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Do you dislike any popular video game characters?


Anacybele
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1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

I'm not sure what the appeal for Ashe is myself. I like him, but he doesn't stand out THAT much. As for Sylvain, I was happy to see him get so high on the list, but mad that he actually dropped three spots in the end. He was ahead of Ashe halfway through at #7 but dropped to #10. 😕

True, he's not a standout character. I agree with you there.
But for me, he doesn't need to be. I'd rather have a character that doesn't stand out much, but is otherwise nice, well-rounded, and a good person, than one that consistently gets on my nerves everytime they open their mouth (like my most hated video game character, Otsuu from Mary Skelter 2. Or 75% of Fates' entire roster). 

Though I won't pretend like he's my favorite Three Houses character, either. That honor goes to Seteth for males and Flayn for females, respectively.

---

And I've run out of popular characters I dislike. From here, it's only those that either nobody knows or they aren't very popular in the first place.

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Curious: why is this topic only directed at popular characters? Does it not "matter" if it's a character that is kinda under the radar? That hardly sounds fair, IMO. I think it's okay to express dislike for unpopular character, as well.

Edited by lightcosmo
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53 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Somebody brought up Persona, which reminded me that I quit playing Persona 4 Golden largely because half the main cast was just getting on my nerves. Of course there's Teddie, but I don't know many people who like that trainwreck, but the two characters that annoyed me that are popular are Chie and Yosuke, especially Yosuke. Good lord, I hated that guy. His attitude, his personality, everything about him just drove me up the wall.

That was me ;):

I haven't played Golden yet (it's on my Steam wishlist for when I have a LOT of hours at my disposal), but from what I've seen from checking a screenshot LP, scenes added in P4G tend to exaggerate the characters' quirks to a point where it's becoming really annoying and silly. It's quite possible that I'm going to feel the same way as you when I pick it up, especially since I've always liked Kanji and Yukiko a lot better than the rest of the cast.

In Yosuke's case, he became less of a douchbag and more of a still-a-douchbag-but-not-without-reason in my eyes when I started to read him as a closeted homo-/bisexual (he was planned to be "the gay option" at some point, apparently), what with him picking on Kanji's sexuality and repeatedly showcasing how VERY heterosexual he is. Still, can't fault you for your impression of him, thb. ;): 

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1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

True, he's not a standout character. I agree with you there. But for me, he doesn't need to be. I'd rather have a character that doesn't stand out much, but is otherwise nice, well-rounded, and a good person.

Sometimes that's all you do need to be. In fact, one of the reasons I like Ashe so much is because he's a "nice, well-rounded, and good person." 

Ashe: I genuinely enjoy helping people. It's a great feeling, making someone smile.

Me:🥰

Edited by Morgan--Grandmaster
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2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

That's kind of surprising to hear. I never thought Ashe was more popular than Sylvain.
I was always under the impression that the general consensus about Ashe is that he is bland and boring. Glad to know that that's apparently not the case.

As far as I knew Ashe was always pretty warmly received by the fandom. Few people would say he's their absolute favorite but the general sentiment always seemed to lean towards ''precious son'' and ''must protect!''  instead of anything negative. 

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

I'm not sure what the appeal for Ashe is myself. I like him, but he doesn't stand out THAT much.

I think the general appeal is supposed to be the cute little brother figure of the Blions. The squire to their knights. 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Curious: why is this topic only directed at popular characters? Does it not "matter" if it's a character that is kinda under the radar? That hardly sounds fair, IMO. I think it's okay to express dislike for unpopular character, as well.

Read the OP. I explained it.

42 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think the general appeal is supposed to be the cute little brother figure of the Blions. The squire to their knights. 

Well, I can see that, yeah, I just can't really imagine him being many people's top favorite.

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1 hour ago, ping said:

I haven't played Golden yet (it's on my Steam wishlist for when I have a LOT of hours at my disposal), but from what I've seen from checking a screenshot LP, scenes added in P4G tend to exaggerate the characters' quirks to a point where it's becoming really annoying and silly. It's quite possible that I'm going to feel the same way as you when I pick it up, especially since I've always liked Kanji and Yukiko a lot better than the rest of the cast.

I have not played the original Persona 4 at all, so that information is new to me. All I know is that the character Marie wasn't in the original game.

I went "down" from 5 (which was my first Persona game) to Golden to see what the hype for that game was all about.
Needless to say, I was left severely disappointed by what I got. But that ties into something I talked about in another thread of a game not living up to the hype its fanbase generated.

I liked Kanji and Yukiko a lot, too. Those two were about the only playable characters I actually liked, even. The best part about Persona 4 were definitely the side characters.
Though I never got to the point where you recruit Naoto, so take my judgement with a grain of salt.

1 hour ago, Morgan--Grandmaster said:

Sometimes that's all you do need to be. In fact, one of the reasons I like Ashe so much is because he's a "nice, well-rounded, and good person." 

Ashe: I genuinely enjoy helping people. It's a great feeling, making someone smile.

Me:🥰

Same here.
Again, Ashe is not my top favorite, but the little guy is definitely up there.

38 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

As far as I knew Ashe was always pretty warmly received by the fandom. Few people would say he's their absolute favorite but the general sentiment always seemed to lean towards ''precious son'' and ''must protect!''  instead of anything negative.

Then I wonder where my impression that many find him bland and boring comes from.
Probably faulty memory on my part.

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Hmm...  Any dislike I might have for a character isn't ever particularly strong.  So bear that in mind as I provide a list.

Among FE games, because I guess everyone's doing it this way...

  • A lot of the main cast of Fates could fit the bill.  I mainly think of Corrin, Azura, and Xander.  I'll qualify my stance on Azura and Xander because I don't think they're particularly bad in supports (though I don't really care for Azura in her supports), but I really just don't like Corrin.  Strangely enough, I don't dislike Camilla.  I don't particularly like her, and it irks me when she's given a lot of attention over a number of other characters, especially when that attention is wasted on shameless pandering, but I think beyond the pandering and in her original incarnation she was alright.
  • Alm and Celica are big time dislikes for me.  Mostly because of how they were handled in SoV.  There were things that they did right with that game, but the protagonists weren't among those things done right.  Like most say, Alm should've been more of a proper reflection of Duma/Rigel.  Celica... well, there are ways for her to fall into the trap of Jedah that didn't involve reducing Celica's brain to a single-cell organism.
  • Maybe Donnel in Awakening, if only because of the memes getting a bit much.  I was fed up with him right around the time some journalist asked KT to add him in FEW.  The lancers they did pick over him were much better choices, lmao  I guess I'd add Nowi too?  I know she has a fandom, and I don't like a sizable portion of that fandom.  Kind of an annoying character too, IMO.  Kaden from Fates is her done substantially better, and without the whole "I'm a secret 1000 year-old that looks like a kid" trope going on.
  • If there's any character that's popular which I don't like from the Archanea games, it's Camus.  I'm sorry, but he's not much better than Xander, the difference is that instead of the king being an obvious dickhead he's just an inept ruler who I'm pretty sure is implied to be on his death bed.  I can't help but compare him in my mind to Lawrence.  Lawrence is effectively in the exact same position as Camus, the only differences being that he's old, likely has been serving in Grust's military for longer, and just so happened to be friends with the king of Talys.  They literally had Camus take the fall just because it's so much more dramatic if it's a young man who is the love interest of one of the protagonist's main allies take the fall instead of an old man who's just a friend of a character you probably forgot about by the time you reached the chapter you meet these two characters.

That's about all I can think of from FE.  As for outside this franchise...

  • Welkin Gunther...  I do like him for the most part, but I really don't like him as a brother.  He just doesn't interact with Isara at all.  Not in a meaningful way, apart from calling her a pet name.  Where's the goddamn sibling banter?!
Spoiler

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Also, looking through my LP to find this makes me sad about all the broken gif images.  Giphy is such a PoS, I should've just done plain ol' still images throughout.

  • Asuka Kazama... she's popular among the Tekken fanbase, right?  I mean, she's a Kazama, so you'd think that'd count for something.  And hey, she's one of my mains because I like playing a character with a BS moveset that is barely telegraphed.  But damn do I dislike the direction her character arc had taken.  At first she had a whole vendetta, and there was an implication that she'd get involved in the internal Mishima feuding... like, it seemed like it'd be cool.  Although for whatever reason they had to throw in the trope of the girl getting angry with the boy, which tends to lead to a romantic relationship... but it was between her and Jin, and they're both cousins (or at least, they were at the time).  Apart from that, though, the arc could've gone somewhere.  But then they had to waste her arc on being a petty rival to some rich girl who really has no business being the rival of any fighter in the Tekken universe.  And that's all she is now, and so here I am complaining about a story arch for a goddamn fighting game.  Also, she's been gradually far removed from her relation with Jin, for... reasons, I guess.  I dunno.
  • While I'm talking about 3D fighters... in the weird, specific context of Soulcalibur where I'm talking about their existence in the games instead of just as characters in general, Darth Vader and Yoda.  I don't think people liked Yoda as much because he was broken due to his height, but people always ask for Vader.  Like, why?  I know he's popular, but not every popular character belongs in every video game setting.  There are plenty of fantastical elements in SC, but hell, it takes place in the late 16th Century.  While I'm at it, I'll add Talim to the pile.  I hate how people keep stanning this 15 year old girl like it's okay just because it's fiction.
  • Chris Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy from the Resident Evil series.  TBF I actually liked Leon in his original incarnation, but I stopped liking most of the cast after their second appearances.  That applies to almost everyone (I think Jill was alright in RE3), but it especially applies to these two dudes because of what they've turned into.  Was never really into Chris, but he's become the poster child of RE that they just have to jam into every RE crevice, and he's probably one of the least interesting characters in the series.  Leon, meanwhile, just went from rookie cop whose first day was effectively canceled to elite super agent seemingly overnight.  Seriously, compare Leon in RE2 to Leon (even at the end of the game) in RE4, he's basically a different character entirely.  I know he went through hell in RE2 just to survive to witness his home get destroyed, but that doesn't exactly distinguish him from any other Joe that went through this apocalyptic event, or even from your average soldier who I'd say also goes through some pretty awful shit.  Though maybe I feel this way because of the Outbreak games, where you play as 8 characters, one of whom is a veteran cop that looks like Tom Cruise and another of whom is a Vietnam War veteran.  None of them became super agents as far as I know, though I think Yoko actually testified in a court of law against Umbrella Corp and their heinous crimes.

That's really all I can think of, and I might've even been stretching with some of these choices.

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34 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

 

  • Alm and Celica are big time dislikes for me.  Mostly because of how they were handled in SoV.  There were things that they did right with that game, but the protagonists weren't among those things done right.  Like most say, Alm should've been more of a proper reflection of Duma/Rigel.  Celica... well, there are ways for her to fall into the trap of Jedah that didn't involve reducing Celica's brain to a single-cell organism.

Yeah I agree with you on Celica, I like her for the first half of the game but after the swamps she must have taken a direct blown to the head or something because it's like she's suddenly lost a ton of IQ points, it's kinda hard to believe this is the same Celica defeating pirates early on, it's almost like her character arc is actually in reverse or something because she just gets less competent later on.

It's really bad with Dolth, you're telling me this on-his-deathbed Purple cult dude is able to somehow grab Celica and threatens her friends to get her to come with him? Celica, he's near death, you can cast magic without a weapon, you can literally just cast literally any spell and kill this dude right away, you literally have several different spells that would probably instantly kill this dude.

 

Edited by Samz707
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8 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Read the OP. I explained it.

Okay? But that doesnt make my point any less true.

But why let yourself get so worked up over something like which character got into smash? You should really just be happy for the people that like the character, and be happy we get anything at all. It is supposed to be fun, after all.

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48 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Okay? But that doesnt make my point any less true.

But why let yourself get so worked up over something like which character got into smash? You should really just be happy for the people that like the character, and be happy we get anything at all. It is supposed to be fun, after all.

I didn't get worked up over just a character getting into Smash. If you properly read the OP, you'd notice that it's about a trend. Not just one thing. A number of things. And also, it's pretty hard to be happy for something I don't like.

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58 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Okay? But that doesnt make my point any less true.

But why let yourself get so worked up over something like which character got into smash? You should really just be happy for the people that like the character, and be happy we get anything at all. It is supposed to be fun, after all.

To some degree, you can appreciate the happiness of others.

 

However, don't kid yourself. They are selling these characters. It isn't something to be happy about regardless, because they aren't free things that they're "giving to us." It's why buying the season pass is a bad idea unless you either like all of the characters (me with Fighter Pass 1) or don't care.

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16 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

To some degree, you can appreciate the happiness of others.

 

However, don't kid yourself. They are selling these characters. It isn't something to be happy about regardless, because they aren't free things that they're "giving to us." It's why buying the season pass is a bad idea unless you either like all of the characters (me with Fighter Pass 1) or don't care.

I appreciate what we get. You could look at it your way, but isnt that kind of a negative perspective? Thinking that way is only going to make it worse, and that's no good. For example, I dislike Cloud with a passion, but I was very happy for his fans in Smash 4. It doesn't seem so hard to me. I dont know the first thing about Min Min, and could care less, but regardless, I'm very happy she's around. Better than getting nothing at all.

Edited by lightcosmo
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8 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Asuka Kazama... she's popular among the Tekken fanbase, right?

I'm no Tekken expert, but I do think that Asuka had a lot of fans intrigued when she was introduced because she was a Kazama, but in subsequent games where her story when absolutely nowhere fast people got just as upset as you are about all the wasted storytelling potential she could have had for the Mishima saga. However, the story of Tekken has gotten pretty divisive overtime, but when Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin have all been protagonists and antagonists at various points in the series history it makes them all look like a bunch of assholes with no central hero or villain to give the story a clear direction. Also, caring about the story in a fighting game is perfectly fine. Knowing the character backstories goes a long way in broadening each character's appeal beyond just their visual design and mechanics. Plus it can give the cast interesting dynamics that make fights between certain characters feel special even if it's outside of story mode.

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Soma Cruz from Castlevania comes to mind.

I suppose he was decent enough in Aria of Sorrow. Although turning Castlevania into run of the mill Japanese Highschool Student Adventure would no doubt still sour him to me.
But I played Dawn of Sorrow first, and holy hell is he a giant selfish douche there. It's bad enough that he is so rude and condescending to Yoko and Hammer. But his entire involvement in the story is just because of his selfishness. He doesn't need to be there. He could leave things to Alucard, Julius and Yoko. Alucard and Julius in particular are overqualified for this mission, considering they both beat Dracula himself. They can easily deal with some shitty cult. But Soma just has to get involved because his fragile ego demands it, I suppose.
He didn't even do anything to ensure Mina was protected from further attacks by the cult while he was away. Only Alucard was concerned for her safety. In fact, Soma didn't even tell her what he was doing. He just left without a word.
And while Aria of Sorrow Soma fought tooth and nail to prevent himself from becoming the new Dracula, Dawn of Sorrow Soma happily joins the dark side without hesitation.

Well, at least you get to beat the crap out of him for that last one.

Edited by BrightBow
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While I've not seen her in-game yet, I really don't like what I've heard of Tharja.

She's pretty much Sonia, both horribly abuse their child but somehow we're not supposed to hate Tharja for it. (And at least Sonia never abused an infant and probably did less to Nino considering Nino doesn't have half the problems Noire has.)

(Also her weird crush on Robin, that's apparently ever explained and just exists.)

Why am I supposed to like (And even want to marry) a character who's literally worse than someone who was presented as an nonredeemable monster in past games.

 

Edited by Samz707
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Marianne is up there. She's easily one of the most popular female characters in Three Houses and the most popular Deer next to Claude according to this site. But sadly she also belongs to an archetype that never did anything for me and she very quickly gets on my nerves when she again repeats how useless she thinks she is regardless of context or relevance. 

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1 hour ago, Samz707 said:

While I've not seen her in-game yet, I really don't like what I've heard of Tharja.

She's pretty much Sonia, both horribly abuse their child but somehow we're not supposed to hate Tharja for it. (And at least Sonia never abused an infant and probably did less to Nino considering Nino doesn't have half the problems Noire has.)

(Also her weird crush on Robin, that's apparently ever explained and just exists.)

Why am I supposed to like (And even want to marry) a character who's literally worse than someone who was presented as an nonredeemable monster in past games.

 

That's a comparison I've never seen before, but it's an apt one.

 

I think it only works in the sense that Awakening is almost trying to be a comedy in general. Same with Fates. Both seem to be more interested in punch lines and reactions than actual storytelling.

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Sephiroth is the first character that springs to mind. He's a iconic gaming villain from one of the most highly regarded games of all time. Yet in all the non ff7 stuff he came across as pretty boring.

My not having played the original ff7 probably doesn't help me get Sephiroth, but he did't correct my low expectations in the remake. I was pleasantly surprised by all the characters I had little interest before. Cloud, Tifa, Aerith. Even Shinra and the Turks turned out to be enjoyable. Only Sephiroth remains as someone I f find a complete bore.

I don't know if Xenoblade's chronicles 2 Jin is very popular or not, but i'm going to name him anyway. No Xenoblade 2 I don't find this  mass murderer a 'splendid soul'.

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23 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

That's a comparison I've never seen before, but it's an apt one.

 

I think it only works in the sense that Awakening is almost trying to be a comedy in general. Same with Fates. Both seem to be more interested in punch lines and reactions than actual storytelling.

Yeah I don't really like it personally.

I think a good comparison I guess is Lissa and Serra, they're both the "Bratty healer" but Serra is actually disliked by characters for her brattiness yet with Lissa the reactions of various characters seems like we're just supposed to find her brattiness "endearing" rather than well, being a brat.

Robin finds Lissa amusing seemingly while Hector hides from Serra, Serra's brattiness is treated as more of a flaw I guess that functions as a laugh rather than purely trying to be funny. 

(also I admit I stole the comparison from a friend but I agree with him when he pointed it out.)

 

Edited by Samz707
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1 minute ago, Samz707 said:

Yeah I don't really like it personally.

I think a good comparison I guess is Lissa and Serra, they're both the "Bratty healer" but Serra is actually disliked by characters for her brattiness yet with Lissa the reactions of various characters seems like we're just supposed to find her brattiness "endearing" rather than well, being a brat.

Robin finds Lissa amusing seemingly while Hector hides from Serra.

(also I admit I stole the comparison from a friend but I agree with him when he pointed it out.)

I think the comparison is interesting but perhaps not wholly complete. Serra is very chatty and makes her presence a constant nuisance to characters like Erk. Lissa's a brat, but she doesn't seem to impose as much on people who clearly aren't amused.

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22 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I think the comparison is interesting but perhaps not wholly complete. Serra is very chatty and makes her presence a constant nuisance to characters like Erk. Lissa's a brat, but she doesn't seem to impose as much on people who clearly aren't amused.

Unless they are named Takumi at least. 

But overall I don't mind Lissa being a brat. Its endearing since its mostly good natured in contrast to Serra just being selfish. 

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30 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Unless they are named Takumi at least. 

But overall I don't mind Lissa being a brat. Its endearing since its mostly good natured in contrast to Serra just being selfish. 

Fair enough but to me she comes across as kinda more annoying. (And again, the way Robin and other characters act makes it feel like I'm supposed to find it charming or something when I really don't.) 

Also that Dress-cage thing is just a terrible outfit.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I think it only works in the sense that Awakening is almost trying to be a comedy in general. Same with Fates. Both seem to be more interested in punch lines and reactions than actual storytelling.

I would disagree with this as I feel both games do have stories they want to tell. They’re just more light hearted in tone. I feel like tonally they’re very similar(or at least awakening is) to fairy tail or one piece. Overall light hearted but serious when it needs to be. Fates is more tonally similar to something like danganronpa or fate in some instances. Honestly fates does feel very visual novelly in structure but eh. I honestly don’t see the problem with stories having a more light hearted tone or more comedy centric supports. If everything is deep and serious all the time that gets tiring fast. You need that levity every so often.

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