are there any non-sexualized/stereotypical female characters in games?

[RabbidKuriboh]

Sarah from star ocean 4 does what most female characters find impossible, being funny without being steryotypical also she has arguably the best design and is not oversexualised

 

[S_K]

I disagree with Selphie and Rikku, but I agree with Beatrix.

Rikku is..well look at her. Sexualized in number 2, but barely passable in number 1. And selphie...well...goes into combat in a miniskirt. Not so much sexualized as much as she is a ditz, so stereotype.

Just in final fantasys minor defence I wouldn't take final fantasy X-2 seriously tbh compared to well... the first X game. I never played it in depth but come on surely I can't be the only one who thought X-2 was basically final fantasy fanservice edition

 

[Rickyvantof]

Pyro is a pretty good all-round female character.

 

[Maze1125]

Konoko from Oni wasn't sexualised or stereotyped at all.

 

[ScRaT_the_destroyer]

Pyro is a pretty good all-round female character.

eh?! they are dressed head to toe in rubber...

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I wish Commader Shepard counted even though PCs from RPGs are kind of iffy.
She isn't really sexualised much at all. There's only one point in the entire game where she shows more than three inches of skin (and that's DLC) and all the hair options make it look like she hasn't bathed in three months.

We love you Fem Shep!

I find the best part of FemShep is her voice. Jennifer Hale covers a range of emotions and vocal ranges easily. She can be flirty, playful, sarcastic, compassionate, angry etc and they all sound right. I really think the reason ManShep sounds so rubbish is because his voice actor was so stunned by Jennifer Hale's talent.

Fuck if they adapt Mass Effect, I hope the make Shepard a woman.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Jade, Samus...

Sarah Kerrigan?

How is Kerrigan not sexualised? Skin tight metal suits and a sniper rifle seem like they were going for sexual appeal there.

Yeah, dude, I dunno.

That's pretty obviously meant to get guys to pop a boner. Whatever was I thinking.

She's not sexualized. By that logic, female Shepard is sexualized because she's always in a jumpsuit.

You're just picking at straws.

 

[TheMann]

This one:

Did I seriously just get ninja'd to American McGee's Alice? FTW, I thought I was going to original with that one. But yeah, not sexualized at all. I mean she's a knife wielding psycho-girl but still, a very strong character (at least in wonderland). Also a bit of a snarker, which I always think is cool. Also coming back for a sequel.

I'm gonna go with the crowd and give another nod to Alyx Vance. She may have a few "girl next door" appearances, but doesn't really fit into that. She's a survivalist who's mostly a product of growing up in an oppressive nightmarish dystopia. She dresses in clothes that are practical for her environment, is a pretty good ass-kicker and maintains a pretty upbeat personality considering the circumstances. That, well, is pretty sexy in my book. She does need to ditch her shirt though. It's pretty much caked in dried blood now, which has got to feel kind of gross. Of course Gordon has to wear the HEV suit. All. The. Time.

Jade, Samus...

Sarah Kerrigan?

How is Kerrigan not sexualised? Skin tight metal suits and a sniper rifle seem like they were going for sexual appeal there.

-stuff about Kerrigan-

I really don't think Sarah Kerrigan had dreadlocks, in-game she clearly has her hair up in a normal ponytail. I think the sprite used for her head was just drawn a little weird as her hair was pulled behind her targeting goggles. Also the C-10 is a sniper rifle of sorts. It would make no sense for a ghost to use a shotgun. In SC1 gameplay the ghosts can hit a target a lot further away than the marines can and for more damage. This couldn't happen with a shotgun. So the way I see it the C-10 is a multi-purpose high powered rifle, that can also fire a lock-down device or lase a target for a nuclear strike.

Anyhoo OT: Kerrigan certainly isn't played for sexiness in the standard sense, but she does carry a decent dose of fetish fuel. Now someone in the Starcraft universe that could be considered is Nova Terra from the canceled SC: Ghost game. I hear she has a cameo is SC2 (I still can't afford to buy that game yet grrr.) While she certainly is an attractive young women, when you hear her back-story and capabilities you quickly realize that she is absolutely fucking terrifying.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I disagree with Selphie and Rikku, but I agree with Beatrix.

Rikku is..well look at her. Sexualized in number 2, but barely passable in number 1. And selphie...well...goes into combat in a miniskirt. Not so much sexualized as much as she is a ditz, so stereotype.

Stripy Stripy.
Also note the thong in FF-X2.

Both true. I was talking about FFX's Rikku, not X-2 (X-2 is just...yeah...). I admit the strippy scene is a bit like whaaa? And when she was first in her diving suit I did think the skin coloured parts of the suit were....skin. But I think afterwards when she properly joins the party she's just, like Selphie, the ditzy "cute" girl.
(Note: "cute" being different from flaunting giant breasts. "Cute" is acceptable)

But Rikku DOES have giant breasts for a 15 year old...Rikku is the second most sexualised female in FFX

 

[RelexCryo]

the C-10 is a sniper rifle of sorts. It would make no sense for a ghost to use a shotgun. In SC1 gameplay the ghosts can hit a target a lot further away than the marines can and for more damage. This couldn't happen with a shotgun. So the way I see it the C-10 is a multi-purpose high powered rifle, that can also fire a lock-down device or lase a target for a nuclear strike.

Anyhoo OT: Kerrigan certainly isn't played for sexiness in the standard sense, but she does carry a decent dose of fetish fuel. Now someone in the Starcraft universe that could be considered is Nova Terra from the canceled SC: Ghost game. I hear she has a cameo is SC2 (I still can't afford to buy that game yet grrr.) While she certainly is an attractive young women, when you hear her back-story and capabilities you quickly realize that she is absolutely fucking terrifying.

Fair enough, the Canister Rile is not a gun that shoots shot. However, it closely resembled a shotgun that fires metal slugs, in SC1. If you look at Kerrigan's portrait, you see she pumps her C-10 like a shotgun and the in game firing noise features the sound of a gun being pumped in between each shot. Also, if you look at the wire-frame of a ghost, there's no scope. In SC2 on the other hand, there's a great big fancy scope on the gun model and when using the Snipe ability you hear the stereotypically unrealistic "silenced" shooting noise that you hear in movies that feature noise suppressors.

Shotguns have a lot more range than the movies give them credit for, especially when using slugs instead of shot. Seems appropriate for the Ghosts to be using supercharged shotguns, since I imagine most zerg would shrug off a sniper round, even a high caliber one.

I disagree.


A S&W 500- which is a handgun has almost as much raw kinetic energy as a 12 gauge shotgun slug. Roughly 3,000 Foot pounds. If you use hot loaded cartridges with custom made shell casings- "John Ross" Custom loads- you can go higher.

The Springfield .30-06 sniper round is about 3500 foot pounds at max load. Which is about the utmost maximum you can squeeze out of a S&W 500 without making it explode, I think.

The 12 gauge has slightly more power

3 1/2" 1-3/8" ounce
Muzzle Velocity: 1900 fps
Muzzle Energy: 3728 ft. lbs.


The .50 Barrett fires the .50 Browning Machine Gun Round- which is 15,000 foot pounds. That is more power than a 12 *or* a 10 gauge shotgun slug. The .700 Nitro Express is roughly the same.


With that much raw power, you could get decent penetration even with hollowpoint rounds at *very* long range. And although it's true that 12 guage shotgun slugs are very high caliber (.729 caliber) and 10 guage shotguns are even bigger, they have far far less kinetic energy. Shotgun slugs have horrible long range accuracy, even the rifled ones. Shotguns with rifled barrels (For better accuracy-they are generally superior to rifled slugs) cannot fire shot and are essentially just rifles.

So while the shotgun slugs might be a very big caliber, they actually don't have a lot of kinetic energy(In comparison to high power sniper rifles), and they are horribly innaccurate at long range. The .700 Nitro Express is only slightly smaller in terms of caliber, but much more accurate at long range and much, much more powerful than any shotgun cartridge currently around.


Simply put- you could not hit the target you are you are aiming at from long range unless you use a rifled barrel, which means you are using a rifle rather than a true shotgun, even if your gun is chambered for shotgun cartridges. And there is no shotgun cartridge on the planet that comes close to the most powerful rifle cartridges in terms of kinetic energy.

Shotgun slugs have longer range than pellets, yes, but they are not long range cartridges. More like medium range. True rifle cartridges are really the only way to go for long range shooting.

EDIT: I know you said Supercharged shotguns, implying much more powerful ones than we currently use. My point was that Rifles can easily match, it not exceed, shotguns in terms of power, and that rifled slugs don't have as much long range accuracy as bullets fired from a rifled barrel. You can fit a shotgun with a rifled barrel, but this basically turns it into a rifle.

 

[AnthonTheSkabot]

The women of Valve games are non-sexualized and when ever I create a female character in a game (Saints Row 2, Skate) I keep them in T-Shirts and jeans and sometimes jackets instead of pixels and tassels

 

[blxtnsq]

I know, I love her voice-actor. She actually puts in appropriate emotions. Manshep sounds like he's on sedatives. I always wanted to try a male character but I was too put off by the voice-acting I mean, it's not the worst I've ever heard, it's just not nearly as good as Hale's.

I agree. Shepard just makes so much more sense as a woman. I can't even work out why, it just seems to fit better. And she's still a competent hard-ass.

I wish Commader Shepard counted even though PCs from RPGs are kind of iffy.
She isn't really sexualised much at all. There's only one point in the entire game where she shows more than three inches of skin (and that's DLC) and all the hair options make it look like she hasn't bathed in three months.

We love you Fem Shep!

I find the best part of FemShep is her voice. Jennifer Hale covers a range of emotions and vocal ranges easily. She can be flirty, playful, sarcastic, compassionate, angry etc and they all sound right. I really think the reason ManShep sounds so rubbish is because his voice actor was so stunned by Jennifer Hale's talent.

Fuck if they adapt Mass Effect, I hope the make Shepard a woman.

I know, I love her voice-actor. She actually puts in appropriate emotions. Manshep sounds like he's on sedatives. I always wanted to try a male character but I was too put off by the voice-acting I mean, it's not the worst I've ever heard, it's just not nearly as good as Hale's.

I agree. Shepard just makes so much more sense as a woman. I can't even work out why, it just seems to fit better. And she's still a competent hard-ass. It would be so hard to handle a Mass Effect movie because so much of it is based on the player. All the fanboys would go nuts if they decided that Shapard is female in movie canon. They decided that the Exile in KOTOR II should be female in canon and all the fanboys got pissed off at that.
*sigh* if they make a movie they better not ruin it. And Garrus better be there.

 

[Meeryn]

Non-stereotypical female game characters?

Kaine. NIER. The PS3 version.

To be a bit more serious, Ellen from Folklore.

-- Edit

Honestly, I would link the character teaser for Kaine, but I'm afraid I'll get a warning or something because the entire thing is practically profanity.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Makins a blanket statement like "All females in JRPGS are sexualized stereotypes." is a really good way to get your opinion ignored. If you can't be bothered to do the research you probably shouldn't make the declarative statement.

Hell just off the top of my head you have Atilier Iris, Breath of Fire, Shining force Neo, Xenogears and Xenosaga. All games with little to no oversexualization or stereotyping of their female cast.


But I digress.
I would actually put Heather from Silent Hill 3 in the running for this. There's nothing sexual about her.

But what sets her apart in my eyes is that she's a stronger female protagonist who doesn't just fall back on doing all the cool violent shit that the guys usually do as her proof of strength.
True, she's one of the more combat heavy characters in the series but she's hardly a green beret or anything.
her character and story revolve rather heavily around her femininity but never to the point where it becomes pandering.

 

[blackguard89]

I think you, me and even the guys over at Extra Credits are missing the bigger picture.
I don't think it's about diversity.Actually yes it is.But that seems to be a result not the cause of our problems in the games industry.
Like they said, they are limiting themselves by not choosing a gay main character for example, just for example.There are stories that cannot be told, but, remember this also.You and me as the target audience set the trend.
Not the developer :|
The age where developers tried new things seems to be over for some reason or very few games like that come out.
So they do this : Gamer like big boobs---->more big boobs in part 2 of the game--->trend.
or
Let me put this another way.
The games seem to be heavily influenced by all kinds of things that are going on around us.
Take the last COD games.....WHo are the enemies?Or better said portraid as the enemies?
WEll that seems to be the result of the Iraq conflict.Sooooooo.......DId they try and take into consideration the other faction's beliefs? Or way of life stuff like that?
Nope they didn't.

To shorten the mega post i would make explaining alot of stuff.....I'm only going to say this.

Let's stop setting trends for the devs, and force them to think about something unique.
I mean sure, Neverwinter nights for example was a great game, and each new expansion brought new stuff to play with, but it gradually became boring, and Bioware was forced to improve and even though there's Nwn 2 they really outdid themselves with Dragon age if I may say so and MAss Effect.
Now that's what we need.
It took blizzard a few good years to make the armor sets look more deatiled and more diverse in Wow, so then again i hate cataclysm (I can't stress that enough) but i'm curious as to what they will do.
And there are also good JRPG games out there but this kind of games are VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY affected by fans, trends and stuff like that.Wich i think it's sad.I mean try playing Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, you will be Mindf****d.Great story, not too much free choice but still had nice conversations with replies, and according to your reply that thing would unlock, make something dissapear or stuff like that during the game .

I dragged this one too long again, I know, and I'm sorry.
Anyways cheers y'all.

 

[Gemore]

Kreia - KOTOR 2
Wynne - Dragon Age

Just my 2 cents

 

[Vrex360]

I know I've said this, many many times, but once again:
Ashley Williams from Mass Effect.

First and foremost is that the woman is not sexualized, despite having a great body and a pretty face she retains a level of dignity by wearing standard military uniform with her hair tied up in a regulation bun. She also wears actual combat armor instead of a dominatrix uniform.
That said she still comes across as flirtatious and comfortable with her sexuality and the camera doesn't need to make immature shots of her rump to demonstrate this fact.

Secondly, she isn't characterized the way so many other female characters are in games. Namely she isn't sold as some kind of 'perfect woman' I mean, while figures like Alyx Vance might not be sexed up, they still have a degree of male fantasy in them. Namely one of a geeky nerdy chick who also plays off the ideal girlfriend figure. Someone to hug and love and just be perfect in every way.
Ashley is drastically different in that respect though, because while she is tough, intelligent and has a great sense of humor and a compassionate side to her, she's also got some seriously noteworthy flaws. She has trust issues against alien foreign powers because of bad family history and that same bad family history has negative effect on her ability to work at points and can make her quite aggressive.

So in some respects, her neither being sexualized in a physical sense, nor being made into a fantasy via 'ideal nerd girlfriend' makes her anything but the typical female. Especially not for a potential love interest. She is actually a character that I grew to like over the course of the story, and they certainly weren't forcing me to nor actively telling me not to.

So yeah, that's my pick. Ashley is anything but conventional, it's just such a shame not enough people show her the respect she deserves.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I know, I love her voice-actor. She actually puts in appropriate emotions. Manshep sounds like he's on sedatives. I always wanted to try a male character but I was too put off by the voice-acting I mean, it's not the worst I've ever heard, it's just not nearly as good as Hale's.

I agree. Shepard just makes so much more sense as a woman. I can't even work out why, it just seems to fit better. And she's still a competent hard-ass.

I wish Commader Shepard counted even though PCs from RPGs are kind of iffy.
She isn't really sexualised much at all. There's only one point in the entire game where she shows more than three inches of skin (and that's DLC) and all the hair options make it look like she hasn't bathed in three months.

We love you Fem Shep!

I find the best part of FemShep is her voice. Jennifer Hale covers a range of emotions and vocal ranges easily. She can be flirty, playful, sarcastic, compassionate, angry etc and they all sound right. I really think the reason ManShep sounds so rubbish is because his voice actor was so stunned by Jennifer Hale's talent.

Fuck if they adapt Mass Effect, I hope the make Shepard a woman.

I know, I love her voice-actor. She actually puts in appropriate emotions. Manshep sounds like he's on sedatives. I always wanted to try a male character but I was too put off by the voice-acting I mean, it's not the worst I've ever heard, it's just not nearly as good as Hale's.

I agree. Shepard just makes so much more sense as a woman. I can't even work out why, it just seems to fit better. And she's still a competent hard-ass. It would be so hard to handle a Mass Effect movie because so much of it is based on the player. All the fanboys would go nuts if they decided that Shapard is female in movie canon. They decided that the Exile in KOTOR II should be female in canon and all the fanboys got pissed off at that.
*sigh* if they make a movie they better not ruin it. And Garrus better be there.

ut
Agreed on FemShep should be canon x3 I've never personally played the male Shepard, but my brother does, and the voice is just... urgh. It's not BAD, but it feels so dead.

... that said I'm wondering if a ME movie wouldn't be like the novels, and focus on things away from Shepard.