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Main Characters You Hate in Games You Love

If you're anything like me then there are certain main/playable characters in video games that you just can't like no matter how hard you try, for me its Dante from Devil May Cry. I love the games, they're awesome to play and their narratives and plots always keep me entertained... but i hate Dante, he annoys me sooo much with his attitude and smugness and ooohhh i do so love it when he gets one upped.

So, how about you, any games you love to play with main/playable characters that you hate?
 

Curmudgeon

default setting: sarcastic prick
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Gender
grumpy
I didn't love Final Fantasy XIII, but... Vanille. Just... :facepalm:
 

Shadsie

Sage of Tales
I don't know if I actually hate any player-characters I've ever played... I know that I "don't feel anything one thing or another" for the Prince and the Cousins in Katamari... I think of Wander of Shadow of the Colosuss a a bit of a fool - but I do actually love him. Grave might annoy me, but the anime made for Gungrave gave him a sympathetic backstory...

I think the only time I came close is with Virginia of Wild ARMS 3. (I still haven't finished that game.. there's a puzzle I hate). I don't actually even hate Ginny, she's plucky, brave and optomistic... it's just that in one of the latter parts of the game, she says this:

"And that's why we're living for today!" - or something like that. This to a person (immortality seeker type) whom the party just defated. Ginny is talking about the joy of living to a man WHO IS DYING THAT SHE SHOT.

I wanted to smack her, especially with the "over happy" graphics the game gave her face. Ugggh.

On the whole, I actually liked Virginina, it's just some of her "overly optisitic, even while she's doing cynical things" attitude she has grates on me.

(The player-character I really prefer in that game is Clive. I think everyone who's played that game loves Clive).
 

Cfrock

Keep it strong
Joined
Mar 17, 2012
Location
Liverpool, England
Niko Bellic - GTA IV

I appreciate Rockstar trying to move away from mutes, movie characters and racist stereotypes with their protagonist but Niko fell short of the grit and pathos they tried to give him. I got more sick of hearing "Dooring the voor..." than I did "Vant to go bowling, Caa-sin?" Niko's story was simple; he came to Liberty City to track down a man he suspected of betraying his unit during the Yugoslav Wars but without any kind of footing in the big city, he turned to crime to make his way. Niko is just too inconsistent though. One minute he's nearly crying because he is remembering the tragedy of the war, the next he is beating men to death for neglecting a protection payment to a small-time mob boss. He talks often about justice and wanting to leave his life of violence behind but then immediately just becomes an ultra-violent anarchist who punishes minor offenses with vengeful reckoning.

I'm not talking about how he acts in cut-scenes and then what I, as the player, make him do. The in-game characterisation of Niko is what I'm talking about. For example, early in the game you are asked to kill a Russian mob boss named Mikhail Faustin. Niko does not want to do this, even refuses at first, but reluctantly agrees when informed that his own death was also ordered and by killing Faustin himself, he and his cousin, Roman, will be spared. So we have a reluctant assassin who is killing to protect his kin and yet, when Niko walks into the club where Faustin is, he walks up to him and screams "I'M GOING TO F**KING KILL YOU! YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF!!" Niko himself didn't even think Faustin deserved to die when the hit was placed, and now this? That kind of inconsistency is seen throughout the entire game and it makes Niko, well, a twonk. I cannot like him because the game keeps forcing a vague and cliché backstory to make me sympathise and then flips the coin and makes him the very thing he purports to hate.

As one-dimensional and borderline racist as CJ was in San Andreas, at least he was a fully realised, well-written and consistent character with motives we not only understood but witnessed first hand. Niko was just a bad centre to an otherwise spectacular game.

High Elves - Any The Elder Scrolls Game

I hate High Elves. Like, this is a testament to how well realised and brilliantly crafted Bethesda's fantasy world is, that I actually have racist thoughts about a specific bunch of Elves. High Elves can all go and sing songs in the dairy! Seriously, I loathe them. Bunch of arrogant, stiff-lipped Banana Watchers. I hate their whole attitude and their beliefs and their ridiculous notion that they are better than Men. Ha! I know Guar that are more worthy of power than the High Elves. I hope they all die.

However, since I fudging love The Elder Scrolls, I have played as High Elves in the past and will reluctantly do so in the future too. I do this to get as full an experience of the game as I can but it makes my skin crawl to do it and they usually end up being rubbish because, even though they are technically me, I cannot stand to see a High Elf become powerful or wealthy and so I end up playing the game in a way that is much more difficult than it usually is based entirely on my own, ridiculous prejudice. That's like salt in the wound of being a High Elf in the first place, that I'm a crap High Elf! Can't stand them. And you just know they'd all vote Tory too, which makes me hate them more.
 

Mamono101

生きることは痛みを知ること。
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
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Location
The Makai
Where do I begin...

I'm going to lump the first two together I love Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 but I absolutely loathe Sherry and Ashley. I don't know why Capcom needed such annoying companions as these two. I particularly hate Ashley when she's crying for Leon's help and Sherry moves sooooooooo slowly that you're almost always guaranteed to be bitten by a zombie along the way to you goal. (And don't get me started on Rebecca from RE0...)

Fox McCloud in StarFox Assault. I really disliked the change in voice actor between games on the Gamecube. Normally I'm fine when this happens but his accent was different and that's a rather big change in the character's personal history.

Finally, I majorly dislike Jackie Estacado from The Darkness II. Something about his generic mob-boss stereotype doesn't seem to fit because I don't remember him being that way in the first game and should the third game get a release, I sincerely hope they change his attitude towards everything.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Funnily enough, I only seem to dislike characters in games I don't enjoy. And usually it has to do with Voice Acting. Voice acting in general has kept me from ever getting past the beginning in Star Fox Adventures and I don't get why the Prince speaks with a British accent in PoP.

The only main character I kinda dislike despite loving their games is Kirby. And it's not really Kirby in his games that I don't like, it's just I get annoyed as hell with how much Sakurai coddles him in the SSB series.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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Akkala
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Hylian Champion
I really hate Riku in the Kingdom Hearts series. He's overly whiny, constantly in limbo with himself and can't make the right decisions because he too stuck in the past. Somehow, because he creates struggle in himself (while also dealing with an actual problem which is AnsemSoD), he gets promoted to Keyblade Master while the /clearly/ stronger and easily better Keyblader Sora is left in the dust. Nomura is a terrible writer :I

The only main character I kinda dislike despite loving their games is Kirby. And it's not really Kirby in his games that I don't like, it's just I get annoyed as hell with how much Sakurai coddles him in the SSB series.

>Was almost OP in 64
>>Was INCREDIBLY nerfed in Melee, one of the worst characters by metagame
> Was slightly restored, but not a GREAT choice for Brawl.

I wouldn't say Sakurai coddles Kirby at all.
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
I really hate Riku in the Kingdom Hearts series. He's overly whiny, constantly in limbo with himself and can't make the right decisions because he too stuck in the past. Somehow, because he creates struggle in himself (while also dealing with an actual problem which is AnsemSoD), he gets promoted to Keyblade Master while the /clearly/ stronger and easily better Keyblader Sora is left in the dust. Nomura is a terrible writer :I

The only game you can accurately call Sora whiny in is the original Kingdom Hearts, which was only there for character development. His will is unparalleled later on, especially in 3D.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
>Was almost OP in 64
>>Was INCREDIBLY nerfed in Melee, one of the worst characters by metagame
> Was slightly restored, but not a GREAT choice for Brawl.

I wouldn't say Sakurai coddles Kirby at all.

In the original he's one of the best if not THE best...in melee--well OK, I'll admit things were more balanced in melee. In Brawl, Meta Knight owns all (Kirby character), DeDeDe is high up, and all the Kirby characters have much bigger roles in SSE than even Mario.
 
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
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Probably roleplaying
This is incredibly weird but...
Chell. From the Portal series.
Why? Because she's silent, she never does anything important, and she seems so bland as a character. Yes, I know very well the Chell is supposed to be you, but I still hate her. She's lifeless. Also, she seems to have no relevance in how the plot turns out until the VERY END of BOTH games... yeah. I also somewhat dislike her character model, but that's just me.
 

Krazy4Krash

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I ramble

In the original he's one of the best if not THE best...in melee--well OK, I'll admit things were more balanced in melee. In Brawl, Meta Knight owns all (Kirby character), DeDeDe is high up, and all the Kirby characters have much bigger roles in SSE than even Mario.

Hate to post off-topic but...

Sakurai may be considered biased towards his own series in the Super Smash Bros. games. I'm certain, though, that it's not through his characters practical abilities. He wouldn't buff them intentionally, I'm sure. He *attempts* to nerf every character in a sense to balance, but he failed with the Kirby characters, to put it bluntly. Meta Knight has no meteor smash and a slow-ish airspeed, while King Dedede has the slowest airspeed and poor speed in general. Does this make up for their other outstanding attributes? No, not at all. Sakurai messed up. He's an honest fellow, and I'm confident to say he wouldn't buff them for self-promotion and for the sake of making them good.

He has, though, been influenced by his Kirby series in numerous aspects. The Subspace Emissary shares uncanny similarities to Kirby games, and several regular mechanics in Super Smash Bros. have been taken from the games, also. Is incorporating gameplay elements from one series of his own to another a bad thing? I would argue no. It is not biased or "coddling", nor is it uncreative. This is just a man who has tradition and expands ideas.

The observation that all three of Sakurai's own Kirby characters feature prominent roles in the Subspace Emissary is a common one. I am aware of and understand the potential bias seen there, but who can blame the guy? :P It sure must of been tempting to pick his characters out of 30-so to "feature" in the story mode. How much they really appear is overexaggerated, I reckon. So Meta Knight's ship is a basis of the plot, Dedede is the one with the broaches and Kirby is playable in the most levels... Eh... :rolleyes: Must we not forget all other characters play alongside them. So the point, I think, is disregardable. (making up words ftw)


For the sake of posting in relevance to this thread, I'll say that I hate Mario. No, not all the time! Only in the platformers where you're forced to play as him. I want Luigi, dammit!
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
Staff member
ZD Legend
Comm. Coordinator
For a time, I kinda hated Luke fon Fabre, the main character in the game Tales of the Abyss. In the beginning he was just a spoiled brat, and while I felt bad for him because of the situation he was in, I really hated his attitude. His attitude only got worse as time went on, too, and if it weren't for the fact that he became a dynamic character capable of changing, I'd probably still hate him right now. But I've started to like him more. His great character development saved him in my opinion.
 

Igos du Ikana

Maldorok
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Location
USA
For me it would it would have to be Mason from Call of Duty Black Ops. You spend an entire game think you have an ally helping you just to find out at the end he's fake? Mason's lines in the game were annoying before you found out he was crazy, once you find out he's crazy it's unbearingly stupid.
 
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Location
CA
Uncharted - Nathan Drake - At least in the first game, I found his dialogue and corny jokes annoying.

Assassin's Creed 1 and 3 (though I didn't really like AC3)

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Nothing beats Solid Snake

Every Final Fantasy game from 8 on
 
Jack Marston from Red Dead Redemption. Spoilers now:
It was bad enough to see John Marston, your main character for almost the entire game, die right before my eyes. It was made even worse by the fact that he was replaced by that sorry excuse for a cowboy he calls a son. I respect Jack Marston quite a bit and enjoy his personal story (that he gains the very lifestyle his father was trying to prevent by sacrificing himself), But I just don't like him as a character.
And he's a bit of a jerk to his horses.

Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty- I know he gets a lot of hate, but I feel it's justified in some cases. I don't hate him just because of the petty matter of him not being Snake (although I did find that off-putting). No, I hate him because of all of his emotions and relationship issues and whatnot. It gets a little spoiler-y after this point, so:
I get that he's had a rough past and all, but I just don't care. I didn't come to the series to hear someone whine about their life, I came to blow up giant robots and hide in a cardboard box. I also think he's a bit unqualified for the mission he was given in MGS2 (I don't believe VR training could beat real experience in the field). If I remember correctly, he remembered none of his life as a child soldier before the events of MGS2, so he technically had no in-field experience (I could be wrong, though).
That being said, I have liked him more ever since he became a cyborg ninja. I like the more emotionless (with the exception of anger) characters who beat everyone within an inch of thier life. As with Jack Marston, I've come to respect him, just not like him (He's been redeemed enough to make me want to buy Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance).
 

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