Thursday, November 22, 2012

Random Month: Top Ten Favorite Video Game Characters

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This may not be Thanksgiving related, but there isn't a lot of Toku that relates to this day because well it's an American only holiday. I bet some American Toku shows have some, but I will save that for another time. Anyways it's still Random Month and it's continuing with video games. I have talked about my absolute favorite character in games before, but I don't want to ignore my other favorites. So this list is to give the spotlight to more characters I love so much. One rule and this is one per franchise.

10. Cole Phelps from L.A. Noire
It has been only a year and this game already has been forgotten. It was big when it came out and even though some people think of this as Rockstar's weakest game I disagree. I do like Grand Theft Auto and I still haven't play Red Dead Redemption, but I think this game needs to be remembered more. The presentation alone should be memorable with nice looks and detailed character models. The best part was the main character Cole Phelps. He was a simple man who came back from the war and is now working as a police officer. Through hard work he gets to become a detective and he still stays the same. He is a man who brings justice and he doesn't want to lose that belief he has. There is even good background story we learn about making him a much larger character. I don't want to spoil that information though. This game was near perfect in presentation as I still remember a lot of great parts of the story and this amazing character.

9. Kirby from the Kirby franchise
This may seem to be an odd choice, but I have my reasons. Kirby is some strange creature that has infinite gluttony. He can even gain abilities from eating his foes and there are so many forms of Kirby. He has been tons of things to UFO's to a ball. There is not a lot special about him, but it's the simplicity that I like a lot. We don't need to know about Kirby he is pink, cute, tough, and fights for the right things. Kirby never shows any signs of being evil he's just a good guy. So he's not big and complex, but Kirby is just awesome.

8. Shadow from the Sonic franchise
Shadow is easily the second biggest character from the Sonic universe. When he first arrived people were ecstatic to see another hedgehog fighting against Sonic. His first game was Sonic Adventure 2 and he was a complete mystery as we didn't know a lot about him. All we know he was created by Eggman's grandfather and that he was powerful since he could use the Chaos Emeralds in new ways Sonic couldn't. Later we start to learn more about Shadow in Sonic Heroes, but it was little information and was like a sudden twist (again no spoilers). Later we get to Shadow's own game and I like it, it's not the best, but it's far from the worse thing in the Sonic franchise. In this we finally learn about Shadow and I liked it a lot when I was younger. It blew my freaking mind. Now it's not as great, but it doesn't hurt the character. So after that Shadow became an ally and his actions are more like a anti-hero at times he still does things for good. Shadow a big complex character for the Sonic franchise and was a great addition to the history of Sonic.

7. Luigi from the Mario Franchise
Two things I have to say first. My favorite color is green and I was the younger sibling. So it's obvious I played as Luigi a lot when I was younger. It's funny though that I relate with him on how I am taller than my older brother. What makes Luigi great is that later on he becomes a comic relief character in future games like the Mario and Luigi RPG's. He has some of my favorite moments of humor in video games and he can still be as strong as his brother. He did have his own game as well and again I liked it. It was very different for me when I first got the Gamecube. I played it multiple times and got very high scores on it. The game had humor which fits Luigi well and it shows a lot of bravery he actually has. Luigi is another not so complex character, but like Kirby he has little things that make him great.

6. Ezio Auditore from the Assassin Creed franchise
Assassin's Creed is one of my favorite current gen games. Then there is the sequel. This is where the games started to get tons of recognition. Everything was much better than the first one and the main character is simply amazing. At first he is actually a hated character. He acted like a punk and was very immature, but when things got serious and when he learned about his heritage he has a complete 360 on his life. Ezio becomes an assassin and one of the best. I love characters like this, you hate them at first and quickly feel bad for them. Next they become a big dynamic character and continue to move forward. This character is so great that he got two spin off games and he stays the same character that we all love. Even when he gets older he is still very strong. Ezio a big dynamic character that really got my by surprise when I first saw him.

5. Ike from the Fire Emblem franchise
I have talked about Ezio and you can feel for him. Ike fits in the same category, but his dynamics are bigger for me. Ike was brought into being a leader too fast by his father, but he didn't lack the experience. Ike was a very skilled fighter and could do things by himself. He lead a small group and even though some of his teammates didn't see him to be strong enough he still worked hard for victory. After a huge plot point, Ike has to take the whole group and become it's leader. He doesn't hold on very well in the beginning, but he quickly learns to not to let things hold him down. His journey gives him more resolve to fight and gives him better leadership skills. Ike was just the son of the leader and he quickly became a leader who lead a simple mercenary group into becoming an army who's task is to take down an empire.

4. Junpei from the Persona franchise
I have talked tons about Persona 3 and 4 so going back to my love for the franchise Junpei is my absolute favorite character from the whole franchise. He's a comic relief character that stays true to himself, but we learn a lot about his inner personalities. For the most he can be a goof and isn't that bright. Like everyone else in the gang he is brave and will fight the Shadows. We mostly see him be a failure at flirting and he never gives up. Then he starts to find an actual person he can really love, Chidori a girl who wears a white gothic dress. That arc of the game really got me to like his character more since we got to see more of his inner personalities as he cared for her a lot. Even after hard times, Junpei doesn't regret anything and continues to bring his A-game. Junpei is a big goofball, but he isn't a bad character as his personality is very likeable and he even brings some great motivation.
 3. Lloyd Irving from the Tales franchise
I can't believe I haven't talked about Tales of Symphonia till now. That game is near perfection for JRPG's and I played it way toooooo much that the first disc doesn't even work anymore. This was first game into the series and I played this for hours straight with my brother. Lloyd is just a teenager who lives in a little village and mostly is a goof. He falls asleep in class and gets himself in trouble a lot. He has a big heart for the people around him, but that part of him makes things hard for his future. He gets involved with Collete a girl who is the next Chosen One. He helps her get through the first part and then he is kicked out from the whole operation as a man named Kratos thinks he isn't ready. Later he gets involved with a prisoner camp and this gets the village in big trouble. People were killed and the village was burnt down. He is kicked out and has nowhere to go, but meet up back with Collete. We learn a lot about him as his past can even be interesting since he doesn't know a lot of things about himself. He's another big dynamic character who goes through a lot, but he continues to fight for his friends and for what is right.

2. Travis Touchdown from the No More Heroes franchise

Well this is odd, Travis Touchdown. I have these big characters who put things behind them, do the right things, and deal with life changing events. This character at first was fighting in an assassin tournament just to sleep with a girl..... Just that alone makes people think he is a scumbag, but wait there is more. He has a big obsession with a certain anime series and even pornography. He kills for fun mostly and is a big pervert. We do learn about his true reasons for fighting though and even though he is perverted he kicks a whole ton of ass! Travis is one of those characters who is over the top and you can never hate him for that. Also in the sequel he learns a whole lot about himself and the true meaning of fighting. Also the sequel is about Travis getting revenge so we can already tell that he is a much better person than you think. Basically Travis is just an epic character, but throughout his many fights he learns a lot and some of those fights changed himself so much. Finally the Beam Katana one of the best weapons ever!

1. Zero from the Megaman X franchise
I already talked so much about Zero before. He got his own post and I looked at everything that made him awesome. First there was how much he was involved with the overall story. Zero has tons of background information and when you learn about it, it will blow your mind. I still think there should be a prequel game for Zero to see how he was when he was first built and there could be tons of great gameplay advantages for that. Even in the beginning of Megaman X we see how cool and powerful Zero is and that just made people want to play as him so much. X4 came around and it's the best one of the franchise IMO, we saw tons of things from Zero. I know X4 wasn't the first time we played as Zero, but this perfected it. Overall Zero is way too awesome and I will never put him into a lower spot he stays at number one forever! Thank you for reading this post and make sure to leave your comments below.

4 comments:

  1. Aside from the top 2, none of these are even a blip on Glamador's radar. They exist, he is aware of them, that is all.

    Can't argue with Zero's place tho. Not at aaallll.

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  2. I have a really different view on video games. I also watch tons of reviews and know many stories. Mostly these characters are from games I played. I do play recent games, but I like going back to the older games I got. Finally Zero is the best and he will be number one forever

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  3. D-Arts Zero Ver. 2 has a proud place on Glam's shelf along with the rest of his figures.

    (Crappy picture, better ones on DeviantArt)
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/70321499/20121120_192801.jpg

    Bottom shelf is not a low position. Zero is on display while a myriad others are still in boxes.


    This list is still odd though. Usually expect to see characters like Gordon Freeman, Dante, Samus, Simon Belmont, Master Chief, Geralt, or Sub-Zero in these kinds of things. Glamador personally knows that Scorpion and Midna are in his top 5. It would be hard not to give Midna the top spot forever (yes, even above Zero) for her sheer depth of character. When she almost died Glam was genuinely in a hurry to get her to safety. Twilight Princess had some powerful story moments indeed. It's not Glam's favorite Zelda title, but Midna is one in a million.

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  4. For me a character is just someone I can like. These characters just have so many fun things about them. Not all of them are complex and sometimes their development ends, but the character is still very enjoyable. Also Midna would be like number 11 on the list. Some of the big characters can be enjoyable, but the characters on these list give me more to enjoy. Some of these characters have tons of humor, but can still be a strong person and you can feel bad for them. So having blends of characteristics is something I enjoy a lot.

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