Do you favor the protagonist?

[Septimus Prime]

I guess this would be mainly pertaining to RPGs where you have multiple party members. Do you find yourself giving the main character all the best gear first or all the stat boost items or anything like that?

I find I do, but I've been better about spreading out the love, in case focusing on just one guy bites me in the ass.

My thinking is that the main character is more likely to always be your playable character and often has the most balanced stats distribution.

I remember when I played Chrono Trigger, Crono always got all the tabsand first dibs on the best armor. Or in Wild Arms, Rudy got all the apples and the Sheriff Star. And then both of those throw in parts where the protagonist isn't playable for a while, and things are harder than they could be.

The worst I got was the first time I played Earthbound. I killed off all the party members except Ness so that he could get 4x EXP. That let me reach level 99 well before Magicant, and then I missed out on the major stat boost from beating that because Ness couldn't level up anymore. Whoops.

Do you do this, too, or is it just me?

I guess this could manifest in other genres, too, like maybe you always pick Ryu in Street Fighter or always choose the character defaulted to player 1.

 

[Gots]

I definitely too. Currently going through Like a Dragon and Ichi is getting all my best gear. Can't help myself

 

[Bradford]

The protagonist is often the most powerful character even when not pumped with stat items, so I usually spread them among the weaker members of the party in order to better balance the party out.

Priority in terms of armor and weaponry also tends to go this way as well. I'll spend money on upgrading my weaker characters first, etc.

 

[Fat4all]

i usually give permanent stat buffs to the protag unless other members really need agility or defense or whichever way im taking them

 

[Tab]

Yes, especially in games where it's an instant game over if the protagonist dies.

 

[Etrian Darkness]

If it's a game where a game over happens because protagonist dies, or if there's a lot of party swapping outside the main character: then yes.

 

[Fat4all]

dang, i just remembered that i forgot to bring my switch with me to work, i wanted to grind a bit in breath of fire 2

 

[Ryuhza]

In an action RPG where I only get direct control of the protagonist, like Kingdom Hearts, then yeah, those AI's can bite me.

In something turn based where I determine the actions of each character, then I will distribute more evenly to my active party. But I may end up favoring a particular... well, favorite.

 

[TheMadTitan]

Depends on the setup of the game. In Breath of Fire 3, yes. In Final Fantasy 12, no.

 

[SirNinja]

If it's an RPG where it's Game Over if the protagonist is killed, you better believe they're getting every stat-boost item I pick up.

Otherwise it's a fairly even distribution.

 

[Septimus Prime]

Depends on the setup of the game. In Breath of Fire 3, yes. In Final Fantasy 12, no.

Click to shrink...

See, for me that doesn't even matter. Vaan still got everything first just because.

Nor does it matter who I actually like most of the time, either. Like, I like Kain more than Cecil, but Cecil still got all the apples and drops and got to wear the Dragon Armor set first.

 

[Deleted member 28523]

whoever does the best damage gets the best items.

 

[Smash Adams]

When I play an Rpg, I usually give the protagonist the best equipment and whoever in the party I like the most the second best.

 

[TheMadTitan]

See, for me that doesn't even matter. Vaan still got everything first just because.

Nor does it matter who I actually like most of the time, either. Like, I like Kain more than Cecil, but Cecil still got all the apples and drops and got to wear the Dragon Armor set first.

Click to shrink...

Vaan got rotated like a random pickup the moment Ashe came into the picture. Always does. As soon as she shows up, Vaan goes into secondary and tertiary rotation.

But that has less to do with my disdain for Vaan and more to do with the mechanics of the RPG. You're free to rotate everyone in 12; so everyone gets rotated and gear isn't doled out in any sort of favorability since I end up using everyone roughly the same amount.

 

[Solid SOAP]

Thinking about DQXI specifically, I tried to evenly disperse good items throughout my party. It'd be stupid to only focus on the main hero, after all.

 

[KillLaCam]

Whoever is the most powerful dps person on the team usually

 

[Rosebud]

I always try to make it balanced, but if I only have one of something it's for the MC.

 

[Kurtikeya]

Depends on playstyles. I generally favor thief/assassin/stealth characters. For DQXI, I favored Erik for his Divide and Jade for her crit rate.

 

[DecoReturns]

It depends on the games.

in Xenoblade 1&2, I only play as the protagonist unless the game forces me to change it. In their side story, I play as the first character they give me like Melia in Future Connected.

in Fire Emblem, I try to give them the experience usually as they are front lines so they end up with the most kills in stats.

in turn base games, I don't usually do that since some characters are kinda stronger or more important like say Golden Sun where I usually have Mia get better gear first since she's a healer. Or some Final Fantasies, VII is one where Cloud is top priority since he has the arguably the best limit break and ultimate weapon. But in Final Fantasy II or IV, the lead isn't that "op".

 

[ventuno]

I usually favor the protagonist if it's game over if the protag dies. Otherwise, I try to keep things even.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Thinking about DQXI specifically, I tried to evenly disperse good items throughout my party. It'd be stupid to only focus on the main hero, after all.

Click to shrink...

I find myself outright making parties without the Hero myself. It's just fun to mix & match without him in that game.

 

[Jane]

A lot of the time, giving the protagonist the best gear is just the most practical option. First of all, in games where you game over if the protagonist dies (e.g. Persona), obviously you have good incentive to favour the protagonist. But even if not, if you have to frequently swap your party members but your protagonist is always forced into the party, it's easiest to give them the best gear so you don't have to take it off and move it around all the time.

 

[Deleted member 19533]

Depends on the game and if I like the character. If they're mandatory in the party, then yeah, as they'll always be there. If I don't have to use them, I'll put it to whoever I like most.

 

[Pyro]

For the most part yes but it's not like the hand-me-downs on my other party members are terrible.

 

[Korigama]

I typically do try to give the protagonist the best things I can get for them in RPGs since they typically are fixed party members, yet also avoid neglecting other characters.

 

[Ariakon44]

I have a knack for giving my best items to the character who gets surprise killed midway through the game, so all my leveling is for nothing.

 

[Molten_]

I favor whatever character is the best in terms of stats, gameplay style, etc

it just so happens that it's almost always the protagonist.

 

[Alovon11]

Whilst I do play the Protagonist 99% of the time in RPGS (Xenoblade 1 is a exception due to it's Affinity System).
I do tend to try to make sure every character is given the best gear possible for their class/character.

 

[PBalfredo]

More or less, since the protagonist is pretty much guaranteed to be the most readily available party member, so you usually get the most utility by giving it to them.

 

[Shamanoski]

Used to throw everything at the protagonist but now no. I tend to balance the whole party

 

[Bulebule]

Not really. Sometimes protagonist is not the best choice when it comes to being best one who heals/buffs the party and debuffs enemies or is powerhouse on their own. Especially in Final Fantasy 6 almost all party members can take care of themselves or destroy enemies/bosses on their own.

 

[NioA]

Generally I do that if I already know I'm going to use the mc a lot (es, Adol in an Ys game), but other than that I'm used to give the best gear to the character I like the most, especially in rpgs where you have direct control over that particular character or if it's a turn based game

 

[MrCibb]

Yeah, for sure. Not necessarily the protagonist but my main guy or gal gets all the best items usually and the rest just get their hand-me-downs. When I upgrade their armour, someone else gets their old one. So good stuff trickles down eventually.

 

[Argentil]

It took me a long time to kick out the traveler in Genshin Impact from my main party, but he had all the best items while he was in there.

 

[MavFan619]

Yes in games, my main character is the one I give the most attention to in leveling, best gear. Even in shows and movies I watch I just always loved the chosen protagonist, even when it isn't cool and everyone complains about them having plot armor etc...

 

[Greywaren]

Since a lot of games force you to keep the protagonist in your party, I tend to give them all the good stuff first, yeah.

 

[Abylim]

In a lot of games, the protagonist is the only party member that's almost always with you. It's in my best interest to boost him up, especially if I get forced into a solo boss fight or something

 

[Timppis]

Nah. I tend to think to whom everything would fit narratively.
My protagonists tend to be there just for the ride. I end up liking other characters almost always more.

 

[ZeroX]

Yes if the Protagonist needs to survive or it's game over

otherwise the coolest character gets it all

 

[JudgmentJay]

No. For me priority is usually something like healer > biggest damage dealer > protagonist > everyone else. There are exceptions though. In Persona 5 it's game over if Joker goes down so I do tend to favor him for armor/accessories. Though I guess technically he is both a healer and the biggest damage dealer so...

 

[gebler]

I favor the protagonist unless there's a clear reason to do otherwise, but I often find such reasons. For instance, if a weak character is knocked out regularly, I might give them the best protective accessories even though they would have been suitable for the protagonist as well.

 

[Druffmaul]

I remember when I used to. Eventually it occurred to me that it would be smarter to give my lesser characters stuff to bring their stats more in line with the protag.

 

[djinn]

Cool new armour or weapon I found always goes to the protagonist. Any stat up items get distributed around.