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[kiphalfton]

Talking about non-RPG games.

All the characters play pretty much the same with pretty much the same animations. Even if they have different perks, you have to start back from square one building up each character when switching between them. Then there's different weapon loadouts/upgrades, because for some reason one character can use a certain type of weapon but another playable character can't (even if the weapons are within the same category).

These all seem to sort of lend themselves to the devs wanting to pad the game in some way.

Playing through The Last of Us Part II, these issues are glaring and it made me think of GTAV and the Call of Duty games as as well.

Give me a strong narrative for one freaking character, and I couldn't care less about playing as the others (unless it's as DLC or whatever, where you're playing as that particular charcter).

Maybe it's just a matter of the devs sucking at telling a coherent sorry, but it just seems to be all over the place going back and forth.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I think Yakuza 0 managed to pull it off pretty well, but not much else comes to mind.

 

[Miles708]

The first Otogi had 1 protagonist.
Otogi 2 had 6. And they were awesome.

From Software, please take Elden Ring out of the door asap and make Otogi 3 already.

 

[PooBone]

Halo 2 could be used as an argument for and against this.

Single Player "A Way Out" is an interesting case, as is "Brothers."

Resident Evil games have different playable characters but they have their own campaigns, no back-and-forth'ing.

However, I thought Yakuza 0 nailed it. And I can't discount Super Mario Bros 2.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Should have just used one character.

 

[Hydroxy]

GTA V was dope though. Dragon Quest V also had multiple characters but story was good

 

[Tickle My Tendies]

I didn't think it was an issue in GTA V.

 

[Captain Toad]

RE1 and 2 are among my favorite games ever - both the originals and remakes. One of the biggest disappointments of RE3, is the lack of multiple character campaigns.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I've never enjoyed any game that ever did this. It's particularly egregious in open world games where you have some sort of RPG element, are leveling up a character, gathering gear, etc. then suddenly have to play as some gimped person walking around for narrative purposes. Just show me a cut scene and let me skip it if I feel like it.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Muramasa did this well with the VITA exclusive DLC...

 

[jroc74]

Good job with that opening caveat OP, because that's where my mind went after reading the title.

 

[Magog.]

Disagree entirely. Resident Evil 2 was fun, TLOU2 was amazing and I'm currently having a blast in Watch Dogs Legion.

 

[existensmaximum]

Huh. I loved it in GTA V and TLOU2. Two absolutely amazing masterpieces in my opinion.

 

[fart town usa]

TRAG for the PSX did multiple characters well. Change at will for puzzle solving, characters are in different locations within the building that the game takes place in. Really cool game that doesn't get mentioned alot. It's like old school RE and Mega Man Legends. Really unique game

 

[K.S v2.0]

Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 beg to differ, OP.

 

[Edgelord79]

I've never enjoyed any game that ever did this. It's particularly egregious in open world games where you have some sort of RPG element, are leveling up a character, gathering gear, etc. then suddenly have to play as some gimped person walking around for narrative purposes. Just show me a cut scene and let me skip it if I feel like it.

I agree. AC Origins did this with Aya and Bayek. Completely negated everything and made me wonder what the point was if I couldn't have the Jackal with the character I had been building.

You could tell something was shoehorned in somewhere as they basically took power from the player.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Wild Arms was pretty good

 

[eyesabitdull]

Talking about non-RPG games.

All the characters play pretty much the same with pretty much the same animations. Even if they have different perks, you have to start back from square one building up each character when switching between them. Then there's different weapon loadouts/upgrades, because for some reason one character can use a certain type of weapon but another playable character can't (even if the weapons are within the same category).

These all seem to sort of lend themselves to the devs wanting to pad the game in some way.

Playing through The Last of Us Part II, these issues are glaring and it made me think of GTAV and the Call of Duty games as as well.

Give me a strong narrative for one freaking character, and I couldn't care less about playing as the others (unless it's as DLC or whatever, where you're playing as that particular charcter).

Maybe it's just a matter of the devs sucking at telling a coherent sorry, but it just seems to be all over the place going back and forth.

References TLOU2

TLOU also had story beats played as Ellie. Amazing game regardless.

TLOU2 actually has different animations for both Ellie and Abby, and they both have differing set of capabilities and choices of weapons.

I dont see your point beyond a handful of games that didnt hit the mark. I'd somewhat put RDR1 & RDR2 into the "kinda missed the mark" with the ending chapters of both games and the changes made.

Do you also complain about this when you play, say, a game like Detroit?

 

[GametimeUK]

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Resident Evil
GTA5
Streets of Rage
Devil May Cry 5
Yakuza 0

I hate to do a list and not give much context, but I just wanted to point out a few games with multiple protagonist that I enjoy.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I agree. AC Origins did this with Aya and Bayek. Completely negated everything and made me wonder what the point was if I couldn't have the Jackal with the character I had been building.

You could tell something was shoehorned in somewhere as they basically took power from the player.

If I ran a review website I'd have a standard list of "cons" that dock a standard amount of points from a game.

- Un-skippable cutscenes? -.5
- Missions that force you to walk and talk to a character, essentially creating an even more annoying un-skippable cutscene? -.5
- Missions where they take away all of your powers, or have you play as a powerless person randomly? -.5

 

[mhirano]

Metal Gear Solid 2 pulled it off pretty well

 

[cireza]

Castlevania 3 worked perfectly well, and it was more than 30 years ago.

Otogi 2 posted above is another good example.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles also.

The real problem is : are the developers/publishers putting the efforts to make these characters really different. Of course you need to create specific content, exclusive areas etc... to make it relevant.

 

[drganon]

As others have said, yakuza 0 pulled it off really well. Yakuza 4 and 5 were on the bloated side, but we're still good.

 

[Forsythia]

I hate that in the Call of Duty games, even more when there aren't any actual cutscenes but just loading screens with a voice-over. I adjusted and simply turn of my brain for the stories, I'm just there to shoot bad guys.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Metal Gear Solid 2 pulled it off pretty well

MGS 2 is such a fucking gem.

 

[Krisprolls]

- Missions that force you to walk and talk to a character, essentially creating an even more annoying un-skippable cutscene? -.5

So like in nearly every game? Even in Cyberpunk most of your time is spent talking and walking with characters. It's hard telling a story without talking to characters.

 

[IntentionalPun]

So like in nearly every game? Even in Cyberpunk most of your time is spent talking and walking with characters. It's hard telling a story without talking to characters.

Haven’t really played CyberPunk.

It has dialog trees so not quite sure it counts, but would have to play past the intro section.

But yes many games would by default get docked .5 points by me for missions like that. It is incredibly easy to create games with loads of dialogue that don’t force you to walk and talk and follow someone.

That barely existed as a gameplay element until the last several years and plenty of games avoid it. There’s zero reason that same dialog couldn’t be in a cut scene.

But “lots of games use this awful storytelling method” is not an excuse.

 

[Rickyiez]

Yes this is my problem with DMCV too, I couldn't for my life replay V's mission. Thankfully they fixed it now with Vergil