Smartest video game protagonists?

There have been a lot of video games with Sherlock Holmes.

But getting passed that, I nominate Kain from the Legacy of Kain series. Mainly the "Elder Kain" we see in the Soul Reaver games and Defiance. He's playing a game of chess with an omniporesent squid and a guy who can manipulate time and he's doing pretty well for himself.

So... would a protagonist scripted to make incredibly smart decisions be considered more intelligent than one whose intelligence depends on the player?

edited 7th Jan '11 6:26:27 PM by Recon5

I would say yes. It's rather hard to think of a protagonist as "smart" if during the scripted cut-scenes they are doing really stupid things. The more player action necessary, the less likely the protagonist can be called smart of his/her own right.

To this end, I second Kain.

edited 7th Jan '11 6:56:41 PM by Swish

Damn, you're right. If only they could put Bowser in a place wherein he is stopped from leaving. Wherein there are few ways out, and those ways are somehow blocked by portals that can alternate between being open and closed, perhaps by some complex mechanism of moving pieces of metal. Wherein he can be kept, for a determined mount of time, or possibly indefinitely, under surveillance, perhaps by peoples who are employed to stop him from getting out, and watch him to make sure he isn't getting away.

But, such a concept is just fantasy.

You think that there's a prison in existence that could hold him? Seriously?

And guarded by who? The Mario Bros. are the only competent ones in the kingdom, and they're too busy saving the world from every other wannabe dictator and eldritch abomination.

edited 8th Jan '11 3:10:55 AM by Perseus

Trans rights are human rights.

So now we've moved away from "are they smart" to "are they the smartest people in a land of incompetent fucks?"

Has anyone ever tried drowning him? If he's a 450 pound spiked dragon who regularly survives lava, might wanna look into it. Alcatraz was called inescapable for a reason.

If he regularly survives lava, who says water will do a damn thing?

He has Super Not-Drowning Skills in Bowser's Inside Story, anyway. Not that you would know that.

Trans rights are human rights.

Well excuse me for assuming Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors

Didn't Bowser at one point fail to survive lava… Like, really graphically?

Eric,

Yuri Lowell from Tales Of Vesperia. While he is Book Dumb, he uses a lot of Obfuscating Stupidity and actually figures out some plot twists on his own.

^^ Yes. But he came back anyway. The point isn't that he can survive anything as much as that he always returns no worse for wear.

Trans rights are human rights.

I actually planned to say JC, but since he was said in the topic post, I'll go with Max Payne. He's a street-smart high-ranking agent in the DEA, with a strong mastery of the English language and an expert on Norse mythology, who finds a way to unravel vast government conspiracies.

He also listens to indie folk rock, so everyone knows that means you're smart. </musictroll>

Just call me Travis Bickle for now.

Seconding Gameplay and Story Segregation, and adding Idiot Ball on top of that. A PC can solve an advanced puzzle involving physics, switch-controlled doors and/or a seemingly nonsensical item hunt one moment, and in the next be suckered in by a CardCarryingVillain's unsubtle ploy. For the most part, video game characters are only as smart as the person controlling them.

Aww, did I hurt your widdle fee-fees?

No,

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death itself may die."

I agree. Video game characters are not as smart as those controlling them. They are less smart. Because they need someone to control them to get out of their situation.

Max Payne jumped to mind for me right after J.C. too, but I kind of discounted him on the basis that (note I've only played the first game, no Mac port) his actions can basically be summed up as one big killing spree that spanned the ladder of blame through sheer process of elimination. I give him some points for initiative and a certain amount of canniness, though they get subtracted again for squeaking past a mickey, beating, firebomb, and drug overdose that all could've killed him on sheer lucktoughness. To be fair, that last stuff is really just contractually required in the genre.

Now that I think about it, looking over Magnificent Bastard and Xanatos Gambit the closest thing to a Player Character on there seems to be RPG leads from Bioware/BIS/Obsidian games. I think we all know why that is, something less optional is probably more like what we're looking for here.

Eric,

edited 10th Jan '11 4:19:20 AM by EricDVH

I'd nominate Shepard, just for not being Genre Blind.

I fail to see the spoiler, but YMMV, I guess.

Not to mention a could of the stunts s/he pulls (Freeing the slave indentured servant on Illium, giving Al-Jilani a verbal beatdown.)

edited 10th Jan '11 11:09:20 AM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Fucking spoilers dude.

J.C. Denton all the way. He is able to handle all kinds of crazy situations, and his willpower and intelligence are embodied in this statement: "This is why I was created? This is why I exist? Alright, let's do this."

To a lesser extent, anyone who can actually win the game Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator would have a pretty dang intelligent Israeli Prime Minister as a player character.

edited 10th Jan '11 10:26:42 AM by ssfsx17