Least favorite V protagonist?

[RisingCobra]

Trevor !

 

If it wasnt for the kills of Haines and Weston ( thoses annoying f*cks ) he would already be 6 feet underground..

[Pedriko]

Michael, he's just boooring

[Ryo256]

11 hours ago, SonOfLiberty said:

Good point, but I would rather a guy who may not necessarily always take the lead, but is competent at what he does as opposed to someone who tries to do something yet is always f*cking up. 

You know what comes to mind when I read that? Trevor. Most of his missions ends up with no pay off and failure whether it is Merryweather heist, the weapon plane falling into the ocean, kidnapping the wife of Madrazo or simply forcing Michael to be FIB's puppet longer because he pissed of Merryweather. But almost everyone agrees that playing as Trevor seems to gives the most GTA-like experience. This is because taking initiative is a mark of an interesting protagonist whereas reactive protagonists are boring because they don't contribute to the plot, instead the plot happens to them and they just react. This is possibly why Luis is not that popular either, because he is reacting to Tony's debt problems or his friends' drug wars.

But I tell you what, I would take Lamar's screwups over Franklin and Trevor any day because they are at least entertaining. Secondly I think that it's more about GTA world being unfair to Lamar, because almost every crime he tries to commit, we have already committed it in GTA Online and nothing happens to us but for some reason, it screws up for Lamar only to push the narrative of gangbanging being outdated yet that is the very sh*t we want in a GTA game, screw realism and boring-ass careful protagonists, give us another Tommy Vercetti that is both ambitious and competent. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Ryo256

[Cutter De Blanc]

I like all of them but I suppose Michael least. Hes not so much the type to be running around the city boosting cars and shooting up cops. If I want to play a game of Tennis or go out and sit on a boat I'll play as Michael, but most of the stuff I enjoy doing is more well suited to Trevor or Franklin

[Limefong]

On 3/18/2019 at 7:31 AM, TheSantader25 said:

Johnny Klebitz. 

bruh. We're talking about GTA V protagonists

Anyway, My least favorite is Michael

[TheSantader25]

3 hours ago, Limefong said:

bruh. We're talking about GTA V protagonists

Anyway, My least favorite is Michael

Well he is "technically" a GTA Protagonist that happens(happened) to exist in V so. 

[Algonquin Assassin]

24 minutes ago, TheSantader25 said:

Well he is "technically" a GTA Protagonist that happens(happened) to exist in V so. 

Don't try and cheat dude. Johnny's a NPC in GTA V and he isn't even a "GTA V protagonist". 

 

Anyway looking back at the thread from when I posted about a year ago I like Trevor a lot more than I used to so if I had to pick a "least" favourite now it would probably be Franklin based on nothing more than he's not quite as interesting and as fleshed out as Michael and Trevor. Still like him though.

[m0b0ss]

Like I said in another thread, Trevor should've been an npc.

[Ahmedmfroezspeed]

Franklin,but i don't dislike him as much as i dislike Luis and CJ,however...

overall, he is a good protagonist,but not as good as Michael and Trevor...

edit: personally, i rank him just below Trevor and Michael,but overall,over GTA Advance's mike,Huang Lee,CJ and Luis

Edited May 25, 2020 by Ahmedmfroezspeed

[Summerdaises2246]

TREVOR! Okay so I'm sympathetic to him ...to an extent, due to his brashness. But I choose deathwish and although they've patched things up, T still brings it up way after the story is finished. Today I went to visit him and he says "ten years of silence and now you're like a bad smell" and rebuffed his hangout request. He clearly holds this against Michael and it gets old after awhile. Yet, the opposite of that is when I'm driving down Portola Dr, and see him walking randomly down the street or he'll stalk you on the freeway if you haven't hung out for awhile. It makes absolutely no sense, so yes....definitely T. I prefer Michael and Franklin. 

Edited February 27 by Summerdaises2246
Changed street name to correct one

[Badman_]

Niko Bellic.

[Summerdaises2246]

On 5/23/2020 at 1:53 AM, m0b0ss said:

Like I said in another thread, Trevor should've been an npc.

This, I agree on 100% due to how difficult he is. I don't mind playing as him, and his truck is awesome with the bear, but there's a clear reason Michael hid from him. Just my opinion. 

 

Edited February 22 by Summerdaises2246

[blacklemon173]

Trevor.

 

Sorry but can he just tone it down with the weirdness? I get that he's supposed to portray the average chaotic GTA player and sh*t but oh my god, can he behave like a normal human being for 5 minutes? Every time I switch to him he's either:

- getting chased by police

- harrassing some stranger

- throwing dudes off of bridges

- drunk in the middle of nowhere without pants on

 

Like come on dude. It was funny the first few times but being like that throughout the entire game just comes off as forced. As if he's just trying to be angry & weird for the sake of being angry & weird so you can say "Haha look he's so crazy and edgy."

 

I will admit though he had some of the funniest lines of dialogue in the game, when he was just joking around. I wish we would've seen more of that instead of psycho hillbilly.

[Summerdaises2246]

5 hours ago, blacklemon173 said:

Trevor.

 

Sorry but can he just tone it down with the weirdness? I get that he's supposed to portray the average chaotic GTA player and sh*t but oh my god, can he behave like a normal human being for 5 minutes? Every time I switch to him he's either:

- getting chased by police

- harrassing some stranger

- throwing dudes off of bridges

- drunk in the middle of nowhere without pants on

 

Like come on dude. It was funny the first few times but being like that throughout the entire game just comes off as forced. As if he's just trying to be angry & weird for the sake of being angry & weird so you can say "Haha look he's so crazy and edgy."

 

I will admit though he had some of the funniest lines of dialogue in the game, when he was just joking around. I wish we would've seen more of that instead of psycho hillbilly.

This ^ whole statement here. I agree, eventually I get tired of having to dress a fully grown man. Plus, I have to have him hangout w/ Michael to stop his stalking, which is ridiculous. Then M is moody the whole time...which is a separate subject of it's own. It's so embarrassing when he is naked.....like dude, no. T cracks me up, but his antics are immature at the end of the day. I also wish he would stop throwing things in M's face. 

Edited February 22 by Summerdaises2246

[Summerdaises2246]

Yeah I think the speech M gave after he ended T is spot on, he really doesn't know when to back off. get R* wanted to display his characteristics, but this is going a tad far. 

Edited February 25 by Summerdaises2246
Changed what I said to make it more concise.

[Caffeination]

Trevor is a hypocritical piece of sh*t. His accusations about Michael are true, sure, but at least Michael feels some kind of remorse and a sense of guilt for his actions, like when he apologized to Lester when they reunited and gave up his entire cut during bureau raid. 
 

Trevor manipulates the people around him, uses them to his advantage, physically and mentally abuses them (strangely played up for laughs), and ruins their lives. Ron wouldn’t have been a conspiracy theorist loser and would still be married had he not met Trevor, Wade wouldn’t have had his friends murdered by Trevor for whatever reason if they didn’t encounter him, and while Floyd would still be cheated on by his supposed girlfriend that treats him like sh*t, he wouldn’t be subjugated to abuse and end up getting killed if Trevor never barged into his life. 

 

Only reason I pick Ending C is because the other endings are subpar. Not to say Ending C is good either, I genuinely forgot Stretch and Wei Cheng existed by the end of the story, so I had no reason to believe they’re legitimate threats like Haines and Merryweather and… um, that billionaire asshole. God, GTA V sure knows how to start strong but immediately plummets in quality the moment the Diamond heist is finished.

[Summerdaises2246]

Today in game play, T drove 4 hours out of his way to throw a grenade at Michael's head for being across the street from his trailer, then was gone again. I was like really??  He's a hair trigger and it's ridiculous. Today was the first in game day of not having a tail follow me around the city and back roads. So yes hes definitely a hypocrite, he doesn't like being tailed/stalked but he stalks M all over LS. He literally gave up everything, every ambition he had in the desert to be in LS full time just bc of M., after bashing it during the story. Can someone please make that make sense? All that to say, I agree with the poster above me. 

[Summerdaises2246]

I feel so bad for Wade....he murdered (T did I mean) his only family in SA.....then sticks him a strip club and leaves him there. What kind of life is that? Ron is actually nice but he is berated so much by T, that he is a punk by the time we meet him in story and even after. He even threatens to kill M's wife over a tennis match, and then tries to hook Jimmy onto drugs and even threatens to kill him for something Michael did, (said in a hangout.) M is/was completely spot on about Trevor...even losing a tennis match against Amanda would set him off to kill her with no second thought to M or his kids and it would deeply affect them. He has no remorse or hesitation about killing his family.  

Edited February 26 by Summerdaises2246
grammar

[Summerdaises2246]

On 2/25/2022 at 12:13 AM, Caffeination said:

Trevor is a hypocritical piece of sh*t. His accusations about Michael are true, sure, but at least Michael feels some kind of remorse and a sense of guilt for his actions, like when he apologized to Lester when they reunited and gave up his entire cut during bureau raid. 
 

Trevor manipulates the people around him, uses them to his advantage, physically and mentally abuses them (strangely played up for laughs), and ruins their lives. Ron wouldn’t have been a conspiracy theorist loser and would still be married had he not met Trevor, Wade wouldn’t have had his friends murdered by Trevor for whatever reason if they didn’t encounter him, and while Floyd would still be cheated on by his supposed girlfriend that treats him like sh*t, he wouldn’t be subjugated to abuse and end up getting killed if Trevor never barged into his life. 

 

Only reason I pick Ending C is because the other endings are subpar. Not to say Ending C is good either, I genuinely forgot Stretch and Wei Cheng existed by the end of the story, so I had no reason to believe they’re legitimate threats like Haines and Merryweather and… um, that billionaire asshole. God, GTA V sure knows how to start strong but immediately plummets in quality the moment the Diamond heist is finished.

Agreed, I regret not picking ending A every time I have to go to the desert and deal with him. I always wondered if picking A would change Wade's fate in the strip club...hmmm. Anyway, yes M does feel remorse....even shooting a civilian who was taking someone's wallet, he said "whatever, let it go" and was obviously crying about it. He doesn't like to kill unless absolutely necessary, T kills for fun. He's also extremely ungrateful after he has his millions toward M. Treats him like total garbage. 

Edited February 27 by Summerdaises2246
Added to comment.

[Summerdaises2246]

On 2/22/2022 at 9:46 AM, blacklemon173 said:

Trevor.

 

Sorry but can he just tone it down with the weirdness? I get that he's supposed to portray the average chaotic GTA player and sh*t but oh my god, can he behave like a normal human being for 5 minutes? Every time I switch to him he's either:

- getting chased by police

- harrassing some stranger

- throwing dudes off of bridges

- drunk in the middle of nowhere without pants on

 

Like come on dude. It was funny the first few times but being like that throughout the entire game just comes off as forced. As if he's just trying to be angry & weird for the sake of being angry & weird so you can say "Haha look he's so crazy and edgy."

 

I will admit though he had some of the funniest lines of dialogue in the game, when he was just joking around. I wish we would've seen more of that instead of psycho hillbilly.

Angry and weird....funny you mentioned it. I just came from the desert and he was obviously ticked off and drunk in his yard and was heaving grenades like no one's business. It wasn't the normal cutscenes where he's just tossing them. He was tossing them hard on the ground so I quietly made my way back to the city. He's mad the friendship is over but yet encourages it. After wanting to be part of M's life, all he does is push him away. Complains M forgets about him, etc. Yet when he tried to spend time with him, he's greeted with a grenade to his head and snide comment's. He's a real thorn in my side. 

[universetwisters]

Franklin. He just became completely irrelevant 1/3 into the story and was there just to keep Michael and Trevor from killing eachother 

[Summerdaises2246]

3 hours ago, universetwisters said:

Franklin. He just became completely irrelevant 1/3 into the story and was there just to keep Michael and Trevor from killing eachother 

I feel he was under developed as a character. He was much better before T found M. 

[Mister Pink]

Thing about GTA V's characters is that I didn't have any respect for them. 

 

Michael was stuck in some domestic purgatory with a cheating wife and atrocious kids. You couldn't help think that Michael's poor family dynamic was simply because Michael is a poor character. I get what they were trying to do. Maybe it was inspired by The Sopranos but that kind of TV doesn't translate into a GTA game because a GTA game needs to offer a protagonist that isn't so pathetic so there is synergy between the player and the protagonist. I think Tommy Vercetti is a great example of a character who's motives are sympathetic to a typical GTA player: Take out the guys that f*cked you over and win the game by being the king of Vice City. Instead with Michael we get this sad little man with no real redeeming qualities. He's a snake with an annoying family and he lives in upmarket LA does Yoga and cries to a therapist. In fact, he might just be the most pathetic GTA protag of in the series. He could have been cool but the story wanted to focus on the over-the-hill Michael. Michael's story would be interesting in a TV series but not someone I want to play as and respect in a GTA game. 
 

Trevor and Michael pre-release seemed very intriguing. I was very hyped to play these guys. But the reality of two bickering middle-aged men, one a weasel snake of shell of a man and the other a mentally ill meth head isn't great to listen to. Trevor was a total caricature. He was a cartoon. I'm not against a guy like Trevor, I thought he could be interesting but his character is too hammy, dialled up to the max, and completely in your face. I know that's kind of all GTA characters but he was just exhausting to listen to and deal with. Constantly shouting, no moral compass, he's just chaos personified. It's just terrible as a player watching Trevor making these god-awful decisions which you have no control over and then trying to reconcile that with actually playing as him. How am I as a player supposed to get on board with a character that makes bonkers decisions that I have no control over. Then, I'm expected to enjoy playing as him?

 

Franklin isn't too bad in my opinion. He's the least offensive character of the three but still pretty offensive when it comes to poor writing.  He's 1 dimensional for sure. His story is just Luis' story from TBoGT. Young guy from the streets meets a middle-aged downtown guy that's going to mentor him. I get Franklin is kind of the voice of reason. He kind of represents the player as we witness the madness between Michael and Trevor. Unfortunately he just seems like a lazy afterthought. Even him being gifted the  house in the hills to mind stole any sense of achievement from us. We don't buy that house nor do we acquire it by stealing it off the last drug lord that owned. No sense of reward there. 

 

What happened? 

 

In my opinion Rockstar/Houser wrote a great story (although poor in execution) without giving much consideration as to how a player might feel in connecting with the protagonist. It's high concept (character-switching) and story over player satisfaction and synergy. IMO, the success of a good Rockstar protagonist is predicated on the player's motivations aligning with the protagonist. How do you marry the motives of a good protagonist and player and still tell a good story? I don't think its easy but I've thought about it a lot...

 

Making a good protagonist

 

To make a good protagonist, I think the protagonist has to win the player over so we're sympathetic to their story so we can make our story. For example, at the start of Vice City we see Tommy getting burned in a deal gone wrong. We witness the injustice immediately in a few short cutscenes. What do we want? Our coke/money and possible vengeance. But story-wise the stakes are even bigger because it wasn't our money to lost in the deal, it was Mafia's money! So, already the stakes are high, we've also been f*cked over and there is plenty of motivation in that little plot keep off our capo, and the wrath of our mafia family, and motivation to find out who done this injustice to us. It's such a simple and short setup that gives us Vice City as a playground to live this through gameplay and narrative storytelling. Bad guys are mystery and consequences of failed deal are mafia. So we have a mystery hunt, which is intriguing and the added danger of the mafia on our tail. How can that not be the perfect cocktail of story and character for us the player not to be on Tommy Vercetti's side. 

 

Same with San Andreas. CJ was being framed by crooked cop Tenpenny at the start of the game.  1 antagonist revealed immediately by corrupt cop framing CJ and blackmailing him into doing dirty work. We live it and see it happen to our protagonist and we see the injustice. It's an injustice we can get behind and want to fight; player and protagonist. 

 

Same with GTA IV (to a lesser extent which I'll get to), we learn Niko has had major injustice done to him back in his home country. There is a motivation there for vengeance. My only criticism is that we didn't' witness first hand that major injustice like we did with Vercetti or CJ. It was told through exposition where I believe IV would have benefited from a prologue showing us or letting us play some bit of story as Niko getting f*cked over, so we can feel that injustice too. 

 

Maybe Rockstar relies too much on the protagonist having an injustice served to the protagonist but it works in terms of that injustice is a good way to get people on your side and sympathetic you the protagonist's story. Another example is Arthur Morgan. Spoiler ahead, he gets ill. It's the illness and in the face of mortality that Morgan goes on a quest for redemption. We still rob, steal and kill (fun gameplay things) but Morgan  is a very conscionable man (good story writing and character progression). Gameplay elements are kept intact and we have a humane and likable character. Win-win. 

 

TLDR: I hope Rockstar focus on the psychology of how they can hook us in to being sympathetic to our protagonist's story. Vice City, San Andreas and IV did this well. V did a poor job of it but it could have been down to character-switching and perhaps Houser and team writing a good story but not with the player in mind. 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Mister Pink
fixed some typos

[Summerdaises2246]

On 2/25/2022 at 12:13 AM, Caffeination said:

Trevor is a hypocritical piece of sh*t. His accusations about Michael are true, sure, but at least Michael feels some kind of remorse and a sense of guilt for his actions, like when he apologized to Lester when they reunited and gave up his entire cut during bureau raid. 
 

Trevor manipulates the people around him, uses them to his advantage, physically and mentally abuses them (strangely played up for laughs), and ruins their lives. Ron wouldn’t have been a conspiracy theorist loser and would still be married had he not met Trevor, Wade wouldn’t have had his friends murdered by Trevor for whatever reason if they didn’t encounter him, and while Floyd would still be cheated on by his supposed girlfriend that treats him like sh*t, he wouldn’t be subjugated to abuse and end up getting killed if Trevor never barged into his life. 

 

Only reason I pick Ending C is because the other endings are subpar. Not to say Ending C is good either, I genuinely forgot Stretch and Wei Cheng existed by the end of the story, so I had no reason to believe they’re legitimate threats like Haines and Merryweather and… um, that billionaire asshole. God, GTA V sure knows how to start strong but immediately plummets in quality the moment the Diamond heist is finished.

So I pulled into T's yard and he said "you?!! I thought you were making a career of avoiding me." I thought wow rude and spent three in game days with him. I keep swinging by now and then to ensure he stays in the desert and he does, mostly bc he's out there minus his truck, somehow. 

 

 I hated Steven Haines but I despise T even more. He's an over the top character in my opinion. Steven Haines was an annoying one as well, and it felt good to sniper him. 

[NightmanCometh96]

I think I would have liked Trevor more if the game did a better job at playing up his sinister side. IIRC, that 2012 build of V had an alternate version of the "Fame or Shame" cutscene that seemed to have a more serious tone to it, due to the different line delivery. In the final product, once T gets to Los Santos, his wackiness is dialed up to 11. As a result, he winds up being way too over-the-top for my liking.

 

Not to start another useless SA vs. IV vs. V debate, but I consider his characterization to be a great example of one of my biggest issues with V as a whole. The game tries so hard to have its cake and eat it too that the entire package winds up being inconsistent. It seems as if R* wanted to simultaneously please fans of the arcadey tone/gameplay of the 3D Era and those who preferred IV's more grounded take on things. Since the game leans towards the former in most cases, its use of the latter feels a bit half-assed in comparison.

 

Getting back to Trevor himself: I have to admit that Steven Ogg's performance is just fantastic, I can't stress that enough. It was enough to make him bearable whenever he's on screen, which says a lot about a character whom I have an overall dislike of.

Edited March 2 by NightmanCometh96

[Summerdaises2246]

4 hours ago, NightmanCometh96 said:

I think I would have liked Trevor more if the game did a better job at playing up his sinister side. IIRC, that 2012 build of V had an alternate version of the "Fame or Shame" cutscene that seemed to have a more serious tone to it, due to the different line delivery. In the final product, once T gets to Los Santos, his wackiness is dialed up to 11. As a result, he winds up being way too over-the-top for my liking.

 

Not to start another useless SA vs. IV vs. V debate, but I consider his characterization to be a great example of one of my biggest issues with V as a whole. The game tries so hard to have its cake and eat it too that the entire package winds up being inconsistent. It seems as if R* wanted to simultaneously please fans of the arcadey tone/gameplay of the 3D Era and those who preferred IV's more grounded take on things. Since the game leans towards the former in most cases, its use of the latter feels a bit half-assed in comparison.

 

Getting back to Trevor himself: I have to admit that Steven Ogg's performance is just fantastic, I can't stress that enough. It was enough to make him bearable whenever he's on screen, which says a lot about a character whom I have an overall dislike of.

Oh absolutely. I love Steven Ogg, he's one of my favorites as is Ned Luke. Just the way R* wrote his character is outrageous. Today for example, I was heading home in the city and glanced at the rearview. I saw a topless man who looked awfully familiar in gray sweats on a motorcycle. 

 

I checked in on T later on, and sure enough..it was him! He followed me from Paleto Bay to LS. He's definitely dialed up and he even admits when he first arrived in LS, he went nuts. Well it hasn't worn off yet. He is obsessed with Michael, even snipering him.  

 

I haven't seen the alternative fame or shame mission....but I did like the smile T wore in that one.  

4 hours ago, NightmanCometh96 said:

I think I would have liked Trevor more if the game did a better job at playing up his sinister side. IIRC, that 2012 build of V had an alternate version of the "Fame or Shame" cutscene that seemed to have a more serious tone to it, due to the different line delivery. In the final product, once T gets to Los Santos, his wackiness is dialed up to 11. As a result, he winds up being way too over-the-top for my liking.

 

Not to start another useless SA vs. IV vs. V debate, but I consider his characterization to be a great example of one of my biggest issues with V as a whole. The game tries so hard to have its cake and eat it too that the entire package winds up being inconsistent. It seems as if R* wanted to simultaneously please fans of the arcadey tone/gameplay of the 3D Era and those who preferred IV's more grounded take on things. Since the game leans towards the former in most cases, its use of the latter feels a bit half-assed in comparison.

 

Getting back to Trevor himself: I have to admit that Steven Ogg's performance is just fantastic, I can't stress that enough. It was enough to make him bearable whenever he's on screen, which says a lot about a character whom I have an overall dislike of.

Bomb his trailer, and throw a grenade at his feet. You'll see his sinister side really quick lol. He tossed a grenade at me in traffic, and snipered at me, shooting me a few times. He'll chase you at high speeds up and down the freeways, swerving to keep up with you. Follow you all over LS, and hit you/sideswipe you. It's pure craziness. 

Edited March 3 by Summerdaises2246

[Edward RDRIII]

On 3/3/2022 at 1:32 AM, Summerdaises2246 said:

Oh absolutely. I love Steven Ogg, he's one of my favorites as is Ned Luke. Just the way R* wrote his character is outrageous. Today for example, I was heading home in the city and glanced at the rearview. I saw a topless man who looked awfully familiar in gray sweats on a motorcycle. 

 

I checked in on T later on, and sure enough..it was him! He followed me from Paleto Bay to LS. He's definitely dialed up and he even admits when he first arrived in LS, he went nuts. Well it hasn't worn off yet. He is obsessed with Michael, even snipering him.  

 

I haven't seen the alternative fame or shame mission....but I did like the smile T wore in that one.  

Bomb his trailer, and throw a grenade at his feet. You'll see his sinister side really quick lol. He tossed a grenade at me in traffic, and snipered at me, shooting me a few times. He'll chase you at high speeds up and down the freeways, swerving to keep up with you. Follow you all over LS, and hit you/sideswipe you. It's pure craziness. 

Man, wtf are you talking about in your posts? I never seen Trevor do any of these things in all those years...

[Summerdaises2246]

On 3/7/2022 at 2:40 PM, Dudu RDRII said:

Man, wtf are you talking about in your posts? I never seen Trevor do any of these things in all those years...

Wow rude! Try bombing his trailer with sticky bombs. That's why he was so hostile, but I had to get him to quit stalking so much. If you don't attack him or his trailer he's fine.