Among the protagonists, my favorite characters are Delores (because she’s a determined nerd) and Reyes (because he’s a rookie, or at least an inexperienced agent). Ransome is also a character that I like very much.
But beside the five protagonists, my favorite character is Willie. I loved his story, he made me hate the negative sides of Chuck even more. Among the other things, I loved his fragility, for example how he reacted to the good-cop-bad-coop routine.
I also liked very much some of the things that he said and how he said them (does anybody know who his voice actor is?). For example I chuckled when I heard the resigned tone that he used when he commented that the sheriff had switched the radio on as a form of torture.
It’s hard to pick one, because you could go fairly deep in conversation with most of them and they feel very well fleshed out. Leonard and Delores have a rapport, Sandy and Dave have something resembling marital bliss, Madame Morena is the 80s voodoo lady that set up shop in town.
I have to go with Doug. “Diggin the entryway with my shiny zinc shovel!” and his various other idle dialogue always put a smile on my face.
Absolutely, it’s Chuck… followed by Willie, followed by Ricki — who is such a delightful and pleasant person.
Of the 7 playable characters my least favourite is Cory… or is it Corey… I can’t remember.
I don’t particularly like Ransome or Angela Ray, and really like Antonio Reyes.
Why Chuck? He’s a tortured genius and has a very intriguing and compelling way about him. He’s highly practical yet highly intuitive but he’s also very temperamental and — despite being so cut-throat — has a chronically deep sense of inner values. On the (admittedly flawed but still somewhat useful) scale of MBTI typology, he screams megalomanic INFJ to me.
In my opinion their most telling and profound interaction was a moment of silence.
When Dave tells Sandy that Ransome deserves a last chance, there is a long pause and that’s the only time Sandy doesn’t shut up Dave. I deeply loved that moment. It shows that feelings can be conveyed not just by words but also by the absence of them.
I explained some of why in the updated version of the post but what that leads to is his awareness of his surroundings, yes. Further, how he then wrestles with that realisation and concocts his plans and operations… and by the end of the game I’m still not entirely convinced of which side he’s really on, what he’s truly trying to achieve, not his motives. A romantic notion might be to suggest he’s at war with the machines and that’s what’s causing his inner conflicts. There’s a lot in the game to suggest that is indeed the case but even if it’s true, it isn’t clear who “won” out of Chuck, the AI and “good and evil”.
In other words: his deep complexity makes him intriguing.
Natalie!
The core of a strong democracy is a strong press!
Loved the character, loved the political significance of the dialogues, loved the humour, loved the settings (the baloon framed Thimbleweed Nichel Office and nice touch the Gutemberg machine), loved the puzzle with the radio.
Basically, the game is filled with great characters. Many of them are entirely ordinary and without any serious eccentricities yet they are memorable, which is ironic for me to say given that I forgot about Natalie (LOL).
"What are you doing, Doug?"
God I love that language, it sounds so cool.