Rean Schwarzer from the Trails of Cold Steel pentalogy. The borderline visual novel/extremely story heavy games did a very good job investing me into his perspective, and you get to see his life, his joys, and his sorrows for 500 hours. He gets roped into becoming the public face of an administration he doesn't like, and forced into helping conquer other countries once the cold war escalates into a hot one because the alternative his that his people will lose. Sean Chiplock's voice acting really helped. I disliked how the latter CS games shied away from having Rean brush up against other people, be it the people of the provinces he conquered or villains who hurt the people he loved. He was at his best when he was allowed to express animosity.
It is very disappointing that for all of the heartache he goes through and an adventure spanning four years, his romances do not matriculate like with a certain other Erebonian character.
I also quite liked his character design of a long, bright/high value white longcoat, which makes him identifiable onscreen, even when the camera is zoomed out extremely far and he is a small spec. I also liked the designs of both of his two mechs, Valimar and the Tyrfing S.
Rufus Albarea. He started out in the first Cold Steel game as a helpful and wise big brother side character, and then the middle games turned him into a charismatic lieutenant of the big bad Chancellor Osborne. Normie Trails fans hate him for killing one of the series' main big bads. I personally liked that he did what the heroes wouldn't do and finally took out the garbage who had been haunting the franchise for five games. Then in Trails into Reverie, he becomes one of the three protagonists, and the oldest Trails protagonist to date. D.C. Douglas' voice acting is pretty good. I like how he is a trickster and is resourceful and bold, even after he has been dispossessed of his wealth. Sadly, like Rean he is a public figure who has antagonized populations, and has also been personally aggrieved by several other characters too, but he is not really allowed to express animosity, and it doesn't feel like anyone is really out to assassinate him. Every hero in Trails must be always pleasantable towards everybody and can never be really disliked by other characters.
I was a little peeved that he wasn't allowed to sacrifice himself at the end of Reverie. He became one of my top 5 Trails characters when he stepped out of the teleportation circle and then killed his reputation on the internet so that the death star driven by humanity's hate would target itself. That would have been a pretty poignant way for the character to end.
I liked how he not only wields a sword, but also casts arts (whereas the other prominent Awakeners and Soldat pilots exclusively use their martial arts). In gameplay, he can heal the team while stabbing with his sword, so you can have a full team of martialists on the field without ever needing to bring along a healer with a staff throwing out sparkles. He has also had a cool golden mech. Sadly it doesn't seem he was allowed to keep the Helmord after Reverie. Apparently Renne ratted out his secret offshore bank accounts to the CID, so as of Kai no Kiseki he truly is destitute.
Oshtor from Utawarerumono Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth.
He is actually Haku, a man from our time who survived the nuclear apocalypse and has been brought forward into the distant stone age future. In his time, he had to endure our atomized mundane world, letting life go by. He gets a new lease on life in the medieval world where he finds community, and finds fulfillment serving as backroom support to the great hero Oshtor. Then a coup happens, the emperor is assassinated, the great hero Oshtor is framed and has to escape with the princess to his hometown. The group gets intercepted and real Oshtor dies vanquishing their pursuer, leaving princess Anju in Haku's hands. Haku reasons that without with the great hero's backing, Anju will not be able to rally enough support to take back her throne, so Haku dons Oshtor's mask and impersonates him. The second game is rife with tension as Haku constantly lives in fear of discovery. Keiji Fujiwara (RIP) did an excellent job portraying Haku's outward jovialness and his inner reveries, as well imitating the real Oshtor's voice (Kentaro Tone has since taken over voicing Haku in the series). Haku is also a little more Machiavellian than your usual JRPG protagonist, framing an innocent guy and allowing him to get executed, and then also preventing an withdrawal order from going out to allow eager volunteers to walk into a trap and see what happens.
He also has a cool character design with the white cape over blue kimono and the half mask, and transformed into a kaiju before FF16 riffed it.
Yuuto Takamine from Aselia the Spirit of Eternity Sword. Another VN that got me very invested in his story. He and his little sister get isekaied to a fantasy world, where they are promptly captured by kingdom whose people speak another language. His sister gets used as a hostage to blackmail Yuuto into bonding with a demonic sword and conquering the neighboring countries. A bit of that Rean vibe where he is fighting for people he hates against people he feels sorry for, and has to kill his friends. He stays up at night and has reveries, contemplating the things he did and wondering if there is any future for him. Aki Hata's music does an excellent job conveying the mood.
I liked Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. He wields a cool double-saber (probably looks better with the PS1 chibi proportioned character models than it does with realistically proportioned characters, as seen with the Viper class in FF14). He is very charismatic, is a big bro to Vivi, and hits on girls. I liked how he got flustered when the topic of marrying Garnet for real came up and he started seriously pondering whether he would be a good husband. I also liked how he has a happy go-lucky exterior, but also has doubts and regrets that he reminisces about in private.
Iver from The Banner Saga trilogy. He's an old man. He fought in a war and was hailed as a hero, but
he shies away from that title because the truth is that he didn't win a grand duel against some great enemy ace. He saw the enemy had their back turned and hurled his axe, and then it turned out it was a mother tending to her child (this revelation comes at the same time you realize that the Dredge are not "invading" out of malice, but are actually a civilization running for their lives from the oncoming apocalypse. Humanity is just unfortunately in the path of their escape route). So he left his people behind and hides in the obscurity of a small human village. It is very rare that you get an old RPG protagonist. I liked how stoic he was. In TBS3, Iver has to march along with a band of cold blooded killers, and there is a segment where an evil serial killer is walking with Iver and recounting with glee his deeds, and you can just feel that Iver is going to axe the guy on the spot, but you can just remain silent out of pragmatism.
I thought that the male Charr player character from Guild Wars 2 was very good. From the base game through the Heart of Thorns, he is voiced by Ron Yuan. He has this gruff, stoic tone but is still emotive and can interact with other people on their level. He also has a couple of really emotive moments like when he meets his pariah dad, or meets his zombified war buddy, or when he is fired up against Mordremoth in the climatic final battle of HoT. I was disappointed when Lex Lang took over the role during season 3, though Path of Fire won me over. I still prefer the ferocity that Ron Yuan was able to exude. The male Charr PC sounds the most solid and dependable of the playable characters.
Honorable mentions:
Wander from Shadow of the Colossus. He is a stoic young man who boldly stole his village's relic sword and galloped on a long journey to the forbidden land, and made a deal with the being Dormin to resurrect his love. The long gallops to the bosses through a desolate world and the absence of music playing gave a melancholic atmosphere to his quest. I liked how he is just a young man and not a powerful experienced hero. He is not fast or strong or skilled, and clumsy on a colossi. He is adept at riding his horse. He must rely on his wits, and courage.
And then soldiers from his village catch up to him, shoot him in the knee, and execute him.
I liked how Hal, the protagonist of World End Economica, had conviction in his heart and did the thing and destroyed evil, even if it meant that a lot of people would lose their jobs and cause people to send him death threats.
Seconding Denton from Deus Ex for his voice and stoic demeanor.
I thought that Styx from Styx Master of Shadows wound up being interesting in the first game. He is this selfish, cutthroat goblin thief. He can create disposable clones to solve puzzles or act as decoys.
Then it turns out that you (the Styx you have been playing as) is actually a disposable clone created by the real Styx, but due to a stroke of fate you haven't dissolved. So your Styx has a moment of introspection about how he treats other people as tools, and then sets out to take care of the evil original Styx. Unfortunately, it appears that clone Styx dies at the end of the game. A new third Styx entity is spat out, but it seems to be different, so presumably the sequels are about this guy instead of the redeemed clone Styx and you are back to being cutthroat.
I liked how introspective Tidus was in FF10, though unfortunately the character design falls flat for me.
The male protagonist in Pokemon Black & White had a neat character design. Older, eccentric hair but not ridiculous.
This guy below from Space Cowboy Online (later relaunched as ACE Online and Air Rivals). You could pick one of preset avatars, and I liked him the most. He's young and handsome but not teenaged young. He has cool slicked back hair. He has a neat fantasy uniform (I liked the Gundam SEED aesthetic of the game). And he looks cool smoking. I couldn't find any good screenshots of him ingame.
EDIT: shoutout to Jim Raynor from Starcraft 2. He is the hero, but hasn't had a perfect hero past, as he was a robber. I liked his friendship with Tychus.
I liked the voice acting of the male Demon Hunter in Diablo 3.
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