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Most generic (relatively mainstream, commercially available) video game protagonists

Spring-Loaded

Spring-Loaded

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,904
In honour of Cal Kestis, the protagonist of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor.

What are the most generic game protagonist? I curious what people consider the best/worst example, and whether those were opportunities for a less generic character to be the lead of those respective games.

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protagonist from game series Dead to Rights
 
Lbbaker

Lbbaker

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May 21, 2018
1,767
I absolutely adore the Mass Effect games but goddamn at least aesthetically default Shepard is so generic and boring to look at.
 
Avik-G

Avik-G

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Jul 27, 2021
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The dude from the Respawn Star Wars game. So bland I dont even remember his name.

Nathan Drake too. His face is the first thing that comes to mind if you say "white guy brown hair main character".
 
Sesha

Sesha

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Oct 25, 2017
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At least Cal has red hair. So many of these generic dudebros are white and either dark-haired or bald.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
The protagonist from Fracture is what you'd get if you somehow managed to average out video game protagonists.

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vestan

vestan

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Dec 28, 2017
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Controversial pick but Aloy from Horizon is up there. Generic, inoffensive, milquetoast queen. Void of any sort of flavor or personality. Not gonna hold it against her though as at least she's not another dude. Haven't played Forbidden West yet but hopefully that has me making a U-turn in how I feel about her.

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Transistor

Transistor

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Oct 25, 2017
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vestan said:
Controversial pick but Aloy from Horizon is up there. Generic, inoffensive, milquetoast queen. Void of any sort of flavor or personality. Haven't played Forbidden West yet but hopefully that has me making a U-turn in how I feel about her.

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I don't see how a strong, non-sexualized woman is a generic protagonist myself in a male dominated industry....
 
Psamtik

Psamtik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,877
Cal Kestis is a redhead, at least. Makes him stand out a little bit in the sea of brunette dudes.
 
Leafshield

Leafshield

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Nov 22, 2019
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Can you imagine being in charge of an infantry platoon in a game and that wall of generic dudes is your unit, all crouching behind a convenient waist-high crumbling wall in a clearing somewhere. It would be like attack of the clones.
 
vestan

vestan

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Dec 28, 2017
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Transistor said:
I don't see how a strong, non-sexualized woman is a generic protagonist myself in a male dominated industry....
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Not nearly as egregious as the other picks in this thread and still miles better than them, but I feel she really pales to say, Kassandra from AC:O for example.
 
Trycon

Trycon

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Apr 27, 2022
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Era "discussion" on this is equally as boring.
 
elenarie

elenarie

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Jun 10, 2018
9,824
Transistor said:
I don't see how a strong, non-sexualized woman is a generic protagonist myself in a male dominated industry....
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Yea, very much this. She's also a little bit chubby and with some freckles, not things you often see as features among the games' usual protagonists. No matter how much she may look as polished due to the AAA quality work that has been done on her, that character is no way near generic.

EDIT: Apparently chubby has a negative connotation in English and the words to use here is that she's more muscular than the usual slim female characters that are present in games.

Anything like whatever your 20s average white short hair (or bald) guy would be the answer here.
 
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Deleted member 3208

Oct 25, 2017
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vestan said:
Controversial pick but Aloy from Horizon is up there. Generic, inoffensive, milquetoast queen. Void of any sort of flavor or personality. Not gonna hold it against her though as at least she's not another dude. Haven't played Forbidden West yet but hopefully that has me making a U-turn in how I feel about her.

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Is this a joke post?
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
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Sesha said:
At least Cal has red hair. So many of these generic dudebros are white and either dark-haired or bald.
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Yeah, as a red haired dude (at least before it turned grey), it was a welcome change. It's weird to see all the "generic white guy" complaints given how much we get harassed growing up for being different. I guess if they're talking about the character's dialogue being generic, that's fair.
 
The Mango Sentinel

The Mango Sentinel

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Oct 25, 2017
4,818
Transistor said:
I don't see how a strong, non-sexualized woman is a generic protagonist myself in a male dominated industry....
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vestan said:
Not nearly as egregious as the other picks in this thread and still miles better than them, but I feel she really pales to say, Kassandra from AC:O for example.
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Yeah I don't think she's generic, at least as far as she looks, but she is one of the most boring fucking characters in gaming.

Nathan Drake is a pretty generic ass dude, but he's quite memorable.

Now the lead from Far Cry 3.....uhhh couldn't tell you shit about him. I think he fits this thread.
 
AvianAviator

AvianAviator

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Jun 23, 2021
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vestan said:
Controversial pick but Aloy from Horizon is up there. Generic, inoffensive, milquetoast queen. Void of any sort of flavor or personality. Not gonna hold it against her though as at least she's not another dude. Haven't played Forbidden West yet but hopefully that has me making a U-turn in how I feel about her.

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Hm, I can see an argument personality-wise. But appearance-wise, I don't think so. Thinking on AAA female protagonists, there aren't many who look like Aloy, in both physical appearance and the garb she wears.
 
super-famicom

super-famicom

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Oct 26, 2017
25,221
elenarie said:
Yea, very much this. She's also a little bit chubby and with some freckles, not things you often see as features among the games' usual protagonists. No matter how much she may look as polished due to the AAA quality work that has been done on her, that character is no way near generic.

Anything like whatever your 20s average white short hair (or bald) guy would be the answer here.
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Calling Aloy "chubby" seems weird. I know a lot of female game characters have been designed to be unrealistically slim (yet also strong enough to wield huge weapons or knock out demons in one punch), and while Aloy isn't like that, I don't think she is chubby at all.
 
elenarie

elenarie

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super-famicom said:
Calling Aloy "chubby" seems weird. I know a lot of female game characters have been designed to be unrealistically slim (yet also strong enough to wield huge weapons or knock out demons in one punch), and while Aloy isn't like that, I don't think she is chubby at all.
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Is chubby the wrong word? Not a native English speaker here. Basically someone that's not an ideal princess weight-wise but has put on a bit of weight.
(basically me after this pandemic for 2 years :D)
 
Katbobo

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Jax from Elex. Few gaming cardinal sins as egregious for me as giving me an RPG and making me play as the most boring-ass and unappealing character ever.
 
Ruisu

Ruisu

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Aug 1, 2019
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elenarie said:
Is chubby the wrong word? Not a native English speaker here. Basically someone that's not an ideal princess weight-wise but has put on a bit of weight.
(basically me after this pandemic for 2 years :D)
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Well Aloy is not that either. The shape of her face just isn't sharp, but she's as fit as you can be outside of having super defined muscles.
 
super-famicom

super-famicom

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Oct 26, 2017
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elenarie said:
Is chubby the wrong word? Not a native English speaker here. Basically someone that's not an ideal princess weight-wise but has put on a bit of weight.
(basically me after this pandemic for 2 years :D)
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Aloy is someone who grew up doing a ton of physical activity (running, climbing, combat). She definitely isn't slim, but I would classify her as active and fit/muscular. I doubt her body has a lot of fat on it. The word chubby implies greater body fat than muscle to me.
 
dancingphlower

dancingphlower

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Oct 27, 2017
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Nah let's not do the "at least Cal has red hair" thing - at the end of the day, he's still a white dude in a sea of white dudes, especially when he came at the cost of a PoC or female (or both) protagonist.
 
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