User blog comment:Sunshineandravioli/Stuff Sunshine Likes, Issue I/@comment-2186558-20120128020259/@comment-1194745-20120128224954

That's part of what elevates a game from simply fun to something truly great - you actually have to care about the chararacters, see them act believably human, connect with them - if you don't care about the hero, you won't have any reason to want to aid them on their quest; if you don't care about whoever's aiding or directing you, you won't want to listen to them, and if you don't care about your antagonist, you won't be driven to defeat them. When you start caring about the characters and the things they stand for, it draws you into the game and makes it even greater. That's part of Portal's genius, in making it a first-person game - because the main character is you, of course you care about the main character, and then the writing and acting for GLaDOS - both the character who leads you forward and the character who acts as your antagonist - is so well-done that you care about her as well, and Portal has so few characters that just by doing that, suddenly you have a true drive to keep going with the game.

On that note, that's probably why I'm iffy about Arkham City - the gameplay and graphics and story are al excellent, but the characters are often depicted as being so darn perfect that it's hard to connect with them, especially with Batman himself, which is probably why when people talk about the series you often hear them being more impressed or connected to the villains rather than Batman, as they have a bit more flaws and more realism to them.

LOL, we are, aren't we? This is why it's bad to engage in deep philosophical/intellectual discussions on a blog, I guess XDD