Wet

[DanDeFool]

I think Aeris from FF7 was probably the best tough female game character of all time.

"Aeris was tough?", you ask? Remember that scene after you first meet Aeris in the church, and then you have to run from the Turks? Remember how if the Shinra troopers caught up with her you could tell her to "Fight em!" and she'd respond, "Oh, alright." and then kick their asses? Awesome. Your barrel dropping is totally unnecessary Cloud.

Oh yeah, and how Sepiroth put a six-foot long sword through her chest, but it still didn't stop her from SAVING THE FUCKING PLANET! Now THAT's a tough character.

She always struck me as a character who didn't mind getting saved from time to time, but was perfectly capable of handling anything you could throw at her on her own. Now that's a formula for a good lead character in general, male or female.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

glad to hear Brutal Legend is in the wings! I just finished beating it but I'm going to try it again on the other two difficulties (this is the first time since Half-Life 2 came out that I was genuinely psyched for a new release). So hopefully I'll be completely fucking sick of it by the time we get to hear your honest appraisal.

OT, you're spot on - the problem isn't poor characterization or over-sexualized depictions of women in games, it's poor & over-sexualized depictions of lead characters in games in general

 

[angryscotsman93]

You know, that's true- almost every 'strong woman' character IN games is always some insane feminazi-type who basically sees, if not human life, MALE life as completely and utterly expendable. It's just not realistic in any sense.

Okay, here's an idea for a slightly more balanced character. It's a woman... who works as a corpsman for the Marines in a sci-fi game. Since the general view of the Marines in these games is some overly-muscled Surfer Dude with a gun, she's able to wrestle a fully-equipped soldier to the ground, ignoring his pleas of "C'mon, Doc, I'm fine! It's just a fucking kidney-wound!" She finds this gung-ho, 'I just don't give a shit' attitude they've got rather annoying, but she tries her best to keep them alive, and cares about them, thinking of them like a mixture of a platoon of older brothers and a platoon of children that need a chaperone. She's pretty much the only (openly) feminine person in the group.

Oh, and she once killed a whole squad of enemy soldiers to save the life of one patient. Yeah, she doesn't believe in the whole "Kill one guy to save a dozen others" philosophy- not when it's one of HER charges that's being sacrificed.

Simple as that. Has a feminine- and masculine- side, isn't openly douchebaggish, and has impressive abilities. Easy.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Very well written and well said!

Though I'd have to say that the bit involving Kendra from Dead Space is slightly justified in-game- as soon as the game starts, as you know, you, Hammond, and Kendra are separated and IIRC Kendra survives by locking herself in some computer room while Hammond wanders around the ship looking for her.

And it should be noted that practically the entire ship is infested with the Necromorphs, and the computer room that Kendra's in apparently allows her to access the whole network, giving her information she can't get anywhere else (yes, I know hacking doesn't always work like that, just run with it), so really, if you were in her position, would you want to leave your semi-fortified room?

It's not as if Kendra's heavily armed or even armed enough to survive just one confrontation with the Necromorphs. Yes, she should probably have found a way to help Isaac more, but then again-

Spoiler

she turns out to be a traitor, so locking herself in a safehouse while secretly manipulating Isaac into doing her bidding is standard villain fare.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

rubi is the first cpu game char ever that I have actually thought, omg i would hit that, i dont care if she is an underdeveloped character

BOING

 

[CloakedOne]

well said, here here! The women of Resident Evil are indeed a step in the right direction. I also thought that Alex in Eternal Darkness was a strong lead character. Yes, she freaks out a little bit during her bouts with insanity, but everybody does in that game (even the big burly firefighter). There is hope for women in gaming and the RE series women (again, excluding Sheva) and Eternal Darkness are examples of how to be strong, independent, and intelligent without having to be a needlessly cold and aggressive *****.

 

[SatansBestBuddy]

I found Brutal Legend's bucket to be quite tasty and satisfying, thank you very much.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

I dont think the community would boycott him, they have nothing better to do than watch him

I consider myself to be a pretty busy person with loads more baggage than video games...and I still tune into ZP every wed

 

[SantoUno]

Damn good post Yahtzee, spot on. You're right about female characters seriously needing a transformation. I'd instantly respect a game that has a strong, well-characterized female character because they would seriously improve the plot.

Just to throw out my example like others my favorite female character of all time is Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. She is the main character and is actually characterized quite well. Ironically she is emotionless for most of the game, but not in the stereotypical emotionless tough sense like with most female characters, she is emotionless because of the plot which gives her justification. Yet at the same time she has strong dialogue that adds realistic human conflict between her and the other rival main character. But she shines through the most at certain points near the end of the game when her true emotions return and exhibits realistic human sorrow, which instantly made her my favorite female character in gaming.

Also good luck with the Brutal Legend review, wonder if you're gonna comment on the game's massive enthusiam for metal.

 

[The Austin]

Yahtzee is a pretty cool dude who can make some strong points.

Being a ***** is not part of your character, it's just you being a *****, do you know what I am saying?

 

[Smituta]

Just a few words re: Samus.

I thought they did a pretty good job of telling some back story in Prime 1. The slow discovery of the Chozo legend was really a great backdrop to the whole game, and the select few scans that hinted at a young Samus being delivered to the Chozo added enough personal connection to make Samus feel directly linked to the world/universe. There were even a few scans that, if I remember correctly, had Samus noting environmental features, etc. for use in future bounty contracts. All subtle and probably not the best example of storytelling in games, but it was better than "I'm an angry *****" stereotype. Too bad Retro forgot how to make interesting, integrated environments in Prime 2 and 3.

Zelda, as seen in Ocarina of Time, is also an active not-waiting-to-be-rescued female character, even as a child.

Only other female characters I can think of in gaming that aren?t complete stereotypes are some of the NPCs in the Metal Gear games. A lot of them, such as Mei Ling (I think that?s her) and Naomi Hunter and Sniper Wolf in MGS1 are genuine characters with agendas and personalities and, despite some really amateurish double entendre in the beginning of the game, they aren?t just empty slots fawning over Mr. Bigstrongman Plissken.

EDIT: D'oh, forgot Alyx from HL2. Absolutely superb. Shame she isn't playable, as that would be amazing, but she's so good likely because you don't play her. And to think she exists in the same game as the complete non-character, Gordon Freeman. OK, well the wonderful storytelling in HL2 manages to make him an actual character, but otherwise he's pretty vapid.

 

[Grahav]

It looks like people are still looking for a proprer strong female. Some women moved to the opposite side of "damsel in distress" and tried to "surpass" the worse traits of men (which defines assholes) turning into bitches.

 

[soren7550]

Too true Mr. Croshaw. The only good female protagonist that come off as strong/likable/ect. that I can think of are Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark series), Alyx Vance (Half Life series) and my Shep from Mass Effect.

A bit sad that this is all I (and everyone else) have to look forward to. (not that I don't like the above characters. Hell, they're some of my favorites.)

 

[RazokKull]

Agreed. Frankly, I've always been sick of the, "I don't have a penis, and I'm in a video game, this means I have to be extra, extra 'tough' in order to make up for what I lack."

This doesn't net you respect, only ire. Be human, not a raging *****. People will like you more! (And not just for your mammaries!)

 

[The_Healer]

Gotta admit I didn't enjoy the demo all that much.
All seemed a little overdone.

 

[beema]

Let's be honest here, if Wet didn't completely suck ass in every single way, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

Just kidding (kind of). Good discussion, suprised nobody has brought up Alyx from HL2 as a shining example of a normal well-balanced female character (albeit NPC). Sure she gets on your nerves and you try shooting her in the face a few times, but she wouldn't be an NPC if she didn't!

 

[Lord Krunk]

Does Yahtzee post everything at 7 o'clock?

It depends on which time zone you're in. My featured review was released at 7 as well, which gives me the notion that anyone who lives on the Australian east coast has their features released at 7 (ZP and Doomsday Arcade, for example).

EDIT: On-topic, I can agree with the article; this kind of characterisation can make the female characters quite bland. The sort of thing whose use makes Lara Croft a *****, and the aversion of which gives characters like Alyx Vance and Mission Vao a bit of heart and sympathy.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Does Yahtzee post everything at 7 o'clock?

It depends on which time zone you're in. My featured review was released at 7 as well, which gives me the notion that anyone who lives on the Australian east coast has their features released at 7 (ZP and Doomsday Arcade, for example).

5 o clock GMT

 

[Loggymonster]

Does anyone else ever get tired of the fact that Samus Aran is just about the only well portrayed female hero there is? She also seems to be one of the most missed female hero's when there are these discussions too. The fact that she wasn't the first character to come to mind for most posters on here is odd. YES she doesn't really talk a whole lot, and sometimes she comes off as a little bit robotic so she's not perfect BUT she can kick ass, handle just about any situation, you almost never see her jubblies out of armor AND she's not a *****. She seems to be a highly respected person, being honored by the Galactic Federation and gets along well with others when need be. She feels pain, she has a story, she's just so much better than just about anything else.

I just DON'T see how it's THAT hard to make a female character that is a hard ass and not a *****. (Maybe if Samus just had a big neon "Like this but better" sign on her head it would help?)

 

[mrtenk]

Brilliant article but I'd like to address Yahtzee about one of his points.

Yahtzee, I'll take into account the idea that hot-blooded feminist bitches are a trend in a lot of games and media nowadays (Don't get me started on Wonder Woman), But don't you think it's a bit backwards to go after a videogame for having characters who are quote "inhumaine and unrelatable"?

Most games immerse the players in chaotic situations where they are forced to do inhumaine things for no reason other then to get a stat up or put themselves on a scoreboard whether the player character is a male or a female.

Don't get me wrong, I love being an asshole in my own little reality. It just.. Feels awkward when my character doesn't reflect how much of a dick I'm being. Prototype your made out to be this antihero that goes around blowing up crap and killing civilians while the dialogue says "Hm. maybe I shouldn't be doing this." or in GTA IV when you've come up in the ranks as a hardcore gangster who kills shit in cold blood. But in a staggering turn of events the player is left with a decision to kill this one guy who only killed maybe a fraction of the amount of people you did, and your still made out to be a "good guy".

I mean, hey, I'm all for player characters being easy to relate too, but sometimes it's more appropriate story-wise for the characters to be unrelatable. I mean there's absolutely no characterization behind Gordon Freeman but Half Life 2 has a brilliant story.