Happyninja42 said:
Because not everyone wants to play a male protagonist. Namely a large number of female gamers would like to have female protagonists that they could enjoy playing as, for the self-insert quality. It's why I personally prefer games with a male protagonist, because it's easier for me to insert myself into the role when I share the gender of the person I'm playing. Plenty of women and girls are the same way. My 3 god daughters all, if given a choice of characters to play as, (in games like Hyrule Warriors for example), pick a female character, because they enjoy them more.
I'm a male I've played many games that have female leads as well as games that give multiple character options that include both sexes. We already have a lot of diversity in this department.
The many male protag games I play I don't play them because of some self-insert fantasy either because having a male protag doesn't mean anything to me personally. Yet if that's what the franchise went with then it has to be respected.
I don't go whining "why isn't alice in wonderland a male" and demand the change. It's not productive in any way shape or form.
Happyninja42 said:
Great idea! ....how many of those are they actually putting out? Not many, and that's part of the problem, especially with Nintendo. They're so petrified to try new IP's, they've been rehashing the same 3 IP's for 30 damn years. So fans of Nintendo (and LoZ in particular), are expressing a desire for them to show some variety. Basically "If you're never going to make a Hyrule game with a female protagonist, because you have decided that the Hero of Hyrule is always Link, then we want a female Link sometimes."
Many. Bayonetta isn't the only IP if anything the only platform neglecting female leads is Microsoft yet that's mainly because their entire focus is sports, cars, fps. Even though they are getting their games to expand and allow for both sexes.
If we go with Female only leads sure it may not be massive but there's many games. Alice in wonderland, Beyond Good & Evil (?), Bloodrayne, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Cooking Mama, Heavenly Sword, Parasite Eve, Shantae, Super Princess Peach, Neptunia games‎, etc. Neglecting many games that I don't believe will interest either gender as gamers like barbie and bratz. As well as games that wont be productive to this discussion like DoA Beach volleyball. Since there's many more games to mention but...I can't remember them all.
There's also games I'd like to bring up such as Ar Tonelico and Valkyrie Profile.
If we go with both sexes then there's bigger options because that's been the case with many games for decades now. Many of the Mario games as well as the rpg counterparts allowed for, Pokemon games, Diablo, DMC, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, etc.
So no I don't believe there's a shortage and trying to strongarm many creative figures by demanding lead character be female will only make it worse not better.
Happyninja42 said:
....how did the media shut down the potential for that to happen? We have 2 Bayonetta games. That is the opposite of shutting down the potential for that to happen.
Because they nitpick and games like bayonetta that can lead to companies to be more open minded can't because companies realize that if they ever bother making a female protag game in this day and age they will have to deal with so much media blacklash. Since it isn't about having strong female leads it's about cherry picking a narrative to give legitimacy to something that doesn't exists.
Orga777 said:
Eh. It isn't that hard to explain why they want it... Because Link isn't a character with actual characterization. He is at best an avatar for the player. It would change effectively zero on the game. Link never talks or does anything. Characters react around him and that is all. Now that isn't the only thing in this case, either. Unlike other silent protagonists like say, Gordon Freeman or Chell etc., it is never the same Link in any of the games with the exception of direct sequels like Majora's Mask or what ever. So it REALLY doesn't matter in the long run of the series. It is just the easiest game series to change the gender without actually causing a fuss over anything. Just because of how convoluted the series works with its game world.
Sure link is a silent but those "reactions" to him especially when its story related makes sense a lot of the time for him to be male instead of female. So personally it does matter. Yes link is effeminate at a fault but that works well for its narrative.
Orga777 said:
Personally, though, I think it is misguided to want a gender-swapped Link. Cause doing that doesn't really change the game in any way except to appear progressive. They have a completely good female character like Zelda who would easily be able to carry her own game in the series, and having Princess Zelda playable would change the entire scope of the game from gameplay to interactions. She doesn't fight like Link at all, so it would allow the game devs to get more creative with level design, game play style, and tone. All of which would be more interesting than just having a gender-bent Link. So it is very depressing to hear Miyamoto pretty much obliterate any hope that Zelda will ever carry the main player role in a main entry in the series.
For the most part yes but he probably said that in retaliation. Since it isn't new in the industry the kind of pros and cons it brings to a company to "expand" that way. So he probably doesn't want to deal with such fixation since he looks to be more focused on the way he wants his creation to grow and expand. Especially when we see the 4 sword games. Personally I'm glad we even got to see a Hyrule Warriors franchise and get to play more than just two female characters such as Zelda and Shiek. Since I had that experience first with smash and the novelty wore off pretty quickly.
I say this because if he did make a female protagonist or create a Zelda game it would quickly escalate into a realm where people will never be satisfied because they would want their specific female in this franchise to get attention.
Since we have Zelda (And her many timeline forms), Tetra, Shiek, Lana, Cia, Great Fairy, Fi, Impa, Ruto, Agitha, Midna, True Form Midna, Marin, Medli, Sarah, the 3 Djinns, etc.
So I understand why he backed away. He already deals with a lot of conflicting reception with his own titles to bother dwelling into this kind of abyss.