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What game franchises have forgettable casts of characters?
- Thread starter Rapscallion
- Start date
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This will be an interesting one for me. I've only recently got into the series, so all of the characters are fresh in my mind, but I generally agree that the series intentionally does a lot to make their cast memorable.
Now will I remember the name of every playable character in Sky the third? Probably not, but I'll remember the main cast across all three games.
I agree with all of those, and would add on every Tom Clancy game, but I disagree with Assassins Creed. I think that series has had some games with great casts of memorable characters. Odyssey, Origins and the Ezio games for sure anyway. I think Syndicate has a pretty cool cast as well. I think part of what makes the characters not "forgettable" is the fact that they are often real world figures like Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Dickens, Cleopatra, etc, which I think adds context to the fictional characters as well, which helps make them memorable as well.
Also, old Ubisoft created great casts like in Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia.
For me it might be Skyrim/Elder Scrolls. I've played soooo many hours of Skyrim over the years, and it's one of my favorite games ever, but I can name Lydia, and the Greybeards, and that's about it. There are bunch of "Jarl's", but I don't know any of their names.
Maybe I was just uninterested, but I found everyone in Horizon: Zero Dawn to be pretty unremarkable other than Aloy herself. The other three characters I remember are: antagonist hologram who provides exposition, traitor/wise man character with a wood stick and shirtless origami crown young man whose title was "King of the Sun".
And Nil, I found Nil to be likeable.
And Nil, I found Nil to be likeable.
Definitely a memorable cast of bosses, I loved how every one of them had their own musical theme.
I dunno, the music video a little while back shows even if the characters are shallow they're still memorable. Or at least the moments surrounding them are. Or maybe they just have good designs
Saints Row
"They're masterworks all you can't go wrong" guy
Da Vinci? Leonidas? Cleopatra? Sokrates? Yall didnt have history/philosophy in school or something?
Its why Watch Dogs ends up being more forgettable to me since ubi can't just rely on recognizable history figures and have to make their characters themselves and.... apart from remembering how boring Aiden Pearce and his hat are, i dont remember anyone else
12 had a great cast of characters (forgetting Vaan) and the bros in FF15 are also up there.
I agree and I love most ubisoft's games but the characters are always so forgettable.
That's sorta cheating though. You remember them because they are historical figures, not because the AC rendition of them was particularly memorable.
For example, I remember Napoleon was in AC Unity. That's literally all I can remember though - that he was in the game, lol.
I do think they have good designs. I can pretty clearly remember what most of them look like. I can barely remember their names, though.
Pokemon B/W and Pokemon S/M say hi. Well, those are the only ones where the characters, including your friends, were memorable. Yes, even Hau.
Thats more than i can say for other games though
Like, i wouldnt say gen 1 of pokemon had forgettable characters despite them barely being characters there because of the first season of the show. I remember Brock, Misty, Sabrina etcetera, not necessarily for what they do in game, but from other sources. I still remember them though, but what is the name of your friends in far cry 3? hell if i know
I guess I must be an outlier when it comes to Tales games, because not only can I remember every character from the games I've played, I even know all the ones from games I haven't played (excluding mobile).
I definitely never remember much about characters in stuff like GTA, Darksiders, and the one Dragon Age Game I played.
I definitely never remember much about characters in stuff like GTA, Darksiders, and the one Dragon Age Game I played.
Yeah no. Love them or hate them, a Final Fantasy cast is almost always gonna stick with you. It's not just Lightning in a bottle.
It's been said a few times already, but Assassin's Creed for me, particularly the modern day cast. The characters who aren't forgettable in modern day are loatheable (looking at you, Layla) and now that the new trilogy is done, I hope they do a reboot or something.
Oh my god, this.
I played this in 2012 or 2013 or so (when it was on PS+) for eleventy hours because the game was interminable, and yet, I can't name a single character. Not a single one. And I can't even vaguely describe any of them either. I don't remember this drunk and cookie-cutter rogues you're referencing lol... it's all a blank void.
They're not super awesome or anything but I do remember Mercedes, Julian, the Duke and the Duchess (as annoying and insipid as she was), the Dragonforged dude, Selene, Quina, Madeleine, Salomet, and, of course, the legendary Fournival!
Oh, and Grigori of course.
Obligatory "They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong"
Nah, it's just that every FF game after Tactics is trash 🙃
I remember Berseria really well but it helps that it's my favorite Tales game. I will say that it's harder to remember in less visually bombastic games. I love Divinity and remember plots but characters? Thats not happening.
As far as JRPGs go I can't remember most Atelier game side characters though there are like a million of them...
look here now just wait a sec
*checks if the FFs i care about came before tactics*
oh they did. carry on
CoD. There are a lot of major characters who are popular, but for every Price, Soap, and Woods you get a Frost and Burns and countless other generic characters playable in like 1 or 2 missions.
Destiny. I can more-or-less remember names, but ask me about anyone's backstory or motives and I won't for the life of me be able to tell you.
...then you do understand it, lol.
Since every Ubisoft game ever becomes too much of an easy target, I will put forth Twilight Princess:
Except from the titular character, I cant remember a single name from this game. Which suits my impression from this entry overall... forgettable.
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Yah, especially characters dying in early chapters. I look at characters and go 'who?' most of the time
(v3's cast notwithstanding, I can't forget anyone there)
fair—I meant more in terms of Balthier and Fran who are two of the best FF characters imo and just absolutely stellar.
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Yeah, I don't remember any of there names but I can at least recollect what their positions and relation to the plot were in the game. NPCs I tend to a give a little more pass, but when it comes to playable characters or direct antagonists I'm a little more concerned when I can't remember their names.
Another franchise I thought of was Ni No Kuni. I remember the main characters decently (Oliver and the cat king boy/ president) but I 100% can't tell you who any of the party characters were and what their motivations were in those games. Again, both games I enjoyed and played all the way through, just did not leave a lasting impression on me in terms of their cast.
Throw Eternal Sonata in there too. In that game's case I also just forget that it exists and that I played it.
?????
The Trails series has to me the most memorable cast of characters in JRPG's.
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You also interact with those characters across multiple games and (for many) multiple subseries. Characters popping up in other stories is kind of a draw of the series as a whole as far as I can tell.
The only characters I can perfectly remember from FFVI are Terra, Locke, Celes, Edgar & Sabin, Shadow and Relm, and that's mostly because they're the only ones with significant roles and/or development. The rest I usually think come from other FF games. For non-playable, I know Kefka and Ultros.
I have the same problem with FFIV: It's Cecil, Kain, Rydia, Edge, Rosa and Edward because he's the meme spoony bard. I can't even remember the name of the guy that actually says the line (Tello, I think?).
This is mostly the fault of the big cast. Say what you want about modern FF, at least they have the decency of keeping it to only half a dozen at best (not including the occasional guest)
Here's one that's simultaneously most and least memorable: Madden. If you're an NFL fan, you will know everyone. If not, you'll know pretty much no one.
To claim that a single Final Fantasy has forgettable characters is heresy to begin with. The series has never failed with this ever since FF2 had named characters, even for games I dislike.
I can argue about characters being functionally useless, but not forgettable.
I can argue about characters being functionally useless, but not forgettable.
did they have names on the original FF3? i know the DS version turned them into characters but dont remember much from the nes version
The only Tales game I completed was Tales of Graces and I remember the characters just fine. Hubert, Pascal, Richard, etc...
I'm struggling to remember anyone from Wolfenstein The New Order. Namely because I wanted to skip those cut scenes so badly and just get to the action. Couldn't stand the story in that game.
Also, Sticker Star on the 3DS. Were there any characters with a distinct personality? I just remember talking to mushrooms in that game.
I'm struggling to remember anyone from Wolfenstein The New Order. Namely because I wanted to skip those cut scenes so badly and just get to the action. Couldn't stand the story in that game.
Also, Sticker Star on the 3DS. Were there any characters with a distinct personality? I just remember talking to mushrooms in that game.
I'll go with Far Cry New Dawn.
I still remember the casts from 3, 4, and 5 as well, but I struggle to remember the cast from New Dawn.
I still remember the casts from 3, 4, and 5 as well, but I struggle to remember the cast from New Dawn.
They didn't. They were all just Onion Knights, but there were still named side characters like Cid and Desch.
Ehhhhh i dont like Fates but i think people forgetting the characters isnt a thing on it, if anything is people obsessing too much over them that is worse
This is the real answer right here, hoooo boy.
I wanted to like that game, but that story was oof.
I kinda forgot about most of the cast apart from lords and their families, villains and Awakening cameos soon after finishing it. If I wasn't a regular at Fire Emblem Heroes I probably wouldn't even be able to tell you what some of them look like.
Binding Blade sorta had the same problem. Maybe they'd be more memorable if I didn't play it after Blazing Sword, I dunno.
TR2013 is the one with the most "memorable" characters from the reboot trilogy surprisingly enough
at least i remember sam and the scottish guy who dies, and the nerd who dies. and the captain who dies.
the others had JOWNAH (already a stretch) and who? what is the name of that trinity obsessed guy again? or the trinity leader? hell if i know
Another outlier in a pretty great franchise was Ace Attorney Dual Destinies. Can't remember the name of basically any of the defendants and witnesses from that game, with the exception of the whale.
I really don't get how this reboot series's story is so very much worse than the _old_ games. The old games' stories were so basic, but were at least more memorable.
