Day 5 fields a difficult question; Which character do you feel you are most like?
Inevitably, the answer is going to be either massively self loathing or disturbingly delusional, but reaching said answer will be the tricky part. I think this is more likely a case of finding out which characters I am most unlike, and then filtering out the remainder. First off the bat you can eliminate the obvious groups, like the hard-assed bastard war veterans. Marcus Fenix, Soap Mctavish, Master Chief- if I told you I was seven foot tall, could bench press main battle tanks and ate alien skulls like cereal then its a safe bet I am lying to impress you. If anyone finds themselves relating to these characters, they should probably seek psychiatric help. I'm looking at you Stephen Segal. Even Mass Effects Commander Shepherd is hard to relate to. I mean I know he/ she is essentially an extension of you, but I cant help feel that Shepherd is more of an ass. On occasion I have been known to say the wrong thing and rub someone up the wrong way, but its like Shepherd identifies the right thing to say, and then deliberately says the opposite. Even the compliments have all the backhand power of a tennis pro.
Inevitably, the answer is going to be either massively self loathing or disturbingly delusional, but reaching said answer will be the tricky part. I think this is more likely a case of finding out which characters I am most unlike, and then filtering out the remainder. First off the bat you can eliminate the obvious groups, like the hard-assed bastard war veterans. Marcus Fenix, Soap Mctavish, Master Chief- if I told you I was seven foot tall, could bench press main battle tanks and ate alien skulls like cereal then its a safe bet I am lying to impress you. If anyone finds themselves relating to these characters, they should probably seek psychiatric help. I'm looking at you Stephen Segal. Even Mass Effects Commander Shepherd is hard to relate to. I mean I know he/ she is essentially an extension of you, but I cant help feel that Shepherd is more of an ass. On occasion I have been known to say the wrong thing and rub someone up the wrong way, but its like Shepherd identifies the right thing to say, and then deliberately says the opposite. Even the compliments have all the backhand power of a tennis pro.
Speaking of Shepherd, this brings me to the creatable characters. Many modern games, usually RPGs, give you the option to create a character from scratch. And this is always going to end one of two ways for me. Either I take the path of vanity and attempt to construct myself in virtual form (with added generosity in certain areas), or more commonly if the character engine is poor, I make someone who will likely fit in with the aesthetics of the given game. I feel I would be cheating you if I said the character I feel I am most like is myself, plus its not exactly easy to relate to a floating head and a dialogue wheel. Shame, that was a good answer.
Many of vdieogamings great characters have been, for whatever reason, entirely mute. Or at least unnaturally quiet. As spaced out and dazed as I can sometimes be, I am not sure I can relate to someone like Gordon Freeman- a man who refuses to utter a word even when crab-like alien creatures are attempting to mate relentlessly with his face. I guess such traumatic experiences could explain the large number of voiceless gaming characters, Link has to contend with randy zombies and genocidal lunar cycles on a daily basis and he is just a child. I cant compete with that, and I am not sure I want to. So that rules out our silent protagonists.
Many of vdieogamings great characters have been, for whatever reason, entirely mute. Or at least unnaturally quiet. As spaced out and dazed as I can sometimes be, I am not sure I can relate to someone like Gordon Freeman- a man who refuses to utter a word even when crab-like alien creatures are attempting to mate relentlessly with his face. I guess such traumatic experiences could explain the large number of voiceless gaming characters, Link has to contend with randy zombies and genocidal lunar cycles on a daily basis and he is just a child. I cant compete with that, and I am not sure I want to. So that rules out our silent protagonists.
I believe this leaves us with the characters that aren't even human, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sonic and all the other cuddly hyperactive critters. I am going to go ahead and draw a line right through this group, I mean I may aswel be picking characters out by random at this point; Bomberman, because I am a pyromaniac! Kratos, because I have a god complex! Hellghast soldier #375 because I'm a... peon? Conclusively its incredibly difficult to pick a character that is most like me simply because videogame characters by nature are very unrealistic. Videogames are more often than not a form of escapist expression and if designers were to fill them with realistic characters they would have to populate 90% of their titles with assholes and ignoramuses.
But I suppose if you have read this far and still have no answer I have to give you something, dear reader, so I shall not disappoint. If I had to pick anyone I would say it would be the one character that shares 3 of my most charming characteristics; Jun, from Halo Reach. Sarcastic, arrogant and prefers to take down his enemies through the safety of a sniper scope like a real man. Who said there were no more heroes?
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