Favorite and Least Favorite Game Characters (*SPOILERS*)

[Karushifa]

Sometimes, if I am playing an otherwise mediocre video game, I will think, "hey, this game would be much better if it were about [favorite character]. They're pretty awesome." Other times, I will be really enjoying a game, and along comes a character so grating, so obnoxious, so utterly unlikeable that I might be inspired to smash the TV if I have to see or hear them any more. This thread is about those times.

This is a list of 5 of my LEAST favorite video game characters, the ones I love to see get theirs in the end (if they do), or lament (if they didn't). Bear in mind that these selections have nothing to do with character stats (where playable characters are involved) and everything to do with personality, or lack thereof. A downer of a topic, perhaps, but I hope it's at least cathartic for some. Be aware that these descriptions contain GAME SPOILERS:

5) Urda (Suikoden V): one of the "broken record" characters in SV (another one being Cornelio, who calls everyone in the game a "mediocrity" at some point), Urda gets bonus points for being xenophobic, as her dialogue seems to consist solely of "barbarous humans". She'd be great at parties: "Why, hello, barbarous human. Glad you could come, barbarous human. Care for a drink, barbarous human?" She reminded me of the irritating Hume-hating Vieras from FFXII, except much less inventive. No wonder Isato was so insistent on staying in Lunas (and no, I don't think it's because he has the hots for Haswar...)

4) Snowe (Suikoden IV): Opinion is highly divided on Snowe. Some see him as a brat, others find him to be a well-developed character. I'm somewhat conflicted on him, and while I admire his ability to recognize his mistakes towards the end of the game, I still find his early-game actions deplorable. Worst of all is his witness to the rooftop scene with Glen and Lazlo (Hero IV). Now, I'm aware that, if I had just stumbled upon a scene like that I too would be suspicious that Lazlo - the surviving person - may have had something to do with the death of the other. But if the suspected person were truly my friend, I would at least try not to jump to conclusions and pin the death on him immediately. Unfortunately, the way it came off to me was that Snowe was waiting for an opportunity to ingratiate himself to his superiors, and Lazlo just happened to be the tool he used to do that. What a pal. Plus, Snowe's voice acting (early game, at least) was like nails on a chalkboard.

3) Salum Barows (Suikoden V): I was going to nominate Euram for his creepy Lymsleia-phelia, among other things, but then I realized that I disliked Salum a lot more. He's such a slimeball that it's not even funny, whereas at least Euram seems to be doing what he does just to please his papa. Salum instigated the Lordlake debacle, stole the Dawn Rune, and tries to use the Prince as a figurehead for his new breakaway "kingdom". None of this shocked me, of course, since Salum has all the personality, appeal, and ulterior motives of a used car salesman. It was mighty satisfying to see him get Twilight Runed to smithereens.

2) Brother (FFX-2): He started picking up a second language so that he could talk to Yuna, although you'll wish he hadn't. Forget how creepy he looks, with the blue mohawk, the bug-eyes, the chest tattoos, and the pants whose waist is down near his...area. It's his crush on Yuna that brings out Brother's most annoying side. Imagine having a crewmate who is constantly, stalkingly checking on you with the radio, the Commspheres ("I can see Yuna!"), exhorting you to dance, fawning over you at every opportunity...and then imagine he's your COUSIN. And you say, sure, but cousin-love is accepted in many countries, right? Well, even Rikku thinks that's perverted. Rikku, the second most-annoying character in FFX-2, the one with the most hints as to her "interesting" past love life. Yeah.

1) Prince Charmles (Dragon Quest VIII): the inspiration for this thread, and my nomination for the most caustic game character ever. Where to start with "Charmless"...spoiled, cowardly, selfish, dishonest, treats "commoners" like crap, abuses his betrothed (while she's in horse form, but still), talks like an eight-year-old, has beady little eyes...ugggghhh. In a game with quite a few assholes (Marcello, Dominic, Jessica's mother, several of the clergy, etc.), Charmles is head and shoulders above the rest. It would be bad enough if all he did was the Argon heart switcheroo, but his good old dad doesn't even punish him right then and there. But hey, King Clavius is probably the reason why his son is a bratty sociopath to begin with, so I can't say I was entirely shocked.


Well, so sorry about the long starter post...who are some of the game characters YOU love to hate, and why?

[Leb]

I'm making this thread all-encompassing for video games. Just having least favorite opens the door for more threads that clutter.

Favorite

Lezard Valeth (Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria)
The maniacal, lovesick puppydog antagonist. While he did have grand aspirations for himself, his primary motivation was love. It's an interesting way to drive a villain towards a goal. I won't say anything about how he is in Silmeria, since a few people are playing that right now.

Snowe Vingerhut (Suikoden IV, Suikoden Tactics)
Wasn't he Flik's star? Hahaha, I bet some Fliktor fans were pissed. Snowe is similar to Jowy in that he is a traitor who goes on to redeem himself, but unlike Jowy, Snowe does it in a much more realistic and human way. He sees the overwhelming Kooluk naval forces and spares the people of Razril from war by surrendering. He does his best to earn their trust (both Kooluk's and the citizens of Razril's), but fails because of his charismatic servant. How could he not be jealous? He resorts to piracy and is mutinied upon. Finally understanding that he just isn't a leader, he comes to accept his lot, asks for and receives forgiveness, and serves faithfully under the hero for the rest of the war.

Even in Rhapsodia, Snowe proves to be a human character. He's still good friends with the hero, but he's wracked with guilt over his actions despite being forgiven. It's not like Jowy, where, oh shit, everything's peachy after he killed thousands of my soldiers. You asshole.

Euram Barrows (Suikoden V)
Another redeeming character. It seems that Suikoden likes to have these types. It's hard to say if Euram's change is human just because of how bizarre the background of it is. You have to wonder what his mother said to make him realize his folly, especially after the hero seemingly failed to get through to him.

Least Favorite
The Moody Hero (Various RPGs)
You know who I'm talking about. The one who whines too much or tries to be aloof for all the wrong reasons. Squaresoft championed this type in the late '90s with Cloud, Squall and Fei. I was going to strangle someone if I had to listen to these fools continue to wallow in self-pity.

[Celes Tilly]

Cool beans!

Favorites

Celes Chere from Final Fantasy VI. Celes is awesome. She was a general, a magitek knight, and a badass in battle. She wasn't the type to put up with nonsense and her runic skill was amazingly helpful. She also stuck to her path, although she could have turned back, which pleased me. All around, she was just a great character and fighter.

Lezard Valeth from Valkyrie Profile and VP2: Silmeria. What can I say about Lezard that Leb didn't already say? Lezard is amazing. He somehow manages to pull off a "creepy nerd" sort of role, which I haven't seen before. He makes an interesting villain as well, especially because he's not a nihilist or some emo fool. His magical attacks are devastating as well, making him one of the better mages of ALL TIME. <3

Least favorites

Rinoa Heartilly from Final Fantasy VIII. Oh man, I can't stand this girl. She's annoying, she's useless in battle, and her dialogue with Squall always got under my skin. The game overall just sucked because of this romance bullshit that was going on. "You're going to like me! Oh no, I am unconscious! Hey, you like me now for no reason! Awesome!" Fuck. She needed to be stabbed in the face with a fork; unfortunately, that did not happen.

Anise from Tales of the Abyss. Ho ho, annoying little girl syndrome. Anise is loud, annoying, her VA sucked ass, her personality is stupid, and she's a traitor to Ion. Please go get yourself killed, Anise. Ugh, too bad you don't have the option of killing her... or at least telling her she can't be back in your party.
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"Oh my god--"
"God? God is love. I don't love you."

[Elzamine]

Favorites

General Beatrix Final Fantasy IX She gets points for being one of the few FF female characters who didn't drive me absolutely insane. FF seems to have this trend of creating females that make me want to beat my face into a wall rather than listen to them spout fluffy annoying crap. Beatrix was loyal to the Empire, and while she fought against you for awhile, she was in all regards attempting to hold onto that loyalty. She kicks ass and takes names! While she has a love interest which baffles me because of his moronic tendacies, at least she strong willed and able, unlike most of the series' ladies.

Futch Suikoden I/II/III For anyone who knows me and didn't see this coming, shame on yoooou! I feel he's rather well developed for a side lines characters, and really, I just love him. He had the best story in II, but I think he met his roles well enough in I and III just as well.

Rufus Shinra Final Fantasy VII I just like how this guy does things. He'll screw anyone over and manipulate his way around things to get what he wants. Plus he wears a white suit, which commands cool. There's just something about Rufus that leaves me impressed. He isn't all crazy nuts on the battle side of things, but I think he has pretty decent character development and style. I mean, he isn't useless in battle, he carries around a shotgun afterall.


Hates

Aeris Gainsborough Final Fantasy VII Is that how you even spell her last name?? Or do I call her Aerith now? How about abundance of pink woman that makes me want to vomit. I can't handle Aeries, she annoys me, her I'm so innocent and now I'm going to go be a sweetheart and save the world on top of things character just drove me crazy. She has no downside, her flaw was she went and got herself killed, well, other than being obscenely nice to the point of wanting to smack her. I just dislike her, all there is to it.

Rinoa Heartillly Final Fantasy VIII You know, I thought they'd done it with Aeris, but oh was I wrong. Somehow, they went and did things work with this lead heroine. I believe Celes covered it for the most part, I can't help but agree with her completely. They even had several chances to kill her, lose her in space, have Squall wake up and jam her through the chest with his gunblade. All opportunities wasted! *sigh*
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-My DeviantArt-

[Karushifa]

[Sialeeds]

I can't really name favourites since I like soo much characters.

Dislike

Aerith(FF7)

Stupid character. Never ever gave a damn about her. She was boring and really really disturbing. I was glad she died. Cloud should have gone after Tifa anyway.

Gepetto(SHadow Hearts2)

Man that was like the most stupid character ever. He was boring (except for the drinking part) he didn't really contribute or played a major role to the plot and he could't do shit in battle. Plus he kinda gave me the creeps with his puppet. He really reminded me of an pedophile.

Krin( Suikoden)

I'm still mentally damaged that I was forced to bring him along in my party at Kasim Hazils fortress. I'm afraid I will stay like this my whole life.

[Crimson_Angel]

Dislike

[fatalis]

The once character that is standing out in my mind is...

Carth Onasi from Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic. I [i]hated[i] Carth. I never used him in my party, never spoke with him, and generally hated anything to do with him. He was such a whiny sucker that I hated being forced into situations where I even had to run around with him for more than a few mere seconds. The worst part about him is that you (SPOILER WARNING) don't even get to kill him if you are Dark Side! (/SPOILER)

Grrrr, stupid Carth.
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It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on.

[Parallax]

[Yitan]

Favourite characters:

Zidane Tribal (FFIX): I love his personality, so cheerful, so kind and nice... and funny. His opinions, the way he thinks, the way he sees life... I love him <3

chaos (Xenosaga series): He is soooo cool. The way he talks, his voice, his background... oh man, how can a videogame character be so cool?

Elly (Xenogears): I definetly LOVE her. She is the most human character (and the best female character) I've ever seen in a videogame.


Hated characters:

Cloud Strife (FFVII): Most overrated character of all times. Aaaghh... just SHUT UP and die!!! You don't deserve the praise you have.
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[eXistence of Fly]

[Admiral Ackbar]

Hated - In no particular order (except the first three)

1 - Graham Cray - (Suikoden IV) I hope to God/Shiva/Allah/Flying Spaghetti Monster that no video game character is ever loathed by me more than this character is. My hatred from Graham Cray knows no bounds. I won't even get into the details, because I already feel a headache coming on...

2 - Tidus - (FFX) My mind is a flurry of profanities just thinking about Tidus. Strike one: extremely grating voice and dialogue. Strike two: He looks like Dido. Strike three: Evrything he says and does is abso-fucking-lutely stupid to a degree that only a fictional character can reach. That's right...Tidus' level of stupid is not achievable by us real people. It is limited to the realm of the imagined.

3 - Yuna - (FFX, FFX-2) I appreciate that Square finally decided to make a female love interest that wasn't dressed like a hooker (until the sequel anyway), but damn. Yuna loses all cool for one simple fact: she loves Tidus. No amount of character development can overcome this fact. Yuna loves Tidus. Yuna loves Tidus. Yuna loves Tidus. >_< Have you ever known someone who was perfect in every way, was a great person, intelligent, compassionate, et cetera, and then they fall in love with a total loser? That person is Yuna. The "romantic" scenes between these two characters were unbearable for me, not just because I hate Tidus, but because there was no reason for these two to love each other except that they were the main characters. I just couldn't understand how someone like Yuna would ruin her genes like that. Oh, and let's not forget how she whored it to the MAX for the sequel.

- Iskas - (Suikoden Tactics) No explanation needed. He wasn't even up to Neclord standards.

- Kyril - (Suikoden Tactics) Questionable voice acting and goat heritage aside, he was still a terrible character. He is completely unremarkable...there is nothing unique about him. He is your standard, typical RPG hero. He was the rare talking Suikoden hero, and he was as bland as could be. If he comes back in another Suikoden I will be very pissed. His presence in Suikoden canon offends me.

- Aeris - (FF7) What can I add that hasn't already been said?

- Rinoa (FF8) Queen of the Mary Sues. She is easily my most hated female video game character. She made a bad game even worse. Not only did I have to tolerate Squall's whining inner monologue (Dear Squall: you're gay. Problem solved. Now stop whining and bottom for Seifer so we can all move on.), but I had to deal with Rinoa being a dumb broad at every opportunity. Also...she's the least believable beard ever

- Jupis (Rogue Galaxy) I'm playing this game right now, so it's fresh in my mind. The characters in this game are cheesey and stereotypical, but Jupis is just plain annoying. It's like the game designers wanted to top Jar-Jar Binks by having an annoying non-human characters around.

I might think of more later...
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