Who are your favorite video game characters?

SwampCreature

Tell me all about your blorbos! Which characters are your favorite of all time?

I’m a huge Disco Elysium fan and was immediately obsessed with Detective ~~Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau~~ Harry Du Bois. I’ve always been partial to the Dirtbag With A Heart of Gold (maybe I see myself in that trope...) and HDB is exactly that and more. His backstory is tragic, his current story is compelling, and his dialogue is ACTUALLY laugh-out-loud hilarious. He’s smelly, he’s drunk, he’s a loser, he’s totally inept and his only friend (the incredible Kim Kitsuragi) can barely stand him. I love him sooooo much. I want to be Harry Du Bois when I grow up.

Which characters could you rant about all day?

Hanzilla

Ooooooooo, I have so many.

Isshin Ashina from Sekiro
Eileen the Crow from Bloodborne
Garrus Vakarian from Mass Effect
Blaidd from Elden Ring
Malenia Blade of Miquella from Elden Ring
Ghost from Destiny
Cayde from Destiny
Atreus from God of War
Senua from Senua's Sacrifice
Agro from Shadow of the Colossus
Gex from Gex
Lily Bowen from Fallout New Vegas
Jane Shepard from Mass Effect

Alexander Salkin

Francis York Morgan from Deadly Premonition. A weird Twin Peaks style game with an amusing head case of an FBI Agent at the lead. He's just got this charming oddness about him and he has a lot of social chemistry with the town folks despite seeming quite awkward in some ways.

Dr Takuto Maruki from Persona 5. I can only say so much about him since he's very spoiler heavy, but wow, what a character. Maruki is very perceptive and understanding, possessed of a level of objectivity you don't see often in often in games. He's the kind of person I could see myself wanting to talk with often for his insight and theorizing. His ultimate role in the game made me wish I could talk him down from things, because he seems very reasonable if misguided in good intentions. I've also become interested in cognitive science based on his characterization alone. Also RIP Maruki's VA, because it was excellent.

Jarl Balgruuf from Skyrim. While I'm pretty sure he has a few skeletons in his closet in his deeper lore, Balgruuf is at least trying to keep a sense of peace and moderation in a land filled with racism and hotheads. He makes some mistakes, but they're often out of caution and concern for others. The fact he trusts a dunmer to be his bodyguard says a ton about him.

Brad from Lisa the Painful. No one on earth should ever want to be like Brad. He's a walking pile of barely held together trauma, over protectiveness, and self loathing. He can't do anything right. His entire journey is one of absolute pain, being hated, and suffering, but his gruff determination is also kind of inspiring. By the end of the game, when you can see circumstances have pushed this utter mess of a man past the limit both psychologically and physically speaking and he's about to stop holding back (while making things even worse for some), he delivers a short speech that just makes you feel for this slow building trainwreck of a man who just wanted to be loved and thought he was doing the right thing all along.

TableTopProphet

@SwampCreature

I am obsessed with Solid Snake's herculean odyssey, his machismo archetype, and his ability to become the avatar of the audience that plays him. His rise and fall. His naivety to betrayal lends itself so perfectly to an audience coming into the story for the first time.

His ability to nod the fourth wall that controls his steps without accepting it.
He follows orders with suspended disbelief in what is real and what are the psychological horrors of the battlefield
He follows his own ideas with a certain cognitive dissonance to both the plot AND the concept of being inside a PlayStation.
The way he gets distracted by childish things (as an aside to the equally bored and overwhelmed viewer) whenever something important is revealed in great detail.

He is a perfect vessel for the player... A film will never be able to capture the magic of Snake as a video game character. I could go on.

Also, I love Senua from Hellblade.
I love the concept of being schizophrenic/ mentally ill in ancient religious times. Fighting off shadows in the forest. Finding meaning in random shapes and colors. Stricken by grief of lost loved one. All to the tune of ancient pantheons. Her acting and mocap were amazing. Her performance was incredible and the character as a game concept was peak 2010's.

And the Narrator in Darkest Dungeon. His anguish for his sins. His desire for more. A lot of twists and turns. A memorable performance!