognizeable. Fast forward a few years, and his little village is a city, with all the good and bad that entails. Becoming an outcast for sticking to the old, simple life, he eventually leaves to try and find what remains of his family and put it back together. There's a save the world plot in there, but its not the main draw for me.
I really have to try Mother 3 sometime. Earthbound on the SNES was bursting at the seams with charm and personality, I can't see them going wrong with 3.
I admire everything about Tyrion, from his humour to his courage. But most of all, I admire his brilliant mind.
He was reduced to nothing but a character whose lines amounted to "hey, remember when we did this in Season x" for all of seasons 7 and 8. He went from one of the best characters ever to a totally incompetent moron. That show was lost the moment they ran out of book material, but no one's dialogue suffered more than Tyrion's. Check out his earlier conversations with his sister compared to his last one for evidence.
So what I like so much about this character is her grounded relatability. In Devilman the protagonist was a teenager, whilst it ended up an epic work of horror, its initial creation as a shonen work is fairly clear and Akira is kind of a prototypical type of hero. Jun on the other hand is an adult woman who works as a fashion model. And her vocation isn't considered from any kind of romantic or glamorous perspective, its shown to be a job that she is starting to feel unfulfilled by. And her mindset is one of an introvert. She's the kind of personality that is ill suited to be any kind of superhero, and that's great because its something that keeps the show from any kind of comic book feeling. It's horror, she becomes a monster, she has to fight other monsters, and she struggles to cope knowing she's got this other side. It makes her internal struggles her main obstacle, its an interesting concept put against otherwise her monster form being OP and usually not having much trouble defeating other beasts till towards the end.
Its my fascination with her character that has me writing my own adaptation of the series, its mainly to explore it from some slightly different angles.
You should! Its my personal favorite entry in the series, but uh, be warned that it gets very emotional. The game's tagline is "No crying until the end."
Daaaaaaammmn good stuff. Sprouting almost 800 currently translated chapters. May or may not involve cleanly shaved, perfumed and tea-drinking dwarves.
From video games the old pc: Lara Croft. The teenage infatuation with video game characters.... Ah... The remakes are surprisingly good too I think. If I can extend to a similar character it would be from playstation, Aloy from horizon zero dawn. An unexpected heroin in a tale about the past. Slowly you learn bits and pieces and see the protagonist grow. I really like the character and the different directions you can take (good, neutral, bad) feel genuine and not forced. I guess the curiosity of these protagonists are what makes me like them.
Except for Sam, I have no idea who you are all taking about. Haha