In this article, I will exorcise my demons by detailing my top 5 most annoying RPG characters. It’s quite a personal list and I wouldn’t be at all surprise if a character on the list is your favourite. I’ll try to explain why they annoy me personally and hope I don’t offend anybody too much along the way.
5) Yuna, Final Fantasy X: Fancy going on a one-hundred hour long romantic adventure with your ex-girlfriend?
I’ll start with the most contentious and personal one: Yuna, from Final Fantasy X. Arguably she is the most unfair inclusion. The reason that she annoyed me so much was that when I started playing Final Fantasy X, I had recently split up from a girlfriend who reminded me a lot of Yuna. She had the same mousy hair. She had the same mousy personality. My ex-girlfriend didn’t attempt to sacrifice herself for the greater good of society but I lived in hope that she might someday.
The reason that Yuna annoyed me so much was partly down to the illusion of choice. There were various points in the game where characters would ask me whether I liked Yuna. Wakka would say “She’s cute, ya?” and I’d tell him that no, she wasn’t my type. I’d also explain whenever given the opportunity that I preferred Lulu and Rikku. I’d hoped that like with Final Fantasy 7, I would have a choice of who I wanted to be romantically involved with. It seemed that this would be the case, otherwise why keep asking me whether or not I liked her?
Despite clearly saying that I didn’t, I was effectively subjected to an epic romance with my ex-girlfriend. Teaching my ex-girlfriend how to whistle. Enduring a cringe-worthy scene where my ex-girlfriend forces a laugh and tops it by saying “Too funny!”
After finishing the game, I felt a little confused. What was the point of all the questions about which lady I preferred? I checked online and it turned out that it has an impact on who throws the blitzball during Tidus’s Overdrive Blitz Ace. It also had a slight impact on who talks to you during cutscenes. Great.
In Final Fantasy X-2/Charlie’s Angels: The RPG, Yuna returned with an almost completely different personality but was no less annoying. If anything, I think she was even more annoying in the sequel.
“I will share your pain with you!” – Yuna/my ex-girlfriend

4) Makoto, Enchanted Arms: Why does one of the first openly gay characters have to be such a camp stereotype?

I’ve nothing against including homosexual characters in RPGs at all. In fact, I applaud it. I enjoyed playing both Nights of Azure and Nights of Azure 2. I’ve done the gay and lesbian romance storylines in most of the BioWare RPGs (admittedly, mostly for the Achievement Points). I even restarted Mass Effect Andromeda when I realised that Suvi was only interested in a romance with a female Ryder (not for the Achievement Points…I loved her accent and thought she was an interesting character). When I was in university, my girlfriend at the time was a member of the LGBT Club (not the Yuna one). I would sometimes accompany her to gay bars and nightclubs and it was usually fun.
What bugs me about Makoto is that he’s such a super camp stereotype. It’s like a bunch of writers who had never met a gay person in real-life watched one episode of Graham Norton and went “Yep, that’ll do.” There’s nothing interesting about Makoto’s personality or backstory. He’s just a badly written token gay character. “Hey, Makoto. Think you could help me with this cursed arm?” “I’m like, so gay!” “Have you got the time, Makoto?” “It’s like, time to be super gay!” “Makoto, can you show me the way?” “Did you say, you want a gay?!” It also didn’t help that the voice acting for the English version of Makoto was awful.
It’s great to include a diverse cast of characters with different sexualities. Please ensure that you do give characters a good personality and that they have a purpose for the story other than ticking a box.
3) Lymle, Star Ocean: The Last Hope
It was hard to pick just one annoying character from Star Ocean: The Last Hope. There were a lot of them who were irritating. Part of the problem was the terrible voice acting. Lymle is an annoying child who has a habit of finishing sentences with “‘kay”. No, I’m not okay. Where are your parents and why aren’t you in school?! What – you lost your parents at a young age due to a typically tragic RPG backstory? Yikes…now I feel awkward.

2) Emil, Tales of Symphonia 2: Possibly the wimpiest RPG protagonist ever.
I loved Tales of Symphonia. Unfortunately I found Tales of Symphonia 2 to be a massive disappointment and Emil was partly why. A whining wimp who just wanted the adventure to stop is far from my ideal RPG lead. In battle, he only becomes powerful due to making a pact with the Lord of Monsters. Outside of battle, he’s still his same annoying self.

1) Marumaro, Blue Dragon: Annoying in any language.
Oh, Marumaro. He is the only character on this list who annoyed me so much that I never finished the game he was in. Perhaps I will someday but if so, I will probably turn the sound off. He looked pretty bad (short, yellow, badly dressed and pointy ears) but that wasn’t the real killer. It was his voice which made him so annoying for me. Marumaro doesn’t talk. He yells every line in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.
I tried to play Blue Dragon in other languages in the hope that his voice would be less annoying but alas, it wasn’t. I kept hoping that Marumaro would be killed off or that there would be the option to permanently leave him behind. Am I missing a real treat with Blue Dragon? I loved Lost Odyssey, the old Final Fantasy games and wanted to love Blue Dragon. I just couldn’t…because of him. Is it worthwhile buying a copy of it and giving it – and Marumaro – another chance? If so, please do comment below and let me know.

Honourable mention: Roman Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV
Technically he can’t be in my top 5 because he’s from an action-adventure rather than an RPG. He’s so annoying that he deserves an honourable (dishonourable?) mention.
No, I don’t want to go bowling with you. I don’t want to go to lunch with you. And no, I don’t want to go and play darts. I’m in a gunfight. I’m fighting for my life. Now is not a good time! Do you want to come and help me? No, you’d sooner just sulk? Okay then…

Which RPG characters annoyed you the most?
If you liked this article then you may also be interesting in checking out This Game is Terrible: Tales of Symphonia 2 & Virtues Other RPGs can learn from Divinity: Original Sin 2.

10 responses to “My Top 5 Most Annoying RPG Characters”
I agree about the gay fella. I’ve got nothing against homosexuals, but to constantly run around being fruity really grates my nerves. One of the reasons I like Life Is Strange so much is because it is a moving love story between two people who just happen to be gay. If I were forced to put money on it, I’d bet a lot of the “hateful backlash” against gays in games is caused by disliking nonsense fruity clichés as opposed to having any issue with who people want to bump uglies with. Just my two cents.
Seriously? Going after “Enchanted Arms” for not endorsing your version of social justice? It’s bad enough when the games come with a political agenda. Demanding that they share your political agenda? Let’s just say that, while I’m happy to play games that are apolitical, if they match your political agenda please give a warning so I’ll know what games to avoid.
I’d also like to note Enchanted Arms represents the game that destroyed all respect I had for X-play. When it came out on Xbox 360 they gave it a 4/5.. When the exact same game came out on PS3 a while later they went full social justice warrior and gave it a 2/5 for offending their leftist views.
Since they never announced what scores they would give a game if they didn’t factor in their political agenda (except, indirectly, Enchanted Arms), I stopped caring about their scores, and, not long afterwards, I just stopped watching altogether.
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It’s the voice, and the fact that he’s way overpowered.
He’s like Superman, and I don’t like Superman either.
Hi Elnawawi. Thanks for your contribution. Yes, I’m with you regarding those Mass Effect characters. I’ve replayed the original Mass Effect many times and so far I’ve never let Kaidan live.
I’ve not got around to trying Tales of Berseria yet but it’s on my to-do list. I’ll let you know what I think of Kamoana when I do get around to it.
I’m loving the idea, it makes me think of my own list!
Here they are, without specific order:
* Hope Estheim (Final fantasy XIII/Lightening returns):
I can’t find words to describe this one. He’s horrible, just plain annoying, everything he says and does makes me grit my teeth. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 he was somewhat ok, less annoying at least, but for some reason in the next game they decided to revert him back to his younger most annoying self, and on top of that, he keep talking to you via earphone THE WHOLE GAME!
*Kaidan Alenko/Jacob Taylor/James Vega/Liam Kosta (Mass Effect 1, 2, 3, Andromeda):
OMG! I had to group these four together, because they all cast the same arc of annoyance upon me! Don’t know why Mass Effect insist on making such boring male/human/officer characters! Even Anderson or Udina would be more interesting party member!
*Vivienne (Dragon Age Inq):
Another one from Bioware. She’s a kickass, her fightning style is kickass, her views on mages could have been very interesting, if it’s very very hypocrite.
Kamoana (Tales of Berseria):
The game is amaizng, but Kamoana?!!! Not just her personality, and looks. But also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3tkxN_TZlA” rel=”nofollow
all of the dragon age inquestions cast aside from dorian and iron bull. Dorian because hes such a straight to the stereotype gay man that its unintentionally hilarious, and iron bull because he is a funny man.
i’ve never played any of the games in the OP but skyrim companions and dragons dogma pawns are pretty dumb.
5) Laughs in Tidus
This thread looks fun.
1: Riki (Xenoblade Chronicles) – It would be easier to make a list of things that aren’t annoying about him.
2: Solas (Dragon Age Inquisition) – The elven mage with perpetually tangled panties. Go f**k yourself Solas.
3: Cindy (Final Fantasy XV) – I never thought I’d hear myself say this but, we get it; you have boobs. Also, her awful southern accent was the equivalent of hearing nails on a chalkboard.
4: The blacksmith from Dragon’s Dogma – “Masterworks all, you can’t go wrong.” FOr thE LOvE Of gOD, sOMeBOdY MAkE IT STOP!!
5: Lydia (Skyrim) – If you block the doorway one more time Lydia, so help me god I’m going to murder you (which I eventually did).
Hi Rakuyo. Thanks for the comment. Most of you chosen 5 make sense to me. I ended up inducting Loghain into the Grey Wardens in Dragon Age partly due to Alistair annoying me (and I also wanted to marry Anora).
What was it about Mickey Mouse in Kingdom Hearts that annoyed you?
Yuna only got worse in FFX-2, going from noble heroine to spoiled brat within one sequel.
5) Dandelion (Witcher 3)
4) Alistair (Dragon Age)
3) Micky Mouse (Kingdom Hearts)
2) Narrow Minded Man (Bloodborne)
1) Caroline (Persona 5) for refusing to stop kicking you, every time you enter the Velvet Room.
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