User:Khanassassin/Sandbox: George

George Stobbart is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Broken Sword series of adventure games, voiced by Rolf Saxon. He made his first appearance in 1996's Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, and by Dave Gibbons on the face portraits in The Shadow of the Templars' 2009 director's cut and Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror 2010 remastered edition. Created by Charles Cecil as an American to appeal to US markets, George was originally designed by Red Rover animation Studios' Mike Burgess.

George is an American patent lawyer, who as an American tourist witnesses a bombing of a Parisian cafe and meets French photo-journalist Nicole "Nico" Collard in The Shadow of the Templars, and from here on out, unravels conspiracies around the world in his adventures. George has been in an on and off relationship with Nico, and has also been romantically involved with Anna Maria, a character who is both introduced and dies in The Angel of Death.

George is one of the most popular protagonists among adventure gamers, often praised as one of the best. Publications such as IGN, Adventure Gamers and Edge have praised George's wit, humour and dialog. Much praise has also went to Saxon, and is also the role for which the actor is best-known for.

Character development
Broken Sword creator and director Charles Cecil wanted to create two protagonists of the series, a man and a woman, who would exchange thoughts and ideas, helping drive the game along, thus creating George Stobbart and Nicole "Nico" Collard. To make the game appeal to both US and European markets, George was made American and Nico was made French. George was originally designed by animator Mike Burgess, who worked for Red Rover animation Studio. When talking about George's design in The Sleeping Dragon, Cecil said: "In Broken Sword 1 George was a pretty cool, if slightly naïve, American. We felt that in Broken Sword 2 he came across as weaker. Our objectives [in The Sleeping Dragon] are to get back to what he was previously and bring him into the 21st century."

Revolution had already cast Hazel Ellerby as Nico, but had trouble finding a voice actor for George. Hazel suggested her former schoolmate from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Rolf Saxon, as George. Cecil, who Saxon knew before Broken Sword's creation, offered him the job and he accepted it. Although Nico's voice actresses was constantly changing, Rolf remained George's voice actor throughout the series, also recording new dialogue in The Shadow of the Templars' director's cut; Cecil noted that he was always "pleased" with Saxon's performance, saying "he made the role his own."

Character artists: Shamus Baker, Guy Robinson [BS3]

Reception
George has been met with positive reception. Saxon also received much praise for his performance, and it is his best known work. RPGFan's Neal Chandran called George "an enduring and beloved protagonist among genre fans." Adventure Gamers' Evan Dickens said George is "already among the favorites in adventure gaming history, as a result of the generally excellent dialogue and intelligent character progression through the first two Broken Sword games."

IGN's Sam Bishop said that due to the "Perfectly read lines [that] totally make the characters come to life", "George has an honest, dry wit that makes it a joy to actually get responses from him." CheatMasters' David Gomez said: "Wonderfully voiced by Rolf Saxon, protagonist George Stobbart and his never-ending pockets is one of video game’s greatest characters, a title helped even more so by his subsequent adventures." BeefJack's James Haresign called George "a fantastic character, a reluctant modern day Indiana Jones," and that "His constant narration is a step above your average adventure game star. George’s internal monologue is full of snark, self-mocking, and insight into the American, not just hints and refusals to do something." Edge wrote that George is "among the most sympathetic digital creations of all time".

PushStartSelect called George a "legend", saying he "oozes 'cool'" and that "The true beauty of George Stobbart and the Broken Sword games however lies in the set pieces and dialogue which takes place as George converses with everyone and anyone attempting to uncover clues in his quests in unravelling mystery. Some of the jokes, innuendo and general humour will leave you teary eyed and doubled-over. It is honestly some of the funniest material to be included in a video game. It is simple humour granted, but as so well executed over the course of each game, these humorous exchanges alone become one of the series’ most superlative assets. George isn’t like modern protagonists. He carries no weapons. He’s not macho. He’s not particularly brave. But he’s hilarious and he still manages to get shit done when it needs doing… and still has time to get the girl!"

PC Zone reviewer for Broken Sword: The Angel of Death was rather critical of George from previous games, but noted that he improved in The Angel of Death: "I've never really been that fond of George Stobbart as a lead character. I always thought him a little too dim, a little too American and a little too cheesy - and as such I'm pleased to report that in The Angel of Death I started to warm to him. This is engendered in part by a plot contrivance that brilliantly uses and abuses his over-eager naivety for a huge chunk of the game".

Gibbons said that George; is a "very interesting" character, that he is "not your stereotypical hero", and is "quirky" and does "unexpected things", that he "isn’t always strong, sometimes he's a bit doubtful", and that he is a character "you like to identify with and you wouldn't mind being [him] in that scenario, rather than some faceless automaton."

Cecil has given much praise to Saxon's performance, saying: "Rolf Saxon's fantastic. He'll read the script, and he'll deliver a line and go: 'Why do you do it that way?' He changed the script for this. He'd say 'George wouldn't say that.' And this is what we're trying to do. He's talking to Nico, he said: 'I think I should start skeptical, because then when I start to accept it, that means we've gone through a journey'. It just works really, really well. [...] he's very loyal to us, and we're very loyal to him. He's a terrific actor. You really need confident actors; they lift the whole thing, and he's one of those. We've always had quite timid Nicos, the actresses have lacked confidence, and he's always pulled them along."