Example Female Characters you think qualify as good/strong/etc (with reasons)
- Thread starter Scorched_Cascade
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My personal list goes something like this:
-Ashley Williams (Mass Effect)
For having a lot of great quips and badass one liners to also having a toughened attitude with an almost but not quite hidden sense of compassion underneath that, it gave her a feeling of depth. Plus I knew she was my favorite female in the series the second she made that 'boomstick' line.
-Samus Aran
Pretty much the same reasons everyone gives, she's tough, has kickass weaponry, isn't afraid to go into hostile areas and fight, doesn't take orders and has a clear sense of compassion under all that that keeps her from being an 'ice queen'.
-Ellie (Dead Space 2)
Characters aren't usually a strong point in Dead Space but I honestly think they hit well with this one, possibly because she was so tough that even when:
... she can still manage to be sarcastic. That takes skill.
... for some reason that's all I can think about right now. My cat kept me awake all night so this morning I'm having trouble thinking too deeply about this topic. If I can remember more I'll add more.
-Ashley Williams (Mass Effect)
For having a lot of great quips and badass one liners to also having a toughened attitude with an almost but not quite hidden sense of compassion underneath that, it gave her a feeling of depth. Plus I knew she was my favorite female in the series the second she made that 'boomstick' line.
-Samus Aran
Pretty much the same reasons everyone gives, she's tough, has kickass weaponry, isn't afraid to go into hostile areas and fight, doesn't take orders and has a clear sense of compassion under all that that keeps her from being an 'ice queen'.
-Ellie (Dead Space 2)
Characters aren't usually a strong point in Dead Space but I honestly think they hit well with this one, possibly because she was so tough that even when:
She gets her eye gouged out
... for some reason that's all I can think about right now. My cat kept me awake all night so this morning I'm having trouble thinking too deeply about this topic. If I can remember more I'll add more.
Maybe a bit weird, but I want to say Chell and GLaDOS (does "she" count?) from Portal. I really liked how casually Chell's gender was handled; here is a woman who has to do some stuff, and then she does it. Chell was more of a cipher on which to project yourself than a character I guess, but just the way the game was designed -- with her actions speaking for themselves, and how she never responded to any of GLaDOS' bullshit -- gave me the impression that she was quite levelheaded and gutsy. (And GLaDOS was just completely nuts and fantastic to listen to; it's nice having good and heroic female characters but it's also nice having a few who are just blatantly-evil murderous jerkfaces too. 
)
)
Zoe : Left 4 dead.
She doesn't try and be flashy or show off with shotguns or assault rifles like the guys. She chooses solidarity by being a dual pistol bad ass girl. She also seems to not be bothered that she's the only girl for miles. I've seen bill checking her out, you know you have too. If I was her I'd be scared shitless that Francis might take his ego into her pants. Zoe's a brave mother fucker
She doesn't try and be flashy or show off with shotguns or assault rifles like the guys. She chooses solidarity by being a dual pistol bad ass girl. She also seems to not be bothered that she's the only girl for miles. I've seen bill checking her out, you know you have too. If I was her I'd be scared shitless that Francis might take his ego into her pants. Zoe's a brave mother fucker
The protagonist of KotOR. I maintain she's female, I don't care about this silly "canon" thing. (trying to avoid spoilers here, but if you've played the game, you know exactly how awesome this person is)
Although, to be honest, any of the female characters in KOTOR. Bastila, Juhani, and Mission all seem like, well, normal people, and their stories could work (more or less) if they were male.
And... well, any female character from Mass Effect, starting with the asari (I dislike most of them, but you have to admit most of the ones you actually spend any time around are certainly not female stereotypes, even if, as a monogendered race, they're all biologically female. Anyone who thinks Matriarch Aethyta (the bartender) needs a big strong masculine type to look out for her... I feel pity for them. Short-lived pity that swiftly turns to glee as she flings them off a cliff with her mind.) and covering pretty well all of them. They aren't all perfect, of course, but that's part of good female characterization too, that they aren't automatically morally better than male characters. And FemShep, obviously. She gets some amazingly awesome lines, especially in the second game.
Alyx Vance, as has been said before. But she deserves to be mentioned again. I want to be Alyx when I grow up.
...random thought, but think about this team-up: Matriarch Aethyta (have you noticed she's one of my favorite characters yet?) and the protagonist of KotOR. Timid, feeble women who need protecting, they certainly are NOT. And both can rip you in shreds with their minds!
(trying to avoid spoilers here, but if you've played the game, you know exactly how awesome this person is)Although, to be honest, any of the female characters in KOTOR. Bastila, Juhani, and Mission all seem like, well, normal people, and their stories could work (more or less) if they were male.
And... well, any female character from Mass Effect, starting with the asari (I dislike most of them, but you have to admit most of the ones you actually spend any time around are certainly not female stereotypes, even if, as a monogendered race, they're all biologically female. Anyone who thinks Matriarch Aethyta (the bartender) needs a big strong masculine type to look out for her... I feel pity for them. Short-lived pity that swiftly turns to glee as she flings them off a cliff with her mind.) and covering pretty well all of them. They aren't all perfect, of course, but that's part of good female characterization too, that they aren't automatically morally better than male characters. And FemShep, obviously. She gets some amazingly awesome lines, especially in the second game.
Alyx Vance, as has been said before. But she deserves to be mentioned again. I want to be Alyx when I grow up.
...random thought, but think about this team-up: Matriarch Aethyta (have you noticed she's one of my favorite characters yet?) and the protagonist of KotOR. Timid, feeble women who need protecting, they certainly are NOT. And both can rip you in shreds with their minds!
Bandage Girl from Super Meat Boy. She is actually portrayed as more capable than Meat Boy himself at jumping through sawblade-filled deathtraps! I MEAN, GODDAMN THAT COTTON ALLEY, GODDAMN IT TO HELL.
she is the one that kills Doctor Fetus. SHE KILLED THE MAIN VILLAIN!! SQUASHED HIM LIKE A BUG! What did Meat Boy do? ...stand around getting hit by bricks. And shaking hands with giant lumps of animate shit.
Alyx from Half-Life.
Literally the only one.
edit: ah.... no, heather from silent hill fits too. still, considering that gaming has been around for decades now, its a pitifully short list.
Literally the only one.
edit: ah.... no, heather from silent hill fits too. still, considering that gaming has been around for decades now, its a pitifully short list.
Tanya from Red Alert, pre EA's takeover of Westwood anyway.
Sure, she's a character from an RTS, so there's not too much background. But we know one thing about her for sure; she's a badass that can take down just about anything one-on-one. That's good enough for me.
Sure, she's a character from an RTS, so there's not too much background. But we know one thing about her for sure; she's a badass that can take down just about anything one-on-one. That's good enough for me.
Again with the Blizzard... There are a lot of female characters there and some of the leaders are female, and playable like: Tyranda Wisperwind, Maiev Shadowsong, Sylvanas Windrunner, Jana Proudmore and thous are just from one game, where there is a race almost entirely of females (night elves). Then there are all characters from Diablo that are female and playable (Sorceress, Amazon and Assasin) sure they have no personality or whatever but "I take my victories where I can." and I can argue that they are blank sleights that the person playing them decides what to be. Bigger example of that is WoW where basically every character is what you make of them, though I'm not sure if it counts.
In Starcraft: Broodwar the main character is female Kerigan, she has her views, struggles and so on.
That's basically it, I play mostly strategies and RPGs so not a lot of examples that I know of in other games. In the end there is always Agent Tanya of the CnC Red Alert series, a bit stereotypical, but fun to play with!
In Starcraft: Broodwar the main character is female Kerigan, she has her views, struggles and so on.
That's basically it, I play mostly strategies and RPGs so not a lot of examples that I know of in other games. In the end there is always Agent Tanya of the CnC Red Alert series, a bit stereotypical, but fun to play with!
I can think of plenty, you just need to know where to look I think.
A short list,
Elena Fisher (and Chloe Frazer) - Uncharted Series
Jaheria - Baldur's Gate (the series also has a lot of other very convincing female characters)
Ashley Graham - Resident Evil 4 (A very believable character, seldom mentioned)
Alyx Vance - Half Life (I think I get the thank you captain obvious award for this one)
Yuna - Final Fantasy X (The final fantasy series is very hit and miss when it comes to characters, Yuna a hit, a perfect character [excluding X-2, original only] )
A short list,
Elena Fisher (and Chloe Frazer) - Uncharted Series
Jaheria - Baldur's Gate (the series also has a lot of other very convincing female characters)
Ashley Graham - Resident Evil 4 (A very believable character, seldom mentioned)
Alyx Vance - Half Life (I think I get the thank you captain obvious award for this one)
Yuna - Final Fantasy X (The final fantasy series is very hit and miss when it comes to characters, Yuna a hit, a perfect character [excluding X-2, original only] )
Koudelka Iasant (Koudelka), a young gypsy girl with supernatural powers. Koudelka was born to a very poor gypsy family in the remote Welsh village of Abergenolwyn. Even as a child, strange things seemed to follow in her path. She began to display strong psychic abilities, which frightened her family and neighbours. Beckoned by voices not of this world, she visits Nemeton Abbey, on All-Hallows' Eve, 1898, and runs into a lot of unexplained things. Koudelka has obiously a troubled past but is a strong young woman who doesn' t want the help of her male companions.
btw: Koudelka is the precursor to Sacnoth's Shadow Hearts series. Shadow Hearts takes place in the Koudelka universe and features various locales and characters from Sacnoth's debut work.
Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness) - A student at a university in Washington. The game's main protagonist, she is investigating her grandfather's gruesome death in Rhode Island. Finding the Tome, she reads about the past struggles against The Darkness, and of the plan to prevent Pious from summoning the Ancient. The player controls her during the intro, the finale, and in between the other chapters. I don't know any other female charakter who faces insanity like her.
Ellia (Eternal Darkness) - A Cambodian slave girl and court dancer for Suryavarman II. She yearns for adventure after reading passages from the Tome. After finding herself locked in a temple imprisoning the former Khmer fertility god, she is chosen to bear Mantorok's essence. Pious kills her for her resistance to him shortly afterwards, but she remains half-alive because the essence is inside her body. Another strong woman from Eternal Darkness.
All the other strong video game female charakters that came to my mind were already mentioned.
btw: Koudelka is the precursor to Sacnoth's Shadow Hearts series. Shadow Hearts takes place in the Koudelka universe and features various locales and characters from Sacnoth's debut work.
Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness) - A student at a university in Washington. The game's main protagonist, she is investigating her grandfather's gruesome death in Rhode Island. Finding the Tome, she reads about the past struggles against The Darkness, and of the plan to prevent Pious from summoning the Ancient. The player controls her during the intro, the finale, and in between the other chapters. I don't know any other female charakter who faces insanity like her.
Ellia (Eternal Darkness) - A Cambodian slave girl and court dancer for Suryavarman II. She yearns for adventure after reading passages from the Tome. After finding herself locked in a temple imprisoning the former Khmer fertility god, she is chosen to bear Mantorok's essence. Pious kills her for her resistance to him shortly afterwards, but she remains half-alive because the essence is inside her body. Another strong woman from Eternal Darkness.
All the other strong video game female charakters that came to my mind were already mentioned.
Virgina Maxwell, mostly with her evolutions from the headstrong daddy's girl to a mature level head leader of a band of veteran Drifters. She tangles with societal pressures like being the girly homebody and rejecting that,though she does like pink things.
Mad Moxxi (Borderlands)- Stay with me here I know she dresses like a stripper and flirts constantly. Shes also a single mum and raised Scooter and his identical sibling pretty much single handedly while also running a successful Colosseum and a bar.
She has had a string of husbands (one of whom she killed 'cos she got bored of him) and now is jokingly described as "SWF Looking 4 STR". She struck me as a single mother doing whatever it takes to keep her kids safe and her business running.
The characters don't have to be ideal to be a good female character.
She has had a string of husbands (one of whom she killed 'cos she got bored of him) and now is jokingly described as "SWF Looking 4 STR". She struck me as a single mother doing whatever it takes to keep her kids safe and her business running.
The characters don't have to be ideal to be a good female character.
Lilith is cool I like how you can actually hear her laughing as she guns down her enemysAmberella said:I agree with your opinion on Lilith in Borderlands. I absolutely love her! Which is obvious because of my avatar. But I honestly think she is a great character.
Elena from the Uncharted series. She's a reporter that can handle her butt whenever she's in danger. And can even shoot well.
The Boss from Metal Gear Sold 3. I really don't think I need to go into specifics of how much of an awesome woman she was.
Zoey from Left 4 Dead. She just kicks zombie butt!
Also agree with what you said about Jill Valentine from Resident Evil. I absolutely love her and what a great and strong character she was. Also loves playing as her in Resident Evil 5.
also yeah zoey Im surprised she dosnt get much of a mention beside alyx vance (reminding me of left 4 dead I just read the comic "the sacrifice" made me very sad but also gives zoey more charachtersation)
I supose PC's from RPG's count though they tend to be a little less defined
the Boss from saints row 2 definetly, it actually never seems out of place that a skinyn caucasion girl can be the badass leader of a gang and jhonny gats [/B] boss I comend the developers for putting in the effort with the customization
This. Elena is determined, independent and she kicks ass when she needs to. She's also fatally sympathetic (Flynn's final scene). She takes that job of hers deadly seriously.Dirty Hipsters said:
Out of the many female video game characters I've seen Elena is the most believeable I've come across. She's not a completely girly girl but she's not a butch man-woman either. There's no scantily clad gratuitous scenes of her either.
Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3 (duh)
Aqua from Kingdom Hearts (tough, well mannered, and didn't need melons glued to her chest or bounce physics to be kick ass)
Several females from the Persona series, specifically 3 and 4 (Mitsuru, Fuuka, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto: i think are the best examples).
I don't usually get too many dudes in video games that i can relate to, but at least i can see some every so often, and its cool to see the down to earth human girls too.
Aqua from Kingdom Hearts (tough, well mannered, and didn't need melons glued to her chest or bounce physics to be kick ass)
Several females from the Persona series, specifically 3 and 4 (Mitsuru, Fuuka, Chie, Yukiko, Naoto: i think are the best examples).
I don't usually get too many dudes in video games that i can relate to, but at least i can see some every so often, and its cool to see the down to earth human girls too.