Who are you more likely to play a game starring - a pumped up badass with a killer suit of armour and an attitude that would sour milk or... a tormented 'male' protagonist full of enthusiasm and a carrying an improbably weapon?

Just wondering. Personally I find the whole Japanese stereotypical hero character in games completely insufferable. Marcus Fenix is a dickhole but at least I've got some strong emotions about him.

personally,
-A dog whose world is a canvas
-a psychic acrobat who goes to a psychic camp
-A gruff man with a beard, a cig and in a skin tight suit and a lot of character
-A bald headed motorcyle and battle cruiser driving marine in green
-A mutated female telepathic super soldier who is now evil and ruler of a giant alien swarm
-A humanoid mouthless alien with an awesom psychic blade and a wispy cloak that makes him invisible
(Cookie to the person who figure's em all out)

And of course there are some relatively normal protagonists in games and it is those games that I usually play(even if they have girly like long hair) and I try to steer away from games with either kinds of protagonists on the cover because it screams of unoriginal unless they were trying to be ironic

Depends - Which of the games plays better?

I don't care, if a game sounds interesting and plays well, I'll buy it, regardless of the protaganist.

Even if that means she's a vegetarian PETA Activist who's flat as a wooden plank and has a unibrow. If said woman were, say, killing ninja zombie monkeys with blenders, swords, and a head of lettuce, goddamn, that'd be my friggin game of the year.

-A dog whose world is a canvas: Amaterasu, Okami
-a psychic acrobat who goes to a psychic camp: Raz, Psychonauts
-A gruff man with a beard, a cig and in a skin tight suit and a lot of character: Solid Snake
-A bald headed motorcyle and battle cruiser driving marine in green: Got me.
-A mutated female telepathic super soldier who is now evil and ruler of a giant alien swarm: Sigourney Weaver's character from Alien?
-A humanoid mouthless alien with an awesom psychic blade and a wispy cloak that makes him invisible: Predator?

Knew no one would get the last three.
Heres a tip, blizzards other rts besides warcraft

M0rp43vs:
personally,
-A dog whose world is a canvas
-a psychic acrobat who goes to a psychic camp
-A gruff man with a beard, a cig and in a skin tight suit and a lot of character
-A bald headed motorcyle and battle cruiser driving marine in green
-A mutated female telepathic super soldier who is now evil and ruler of a giant alien swarm
-A humanoid mouthless alien with an awesom psychic blade and a wispy cloak that makes him invisible
(Cookie to the person who figure's em all out)

And of course there are some relatively normal protagonists in games and it is those games that I usually play(even if they have girly like long hair) and I try to steer away from games with either kinds of protagonists on the cover because it screams of unoriginal unless they were trying to be ironic

Ameratsu - Okami
Raz - Psychonauts
Solid Snake - MGS
???
Kerrigan - Starcraft
???

so...close.....

Anyways, i like the "normal" or "mostly normal" People like Max Payne, April from TLJ, Niko from GTA IV, Alyx Vance and the Silent Hill Protagonists.

Some (Not Super-)Solider would be okay too, but putting the player in the role of a usual military guy seems like an excuse to give him no character at all.

M0rp43vs:
personally,
-A dog whose world is a canvas
-a psychic acrobat who goes to a psychic camp
-A gruff man with a beard, a cig and in a skin tight suit and a lot of character
-A bald headed motorcyle and battle cruiser driving marine in green
-A mutated female telepathic super soldier who is now evil and ruler of a giant alien swarm
-A humanoid mouthless alien with an awesom psychic blade and a wispy cloak that makes him invisible
(Cookie to the person who figure's em all out)

And of course there are some relatively normal protagonists in games and it is those games that I usually play(even if they have girly like long hair) and I try to steer away from games with either kinds of protagonists on the cover because it screams of unoriginal unless they were trying to be ironic

the first one is from Okami, Amairatsu or some thing like that
the second one is Raz
the rest illude me... but is the last one Alien Homaind?

as for me... I don't usually put much thought into what character I'd rather play as, more like which one I'd rather not play as... which would be the girly man

Oh shit, who are they... Raynor, the assassin/ghost lady Kerrigan or something?, one of the protoss(ers).

im a girlish boy with big sword :D

so. you just like big men who talk down on you, it's ok :P
marcus fenix wouldn't be any good in a game like devil may cry. He has trouble leaping over a slab of stone let alone perform super agile moves to evade enemy attack.

and aren't western heroes even worse...
Japanese heroes have at least a sense of style.
Marcus wears a suit of armor that make it only self explanitroy why these dudes are so hulking. It looks heavier than medievil plate armor.
Or take our comic heroes wearing mostly capes and spendex. Or like superman their underpants over their tights.
Even Solid Snake isn't as "manly" as markus and he is a good hero, right?
And on the other hand the prince of persia doesn't excreet testosterone from every pore he has.
So my conclusion you'd rather play a crap game with some cranky armored grunt than a great game wich happens to have "girly?" main character.
The thing is, it's concidered beauty to look that way in Japan. And also part of the popular Bishonen(meaning: beautiful boy) manga style.
in both cases it's a cultural thing and I have no problem with them at all. As long if the game is worth playing.
And I like both Devil may cry 4 and gears of war and the likes

Another idiot thinking he's smart by complaining about JRPG's steriotypical pratagonist, the next one who does it should get an instant-ban.

khululy:

and aren't western heroes even worse...
Japanese heroes have at least a sense of style.
Marcus wears a suit of armor that make it only self explanitroy why these dudes are so hulking. It looks heavier than medievil plate armor.
Or take our comic heroes wearing mostly capes and spendex. Or like superman their underpants over their tights.
Even Solid Snake isn't as "manly" as markus and he is a good hero, right?
And on the other hand the prince of persia doesn't excreet testosterone from every pore he has.
So my conclusion you'd rather play a crap game with some cranky armored grunt than a great game wich happens to have "girly?" main character.
The thing is, it's concidered beauty to look that way in Japan. And also part of the popular Bishonen(meaning: beautiful boy) manga style.
in both cases it's a cultural thing and I have no problem with them at all. As long if the game is worth playing.
And I like both Devil may cry 4 and gears of war and the likes

I don't particularly like Gears of War but Fenix is the most high profile example of the type at the moment. I know the Japanese thing is a cultural thing but I find it a nauseating concept that what is supposed to be a great deadly warrior has the physical appearance of a 12 year old girl.

Snake's not really a good example of a Japanese character seeing as he's Snake Plisken from Escape from New York but with added exposition.

My favourite in game character has to have been JC Denton from Deus Ex. I think the problem is I love action games, especially FP action games - so the 'character' of the suit is you. His appearance is the unique point. Very often have I thought "wouldn't it be cool to have power armour and be able to flip cars with one hand" very rarely have I thought "I don't think my hair is spiky enough."

Most stylish hero? Gordon Freeman - making the goatee and ginger beard cool for a decade.

M0rp43vs:
Knew no one would get the last three.
Heres a tip, blizzards other rts besides warcraft

tsk, amateurs.

James Raynor
Sera Kerrigan (infested)
Zeratul

I prefer the buff dude in power armor, I don't see why every Japanese hero needs a sword nearly as big (if not bigger) than themselves.

Crash bandicoot, whatever that comes under.

inu-kun:
Another idiot thinking he's smart by complaining about JRPG's steriotypical pratagonist, the next one who does it should get an instant-ban.

It's not a complaint its a question. Why do people seem to again and again enjoy playing these copy & paste heroes? Also its a legitimate question - same as the master chief, marcus fenix, crysis guy 'marine in a suit' character.

I was questioning both, not just one. Anyone who thinks someone is holding Marcus Fenix up as a bastion of character design must be a few zergs short of a rush.

The personality and physical appearance of the main character is usually not big on my list of "Why to buy a game"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Final Fantasy 7 the first JRPG with an effeminate main character wielding a gigantic sword
(or at least the first one in the public eye)

I prefer a hero who has a real personality and emotions, for example Alyx Vance and Zoe Castillo.

I wanna know just how many Japanese heroes with gigantic swords YOU guys have seen, because as many JRPG's as I've played, I can count that many characters on one hand, and that's even if Cloud Strife counts twice.

But that's not the real point, I guess, but rather it's that they're girly-looking men. To that I say, grow up. It's not like the musclemen in Western games are any more tasteful. More importantly, there's a lot more to a character than what he looks like. In this day and age, developers put a lot more into their characters than just appearances, so stopping at the surface to go "jeez, how many steroids does that guy inject everyday" or "ew, that guy looks like a pussy" is superficial and just immature.

I'm not really bothered either way as long as the games good.
My favourite protagonists are as follows:
Vaan from FF12
Sgt. Cortez from TimeSplitters
Tombi from Tombi
Spyro the Dragon
Max Payne
Link
Wanda from Shadow of The Colossus
Ratchet and Clank from... yeah
Sora and Riku from KH
Jin Kazama from Tekken
Abe from Oddworld
and of course the Prince from Prince of Persia Trilogy (and actually I liked him consistently)

This wasn't supposed to be just an attack on generic Japanese heroes. It was an attack on both! The coolest bloody protagonist of the gaming world is a physicist with ginger hair and glasses - why can't we have poor interesting heroes on both sides?

Nero is a good recent example. And the washer-woman looking guy from the last Dragon Quest grind-a-thon. And all the Final Fantasy games I've seen since 7. And Infinite Undiscovery.

I still think Earthworm jim is the best character in a super armor :P

The problem I have with most JRPG characters (although I'm by no means experienced) is that they are so unrealistic, even from the POV of other computergames, that I cant identify with them nor can I suspend my disbelief.

I dont see how a 5'6" tall, 130 lb 15 yr old with a 50/60 lb longsword is even feasible as a hero, let alone one that will save the world and beat up giant monsters and the like.

Whereas if you take a space marine for example (I'm a big 40k geek) then you have someone that was abducted from their homes at the age of 12, messed around with genetically until they have 2 hearts, 3 lungs, a skeleton made of a combination of ceramics and metal, super dense muscle fibres, a super-hyperactive metabolism and a bony carapace under his skin.

He has no (functional) reproductive system, has been psychologically screwed with until he has an OCD about war and fighting and he has to constantly shield his mind against temptations because if he loses it then he will go mad on a big scale.

Add in the fact he uses a 0.75 cal assault rifle, can spit acid and has been given a hyperadvanced suit of armour that gives him the edge he needs to be able to puch through the side of a battletank.

This is a hero I can get behind. He has a tragic past and a gloomy future, he will die in battle at some point. He has flaws and problems and lives a desperately sparse and unforgiving life. Add into the fact that he can lift a truck over his head, sustain unbelievable amount of damage and survive and suddenly my ridiculously high health bar now makes sense.

If I'm honest then something like that isnt so interesting to play, the best characters are the everyman characters like gordon freeman, max payne and the like. But I'd much rather have some uberpowerful but semibelievable hero than some mincing nancy boy with an overlarge sword, a tonne of hairgel on his head and some father issues.

Especially when I know that if it came down to it I could kick his arse from here to next friday, thats not a hero, thats one of the whiny twats I never talked to in high school.

While I am tired of the "tormented girly boy" I'm EQUALLY tired of the "badass space marine"

I'd rather play...
- Spoiled royalty forced to deal with the consequences of his selfish actions.
- A suave airship captain who fancies himself the leading man.
- The princess of a conquored kingdom desperately trying to free her people.
- A mousy robotics scientist caught up in events far beyond her control.
- A sarcastic martial artist who can transform into demons.
- A gay pro wrestler superhero vampire
- An outcast kid with horns
- A quippy everyman adventurer

BigKingBob:
The problem I have with most JRPG characters (although I'm by no means experienced) is that they are so unrealistic, even from the POV of other computergames, that I cant identify with them nor can I suspend my disbelief.

I dont see how a 5'6" tall, 130 lb 15 yr old with a 50/60 lb longsword is even feasible as a hero, let alone one that will save the world and beat up giant monsters and the like.

Whereas if you take a space marine for example (I'm a big 40k geek) then you have someone that was abducted from their homes at the age of 12, messed around with genetically until they have 2 hearts, 3 lungs, a skeleton made of a combination of ceramics and metal, super dense muscle fibres, a super-hyperactive metabolism and a bony carapace under his skin.

He has no (functional) reproductive system, has been psychologically screwed with until he has an OCD about war and fighting and he has to constantly shield his mind against temptations because if he loses it then he will go mad on a big scale.

Add in the fact he uses a 0.75 cal assault rifle, can spit acid and has been given a hyperadvanced suit of armour that gives him the edge he needs to be able to puch through the side of a battletank.

This is a hero I can get behind. He has a tragic past and a gloomy future, he will die in battle at some point. He has flaws and problems and lives a desperately sparse and unforgiving life. Add into the fact that he can lift a truck over his head, sustain unbelievable amount of damage and survive and suddenly my ridiculously high health bar now makes sense.

If I'm honest then something like that isnt so interesting to play, the best characters are the everyman characters like gordon freeman, max payne and the like. But I'd much rather have some uberpowerful but semibelievable hero than some mincing nancy boy with an overlarge sword, a tonne of hairgel on his head and some father issues.

Especially when I know that if it came down to it I could kick his arse from here to next friday, thats not a hero, thats one of the whiny twats I never talked to in high school.

Just because he is a badass doesn't make him a hero, Space Marines remind of me of Japanese soldiers during WW2, thinking their emperor is god, and his will is supreme. They are just mindless killing machines, like any other W40K races, maybe except for the Tyranids, they just want to eat.

On Topic: I don't care, as long as the gameplay is fun, story is immersive, and characters doesn't come off as whiny little dudes or bunch of patriotics zealots, then this will a damn good game to play. And yes, I prefer fantasy/sci-fi games over realistic ones, I fail to see the fun in realism really.

Armored girly space marine with a huge sword!

I prefer whatever fits the story/game. If you're in space fighting aliens, why not be a space marine? Also, if you're in a super-stylized fantasy world you should definitely have the biggest sword possible.

They have those!
http://uk.games-workshop.com/witchhunters/getting-started/images/sister-big.jpg

I'll have to go with the power armored marine, mostly because that suggests the game is going to be a shooter (not a bad assumption) which happens to be my favorite genre, the girlish boy with the huge sword...more likly to be a JRPG (not my favorite genre).

That and the fact that if you were given the choice of who you would want to send on a journy to save mankind from destruction...I would go with the guy who gets paid to kill anything 20 times bigger than himself rather than the fairy obsessed farmboy who has dreams of being a knight/warrior/insurance salesman and has determination.

An armored space marine.

Indigo_Dingo:
I have some emotions about him too - most of them disgust. At least the Japanese guys aren't arrogant.

I really aspire to be as big a SONY fanboy as you. (not sarcastic even though it seems it

halo is crap, just so you know! on and i accidently clicked report on your thread, so sorry about that...

How about a mix? A power armoured girlish boy with a normal sword? :P

I have nothing against either. Its fun to send legions of Marines into battle, or use one to slaughter hords of enemy aliens, but its also a laugh to mow down enemies with a sword that defies physics.

Each game style has its merits.

Then again, I prefer playing the badguys, so if I had a little more selection I'd choose some evil psychopath with undead legions and the power to rip citys in half >:P

My personal favorite is your character in the fable franchise. Yeah, swords that are at least possible as aposed to swords the size of a toyota. having guns where the weilder isn't a zealot or a doomed orphan taken into the military who will die in a big explosion/implosion. Also you make your character who they are, not a stereotype.(at least I hope that's true for fable 2)

But what I'm trying to get at is a character where the player makes them who they are in order to match the stlye of the player.As in evil baby eater, militant, stereotype, or the pope.

I like playing characters and playing with other characters who feel realistic.

I don't really like playing as overly muscular manly men or annoying girly men. Then again, there aren't many characters who feel real at all in video games. I think I can count most of them on one hand.

Oh well.

I don't care as long as the game is fun, so it doesn't matter if who I'm playing is a chap with spiky hair and a sword the same size as he is, or a dude who looks like he's been dragged through a hedge wielding a gun the same size as he is.