I don't play any games from Ubisoft. Well, yes, old ones, from before UPlay was a thing. But none since.

I think the only time I genuinely hated the protagonist so much I couldn't stand to play the game was The Whispered World. Sadwick may not be a "dick", but he's actually far worse - constantly whining, self-pitying, morose joyless emo who sucks all the fun out of the adventure. A guy like Rufus from Deponia on the other hand, may be an arrogant jackass a lot of time, but he is also energetic, genuinely enthusiastic and optimistic about whatever stupid plan he comes up with. In one word- he's fun. Even Rinceiwnd in the Discworld, while a coward who'd rather everyone leave him alone, is at least clever and intelligent in his cowardly perception of the world, and does not constantly whine about how much he doesn't want to be here and how he'll surely fail. Rather, he is very determined to succeed, as that means not dying.

So yeah, Sadwick is the worst protagonist ever. Also, the speech-impeded voice actor somehowm anaged to make him even more annoying, which should not be possible, but was achieved with the very first sentence he says.

Fuck that game.

I love reading your comments, always raise a smile with me. Especially after a hard days graft in the sun, once I get home.

Someone should incorporate that into one of their new games, you deliberately hurt the character & they turn to the screen & call you all sorts of shit. Hideo Kojima, are you there? :)

Well, Rincewind did realise he's being controlled by an idiot, if that counts.

I loved Anniversary, great game! The fire trails / puzzle room is a bit of a bitch though

Well if unlikable character could means, that despite good game, I really could not force myself to like the protagoninst, I think the clear winner would be Vaan from FFXII with Squall as a runner-up from FFVIII. I really liked both games, but could not really get into their roles, because I simply loathed their personalities.

And if unlikable protagonist means, that everyone hates him, then the biggest asshole protagoinst would be my Lawful Evil Fighter/Weaponmaster in Hordes of the Underdark expansion of NWN1 :-P

I somehow managed to buy all my other games where I pretty liked their main characters.



Well if unlikable character could means, that despite good game, I really could not force myself to like the protagoninst, I think the clear winner would be Vaan from FFXII with Squall as a runner-up from FFVIII. I really liked both games, but could not really get into their roles, because I simply loathed their personalities.

And if unlikable protagonist means, that everyone hates him, then the biggest asshole protagoinst would be my Lawful Evil Fighter/Weaponmaster in Hordes of the Underdark expansion of NWN1 :-P

I somehow managed to buy all my other games where I pretty liked their main characters.

Lol, that's me in the old 80s Sierra games. I'm often too impatient to walk the whole stairs down, so I save and test how far the protagonist can fall without dying (the death theme in KQ 1+2 is awesome anyway :P)

The same thing that makes people unlikable: shallow, self-absorbed behavior of questionable morality or taste that lacks any apparent justification. Once someone's reasons for being that way are explored a bit, though, it usually becomes easier to empathize with them and they go from being unlikable to understandably broken, which can be charming in certain situations. A simple explanation doesn't cut it if their reasons feel like contrived plot devices that don't inspire empathy and/or the character in question doesn't experience much growth, though. Cough Geron from Chains of Satinav cough. So hard.

I can deal with an unlikable protagonist as long as the rest of the game doesn't reward such obnoxious behavior. In particular, there is a difference between a sexist (for example) protagonist and a sexist game.

Bad example: Dink Smallwood, where the protagonist is essentially sexist and the game seems to be written with the assumption that the player would be sexist as well. Also, I read that one of the Persona games has the main character being transphobic, with nothing to mitigate that (I would consider that to be a dealbreaker).

Good example: Final Fantasy 4, where there are two parts where Cecil tells the girls to stay back rather than fight. Aside from not dominating the game, there's the fact that, in the second instance, the girls refuse to go along with that (for those who've played the game and don't know what I'm talking about, this happens after the giant, right when it's time to go to the final dungeon).

Kratos from God of War. In the first game he started out as a Greek tragedy hero, but from the second game onward the developers removed all sense of humanity from him and he came out with generic rage. I hope the new game flesh ouy his characterization more.

Aiden Pearce is probably the best example I can make of a completely unlikable protagonist.

He's an UncleDad who seems about as emotionally invested in his family as Samus Aran was invested in anything during Metroid Other Mom, he's a black hat hacker who acts like he's doing white hat hacking. (He exploits flaws for personal gain and kicks rather than to expose them.)

He uses his magic wand to steal money from random people, not to help out those down on their luck, but so he can dress as a banana skin. A 500 dollar banana skin, mind you.

Little known fact, Solid Snake cheats on his taxes, steals cable, and never calls his mother on her birthday.

That fucker!

If you can provide context for why he is acting like a dick (some kind of emotional wound that now causes him to think in a rigid mind set that he cannot get out of) and also give him two or three positive character traits that he can show occasionally (he loves animals; he keeps his promises no matter what; he is genuinely interested in a certain kind of art and collects it; and so on), this will help a lot to make him more likable to the player or at least provoke some inner conflict where the player cannot decide whether to like or hate them and sways back and forth depending on the situation.

I can't remember a game I played where I actually loathed the protagonist, although sometimes you play a villain (or at least an anti-hero) and I can't relate with their moral code. Yet I loved Overlord

I guess the only way I would loathe a protagonist is if it were a SJW. We've seen how annoying they can be. Imagine having your character whining about how every NPC in the game world is transphobic or something like that and how terrible it is that not every quest is made in a way to account for and care for the needs of his selected minority.