Strong Female Characters In Videogames ?

Zero-Cool

Could Barry or Chris play Moonlight Sonata????

degrassinoel

Femshep

Randall Floyd

Chell in portal.

Trishka in Bulletstorm.

johnny_ultimate

Sam in Gone Home. Whereas many of the characters mentioned above are world-saving action heroes, Sam is something far more interesting entirely (at least in video game terms). Games have tried to tackle more realistic and grounded concerns before - often in the hyperstylised way you see in a lot of Japanese gaming and anime - but Sam feels like a genuine, credible teenager with real-life concerns. She's a young woman trying to find her way in life, dealing with issues of identity, family, independence and sexuality.

The Fullbright Company do some very impressive to actually establish her as a believable individual. When you go into her room, for example, it makes some concessions to video game storytelling but at the same time it fees 'lived in'. There's photographs and mementos developing someone who exists well beyond the parameters of the game's real-time narrative. Sam is someone with passions, friends, interests and individual taste. Even down to her music collection - whether that's riot girl icons or the songs from amateur local bands. She even vocally expresses her fondness for named films and video games!

Gone Home's script would probably be over familiar in any other medium, addressing topics and themes that have long become 'old hat' in film and literature. But it also uses interactivity as an interesting tool, allowing the player to explore the environment at their leisure and discover intimate details about the people who live in this house. And Sam is the best established of the lot, her diary entries further developing a character that's already fascinatingly realised through seemingly minor details scattered around the game world. Not bad for a character you never actually see in person.

K.O.Kiki

FemShep doesn't count as a true "strong female character" since her interactions are more-or-less the same as MaleShep's.
That said, breaking up with Garrus in ME3 was handled very well, and I praise the writers for that scene.

Back on topic: BAYONETTA

If you can take 3 seconds to see her as more than a Barbie doll, you'll find a strong woman who takes pride in the fact she looks good and can still kick ass.

Jonny Blaze

Chun-li from SF.

Shiminay

Yea, I'd have to agree with K.O.Kiki, I don't think you can make that strong of an argument for Fem Shep since she's merely a representation of exactly the same character but with boobs. The Shepard character overall was an enjoyable one to play though (I personally played the Fem Shep variant myself).

Lt Mira was great and was very much in keeping with the themes of the 40k universe

Chell in portal - no character development at all, we merely see the world and the development of GLaDOS and Wheatley through her eyes.

Trishka in Bulletstorm - definitely agree with that choice, she was slotted into a total dude-bro testosterone fuelled silly game and was perfectly at home in it the way they wrote her, very Velasquez from Aliens style.

Chun-Li definitely gets another vote from me - a victim as a child who joins the secret police on a mission to take down Bison by giving as good as anyone else.

Borderlands' series gets a nod here too, even though all their characters are "over the top" in a lot of ways, there's still a lot to be said for how they've written Moxxi (yea, all T&A in appearance, but she's not a lady to be fked with by any stretch of the imagination and she's been a good mother to her kids in so much as circumstance can allow). Lilith too was very well portrayed I thought. Fell out with the Raiders, set up her own domain of fire and put the fear of the gods into anyone who tried to cross her.

Maximus Alexander

Shiminay wrote: »

Yea, I'd have to agree with K.O.Kiki, I don't think you can make that strong of an argument for Fem Shep since she's merely a representation of exactly the same character but with boobs. The Shepard character overall was an enjoyable one to play though (I personally played the Fem Shep variant myself).

I dunno, you could make an argument that the fact that the character behaves in an identical manner to her male counterpart is precisely why she's such a strong character. They made no concessions to the notion of gender roles. For me, there is only Femshep, and she was a great character.

johnny_ultimate

We do need to get to the point where we say "this is a great character" as opposed to "this is a great female character". In an ideal world, gender shouldn't be the key qualifier, and any character should stand proud regardless of their sex. The whole Mass Effect thing is a great qualifier of that - Shepard is an interesting character completely in spite of gender (although consensus is that the FemShep voice actor is stronger and more charismatic).

While they do exist directly in relation to a male protagonist, I've always been impressed by how well the Uncharted games have portrayed Elena, Marisa and Chloe. The 'love interest' is the most token and thankless of all roles, but strong voice acting and characterisation has always ensured these are charismatic, intelligent, strong-willed and likeable individuals above and beyond their basic narrative roles as Drake's past, present and feature beaus. Marlowe too served as an unusual, offbeat and curious protagonist.

GottaGetGatt

GottaGetGatt wrote: »

Ellie from the Last Of Us

Don't forget Trish & Marlene, equally as strong.

Shiminay

Shiminay wrote: »

Trishka in Bulletstorm - definitely agree with that choice, she was slotted into a total dude-bro testosterone fuelled silly game and was perfectly at home in it the way they wrote her, very Velasquez from Aliens style.

This.

For a game that was considered to be childish by some, if you you delve deaper it's not at all.

She took no **** from anyone and held here own against the hyper-ego's of the male characters.

Jonny Blaze

What about Elaine Marley?

folan

does GladOs count?

folan

folan wrote: »

does GladOs count?

She's an A.I. so I would say no.

gizmo

Yep +1 to Lilith from Borderlands, thought she was fantastic in both games.

I also really like Nariko from Heavenly Sword. The story may have been cliché-central but I'm a sucker for a bit of heroic sacrifice and chest beating speeches against antagonists.

Cate Archer from NOLF and Farrah from Prince of Persia are also two that stick in my mind as being really enjoyable characters. The former benefited from some amusing writing throughout both games while the latter was an great partner for the cocksure Prince in the Sands of Time series.

folan

M!Ck^ wrote: »

She's an A.I. so I would say no.

i understand, but "she", as you put it, is still female.

now, its a female personality put upon an AI (though Portal 2 insinuates that she was once human, or at least part of the AI came from her).

it also raises the question of SHODAN.

Morag

Morrigan and Wynne in Dragon age orgins.
Annah-of-the-Shadows Planescape torment
Sylvanas Windrunner warcraft 3 and wow
BloodRayne
Zhai Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (one of the best experiences of playing rogue bar thief series)
Alice in american Mcgees's Alice

Gbear

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Femshep in Mass Effect, Miranda in ME2.

It's a bit undermined by the fact that every time you have a serious conversation with her the camera is locked onto her arse.

Maximus Alexander

Gbear wrote: »

It's a bit undermined by the fact that every time you have a serious conversation with her the camera is locked onto her arse.

This is true, it annoys me too.

Sarky

Morag wrote: »

Annah-of-the-Shadows Planescape torment

Ah, Annah. Independant, strong-willed, mouth like a Glaswegian sailor. I could listen to her tell me to pike off all day.

Morag

Sarky wrote: »

Ah, Annah. Independant, strong-willed, mouth like a Glaswegian sailor. I could listen to her tell me to pike off all day.

"whatcha lookin at cutter!?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8s7iveWvBs

Sephiroth_dude

Beautiful Freya ff9

degrassinoel

M!Ck^ wrote: »

She's an A.I. so I would say no.

but you referred to her as "her", technically that counts i guess

nyarlothothep

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Jill valentine...................what a woman!

When I was playing these games as a kid, I would normally play the male character but usually due to the female character making the game easier to play I would end up putting aside my childish rule of no way am I playing as a girl! But the funny thing is that those female characters were much more interesting than the male equivalents. Jill Valentine was vastly more interesting compared to Chris Redfield who was just the standard 'action man' character. I would think that even though 'Berry' rescued her a lot, she was kind of like a Ripley character for a zombie apocalypse. Additionally, although I never played the sequels I prefer the first game over all as the mansion setting was very unique, the design of the mansion was amazing, I really like the occult/Lovecraftian undertones to it, it has a very old-world feel with the emblems that you use to unlock the door for example.

Another great female character who again stood out as the best was Blaze in Streets of Rage. Again, initially she was easier to play with but she also was the most interesting character.

Skerries

Morag wrote: »

Morrigan and Wynne in Dragon age orgins.

I loved her and was so disappoint when she wasn't in the sequel

K.O.Kiki

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Beautiful Freya ff9

Strong stats, but she got the short end of the stick in many ways.

Sir Fratley is never gonna remember her properly, and she'll have to repopulate the Burmecian race.

SeantheMan

Didn't care for her as a character at all, or the guy Red.
Maybe it's been so long since I played it...will have to revisit it.....saying that...I bought it on PSN...but get some stupid error on my PS3 when I try to play it....video format incompatible or something.