For games this is partly true, it depends on the company behind them. Most of the time Square follows a certain patter with their FF games. It was Final Fantasy Tactics that changed that for me first, together with Xenogears.
Otherwise it was kinda obvious what would happen with the characters and how they would develop.

Disgaea 2 had some twists that didn´t accur to me untill very late and the “very bad” ending kinda stuck on me with fright. Man…

For character development that is taken to the best point I have to say Xenogears, since we get to know basically everything about Fei and Elly.

FFVIII may have had it´s faults, but the love story with Squall and Rinoa is really good. Yes it´s one of the obvious games from Square but still, great love story :p

That aside, I’d rather have characters that behave credibly in the present than some some gimmicky tragic/haunting/traumatic past which usually just ends up making me roll my eyes at the cheese.

Hige: I know you’re sitting in your custom-built villain’s chair watching me on magic CCTV as you plot to destroy the world ;). I guess the ultimate point is the obvious one that fiction isn’t real life- much as a lot of plot devices have worn out their welcome, we don’t need ultra realism (”Steve dragged himself out of bed, shuffled to the bathroom to relieve himself, went back out to the kitchen to put on the kettle…”) and of course we can like the kind of characters that would probably make it onto the national news (or at least into the nearest mental institution) if they showed up in real life.

If anything, all this additional ‘realism’ feels like an obligatory tack-on to give characters (and their writers) credibility rather than advance characterisation as a technique. Like you say, the dark past/traumatic memory is the norm now, and if it’s absent critics and viewers alike will bitch about the show/film’s lacks depth. I think the trick is to use that formula but challenge expectations and perhaps employ it with more subtly. Seemingly, though, most media just amps up the violence and drama. Your character accidentally killed his mother as she prayed at your father’s grave? Psh, mine killed children indiscriminately and shagged his half-sister. On two separate occasions.

But to answer the question: Hell yes I can get behind mass-murderers. It’s the pristine virtuous types that I can’t identify with. Funny how I exemplify everything I just previously criticised, eh. Also, please do not think me suspicious for cheering on murderers. They often just do more exciting things.

As for the character depth thing, hmmm… while I generally thing the whole ‘fiction can’t be bad because it’s not real’ thing bothers me, it does give us the chance to see characters that are horrible people, and not feel bad about liking them? I know a decent amount of my favorite characters are the type of people I’m not very fond of in real life.

“SUIKODEN HENTAI”
…Is it bad that I laff at the notion D:?