Name your Top 6 video game heroes

Here's mine. Wish I could play em all on one platform, but anywho:

1) Kratos

2) Vasily, the Sambo monk dude from Redeemer

3) Tommy Tuvadi from Prey

4) Cahal Filin from Werewolf Earthblood

5) Senua from Hellblade

6) Brutus from Brute Force.

1. Solid Snake( MGS)

2. Geralt of Rivia ( The Witcher)

3. Dante( Devil May Cry)

4. Arthur Morgan( Red Dead Redemption 2)

5. John Marston ( Red Dead Redemption)

6. Nathan Drake ( Uncharted)

7. Ryu ( Street Fighter)

8. Cloud Strife ( FF7)

9. Leon Kennedy ( Resident Evil)

10. Link ( The Megend of Zelda)

6 is a weird number to stop at so I named my top 10.

Maybe I'm taking the word "hero" thing too seriously yet. . . Kratos? Big white/ red painted ugly guy filled with steroids and anger issues?

The same man who killed everyone because he's an ass-hat. . Maybe I'm the only one who recalls the Poseidon's Princess scene, but it's pretty vile. His revenge-plot reasoning seemed really petty and unwilling to take responsibility. I still enjoy the Greek saga, but overall he's a horrible person even if

Solid Snake (Metal Gear) is probably the most genuine hero in the Metal Gear series even when he is used for ill-agenda, always intends to do the right thing, also just a very human character that pays respects even to his enemies. Even on deaths door he's trying to do right.

Link (The Legend of Zelda), while Zelda herself is also a hero of these stories the green tunic warrior is an easy pick because honestly he tends to sacrifice more from game-to-game. Hyrule is very doomed without this voiceless jar smasher. Midna is also great, and would have been my original pick if only she was in more games worth mention.

Dante (Devil May Cry) saves the day every Thursday, and makes it look like Friday. Nero had his shot all the way back in DMC4 and Dante still had to clean up and be the worlds hero. Same with (the never mention game) Lucia in DMC2.

Jill Valentine (Biohazard/ Resident Evil) seems less of a jerk than Chris and Leon who come across more self centred and arrogant. Pushed more to the side over the male heroes in later entries but I'm going to give this to the master of unlocking.

Guren/Kaeru (Chrono Trigger) perhaps a rude and bitter character, this frog has a duty to his kingdom and will do whatever he can, living or no to see it done. And could say more but for those who haven't played the game they just should.

Flon (Makai Senki Disgaea) the angel assassin sent to kill the Demon Overlord instead teaches the Overlord's son to accept love into his heart. This costs Flon her life in the process, and she knew as much well in advance.

Here's mine. Wish I could play em all on one platform

Ho ho, we all know you can. . if you wanted to. . But that's none of my business.

I wouldn't call my list all hero's just protagonist.

1. Niko Bellic
2. Wei Shen (Sleeping Dogs)
3. Max Payne
4. Alan Wake
5. Tommy Vercetti
6. Trevor Philips

Donkey Kong

Mario

Link

Kirby

Chris Redfield

Solid Snake

Solid Snake

Ratchet from ratchet and clank

Geralt the Witcher

Nathan Drake

Kratos

Mario

1. Liu Kang: was probably the first Asian protagonist from a major western video game franchise. Growing up in North America, he meant a lot to me when most video game heroes from western game developers are white. He's also gone through multiple interesting story arcs within the Mortal Kombat franchise.

2. Leon Kennedy: cool, calm, and collected, even in the face of unimaginable horror. I was introduced to him in Resident Evil 4, where he had a level of charisma and swagger only rivaled by Dante from DMC, which is a series that I am a lot less familiar with. They toned down his personality in the rebooted storyline, but remains just as charming.

3. Samus Aran: I've had some memorable adventures in Metroid. Granted, we don't see much of her and her personality in the noteworthy Metroid games, but there's an undeniable mystique about that.

4. Faith Connors: Love her as a character who sticks to her ideals.

5. Mario: The OG. Nuff said.

• Max Payne
• Agent 47
• Adam Jenson
• JC denton
• Gordon Freeman

@RSM-HQ: Kratos is definitely an anti-hero and a walking Greek tragedy of epic proportions.

Kratos is the end-times, killed potentially millions without mercy. I agree he is way more heroic in the Nordic game but in the older games (basically a completely different character) only got more twisted as the games went-on. I think the man is just suppose to be deranged, and make the player question all of the characters actions.

Anti-Hero would mean he killed and would fight dirty/ does immoral deeds, all in acts that would help and protect those that need it. Kratos doesn't do that, he's just a jerk who enjoys & is good at killing.

Exception being when he protected his child's soul (Chains of Olympus was a strange game). Keep in mind Kratos killed his wife and child in a blind fit of rage as well to begin with. Ares lured him to the village, but nothing cursed or bespelled him, he saw shadows, and ripped them to pieces.

The creators of GoW never claimed him as anything other than a mad man out for vengeance either. That's why Cory Barlog wanted to rewrite the character to be less edgy, dark, and as Cory said himself "evil". Kratos is a self centred asshole. In the Greek series anyhow.

I'm a big fan of the series, well was, but that's a different story. Anyway, the series had a reoccurring joke with Kratos killing a sea captain. And would continue to kill him again and again, until he had a powerful artifact feast upon the sea captains very soul in GoWIII, killing him permanently, I counted a total of four different games that had this poor man suffer.

I have 1 and His name is Bidoof

@RSM-HQ: I actually want to step in on the convo as someone who is a fan of God of War. I think both perspectives are wrong and I would encourage replaying the game with focus on the time-line of in-game events. He is neither a hero nor would I say an asshole. He is a tragic character pushed to the edge of madness. His rationale is understandable, but I believe in 3 their idea was to show how his actions are unjustifiable.

The thing of Kratos being a anger-filled meat head has always rubbed me the wrong way and I think it's because it doesn't take into account the reasons behind his anger. In the early parts, while he definitely did questionable things, he was someone who was rationale and did have moments of self-reflection, it isn't really until Ghost of Sparda that this accumulates into some type of insanity, and I want to say that his actions were inflicted by the box he opened in 1 as it affected everyone. Sure, he is selfish, but I am not sure if the games are trying to even make him out to be a hero. Plus, I guess this is why the ending to 3 is as it is, sacrificing himself is more or less a purge from everything he has done up until then and I believe he acknowledges it as such. No more pain, no more suffering, toward and from him. Revenge never solved anything but brought pain and destruction.

I think everyone's perspective on the games is off, and I wonder what causes this. And I notice everyone focuses on the 3rd entry in the series. Again, if anything, I would recommend EndlessJess's video on this subject. I am not sure if the drastic change in character in 4 is the cause of this or what.

Definitely not trying to be insulting or cause an argument, just felt I should step in because I recall much of the story and I notice the conversation surrounding the Greek Saga seems to miss a lot of context. If I were to summarize: he is a guy who had everything taken away from him and was being built into a weapon for the Gods usage until they betrayed him. More or less, it could be taken that he is already unstable since it is said over and over in 1 that he is traumatized by the killing of his family. I'm not even sure what category I would put Kratos in because with everything involved he is not a hero, anti-hero, and I wouldn't even describe him as a villain considering that morality seems to be a flimsy concept to the Greek world in the game. I'm not even sure if he enjoys killing due to the self-aware moments he has, there is a main one in Ghost of Sparda where he does step back and says, "what have I become...." and I believe he has another moment like this. I think he looks at his actions as justified because of what the Gods did to him and continue to do to him, plus his anger, but 3's ending is him realizing the mistakes he has made.

@blackacezero777: Nothing wrong with having different takes but I don't think another opinion will change how I viewed the games. And it wasn't long ago that I went back to play the collections on PS3.

Kratos is an asshole. That doesn't make your take any less valid but this is how it comes across, he was designed to be edgy and cruel. Heroic? he is not. Kratos will burn the world before accepting responsibility and that is what his character 'to me' reflects, a man who can't accept the truth. Hiding it in blood, blade, wine, and sex.

To be honest the entire Pandora Box aspect of GoWIII felt like a cop-out to justify his actions in all the games leading up to the point.

Zeus and co didn't need an infected retcon when it was clear that Kratos started GoWII taking on all Greece because he was bored and bitter. Zeus himself was not without fault and is clearly a paranoid person who is scared of his kingdom falling. Zeus however is not depicted in GoWII nearly as super villian'ish as he is in God of War III. Granted I enjoy GoWIII as a video game, but the way the game uses the Gods is very different, and many felt it was a massive retcon. Honestly almost everyone in GoWIII felt like a super villain beyond parody.

Kratos does do self reflection sure, he cared for his commander in God of War II (that he absolutely butchered without question), he clearly loved his wife and child (butchered must be the Gods fault); that doesn't make him any less an asshole in my opinion. If someone went on a murdering spree then says "I miss my wife" does that make him redeemable? well that's up to the player. . I guess, I can't sit back and feel sorry for him, he's a killing machine and the thing he clearly loves most is horribly killing everything around him.

The creators of the first two games also don't enjoy fans calling him a hero. The entire point of God of War was to step away from playing the hero trope in video games.

I do think it's karma that in the end (pre-IV) with all Greece potentially killed, the only person Kratos could blame is himself, and 'attempts' to take his own life. Sure this releases 'Hope' magic on the world but it's clear that he also ran out of people to blame for his own actions.

Kratos to me in the Greek games end was a villain that won. Some say heroes are the people who win, but I ultimately disagree. Now Kratos as a character in the latest game is an entirely different question. Don't know that stabbing himself with the Blade of Olympus did? but I could agree Nordic Axe Kratos is a kinder and softer character than his Greek counterpart. If we had Kratos from GoW II/ Ghost of Sparta/ God of War III? Kratos would have killed Atreus for something as trivial as sneezing. Blame the Norse Gods, it didn't take Kratos much reason to kill loyal of loved ones in the older games.

@RSM-HQ: I think your point is aligning with mines, just we seem to have different perspectives on his character. All you said is true, and I believe the point is to show how Revenge leads to nothing but pain. I mean, we are dealing with Greek Mythos which much of the mythos was centered around stories that had themes of morality and consequences to it. When he finally forgave himself, he finally realized all he has done. I think the point of him being an asshole is where I feel it is going too far due to the context involved. While he may have been created as edgy and cruel, I think this downplays a lot of the worldbuilding and characterization that they were going for in order to show that. Is he heroic? No and looking back at the games, I never noticed it ss such though I have seen anti-hero pop up and while initially I would've said yes, I can't fully say that either. But asshole? Er, not really because it would require to acknowledge at some point that everyone in GoW is that to some extent. Morality doesn't seem to be a strong factor in this world, and the Gods are just arrogant just cause. Kratos may be a killer, but it ain't like the Gods helped in this case either.

I can understand with the Pandora's box, but I rather bring it up because it is part of the story instead of dismissing it. For a while I have seen much of the fanbase pick and choose what aspects of the lore they want to talk about while ignoring the rest. This happened from what I remember with the PSP games where everyone acted like it came out of nowhere and just gave an excuse to his actions. Let's be real, with any other series, prequels would be given a pass (along with excuses to character motivations, actions, etc.), and I feel this is no exception. Trust me, MGSV is one I still see get justified as making sense to this day even though the games wasn't fully finished.

My point being: saying he's an asshole is kind of pushing it with everything involved. It's fine to say he is unforgivable, and I would validate that from the story and how GoW4 treats his character (really making me want to go back and try it now with this context in mind), but I feel the characterization is off.

To be real, GoW always seems to have this when it comes to the fanbase at large and I still question why. As overly complicated and padded lores can be with other game series, GoW really gets that line drawn in the sand real fast and it is usually when it comes to Kratos's character. One of the bigger reasons why I never cared for the commentary that "GoW is now mature" because he has a son now and is more cautious.

And to Zeus in 2...er, really? I had the opposite effect with 2 and 3. Now that was one where I can say he was a complete ass and got what was coming to him. 3 more or less solidified him being an ass.

@blackacezero777: Suppose as you noted it's up to the player how they feel about Kratos in the long-run if they're committed to playing the games. I still stick to him being an asshole and got that stance since he started bullying a sea captain for absolutely no reason other than everything and everyone must die in his way.

I accept the retcon of curses and Hope magic after the first opening, it does however retcon a lot of better writing in GoW and GoWII so I personally found it cheap. And honestly not needed, even if we declare the Gods all unredeemable because of the Pandora storyline I don't think that auto-justifies the actions of Kratos. As it's not just the Gods that suffer his wrath.

Pre GoWIII storytelling; Zeus was justified in God of War II for how he handled Kratos and Sparta. He destroyed all Sparta which was the biggest 'villainous' play. . after Kratos and Sparta declared war on all Greece and did exactly if not worse than what Zeus did in that one scene. Kratos was warned a lot in God of War II to stop, by so many characters, and he either shrugs them off or kills them. Heck the opening of GoWII shows Athena pleading to Kratos and he is all "nah I'm all business Ms."

Now is Zeus evil? yes. The lore in these games makes that very apparent, and heavily taken from true Greek mythology. Zeus however doesn't destroy all of Greece in the process.

@RSM-HQ: Maybe, I feel with everything involved there is one way to look at Kratos, however a lot of the descriptions I am getting from him (been reading some Gamefaqs discussions on this since I stepped in) it is very much picking and choosing what parts of the lore and story to accept and then base the characterization of Kratos based around that. And let me go out of the way to say I am not referring to you dude, I am not aware of how you played and your full view of the games in part. Way before I came to GameSpot, I've seen much commentary surrounding Kratos's character and I have typically noticed that there is a lot of cherry picking, and many only take to 3 that I start to wonder if that is the only game they have played.

One has literally dismissed Kratos because he isn't "relatable." To me, a character doesn't have to be relatable to be liked. There was a discussion I had years ago about Mega Man starforce and someone mentioned the same thing as to why they couldn't get into the series, ironically he liked Red Dead Redemption. I always felt this desire in media now to have relatable characters limits creativity. I'll never know what it feels like to bond with an alien and become a superhero named Mega Man, but I do empathize with his character and his struggles.

My point is why I may be coming off defensive is because typically the story, in full, is never regarded. Much like what you said about the sea captain, I have seen many of times and is often an excuse to dismiss his character of being an ass with no redeeming qualities. This may also explain why I may not care for 4 because it neutered him and tries to fit his character in a TLoU world where he is now the "relatable character with a questionable background but is learning to become self-aware of his actions." However, this convo is giving me a different perspective on 4 so I may now be able to appreciate the story.

Never said it did, but it does give an explanation why Kratos and the Gods started becoming worse in their behavior.

With that, wasn't it explained why Zeus killed him was because he was ultimately scared of him becoming more powerful than him?

But Zeus did send a child off to be tortured for years out of fear of a prophecy and a lot of the other terrible actions of the gods. Like a point I noticed on Gamefaqs, it can be said that Kratos is unforgivable. However, the Greek Pantheon did play their role in his ultimate massacre. Instead of relieving him of his trauma and just letting it be, they take and already mentally damaged man and proceed to toy with him further until his breaking point. Everyone is involved in the downfall of Greece, both directly and indirectly. Even i think 4 says something on that note about Greece (the part about their ego being their downfall and none of he other Pantheons caring for them). Plus, we are talking about Greek Mythos which already has characters who are unforgivable and rotten to the core. I look at the series as it is, it is a very savage and unforgiving world. It is not of the world we live in.

I typically am staunch in my view of Kratos. I will state this as I feel it does need some reminder: I do not believe him to be a hero. If you probably were to catch me when I first played the series then yeah I would say he is sympathetic and not an ass, still do, but I am taking into account of his actions and looking at it from the point of the story that is told. He is neither a hero nor is he a villain, he is a cautionary tale of revenge and hubris. He is a product of the world he lives in and its mentality. Furthermore, he is a mentally damaged man so his actions later are no surprise.

With the sea captain, didn't he first try to leave Kratos to be eaten by that thing you fight in the beginning?