DO YOU PREFER "STRONG" OR "SISSY" PROTAGONISTS?

I like scrawny because it gives more dialog options. If it's a big tough guy, it's either reason or fight. With a scrawny guy it's talk your way out, insult them, or start a fight only to be saved by the trans-gender body guard.(Bonus points for who ever guesses the 2k game this is from.) Let me explain: Scrawny characters usually have to have a way with words, or a huge friend. I could kind of relate, because I am sort of a weakling. And the RM game reference was to Dhux's Scar. Do any of you play other people's games?

I have to admit I prefer sissy protagonists. The initial topic seem to complain about those japanese faggot-types and I can understand that but then also says stuff like

f you have played even a single video game, it is quite obvious that the current fad for main characters and cohorts is that of the skinny/homosexual/sissy looking stereotype.

uh what? (note how nowhere in the original post it refers to rpgs or jrpgs but always the general "video games")

Now I have to admit I like my guys kinda skinny. You know. The Prince of Persia or TF2 Scout skinny. There's just something massively offputting by the huge men. Of course I've always been a fan the skinnier type. I actually first misread the title as "do you prefer 'strong' or 'sassy' protagonists?" Which possibly lead me to the...

Well... I'll just say I'm a huge fan of the trickster character (I should probably have a tvtropes link here but I won't bother) and they are hardly ever big muscly men. Instead they are more ratlike sneaks (though not quite Gollum).

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Come to think of it Cloud wasn't that bad either and apart from impractical Buster Sword I don't know why people hate him so much really.

The buster sword wasn't impractical. SOLDIER weren't normal humans, they had increased abilities because of Jenova cells integration and while Cloud wasn't SOLDIER, he was infused with J cells nonetheless so....

I think part of the reason the main character is a wimp (in japanese RPG mainly) is for story purposes. Lots of room for development, and also lots of drama and "waah, waah" at every event. Japanese stories are overemotional many times, and having a tough guy who doesn't blink if a comrade dies isn't fit for them.

Also, the player doesn't know a thing about the game at first. So, having a wimpy main character who goes around asking questions about everything helps the player. Gives the writer an excuse for the other characters to launch explanations one after the other.

Luke from Tales of the Abyss is the biggest plot device ever. Amnesia, isolated his entire life and ignorant of everything... Man, he has everything. Oh, and I love Tales of the Abyss, by the way. Not talking bad of it.

My personal take: a balanced main character. Not too strong (at least in the beginning) but not a hopeless loser who takes the will to play out of you.

From a cultural standpoint I hear that is actually largely/somewhat true and the ramifications extend far beyond just video games (like how Japan's birthrate is declining and its population growth is actually in the negatives; with Japanese men not being attractive to the women as one of the reasons)!

I shall contribute to the cause., my friend. It's really the least I can do for all of the years and years of entertainment from the land of the rising sun.

Considering the role of the "everyman" that many game protagonists are set to fill, I don't think they have to be made to look so wimpy as the jRPG standard dictates. What it DOES provide is scale, which is utilized in just about all games with the skinny protagonist. That is, there's always a burlesque monstrosity to act as the MANLY man, and sometimes there's also a man of medium build in between. These characters are also almost always older. I agree when it is said that the sissy protagonist is meant to appeal to the target audience, both the 12-25 year-old male who is of similar age and often similar build to the protagonist (the chubby ones will never get representation), and the females that look at these characters as us men might look at Lara, Mai, or Ivy.

I'm not at all saying I agree with it, though. I'm really kinda tired of teenage heroes. A little MORE life experience, plox.

Prince of Persia (the self-titled remake) had a fantastic protagonist. He was meant to be incredible agile and never rely on brute force rather than quick moves, but this archetype which the jRPG crowd would have immediately cast with a 100-lb. teenage ninja with white hair was instead made someone more believable; a 165-lb. of medium-plus build (plus being muscle tone) and aged somewhere more in the mid-20's. And those are just conjectures; based on his looks, the hero could easily be 30 or more years old.

You know initially I thought this thread was about character personality (and I really DON'T like protagonists who are incurable pussies, constantly whining about in a state of wangst) but if it's just about PHYSIQUE?

Both the obviously strong muscle-man type and the wiry-build/effeminate, unexpected-strength-from-a-magical-technological-or-otherwise-extramundane-source type have their place.

It seems like not only a shallow question but one so subjective as to be pretty silly. Like it's not like we're going to conclude "the ideal build for a protagonist is cruiserweight".

also find it a little funny that not only do we assume the hero needs to be male, but that he needs to be strong physically. I know the vast majority of heroes in video games use either gigantic swords or gigantic automatic machine guns, but what if he's a mage? I might expect him to be a little weakling if he spends 16 hours a day studying. Or if he just fights using a pistol that requires no strength training on his part. A thief character who uses a knife wouldn't need huge muscles, and he'd prefer to look inconspicuous and nonthreatening, but he wouldn't require the rippling biceps to be an effective asskicker. Or maybe the hero is an every day guy who got caught up in something. It wouldn't be expected of a normal guy to look like a bodybuilder.

I basically agree with this, only pretend the redundancy (automatic machine guns) isn't there.

Edit the Last:

And what I REALLY hate is when this kind of shit is taken to caricature in either direction without the INTENTION of being funny. The best example is the main characters from Gears of War. They are not only retarded stereotypes personality wise spouting off cliche and content free dialogue, I mean just LOOK AT THEM. Their bodies are both stupid looking and anatomically impossible.

Jhonen Vasquez did a funny mini-comic about this exact topic, I wish it was available online for quick linking.

I meant redundancy. : (

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And what I REALLY hate is when this kind of shit is taken to caricature in either direction without the INTENTION of being funny. The best example is the main characters from Gears of War. They are not only retarded stereotypes personality wise spouting off cliche and content free dialogue, I mean just LOOK AT THEM. Their bodies are both stupid looking and anatomically impossible.

blame james cameron. at least it is gonna come full circle soon