Wet
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
For all your JRPG/FF bashing, one thing you can't ignore is how well they do female characterisation - and that does not include androgenous ladyboys -_-0. In my experience, the females are stong and don't rely on ***** tactics to prove their might and keep the men in check. Because JRPGs come from Japan, and so follow Japanese sensibilities, a woman is expected to be feminine as well as strong of body and heart. Here are some leading ladies that come to mind:
Ashe (FFXII)
Yuna (FFX)
Rikku (X-2, where she was one of three leading ladies)
Garnet (FFIX)
Rinoa (FVIII - though there were many aspects to her personality I hated with a passion, but she was still strong and not particuarly bitchy)
Aerith (FFVII)
Tifa (FFVII)
Terra (FFVI)
Need I go on with FF? All of their female leads (even the roster fillers) are stong women with well rounded personalities, often moreso than their male counterparts. But that's just me. And here are some non FF heroines...
Emma and Emmy (Last Remnant)
Seth (Lost Odyssey)
Koudelka (Koudelka)
Alice (Shadow Hearts)
Karin (SH2)
Shania (SH3)
Karin (Enchanted Arms - ok, she was borderline)
Kluke (Blue Dragon)
Aya (Infinite Undiscovery)
Zephie (Magna Carta II)
Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)
Japanese survival horror is also an excellent source for strong women. Let us not forget our beloved Maria. And the Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame series never failed to provide well rounded, capable women to head into danger.
Seriously, the Japanese have mastered the marriage of bouncy boobage with human, likeable personality. American writers have the potential - they're also likely male, which is a problem. My writing teacher was once applied as a game's writer and was turned away because she was too old and too female. And this was in Australia.
But then there are glimmers of light peeking through that prove the potential for female game characterisation in the west; I felt at ease with the women of Dragon Age; just look at Morrigan, I wouldn't call her a *****, I'd call her self assured.
Ashe (FFXII)
Yuna (FFX)
Rikku (X-2, where she was one of three leading ladies)
Garnet (FFIX)
Rinoa (FVIII - though there were many aspects to her personality I hated with a passion, but she was still strong and not particuarly bitchy)
Aerith (FFVII)
Tifa (FFVII)
Terra (FFVI)
Need I go on with FF? All of their female leads (even the roster fillers) are stong women with well rounded personalities, often moreso than their male counterparts. But that's just me. And here are some non FF heroines...
Emma and Emmy (Last Remnant)
Seth (Lost Odyssey)
Koudelka (Koudelka)
Alice (Shadow Hearts)
Karin (SH2)
Shania (SH3)
Karin (Enchanted Arms - ok, she was borderline)
Kluke (Blue Dragon)
Aya (Infinite Undiscovery)
Zephie (Magna Carta II)
Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)
Japanese survival horror is also an excellent source for strong women. Let us not forget our beloved Maria. And the Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame series never failed to provide well rounded, capable women to head into danger.
Seriously, the Japanese have mastered the marriage of bouncy boobage with human, likeable personality. American writers have the potential - they're also likely male, which is a problem. My writing teacher was once applied as a game's writer and was turned away because she was too old and too female. And this was in Australia.
But then there are glimmers of light peeking through that prove the potential for female game characterisation in the west; I felt at ease with the women of Dragon Age; just look at Morrigan, I wouldn't call her a *****, I'd call her self assured.
Admittedly I'm coming a bit late to the party here (I was linked from another article), but this sums up word for word my feeling about female characters in gaming. They fit into one of two categories:
1) Stereotypical male with a vagina, brutish, nasty and self-centred.
2) Stereotypical feminist, easily offended, more intelligent than your protagonist and needlessly bossy or domineering.
This is just as sexist as making every female in the game either 'kitchen-bound housewife' or 'whore'. It's two arbitrary roles that are wholly unlikeable and poorly fitting with society.
In fact, Lucy in Assassin's Creed 2 is the first female character I've ever seen who manages to be strong and decisive without being a jerk. She barks orders at the protagonist in a combat situation, but appears stressed and a little overwhelmed back at the safehouse as anyone would be in her situation and this is the crucial thing, she reacts realistically to events around her. When she's got some relative downtime, with no adrenaline laden fight scenes keeping her distracted, she appears nice and talkative and welcoming, a little stressed out and anxious about the assassins' future. When she's in a fight and has superior knowledge and training to the protagonist she's unafraid to direct him (without acting like a royal *****) on how to proceed and when the guards try to take her down she kicks their arses, not because she's sadistic or misandric and just loves proving how strong she is to men, but because she's trying to survive. This is a realistic character.
I always cringe when I see a female character has been added to a game because I know 99% of the time she'll be a poorly written excuse to appease those who say we need more assertive female characters in the media. We don't. We need well written female characters where it's relevant to have them.
1) Stereotypical male with a vagina, brutish, nasty and self-centred.
2) Stereotypical feminist, easily offended, more intelligent than your protagonist and needlessly bossy or domineering.
This is just as sexist as making every female in the game either 'kitchen-bound housewife' or 'whore'. It's two arbitrary roles that are wholly unlikeable and poorly fitting with society.
In fact, Lucy in Assassin's Creed 2 is the first female character I've ever seen who manages to be strong and decisive without being a jerk. She barks orders at the protagonist in a combat situation, but appears stressed and a little overwhelmed back at the safehouse as anyone would be in her situation and this is the crucial thing, she reacts realistically to events around her. When she's got some relative downtime, with no adrenaline laden fight scenes keeping her distracted, she appears nice and talkative and welcoming, a little stressed out and anxious about the assassins' future. When she's in a fight and has superior knowledge and training to the protagonist she's unafraid to direct him (without acting like a royal *****) on how to proceed and when the guards try to take her down she kicks their arses, not because she's sadistic or misandric and just loves proving how strong she is to men, but because she's trying to survive. This is a realistic character.
I always cringe when I see a female character has been added to a game because I know 99% of the time she'll be a poorly written excuse to appease those who say we need more assertive female characters in the media. We don't. We need well written female characters where it's relevant to have them.