Hello everyone, I'm LordGlarc. I'm new to the Push Square forums and the warm welcome I've received inspired me to create my very first topic. Think of it as a "getting to know everyone on an incredibly niche way" type of discussion.
Your favorite characters can be from any game, series, and platform (not just PlayStation) so feel free to make this your definitive list!
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for being so nice and welcoming.
5. Metal Sonic: When I was a kid, not many things were cooler than Sonic The Hedgehog. So naturally the only thing that could be cooler was a stronger, faster, evil robot version of Sonic. Metal Sonic quickly became my favorite thing as a child. I desperately wanted Sega to make a Metal Sonic video game and even wrote them a letter asking them to do so (They actually sent me a very nice letter back thanking me for my fandom and even included a swag bag of Sonic stuff, including a Metal Sonic animation cell from the anime). Hopefully with a recent cameo appearance in a popular series, more people will discover how cool he really is.
4. Skull Kid: So right off the bat, Majora's Mask is my favorite Legend of Zelda game. So it should come as no surprise that Skull Kid is my favorite LOZ character of all time. His appearance, tragic history, the fact that he relies on his god like power rather than brute strength, and his heartwarming redemption all come together to make an incredibly layered antagonist.
3. Robbie the Rabbit: I absolutely ADORE Silent Hill 3. It's my favorite game in the series and in my top 5 video games of all time. A big reason for that is Robbie the Rabbit. I love horror games and one of my favorite tropes is the cute mascot made creepy. Robbie stands out to me because you're never quite sure if he is simply a discarded mascot suit or if someone is actually inside. The ambiguity and lack of solid answers coupled with him occupying Lakeside Amusement park (In my opinion the best location in ANY Silent Hill game. Huge shoutout to the Haunted House section) and Robbie the Rabbit is simply one of the best Silent Hill characters period.
PS: I cackled with joy when he made a cameo in Silent Hill 4 (If you know, you know).
2. Gengar: I mean, he's my profile picture for a reason. From the beginning, I was drawn to ghost type Pokémon and non more so than Gengar. His appearance, moveset, and depiction in the anime quickly cemented his place in my team and my heart. I have an embarrassing amount of Gengar memorabilia and much to the chagrin of my wife, I don't foresee that changing anytime soon.
1. Razputin "Raz" Aquato: Psychonauts 1 and 2 are tied for my favorite games of all time and a big part of that is the main character Raz. I love his look (goggles are cool), his personality, powers, and circus background. The fact that he's voiced by Invader Zim himself Richard Horvitz doesn't hurt either. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to complete my 100th playthrough while I not so patiently wait for Psychonauts 3 (Please Double Fine, I'm begging you).
@LordGlarc This is a really good question and topic of discussion. My answer has changed over the years, I think. Previously I might have said Nathan Drake, Joel, or Aloy, (all great characters, to be sure) but pondering things I think my life experiences and nostalgia have modified my preferences over the years.
I looked over all the games I’ve played and it’s really hard to narrow down. I’m formulating a list that I’ll post later on. I need some time to chew on it. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Some of my favourite characters in gaming tend to be the supporting cast, not the actual player-character. But even so, it is very difficult to even pin down a Top 5.
My four suggestions are in no particular order.
Petra Forgewoman (Horizon)
Hal Emmerich/Otacon (Metal Gear Solid)
Doctor Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
Cassandra Pentaghast (Dragon Age)
With Cassandra, her character has so much depth. If you happen to romance Cassandra, you see a truly romantic and vulnerable side to her. She tries to pretend it is not here.
I had a ponder earlier and was thinking do I even have "favourite characters" now, and what will even qualify that as a thing, for me? I think a good few years ago I could probably slap a few Pokemon down on a list and be done with it
But these days... Will it be characters I simply like for entertainment reasons, character design, or characters that feel like they are grounded in some sort of reality, make a real impact or are simply exceptionally well written regardless of how they fit into the games they are in.
And now I'm just thinking it's probably going to be the cast of Baldur's Gate 3, isn't it? 😅
Shadowheart, Karlach and Astarion and the journeys they went on all resonated with me on a level I wasn't expecting. They are all exceptionally well written and performed and they are fundamentally incredibly real, albeit in a fantasy setting.
I'm also pondering Arthur Morgan, but I don't know if I'd say he's a favourite character. It was more a perfect combination of setting, all characters as a group and the overall story. Sadie is a fantastic character, Dutch and Micah too. And the whole gang are superb and all have their moments where their character will shine brightest, even if they have been in the background for the most part, there will come a moment where you get to see that they have been there all along, and are just as fleshed out as anyone else. So it's hard to just say, oh, I like simple old Arthur Morgan doing his thing.
I'd probably have to have Niko Bellic pretty high on the list. For me, he is the best protagonist from any GTA game. And Roman was actually a really good character in his own right that played off of Niko well. The hardened realist and the hopeful fantasist both struggling to survive America in their own way. And I loved the VA's performance for Niko, too.
I'll probably come back to this later as I've got stuff to do, but I'll probably have the topic in the back of my mind, as it is an interesting one. So cheers, @LordGlarc and welcome.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
What a great discussion topic, @LordGlarc. Welcome to the forums, it is indeed a great place with many fun and interesting people!
While my absolute favourite character was an easy pick, I initially struggled to round out my list. Then, along came @Ravix and reminded me about Arthur and Nico. I agree 100%, Nico is the best GTA lead character by far, and he's the reason I soured on all the GTA V characters: They had no redeeming features whatsoever, whilst Nico was simply pulled in to a life he desperately wanted to get out of. Excellent character.
And then I started thinking back and all of a sudden all kinds of characters started popping up, so now my problem turned into narrowing it down to five
I think I've concluded with the following list:
5. Imoen - Baldur's Gate. I briefly considered going with Minsc & Boo, as they are the ones that stand out in my mind, but I think Imoen was the first video game character I felt something like an emotional attachment to.
4. Morte - Planescape: Torment. Went back and forth between Morte and the Nameless One, and then I started considering all the other brilliant characters in this game and decided to land on Morte before I spiraled into a death loop of indecisiveness.
3. Arthur Morgan - Red Dead Redemption 2. Again, a difficult decision, as it took a long while for me to connect with Morgan the same way I connected with John Marston in the previous game. When all was said and done, though, Morgan's journey stayed with me for a long time.
2. Nico Bellic - GTA IV. Whether he's beating up thugs, out drinking with his cousin or simply moonlighting as a taxi driver, Nico Bellic was never, ever dull. Here's hoping GTA VI manages to provide characters with similar depths.
1. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Normandy - Mass Effect series. It took an amazing amount of restraint not to simply populate this list with Mass Effect characters, and even then I would have trouble narrowing it down to just five. And while I absolutely love Jennifer Hale's FemShep, my heart will always belong to Tali
@FuriousMachine ah, yes. Fellow Bellic appreciators unite! I will try to throw a couple of redeemable qualities from GTA5 for fun, although they wouldn't necessarily be redeemable in terms of you getting along with them, more just the characters themselves having worth to the story. Michael for his washed up Hollywood vibe and for being an utter and total sellout who did said selling out for what was probably at least partially a noble reason, for the good of his family, a family who now hate him, and thus he becomes the epitome of 'I don't care any more' (Phil Collins hits the PA). His interactions with the therapist are pretty decent for satire too. He is a bit boring though.
Franklin has his head pretty much screwed on straight, and his interactions with Lemarr, and then Trevor and Michael are good for this. It's usually quite a simple take he has, but its usually also pretty logical and sound. He is a bit boring, though.
Trevor. His insecurities and his Canadian-ness. And he does have the quality of "the world made him this way because it didn't accept him for who he was" which is kind of neat. He still has these moments where you see he is actually way more sane than everyone else, especially those in Vinewood, until... he isn't. He is a bit too un-boring 😅 if that makes sense. He has a lot going on and it kind of veers into the wildly unrealistic because of this.
GTA 4 is simply in a different league to 5 though, so it's hardly fair to compare.
Back to my list composing rambling now:
I can't not include...
Geralt. Even though I kind of prefer book Geralt for his constant b*tching, moaning, whinging, hypocrisy and his emo tendencies. CDPR and Doug Cockle still do wonders with the character. But spending ages moaning about your sore knee and going on about how "poor baby Geralt is sick of being a Witcher" is hardly video game material. But I still miss those parts of his character, which let every other book character that truly knew him to give him a good slap and a telling off from time to time, even by simply pointing out that he is in fact not the only person in the world with a sob story 😁
Geralt in Toussaint for Blood & Wine gets to be pretty peak game Geralt, though, especially when talking to locals who are themselves full of it. They really bring some of that trademark Sapkowski sarcasm and dry humour in that DLC, I feel. And he's got to make my list somewhere, for sure.
And then to round it out, good old Henry of Skalitz. Poor lad is just a regular guy who wants to get drunk on a weekend and mess about with his mates, until... he's not. KCD is the game I see as the most charming game ive ever played, and the characters in that are a huge reason why. He's just a cheeky chap blagging his way around the best he can, and that makes for some great times. Throw Hans Capon in there too, for their budding Bromance, and Hans' actor Luke Dale's commitment on Reddit and elsewhere to just spend so much time in character that he has become a kind of cult hero to KCD fans beyond just his performance in the game itself 😅
Two lads set to take on the world in KCD2 and who I'm very much looking forward to journeying with for many hours once more.
I might pop up an actual top 5 at some point. But for now the discussion is enough.
@nomither6 I fear you'll be right, but I'm holding out hope.
@Ravix It's just that I found all three of them loathsome and really couldn't stand playing as any of them. I think I will make yet another attempt before VI comes out, as there are so many cool open world mechanics in there, so we'll see how that goes.
I also considered adding some Witcher characters to my list, but in spite of some excellent voice performances, I also mostly preferred the book versions (While Cockle is great, I still marvel at the amount of life Alexander Morton managed to breathe into Zoltan Chivay. Astounding performance!)
They all get honorable mentions from me
@FuriousMachine Ditto regarding Arthur Morgan. I always said that John Marston was one of my favorite gaming characters of all time, and now after RDR2, I just think I like Morgan better. There’s part of Marston’s story (particularly the end) that just absolutely resonates with me, but as a whole, I look back more fondly on Arthur as a whole.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I’ve picked a top 10 and narrowed to a top 5, although a couple of these could change from day to day. I’ve also given the nod mostly to a couple characters that I think may not be in other people’s lists so these characters get a little exposure.
Rather than explain why I like these first five, I thought it would be fun instead to include some quotes from the character or about the character. Enjoy.
Booker DeWitt (BioShock Infinite)
”’Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt’, that was the deal. The details elude me now. But the details wouldn't change a goddamn thing.”
“One thing I've learned: if you don't draw first, you don't get to draw at all.”
Wheatley (Portal 2)
“Most test subjects do experience some, uh, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now, you've been under for … quite a bit longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage. But don't be alarmed, all right? Although, if you do feel alarm, try to hold onto that feeling, because that is the proper reaction to being told you've got brain damage.”
“This is the Main Breaker Room. Let's go in! [Chell enters the MBR] Look for a switch that says escape pod, alright? Don't touch anything else. Not interested in anything else, don't touch anything else, don't-- don't even look at anything else, just--well, obviously you've got to look at everything else to-- to find the Escape Pod, but as soon as you've looked at something that doesn't say ‘Escape Pod’, look at something else, look at the next thing. Alright? But don't touch anything else or look at anything-- well, look at other things, but don't... You understand? Can you see it anywhere? I can't see it anywhere. Uh... tell you what, plug me in and I'll turn the lights on. [Chell plugs Wheatley in, lights turn on]Let there be light! That's uh, God, I was quoting God”
And a bonus from GLaDOS, just because - “That jumpsuit you're wearing looks stupid. That's not me talking, it's right here in your file. On other people it looks fine, but right here a scientist has noted that on you it looks ‘stupid’. Well, what does a neck-bearded old engineer know about fashion? He probably – Oh, wait. It's a she. Still, what does she know? Oh wait, it says she has a medical degree. In fashion! From France!”
Wander [and Agro] (Shadow of the Colossus)
“Should you be alive, if it's even possible to continue to exist in these sealed lands, one day perhaps you will make atonement for what you've done.”
Wander: Please, I need you to bring back her soul.
Dormin: [laughs] That maiden's soul? Souls that are once lost cannot be reclaimed. Is that not the law of mortals? With that sword, however, it may not be impossible.
Wander: Really?
Dormin: That is, of course, if thou manage to accomplish what We askest.
Dormin: But heed this: the price you pay may be heavy indeed.
Wander: It doesn't matter
Jesse Faden (Control)
“A Lunar Lander? I knew it! The moon landing was faked, Area 51 is a coverup, aliens are real! Although... none of that sounds as exciting as it did a week ago...”
2B (Nier Automata)
“Glory to mankind.”
“Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped... in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is it a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessedus with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll have the chance to kill him”.
————
Others in the top 10, but not as quotable:
Lara Croft - the OG BA
Arthur Morgan (RDR2) - tragically redemptive
Naia and Naiee (Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons) - Naia because of… well, if you know, you know. And Naiee because well, also, spoilers and so I can’t say, but yeah, some awesome moments with him too.
Ellie (The Last of Us) - because she’s so flawed but likable
Senua (Hellblade) - because I’ve never been in any other character’s head like hers.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Herculean thank you! Raz was the first video game character I really connected with. I didn't share it on my list but the reason I identified with Raz (and honestly the games in general) was because of my struggles with mental health. I mean the series is literally about helping people sort through their mental health issues and traumas so naturally I really gravitated towards the series. Helping these wonderfully realized and thoughtful characters helped me sort through my own mental health and ultimately understand myself better. Raz and the Psychonauts games are very special to me so it makes me happy to see others love this character as much as I do.
Without much deep thoughts I list 5 favorite playable characters, and in no particular order.
1) Mario, love at first sight after playing the original Donkey Kong arcade version back about 1982.
2) Sean Devlin in the Saboteur. Climbed to the top of the La Tour Eiffel for a trophy and dived off to land in a pond for another trophy, all while helping the resistance in WW2 Paris.
3) Claptrap, one of the playable characters in The Pre Sequel Borderlands game. Funny and his best feature is never needing oxygen.
4) Carl Johnson, CJ, in GTASA. The master of pure mayhem, especially when using game codes. I'm talking the original PS2 version with all the various codes from Code Masters, Game Shark, and others.
5) Tommy Vercetti. Playing the wisecracking Tommy V voiced by Ray Liotta was nothing short of mind blowing when I first played Vice City 22 years ago. It's like playing as Henry Hill in a parody version of Goodfellas. Then last year I played the definitive edition and the magic was still there, but now in hd.
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