The only real issue I have with Majima in 0 is that his transition from how he is in this game to the rest of the series barely tracks. They pay some lip service to trying to smooth it over, but him wearing his signature jacket and haircut at the end of 0 feels super wrong, even though for fans of the series it’s him finally becoming who he’s been for like 15 years. But that’s more or less irrelevant to this one game, where he’s incredible for 98% of it.
Nier: Automata
All the characters in this game are great, from the main androids to the robots to even the operators. I can’t think of another game that has made me feel for fictional people as much as Automata has.
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My nomination is going for Night in the Woods.
I love these characters so much. It’s been awhile so i might not be able to articulate as well as others. But they are so well written and i just went out of my way to find every opportunity to see more dialogue to help flesh out even the minor characters.
Also MaeBea do CRIMES
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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus had some of the most uncomfortable, most heartbreaking, most heartwarming, and most hilarious characters of any game this year. It didn’t offer me the same personal resonance as NieR and it didn’t always hit the charm of Zelda, Pyre, or even Persona, but I’ll be damned if BJ’s monologues up through his major personal revelations halfway through the game weren’t the most haunting, humanizing words I’ve ever encountered in first-person shooter, let alone from someone who by all rights wouldn’t look out of place in the generic cesspool of “buff, white, straight male protagonists” that plague the industry.
Oh, also, it’s the only AAA game I can think of in recent memory that has an explicitly diverse cast on just about every axis that doesn’t seriously fumble on it. I can’t wait to read more takes on how these characters were written/performed and continue educating myself on the topic, but this commitment to diversity alone is reason enough for me to throw all my support behind this nomination.
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To me the end of 0 read as the START of Majima becoming what he’s known for, the moment he decides to change. He isn’t quite there yet, not even when he encounters Makoto again. But he’s made the decision to change who he is and has begun the journey towards that.
Butterfly Soup takes some of the most recognizable, familiar high school archetypes–the quiet kid, the class clown, the delinquent, the nerd–and imbues them with an emotional and practical specificity that feels utterly real.
For more info: A Game About Queer Girls Who Love Baseball and Each Other
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Nomination: Yakuza 0
Majima gets a strong arc to the point of feeling like the real protagonist, but Kiryu also has so many small moments and wonderful reactions as well. Yakuza in general has a really likable cast but 0 is them at their best.
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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus’ incredible moments and sequences only have as much emotional impact as they do because of the cast of characters. Thanks to the top-notch writing and voice acting and the scenes that play out when you visit your comrades in the hub world, these become a crew of people you care deeply about. BJ as the protagonist has a unique relationship with each one, but even more touching is seeing how they all interact and joke around with eachother on a regular basis.
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Thirding Pyre, and nominating Jodariel Sandra specifically.
I’m gay and angry. There ya go!
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Nomination: characters named Makoto… wait, that’s not what we’re doing?
Holistically I would lean Persona 5.
The social link characters are all probably as good as they’ve ever been as a whole, the antagonists are adequately antagonistic (they still reach caricature status, but that’s something I’m willing to allow in a series built on some sort of pseudo-Jungian themes), and while I know some people wax and wane on some of the main cast, I think overall it’s the best group this style of Persona (3, 4, or 5) has had–although I played the game in Japanese, and I’m willing to bet that helped a bit. Could have used a Kanji-type, and the writing failed to integrate Haru in a way that seemed natural, but I liked enough of what was there. The twins are no Elizabeth or Margaret, but eh.
Wolfenstein is obviously there as well, but for as awesome as Super Spesh (best new character) and Grace are, most of the rest aren’t from 2017.
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Tales of Berseria is the best Tales game, and one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played, largely on the strength of its cast. Sure, they’re all basically anime stock characters, but they’re extremely well done. Unlike most party-based games, it genuinely makes sense that all these characters are working together, rather than just being dragged along in the wake of the main character; rather than just being a band of misfits, they’re a collection of people who start out working together to advance their own goals and end up being genuine friends who care about each other and I am a definite sucker for all of that.
i also enjoy that Velvet and Eleanor are definitely married and Phi is their son and this is 10000% canon, sorry, i don’t make the rules i just enforce them
Someone said it well on the Persona subreddit. Whoever you think is the worst character in Persona 5 would still be a top character in another game.
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I realize it’s a dark horse candidate, but I would like to nominate Super Mario Odyssey primarily for Uncle Amiibo on the basis that his name is Uncle Amiibo
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Fourth(?)ing Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
Not much I can say that the other posters haven’t, except that as sad as it is, seeing a character who is identified explicitly as an anarchist (Paris Jack) and isn’t a villain was… powerful, for me. I don’t totally buy into Wolfenstein’s lowkey leftist marketing, because it’s marketing, but having a guy who plays clarinet, tries to help out Wyatt, and also happens to be an actual anarchist almost made me cry, even though he was pretty minor compared to some of the other (also amazing) characters.
Nomination: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
With Persona 5 already nominated, I’ll go with a choice that might be one that not a lot of people think about when it comes to great characters… but, if you remember back to your time with the game, you’ll know that the fantastic cast of this game really made your hard work exploring worth it. Anyone from just NPC’s with a few lines that wander the world or populate the towns to reoccurring characters like Kass and Hetsu that just make you feel less alone in the world to strong, memorable story characters like Sidon or Urbosa, they all contributed to making you want to learn more about this world, to learn more about its nooks and crannies, and to put urgency and weight on the quest in front of you.
Also, they succeeded in making Zelda a character you actually care about instead of just a damsel like she unfortunately is in most games, with her infectious love of science and her anxiety and depression over her apparent failure of the people of Hyrule.
While I wouldn’t say this is the best Zelda cast (Majora’s Mask still takes that prize), it’s still one worth celebrating and one to remember when the DLC expanding on the Divine Champions and their stories comes out.
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I’m just going to use this space to nominate Alloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn. Obviously a bad ass, but a compassionate bad ass, who won’t take any narrow minded shit from neo-cavemen.
(seems like I need to play Persona 5 and Night In The Woods)
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I’ll second Super Mario Odyssey
Of course we know most of these characters, but the game is still so charming and full of wide-eyed joy and excitement. And there are so many little things to discover that are tied to the characters here.
Gotta nominate Yakuza 0 here. My first Yakuza game and the characters were so endearing in how they were animated, the excellent localisation work that brought their lines to life in translation and a host of supporting characters to love or love to hate. In a year full of great characters, it’s hard to pick just one game, but this is it for me. I also support others’ nomination of Wolfenstein 2 and NieR: Automata. I’d love for someone to nominate Mario + Rabbids as I was suprised by how much I enjoyed the cast, but I wouldn’t honestly call them the best of the year.
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Doki Doki Literature Club
Without going into spoilers, the characters are the game.
I could talk about how they subvert dating sim tropes, or how they are fascinating and compelling.
But I won’t, please go play it, its free, if you are not easily disturbed do it. Whatever I say will fall short of the experience you will have with them
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Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Nintendo Switch)
All I really need to say is Rabbid-ized Mario cast is cute, funny, and for more likable than I had hoped they would be. If there isn’t a Rayman Legends-like game featuring these rabbids in the next year or two Ubisoft dropped the ball.
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