91 replies to this topic

[TXTwilight]

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

 

BTT: I tend to forget most NPC´s, even though if they are well written and interesting characters, but there are some, which jumped into my mind, like the Dustman who want´s to commit suicide in PsT. Interesting dialog there, like with most Planescape NPC´s.

The Enclave officer with which you can chat in Fallout 2. Great reference and a good voice actor.

Not really a minor, but Jaenette and Therese from Vampire: The Masquaerade - Bloodlines is somehow memorable.

[milczyciel]

Fallout 2, First Citizen Lynette.

 

OMG what an arrogant uptight b*****. Set the tone for the whole vault city experience just perfectly. It's not an evil place and she's not evil, but... hell. And she's kind of a major NPC, so breaking my own rules straight away..

 

My God... That! That, multiple times! After all, internet didn't nicknamed her "First Bitchizen Lynette" without a reason. I literally hated her and I can easily recall that overwhelming mischievous joy I've felt, after I struck a deal between Gecko and Vault City behind her back, with the help from Councillor McClure.

And then after completing this particular quest, going to her office and telling her just about HOW I "solved" the Ghoul/Gecko problem, for no other reason as pissing her off! There were no additional xp gain, no change in story (doesn't change ending for VC and Gecko, so obviously she swallowed her pride, the only apparent change was in her behavior towards PC). SOOO satisfying.

In fact I think there were bunch of more or less minor NPCs that were simply great in both F1 and F2, but just to emphasize the greatness of Lynette design I wont mention any of them :D

Edited by milczyciel, 17 July 2013 - 08:16 AM.

[Lephys]

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

Meh... mostly a bunch of evil people who were prepared to kill her just for the sake of power. She didn't just go around slaying babies and laughing. If she killed someone, it was for a reason. She basically just instituted martial law on her own terms, simply because it's either that or complete chaos in Omega. Did she like what she did? Sure. But she still had a good reason for doing it, and that reason wasn't just to make her feel better. *shrug*

I just liked the conversations with her and such, and her general character style, even though you only talk to her like 5 times. Of course, I didn't play the Retake Omega DLC, which I don't understand being DLC and not just an inherent part of the game. But I digress.

[Micamo]

Aria always seemed to me like that 11 year old punk who starts selling pot in the halls at middle school and thinks he's a hardcore gangsta. Nowhere near as cool as she thinks she is. The writers were trying to hard to sell her as this badass mastermind but I just never bought it.

[Ulquiorra]

All minor character from Vampire Masquarade Bloodlines, i never saw a game with this level of "well done" minor characters.

[Lephys]

Aria always seemed to me like that 11 year old punk who starts selling pot in the halls at middle school and thinks he's a hardcore gangsta. Nowhere near as cool as she thinks she is. The writers were trying to hard to sell her as this badass mastermind but I just never bought it.

Yeah, I get that. But, Shepard (at least in my playthrough) kinda calls her out on that, and she sort of admits to it without actually doing so. Her persona always felt to me like she was kinda purposely going all-out with it, to use her reputation for some manner of control without actually having to deal with as many incidents/issues.

I think the truth of her is a bit of both. She really is sort of like a big kid who thinks she's way cooler than she is, while at the same time actually pretending she thinks she's even cooler than that to really sell it to anyone who might consider 1-upping her.

Of course, her quality is all within the context of the Mass Effect series. I mean, she's not the best character ever or anything. I just thought she was notable, for being a minor character, within the Mass Effect 'verse.

[TXTwilight]

 

 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

 

Meh... mostly a bunch of evil people who were prepared to kill her just for the sake of power. She didn't just go around slaying babies and laughing. If she killed someone, it was for a reason. She basically just instituted martial law on her own terms, simply because it's either that or complete chaos in Omega. Did she like what she did? Sure. But she still had a good reason for doing it, and that reason wasn't just to make her feel better. *shrug*

I just liked the conversations with her and such, and her general character style, even though you only talk to her like 5 times. Of course, I didn't play the Retake Omega DLC, which I don't understand being DLC and not just an inherent part of the game. But I digress.

 

And now we can discuss, when a killing is justified or not ^^

Sure, her victims wwere all gangsters, but she could also just have them baished from Omega after she broke their powerbase. Most of them would had a bounty on their heads, so she could just hand handed them over to the authorities and so on.

About the enjoying thing, what was the story with the Krogan patriarch again? If I remember correctly after she broke him and his followers, she kept him as a pet, purely for her own entertainment and to scare of rivals.

But yeah, she is one of the more fleshed out NPC´s in the Mass Effect universe and I also enjoyed the dialogs with her. BTW, don´t bother with the Omega DLC, it is pretty underwhelming, like most of the ME3 DLC´s.

[milczyciel]

Ok, here comes another one I've came up, after the thorough look of my "gamebrary".

 

Doctor Marc Miller, head of hydroponics on the Von Braum (System Shock 2 for those who don't remember) who -for me at least- turned out to be far more memorable than Melanie Bronson, chief of security. And just let me tell you, that Bronson seems to be one of the most memorable side characters for quite a few people I've discussed about SS2.

But lets go back to good 'ol doc Miller. My "sentiment" for him may have a lot with the disgust of mine for characters hurting (or preying upon) women and/or mother figures. Still, I can't explain with my broken English how much terrified or should I say terrorized I felt, when I learned his story for the first time. And the "ghost" scene between him and one of his victims -Erin Bloome- only sealed the deal. The not so heroic pleas for life from late nurse only added to the impact he's story arc had over me. On the interesting side note: his voice acting wasn't as great as one would expect after reading my praises.

So just to sum it up, let me quote chief nurse Angela Loesser, when she found out what he did to 16 of her staff: "That son of a bitch. That_son_of_a_bitch!"

 

There is another one, and I recall it made me quite numb (at least for a moment before another attack). Hybrid-turned security guard Turnbull who turns out to be carrying audio log she kept recording while parasite took over. Disturbing as hell, especially when you listened it just seconds after adrenaline rush caused by her sudden attack (scripted).

 

 

I find myself honestly grateful that I've played the game back in the day, when it was fresh and groundbreaking (and when I had no internet so no one was able to spoil it for me ).

 

PS

I've added some links for those more interested about, or (gasp!) oblivious to SS2 story.

And if you'd like to relive the experience of System Shock audio logs here's another handfull link.

[centurionofprix]

From Vampire: Redemption

Count Orsi and the neverending decadent monologue. I don't know if they made him so long-winded on purpose, but the guy goes on and on and it's absolutely hilarious. Plus, what a bastard.

The letters from the council of voivodes and Libussa the Defiled.

 

From Vampire: Bloodlines

The fragments of Alistair Grout's decline on the recordings in his mansion.

Jezebel and the rest of the plague-bearers. Jeannette, Theresa, the embittered ex-supermodel Nosferatu - hordes of wonderful minor characters.

Sebastian LaCroix. Not so minor, but fabulously written and acted. He makes such a human, yet perfectly despicable, worm overlord.

 

From NWN2

Amie was likeable. I was actually quite gutted emotionally to have her die on me - ditto for Sandhra.

 

From MOTB

The souls you could view at the Thay academy, and the devils in the basement. Funny, tragic, weird.

I get the feeling there were a number of such characters in MOTB that I forget. The guys in the furnace.

Oh yeah, and the crones most of all.

 

I liked that evil cleric in BG who raised zombies like they were his family.

 

Bassilus definitely. That was a fabulous little encounter, even if the skeleton of the quest could've been more fleshed out.

 

Prism and Greywolf too. And Brage. These atmospheric little vignettes were the very best.

Edited by centurionofprix, 17 July 2013 - 06:58 PM.

[Tick]

This is surprisingly hard to think of. My brain wants to name major characters. The problem is the fact that the roles are so small that they're easy to forget in the grand scheme of things.


The Overseer in Fallout 1 was great. I think he was well done for his role in general, but one unique ending for the game and this made his character awesome.
There's also the guy with a low intelligence in one of the towns who, if you have a low intelligence as well, you can have a politely mannered conversation with in-depth.

Also. The crazy dude in the church, way later on, that makes a reference to "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire." It was worth going back to the messages log to read the full conversation with that guy (the game kept skipping to the last line). :D

In Mass Effect, beyond what I saw pointed out earlier, there was a turian at Noveria. Not very important, but the writing was entertaining. There was also Leeroy Jenkins, way back at the beginning, and the crazy man who was foretelling everyone's doom shortly after.
Also, Nihlus.

A lot of the minor characters in BioShock were well done, they had individual stories that helped portray different perspectives of what had happened and often went beyond one audio diary.
Also, in BioShock 2, Mark Meltzer was great - if you had the viral campaign's backstory.

The despairing hero/soldier guy in Demon Souls - he's extremely cynical, sits at the first stone. It appears that his lack of will, or his general inaction, causes him to lose his life/soul/existence.
In Dark Souls, the first knight you meet during the introduction.

Ish in The Last of Us. Tommy, Marlene, Tess. Sarah was well done.

Rattmann in Portal. Where would the cake meme be without him? ;]
The corrupt spheres in both games were great, too.

[Ulquiorra]

Fallout New Vegas

 

Also well done minor characters, even talking to minor gang member was athmospheric. My favorites is Boone and Cass

[Sensuki]

Kresselack

[Ulquiorra]

Other rememberble characters from Gothic 1 and 2 night of the raven.

 

there are some characters that even don't have a name like "town guard" or "novice" and there are still wery climatic events in this game, I also think that giving characters names like Alvarez or Gomez also gived some to this athmosphere.

[Wolfenbarg]

I also immediately thought of Little Buster before I even scrolled down and saw you linked the line I was thinking of as well. New Vegas has a lot of memorable NPCs, Chief Hanlon definitely being my favorite. Despite how much he talks, I actually wish he had more to say about current events in the Wasteland.

 

In a similar vein was Bassilus, I really like the crazy gnome who uses Basilisks to forge a rock garden he wants you to be a part of in Baldur's Gate. It's so ludicrous that it ends up being funny, and the condescending dialogue options you can choose really play into that.

[Woldan]

Noober of course!
 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

I agree, Aria was badass, not bad.
Loved the relationship between her and the protagonist, there was some sort of fragile stunted trust between them because they needed each other (and nobody really wanted to admit that openly). Carry-Ann Moss' voice acting was excellent also.

 

Aria T'Loak, from Mass Effects 2 and 3. Really good voice acting, and she did a pretty damned good job of being "bad" without being "evil."

Except, that she killed a lot of people just for the sake of power. I consider this quite evil.

 

She did that to prevent chaos which probably would have lead to huge piles of bodies. Omega was a violent place.

Another NPC I really liked -even though its role wasn't so minor- was Solar from Baldur's Gate II Throne of Bhaal, great character. I liked the concept of having conversations and being guided by a truly benevolent being from a heavenly-plane.

Edited by Woldan, 21 July 2013 - 02:15 AM.

[SophosTheWise]

Also came here to say Noober. Altough I liked so many characters in Baldur's Gate. For example the bard from the Firewine Bridge.

 

I've a tale, a tale to tell
Of Knights so bold and dungeons hell

And slumber broke upon the shore
Of nightmare's reef when dawn no more.

[Eiphel]

Whilst almost everyone in New Vegas counts, this morning Vulpes Inculta sprang to mind. Your first encounter with him can't fail to make an impression.

[milczyciel]

That hermit named Portalbendarwinden, living in the wilderness outside of Nashkel.

I'm amazed nobody mentioned him already. Maybe it's because 4th wall breaking joke? Oh well - more fun for me :D
I suppose he wouldn't be so memorable, if not for that particular rant of your PC, in reaction for his gibberish prophecy / advice. Still, back in a day, it made me laugh so much, that I've decided to take a screenshot of our conversation and then copied it to floppy disk, because I wanted to share it with all 3 BG-playing friends of mine. And I find it amusing to this day. True story

 

Chicken turned mage apprentice Melicamp.

His short story had both humor (as always in dialogues) and drama - at least before I've learned that he can be saved and all I needed to do, was to keep reloading the quicksave. That randomness of his survival in the curse removal process, was quite refreshing and different from most of the game.

Edited by milczyciel, 22 July 2013 - 09:08 AM.

[Nonek]

Too many to mention in all honesty, the minor npc's of Ultima 6&7, Betrayal at Krondor and Torment all spring to mind.

[quechn1tlan]

Gluupor, the stupid as bricks low-life Rodian who, for whatever reason, was hired by the Sith to plant evidence in KotOR's murder trial on Manaan. The way he talked about himself in 3rd person(with how it correlated with the alien voice acting) and the conversation itself to me were hilarious and very memorable. Also the fact that even other NPCs regard him in a condescending manner also added flavour.