The most overrated video game characters ever....

He lacks a motive, a huge plot hole in FFVII. Why does he want to become a god and devestate the world?

Oh, the irony.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"][QUOTE="DarkLink77"] Well, the TC is flat out wrong about the FFVII characters on the list, but that doesn't surprise me.DarkLink77

Any Character in Final Fantasy 7 is extremely overrated Diviniuz

1. Gordon Freeman- not even a character, just an empty shell with guns and a crowbar

2. Marcus Fenix- clichéd gorilla man with ANGRY ANGRY KILL ALIEN **** personality

3. Master Chief- not much difference with Gordon Freeman, but more likeable than Marcus

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"]2. Gordon Freeman

I love Half Life and HL2, but c'mon people, Gordon Freeman is not a great character. He has no personality and no depth and considering he is a scientist, very rare protagonists in games, a huge oppurtunity was blown to make him more than an icon, but an actually character. Jack from Bioshock has more personality than Freeman does. He is also by far, not the greatest video game character ever. Not even close. For him to win the Gamespot contest was simply ludicrious. Main reason why he i son the list. Now, Alyx Vance...we have a great character there....yellonet

Then again, he's not supposed to be a great character in his own right, you always see the games from first person and he never talks because you are supposed to be him, it's a way to make you feel more like you're in the game instead of watching a game from the outside.

KH characters, Cloud Strife and Gordon Freeman.

Kratos definitely

I don't think that Freeman is overrated, just bad.

I mean, I recently finished Half Life 2, and I did not have any care in the world about Freeman at all. Alyx, Barney, Eli, Dr Kliner, G-Man? Definitely. But freeman? Not a chance. He just felt like an empty shell, and that's it.

Some people put Master Chief in that same boat. But he is slightly better than Freeman. At least he talks quite a bit, and shows off some cool stuff (through in-game cinematics: Ending of Cairo Station in Halo 2 anyone?), that show that he is a cold, calculated, chuck-norris like badass!

But freeman? A horrible character.

DISCLAIMER - I liked the gameplay in HL2 a lot, PC guys don't flame me!

Kratos? nah I dont think so, he's alrightRTUUMM

He's a whiny little baby with next-to-none legitimate character development, and has only one emotion: rage. This makes him suck, even for an anti-hero.

Gordan Freeman came to mind when I saw this thread.

Link- Is pretty much only an avatar for the player.

Mario- Need I say more?

All of FFVII mostly Cloud and Sephiroth.

Master Chief - 'basically a generic space marine.' How does that comment make sense? :P Seriously though - how does one define a 'generic space marine'? That's like saying 'just another mediocre kung-fu robot who travels through time, seen it all before...'Ninja-Hippo

Anything to hate on Halo.

You should see the Halo:Reach forums on bnetat the moment.

All the graphics trolls are under their bridges.

i don't see why people ar esaying master cheif. because:

A: in the books, he has a quite a bit of personality.

and B: HE WASN'T MADE TO HAVE A HUGE PERSONALITY. play halo: CE. you hardly know anything about him, exept when marines say " Glad to see you're here cheif", or "we were worried before you came sir." he's mystrious, but you know he pretty awesome based on the others in the game.

and C: nobody rates him highly, therefore cannot be overated.

anyway, for me its Sonic

Gordon Freeman is not a character in the traditional sense (same with Master Chief, but to a lesser degree since he actually does speak). I'm surprised how few of you know this. :|

Gordon Freeman is not a character in the traditional sense (same with Master Chief, but to a lesser degree since he actually does speak). I'm surprised how few of you know this. :|

psn8214

Mario. Nintendo have a one size fits all character for many of their franchises and....he is a fat italian plumber with a disney costume and a silly moustache. Also, Bayonetta. Ridiculous costume, looks like a young Sarah palin, and stupid pseudo british sayings which, as a proud englishman, go through me.

Whoever mentioned Niko Bellic shame on you. No GTA character deserves to be on this list.

I have to strongly disagree with this. Niko is actually a very well developed character. He is given a compelling context for his motivations, so we always understand his choices and actions. Family is his underlying motive for what drives him, and everything he does is based on what what he thinks is best for him and his cousin. He is ultimately relateable to us, not as a common criminal, but simply as a man trying to do what he thinks is best to make his place in the world he moved to from his old life. Even where his cousin drives him crazy, he'll still go to no ends to protect him, and that's a family value we can all empathize with.

AdobeArtist

Objection!

I'll preface this by saying that, granted, Niko is a better character than the majority of characters in gaming.

That said, once you remove the "good for a game" caveat, Niko is a pretty damn weak character. He's quite two-dimensional (he's either in "I don't want to hurt people anymore" mode or "I'm gonna kill everyone" mode), and what little character development there is comes across as forced and cliched (a man reluctantly trying to protect his family/friends from the mob isn't exactly new ground, and it isn't told in an Earth-shattering way either). There's the odd bright spot here and there, but by-and-large the game gives no reason to emotionally invest in Niko.

As for me, I'll say the entire cast of Uncharted 2. Admittedly they're well voiced and Naughty Dog generally did a quality job with the dialogue, but none of that negates the fact that they're essentially the cast of a B-movie Indiana Jones rip-off. Enjoyable? Sure, but certainly not worthy of all the "best characters ever!" talk that's surrounded the game.

I was also wanted to include JC Denton on this list as well as the protagonist of the first game....he however was a really good potential antagonist in the second game. Deus Ex was a game in which the plot was awesome (minus the pacing issues), but the characters were below average.

i don't see why people ar esaying master cheif. because:

A: in the books, he has a quite a bit of personality.

and B: HE WASN'T MADE TO HAVE A HUGE PERSONALITY. play halo: CE. you hardly know anything about him, exept when marines say " Glad to see you're here cheif", or "we were worried before you came sir." he's mystrious, but you know he pretty awesome based on the others in the game.

and C: nobody rates him highly, therefore cannot be overated.

anyway, for me its Sonic

gamedude234

A: If the game cant give me a good character why should I be forced to buy a book to make him haev a dam personality. Its just dumb. If you cant convince me with the source material ala the game you fail

B: Doesint matter hes a characterand we can judge him.

C: I disagree I do see some people saying how awesome he is and such.

Master Chief and every other crappy US (space) marine that ever starred in a video game.

All famous characters are overrated - they become famous by appearing in loads of games, but these games focus on the gameplay, not the character, because five games focusing on the life and personality of character X would feel a bit samey. The best characters have one game exploring their life and personality, but no sequels, because after one game that character is spent. And so they don't become famous.

Though personally I'm fond of Prof Layton, even though he does have three or four games.

Mario. Nintendo have a one size fits all character for many of their franchises and....he is a fat italian plumber with a disney costume and a silly moustache. Also, Bayonetta. Ridiculous costume, looks like a young Sarah palin, and stupid pseudo british sayings which, as a proud englishman, go through me.

Whoever mentioned Niko Bellic shame on you. No GTA character deserves to be on this list.

Chemical_Viking

Master Chief and every other crappy US (space) marine that ever starred in a video game.

DraugenCP

Some of these characters people are listing aren't overrated. They just suck.

My pick is:

[QUOTE="Chemical_Viking"]

Mario. Nintendo have a one size fits all character for many of their franchises and....he is a fat italian plumber with a disney costume and a silly moustache. Also, Bayonetta. Ridiculous costume, looks like a young Sarah palin, and stupid pseudo british sayings which, as a proud englishman, go through me.

Whoever mentioned Niko Bellic shame on you. No GTA character deserves to be on this list.

Microsoft1234

Nothing you said made any sense in responding to my post.

...Mario?

Auron. So many Square Enix fanboys love him. He's boring and has a lame design.majadamus

What are you talking about, he is most bad ass looking character in FF history

.

BPoole96

Not bad, not bad. I like Freeman and Kratos, but I do agree Freeman gets WAY too much credit as a character considering he's a nameless, faceless (well he would be if they didn't just show you what he looks like on the box art) protagonist. Kratos is a fun character but he's not a GREAT character. He's just a typical video game badass with a very good backstory, and who I could at times sympathize with, but that emotion was lost when he started shamelessly murdering innocents, and in God of War III killing people when they flat out OFFER you what you need.

The rest I can agree with. What's so special about Master Chief? Sephiroth is meh, Kefka is easily the best FF villain, no competition. Cloud Strife is a good character, but he gets a free pass for being in a good game, if the game itself wasn't considered fantastic, would Cloud? Can he stand up by himself as a character? I think not.

[QUOTE="Microsoft1234"][QUOTE="Chemical_Viking"]

Mario. Nintendo have a one size fits all character for many of their franchises and....he is a fat italian plumber with a disney costume and a silly moustache. Also, Bayonetta. Ridiculous costume, looks like a young Sarah palin, and stupid pseudo british sayings which, as a proud englishman, go through me.

Whoever mentioned Niko Bellic shame on you. No GTA character deserves to be on this list.

Chemical_Viking

Nothing you said made any sense in responding to my post.

But about Master Chief: lost to Bub and Bob what, second round of the competition a while back? Think that automatically disqualifies him from being possibly overrated :lol:.

One VERY underrated character I thought I'd mention among the overrated ones: Guybrush Threepwood. Cmon that guy's amazing and he barely gets credit for it these days. Can't wait for Monkey Island 2 this Summer.

[QUOTE="antifanboyftw"][QUOTE="Vesica_Prime"]

He's on a extraterrestrial planet fighting off aliens who want to destroy humanity in a futuristic setting. You know just like the Master Chief and Doomguy with some parts cut and pasted over.

Mark36111

Also an acceptable response to Vesica_Prime's post.

That's like saying Tom Cruise plays a space marine in "War of the Worlds."

Space marine refers to a intergalatic soldier that fights on extraterrestrial planet as well as space to protect Earth and its colonies. Plus I don't understand what you're getting at with the "War of the Worlds" part, Tom Cruise fights on Earth meaning that he didn't get into outer space to fight. Plus alien species in the context I used it as means any intelligent lifeform that has not originated from Earth.

I love how Gears of War fanboys get so defensive over a brickwall that grunts.

[QUOTE="Mark36111"]

[QUOTE="antifanboyftw"] yeah you haven't really played the game have you. both he and the creatures he fights are on the planet that they originally came from. in otherwords, they are not aliens, and he has never been to space. also, its not even futuristic, its just not Earth.Vesica_Prime

Also an acceptable response to Vesica_Prime's post.

That's like saying Tom Cruise plays a space marine in "War of the Worlds."

Space marine refers to a intergalatic soldier that fights on extraterrestrial planet as well as space to protect Earth and its colonies. Plus I don't understand what you're getting at with the "War of the Worlds" part, Tom Cruise fights on Earth meaning that he didn't get into outer space to fight. Plus alien species in the context I used it as means any intelligent lifeform that has not originated from Earth.

I love how Gears of War fanboys get so defensive over a brickwall that grunts.

im sorry that no valid point was made against gears of war by you. if you read my post, you would see that they are not space marines in any sense of the word. Since their home planet is where they fight, and their enemies were born on the same planet. Neother are from space. By your logic, most videogame characters are space marines since they were not born on earth. Please try again.

Saying Sephiroth is overrated and lacks a motive and then praising Kekfa in the same paragraph... :roll:

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

I have to strongly disagree with this. Niko is actually a very well developed character. He is given a compelling context for his motivations, so we always understand his choices and actions. Family is his underlying motive for what drives him, and everything he does is based on what what he thinks is best for him and his cousin. He is ultimately relateable to us, not as a common criminal, but simply as a man trying to do what he thinks is best to make his place in the world he moved to from his old life. Even where his cousin drives him crazy, he'll still go to no ends to protect him, and that's a family value we can all empathize with.

PBSnipes

Objection!

I'll preface this by saying that, granted, Niko is a better character than the majority of characters in gaming.

That said, once you remove the "good for a game" caveat, Niko is a pretty damn weak character. He's quite two-dimensional (he's either in "I don't want to hurt people anymore" mode or "I'm gonna kill everyone" mode), and what little character development there is comes across as forced and cliched (a man reluctantly trying to protect his family/friends from the mob isn't exactly new ground, and it isn't told in an Earth-shattering way either). There's the odd bright spot here and there, but by-and-large the game gives no reason to emotionally invest in Niko.

As for me, I'll say the entire cast of Uncharted 2. Admittedly they're well voiced and Naughty Dog generally did a quality job with the dialogue, but none of that negates the fact that they're essentially the cast of a B-movie Indiana Jones rip-off. Enjoyable? Sure, but certainly not worthy of all the "best characters ever!" talk that's surrounded the game.

[QUOTE="Vesica_Prime"]

[QUOTE="Mark36111"]

Also an acceptable response to Vesica_Prime's post.

That's like saying Tom Cruise plays a space marine in "War of the Worlds."

antifanboyftw

Space marine refers to a intergalatic soldier that fights on extraterrestrial planet as well as space to protect Earth and its colonies. Plus I don't understand what you're getting at with the "War of the Worlds" part, Tom Cruise fights on Earth meaning that he didn't get into outer space to fight. Plus alien species in the context I used it as means any intelligent lifeform that has not originated from Earth.

I love how Gears of War fanboys get so defensive over a brickwall that grunts.

im sorry that no valid point was made against gears of war by you. if you read my post, you would see that they are not space marines in any sense of the word. Since their home planet is where they fight, and their enemies were born on the same planet. Neother are from space. By your logic, most videogame characters are space marines since they were not born on earth. Please try again.

You are absolutely right. They are not space marines fighting any aliens. They are on their home planet fighting something else from the same planet.

This =/= space marines

Has that guy even played Gears?

Btw, Kefka is overrated. He's a typical classic JRPG villain that wants to destroy everything for the sake of destroying everything, who happens to have witty lines. And he isn't the first villain to "win" either; hello Ex-Death and villages being tossed into the void. He lacks depth and character development.

Here's a much better, yet similar villain figure:

Then why all the fan specualtion......such as Jenova's role. Motive is why he does it, not how he does it. How he does it is explained, why he does it isn't.texasgoldrush

Did you pay attention during the Nibelheim flashbacks? Where he found out a little about his past and destroyed everything? It kind of sent him off the deep end and gave him a grudge against the world. And there you have a backstory and motive for him wanting to become powerful / destroy everything.

I'm not saying Sephiroth is amazing or anything (or even that he shouldn't be on this list), but he has a backstory and a motive (whether you think he does or not). Kefka does not.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] Then why all the fan specualtion......such as Jenova's role. Motive is why he does it, not how he does it. How he does it is explained, why he does it isn't.Juken7

Did you pay attention during the Nibelheim flashbacks? Where he found out a little about his past and destroyed everything? It kind of sent him off the deep end and gave him a grudge against the world. And there you have a backstory and motive for him wanting to become powerful / destroy everything.

I'm not saying Sephiroth is amazing or anything (or even that he shouldn't be on this list), but he has a backstory and a motive (whether you think he does or not). Kefka does not.

Thank you for this.

Sephiroth also views himself to be "special" - set apart from the world. His obsessiveness with being an "ancient" isn't actually about him being an "ancient;" he's just obsessed with himself and has been in love with the idea of being set apart from the world, glorified, from the beginning. As a living being, his justifications don't have to be perfect; he's willing to twist whatever reality he consumes to benefit him.

That being said, I'm sick of sephiroth and seeing him in people's usernames and signatures. He looks really dumb. Haven't seen him around much lately.

Master Chief from Halo is definitely an overrated guy. Link also comes to mind, Solid Snake is pretty overrated as well, surprised no ones mentioned him yet.