Other: personality.
I like characters with a well developed personality without becoming all emo.

You sir are the most intelligent man ever. for the record, almost all the characters in tales of Symphonia fit one or more of those qualities; Collete is easily the bravest of them all, Raine, Kratos, and Genis are all hyper intelligent, Kratos, Zelos, and Regal are immensely powerful, all the characters have the best motive for them to face the final boss, Zelos is supposed to be extremely handsome, Kratos and Regal are two of the most accomplished people in the game world, and Kratos is basically just an all around bad ass. Well its decided, A character is awesome if they were in Tales of Symphonia, that clears that up.[/quote]
Yeah i Agree you dont hear much more on Awesome characters polls then Kratos so i guess ur right xD

Tales of symphonia had a very good cast of characters indeed.

geldonyetich:
I voted "other" on the grounds that it's more of an "any of the above" than "all of the above." An awesome character is mostly a matter of presentation.

you = right. Hence I simply did not vote at all. I've got to say, I'm in the middle of my chapter on character conceptulization for the game art design text I'm writing, bravery / looks / badassed-ness / motives don't factor into it at all.

Originality / uniqueness and suitability to the game's mechanics are the primary components in awesome game characters.

Bear in mind that is from the perspective of concept art, I suppose for writing abstracts like bravery and such might come into play. Story is a huge part of game design today.

Well, we'll see if my game art text get picks up by a publisher, maybe I'll write the "game writing" text next year.

Jovlo:
Other: personality.
I like characters with a well developed personality without becoming all emo.

I agree with this.

Motives are a requirement for lots of those as you aren't gonna need strength if you're just gonna steal from hobos.

One thing I would like to add, personality.

I'm sure other people have already said it but I'm too lazy to read through all of this right now >_>

black lincon:

EvilJester1214:
I'd like to think what makes a character awesome is the choices that he makes and the way he deals with those choices. Yes Kratos is awesome for being strong and crazy, along with a myriad of other reasons, but I liked how, much like a Greek tragedy, he kills his wife and daughter without knowing and spends his life making up for it.
The nameless character from Bioshock goes through something similar, while not as "awesome" as Kratos he still evokes the same kind of emotion for me.

I guess I'm a sucker for tragic hero figures :P

You sir are the most intelligent man ever. for the record, almost all the characters in tales of Symphonia fit one or more of those qualities; Collete is easily the bravest of them all, Raine, Kratos, and Genis are all hyper intelligent, Kratos, Zelos, and Regal are immensely powerful, all the characters have the best motive for them to face the final boss, Zelos is supposed to be extremely handsome, Kratos and Regal are two of the most accomplished people in the game world, and Kratos is basically just an all around bad ass. Well its decided, A character is awesome if they were in Tales of Symphonia, that clears that up.

wow Thanks :P

Another REALLY good example of a great character was the main character in Suikoden. His father is a general, if not THE general, in the empire's army. His son, you, then break away from the empire, lead a revolution against it, THEN FIGHT YOUR FATHER! You can only imagine his internal struggle with all of this: fighting the only home he has known, going against his father's subordinates, and the emperor himself. And what does he do at the end of it all when everyone expects him to lead this new nation? He leaves. It is the only way his story could be complete, it wouldn't be HIM if he had chosen to lead.

That's just how I see it though :P

Jovlo:
Other: personality.
I like characters with a well developed personality without becoming all emo.

I'm shocked this isn't on the list, I mean, that's what it all seems to boil down to.

I don't think Gordon Freeman is that great of a character, but as the player you can really feel as if you are the same person because the other characters are so realistic. I truly believe that Alyx Vance is the best character I've ever seen in a game. I think it's a combination of the writing, voice acting, animation and being a realistic female (rare in games, but that's been covered in other topics) that makes her so believable.

Badass-ness, just check out Nero and Dante, they are awesome! and then there's the Master Chief and the Overlord and then the Joker in The Dark Knight

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:
An awesome character is this:
Take Cole from Gears of War,combine that with Gordon Freeman,now Cross bread that spawn with Duke Nukem, throw in some Chuck Norris, and then feed it some PC from Fallout 3, and you get,basically the awesomest, character, ever.

Like I said - Kratos.

-Cough- Gordon FREEMAN -cough-

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:
An awesome character is this:
Take Cole from Gears of War,combine that with Gordon Freeman,now Cross bread that spawn with Duke Nukem, throw in some Chuck Norris, and then feed it some PC from Fallout 3, and you get,basically the awesomest, character, ever.

Like I said - Kratos.

-Cough- Gordon FREEMAN -cough-

A level of intelligence that allows him to trick his enemyies and the players by looking like he is giving up and proceeding to his death - that describes both Gordon Freeman's actions if Half Life 2's tower and Kratos in his battle with Zeus.

And really, aptitude for combat and a mind for solving puzzles is all that Gordon really is, and Kratos has those in spades.

Kratos doesn't have an awesome goatee.

Great Mustache/Beard = Great Character

But in all serious, as long as a character has a well-developed personality, he/she is great in my book.

all of the above, added to just how totally insane they are, whilst giving the illusion of sanity, and how big their weapon is (See: Sephiroth from FF7; Bitchin' sword, and absolutly mad)

Indigo_Dingo:

4thegreatergood:
Depth. People don't want a character to accompany you through a game if they never let you know about themselves.

Explain Gordon Freeman, who has quite literally zero personality.

His Beard

Well, of late I have been heavily into the Korean manga Priest, where the main character is a satanic undead cowboy priest who shoots up zombies with a sawn-off shotgun that fires silver bullets.

Naturally, I voted badassness. Also, that up there is pretty much a plot synopsis.

there can only be one awesome character, garret.

I chose motives. I love working out what drives characters to act the way they do.

Also, they have to be realistic in some way, which normally means they need a variety of flaws and strenghts. Typical heroes and villains are usually pretty boring and often make the story seem cliched. Morally ambiguous characters are the most interesting in my opinion.

I also love it when characters are used as a sort of metaphor for a theme the story is trying to get across. E.g. Case from Neuromancer is a stereotype of the cyberpunk generation: apathetic, self destructive, with a watered down sense of morality and ethics. Or the Beauty And The Beast Unit from MGS4 - they represent the idea that war destroys peoples minds as much as it does lives, and that the "bad guys" are usually also victims in one way or another.

Good facial hair doesn't do any harm, either.

sheic99:

Indigo_Dingo:

4thegreatergood:
Depth. People don't want a character to accompany you through a game if they never let you know about themselves.

Explain Gordon Freeman, who has quite literally zero personality.

His Beard

Being awesome doesn't always mean having a beard.

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:

Indigo_Dingo:

JimmyBassatti:
An awesome character is this:
Take Cole from Gears of War,combine that with Gordon Freeman,now Cross bread that spawn with Duke Nukem, throw in some Chuck Norris, and then feed it some PC from Fallout 3, and you get,basically the awesomest, character, ever.

Like I said - Kratos.

-Cough- Gordon FREEMAN -cough-

A level of intelligence that allows him to trick his enemyies and the players by looking like he is giving up and proceeding to his death - that describes both Gordon Freeman's actions if Half Life 2's tower and Kratos in his battle with Zeus.

And really, aptitude for combat and a mind for solving puzzles is all that Gordon really is, and Kratos has those in spades.

Kratos doesn't have an awesome goatee.

I'm gonna wait for you to figure out how stupid that is. Actually, know what, I'm not.

Gaze at the majesty of Kratos's goatee. See how its awesomeness sweeps aside that puny stubble of Gordon Freeman.

So...
Kratos doesn't have GRAVITY GUN!?!?!

In a game, assuming this is the main character, I'd say 'Motives', or 'All of the above'. I don't think you need a deep character in say, an action game. When you think about it, you don't really need one in an RPG either. The Motive for the player to complete the game is the most important thing I think.

If you are talking about NPCs, they need to have a reason to need your help. They should have interesting but short backstory. Best NPCs are able to do things the main character cannot, and help you along your way.

Mr. Fister:

sheic99:

Indigo_Dingo:

4thegreatergood:
Depth. People don't want a character to accompany you through a game if they never let you know about themselves.

Explain Gordon Freeman, who has quite literally zero personality.

His Beard

Being awesome doesn't always mean having a beard.

But that is what makes Gordan Freeman awesome. Link is awesome in his own way.

Badassness goes a long way in my books. But i prefer vulnerable badasses who when it comes down to it, are no different from us.

Scott Mitchell (GRAW)- Just human, but still badass. Orders an EMP bomb be dropped despite being in the blast zone.
Captain Price (COD4)- And we all know how that ended.
Jackie Estacardo (The Darkness)- Driven by the grief at his girlfriends death
Altair (Assassins Creed)- Arrogant, but sees the apparant error in his ways
Gordon Freeman (Half Life/ Half Life 2)- Had his tongue cut out when he was 4 years old by his Welsh stepmother "for a laugh".

Stop saying Gordon Freeman. He is not a character. He is an empty body for you to direct from afar. He is a soulless monstrosity with no features, no personality and no depth. Hell, you might as well say the main character in Oblivion is the most awesome character, as you can style him/her however you like.

And Screw Attack decided a while ago. It is LeChuck, from Monkey Island, who has the greatest beard in gaming. In fact, Ares was chosen over Kratos in the God of War series because he has a beard of fire.

It depends on what we mean by "awesome" to begin with, especially because "awesomeness" is arguably just as much a trait as "badassery" is. So, are we talking about what makes a good character, or what makes an awesome one?

having an awsome name... like Sir Schmoopy of AWSOMEINGTON

They have to be part of a well-developed story. Also, I like to be able to relate to them somehow. However, having a sword doesn't hurt either.

Two words.

Mutton. Chops.

You forgot the most important, Sunglasses! Everyone that's wearing sunglasses is |AWESOME!|