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

okay here's some more:

* Resident Evil 3 (Jill Valentine) (you might want to check on who all you can play as in Resident Evil 2 as it might violate your excessive-dude-playtime rule or something)
* Parasite Eve & PE2 (CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THESE, Aya Brea)
* FFX might not count, but what about FFX-2?! YOU CAN'T EVEN GET DUDES IN YOUR PARTY! No matter how badly you want to dress up Gippal!!! (VERY BADLY btw)
* Bloodrayne (as Bloodrayne)
* Rhapsody (it's a MUSICAL RPG!! also, its sequels Little Princess, Tenshi Present, La Pucelle)
* Atelier Iris & Atelier Marie (I'm told)
* SPACE CHANNEL 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (as Ulala)
* Phantom Brave (I'm told, I don't own this one)
* Athena (lolololololol as Athena, old SNK game)
* Um Jammer Lammy (as Lammy)
* Koudelka (as Koudelka)
* Clock Tower series (again with the survival horror!)
* Nightshade
* Dino Crisis (I believe)
* Maken X (I'm told)
* Threads of Fate, sort of (well, you have to pick either the boy or the girl at the beginning, but they have different storylines and paths through the game.)
* Deception 2 & 3 (I'm told)
* Trapt (as the princess, YET ANOTHER SURVIVAL HORROR GAME sort of)
* Popful Mail (as... I think her name was Mail XD)
* Valis series (oldschool!!)
* Panzer Dragoon Orta
* Alisia Dragoon
* El Viento (saturn game... I'm told)
* King's Quest 7 (I think it was 7... there's one where you play as the princess)
* Ms. Pacman. XD

okay that's all I can think of.

I'll let you know if more come to mind but it seems unlikely at the moment XD;;;

King's Quest 7!!1 omg, totally. (And what was it -- 4, I think you were also Rosella.) And FFX-2 was excluded solely because I'm retarded. (It's in my Playstation right now.) (WTB Gippal dress-spheres!)

Resident Evil games I am counting; it's less about not playing as card-carrying members of the Dick-Having Club and more about the lead role being exclusively played by a female -- that's why Threads of Fate wouldn't count, as fun as Mint is, because she shares the limelight with her male co-star.

I acquired Atelier Iris by accident... (GameStop reminded me that since I was buying two used games, I might as well get my free one!) I should, you know. Unwrap that.

OH MY GOD, King's Quest. I played that game when I was little!

TICKLE THE GODDAMN UVULA, ROSELLA

wah, why'd you leave off Lammy and Ulala when you updated? XD;; I mean okay, you look at Ulala and think eye-candy probably, and she sort of is... but what's wrong with that?! She's a space journalist who pwnz aliens with a combo of dancing and shooting!! Besides you should see the GUY characters. XD And I mean, okay, it's a music game, but so what? It has a (retarded) plot!!

Same for Lammy... I mean, the game's a sequel to Parappa the Rappa, and Lammy's a badass punk uh... cow... girl... who's trying to get to her rock band Milk Can's gig on time! XD The only other playable character is her "evil twin" Rammy and all the other members of her band are also girls. If I were a little girl I think this game would definitely break some stereotypes... girls can rock out with guitars too! :D

I did a little poking and I was under the impression that they were more games where you had an avatar more than a character -- since they both seemed like rhythm/dancer games. I sort of made a mental connection to DDR or something. XD If they're actual characters that'd be cool?

Heroines where??

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