Characters

Characters, characters, characters! For me it is all about the characters! Especially when picking out a new game. Everybody has something that attracts them to a game, be it the usual violence, multiplayer, story etc. But for me it is all about the characters. I believe this is the main reason I could never (originally) get into Mass Effect. I began on the second game – I never was one to follow in the right order. I played Kingdom hearts 2 and Bioshock 2 before the latter released.

I couldn’t stand the aesthetics nor the voice of the character I played, very quickly became unattached and gave up trying to play. Luckily I have played the first now after a lot of bother from friends and thoroughly enjoyed it, although his voice still bugged the hell out of me.

 I feel like gaming companies are starting to recognise how much they could expand by catering more for females. For example, most girls I have spoken to swoon over a character named Garrus for his voice, we can’t seem to resist a lovely voice. If on top of that you add a great attitude and looks you can get the girls swooning the same as they do over any actor out there.

Just a note: It feels really weird typing this.

For me personally it would be a character like Adam Jensen, from the Deus Ex gaming series.  A character who is good looking and has a gorgeous voice. On top of that he has quite a tragic story of having the woman he loves taken from him and was left on the brink of death, only to be rebuilt and hungry for revenge. I always feel like I am more emotionally attached to a character when you feel sorry for them, because you want to protect them. Whether this is human nature or just me but I have always felt a need to protect those I care about.

However I am not suppose to be talking about game characters, but one out of TV or films, hence why I am choosing a certain “god of chaos” known as Loki from the latest Marvel movie, Thor (or the Avengers.)

 The reason I wish to talk about Loki is the fact that he seems to be so popular amongst the girls even though he is the antagonist and has a much hotter (or so considered) actor playing his brother. Putting the actors aside I am more interested in the characters they play. Loki is a misfit who never felt like he fitted in with his family – although that’s because he isn’t actually human. I feel like he is a character I can relate to because I have always felt like the odd one out. Well, that’s because I am. I have always been that crazy, weird “ginger” – yeah, seemed to be the main focus for people as I grew up. One who nobody cared about. I have never known another girl who plays video games until I came to university. It’s a sad life. I had a very tight friend group in primary and high school and learnt to cope with all the shit heads I met along the way. Oh wait, this is about characters not me. But yes, in some ways I felt I could relate to his character, he seemed like that mysterious person people don’t know much about and I was attracted to that. Not like his block head brother who seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve. At the end of the day, he is just too goody goody. Its no fun if you don’t have a bit of a dark side. Maybe this is why Connor bothers me so much in Assassins Creed, or Commander Sheperd bugs me in Mass Effect. They just seem like quite dull characters.

Loki could never understand why his brother was so good. His brother was better looking, more skilled and in the end became the king before Loki, basically Loki lived in his brothers shadow. This made me feel more connected with Loki as I felt sorry for him (and just wanted to give him a big hug.)

  I believe its harder to get attached to movie and film characters than games as you watch their lives, whilst in games you play their lives, you are them. The decisions you make will affect them. For example, whilst playing Mass Effect (SPOILER IF YOU HAVENT YET PLAYED. Skip to the next paragraph) you are given the choice to save Wrex or for him to die, I loved having Wrex on my team, he was awesome but my charm wasn’t at a high enough level to save him. So I went back over an hour before for my last save and replayed so I could save him. Like I said, I like to protect the people I care about. Which is why It was so easy for me to let Ashley die and Kaiden live in another part of the game, it was her who would shoot Wrex earlier on in the game. For that I really disliked her. So yeah. Bye Ashley!

  

 Over all I feel like a well developed character can make up for a crappy book, movie or game because I have felt an emotion I was hoping to feel. For that reason they are an incredibly important factor when I watch movies, play games or read books.