Ranking The 'Tales Of' Protagonists From Worst To Best

Who's the fairest of them all?

[luphonix]

Thank you for all of the love and discussion this video has gotten.
It seriously means the world to me!
I plan on replying back to everyone ASAP, I've just been taking a little break from youtube and such. (Being lame and just living my life lol.)
I'll be back soon, I promise!
Just keep in mind that this list only consist of games that I've personally beaten in the series.
I don't think it's fair to add certain characters if I haven't seen their entire character ark play out yet. I'm also actually in the process of playing through TOE at this moment too. So far, so good!
Again, seriously love our fandom, and appreciate everyone of you for even watching this video.
Till next time!

[JobeStroud]

What I liked about Yuri was that it isn't immediately about saving the world. It was just catching a thief that screwed his neighborhood over. Do the deed when needed.

[rotolotto]

Lloyd is actually more dynamic than you give him credit for. He isn't that steadfast, unflappable paragon that he seems once you look closer. Lloyd breaks the rules to protect Collette and to save Marble, he gets frustrated with Collette and he gets so frustrated with his situation that he nearly throws his exsphere into the sea, and would have killed Kvar if Kratos hadn't stepped in to get his revenge. Lloyd is a great character and one of my favourites!

[ninjaguy]

I liked velvet because her hatred and reason was well justified, and being imprisoned for 3 years does something to your mental state. Her being with an imagination of her brother and see how she was acting was pretty heartwarming seeing the old velvet with her brother, all to see she knew he was fake the entire time. Her development throughout the game was lovely as well.

[kemix]

Luke was seriously my favorite protag, he just...felt like a real character. Everyone's got their issues, but it felt like he EARNED his growth, earned his respect. Yes, part 1 Luke is very...bad...but it was a necessary evil honestly, and you come to respect and even like Luke by the end.

[carebear]

I don't agree with Velvet only because you DO see development before her break in the form of side quests. Her personality is cute.

[kay_sou]

I'm gonna make my case for Velvet being great here.
1. She's shown to be compassionate throughout many points in the game, but you just have to look for them. I believe that Eleanor is supposed to kind of be the player's way to learn things about Velvet, with her journey mirroring our own. We slowly realize that even after years in a prison just murdering things (which would probably drive the average person insane) there are bits of the old Velvet left. This is also shown in the revisit to her home town.
2. As for her team mates "trying to help her achieve her goals", for the majority of the game that just really wasn't true. Aside from Laphi, who followed her blindly because he literally couldn't think for himself, everyone else had ulterior motives and their objectives just so happened to align with Velvet's. They weren't helping her, they were using her to help themselves, and Velvet did the same.
3. I think anyone would have control/trust issues if they literally saw their brother be murdered by someone who acted as their guardian, along with then throwing them in a prison for years to do nothing but murder monsters. That isn't something someone just gets over in a few days. That stuff would scar for life.

So yeah, just because a character is bitter, spiteful, distrusting, and controlling, doesn't mean they're not a well written character. In fact, I think Velvet is all the better for it.

[FrankReynolds]

Dude, I love Yuri. I've been playing the Tales of Vesperia remaster for the last week and its so great getting to experience his growth as a character all over again.

[Aerynnh]

I personally LOVE Velvet. The prologue is a really powerful part of the game to me. We see the life that she had and loved before her village was ravaged and her brother was brutally murdered in front of her eyes. Throughout the story Velvet does show tiny glimpses of her compassion so I disagree with you there. She doesn't uneededly murder people. She is willing to do anything to achieve her goal (killing artorious) but she still shows a TINY bit of morality through her actions. She's not obsessed with her brother. She's obsessed with AVENGING her brother. She just cares like any older sister would for her ill younger brother. I think her arc was masterful (maybe not on the level of Luke or Yuri) but nonetheless masterful. Her character is VERY mature for the tales series lol. Small subtle things really hit me about her character. Like her lack of taste for regular food. She literally can only taste blood. It's sad. But I do understand your viewpoint. Your list is pretty spot on though.

[lucassworldofletsplays]

Regarding Velvet and everything you said about why you don’t really like her, I have two things to say about that. First, I’d be pretty pissed and coldhearted too if one of the only family I had left was killed in front of me by the other only family I had left. Second, Velvet does begin to warm up to the rest of the party over the course of the game, and it actually starts earlier than you’d think: with Laphicet (the malak, not her brother). She gives him a name and is one of the people who helps him discover himself, along with Eizen and Rokurou. Velvet is second only to Luke in terms of my favorite Tales protagonists, and she may very well be my favorite female protagonist in all of gaming.

[LuckyDayz]

I totally think Jude and Millia got a fair amount of character development over the course of Tales of Xillia. With Jude learning the importance of conviction while Millia learned the importance of compassion for others. It's a small but steady gradual change over the course of the game that I noticed when I played the game.

[kevineeveron]

Yuri is sooo human and realistic. I love the guy

[Tsyuait]

I like Yuri the best because he's 21, and one of the oldest protagonists in JRPG barring immortality shenanigans. He's an adult and acts like one.

[Mizukiame]

My top 1 will always be Luke, true he was annoying at the first half of the story... But i like his development more than any of the tales MC... His change was truly a touching. :3

[natepeach]

i feel a strong sorey-appreciating solidarity

But besides that I really liked the structure of this vid and how your opinions were presented in a real chill way, it was very refreshing and I enjoyed hearing your takes on the characters a lot :-D

[weglarz]

velvet has plenty of reasons to not trust people and plenty of reasons to be cold/hateful.

[SleepDeprivationVids]

My personal favorite is Luke with Yuri as a close second. The annoying start to his character was crucial to making his growth all the more impactful and meaningful. So I see the annoying parts of his character as a plus because it allowed him to grow.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

He goes from entitled, whiney, sheltered rich boy to having a purpose but being used to realizing that he is responsible for so many deaths to finding out he's a clone to total dispair despirately trying to make any good come out of his life no matter the cost to recognising his true value.

[makotoyuki]

This is way to late but just a heads up: Your judgements are valid and all but it kinda feels like you judged them on “what trope they are” rather than “ *How* well the *execution* of said trope is”

[normal]

The worst thing in this series is that there's a protagonist voiced by Yuri Lowenthal and a protagonist names Yuri Lowell, and they aren't the same character.

[ItsXetren]

You forget that Velvet was also imprisoned for three years with no human contact, only demons being dropped in the pit, which she then had to eat to survive. It's a miracle she had any compassion left at all after that. Realistically speaking, that would absolutely break most people beyond repair, and that isn't even taking into account her hatred for Artorius.

Giving her more compassion would have absolutely been unrealistic with what she went through. Also, you're looking at her by human standards. She's not human, she's a demon, a being consumed by malevolence. It is quite literally impossible for her to have been as cheery as you want her to be. Despite how much she softened up in the end, she was still emitting a ridiculous amount of malevolence.

In short, considering what Artorius did to her, and the fact that she is a demon, it wouldn't make any sense for her to be more compassionate.