sincere | Heroines where??

maladaptive and I were discussing a topic relevant to my last post, which has bothered me for a long time: female characters in video games. I'm extremely laid back as female gamers go. I don't complain much about feminism or character abuse. However, the driving reason The Last Dreamer game turned out the way it did (Maris never existed until we decided to make it a video game) is because of this question.

Now, there are many things to address on this topic -- like reasons why the bulk of females in RPGs are spellcasters and not fighters (take Final Fantasy IX or X for good examples of this, each game features three playable females and in each game two of those are set as exclusively casters, compared to one and ZERO male casters respectively.) Like reasons why the bulk of female characters are often one of the following and very little else: sweet saints (Aerith of FFVII), helpless kidnap-bait (Shirley, Tales Legendia), or superior bitches (Tetra, Zelda Windwaker)... or some horrible combination of all those things (Sophia, SO3).

Disclaimer: I like Tetra and Aerith a lot. Shut up.

My question is, how many female main characters are there, really?

Games that don't count:
-ones where you have choices between main characters and one of those is female (Star Ocean 2, Suikoden 3)
-ones with an ensemble cast where the central character is female (FFVI)
-ones where the main character is not the main playable character (FFX)
-ones where the female main character is female not intended to represent a female lead, but female in order to have a pleasing shape for male players (Tomb Raider, Red Ninja)

So far we've been able to come up with:

Valkyrie Profile's Lenneth - truly a hero among female leads, strong and smart and awesome.
Wild ARMs 3's Virginia Maxwell - naive, idealistic, but neither stupid nor helpless.
Super Princess Peach's... Princess Peach - she kicks ass wearing a poofy pink dress with a parasol and rescues her men? Go girl.
Parasite Eve's Aya Brea - okay FINE in the second game TOO.
Fatal Frame's heroines - because everything is scarier when you're a tiny Japanese girl.
Silent Hill 3's Heather Morris - "Mother of GOD." Not just for exasperation anymore.
Metroid's Samus Aran - so hardcore you wouldn't even know she's a chick.
Final Fantasy XII - no, he only looks like a girl
Final Fantasy XIII - ostensibly.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant's Karin - HAH I remembered before you all did!

Xenosaga series's Shion Uzuki - she's a science genius girl.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment's Maya Amano - big sister journalist with... with... with hearts on her... her tie is cool!
Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica's Claire Redfield - a motorcycle enthusiast! she wins.
Pocky & Rocky's Pocky - Shinto priestess with pet raccoon OKAY GO
Final Fantasy X-2's Yuna - making a comeback as the leader of Charlie's Angels.
King's Quest 4 and 7's Rosella - when Dad's a hero, being a pampered princess only lasts as long as his enemies can't find you.
Rhapsody's Cornet - although most English voice actors should not attempt to sing. (YOU, HALEY JOEL OSMENT. PUT DOWN THE MIC. And the beer.)
Koudelka's Koudelka - ...you can never have enough games named after the main character.
Dino Crisis's Regina - for all your weapon-customizing, dinosaur-killing needs.
Clock Tower's heroines - because everything is scarier when you're -- wait, her family WHAT?
Deception & Trapt's heroines - demons are your friends! M- Maybe.
Popful Mail's Mail - CRACK. I mean. Nuts Cracker?
Valis's Yuko Ahso - can't argue with magic destiny. Also, tentacle porn. (Also old!)
Panzer Dragoon Orta's Orta - every girl wants a dragon to love.
MS. PACMAN - ...lawl

Can anyone think of any more main female characters?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's actually a bit of a shame you don't count selectable female roles, because the Soul Calibur games have several strong female characters with interesting and well-developed back-stories, even if they ARE fighting games. Sofitia for the win, man! Gorgeous, untouchable, and supremely dedicated to saving the world by force of arms.

....hm. Well, if strategy games count, I have Age of Mythology, which has as members of your core Heros both Amanra (Queen of the Nile and a sassy bitch and wicked fighter) and Reginleif (the Valkyrie, chosen of Odin, healer AND awesome fighter FTW). (And let me tell you, Amanra and Reginleif are both a hell of a lot more useful than the goddamn dwarf brothers. >.<)

Strategy games do count, but that sounds like it might be an ensemble cast? I mean games with MAIN characters who are female. Final Fantasy Tactics would count if Ramza were a chick, for instance. XD

If I were doing strong females and not exclusively starring females, I would totally count SoulCal chicks. ♥

Well. There is a cast of several main heros. Since it's scenario-based, Amanra does have her own scenario, and Reginlief was the ONLY hero in the demo. I mean, the way Age of Mythology runs is kinda totally different than most of the types I play, so it's hard for me to really judge what you mean by 'starring female.'

What I mean is a game with an exclusive single main character who is female. What you're describing is similar to Suikoden 3, which I mentioned above: there are several options for who you play, and some of them happen to be female. If I were allowing women who co-star with other people to be on the list, I would be so happy to put Chris Lightfellow up there you have no idea, she's my hero.

It's sort of in-between, then; you don't have the OPTION to play as Amanra, you MUST play as Amanrah in several of the scenarios. ...you don't have a choice about who you play at all, really. But there ARE other main characters, so.

I'm having a hard time coming up with ANY games that I actually PLAY that have exclusive female leads, though.

Heroines where??

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