Gender challenge

[lacktheknack]

Faith works for the first one. Any of the girls from the Yume Nikki series also work.

I wouldn't know for the second one, seeing how I'm a straight male, but I knew girls with HUGE crushes on Agent Nein, Guybrush Threepwood and the seventies announcer from The Movies.

So... them? (I don't think Seventies Announcer is a cop-out answer, btw).

 

[Legion]

Spoiler: Ayame from Tenchu

Spoiler: Raiden from Metal Gear Solid

 

[Overusedname]

For the first question:

Titania from Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn

For most of the first game, she was something of the unofficial leader of Ike's troop after he assumed command of the mercenary band. She's the most experienced human fighter period, is incredibly dedicated to the cause of peace but isn't afraid to use an axe to get it. She's also the most overpowered character for the first 3/5ths of the game, and she basically functions as a Deus Ex Machina if all your other plans fail. She's a one women cavalry. And she has a handful of truly emotional moments and feels like a very human character. Though she's still one of the fastest and most powerful humans on the face of the earth. She's in most players's top 5 mvps at the end.

She also remembered to wear pants to war. She's actually fully armored from head to toe.

For the second:

Reyn from Xenoblade Chronicles

Ridiculously manly, couragous bro-dude who will protect his surrogate family no matter what it takes. He's also well...beefcake. Like, major beefcake. You can also take his shirt off and he has some 'armor' that appears to just be his bare chest. He's a slightly realistic kind of muscular where he's fit and strong but not threatening or cartoonishly buff. Unlike characters like Kratos or Marcus, I think A LOT of female players and gay male players actually find him to be hot. Meanwhile you can play with him as your lead character, and kick ass and protect the other party members, living out something of a power fantasy of having people rely on you.

But honestly power fantasies appeal to both genders regardless. I'm a man, and I love playing as Samus, whose an overpowered, fearless badass the whole galaxy relies on. That's a power fantasy, is it not? I certainly feel powerful when playing as her in Metroid or Smash Bros.

 

[recurve6]

Like a lot of people, for the first one I thought of Jade from Beyond Good and Evil.

For the second part....Raiden in MGS2.

 

[Fappy]

1. Find an empowering female video game character that's somewhat pretty, yet not unrealistically and overpoweringly sexy, with no clichéd characterization or negative implications of femininity.

Pretty much any of the main females from Persona 4 except for Rise, because she has blatant sex appeal... though that is actually part of her character and story. All the females in this game deal with female issues and surpass gender roles in their own way.

2. Find a sexualized male video game character that caters to both the male and female sexual fantasy.

I'd argue Andres from Dragon Age Awakening/2. I know fan boys and fan girls alike. Personally I think DA2 destroyed his character, but that's a different discussion

 

[Kleingeier]

Wait. Cammy is ridiculously proportioned?

Cammy White? Are you sure about this?

Muscles and tits, never seen that in real life without plastic surgeory

You're going to want to get out more, her muscles don't have that much sinuosity outside the base lean muscle. Ever hear of a female kickboxers?

 

[Kleingeier]

Has anyone said Beyond Good and Evil or Heavenly Sword?

 

[Yopaz]

2. Zael from The Last Story

Not entirely sure why I chose him, but I think the cover art where Zael has his coat open and exposing his bare chest might have something to do with it. There's nothing particularly wrong with Zael, but I felt that he was unnecessarily sexual in the art for this game. In the actual game, he is never shown to have this look and he is actually well-mannered and timid compared to some of the other cast members.

Great choice there.

Well, empowering female looking pretty. I'd say Raine from Tales of Symphonia. Strong woman, good looks, but not over sexualized.

Spoiler: Raine

Attractive male, while Zael is a good choice that's cheating at this point. I'd say Jade:

Spoiler: Jade

 

[elvor0]

1Well, Alyx from Half Life I'd say, along with Jade from Beyond Good and Evil. I'd say Lightning from FF13, although she is a little bit on the mopey side, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find her attractive as a character and was part of what kept me going in FF13. Though I suspect it would be bad to get into an argument with her.

2Which leads me to Snow. As a straight guy, I'd say he's one of those guys you can look at and say "Yeah he's pretty hot." And given a lot of girls I know happen to like guys who look like him (Ie Chris Hemworth in Thor) I'd say he fit the bill pretty nicely.

 

[M4t3us]

1. Morrigan

2. The Prince (of Persia):

 

[saintdane05]

Oooh... this will be fun!

Sharla from Xenoblade.

This other one is so sexy that I have to hide him from you.

<spoiler=Warning: Prepare for dampness>

OMP! He. Is. So. HOT!!!!!

 

[CMDDarkblade]

2. Find a sexualized male video game character that caters to both the male and female sexual fantasy.

Note, I'm not talking about male power fantasies, such as muscular brutes like Kratos from God of War and Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. I'm talking about guys that are appealing to both women and gay men (since, apparently, gay men have slightly/somewhat different notions of an attractive male, and it's more them that find super-masculine men with sexually predominant features attractive than women, who may focus more on confidence and features less connected to sexuality. Generalizations, ahoy! P.S. Please don't place too much focus on that stereotyping comment; I was half-joking and it's not really the point).

Look not all gay guys find the same type of bodies attractive. Just like straight guys have different tastes in women, gay guys have different tastes in men.

I'll show you two examples of what I mean from the Left 4 Dead series.

Francis from the first game is an example of what you're talking about: a gruff, rugged, muscly type guy. And some guys are attracted to that type of hyper-masculinity and that's perfectly fine.

However, Ellis from Left 4 Dead 2 is different type of attractive and is personally more of what I like. Ellis is more of the boyish type of handsome, and he's still got some muscle but it isn't bugling out of his entire body.

It's a personal preference thing like most things about aesthetics. However, as far as what women find attractive about men I can only speculate, but I don't think that the tastes of straight women and gay men are necessarily incompatible though.

 

[Raeshkae]

Agent 47 for #2. No idea why.

captcha - full tilt. So close to being utterly perfect.

Damn, you beat me to Agent 47. Who couldnt resist him? I bet he gives terrific massages /wink

As for strong female without being a tomboy, what about Miranda and Rose from Legend of Dragoon? Miranda was a nun of some sort, and Rose was some kind of ancient hero-turned-evil-turned-hero. Though as I recall, she did have an attack that opened a portal to hell between her legs...

 

[Ryotknife]

Tifa Lockheart, FF7. She easily keeps up with the rest of the gang damage-wise, owns her own bar, is a surrogate mother to a little girl, attractive, yet reasonably proportioned.

Tifa? Reasonably proportioned? You have GOT to be kidding.

Her legs are LITERALLY 2/3 of her height, and that's not even touching her over-sized chest. There's a reason why Cloud can joke about finding an orthopedic bra while searching her house...

well...s/he might not be talking about the original FF7 version. Keep in mind the game is 15 years old. Maybe the person in question means advent children or kingdom hearts 2 Tifa. Those two versions of Tifa are a bit more reasonable.

 

[NiPah]

I would go with Isara for being a tank commander and tank mechanic:

Spoiler

No idea what to put for option 2 since I am neither.

 

[RomanceIsDead]

honestly? This is not going to happen. Samus was all we had and then she got stripped of her power in "The Other M".

I have not once seen a lead female character in a game that wasn't at least on the positive end of attractive. Because lets face it OP, you said it yourself. You want a female character that is still "pretty". You just like everyone else would not want to play as an ugly chick as your main character.

On to your second point...lot's of girls find Marcus Fenix to be catering to "female sexual fantasy" as you put it.

 

[Ryotknife]

I would go with Isara for being a tank commander and tank mechanic:

Spoiler

No idea what to put for option 2 since I am neither.

you son of a...

I had successfully blocked out my memory of her. brb shedding manly tears.

 

[thesilentman]

I swear that there was a thread like this back in March or so...

OT- For number one, my vote goes to... er goes to... Crap, I skip this one.

Number 2 has mister Ezio from Assassins Creed II. That's it.

 

[lowhat]

Tifa Lockheart, FF7. She easily keeps up with the rest of the gang damage-wise, owns her own bar, is a surrogate mother to a little girl, attractive, yet reasonably proportioned.

Tifa? Reasonably proportioned? You have GOT to be kidding.

Her legs are LITERALLY 2/3 of her height, and that's not even touching her over-sized chest. There's a reason why Cloud can joke about finding an orthopedic bra while searching her house...

While her breasts and tight top might put her in the "oversexualized" category, her character has a lot of traits which would be considered feminine.

Yes, she makes sure that everyone is taken care of.

-During the crisis of sector 7, she asks Aerith to make sure that Marlene is safe while she aids Avalanche.
-When Cloud is in Limbo, she takes command of the group.
-Fight-wise, she's one of the most powerful characters in the game.
-She stood up to Sephiroth after her father's death (despite almost dying from that event).
-When Cloud is being an asshole, she puts him in his place.
-She knows that she has sexual traits and can manipulate men. However, she doesn't really like it. (A bit like James Bond with women).

Yeah, despite the boobs, Tifa is a good character.

TIL that having breasts above a B cup is sexual exploitation, which is why bras stop at B cup. Oh, wait...

There's a word for breasts as big as Tifa's (those have got to be at least a D-cup), on a woman as skinny and fit as Tifa is: Fake. Yes, her having overly large breasts doesn't detract from her overall character, but they're only that big for the sake of pandering.

Compare this:

Spoiler: Final Fantasy 7 Tifa

[/spoiler]

to this:

[spoiler="Kingdom Hearts 2 Tifa"][img src="http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110511075911/kingdomhearts/images/c/cd/TifaCG.png"][/spoiler]

And try to defend the first one.[/quote]

The old "fruit" rule of thumb for bra size is A-cup=lemons B-cup=oranges C-cup=grapefruit D-cup=cantaloupe. There is no way that first picture is a cantaloupe, she goes from a C-cup to a B-cup in your pictures. In any case, plenty of skinny women have C-cups, I find it laughable that according to this board, if a woman isn't flat in a video game, she's a sexually exploitative image.

 

[The_Lost_King]

1. Leliana

Spoiler

She is beautiful and the only cliche that I can think of is that she is a girly girl but that is not her only characteristic. Bioware is good at making Characters male or female(don't bring up Miranda because she was created that way in-game universe)

2. Alistair

Spoiler

How can you not love that guy. He was a total bro and the guy was awesome. Oh and plenty of women loved him. Like I said Bioware is great. Which brings me to another #2 Garrus(but I don't have to explain that).