Game Characters That Had Good Development?

[Moonface]

I came up with this thread idea while responding to @popopdc's recent thread Game characters you disagree with common descriptions of, since TLoU2 has a lot of character development in it. I don't really feel like talking about that game more right now though, so instead I'll share some other characters I think had really good development:

Kratos - God of War 2018
I can't speak about Kratos as a character in any of the other God of War games since I've never played them, but going into God of War 2018 as my first experience with the franchise in any capacity I love how Kratos develops throughout this game. Even without having any major knowledge of the previous games, the game makes it clear that he feels out of his depth when it comes to raising Atreus and trying to express his feelings properly, and seeing Kratos get explored with layers and depth beyond "murder fucking everything!" was really cool to watch unfold and it might be one of my favourite character developments that happens in a single game.

Nathan Drake - Uncharted (Series)
The initial Uncharted games don't go too heavy on character development, mostly because of how they're made to be standalone stories that don't require playing the previous one to understand the characters and what's going on. Despite that, the series does try to push some heavy character exploration of Drake throughout Uncharted 3, where we get to see how destructive his obsession is with treasure, as it's put a strain on his marriage with Elena to the point they're practically separated between the second and third games, and everyone around him constantly questions what his deal is. By the end of the game he comes around on trying to prove himself and opts to give up treasure hunting entirely to settle down with Elena and live a normal life. Uncharted 4 however shows his unhappiness with such a life though, and the game goes harder on character development than anything until this point as we learn about Drake's backstory and his brother, among other things. It basically takes what Uncharted 3 started to do and goes all in to wrap everything up and give all of the characters a send-off that I think couldn't be done any better and gives us a true insight into a cast that we'd been hunting treasure with for almost a decade.


So, what about the rest of you? What game characters do you think had good development?

[Maniakkid25]

Kaim Argonar in Lost Odyssey. I've mention this in my rant of the game, but it's seriously INCREDIBLE how different a character he becomes in a few short hours. He literally says the line "I've got no use for the past," and despite that, he embraces that very same past when it returns to him, actually using it to shape his decisions and the world around him. His growth as a leader is seriously one of the best character developments I've seen in a long time, and I've played Legend of Dragoon and Dark Chronicle!

[ShiraNoMai]

I can't think of any others at this very moment, and will follow up this post when I do think of them, but with the three mentioned already, I can definitely agree with those based on y'all's context of the developments of the aforementioned characters.

[Kyng]

I thought GLaDOS got some good development in Portal 2.

In the first Portal game, she was already established as a favourite villain among many gamers, due to her sarcastic yet sadistic character - but she didn't yet have much of a back-story. However, when the sequel came around, she got the character development she deserved: we learned all about Cave Johnson; about his assistant Caroline; and about the origins of GLaDOS herself. And we got to see her as an underdog, who was on the player's side (albeit to further her own goals, rather than out of any sense of altruism )

I'm not one of those who wants a Portal 3 (because the ending of Portal 2 left few places where the franchise could realistically go), but I hope this character makes a comeback in some form in the future!

[Moonface]

@Kyng: Interesting. I've only ever really associated Glados with attempting to kill the player and assumed she mostly works with you in the sequel because she gets usurped and shoved into a potato so she has no choice. Almost like an enemy of my enemy is my friend scenario, rather than her ending up with an actual change of heart.

@Maniakkid25: Does that past present him with an advantage or something when it comes back to him which makes him choose to suddenly give a heck for the past? I can't imagine why else he would care about it all of a sudden unless it benefitted him in an unexpected way.

I have another I'm surprised I didn't mention in my OP:

Ratchet and Clank (PS2)
I love the overall story of this game more than almost any other in the R&C series, simply because right away it focuses more on the characters and how they're shaped by the world and events around them, rather than the events themselves being the focal point. Ratchet starts out caring only for himself and getting off his home planet to pursue better things, and that's the only reason at first he bothers to help take Clank anywhere upon finding him before leaving. Clank meanwhile is very naive and almost innocent compared to Ratchet due to only having existed for a very brief moment so far, which comes at odds with Ratchet's very pessimistic and I've-got-mine nature.
When the pair get screwed over because of Clank's naive nature, Ratchet immediately begins to constantly chastise Clank and the pair constantly bicker and insult each other, especially as Ratchet completely focuses on himself with no regard for anything around him unless it benefits him directly. That changes when he sees a planet get basically annihilated and he realizes there's more at stake than just what he wants, but even then the duo give the impression they're going to just work together to stop the villain and be done with each other after that. Instead at the end Ratchet is the one who comes back for Clank after the final fight to bring him home with him, which I think caps off a great story about the beginning of these two characters becoming the heroes they go on to be together.
The reimagining of this game decides to throw all that out entirely for a shell of a story that is utter shit, which is a shame because this is one of the best hero duo stories I've seen. Most others I've played that feature a pair for the main characters come nowhere close at any point to the character of this game.

[Maniakkid25]

@Maniakkid25: Does that past present him with an advantage or something when it comes back to him which makes him choose to suddenly give a heck for the past? I can't imagine why else he would care about it all of a sudden unless it benefitted him in an unexpected way.

Yes: his memories of his daughter are what trigger the cast into figuring out, you know, THE PLOT! That's not actually a joke, by the way!

If you haven't watched my rant, here's the cliff's notes

Heh, I made a pun.

So, Kaim's daughter Lirum dived off a cliff as a young child about 30 years before the game starts. This turns out to have been orchestrated by the game's villain, Gongora, in order to steal their memories and use them to further his goals of becoming a god, basically. So, by Kaim basically being PULLED out of his amnesia through his final meeting with Lirum, he quickly figures out who's behind it, and what the hell he's planning, AND HE'S CORRECT! His memories literally kickstart the main plot of the game! Never mind whether or not he becomes a better character; we don't have a GAME if he decides to leave the past behind!

[Moonface]

@Maniakkid25: Does that past present him with an advantage or something when it comes back to him which makes him choose to suddenly give a heck for the past? I can't imagine why else he would care about it all of a sudden unless it benefitted him in an unexpected way.

Yes: his memories of his daughter are what trigger the cast into figuring out, you know, THE PLOT! That's not actually a joke, by the way!

If you haven't watched my rant, here's the cliff's notes

Heh, I made a pun.

So, Kaim's daughter Lirum dived off a cliff as a young child about 30 years before the game starts. This turns out to have been orchestrated by the game's villain, Gongora, in order to steal their memories and use them to further his goals of becoming a god, basically. So, by Kaim basically being PULLED out of his amnesia through his final meeting with Lirum, he quickly figures out who's behind it, and what the hell he's planning, AND HE'S CORRECT! His memories literally kickstart the main plot of the game! Never mind whether or not he becomes a better character; we don't have a GAME if he decides to leave the past behind!

Not the exact same but that reminds me of The Evil Within 2 when Sebastian is drinking away his troubles and then suddenly a character tells him "Your daughter is alive and we have her" which is what makes him do anything in that game. XD
Also Wikipedia doesn't do Lost Odyssey any justice with explaining the plot. The way it's written makes it seem like Kaim regaining his memory happens near the climax of the game and is what lets him know to stop Gongora, rather than it being the driving force behind what he's doing prior to that point, which Wikipedia seems to paint as being a lot of stuff.

[Maniakkid25]

Characters regaining their memories is not just the driving force of the plot, but the tie that binds all the characters together. Seth's memories of her son, Kaim and Sarah of their daughter, Ming of her EVERYTHING. Seriously, it's closing in on a Deus Ex Machina, that's how important memories are to the game. That and Magic Energy, but that's more Applied Phlebotinum: something that can be used to keep the plot moving.

Also, the entire game, you unlock memories that play in a VN style that have almost always have NOTHING to do with the plot, but are STRONG emotional pieces that basically define the game as a whole. Literally, it's so moving, that the guy they asked to translate them only did so directly because of the contents within them (he was opposed to participating in the "cycle of violence" that video games often allow or even prefer). Seriously, just read "Hanna's Departure", it literally makes me cry every time.

[Moonface]

Also, the entire game, you unlock memories that play in a VN style that have almost always have NOTHING to do with the plot, but are STRONG emotional pieces that basically define the game as a whole. Literally, it's so moving, that the guy they asked to translate them only did so directly because of the contents within them (he was opposed to participating in the "cycle of violence" that video games often allow or even prefer). Seriously, just read "Hanna's Departure", it literally makes me cry every time.

Holy smokes that's some incredible writing in that link you posted. Are those transcripts voiced at all or are they just to read to whatever music or such might be playing in the game?

[Maniakkid25]

The latter, which I actually think is better for this particular case. There are visual effects, backgrounds, sound effects and other things that the game uses to enhance the experience, but the raw writing itself is more than enough to hold its own.

[Kyng]

@Kyng: Interesting. I've only ever really associated Glados with attempting to kill the player and assumed she mostly works with you in the sequel because she gets usurped and shoved into a potato so she has no choice. Almost like an enemy of my enemy is my friend scenario, rather than her ending up with an actual change of heart.

Absolutely, it's not a change of heart on her part: her motivations are still to get back in charge. 

(Although, it is at least partly because Wheatley is destroying the facility in ways that only she can fix - and, to her credit, she doesn't kill Chell after being put back in charge!)

[Moonface]

Joel from The Last of Us feels like a far too easy cop-out choice to put in as one not mentioned yet, but I will say his development feels so similar to Kratos in GoW2018. Both are hardened by previous experiences, lost loved ones, closed themselves off from feeling anything and then gradually open up throughout a journey with a child.

One that I think could be a contender but it's hard for me to fully say when I've not played the game from front-to-back myself and only watched parts of it, but Big Boss in MGS3 gives me the impression of a character with really good development.

[Maniakkid25]

...I feel like an idiot for not mentioning this before. Legend of Dragoon has a character named Lavitz, and his character development is literally the best I've seen in video games. Full stop.

So, during a detour after meeting King Albert, you go meet Lavitz's mother, and she and Shana make lunch while Dart and Lavitz decides to screw around. When you make it to the library of the house, Lavitz tells Dart he's going to show Dart his "greatest treasure", and pulls a ladder towards the outside wall. Dart climbs up, and finds that Lavitz's greatest treasure is the view of Indels Castle from his house.

No, I'm actually serious.

Why is this such a good moment? Because in one scene alone, they show exactly the kind of person who Lavitz is. He talks about how he admired his father, and saw the castle and thought about becoming just like him, showcasing his love of both family and country. And by showing it to Dart, it shows how much he's already grown to trust Dart as a friend despite their short time together. And plus, it shows he's not a glory hound, or anything nefarious; he just wants to be the best knight he can be, and that's all that he cares about. And all of this is obtained in a single scene.

It's legitimately a scene that makes me cry just thinking about it. That was just a small showcase of the brilliant character writing that the game has.

[Moonface]

@Maniakkid25: I love when any media does subtle character building like that, where it focuses on show rather than tell and ends up delivering far more as a result. I wish I could think of a game I've seen or played that has a moment like that now but nothing's coming to mind.

[Monocle]

Probably my favorite character who had massive development is Luke from Tales of the Abyss.

gonna spoiler the whole thing because I don't know who's played or will play it.

Luke grew up extremely spoiled because he lost his memories from before 10 years old because he was kidnapped. His personality is straight up disgusting, selfish, self centered. Skipping ahead, he's on a journey because he was teleported by accident and he's trying to go back home. He gets tricked by someone he admires and destroys an entire town full of people, causing a chain reaction to drop the continent below the ocean. He refuses to accept blame and he's abandoned by the entire team. Gets beat up by another character who is revealed to be the real Luke and the Luke you've been playing as is only a replica. This destroys Luke and he decides to change for the better, physically represented by cutting his hair to become a new person. Yada Yada Yada. He ends up sacrificing himself to save everyone... or did he? 

Complete 180 from the beginning of the game and he's my favorite Tales character in the entire series