Example Female Characters you think qualify as good/strong/etc (with reasons)

[Scorched_Cascade]

So Extra Credits has a discussion on this, this week but they struggled to think of examples of good female characters in games. So can you? These are the less used ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Do you have any to add? Are there any on the list you disagree with?


Ginchiyo Tachibana (Tachibana Ginchiyo for purists) (Samurai Warriors 2)-First female in the series to wield a sword and she kicks ass with it. She is dressed in full armour not a chainmail bikini and verbally ***** slaps any of the male characters who question her right to be on the battlefield. She also has sarcastic put downs for all of the philandering (womanising) ones too.

Spoiler: quotes from her:

Ginchiyo: You're a stubborn man. I would hate to be you.
Mitsunari: That's funny! You're even more stubborn and manly than I am.
Ginchiyo: Watch that mouth - or I might look the other way when the Shimazu jam a spear through it.
---
Sakon: It's a sin for such a beautiful gal like you to be on the battlefield.
Ginchiyo: Which is it that is truly sinful, strength or beauty? (said with a deadly/sarcastic tone of voice that means every answer is wrong)
Sakon: Aww, and you say the cutest things.

Lilith (Borderlands)-Mass murdering, super-powered, genocidal snarky sociopath. She is definitely the first four and the fifth is evident if you listen to what she says as she kills people e.g "Awww did that hurt?"
Mina (Alpha Protocol)-When you get into trouble she bails you out, shes always there with information and she has a big secret that I won't spoil but lets just say she is, for her own reasons, the cause of the whole game
Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark)-Witty overachiever who outperforms every man in the game and aces all the training courses before going on to save the world
Ellen Bernstein(Project Sylpheed) - Your winglady. She comes from a well to do family and out performed at school. Was offered the chance to be a high ranking military officer but chose instead the free spirited life of a pilot. She is the only character to actually mourn the redshirt character from the start of the game. She is also heavily implied to love the main characters rival and is conflicted about the main character's desire to beat/kill the rival.
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil) - Do I have to explain this one? She is fairly well known.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Samus Aran before Other M?

What is Samus's story? I read an article on why Other M is bad and its subtext but as I never played Metroid games or read the manga I didn't know whether she was a strong character before and the game was slander or if people had placed hopes in her being characterized as such and Other M had dashed them?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Sheena (tales of Symphonia): She's strong willed and will what needs to be done no matter the personal cost. And yet, she has her personal demons to deal with. She feels fear, she feels doubt, she has a phobia to deal with. And with a little help from her friends, she overcomes it and grows stronger. (ergo, she's not a one-note-badass-action-girl)

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Elena from the Uncharted Series.

 

[KalosCast]

Despite their rather fanbase-pandering physical portrayal, a lot of the ladies from the Soul Calibur series would fit, for what little story we have of them. Hilde and Sophitia in particular. Sophitia's ending story-mode cut-scene in SC4 stood out above the rest in my opinion. Don't fuck with her kids, seriously.

OT: Recaptcha isn't playing around today, sucker made me look up how to punch in vowels with umlauts.

 

[KalosCast]

I don't really know if she ever had decent characterization in the sense you're thinking of.

Put it this way, the reason "Other M" was so disappointing is because it fashioned her into being... kind of a wuss/*****. Everyone had sort been given the idea that Samus was a really tough female lead WITHOUT there being a strong characterization. She didn't need a voice or much of a backstory to kick ass. So finally, when she was given a game that did have some characterization, it was completely different than what everyone was expecting.

It's exactly as you say, people expected one thing, Other M gave them something QUITE different.

Arguably, the lack of characterization is also exactly why we had the idea of her being a bad-ass.

All we originally knew about Samus:
-Samus is a bounty hunter (a profession many fictional bad-asses hold)
-One who's good enough to commit nigh-genocide of a dangerous parasitic race (lending credence to the whole bad ass thing).
-She got her suit and a number of her abilities from a largely unknown, now extinct race of aliens (reminiscent of the "lost style" bad-asses from martial arts movies, or Batman Begins)
-She is a quiet character, and a lone-wolf (pretty much the archetypal bad-ass in Westerns)

And then Other M happened...

 

[ConvincingJohn]

Morrigan from Dragon Age:Origins

Strong, decisive and still feminine.

Had they Given her some decent clothes and forgot about the whole ?Have sex=Get Achievement LOL? thing, she could have been a VERY strong character, instead of just masturbation material.

 

[necromanzer52]

Jade from beyond good and evil.

 

[Nomanslander]

Not Bayonetta!

-_-

That is all.

 

[KalosCast]

Morrigan from Dragon Age:Origins

Strong, decisive and still feminine.

Had they Given her some decent clothes and forgot about the whole ?Have sex=Get Achievement LOL? thing, she could have been a VERY strong character, instead of just masturbation material.

Because all women should wear Burkas. Greased up muscle-bound shirtless men is still cool though.

 

[manythings]

Motoko Kusanagi. Fuck with her at your own peril. (There have been games)

More importantly it's not just strong, aggressive, self-assured women that are what they were talking about. The whole piece was about women in games who seemed like bona fide people, not just bad ass bitches since that is running to the opposite extreme.

A good, overall character would be a lot like the princess in the original Sands of Time. She had her moments of strength, weakness, made bad choices and good. She didn't just trend to an extreme, she was a lot of things.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Chie Satonaka. She is strong, decisive, and kicks major ass.

Spoiler

 

[ConvincingJohn]

Morrigan from Dragon Age:Origins

Strong, decisive and still feminine.

Had they Given her some decent clothes and forgot about the whole ?Have sex=Get Achievement LOL? thing, she could have been a VERY strong character, instead of just masturbation material.

Because all women should wear Burkas. Greased up muscle-bound shirtless men is still cool though.

Hell yeah! That will teach those foul femme fatales. Cover your ankles, harlot!

No but seriously, I?m not saying that women can?t be portrayed in sexy outfits in games (or movies, or comics, or anything). But THAT outfit on THAT character was just too much for me.
And I actually kinda think that games could benefit from some more male sex-symbols. I can?t remember any male character that have been sexy. Some of them may be slutty/ lustful, but it?s usually the ?big fat drunk? type of character or the ?small creepy nerd? type. To me it seems that the big oily muscles are more for us males to project onto, than for women to drool over.
(well actually The Elf (Zevryn or something) from DA:O comes sort of close)

Also come to think of it I kinda like all of the female characters in DA:O. They are in no way flawless, but they do have some charm.

(yes I have played other games, I just noticed that DA:O has both some of the best and worst characters, when you look at I with gender in mind. Often in both traits in the same character.)

 

[Zechnophobe]

I've really been liking Aveline from DA2 so far.

1) She's *looks* tough. Like, she gots some meat on her arms. Even before Armor is on her at the start, she looks like she could kick your ass.
2) She has lots of desires and needs that aren't based on her sex.
3) She still FEELS like a damn woman.

I really liked Sigrun from DA: Awakening too.

Seriously, it feels like the best way to make a good female character is to not feel like that is their most important defining characteristic.

 

[stormtrooper9091]

what, no Alyx Vance? I am disappoint.

Seriously now, good thing Jade got a mention, I was starting to fear for the sanity of this board

 

[WindKnight]

Well, the obvious ones are Alyx Vance and Jade from beyond good and evil.

For me, there's also Ashley Williams from Mass Effect. I know she gets a lot of hate, but she struck me as an interesting, flawed character with genuine depth.

I'd also like to put up Ophelia and Lita from Brutal legend, as well as both Farah and Elika from the various Prince of Persia's.

And maybe Konoko from Oni... I'd have to replay the game to make sure, but I genuinely liked her as a strong female character.

 

[thewaever]

Not Bayonetta!

-_-

That is all.

Although I must admit I wasn't in the game developers' heads when they created the game, the sexuality is so over the top in Bayonetta that I am fairly certain that the whole game is one big tongue-in-cheek joke.

At least, I can't help but snort with laughter when I play the game.