Best GTA Protagonist

[DK06282000 72]

As much as I love Tommy and CJ, I have to go with my man Niko Bellic, fresh out of Serbia. He's a mature, empathetic, and very down-to-earth person who, in spite of his actions in the game, does have deeper morals that is very relatable to many players, which is also helped by his cynicism. He's just such a complex and consistent character that almost a lot of people could connect with, which is why I consider him the best protagonist of the series.

[SilverJ17 5]

I'd say Tommy Vercetti.  As much as I love CJ, much of my love comes for the San Andreas map and it's sheer amount of variety.  If only we could have gotten add-ons/ Stories DLCs that add San Fierro, Las Venturas, and everything between for GTA 5, I would have considered it now.  I never really played the GTAs after SA beyond a little of 5 so it was between him, CJ, and Claude.  I'm not really for Claude's lack of a voice.  Tommy had the better one-liners between him and CJ.  Too bad him and Claude can't swim.  I mean, come on, you're in a city based on freaking Miami and you can't even learn how to swim?

[DownInThePMs 2,588]

Claude

 

Hes basically you

[SinisterRaccoon 342]

Niko. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by SinisterRaccoon

[jaylen pizarro 107]

niko

Edited April 3, 2020 by jaylen pizarro

[Electric_Spectral 808]

Niko bellic.

 

[Niobium 11,806]

and in this poll, johnny is still the most underrated protagonist by far, trailing just behind luis lopez and franklin clinton, and only ahead of vic vance, huang lee and toni cipriani. sigh. 😞 at least you all chose niko bellic as the number one protagonist, so you're all forgiven 😛

[MyNameIsNotImportantBro 862]

1 hour ago, Niobium said:

johnny is still the most underrated protagonist by far

I don't agree with you, maybe it's Luis Lopez or Mike from Gta advance.

[pianoir 261]

3D - Tommy Vercetti

HD - Niko Bellic

 

I like both of them, but I'll go with Tommy.

[Mohjmz 2]

Michael>Trevor>Niko>CJ>Franklin>Tommy>Johnny>Luis>Claude 

[Mister Pink 12,401]

CJ is probably next for me. Because as player, even outside of the story, CJ the character was more in line in what I wanted to in a game. Gamble, bet on horses, swim, buy a casino, win in the casino, go to other cities, enter low-rider competitions, learn martial arts, work out at the gym, drive trains, acquire lots of properties, buy a landing strip, get all licences etc etc. 

 

Probably Tommy Vercetti because we have Ray Liotta. Not only that, but he's a wise-guy that was in it for himself and the money. He gave two fingers to his old family and started his own thing. His goals were also more aligned with my goals in a game. 

 

Then Niko. I like Niko but I found him to be a bit whiny. And I just couldn't believe someone would travel all the way to the US from eastern Europe to find someone that betrayed them. I just felt a little too convoluted for me. Maybe not that but he didn't at all get suckered in by the life-style. He had tunnel vision for vengeance. I guess that I'm saying is Niko's motivations for arriving in Liberty City are at odds for what I wanted to do as a player in Liberty City. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Mister Pink

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

And I just couldn't believe someone would travel all the way to the US from eastern Europe to find someone that betrayed them. I just felt a little too convoluted for me. Maybe not that but he didn't at all get suckered in by the life-style. He had tunnel vision for vengeance. I guess that I'm saying is Niko's motivations for arriving in Liberty City are at odds for what I wanted to do as a player in Liberty City. 

Interesting, never thought of it that way. I think Niko only seriously pursues the betrayer when he gets into contact with Boccino, in the first act and for a bit more while he does mention it and it's clear it's in the back of his mind, he's mainly trying to survive and improve his situation after being fooled by Roman, while keeping clear of Bulgarin. I assumed the main reason for Niko coming to LC was Roman's lies encouraging him to try to start a new life here and escape Bulgarin, and once he improved his situation he would go after the betrayer. But its been a while and I may have got my events confused possibly, and I can see what you mean as well. 

 

I do agree with you in that Tommy is the man. My favourite protagonist, while Michael and Niko duke it out for best in my opinion. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Guest

[billiejoearmstrong8 5,868]

Yeah I think Niko came to Liberty City for multiple reasons. Hearing that one of the men he was looking for was possibly living there might've sealed the deal but he also had Roman telling him to come with exaggerated tales of how great his life is (and even without the exaggeration he is one of his closest family members and there are more opportunities in the US so it wouldn't be a bad idea to go there even if Roman had nothing going on). And he needed to stay away from his home country to avoid Bulgarin and was already working on a merchant ship in order to escape him that happened to be visiting LC anyway. Made sense for him to go there even without the revenge part.

Edited March 29, 2020 by billiejoearmstrong8

[Algonquin Assassin 51,114]

On 3/24/2020 at 2:20 AM, Mister Pink said:

Then Niko. I like Niko but I found him to be a bit whiny. And I just couldn't believe someone would travel all the way to the US from eastern Europe to find someone that betrayed them. I just felt a little too convoluted for me. Maybe not that but he didn't at all get suckered in by the life-style. He had tunnel vision for vengeance. I guess that I'm saying is Niko's motivations for arriving in Liberty City are at odds for what I wanted to do as a player in Liberty City. 

As others have said Niko had more than one reason to go to Liberty City.

 

Most other protagonists (if not all of them really) only seem to have one agenda for doing what they do, but Niko's character is a lot more layered than that. Revenge is obviously one of his motives, but even if he didn't want to hunt down Darko and Florian I still believe he would've went there regardless because he wanted to escape from Bulgarin's sh*t and saw Roman as his ticket out of Eastern Europe.

 

R* could've done the typical rags to riches story again, but it had been flogged like a dead horse throughout the 3D era and at the start it kind of teases that until Niko realises Roman's been full of sh*t all along and anything he wanted do had to be put on hold until he could sort the mess out.

[Mister Pink 12,401]

2 hours ago, SonOfLiberty said:

R* could've done the typical rags to riches story again, but it had been flogged like a dead horse throughout the 3D era and at the start it kind of teases that until Niko realises Roman's been full of sh*t all along and anything he wanted do had to be put on hold until he could sort the mess out.

Your back!  

 

Yeah, I'm just a sucker for rags to riches. Niko, isn't bad. GTA IV isn't bad at all. Just I'm being a demanding little sh*t. It's a good story-game but didn't reach its potential (IMO) for gameplay. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by Mister Pink

[Algonquin Assassin 51,114]

12 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

Your back!  

 

Yeah, I'm just a sucker for rags to riches. Niko, isn't bad. GTA IV isn't bad at all. Just I'm being a demanding little sh*t. It's a good story-game but didn't reach its potential (IMO) for gameplay. 

No problem dude.

 

I get not everyone is as obsessive-compulsive about it as I am.

[Gettin up 982]

On 3/6/2020 at 2:11 AM, DK06282000 said:

As much as I love Tommy and CJ, I have to go with my man Niko Bellic, fresh out of Serbia. He's a mature, empathetic, and very down-to-earth person who, in spite of his actions in the game, does have deeper morals that is very relatable to many players, which is also helped by his cynicism. He's just such a complex and consistent character that almost a lot of people could connect with, which is why I consider him the best protagonist of the series.

I don't know man. I like Niko and Luis, But Michael seems to be the guy. I like to move my ass on the streets of GTA V instead.

[Jowday 70]

Tommy Vercetti

[Ahmedmfroezspeed 286]

On 3/18/2020 at 5:16 AM, Niobium said:

and in this poll, johnny is still the most underrated protagonist by far, trailing just behind luis lopez and franklin clinton, and only ahead of vic vance, huang lee and toni cipriani. sigh. 😞 at least you all chose niko bellic as the number one protagonist, so you're all forgiven 😛

dude, you forgot about mike (advance), Toni Cipriani, and Vic Vance already ?

[Niobium 11,806]

4 hours ago, Ahmedmfroezspeed said:

dude, you forgot about mike (advance), Toni Cipriani, and Vic Vance already ?

uhh no, i mentioned vic and toni already. and who gives a f*ck about some character from a gameboy advance game

[Limefong 287]

Niko bellic

[Ahmedmfroezspeed 286]

Gawd,why is it always Niko ?!

it makes no absolute sense...

On 3/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, Niobium said:

who gives a f*ck about some character from a gameboy advance game

i do

[Algonquin Assassin 51,114]

1 hour ago, Ahmedmfroezspeed said:

Gawd,why is it always Niko ?!

it makes no absolute sense...

 

As Brucie would say it's lonely at the top NB, lonely baby.

[Jeansowaty 6,329]

As ironic as it sounds, imo Mike is one of the better protagonists in the 3D Universe. Sure he doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Nicky or Vic, but he's the 2nd best protag in the 3D Universe imo. Most GTA protags are plain unlikeable or just neutral to me.

[Carl Theft Auto 1,547]

CJ Remember the name.

[Limefong 287]

On 3/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, Niobium said:

and who gives a f*ck about some character from a gameboy advance game

Ikr. Who gives a f*ck about Mike? He sucks

[OH76 365]

Niko and Vic. Niko is easily the most complex protagonist. His backstory is well developed, and so is his down-to-earth personality. He would also do anything to protect his family. Pretty likeable protagonist.

Vic is the nicest protagonist of the series, but he is a badass as well. Don't really get why people call him bland, to be honest.