The geeky video game post.
So that I don't take up all the space on peoples' LJ, you can find my alternate post Video game female protagonists, the best and the worst.
Okay, my all-time favorite female protagonist is hands down Samus Aran of the Metroid series. She's so kick-ass everyone thought she was a guy in the first game (hardcore difference between butch and kick-ass here.) So, for those of you who wonder about my lesbian tendencies, let me tell you right out. If you are a human raised by an alien race, taught their fighting style, infused with alien DNA to make you super strong and attractive, and wear an alien power suit to go kill bad aliens, then you are my ideal lesbian lover. If you do not meet these qualifications, I am sorry, I cannot ever be attracted to you. Hahaha, that was fun to type.
Other games with female protagonists (that I've played or care to mention) include: Tomb Raider, Rhapsody, Final Fantasy VI (arguably), Okami (I know the manual says they tried to be asexual about the character in the game, but it's Amaterasu people), Final Fantasy X-2, La Pucelle Tactics, Phantom Brave, Odin Sphere, Parasite Eve, Persona 2:Eternal Punishment, Suikoden III, Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2, and Xenosaga I-III.
Okay, I really shouldn't include Odin Sphere and Suikoden III because all the main characters (5 and 3, respectively) share the story, but I can and will.
Okay, boob lovers around the world, Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame, is both insulting and awesome at the same time. Her boobs are really ridiculous, but you know, it's still fun to swan dive off edges and shoot the hell outta scary animals and baddies. It's hard for me to get past her lack of a power suit and her tendency to die often, but Laura Croft still has some cool moves and it makes me happy to see a successful female protagonist in a game without ponies or Bratz. It's cool that in the latest game they've made her more "realistic" in her proportions. (Think they had a talk with the makers of Barbie about the whole process??) Lara Croft is classy and British, so I expect her to be above action whores, like Blood Rayne, because let's face it, she's pretty much the original action babe of video games. She's been around over a decade and is still kicking.
Rhapsody's Cornet is well... she's dumb but ultimately lovable. Anyone who can fall in love with a man in her dreams, meet said man in real (game) life, and win him over by dressing as a large winged-dog-unicorn-bear creature deserves some respect. Plus, she dumps pancakes on enemies. However, Cornet appeals mostly to the shojo-loving, cutesy crowd because there is a VAST majority of gamers who DO NOT want to hear her sing to her puppet. I loved it, but it's lost on many.
Final Fantasy VI (III SNES in the U.S., you all know that confusing numbering system) is a great game and Terra is really arguably the main character. You begin with her quest, and her choices ultimately decide the course of the game... for the first half. Then Celes takes center stage in the second half, so really, you have two female protagonists. I am partial to this game because it's pretty much the first game I fell in love with enough to beat multiple times (sorry, Crystalis, you just weren't pretty enough for me anymore.) Terra and Celes are pretty damn cool for girls as they pretty much obliterate enemies with their magic power and they don't suck with weapons either. They can both use the most devastating weapons in the game, so with the right leveling up and attribute planning, they kick ass. Terra's morph ability, in particular, is useful. Celes loses points for her Runic ability just being dumb and annoying, so -1 to Celes. But she still gets the guy in the end, so I guess her blondness factor overcomes coolness.
(WHEE LONG POST CONTINUES!) Okami is awesome. It's like Zelda meets a Japanese watercolor painting. You are the sun goddess Amaterasu in the body of the wolf Shiranui, it's a long opening, but once the game starts, damn, it's sweet. Plus, you're a wolf, so for a gal that doesn't talk (really!) she's really expressive. I cannot say enough for this game. It's bitchin' (pun intended.)
Final Fantasy X-2. Yuna. Why? Paine makes you and Rikku look like sugared-up Bratz dolls. Pretty pretty dress-up fantasy is campy and fun but deep? Not a chance. It's been 2 years since the end of FFX but both RIkku and Yuna have experience fantastic hair growth. It's unnatural. Okay, I enjoyed this game, but the "girl power" vibe can get seriously annoying. I love the scenes where Brother is in the background being a goon, but you know, his crush on Yuna weirds me out a bit...
La Pucelle Tactics' Prier scares me. A 16-year-old girl with thighs that destructive should never exist. Ever.
Phantom Brave makes me cry regularly. 13-year-old Marona is just adorable. The basis for the game is heart-breaking, so it's neat that however cutesy it is, there is a serious side to this game. It is annoying that Marona, being a child, just sometimes doesn't get the bigger picture, but it's still a lot of fun. Yay for a game with a young girl protagonist that is fun to play and won't make your brain melt from too much emphasis on picking the best purse to match your outfit and your pony.
Odin Sphere is a gorgeous, gorgeous game. Of the 5 main characters, 3 are female so kudos to Odin Sphere. I admit, the dialog is OVER THE TOP, but it works in a strange way. ("You are not an object!") Gwendolyn is by far my favorite girl character. A) She is a valkyrie and I love valkyries, B) She carries a spear, and I love spears, C) She's a very complex character, and D) She gets the non-furry boy!! :) Oh, and she can wear a dress or armor and still be awesome. Love Gwendolyn. Mercedes is a long-range, magic-heavy, crossbow girl, so she's your generic wuss character. And she's whiny, but you know, she gets some leeway for being a tiny little fairy girl. And really, her crossbow is devastating, and of all the characters, I took the least damage with her because she can fly. Velvet is the other main female, basically your generic witch character, but her chain weapons are kinda neat in concept. Using them is really annoying, though. She's not long-range like Mercedes, so you can't really stay out of harms way, but she's not fast enough to be a melee character. Plus, her main attack changes it's range with each strike beginning with a longer range strike that knocks enemies farther away as she spins prettily with these close range strikes, completely missing the target. Annoying. But she's alright outside of that, just not as cool as Gwendolyn.
Parasite Eve is not survival horror at its finest, but it's a fun jaunt through a creeptastic Manhattan. Having special powers due to abnormalities in your mitochondria is awesome, but the science speak is sometimes monotonous. Plus, no one can survive a 300 foot drop from a helicopter while flaming and still manage to perfectly throw that special pack of ammo. Not even a black badass cop.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment features the heart-loving high school student Maya, which is strange for a Persona game. Usual this series sticks to unnamed, silent protagonists. Even Persona 3, just released this last year features a silent hero. So yeah, Maya is cool, like Veronica Mars. I just wish she'd ditch that heart-booby coat. It's not fashionable at all. Other than that, I love the art in these games... and the creepiness factor.
Suikoden III does something a bit strange for the series. It begins with a choice of 3 characters and you choose the order you play each before they eventually merge into one story. It's neat to see how being on separate sides of an issue dictates how you feel about each character. The female protagonist is Chris, she's a stoic, yet compassionate knight in full armor, so she gets points for not having her rack hanging out (take note of this, creepy aunt Sialeeds from Suikoden V.) She's a bit cliched but it works because the other two characters fill their own roles (cunning pirate and young brash nomad boy) and balance the cast out nicely.
Valkyrie Profile is next (I'm almost done!! Yay!) Lenneth is pretty sweet because she is a Valkyrie and you all know how I love valkyries. ( I do!) The opening is bittersweet, but damn is it long. It takes forever for this game to let you play it.
Valkyrie Profile 2:Silmeria has the opposite problem. While it's gorgeous and throws you into the gameplay quickly, it also begins your first battle with the longest tutorial I've ever seen. It has text box after text box explaining every nuance of combat without giving you hands on experience after each lesson, so you are forced to just try and remember all the crap that was just thrown at you. Plus, I was way too busy watching the elfish Rufus swing his sword to pay attention to such trivialities as directions. Oh yeah, I was talking about female protagonists. Silmeria is a Valkyrie living in the body of the princess, Alicia, so you get two female protagonists for the price of one! In my opinion, Alicia is whiny and should die, but hopefully, she redeems herself later in the game so that I feel less strongly about that.
I have yet to really watch the games that are the Xenosaga series, so I don't know how I feel about Shion Uzuki just yet. From what I've seen she's got a tough geek-girl vibe about her, so I think we'll get along nicely. Plus, she knows how to operate a giant mech (called a "gear") and it's not pink or yellow. She gets all kinds of brownie points for that alone.
Whew! Done. So I realize this list is far from complete, there are hundreds of other titles out there for different platforms, but I'm not writing a novel on it or playing all those games to get an opinion. Why did I do this, you ask? My boss is in Bismarck today and it's write obnoxiously long journal posts, or read video game magazines. I was feeling obnoxious, so here we are.
I also feel it is important to point out that I focused on female protagonist games, not female lead character games. I do not want to hear about how much cooler Zelda is than Samus, because A)She isn't and B) I refuse to consider the two games where Zelda was a female protagonist as games at all. The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure are hideous, deplorable games that will forever stain the usually pristine record of Zelda games.
HOLY LONG AS THE YONGLE DADIAN BATMAN!!
Okay, my all-time favorite female protagonist is hands down Samus Aran of the Metroid series. She's so kick-ass everyone thought she was a guy in the first game (hardcore difference between butch and kick-ass here.) So, for those of you who wonder about my lesbian tendencies, let me tell you right out. If you are a human raised by an alien race, taught their fighting style, infused with alien DNA to make you super strong and attractive, and wear an alien power suit to go kill bad aliens, then you are my ideal lesbian lover. If you do not meet these qualifications, I am sorry, I cannot ever be attracted to you. Hahaha, that was fun to type.
Other games with female protagonists (that I've played or care to mention) include: Tomb Raider, Rhapsody, Final Fantasy VI (arguably), Okami (I know the manual says they tried to be asexual about the character in the game, but it's Amaterasu people), Final Fantasy X-2, La Pucelle Tactics, Phantom Brave, Odin Sphere, Parasite Eve, Persona 2:Eternal Punishment, Suikoden III, Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2, and Xenosaga I-III.
Okay, I really shouldn't include Odin Sphere and Suikoden III because all the main characters (5 and 3, respectively) share the story, but I can and will.
Okay, boob lovers around the world, Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame, is both insulting and awesome at the same time. Her boobs are really ridiculous, but you know, it's still fun to swan dive off edges and shoot the hell outta scary animals and baddies. It's hard for me to get past her lack of a power suit and her tendency to die often, but Laura Croft still has some cool moves and it makes me happy to see a successful female protagonist in a game without ponies or Bratz. It's cool that in the latest game they've made her more "realistic" in her proportions. (Think they had a talk with the makers of Barbie about the whole process??) Lara Croft is classy and British, so I expect her to be above action whores, like Blood Rayne, because let's face it, she's pretty much the original action babe of video games. She's been around over a decade and is still kicking.
Rhapsody's Cornet is well... she's dumb but ultimately lovable. Anyone who can fall in love with a man in her dreams, meet said man in real (game) life, and win him over by dressing as a large winged-dog-unicorn-bear creature deserves some respect. Plus, she dumps pancakes on enemies. However, Cornet appeals mostly to the shojo-loving, cutesy crowd because there is a VAST majority of gamers who DO NOT want to hear her sing to her puppet. I loved it, but it's lost on many.
Final Fantasy VI (III SNES in the U.S., you all know that confusing numbering system) is a great game and Terra is really arguably the main character. You begin with her quest, and her choices ultimately decide the course of the game... for the first half. Then Celes takes center stage in the second half, so really, you have two female protagonists. I am partial to this game because it's pretty much the first game I fell in love with enough to beat multiple times (sorry, Crystalis, you just weren't pretty enough for me anymore.) Terra and Celes are pretty damn cool for girls as they pretty much obliterate enemies with their magic power and they don't suck with weapons either. They can both use the most devastating weapons in the game, so with the right leveling up and attribute planning, they kick ass. Terra's morph ability, in particular, is useful. Celes loses points for her Runic ability just being dumb and annoying, so -1 to Celes. But she still gets the guy in the end, so I guess her blondness factor overcomes coolness.
(WHEE LONG POST CONTINUES!) Okami is awesome. It's like Zelda meets a Japanese watercolor painting. You are the sun goddess Amaterasu in the body of the wolf Shiranui, it's a long opening, but once the game starts, damn, it's sweet. Plus, you're a wolf, so for a gal that doesn't talk (really!) she's really expressive. I cannot say enough for this game. It's bitchin' (pun intended.)
Final Fantasy X-2. Yuna. Why? Paine makes you and Rikku look like sugared-up Bratz dolls. Pretty pretty dress-up fantasy is campy and fun but deep? Not a chance. It's been 2 years since the end of FFX but both RIkku and Yuna have experience fantastic hair growth. It's unnatural. Okay, I enjoyed this game, but the "girl power" vibe can get seriously annoying. I love the scenes where Brother is in the background being a goon, but you know, his crush on Yuna weirds me out a bit...
La Pucelle Tactics' Prier scares me. A 16-year-old girl with thighs that destructive should never exist. Ever.
Phantom Brave makes me cry regularly. 13-year-old Marona is just adorable. The basis for the game is heart-breaking, so it's neat that however cutesy it is, there is a serious side to this game. It is annoying that Marona, being a child, just sometimes doesn't get the bigger picture, but it's still a lot of fun. Yay for a game with a young girl protagonist that is fun to play and won't make your brain melt from too much emphasis on picking the best purse to match your outfit and your pony.
Odin Sphere is a gorgeous, gorgeous game. Of the 5 main characters, 3 are female so kudos to Odin Sphere. I admit, the dialog is OVER THE TOP, but it works in a strange way. ("You are not an object!") Gwendolyn is by far my favorite girl character. A) She is a valkyrie and I love valkyries, B) She carries a spear, and I love spears, C) She's a very complex character, and D) She gets the non-furry boy!! :) Oh, and she can wear a dress or armor and still be awesome. Love Gwendolyn. Mercedes is a long-range, magic-heavy, crossbow girl, so she's your generic wuss character. And she's whiny, but you know, she gets some leeway for being a tiny little fairy girl. And really, her crossbow is devastating, and of all the characters, I took the least damage with her because she can fly. Velvet is the other main female, basically your generic witch character, but her chain weapons are kinda neat in concept. Using them is really annoying, though. She's not long-range like Mercedes, so you can't really stay out of harms way, but she's not fast enough to be a melee character. Plus, her main attack changes it's range with each strike beginning with a longer range strike that knocks enemies farther away as she spins prettily with these close range strikes, completely missing the target. Annoying. But she's alright outside of that, just not as cool as Gwendolyn.
Parasite Eve is not survival horror at its finest, but it's a fun jaunt through a creeptastic Manhattan. Having special powers due to abnormalities in your mitochondria is awesome, but the science speak is sometimes monotonous. Plus, no one can survive a 300 foot drop from a helicopter while flaming and still manage to perfectly throw that special pack of ammo. Not even a black badass cop.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment features the heart-loving high school student Maya, which is strange for a Persona game. Usual this series sticks to unnamed, silent protagonists. Even Persona 3, just released this last year features a silent hero. So yeah, Maya is cool, like Veronica Mars. I just wish she'd ditch that heart-booby coat. It's not fashionable at all. Other than that, I love the art in these games... and the creepiness factor.
Suikoden III does something a bit strange for the series. It begins with a choice of 3 characters and you choose the order you play each before they eventually merge into one story. It's neat to see how being on separate sides of an issue dictates how you feel about each character. The female protagonist is Chris, she's a stoic, yet compassionate knight in full armor, so she gets points for not having her rack hanging out (take note of this, creepy aunt Sialeeds from Suikoden V.) She's a bit cliched but it works because the other two characters fill their own roles (cunning pirate and young brash nomad boy) and balance the cast out nicely.
Valkyrie Profile is next (I'm almost done!! Yay!) Lenneth is pretty sweet because she is a Valkyrie and you all know how I love valkyries. ( I do!) The opening is bittersweet, but damn is it long. It takes forever for this game to let you play it.
Valkyrie Profile 2:Silmeria has the opposite problem. While it's gorgeous and throws you into the gameplay quickly, it also begins your first battle with the longest tutorial I've ever seen. It has text box after text box explaining every nuance of combat without giving you hands on experience after each lesson, so you are forced to just try and remember all the crap that was just thrown at you. Plus, I was way too busy watching the elfish Rufus swing his sword to pay attention to such trivialities as directions. Oh yeah, I was talking about female protagonists. Silmeria is a Valkyrie living in the body of the princess, Alicia, so you get two female protagonists for the price of one! In my opinion, Alicia is whiny and should die, but hopefully, she redeems herself later in the game so that I feel less strongly about that.
I have yet to really watch the games that are the Xenosaga series, so I don't know how I feel about Shion Uzuki just yet. From what I've seen she's got a tough geek-girl vibe about her, so I think we'll get along nicely. Plus, she knows how to operate a giant mech (called a "gear") and it's not pink or yellow. She gets all kinds of brownie points for that alone.
Whew! Done. So I realize this list is far from complete, there are hundreds of other titles out there for different platforms, but I'm not writing a novel on it or playing all those games to get an opinion. Why did I do this, you ask? My boss is in Bismarck today and it's write obnoxiously long journal posts, or read video game magazines. I was feeling obnoxious, so here we are.
I also feel it is important to point out that I focused on female protagonist games, not female lead character games. I do not want to hear about how much cooler Zelda is than Samus, because A)She isn't and B) I refuse to consider the two games where Zelda was a female protagonist as games at all. The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure are hideous, deplorable games that will forever stain the usually pristine record of Zelda games.
HOLY LONG AS THE YONGLE DADIAN BATMAN!!