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Best JRPG protagonists?

T

Tye The Czar

Member
We've all expressed our disgust and confusion about Japan's love for overly angsty teenagers(makes sense given Japanese gaming is/was dominated by kids).

So why not turn the tables around and talk about the best leads that JRPGs have to offer?

I'll start with a less-known but fantastic example:
1750625-estellebright.jpg
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Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky. Tomboyish, headstrong, and very relatable. Estelle is a far cry from cliched JRPG protags and even dresses somewhat appropriately for the job. One of my favorite female game protagonists since Terra from FFVI.

Trails SC needs to get done already!
 
Justin from Grandia 1 for his strong (but not overly) positivity and adventurous spirit. He also just has tons of character and made Grandia really awesome.
 
Tye The Czar said:
We've all expressed our disgust and confusion about Japan's love for overly angsty teenagers(makes sense given Japanese gaming is/was dominated by kids).

So why not turn the tables around and talk about the best leads that JRPGs have to offer?

I'll start with a less-known but fantastic example:
Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky. Tomboyish, headstrong, and very relatable. Estelle is a far cry from cliched JRPG protags and even dresses somewhat appropriately for the job. One of my favorite female game protagonists since Terra from FFVI.

Trails SC needs to get done already!
Click to expand...
I really need to finish this game.
 
Ramza from FFT. He aims to right the wrongs he sees in front of him and takes responsibility for his personal failures. He's not annoying righteous either, as he only himself up to high standards not everyone else, but more importantly he acknowledges that there are just some things that he and his ideals alone cannot fix.
 
mui1rPy.png


Real talk, I do think they actually played him well (from what I've played so far). He makes jokes and whatnot but doesn't ruin things for the sake of it and is a legitimate help, a refreshing break from most joker archetypes.
 
Tye The Czar said:
I'll start with a less-known but fantastic example:
Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky. Tomboyish, headstrong, and very relatable. Estelle is a far cry from cliched JRPG protags and even dresses somewhat appropriately for the job. One of my favorite female game protagonists since Terra from FFVI.

Trails SC needs to get done already!
Click to expand...

Ack, I came in to this thread to say this!

Yuri is my backup

Status_image_Yuri.png
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Stocke from Radiant Historia is the best JRPG protagonist in like...ten years.

It is unreal how good he is.

tumblr_mbeg5d6LQd1qh8zkho1_500_zpsef1a1720.jpg


If you do not agree I will fight you to the death and even if I lose, I will go back in time to a pivotal moment before to fix my mistakes and alter the flow of time to win the argument.
 
Yuri Lowell in Tales of Vesperia is a common one. I feel like a few people could post about him so I want to attempt someone else:

Jr2Ver2.jpg
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Rubedo (Jr) in the Xenosaga Trilogy.

Jr is actually not that great of a character on his own. I mean, he's not bad but there's nothing exceptional about him that would make him "best" in many lists. However, a few various reasons allow me to place him here with at least some semblance of a defense. One, he serves as a counterpoint to the infinitely insufferable Shion Uzuki, who is the actual protagonist of the trilogy. While Shion consistently seems flabbergasted at what the various antagonists are trying to do, often repeating their monologues in the form of questions, Jr actually shows some semblance of leadership characteristics, making tough choices and basically having command of his own ship and crew. The fact that he was also a creation with a specific purpose, as well as more human elements involving his relationship with his twin brother Albedo (who is a great character in his own right) and his puppy love with Sakura and her robotic resemblance MOMO, there's just a lot of layers that keep him very interesting. The fact that he has various powers of telepathy, yet decides to use more standard weapons like handguns, as well as concealing his identity in the form of a director's young son, he was the only reason Xenosaga II was not more terrible than it already was.
 
Levyne said:
Yuri Lowell in Tales of Vesperia is a common one. I feel like a few people could post about him so I want to attempt someone else:



Rubedo (Jr) in the Xenosaga Trilogy.

Jr is actually not that great of a character on his own. I mean, he's not bad but there's nothing exceptional about him that would make him "best" in many lists. However, a few various reasons allow me to place him here with at least some semblance of a defense. One, he serves as a counterpoint to the infinitely insufferable Shion Uzuki, who is the actual protagonist of the trilogy. While Shion consistently seems flabbergasted at what the various antagonists are trying to do, often repeating their monologues in the form of questions, Jr actually shows some semblance of leadership characteristics, making tough choices and basically having command of his own ship and crew. The fact that he was also a creation with a specific purpose, as well as more human elements involving his relationship with his twin brother Albedo (who is a great character in his own right) and his puppy love with Sakura and her robotic resemblance MOMO, there's just a lot of layers that keep him very interesting. The fact that he has various powers of telepathy, yet decides to use more standard weapons like handguns, as well as concealing his identity in the form of a director's young son, he was the only reason Xenosaga II was not more terrible than it already was.
Click to expand...

Its no secret the Jr/URTV storyline is infinitely better than the Shion/KOSMOS/chaos stuff (mostly because Shion is one of the most unsufferably unpleasant people ever) but I still wouldnt call Jr the lead.
 
Mao is my favorite JRPG protagonist.

i2fmyGqIIFeTJ.jpg


I liked how crazy he acted, and how he wanted to experiment on everything he saw interesting. He also had a more deep backstory then I originally thought. I make sure that every Disgaea game I get after 3, I buy his DLC character.
 
OniBarubary said:
Stocke from Radiant Historia is the best JRPG protagonist in like...ten years.

It is unreal how good he is.

tumblr_mbeg5d6LQd1qh8zkho1_500_zpsef1a1720.jpg


If you do not agree I will fight you to the death and even if I lose, I will go back in time to a pivotal moment before to fix my mistakes and alter the flow of time to win the argument.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Stocke. Such a great protagonist.
 
OniBarubary said:
Stocke from Radiant Historia is the best JRPG protagonist in like...ten years.

It is unreal how good he is.

tumblr_mbeg5d6LQd1qh8zkho1_500_zpsef1a1720.jpg


If you do not agree I will fight you to the death and even if I lose, I will go back in time to a pivotal moment before to fix my mistakes and alter the flow of time to win the argument.
Click to expand...

predator.gif


Probably the last one (meaning, the last JRPG that I've played and really liked the protagonist) to get into my small list.
 
I keep seeing the cast of Tales of Vesperia brought up in these things, and I really want to play that game, but I don't want to buy a 360 for it, and the PS3 version was never localized :(
 
Zidane from FFIX. After the two horribly depressing protags we get an actually upbeat, funny, social and outgoing one. Then they tried to make him again in FFX and we got stuck with that shit that is teeeeeeeeeduhs. Jesus.
 
Levyne said:
Rubedo (Jr) in the Xenosaga Trilogy.

Jr is actually not that great of a character on his own. I mean, he's not bad but there's nothing exceptional about him that would make him "best" in many lists. However, a few various reasons allow me to place him here with at least some semblance of a defense. One, he serves as a counterpoint to the infinitely insufferable Shion Uzuki, who is the actual protagonist of the trilogy. While Shion consistently seems flabbergasted at what the various antagonists are trying to do, often repeating their monologues in the form of questions, Jr actually shows some semblance of leadership characteristics, making tough choices and basically having command of his own ship and crew. The fact that he was also a creation with a specific purpose, as well as more human elements involving his relationship with his twin brother Albedo (who is a great character in his own right) and his puppy love with Sakura and her robotic resemblance MOMO, there's just a lot of layers that keep him very interesting. The fact that he has various powers of telepathy, yet decides to use more standard weapons like handguns, as well as concealing his identity in the form of a director's young son, he was the only reason Xenosaga II was not more terrible than it already was.
Click to expand...
Glad to see other people like The Little Master as well. I agree with a bunch of your points even though it's arguable if he's a protagonist (Ep. 2 would be the only qualifying game IMHO).

Yuri is a clear choice here. I know tons of people don't like him but I always liked Squall too.
 
Squall from Final Fantasy VIII

Look at all the crap he had to deal with. A instructor who had a hidden agenda of dating him, a sniper who wussed out on a assassination attempt, a sad resistance he got attracted to, and head master who didn't have any balls so he put a rookie in charge of the entire garden!

I really feel and appreciate what he had to put up with.
 
I'm about 16 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles, and I'd have to say that both Shulk and Dunban are becoming two of my favorite JRPG characters of all time. Shulk can be contemplative without being whiny, and his determination is very admirable. Dunban is such an excellent hero too - I really dig his selflessness and honorable nature. I've also been playing quite a bit of Fire Emblem: Awakening lately, and Chrom is a total badass.
 
Gintoki313 said:
Mao is my favorite JRPG protagonist.

i2fmyGqIIFeTJ.jpg


I liked how crazy he acted, and how he wanted to experiment on everything he saw interesting. He also had a more deep backstory then I originally thought. I make sure that every Disgaea game I get after 3, I buy his DLC character.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, Mao is pretty fun to watch (too bad they seemed to have backtracked on his character development on all of his extra appearances).
 
I'll give another vote for the wonderful Stocke from Radiant Historia. He was quite a change of pace from the sort of protagonists I usually see in JRPGs.
 
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