H.... HOW could population decrease be a bad thing? Aren't 7 billion people enough? For what possible purpose could population increase have?A random person said:
Where do you find these people? lol
279: Wussy RPG Girls
- Thread starter Eileen Stahl
- Start date
Where do you find these people? lol
Look up The Spearhead, and for these specific instances, look for their articles on Japan.Darkauthor81 said:
To be fair, one argued Japan's not feminized, but the comments for that article were where I got thing about rocket-shaped population pyramids.
Edit: Nevermind, the comments for that one article were deleted. They do occasionally go on about how the west will be taken over by more traditional baby-heavy societies like in the middle east, though.
am I the only one who noticed that the guy in the background of the link on the top is poking her boob?
We know. Alice exists to suffer and then heroically sacrifices herself to save her man. That's exactly what the article said she does, and is exactly the purpose the "Princess archetype" serves in theater.MrChainsawNinja said:
Of course, the people here keep trying to rebut Stahl's points by pulling random characters out of various RPGs when the article specifically stated that the lead female character/love interest is the focus because that's where the trend is. And indeed, all the characters she profiled were the lead female character/love interest.
Saying she "leads" it is a stretch.The Cheezy One said:
Calling the Forest Owls competent is an even bigger stretch.
Are you sure? I thought her death is what unleashed the white materia. Also, it seemed like she was part of the worldstream that stopped the meteorite at the end..."If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" type deal.Fronzel said:
I agree that FF7 was a nice subversion of this trope. Fronzel pointed out that for all her usual Staff Chick traits (healer of the party, fights with a staff, not tough physically, tragic life/death,) she's the more assertive of the two female leads, while the tough bruiser who also owns a bar is more shy and clingy. Really, the Final Fantasy games in general at least try to avoid this trait, Rosa excepted. Even then, she and Rydia would rebel against the casual sexism of Cecil and company by the end of the game. The series also brought us Terra (who was fairly passive but countered it with a strong character growth and quite a lot of power,) the above-mentioned Celes, Ashe, and several others. Even Yuna rebelled against her very cliched sacrifice role in the end. Its helps that the series always has exactly three female characters in the standard "weak healer/strong warrior or black mage/spunky kid or teenager" roles. It means at least one of them tends to be fairly strong.
This does sort of make sense.Fronzel said:
However:
and then:
"Take care of yourself" sound like final words. You don't say that if you expect to see the person in the near future. She does then explain it...but there is a beat. As if she is adding that. This is more of double meanings than her literally telling him he needs to take care of himself so that he doesn't lose it. Then, "it feels like I'm being led by something" suggests fate, destiny, or purpose. There is not just an internal drive or a decision to just end all of this but external forces are driving her. She does say "I'll come back when it's all over" but this doesn't necessarily mean that she is planning on actually coming back soon. After all, "I'll return" fits right in with the messianic theme I mentioned. Furthermore, she does return when it is all over... as part if the life stream that stops the meteor. This, combined with her knowing smile and the holy(!) materia rolling away from her towards Cloud when she dies, makes me believe that she was a sacrifice. Furthermore, Aeris stops the meteor by being part of the life stream; she appeared to play a rather large role in it. This would not have been possible if she were still alive.
I'm not saying this makes her a wussy RPG girl... being a messiah is pretty badass, and not a role a lot of women are given. But it does mean she had to die to be so awesome, so maybe it still fits in with the noble sacrifice trope. I'm undecided on this.
For the most part, the article is entirely correct... and most non-wussy RPG girls overcompensate in the opposite direction, coming off as childishly confrontational... with the proverbial "chip on her shoulder". My favorite exception to such (from a game right smack dab in the middle of wussy RPG girl popularity):
So, is the problem that video game female heroines are too delicate or too butch? My opinion is that the answer is neither and both. The problem with video game female heroines(and it's true for the video game male heroes, as well) is that they exist primarily in only 2 infinitesimally narrow bands of possibility. The fact is that in real-life, you find females that are the princess-type, and you find females that are the butch-type; so, it is perfectly reasonable that these types should exist in the game. However, in addition, you also find a vast spectral band of female's whose personalities span a continuum in between those extremes and then pierce, fractal like, into a direction normal to the spectral line. Video games, so far as I've seen, have failed to explore this vast middle region of the spectrum, instead, focusing on two specific possibilities.
With male heroes, the situation is about the same or potentially worse, depending on how you view the situation, because the male hero is usually restricted to 1 possibility depending on the game's cultural origins. In the western culture, the male hero is usually the gun-toting, apathetic, foul-mouthed, over-muscled bad-ass. In the eastern culture, the male hero is usually a weapon-toting(they like more than just guns) effeminate, but his personality is choice of apathetic bad-ass, neurotic mess, or caring affectionate. In comparison, the 2 possibilities for female heroines seem to occur regardless of culture.
In either case, video games just don't do a good job exploring the possibilities of the human experience. It is this lack of exploration that has made video games difficult to take seriously as an artistic medium because the industry is not allowing video games to BE an artistic medium(note that I am implying video games are every bit capable as an artistic medium; however those making video games have so far, in my opinion, with a few noted exceptions, failed to use it as such).
(After writing on this a bit, I realized there is a third female portrayed quite often in video games, the porn-star. That scantly-clad, voluptuous, dominatrix vixen who is there for no other purpose than to pique the testosterone of young male video gamers. While such women do indeed exist in real-life, it is an overly abundant character in video games.)
With male heroes, the situation is about the same or potentially worse, depending on how you view the situation, because the male hero is usually restricted to 1 possibility depending on the game's cultural origins. In the western culture, the male hero is usually the gun-toting, apathetic, foul-mouthed, over-muscled bad-ass. In the eastern culture, the male hero is usually a weapon-toting(they like more than just guns) effeminate, but his personality is choice of apathetic bad-ass, neurotic mess, or caring affectionate. In comparison, the 2 possibilities for female heroines seem to occur regardless of culture.
In either case, video games just don't do a good job exploring the possibilities of the human experience. It is this lack of exploration that has made video games difficult to take seriously as an artistic medium because the industry is not allowing video games to BE an artistic medium(note that I am implying video games are every bit capable as an artistic medium; however those making video games have so far, in my opinion, with a few noted exceptions, failed to use it as such).
(After writing on this a bit, I realized there is a third female portrayed quite often in video games, the porn-star. That scantly-clad, voluptuous, dominatrix vixen who is there for no other purpose than to pique the testosterone of young male video gamers. While such women do indeed exist in real-life, it is an overly abundant character in video games.)
wait, wait... you actually consider Yuna a strong, positive female lead? Yuna was such a wilting daisy that she was unbearable. sure, she had moments of strength, but overall she was characterized as frail and weak.Wutaiflea said:
i do agree that Tifa was positive, but then again, she was less of a lead and more of a sidekick.
I have to agree with you. Women in video games tend to be eather completely usless ((Rosa)) or a raving b*tch. ((Lightning))
Dont get me wrong. There are many shades of women. Smart, kind, independint......
But in video games, there seems to be a large biased against them. In some games theyer completely removed. ((play black ops. You only see 3 women the entire single player. And one of them dies.))
Game designers seem to be cought on the idea the women are eather little girls, or psycho killers. One of the few women i can think of that was accually strong and independant, without being a b*tch was Tifa. But even then, she had breasts you could build a country on!
Dont get me wrong. There are many shades of women. Smart, kind, independint......
But in video games, there seems to be a large biased against them. In some games theyer completely removed. ((play black ops. You only see 3 women the entire single player. And one of them dies.))
Game designers seem to be cought on the idea the women are eather little girls, or psycho killers. One of the few women i can think of that was accually strong and independant, without being a b*tch was Tifa. But even then, she had breasts you could build a country on!
She was. She was an outgoing and friendly character who loved dogs, was willing to give a chance to anyone to be good, and was willing to do anything to help other people. Then you realize that most of these are traits that were cultivated (and in some ways, bred) into her. Then you realize that she's so sweet and caring to others that she has almost no sense of self-worth left. Then you have to consider what effect it's had on her, when her life goal, everything she was raised to believe, turns out to be a complete lie.Fleaman said:
Naturally she embodies the sugary, friendly, self-sacrifical archetype. It's all she knows, and after the Tower of Salvation incident, it's all she has left. To put it another way, for most of the game, she's basically insane. The deconstruction is complete when that insanity very nearly kills her.
...yeah, she's actually my favorite character, if it wasn't obvious. She's like Tohru Honda (manga version) with superpowers.
Heh. What do you get when you mix the Life Thief and Spirit Thief compound skills with the S-tech line? Colette in God Mode.
Really, I don't know why people think she's a primary magic-user. She's the party jack-of-all-trades (close combat, ranged combat, offensive/support magic, and stealing), and she's master of the one you least expect...
Momohime is pretty much just a straight princess-type, but given the setting it fits. It also helps that the emphasis is more on her being a mundane and sheltered girl caught up in a world run almost entirely by corrupt officials and evil spirits rather than on her being ideally female. She does have her moments though, like her faux-sacrifice (which feels right out of a fairy tale), tricking the Big Oni into swallowing her so she can reach Jinkuro's soul, which he had previously eaten.ThePurpleStuff said:
I don't get why you're conflating Momohime and Jinkuro, as they're separate characters. And no one killed him, he was terminally ill and lost his body when he tried to soul-jack Momohime's fiance's. True to type, she jumped in the way.
As a JRPG, Xenosaga is refreshing because it is based on sci fi anime cliches instead of JRPG ones.drivel said:
Something to take note of is that the article is mostly concerned with the main female characters. The leads in JRPGs tend to have little variety. The main girl is almost always a princess type, while the main guy is either blandly angsty or generically earnest. Sure, FFX has Lulu and Auron, but the mains are Yuna and Tidus.
Speaking of Yuna, I always liked how she has some solid mettle and conviction underneath her soft spoken and accommodating exterior. When she finds out the sacrifice herself to stop Sin deal isn't all it's cracked up to be she rejects it outright, and in the sequel she rails against the idea that anyone might have to be sacrificed to beat the big bad.
Well.. that's my bad since I haven't played the game for a while and forgot how it all went. I apologize.Squigie said: