Board 8 > KP'S Top 40 Characters - Featuring Dante From The Devil May Cry Series

(+) Yeah! (+)

New page!
---

33 better not be vergil
---

There is at least a 1% chance that it will
---

33. Laphicet (Tales of Berseria)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/talesofseries-the-tales-of/images/e/e1/Laphicet_%28Portrait%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20170627102003

"STOP WHINING!"

That line isn't indicative of Laphicet's personality whatsoever, but it's the most memorable line in the game so I can't not use it.

Laphicet might have the best story arc in Tales of Berseria. In another game he would be the clear #1, but Tales of Berseria has some stiff competition. He gets inducted into the main party via forced kidnapping, which is...different. Laphicet doesn't appear to be an important character whatsoever. The fact that he was chosen as a hostage is completely random - it could have happened to a number of other people in the vicinity. Well, I say 'people' loosely. Laphicet is a Malak, a kind of spirit that has been enslaved for the purposes of others. So he goes from enslavement that subjugates his personality into being an emotionless doll, to being kidnapped as a hostage and taken along by the people that were trying to kill him 2 seconds ago. Fun times!

The fact that meeting him is such a chance encounter is part of what makes Laphicet special. When you first meet him, Laphicet is starting at 0. His name in the party is literally "Number 2" because that's what he was called. Over the course of Berseria you get to see Laphicet gain an incredible amount of character development and become a fully formed, sentient being. The rest of the party devotes a lot of time to helping Laphicet form his personality, leading to a lot of nice scenes of them teaching him the ways of the world (in their own special way). He gives back, too, eventually rejecting his new role as Velvet's replacement for Laphi and helping Velvet overcome her grief as a result. He becomes intelligent, resourceful, empathetic, and even a badass at times. Not bad for someone who was initially given a serial number instead of a name.

If I have one complaint about Laphicet, it's that the ending he gets is...kind of weird. Not really a knock against his character but I'm not sure why they did that. His voice actor is also questionable sometimes, but they nail all the important lines so I can forgive it.
---

Laphicet is probably the best kid character in an RPG. Anastasia from SH2 is the only other one I can think of off the top of my head that can make a case.
---

Yeah, Laphicet is basically the only 'kid' party member who I thought actually made the game better. Anastasia was okay but she wasn't a highlight of the game or anything (her camera was, though).
---

32. Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

"Can you hear me? Tell me you can hear me. Anything. Please help me."

https://tcrf.net/images/thumb/1/12/DDLC-Monika-early.png/320px-DDLC-Monika-early.png

You know what, I think I'm gonna skip the writeup for this one. DDLC is still very new, and it's a game that would lose a ton of effectiveness if it was spoiled, AND I can't even begin to talk about Monika without wading chest-deep into spoiler territory. Suffice to say that Monika is a very unique, very interesting character that leaves a far bigger impression on you than you would initially expect.
---

31. Otacon (Metal Gear Solid series)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/deathbattle/images/4/4b/Otacon.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150605074137

"Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield?"

Otacon sticks out like a sore thumb in the Metal Gear Solid universe. In a world of supersoldiers, sentient AIs, vampires running on water, a guy always covered in bees (I could go on), Otacon is a nerdy scientist who talks about his 'Japanese animes' and came up with his codename from 'Otaku Convention'. The first thing you see him do is piss himself which is probably the worst first impression anyone can ever make on anyone. He's not a fighter and his relationship with his family is...problematic, to say the least.

Otacon is also the best friend a guy could ever have. Despite how outwardly cowardly he is, he possesses an inner strength that few others do. Snake dives headfirst into conflict after conflict and Otacon has always got his back. His total lack of combat capabilities never stops him from putting his neck on the line. Otacon gets subjected to tragedy after tragedy, losing virtually everyone he's ever cared about, but he still keeps going. Snake never would have made it as far as he did without Otacon being with him every step of the way. He may not be a supersoldier, but he's definitely a hero.
---

.
---

Otacon is pretty solid. He's really good in MGS4.
---

Yeah. MGS4 has a lot of writing issues but I think Otacon comes helps salvage some of it. Plus it was really nice to see the guy again after so many years.
---

otacon is cool, but he's no Solid Snake
---

well no one is Solid Snake

except Big Boss, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake, I guess
---

Don't forget Venom Snake
---

nah he's not Solid Snake
---

He's Big Boss, who is Solid Snake, so he is Solid Snake according to the transitive property

It's a shame we'll never get to see what other Snakes that Kojima would have put in the series had it continued. I think we could have reached the double digits.
---

this isn't the Solid Snake X-Stats man

straight clones only

clones of clones need not apply
---

Isn't the guy from Metal Gear Acid also a separate clone? Is he a clone of BB or Solid Snake?
---

yeah probably but those games aren't canon anyway
---

yeah im gonna have to go with a """Solid""" (heh) no for VENOM SNAKE counting here
---

30. Futaba Sakura (Persona 5)

https://personacentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Futaba-Sakura-720x340.jpg

"I won't let those distorted lies deceive me anymore... And I won't be led astray by other's voices either... I'm going to trust my own eyes and my own heart to distinguish the truth from the lies!"

Futaba's not the kind of character I would usually take to. She's pretty bratty a lot of the time and can take good-natured ribbing a little too far. She's nerdy to the point of causing second-hand embarassment in others who see her talk in public. I'm pretty sure that if I met someone like Futaba in real life I'd be pretty annoyed with them.

That's kind of what makes her character as good as it is. Futaba is a painfully realistic depiction of someone with severe social anxiety. Unlike a lot of other forms of media, it's not treated so much as a quirky personality trait as it is a serious problem that needs to be solved. People around Futaba are worried about her behavior, and they strive to help her overcome her anxiety. You spend a lot of time getting to know Futaba in Persona 5 due to how the 4th arc is set up, and even after it's over there's still a week of in-game time dedicated to helping Futaba take baby steps towards being socially functional. I think that's why the 4th arc is my favorite in the game. It's the only time where you really see the inner workings of a party member.

This whole setup ends up working because, in the end, Futaba is a person worth helping. Below her mountain of issues, she's intelligent, loyal, and surprisingly kind, so it actually feels really nice watching her improve. There's another factor - when considering Futaba, I can't seperate the mental state I had when I was playing Persona 5. Like I mentioned in the first post, your feelings about a character often serves as a snapshot of a certain part of your life. When I was playing the 4th arc of Persona 5, some real-life shit had recently happened to me that was (while not exact) similar to stuff that happened to Futaba. Helping her get through that helped me too, and you can't ignore that sort of thing.

Plus she's got some absolutely savage lines. Literally called poor Mishima a side character to his face.
---

futaba had the best arc in p5.

just not a fan of the archetype i guess.
---

29. Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/aselia/images/7/7e/Yuri_Cut-in_%28TotW-RM3%29.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20141012043352

"I recognize it for what is is, and I've made my choices."

"...And even knowing that, you intend to dirty your hands."

"Intend to? I already have."

Yuri's design is dumb. I don't know why he has to look exactly like a girl while simultaneously having an open-chest shirt. This will not be the first instance of me complaining about Tales designs for characters I still really like.

Yuri is effortlessly likable. He lacks basically every personality trait that makes a lot of other RPG characters insufferable. Cool, confident, and competent, Yuri props up a lot of Vesperia's shortcomings simply by being a character that's fun to travel around with. A big reason for that is Troy Baker's performance as him. It's still one of the best he's ever done.

What really gets Yuri on this list, though, is certain actions he takes throughout the course of the story. Yuri can't bear to watch people in high standing get away with heinous crimes due to their clout. This stems from growing up in the Lower Quarters, where the downtrodden got stepped on with regularity. Fed up with the system, Yuri takes matters into his own hands, resulting in what are easily the most memorable scenes in the game. I remember each one very clearly.

Unfortunately, Vesperia's poor storytelling prevent Yuri from becoming one of the all-time greats. His involvement in the story and the results of his actions seem to be building to some dramatic breaking point, and then it just...doesn't. The big magical plot device thing starts happening and the plot forgets about everything else. It's truly a shame that the last 1/3 of the game didn't execute the potential of Yuri's storyline to its fullest. Or...execute it at all. It's actually kind of jarring how quickly everything gets brushed aside.
---

greengravy294 posted...

futaba had the best arc in p5.

just not a fan of the archetype i guess.

Yeah, I'm usually not a fan of the archetype either. Was just a unique case for me.
---

28. Auron (Final Fantasy X)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/b/be/Auron_Menu.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081129145420

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!"

Speaking of effortlessly likable - is there anyone who doesn't at least kind of like Auron? He was the coolest god damn thing in the world when I was younger and he still holds up pretty well even now. Auron is the archetypal stoic RPG badass with a secret past and hidden depths. There's nothing particularly unique about Auron's character but it doesn't matter because its all executed so well. He steals every scene he's in without even trying. His character arc is simple but very satisfying. The highlight has to be the quote I chose for him - it's easily the best moment in a game with a lot of great moments. There's a reason that GameFAQs has essentially adopted him as the Character Battle stand-in for FFX despite there being several other actual main characters from the game that get in every year.

Not much else to say about Auron. I'm no longer the kid whose mind was blown when he cameo'd in Kingdom Hearts 2, but I'll always appreciate him.
---

By the way, in the process of looking up some youtube videos to refresh my memory on Auron's line, I came across the FFX Remaster version of the 'Challenge' battle theme. What in the world is this.
---

Futaba is decent
Yuri is decent
Auron blech
---

Auron is great. Futaba is pretty good. I'll never play Vesperia because they refuse to put it on something non-Xbox.
---

Futaba was my favorite P5 character so yeah

A+ character glad to see her on the list
---

27. Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Ramza1.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/320/height/320?cb=20111202154441

"I had lived my life the only way I had known. But when the pillars of that life came crashing down, I did not stand to watch them fall.
I turned, and walked away."

Ramza is the Final Fantasy equivalent of someone who is too good for this world. He reminds me a lot of Eleanor Hume. Just trying to do the right thing despite society betraying his expectations again and again. Unfortunately for Ramza, the world of Final Fantasy Tactics is not one that rewards altruism.

While Delita is the commoner-turned-king who became a public hero through a series of betrayals, Ramza is the noble-turned-heretic who became a public menace by being betrayed many times. Lots of people are more than happy to use Ramza as a scapegoat - and unfortunately, it's all too easy. While he's part of the nobility, he's also a bastard, and in that sort of society people are always waiting for the bastard to try and pull some shady shit. Everyone from the church, to his family, to his friends, and even people he's helped before barely hesitate before throwing Ramza under the bus. While he does slowly gather a group of fiercely loyal allies aware of his true nature, they're still small in number considering Ramza's enemies are...everyone else.

What makes Ramza so endearing, though, is how above all of this he is. Ramza isn't cold or unfeeling but he also never, ever hesitates to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be. His inner strength is the stuff of legends. The most 'Ramza' thing he does all game is during the extremely memorable church conversation between him and Delita, his former best friend. Immediately after Delita states that he wouldn't hesitate to kill Ramza, Ramza asks for them to work together in a genuine offer that is totally free of subterfuge or malice. Delita may have discarded their friendship, but Ramza hasn't and never will.

Unlike everyone else in the game, Ramza doesn't care about birth or background. That's why, when the political infighting and Zodiac summoning weirdness starts to results in a lot of...collateral damage (a.k.a. people without power getting stepped on), Ramza is the one going out of his way to help. Ramza's name is so ruined by this that a guy who tried to redeem his reputation decades after Ramza's death was burned at the stake as a heretic. Despite all that, I don't doubt for a second that Ramza would have changed anything he did. There's a reason that Final Fantasy Tactics ends with Delita, newly-christened king and hero of Ivalice, thinking enviously about the choices Ramza made versus the ones he did.
---

The Mana Sword posted...

Auron blech

Hey no making what I said in my writeup invalid

LeonhartFour posted...

I'll never play Vesperia because they refuse to put it on something non-Xbox.

Honestly I think it's overrated in a lot of ways, although it's still a good game. A lot of the issues with Tales games are still there (or even worse), although the strong cast helps you ignore that when playing.
---

26. Tidus (Final Fantasy X)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/e/e7/FFX_Artwork_Tidus.png/revision/latest?cb=20140809034111

"Listen to my story. This...may be our last chance."

Tidus needs to learn the difference between pants and shorts, and that combining them is not an ideal solution.

He's also the exact person that Spira needed to jolt them out of their endless spiral of death. Tidus is an interesting protagonist for an RPG, or any game, really. A lot of main characters go through the process of exploring through and learning more about the world they already inhabit. They gain maturity, and through it, the power to change what they can and accept what they can't. Even characters with amnesia who are theoretically completely blank slates tend to follow this path. It's a good story structure, after all.

Tidus isn't like that. Spira is not Tidus' world. I mean, it technically is, but he might as well be on another planet for how alien it is to him. When Tidus washes up on the shores of Besaid, he sees people playing Blitzball and goes "hey I know this!". Every reaction after that is "what the fuck?" Tidus does not particularly like Spira. He finds a lot of its practices harmful or outdated. He finds the summoner's quest as a whole to be seriously questionable. He finds people's arbirtrary hatred of the Al Bhed to be despicable. And Tidus, bless his soul, isn't very good at keeping quiet. He has to continuously feign amnesia from the 'Sin toxin' to explain how surprised and/or apalled he is by Spira's practices. After a while he stops bothering with the excuse.

The way Tidus acts is kind of immature. People tell him as much. Tidus is kind of immature - he's a sports star jock with big daddy issues who obviously craves attention. But that's also Tidus' biggest strength. He doesn't back down even when others tell him to stop. At the beginning of the game, Tidus looks almost like a fool as people try to explain to him how Spira works. By the mid-to-end game, they're the ones appearing embarrassed with themselves as they keep giving him excuses that he refuses to buy. One example that I love is the side plot of Tidus helping the Besaid Aurochs finally win some Blitzball games. Within a week he's changed their motto from "do our best" to "win", and it encapsulates Tidus's role in the story. He's a catalyst for change that jolts Spira out of its endless cycle of Sin and brings forth a better future through determination and no small amount of self-sacrifice.

Outside of that, Tidus is also just a well-written character. His issues with Jecht are very realistically written and is one of the most memorable relationships in the series despite the player personally encountering Jecht very few times. Over time his outward immaturity is tempered into a more measured determination that lets him face the final events of the game with no regrets. There's also some stuff about being a dream and blah blah but that's not what Tidus is about. He's a character that gets far too little credit even within his series' own fanbase.
---

---

25. Sans (Undertale)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/scratchpad/images/6/6a/Sans.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160720231031

". . . It makes it kind of hard to give it my all.
. . . Or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy. . .?
Hell if i know.
All i know is. . . Seeing what comes next. . .
I can't afford not to care anymore."

It's amazing how much more memorable one single segment can make a character. In the Pacifist route of Undertale, Sans is...pretty cool. Has some funny lines, plays off of Papyrus well, all that jazz. Definitely likable, but as a character he mostly just boils down to 'lazy skeleton'. Your talks with at him Grillby's Bar and that restaurant at the hotel imply a lot more about his character, revealing that he may know more than he's letting on (and that he has an adorable relationship with Toriel). Even then, he never becomes a plot focus.

The Genocide route changes all that. You actually see him less than in the Pacifist, and he doesn't say much other than "stop this shit" like pretty everyone else does. Then you get to the end and he explosively whoops your ass in two seconds. Everything you think about Sans' character gets recontextualized by your fight with him. His laziness and lighthearted joking is revealed as a (partial) coverup for his depression and resignation. Sans knows that the main character is essentially an immortal time traveler, and thus any action Sans himself takes is probably meaningless because it can be undone so easily. He correctly guesses that everyone's hopes and dreams of being freed from the Underground have already been achieved at least once before, only for all of it to be taken away by a reset.

It's only when faced with the possibility of reality itself ending that Sans desides to stop you the only way he knows how - by beating you into a pulp until you stop reloading the game and just quit. Sans would actually be less memorable if you experienced all of this gradually throughout the game. What makes him stand out so much is how absolutely perfect his boss fight is - it's an explosion of new characterization, new plot, and new gameplay, all of it thematically woven together. Sans is a *hard* fight, but what you're experiencing is nothing compared to what he is. Every victory Sans takes over you is meaningless. He starts counting how many times you've come back in order to try and taunt you, but it also shows just how screwed he is. Sans has to win again and again until you maybe, hopefully, give up. You only have to win once. He's the last hope of his people and you're a borderline eldritch abomination. It's a very interesting dynamic and there's little else like it. The ending of the fight is perfect and drives home the tragedy of the situation, a tragedy that hurts so much more because of how much you (paradoxically) don't want to win. It'll be a long time before I forget the hell Sans put me through - or the hell I put through him.
---

The Mana Sword posted...

Is that one of them new-fangled GameFAQs emojis or something? All I'm seeing are squares
---

wow i actually like tidus more because of that writeup

granted, i already thought he was a good character and his haters probably wont be moved, but still
---

heck yeah Tidus and Ramza
---

NFUN posted...

wow i actually like tidus more because of that writeup

granted, i already thought he was a good character and his haters probably wont be moved, but still

Thanks! I tend to ramble when I make these writeups so it's cool to hear that someone really understood what I was getting at.
---

24. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/1/11/Dissidia_Zidane.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20101216073836

"...The man is still looking for his birthplace. But he already has a home."

Zidane is a much simpler Final Fantasy protagonist than most who came before or after him. Little of Zidane's conflict in Final Fantasy IX is internal. Outside of the You're Not Alone scene, he pretty much always knows how and what he wants to do. Zidane has a backstory of him being a manufactured existence destined to replace Kuja and whatever but that's not why anyone likes him, especially since the game makes sure he gets over that as quickly as possible. While Zidane has some amount growing up to do (mostly when it comes to romance) his personality is like 80% fully formed when the game starts. The Zidane you see at the start is more or less the Zidane you'll see at the end.

It's hard to put exactly into words why I like Zidane as much as I do. There are some surface-level reasons I can think of - I'm a fan of the trickster rogue archetype and daggers are my favorite fantasy weapon so I took to Zidane pretty quickly. His decisions throughout the story tended to be in line with what I wanted him to do, which let me get invested in the character even without a complex storyline to latch onto. But there's lots of characters I like in that surface level sort of way, and few of them are on this list.

When it comes down to it, I think the reason I like Zidane so much is because of the way he acts as a sort of rock for the rest of the cast. The party members in FF9 are - for lack of a better term - lost. Even the ones that technically have a place in the world feel as if they were adrift in a storm. Dagger has doubts about the royal family, Steiner has doubts about his duty as a knight, Vivi has doubts about his very existence...I could go on. The most blatant example is Eiko, who is literally alone when you find her (moogles don't count). Zidane is the only one who isn't 'lost' like they are. He might have some misgivings about his past, but for the most part, he's found his home. And through a combination of both intentional and unintentional efforts, Zidane helps everyone else find their own places to belong. He's an extremely positive influence on the people around him just by being Zidane. It's the main overarching theme of FF9, and it's why the You're Not Alone scene resonates so strongly with so many. It's the first time that Zidane's the one that needed helping, and everyone else shows up in force to return the favor. FF9 is a heartwarming game in many ways, and Zidane is a big part of why that is.
---

LeonhartFour posted...

heck yeah Tidus and Ramza

I figured that would bring you around!
---

I mean I've been around on most of this list (even if that Ramza line is actually better with the original script but hey)

heck yeah Zidane too
---

I know but this group in particular is like clickbait for you

Also I hope they never remake FF9, Zidane's design is very questionable in non-PS1 3D
---

Zidane's clothes are kinda ugly regardless. You're just too distracted by the tail to notice!
---

m4 ruined my love for zidane

thanks kanz
---

I haven't played the new Dissidia, but in the original one Zidanes voice was awful. Vivi's voice in that World of Final Fantasy game was awful too. Please stay away from FF9, Square
---

Bryce Pappenbrook is the official VA for lame protagonists everywhere, so you can tell what Square USA thinks of him...!
---

What else has he done? All I can think of is Asbel in Tales of Graces but the VA in that game wasn't the problem.

(Spoilers, no one from Graces is making this list)
---

He's Makoto in Danganronpa and Eren in Attack on Titan, among others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Papenbrook

also I just realized he's literally 8 days older than me and has the same birthday as my childhood best friend

pretty sure that's not him though
---

Are you sure...?

Man I like Naegi and Eren. The poor guys always get a bad rap.
---

I mean I like them too but they are undeniably lame
---