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[L Thammy]

Actually, considering that this thread seems to based on the idea that emotional characters are eschewed in favour of power fantasies, I wonder if Rance would fit.

He's a mostly a total male power fantasy from a popular hentai game series and generally has no morals. But he does has a primary love interest, Sill, who he's extremely protective of - although he buillies her most of the time. It's also shown that he's a manchild who doesn't really know how to deal with romantic love, which is probably part of the reason why he treats Sill the way he does.

One of the games originally had an ending where he set out on a quest to free Sill from a block of unbreakable ice only to find that it wasn't possible. This followed earlier foreshadowing from a previous game where he was told by a man who had lost his wife that he should learn to appreciate her while he has the chance. That ending ended up being changed because fans found it too depressing.

Many of the games in his series have a female scenario writer, by the way; she's where the complexity comes from as far as I can tell. There's probably some more interesting events but I haven't played most of the games, so I don't know.

 

[Phamit]

Shane from Broken Age

Maybe Link in Wind Waker, poor Dude just stumbles in this big Adventure, is pretty weak and doesn't know anything outside of his little Island.

Phoenix Wright

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

How does Joel show love and affection and/or vulnerability/deference? It seemed more to me like

Spoiler

possession

and he's like some angry scruffy dad throughout the whole game.

I can't recall Geralt either showing much weakness, except for maybe his various love interests. It was a long game, so I might have forgotten it in the blur of the tons of hours :lol

In TW1 he starts as someone who doesn't know who he is needs the gang to guide him. In TW2 you start as a prisoner being beaten and the blue stripes get you out, then Letho beats you up who already pinned his crime on you. In TW3 is mostly as you mention it, Yennefer kinda keeps you on a leash if you let her. also, In all three games you can be taken for a fool, manipulated. That on top of the emotional ones, in which the scene when one finds Ciri comes to mind.

 

[IchigoSharingan]

Mario from Super Mario RPG.

Goes out of his way to get Frogfucius a cricket pie

 

[SolarMystic]

Joel from TLoU.

Playing through this right now. I'm about 6 hours in and I have to agree.

 

[Insert Coin]

Goes out of his way to get Frogfucius a cricket pie

A true sign of a gentleman if there ever was one.

 

[Ishida]

Cloud Strife, The Thread.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

The Prince in Prince of Persia 2008 in a good example

At the end of the game

Spoiler

he revives Elika, his partner for most of the game, despite fully knowing that doing so would release the great evil they just stopped from captivity

A lot of people hate that ending but I actually really liked it because the game forced you to do what the character wanted to do instead of what you, the player, would want to do. I can't think of a lot of games that have done that.

I would've done the same as the Prince, 10/10 times. Great ending

 

[Easy_D]

For the type of character he was supposed to be, I felt B.J. Blazkowicz in the new Wolfenstein actually expressed a good range of emotions and had solid character depth.

I loved B.J and his internal monologues so much, great character.

 

[Akainu]

Kratos

 

[Steel]

Junpei from Zero escape 1 and Sigma from Zero Escape 2 have shitloads of moments of vulnerability and weakness. Not to mention, they're both dweebs.

Junpei is a teenager though.

On the other hand, Sigma is a grown ass man and is probably even more of a dweeb.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

"Like all JRPGs"

I think OP needed to clarify "Decently to well-written Male protagonists who express affection, love, vulnerability, deference, weakness?".

Raiden is actually a pretty good example, but it's been a long time since I played MGS2.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

"Like all JRPGs"

I think OP needed to clarify "Decently to well-written Male protagonists who express affection, love, vulnerability, deference, weakness?".

Raiden is actually a pretty good example, but it's been a long time since I played MGS2.

Raiden in MGS2 was not that great of a character.

 

[randomlee26]

King Graham from the new King's Quest.

Most of the guys in Tales from the Borderlands

 

[Raist]

I think most developers still need a lot of work before they're able to reach this kind of perfection in terms of these feels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qG4AlK1qk

 

[Mr-Joker]

Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes was the first thing that popped into my mind.

Affection;

He owned a cat name Jeane and in the sequel he show affection towards Shinobu.

Love

Was in love with Sylvia, something that the sequel explore more of and mourned over his ex-girlfriend whom he name his cat after.

Vulnerability

He was very naive at the beginning of the game and had a the goal of searching for his ex-girlfriend and looking for the person who killed his parents.

Deference

He has somewhat of respect towards Henry.

Weakness

He doesn't have an assassin's heart to the point that there was times when he was unwilling to kill people.

 

[Flopfan]

Tidus from FFX.

 

[jackdoe]

That unfeeling, one-dimensional male power fantasy protagonist doesn't really exist any more. Hell, some of the modern day stereotypical examples don't fit this description any more. Master Chief and Marcus Fenix have healthy/unhealthy relationships with strong female characters along with strong familial ties to their unit. And they grieve at least once in their series.

 

[Zetta]

My three favorite male protagonist are all these. Cloud (FFVII), Fei (Xenogears) and quite possibly my favorite of all time Luke (Tales Of Abyss). I can replay these games just because of these single characters.

 

[TwiztidElf]

 

[Kinyou]

Even tough guys like Marston and Geralt are given time to express all these couple of times each. But those are some long games.

That Geralt is usually such a stoic guy actually makes it all the more meaningful when he does show affection,

Really liked this little scene at the end of a side quest

https://youtu.be/uBCWD657SBI?t=12m13s

 

[Basketball]

get him

It's Max Fucking Payne

 

[pa22word]

So much so that when they made the game into a movie hollywood split him into two characters and turned the main aspect of his character into a female because females are weak, need to be protected, and it is socially okay for them to be terrified.

 

[Morgan Blackhand]

Kian from Dreamfall Chapters. Well written character.

Yeah Kian is a good pick.

 

[potatohead]

".....whatever...."

So deep....

I feel like I can fall in

 

[adamsapple]

This handsome mofo.

 

[MrHoot]

Wander from Shadow of the Colossus, in some way and done without much dialogue, at least love and weakness. Mostly the latter. But his showing resolve through his very real physical and mental weakness through the last stretch of the game, all for love, has always been very gripping to me. Especially considering it's done mostly through visuals and gameplay and not through text

 

[SolidSnakex]

So much so that when they made the game into a movie hollywood split him into two characters and turned the main aspect of his character into a female because females are weak, need to be protected, and it is socially okay for them to be terrified.

The movies seemed to actively try to ruin shit about the series. Revelation is the biggest culprit in that area. They took Vincent, who Heather hated and found to be creepy and manipulative in the game, and decided to turn him into her love interest. It's a move that made no sense as it made the story worse and the only purpose it seemed to serve was to hit some bullet point where characters have to be in some sort of romantic relationship in movies. It reminds me of people joking that they hope ICO is never made into a movie because Hollywood would inevitably make Yorda into Ico's love interest.

 

[Mr Waluigi]

Bowser whenever he is playable in Mario RPGs, surprisingly enough.

 

[Diamond]

I don't think it's that rare to find this kind of character. Here are some that haven't been cited so far I think.

Bigby in The Wolf Among Us

Jackie in The Darkness

Eddie in Brütal Legend

The Prince in Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Kaim in Lost Odyssey

Harry in Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Sylvester in Anachronox

Raziel in Soul Reaver

Robert in The Last Express

The Nameless One in Planescape Torment

 

[PK Gaming]

So there's this game called Fire Emblem: Fates

Though Corrin is a case of leaning too far into that, lmao

 

[deriks]

Joel the thread

No joke. He's really a dad model that I want to be

 

[Chucker]

Surprised nobody said Locke from FFVI.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

Joel from TLoU.

This.

 

[Busaiku]

So there's this game called Fire Emblem: Fates

Though Corrin is a case of leaning too far into that, lmao

Corrin is a canon female though.

 

[Crash Station]

Literally every Japanese game ever.

As far as examples, the Tales series popped into my mind right away for some reason even though it's hardly unique in that regard. Tales of Abyss is probably the most fitting there considering the mental state of the protagonist, though they're pretty much all affectionate and vulnerable to some extent except for maybe Senel.

 

[etrain911]

I would say most of the male cast in Kingdom Hearts, specifically Sora, Terra, Roxas, Ventus, Axel, and Riku (guess what series I'm playing through right now!).

 

[Raist]

Joel the thread

No joke. He's really a dad model that I want to be

You might get into some legal problems if you start sneaking around with a whole arsenal and snap necks left and right

 

[RealityCheque]

Marcus and Dom weren't just bro's. They only had each other!

But the right answer is Joel. Most believable character arc that I can remember in any game.

 

[antitrop]

First one that came to mind was Cloud Strife from FF7, but really plenty of JRPG protagonists would fit this criteria.

Hell, Crono from Chrono Trigger fits this and he doesn't even talk.

 

[Transistor]

Jackie fucking Estacado from The Darkness

 

[aBarreras]

Jackie fucking Estacado from The Darkness

the loading screens when he is talking are great

 

[SixMachine]

You need some Kazuma Kiryu in your life. Extremely badass but a loving father figure to a daughter who isn't even his.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay9lmU18mDk

Also this needs to be posted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcWqo5UsXyg

 

[Sub_Level]

Raiden - MGS2

Pretty much mentally mind fucked but not to the point where he can't function. Very vulnerable character who doesn't know whats going on. His girlfriend reveals she's a spy but in the end he still shows compassion towards her. He doesn't spend the game just feeling sorry for himself and shows himself out of the darkness, with help from Snake.

Otacon applies as well of course.

edit: of course, this all goes down the drain in MGS4 where Raiden DOES spend the whole game feeling sorry for himself LOL

 

[quesalupa]

My man Nathan Drake.

 

[HeelPower]

True, but I think The Last of Us did it most effectively and made the "dad" seem most realistic, unless there's a game I'm completely blanking on.

Realistic ?

He's a walking one man army who kills hundreds by the end of the game.

Plus he seemingly hated Ellie at the outset then suddenly he starts "loving" her almost out of where.It was forced and expected simply because his daughter died.

Lee from the Walking dead has a much better relationship with celementine.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Realistic ?

He's a walking one man army who kills hundreds by the end of the game.

Plus he seemingly hated Ellie at the outset then suddenly he starts "loving" her almost out of where.It was forced and expected simply because his daughter died.

Lee from the Walking dead has a much better relationship with celementine.

Joel had a ton of lead in to his change of heart, and I can barely remember anything Lee did...super boring character

 

[Messofanego]

These are my picks from shooters because they aren't known for such kinds of characters.

BJ Blazkowicz (Wolfenstein TNO) has to be one of the most well-developed action heroes in videogames. He shows charm, heart, bravado, care, humility, sacrifice, introspection, and love. Much like Max Payne, he has existential worries and will reminisce about moments like swimming as a kid and relating to current events ("went into the water on account of disobeying father, felt like my skin was on fire"). Respect to the writers, Tommy Tordsson, Jens Matthies, Jerk Gustaffson, Tom Keegan, and Andreas Ojerfors.

Lynch (Kane and Lynch 1 and 2) suffers from mental disorders. His late wife's death before the first game's events (recounted in audio flashbacks during loading screens) is ambiguous, either she was murdered or Lynch might have been off his meds one time and it was an accident. He finds love again with a girlfriend (Xiu) in the second game while living in Hong Kong and just wants a normal life until life goes to hell when Kane entices him with a job. He is unsure of what he's doing half the time, has constant anxieties (try listening to his whispers or mumblings during quiet moments or shootouts in Dog Days), and is very vulnerable. Everything about Lynch is so tragic and he's the real heart of the games, especially after what Kane becomes near the end of Dog Days. Credit to the writers, Oliver Winding and Jens-Peter Kurup, for making such an interesting and conflicted character along with creating some of the bleakest nihilistic worlds in a crime game.

Jackie Estecado (The Darkness 1 and 2). The games really are just love stories set against a very violent background. Jackie and Jenny have the best romance in a FPS by far. The second games goes a lot more in-depth into flashbacks of the relationship, like when you hallucinate what you and Jenny played around at the amusement park one time or slow-dancing in a bar. Now that I'm re-watching this, I'm getting all teary-eyed again Paul Jenkins and Walt Williams (Spec Ops The Line) did a great job on the writing for these couple of videogames.

 

[Outrun]

Master Chief.

It is subtle, but it is there....

Behind that helmet.

 

[Samaritan]

Spoiler

i'm hungry

Spoiler

Where are we going?! Dum dee dummm!