Best female character in gaming

[Phenomenis]

Pretty self explanatory title. Which one is yours?

I'm gonna surprise everybody, y'know, bowl a googly here and go with Alyx Vance. She is so believable, you understand her emotions, her motivations, her objectives, her trials, and her relationships to others every time you interact with her.

Honourable mentions go to (perhaps more of an unusual choice) Chief Ashley Williams in Mass Effect 1 (AND NOT MASS EFFECT 2 OR 3), Jade from Beyond Good and Evil, and Kreia from KOTOR 2.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

*builds bunker, tests it against flames and bombing, stocks up on junk food and soda, then climbs in*

Tali'Zorah vas Neema/vas Normandy nar Rayya. I just really like how you can see her character evolve from the first game, to the second game, and the third game. It also helps that she is a snarky character, but shows her vulnerable side quite often. It's not that she's a weak character, but she actually has angst over situations she's put in, but never goes to the point of, say, Naruto's Sasuke.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Daystar Clarion]

You guys know who I'm gonna pick.

Ain't that right Ammy?

 

[hazabaza1]

Kasumi from Dead or Alive.
Because fuck these threads.

 

[Rawne1980]

Morrigan from Dragon Age.

Why? Because she is voiced by Claudia Black and I have a thing for her.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Morrigan from Dragon Age.

Why? Because she is voiced by Claudia Black and I have a thing for her.

She can touch my event horizon any time

 

[shrekfan246]

You guys know who I'm gonna pick.

Ain't that right Ammy?

I don't think Ammy ever said that...

OT:

Why?

In 1960 I saw a vision of the ideal future from space. Three years earlier the Soviet Union had succeeded in launching Sputnik, the first manmade satellite in history, into orbit. This came as a huge shock to the United States. In response, America threw everything it had into its own manned space flight project, the Mercury project. Even as the Soviets seemed poised to send their first man into space America was still experimenting with chimpanzees in rockets. The government wanted human data. So they secretly decided to send a human being into space. I was the one they chose. At the time they didn't have the technology to block out cosmic rays and whoever they sent up would inevitably be exposed to heavy radiation. That's why they chose me. After all, I had already been irradiated once. Of course, you won't find any of this in the history books. I could see the planet as it appeared form space. That's when it finally hit me. Space exploration is nothing but another game in the power struggle between the US and USSR. Politics, economics, the arms race - they're all just arenas for meaningless competition. I'm sure you can see that. But the Earth itself has no boundaries. No East, No West, No Cold War. And the irony of it is, the United States and the Soviet Union are spending billions on their space programs and the missile race only to arrive at the same conclusion. In the 21st century everyone will be able to see that we are all just inhabitants of a little celestial body called Earth. A world without communism and capitalism... that is the world I wanted to see. But reality continued to betray me.

I raised you, and loved you, I've given you weapons, taught you techniques, endowed you with knowledge. There's nothing more for me to give you. All that's left for you to take is my life.

Isn't it beautiful? It's almost tragic. When life ends, it gives off a final lingering aroma. Light is but a farewell gift from the darkness to those on their way to die. I've been waiting, Snake, for a long time. Waiting for your birth, your growth, and the finality of today.

That's why.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

snip

You can't prove that.

Also, good choice, there are few, if any, female characters as awesome as The Boss.

 

[TehCookie]

Bayonetta, I love hilariously awesome over the top characters.

 

[Able Seacat]

Lightning from FF XIII

Spoiler

'cause she's cool.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Marina Wulfstan. Two words: Ultimate Accuracy. Oh right, there's also that dark sense of humour everytime she nails a shot. To top it all off she's got Lone Wolf and Nest Master, so she'd have to struggle to miss a target.

 

[Nantucket_v1legacy]

Just going to throw this out here because I think she is badass - Female Commander Shepard.
Sorry male Shep but we all know you're not the real one despite all the promotional material with your face on.

 

[mParadox]

Rosa from Assassins Creed. She has such a minor role but she's just so so... charming!

And Alyx Vance from Half Life 2, of course. >,>

 

[Casual Shinji]

Lamarr from Half-Life 2.

Suck it, Alyx -"I'm so hip my name is spelled with a Y"- Vance.

 

[Sp3ratus]

How has this woman not been mentioned yet?

Spoiler: Kreia

Hell, not only is she one of the best, if not the best female character, she's one of the best characters in any video game, period. Non-sexualised, non-stereotypical strong female character, she completely turns the normally black-and-white morality of the Star Wars universe upside down and indeed, makes you question morality in real life too.

She's an incredly well-written and complex character and deserves to be mentioned in any thread like this.

 

[Zhukov]

This thread? Again? Really?

...

Go-go-gadget canned response!

- April Ryan
Not the most complex, defined or well developed character you'll ever meet but she more than makes up for it by being extremely well humanized and supremely relatable. I challenge you to find anyone who has played The Longest Journey who doesn't like and care about Miss Ryan.

- Liara T'soni
Well defined. Well humanized (alienized?) due to wide emotional range. Undergoes a significant arc. Her change from shy researcher to pragmatic and ruthless spymaster was handled a bit clumsily though.

- Jack/Subject Zero
Well defined with several "layers" and a sprinkling of quality development. The primal nihilistic ***** who doesn't give a damn covers up the emotionally crippled victim and the guilty survivor. Gotta say though, a tank top or singlet would have done wonders for her visual design.

- Avaline Vallen
Mostly notable for managing to be a distinctly non-feminine female without resorting to cliche. Also, well characterized with multiple defining traits and all that.

- Alyx Vance
Kind of the go-to example of a female character that can be popular without swanning about in her underwear. Simple but well defined personality (to anyone keeping score, that's the fourth time I've used the word "defined".) Highly relatable and possessed of good emotional range.

 

[Darknacht]

What about Queen Victoria? Yeah she ruled a evil empire bent on world conquest but she was still fairly interesting and her becoming the English monarch makes it so Hanover has to be released from the English crown which makes my unification of Northern Germany much easier.

 

[chimeracreator]

Female Hawk from Dragon Age 2... because no matter how many times I play it the game seems to be written for her not the male version of the character.

 

[ReadyAmyFire]

Just to be different I'm going to go with my avatar. Mizz Cate Archer.