Protagonist thread

Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:37 pm

bignickdigger

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what kind of protagonists do you prefer in games?
manly machos (as in Western games) or more effeminate men (Japan style)?
and when offered to choose, do you depending on your gender pick the same or the other?
how do female players relate if forced to play a male MC in games? Is it more difficult to realte?

well I tried playing Mass Effect 2 once with femshep because ppl keep saying it's the better choice, because the voice is better and so on
and mainly because when I said its weird for men to play as female they said its more hetero to look at a female ass the whole time than a man's (the game is thrid-person view)
but I kinda couldn't, like, relate to the MC, she seemed more distant to me,like I'm not roleplaying but watching someone else
so yeah, I can only play my maleshep,and heck I'd even say he got the better voice of the two

but other than that it doenst bother me if the MC isn't macho..

Re: Protagonist thread

Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:50 pm

Pierre

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Don't listen to that ridiculous backwards logic about whose ass you look at for a game.
Play whoever you want personally I always pick my own gender for a first time playthrough. Also I prefer a masculine hero as opposed to a effeminate one which is why I sometimes don't like Yoshitaka Amano's artwork.

As for playing a female being more 'hetero' it's ridiculous and only if you have some kinda insecurity with your masculinity would that make sense. Otherwise it's a silly childish argument.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:04 pm

Zinle

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I prefer playing as young characters, teenagers or close to that.
Perfect examples of those kinda characters are Hilbert & Ethan from Pokémon or Apollo for AA...Like you wouldn't know.
To beh onest, if it's a male over...hmm...30 or something, I'm not gonna be his biggest fan.
Its just that...I fast characters and defiitely small characters, since I myself am not taller than ~ 155 cm.
Also, if male character has spiky hair it's always a HUGE plus.
Examples of these kinda characters are ssj2 Gohan from DBZ and Axel from Kingdom Hearts.
But, there is hope for older males too, but they have to grow into me.
For example; Stocke from Radiant Historia.
First I didn't like him that much, but he ends up awesome in the end.

Female characters...Well...Why not?
Sure, I usually like to..."use them"....as much as I do the males.
Mostly the choice of my PC is decided by the looks of character.
Here are some examples of the games where female looks better than male and I prefer to use F > M:
- Pokemon platinum
- Harvest Moon DS Sunshine Islands
- Resident Evil Deadly Silence (Okay, Jill's easier,b ut still...)
Also, cuteness helps. :D

Meh...It's nice change.
Besides...Some people DO think I'm girl at first.
It's kinda fun 'till they start to flirt with me and I have to tell the truth...Or just say I'm not interested. :D
...On second thought...Why am I telling this?

Umm...Yeah....

Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:29 am

Vorika

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I don't really care what type of protagonist I play as. So long as I find the game enjoyable, it doesn't really matter to me.

Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:39 am

Pierre

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Vorika wrote:

I don't really care what type of protagonist I play as. So long as I find the game enjoyable, it doesn't really matter to me.

For me largely the protagonist will affect whether the game is enjoyable or not.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:36 pm

Wooster

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I prefer the type of protagonist who doesn't forget about the secondary characters. Final Fantasy Tactics and the Fire Emblem series are among my favorite games. But particularly with Final Fantasy Tactics, once the primary events are done with the secondary characters, they drop off the face of the earth, and are as good as dead. Considering they could easily be dead in both Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, that's not an unreasonable assumption. But I'd like it if there were dialog trees that included secondaries where possible.

As for character, I'm not too picky about Male vs Female. But I don't want my female protagonists acting like valley girls (I'm looking at YOU FFX-2).

For my male protagonists, I like them italian, with hats, and it helps if they yell WHA-HOO! Props if they wear overalls.

Bump - bump - bump - bump - bump - bump - bump

Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:38 pm

FVKWY

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I prefer playing as a female over a male, and I have no particular reason why. Maybe because they aren't as stupid as guys in some games.

Professor Layton & The Lost Future. Best game ever.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:59 pm

Pierre

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FVKWY wrote:

I prefer playing as a female over a male, and I have no particular reason why. Maybe because they aren't as stupid as guys in some games.

Gimme an example.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:31 pm

Cold52

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ive never really had a preference main characterwise although i do like playing male characters more then females simply because i feel less distant from them ...overall as long as i enjoy the game i could care less.

Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:10 pm

Tepig122

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It doesn't matter to me. I love both genders of protagonists,but the silent protagonists(Not counting Mario or Link, nor Ness or any of Earthbound's protagonists well if you count the speech at the end of Earthbound) do get on my nerves but only because in Pokemon someone hears what you're saying but you don't know what the protagonist said.

Derp.

Re: Protagonist thread

Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:21 pm

Blak The Great

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Tepig122 wrote:

It doesn't matter to me. I love both genders of protagonists,but the silent protagonists(Not counting Mario or Link, nor Ness or any of Earthbound's protagonists well if you count the speech at the end of Earthbound) do get on my nerves but only because in Pokemon someone hears what you're saying but you don't know what the protagonist said.

Well Gordon Freeman's got the silent protagonist part to a T. Everybody acknowledges that he never talks and I like that amount of effort in the writing.
As for my favorite type of protagonist, I kinda deter myself from the macho marine soldier guy like Marcus Fenix, I think doucebags as my favorite. Frank West was pretty douchey but he was such a lovable character to me, and my Shepard from Mass Effect was the lord of douchiness it was pretty awesome.
But most of all, I like the whole idea of average normal guy being the protagonist, like Desmond Miles. Just a regular ass ex-assassin (if i remember correctly)/ bartender who got pulled into the world of Assassins and Templars because he's related to the former. Good stuff.

I'm Blak, and I have shit taste.

Re: Protagonist thread

Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:15 am

Marche Tobaye

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bignickdigger wrote:

what kind of protagonists do you prefer in games?
manly machos (as in Western games) or more effeminate men (Japan style)?
and when offered to choose, do you depending on your gender pick the same or the other?
how do female players relate if forced to play a male MC in games? Is it more difficult to realte?

1. I've always liked anti-heroes. Kyle Hyde, Solid Snake, I believe you can see where I'm going. Preferably a bit older than me, maybe 20-something. I've always found teenage heroes ridiculous. I also like silent protagonist because I can imagine them with any personality I like. This is one of the reasons why I like Half-Life so much.

2. Neither? Or something in-between.

3. I usually pick the male option. Usually. Sometimes I play as a female when replaying the game to see if there are any differences in dialogue and similar stuff.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Tue Nov 01, 2011 7:06 am

KingRaptor

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I've generally picked the male option; however, I specifically used a female character for Mass Effect 2 (and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2) because I was annoyed at the lack of female representation in games.

Antihero types are my favorite, but I'm generally not too picky about personality/behavior as long as they aren't Stupid Evil, hopelessly idealistic, or just plain stupid. Though there are other things not on my list of likes, such as pointless machismo (unless your name is Serious Sam) and irrational behavior.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:46 pm

Rov

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Marche Tobaye wrote:

1. I've always liked anti-heroes. Kyle Hyde [...]

Kyle Hyde isn't an anti-hero. He's literally helping everybody around him overcome their problems whilst discovering the secret of the mystery.

Re: Protagonist thread

Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:01 pm

Jade

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bignickdigger wrote:

what kind of protagonists do you prefer in games?
manly machos (as in Western games) or more effeminate men (Japan style)?
and when offered to choose, do you depending on your gender pick the same or the other?
how do female players relate if forced to play a male MC in games? Is it more difficult to realte?

I'm answering this out of order, but hopefully it's still coherent:
For me, it largely depends on the plot of the game and how well that character's written. I don't mind at all when it comes to playing guys, but in things like fighting games I sometimes do go for a female character (though that's partly because in some games, agility is a more common trait in their female fighters, and I prefer that over power). However, sometimes I'll go for a male in the game because all the girls are completely objectified and I feel like I'm watching a striptease if I choose any of them.

I enjoy both the "manly macho" and "effeminate" type, because, again, it's more about their place within the game and how well I can relate to them.

So I have no problems playing a guy in games and most games I love (persona, PW, Layton) have a relatable male protagonist, but on the other hand, it's honestly really exciting when I get the chance to play a cool female character. Chell from Portal doesn't talk, but just the fact that such a popular game has a /female/ protagonist is kind of a cool concept to me. Mirror's Edge may have also been from the first-person perspective the entire time, but playing a female protagonist who is taken seriously and is dressed believably kind of, I dunno, makes me feel really into the game.

Re: Protagonist thread

Sun Nov 13, 2011 12:39 am

Scent

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Quote:

what kind of protagonists do you prefer in games?

Those that break the monotony of the generic protagonist.

Quote:

manly machos (as in Western games) or more effeminate men (Japan style)?

Again, anyone that breaks the monotony.

Quote:

and when offered to choose, do you depending on your gender pick the same or the other?

When starting a game, I always, ALWAYS pick the same gender as me (male). When I do another playthrough, I chose the opposite gender. :3

Quote:

how do female players relate if forced to play a male MC in games? Is it more difficult to realte?

Can't really say, but depending on how that individual is, she may/not relate to her character well.

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Re: Protagonist thread

Wed Nov 16, 2011 11:37 pm

Reyson Incarnate

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bignickdigger wrote:

what kind of protagonists do you prefer in games?
manly machos (as in Western games) or more effeminate men (Japan style)?
and when offered to choose, do you depending on your gender pick the same or the other?
how do female players relate if forced to play a male MC in games? Is it more difficult to realte?

1. If it's something like Dragon Quest, I like effeminate. DAMN YOU WESTERN NEED FOR MANLINESS!

2. The aboooooovvvvveeee. Loooook at iiiiiit. Meeeeeen.

I have proclaimed myself Sovereign of the 922 Universes. Because I can.

Re: Protagonist thread

Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:00 pm

KingRaptor

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Semi-related: I just discovered this awesome webcomic, Manly Guys Doing Manly Things. It basically involves taking your typical bad-case-of-testosterone-poisoning video game protagonists and lampooning the hell out of them while developing them as characters.

Spoiler: case in point

Read my fic(s)!

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Re: Protagonist thread

Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:13 pm

bignickdigger

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cool comic, tho I would kinda disagree with the punchline.. it's about a 1:2 chance imo