My Favourite Video Game Character
Up until just recently, Frank West was my favourite video game character. I don’t know why, but I instantly took a liking to the photographer/zombie slasher from Dead Rising. And even now, if I was to ever find myself stuck in a mall with +54,000 zombies, he’d be the man I’d want by my side. Even if it did mean finding my life was second priority to getting a good photograph.
What I found so appealing about Frank West was how unconventional a hero he was. He wasn’t hired to clear Willamette mall of zombies and psychos, or trained in the art of Tai Kwon Do; just a freelance photographer with enough ambition to enter a zombie infested mall for some decent photographs. And I love a man with ambition. On top of that, he’s a handy guy who continually makes good use of his surroundings. Who else would think to clear the way by knocking over 15 zombies with a bowling ball? Who else would know to find a Katana on top of an orange canopy? Only Frank!
But someone else has stolen the favourite video game character crown. Meet Jansen.
While no where near as primitive as Frank West, Jansen is the only video game character who has actually had me laughing out loud at a video game. Several times over. I’ve found humour in games before, sure, but nothing like Jansen has provided. And humour isn’t something that is usually utilised so well in video games, at least not to the extent where you are laughing out loud at a particular character or one-liner, which Jansen delivers many of.
So who is this - admittedly rather annoying looking - fella? He’s the witty, albeit bumbling, cowardly, often shallow, wine loving, woman chasing, love lothario from Lost Odyssey. The first time you meet Jansen in Lost Odyssey he’s stupidly drunk with three women draped over him, instantly making you take a dislike towards him. It doesn’t improve when you realise all Jansen can do is whine and complain, and that for someone who’s meant to be saving lives, he wears out pretty easily, although, according to himself, he doesn’t “wear out in bed”. He considers himself to be somewhat of a romeo, but as the story progresses you’ll see that there’s actually only one woman on his mind, and that he’s well aware she’s out of his league. That doesn’t stop him trying, however, and often making a fool of himself in the process as he indefinitely tries to impress her. It’s very cute to watch!
Love story aside, ask anyone who’s played Lost Odyssey what they think of the characters and they’ll be sure to mention the biggest personality of them all; Jansen. Not to mention a few funny quotes as well. All of my favourite moments in the game were as a result of something Jansen nonchalantly quipped. There was the time youngster Mack lost his rag and started screaming, with Jansen replying “Wow. Puberty’s weird!”. Or the moment Kaim snapped at Jansen, resulting in Jansen muttering to himself and a fellow party member “Gee. I don’t think he was ever breast fed”. Not to mention when the party were climbing a mountain in the freezing cold and Jansen asked Seth - who’s female - to “turn around for a second”. 
Whether you’re a big J-RPG fan or not, Lost Odyssey is worth playing purely for the hilarity Jansen has to offer. Sure, he may start off annoying and in everyone’s bad books, but being the charmer he is, not only did he manage to win my heart in the game, but he’s stolen my favourite video game character crown, too. Frank, who?
Do you have a favourite character from a video game? And if so, why are they your favourite?
Tags: Dead Rising, Frank West, Humour, Jansen, Kaim, Lost Odyssey, Mack, Seth
This is where I, Ashley Baxter, blog about gaming. At the moment my primary console is the Xbox 360, so expect the topic of conversation to revolve around that.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Frank West is definitely up there on my list. But I think the Gears of War crew are at the top. I love the dialog between the 4 of them, there’s definitely some classic one liners in there.
Brucie in GTA IV had me laughing whenever he opened his mouth. At first, I couldn’t stand him, but by the third or fourth cut-scene, I was nearly on the floor.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I haven’t really encountered any memorable characters in most of the games I’ve played. Like Matt said Brucie in GTA IV was pretty funny, and GLaDOS in Portal was a stroke of genious. HK-47 in the KOTOR games was brilliant too.
I’m definitely going to have to get a copy of Dead Rising at some point soon.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Great article! I think my favourite character is Nathan Drake from Uncharted. Why? He just seems like a cool, likeable guy.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The GoW guys were pretty cool especially Cole “Hell yeah, baby. Everyone wants to see The Cole Train play!”
Brucie was hilarious in GTA IV but Simon the Sorcerer is a character that always sticks in my mind….
August 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Matt: Apparently Frank West is a pretty popular gay icon, too! The GoW guys didn’t do it for me, except for Cole. I liked him. I couldn’t stomach Marcus, however. I’ve yet to play GTAIV so have no idea who this Brucie guy is.
Andy: GLaDOS was cool. When I was referring to humour in video games, I was funnily enough thinking of Portal. And yes, you should really pick Dead Rising up! I loved that game.
Lost Havros: Aah, you know I’m not a PS3 owner, though I have from day one thought Uncharted looked great.
Dave: Like I said, Cole was really the only GoW character I truly liked. I’m not so hot on the whole sickeningly macho thing. Maybe because I’m a woman? Who is Simon the Sorcerer?!
August 14th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Really good post Ash, more like this! But let’s be fair, the GoW characters were the worst thing about an otherwise excellent game. Overly macho and so generic. Have to agree with Scrippy and say HK-47 was great, laugh out loud funny with his barely restrained evil undertones.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:34 am
He’s in a game from about 15 years ago, one of the old point and click games called Simon the Sorcerer, link below…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_the_Sorcerer_series
September 27th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Abe the Mudokon won my heart without need for any of this dialogue nonsense.
I think he may have had monologue though; regardless, his self-awareness coupled with the most charming slap you’ve ever seen always made me smile