90s FPS Protagonists

[Egg Boy]

I think 90s FPSs are great. The fast visceral combat, the complex, sometimes maze-like map design. But I absolutely hate most FPS protagonists. You know, the ones with "attitude." I prefer the strong silent type. I just find characters like Duke Nukem and Lo Wang eye-rollingly unfunny and lacking in any sort of charisma. Perhaps I just can't understand the appeal because I wasn't there at the time. Anyway, what do you guys think of 90s FPS Protagonists. I understand that I'm probably in the minority here, but I still want to hear your opinions.

[DesecratorJ]

Doomguy is definitely the best in my point of view.

[Egg Boy]

6 minutes ago, Mayhem666 said:

Doomguy is definitely the best in my point of view.

completely agree.

[seed]

Yeah, I prefer completely silent protagonists as well as opposed to ones that talk. This also breaks the immersion because you know you just control someone else as opposed to actually being the player.

 

Despite this, I like talking protagonists such as Duke Nukem and especially Lo Wang, as juvenile his humor might be, so there's some exceptions to the rule. Otherwise there's still Doomguy, Ranger (Quake), Gordon Freeman, and so on.

[CARRiON]

What made characters like Duke Nukem special was the fact that it was not a common practice at all to give the protag voice lines, especially unscripted ones they would say in response to player actions and both positive and negative feedback. This made you feel like the protag in an action movie where the hero would often have many one-liners and would trash talk their opponents. They also included a lot of pop culture references because it was novel and "cute" to hear the protag say a famous movie line or break the 4th wall in a way and reference something in the real world or even another video game. Nowadays it's very common for an FPS protag to speak, and seems like a "duh no shit" sort of thing.

 

As for which I prefer, I don't mind silent types, and I don't mind talkative ones if done well. The problem with a character like Duke Nukem or 'classic' Lo-Wang is they're really not that funny anymore. That and they are pure parody with almost no actual character of their own, relying on the novelty of hearing them talk alone, which in the 90's was enough. There is nothing endearing about them to me. If I had to pick a favorite talkative 90's FPS protag, I'd probably say Caleb is my personal favorite. For a pissed off undead revenant seeking revenge, he can be delightfully snarky. Stephan Weyte's delivery for his lines is perfect, giving this nasty sadistic streak to his lines, like he's taking a perverse joy in fucking over those who fucked him over. That and I'm a sucker for the horror references because I <3 horror. I also adore The Crow, and Caleb's character defiantly takes direct inspiration from that movie. But overall his character is a lot more interesting, it's such a shame that series died and an asshole publisher now sits on it like a spoiled child.

[Lila Feuer]

Caleb is my favorite, he's the only anti-hero in the BUILD lineup, but also the only anti-hero in the classic FPS lineup also. He will kill who or whatever gets in his way, on his path to fulfilling his vengeance, and can guns akimbo before it was cool in nu-Wolfenstein. His character seems a little edgy, maybe, but he usually just laughs at the carnage while making quips in reference to various horror movies, and when idle he'll sing old timey tunes. So overall I'd say he's less obnoxious than someone like Duke or Wang.

[Mr. Freeze]

Silent protagonists actually get annoying after a while, because there's no way with all this crazy shit going on your guy wouldn't occasionally voice something. 

 

BJ Blazkowicz is my favorite mouthy protagonist as of late, and I really liked Ethan in Resident Evil 7- he had some lines but it was stated that most of his lines are your own lines expressing shock or surprise. 

[MFG38]

I care very little about whether a protagonist is voiced or silent. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the Duke Nukem franchise, I can appreciate Duke for what he is, and I actually find myself cracking a smile at some of his one-liners. One of my favorites in DNF was "Not my idea of a good screw".

[seed]

4 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

I care very little about whether a protagonist is voiced or silent. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the Duke Nukem franchise, I can appreciate Duke for what he is, and I actually find myself cracking a smile at some of his one-liners. One of my favorites in DNF was "Not my idea of a good screw".

 

"Get that crap outta here."

[MarsHappyNation]

I love all the goofy voice acting and cheesy one-liners. Talkative, absurdly macho characters like Duke are super endearing to me.

[Uncle 80]

I love the bad, un-pc humour of the Lo Wang character, it's a tie between him and Duke. (And I'm talking about their original incarnations, of course)

[Egg Boy]

4 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Silent protagonists actually get annoying after a while, because there's no way with all this crazy shit going on your guy wouldn't occasionally voice something. 

 

BJ Blazkowicz is my favorite mouthy protagonist as of late, and I really liked Ethan in Resident Evil 7- he had some lines but it was stated that most of his lines are your own lines expressing shock or surprise. 

These are both more recent examples. And I don't have a problem with protagonists that talk. I'm talking specifically of 90s FPSs.

[[McD] James]

I like Sam Stone quite a bit, even though I'm not a fan of his games. 

[HavoX]

^ Wrong decade; Serious Sam was first released in 2001.

 

But yeah, this guy is so funny.

[[McD] James]

[Deleted_Account]

Quakeguy is best.

[Lila Feuer]

14 hours ago, Ex Oblivione said:

Quakeguy is best.

 

Huh! Huh!

[ReX]

Doomguy really expresses himself through the HUD, and id did an excellent job with the expressions. However, when I first played games like Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood, I was very pleased to have a voice to go with the character. The fact that the one-liners reflected the characters' personalities was a major bonus. The additional fact that there was so much humor in the speech was the icing on the cake.

[Reaper8888]

Doomguy will always be my favorite, but Duke Nukem and Lo Wang were hilarious. For whatever reason the developers just figured that they wouldn't be able to get away with making those protagonists the serious and silent types, and perhaps they were right... 

[vinnie245]

Caleb is my guy, just a complete badass that has no remorse for what he does and hes just got style.

As far as silent protagonists go i have to go with Doomguy and i always loved the FaceHUD as it shows their expression by visuals alone (Wish more games implemented a FaceHUD tbh)

[mrthejoshmon]

As a guy with an un-natural love for cheesy 80's/90's action flics I find myself incredibly pleased by the ability to assume direct control of 90's FPS action hero's and their 'tude, I especially like being able to crack one liners and taunt enemies as I go on my merry man slapping business.

[Grain of Salt]

On 3/3/2018 at 6:18 AM, Egg Boy said:

I just find characters like Duke Nukem and Lo Wang eye-rollingly unfunny and lacking in any sort of charisma.

 

Yep yep yep.

 

Duke3d pretty much follows the family guy school of thought, where a "joke" means quoting something word for word and adding nothing. The less said about Lo Wang, the better.

 

On 3/3/2018 at 6:18 AM, Egg Boy said:

Perhaps I just can't understand the appeal because I wasn't there at the time.

 

Nah, they were just as dumb at the time.

[nxGangrel]

On 3/13/2018 at 8:12 PM, Ex Oblivione said:

Quakeguy is best.

He was voiced by Trent Reznor so there's no arguing with that.

Imagine what it would have been like if Quakeguy/Ranger had one liners. I'd imagine it would be something like...

"Pigs get what pigs deserve"

"I can reduce you! I'm hard as fucking steal!"

"Human junk... Just words grunts and so much skin"

"You were swimming in my haze, now you crawl on the ground!"