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Which secondary characters in video games should have been the main character?


Fabulously Olivier
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It is often the case that the main character in a fictional work is not the most interesting (or in some cases, even the most likeable) character. There is always a better secondary character there to upstage them. Discuss your choices here.

 

Criteria:

1) A secondary playable character more likeable than the protagonist (ie: Jade Curtiss is the best character in Tales of the Abyss).

2) A villain or other NPC more likeable than the protagonist (ie: Vass over Jason Brody in Far Cry 3).

3) A lesser known franchise main character over the iconic poster boy (ie: I much prefer any other Belmont or franchise main character to Simon, but especially Trevor and Alucard).

Edited by Etheus
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An easy target for me is Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. Itsuki is such a bland everyman who's just there to help Tsubasa reach her dreams without actually having any ambitions of his own. I would have preferred Touma or Kiria as the main character since they actually have their own motivations and goals. But Eleonora is still the best character.

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A few of my opinions:

 

Fire Emblem Fates

Azura is the real protagonist and the real soul of Fates. Let's be real here.

 

Castlevania

Trevor is the best Belmont and Alucard is the best protagonist.

 

Tales of Symphonia

Almost everyone is more interesting than Lloyd, but especially Regal and Zelos.

 

Tales of the Abyss

Jade Curtiss upstages everyone.

 

Tales of Graces

Hubert Oswell is better than Asbel Lhant in every conceivable way.

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I think I would have preferred Jill to be the main character of the Resident Evil franchise over Chris. Chris is literally the only protagonist in that whole series with a character arc, but he... just doesn't really have much of a character himself, and he's another brawny, white guy with short brown hair(Though I guess he's kind of the first case of this in 3D games). Jill's his partner and gets focus of her own, but it would have been nice if she was the one who got the character arc.

Both are better than Leon, though.

I would have vastly preferred the adventures of Jecht and Braska over Tidus and Yuna in FFX.

 

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5 minutes ago, Slumber said:

I think I would have preferred Jill to be the main character of the Resident Evil franchise over Chris. Chris is literally the only protagonist in that whole series with a character arc, but he... just doesn't really have much of a character himself, and he's another brawny, white guy with short brown hair(Though I guess he's kind of the first case of this in 3D games). Jill's his partner and gets focus of her own, but it would have been nice if she was the one who got the character arc.

Both are better than Leon, though.

I would have vastly preferred the adventures of Jecht and Braska over Tidus and Yuna in FFX.

 

On the note of Final Fantasy, Nyx from the FF15 movie is so much more likeable than Noctis (but then, the movie is better than the game in general).

Edited by Etheus
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Hmm this is a pretty cool post!

 

i like most of the main characters because they make them with it in mind that they are the protagonist. id alter the question a little to "who i think could play the protagonist role instead?"

**Will Edit later**

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1 hour ago, Etheus said:

It is often the case that the main character in a fictional work is not the most interesting (or in some cases, even the most likeable) character. There is always a better secondary character there to upstage them. Discuss your choices here.

few examples from SquareEnix titles:

- Celes from FF VI, since Terra is basicly a living plot device;

- Auron from FF X, since i honestly prefer his attitude and backstory way more than that of Tidus;

- Basch or Balthier from FF XII, due to having more complex backstories than Vaan, plus better personality overall;

- Caim from Drakengard 2, due to Nowe being yet another living plot device.

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For Sacred Stones how about L'Arachel or Joshua over the blandula twins (even Tana and Innes (ok maybe just Innes), would have been better more interesting protagonists).

For the poster boy of Castlevania, it should be Alucard over any of the Belmonts. He is just way more interesting and more personally involved with the conflicts with Dracula.

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15 minutes ago, Etheus said:

I would have said Roxas over Sora, but Riku is even better.

I mean, Roxas kinda already is the main protagonist. He has his own game, and is also literally almost the main protagonist in series lore. Although I daresay that Roxas wouldn't be as good as Sora. I feel Roxas would run into "Zero Syndrome" if he was the main character, in which he would eventually lose most of his personality and eventually become that one cool, dark, and slightly edgy character. I have also called Shadow Syndrome. On that note Zero would be a much better protagonist than X for 1-3 (by four he basically is a main character, although loses that status somewhat by X7/8.)

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1 hour ago, Fenreir said:

- Basch or Balthier from FF XII, due to having more complex backstories than Vaan, plus better personality overall;

This one I've always argued with.

Basch and Balthier ARE the main characters of FFXII(And Ashe). Vaan's the perspective character for some scenes, but once Balthier hits the scene, Vaan's relegated to background gags with Penelo. Balthier, Basch and Ashe drive the plot and do most of the talking, and they're the ones with genuine ties to the main antagonists(Not that Reks dying doesn't tie him to Gabranth, but Gabranth largely brushes everything Vaan says off. It's not treated the same as Basch and Gabranth).

Edited by Slumber
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18 minutes ago, DarthR0xas said:

I mean, Roxas kinda already is the main protagonist. He has his own game, and is also literally almost the main protagonist in series lore. Although I daresay that Roxas wouldn't be as good as Sora. I feel Roxas would run into "Zero Syndrome" if he was the main character, in which he would eventually lose most of his personality and eventually become that one cool, dark, and slightly edgy character. I have also called Shadow Syndrome. On that note Zero would be a much better protagonist than X for 1-3 (by four he basically is a main character, although loses that status somewhat by X7/8.)

"Zero syndrome?" The MMZ series was frankly the best part of the Megaman franchise, IMO. Not only was Zero a better protagonist, but he also had a more indepth story than anything the Megaman or Megaman X series can claim. 

 

Even MMZ3 as a standalone is a superbly done game with superb writing for its genre.

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1 minute ago, Etheus said:

"Zero syndrome?" The MMZ series was frankly the best part of the Megaman franchise, IMO. Not only was Zero a better protagonist, but he also had a more indepth story than anything the Megaman or Megaman X series can claim. 

 

Even MMZ3 as a standalone is a superbly done game with superb writing for its genre.

I meant within the Mega Man X series, not the Zero series. My bad, I should've specified that.

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For FE7- Ninian over Lyn. Once Lyn's arc is over, she loses a lot of relevance. Ninian has more relevance after that arc and she has a unique class (although she does share the same niche as Nils. But I do think Nils is more important than Lyn too). Ninian has ties to the main antagonist and drives the real plot of FE7 more than Lyn ever did. 

Granblue Fantasy- Katalina over Gran/Djeeta. I know she's a part of the main cast, but she's not the main character per se. A lot of the other characters have ties with Katalina and she could probably protect Lyria without Gran/Djeeta.

Disgaea 5- Tbh Christo. In general Disgaea games usually satirize anime and videogame tropes but Killia was... exactly that. I feel like he was set up for that, but it didn't come off as funny. Christo does not really follow a trope, but he does have a compelling character and gain a lot of character development compared to the other cast members. I wish things were in his perspective sometimes.

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Marth should have been the main character of FE12! :P:

Trolling aside, I think SMT 4 would've been VERY interesting from Isabeau's PoV.

Spoiler

She'd watch her friends drift apart, and maybe try to hold them together.  But alas, only Flynn listens to her.

 

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7 hours ago, Fenreir said:

Basch or Balthier from FF XII, due to having more complex backstories than Vaan, plus better personality overall;

6 hours ago, Slumber said:

This one I've always argued with.

Basch and Balthier ARE the main characters of FFXII(And Ashe). Vaan's the perspective character for some scenes, but once Balthier hits the scene, Vaan's relegated to background gags with Penelo. Balthier, Basch and Ashe drive the plot and do most of the talking, and they're the ones with genuine ties to the main antagonists(Not that Reks dying doesn't tie him to Gabranth, but Gabranth largely brushes everything Vaan says off. It's not treated the same as Basch and Gabranth).

There were some rumors about Basch originally being the main character, though I've also heard it said that Vaan himself was going to just be older and more rugged (or perhaps in appearance more like one of director Matsuno's previous heroes, Ashley Riot) before being changed to a dumb kid. I personally think Vaan's Ishmael role would have been more interesting if, out of a sense of patriotism against the empire and duty to his newly discovered monarch, he wanted to become more of a knight-type like Basch rather than a sky pirate for the freedumz. That said, him being the one you play as in town kinda makes sense if you figure the real main characters made him the team's errand boy, buying all the potions and crap.

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I've always wanted a Valkyria Chronicles game where the main character wasn't the squad leader but instead just a member of the squad. Something like Oscar and Emile being the main characters of VC 1, which would make it a game about Oscars character growth and his desire to protect Emile, while Emile tries to protect Oscar, or Jimmy Frank being the main character in VC 4, which would make it a story told through letters to his wife and soon to be born child about what he is going through in the war.

@Ertrick36

Edited by Tuvy
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Hinoka

The story of a family who lost a child that eventually comes back to destroy anything they hold dear would be so much more compelling then the story of an self-centered asshole who can someone brainwash everyone around him to tell him that being a self-centered asshole means that he somehow is the most compassionate person in the existence of existences.

Hinoka is the one of her siblings who is most stuck in the past, chasing after childish dreams of being able to one day rescue her brother rather then trying to live up to her responsibilities as a princess of Hoshido, to protect the country and the rest of her family. From her perspective, this conflict would probably be the most engaging, as she would have to face some harsh realities.

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