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Who do you love? Who do you hate?
Last week, we, the PC Gamer team, offered our personal picks for most loved and hated PC gaming characters. Naturally, our community had their own suggestions—some of them expected, others not so much. I've rounded up a bunch of the most well-argued and persistent objects of distaste and devotion.
Loved: Adam Jensen, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Blackie62: He's pretty bland for the world he's in, but the writers realized with that blandness comes a great deal of common sense that his motives are ones the audience can easily get behind—mainly that the smart thing is to figure out what the hell is going on here because it's probably bad.
Hated: Claptrap, Borderlands
GabeOnuris: Man, I hate Claptrap from Borderlands, that's the most flavorless character I've ever met in a video game.
Michael Collins: I couldn't agree more, one of the most annoying characters ever invented. The thing I never got with it is, are we supposed to like it, or give a fig what happens to it?
Loved: Max Caulfield, Life Is Strange
Jordan Pool: I'm probably biased because the game really forces you to like her, but I like that she is a good person who swears a shitload and isn't afraid to talk bad about people who deserve it. Too many games try to make the main character likable to the point where they are basically saints. I'll let go of the fact she thinks the FF movie was the best sci-fi movie of all time, or that she listens to Bright Eyes, or that she says "wowsers" more than once in her lifetime. She has a bit of grit to her character and uses her time travel powers in a way that isn't totally evil, but isn't always totally good either. Although some of her decisions are up to you, you still get the feel she has a side of her that will always fight back.
Loved: Aela the Huntress, Skyrim
Chaser: My favorite would be Aela the Huntress from Skyrim. A character well developed enough to bear half a quest line in that game was rare, so she stood out. And after that, she could follow my Dragonborn around as a stealthy, bow-wielding killing machine that complimented my playstyle even better than teaming up my Infiltrator with Garrus and Thane in ME2.
Hated: Lamar Davis, Grand Theft Auto V
Covarr: Here's Franklin, attempting to make a legitimate—if half-hearted—attempt to ditch crime, and right behind him is Lamar, ready to fuck it up at every opportunity. Lamar is responsible for trapping Franklin in scenarios where he really doesn't have any choice but to break the law, repeatedly making him an unwitting accomplice, and then ruining his own ill-conceived plans so that it's up to Franklin to rescue his sorry butt. Lamar exists at that dangerous crossroads between stupid and manipulative, regularly posing a threat to himself and everyone around him, often for no gain at all.
Loved: Alyx Vance, Half-Life 2
r_w: She is just the best. The writing, animation and voice acting made me care for an NPC for the first time and her AI scripting meant that the character work was never ruined by the gameplay. I actually love replaying HL2 all the way through to play fetch with her and Dog (honorable mention for best robot) instead of just starting at Ravenholm.
Hated: Jason Brody, Far Cry 3
Aria Stock Loc: He's your typical entitled kid who happens upon an island and cries every time he has to kill someone. After killing enough people, he thinks he's a bad bum. Instead, he kind of feels like a typical American white boy pretending to be a Rakyat warrior. He reminds me of Desmond Miles in many ways. He's got that whiny, naive feel about him.
Loved: Sam & Max, Sam & Max Hit the Road
Evropi: Technically two characters, they are the greatest buddy cop duo ever made. Sam is a very goofy 'voice of reason' (kind of...) and Max is a very excitable, hyperaggressive rabbit. Man the writing in this series is good. I still haven't played the original but I know it's on GOG and will get it one of these days.
Hated: Arkham Knight, Batman: Arkham Knight
drdvdplayerhandbook: God, what an insufferable annoying brat. The worst part is that the game doesn't see it that way. The developers really seem to believe they've written a compelling character instead of the whiny, laughable dingbat (heh) we ended up with.
Loved and Hated: Alan Wake, Alan Wake
Reza Gerami: I love Alan Wake. He's a narcissistic grade A asshole of the highest order, constantly rolling his eyes at the stupid rednecks and even LITERALLY writes passages in his novel about how everyone around him feels threatened by his wits, success and good looks. Probably the only video game protagonist who fights evil ghosts while wearing a jacket with elbow patches. He still makes me laugh when thinking about him.
