Best female characters introduced to gaming in the last decade

[Ishal]

Let's see here...

Last of Us: Ellie
Bioshock Infinite: Elizabeth
The Walking Dead: Clementine
To the Moon: River
Skullgirls: Every character
Half Life 2: Alyx Vance
Mass Effect: Liara and Tali
New Tomb Raider: Lara Croft
Portal: Glados
MGS3: The Boss

I don't play JRPG's, but I'm sure there are a host of decent to good female characters there.

These might be a little older than 10 years, but I'll put them anyway.

Beyond Good and Evil: Jade
KOTOR II: Kreia
KOTOR II: The jedi exile (female) Yeah I know that is a player created character. But so much stuff is attached to the character no matter what you choose. I still say the lore behind that character and what she is to the universe of Star Wars bears mentioning.


I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now. But I prefer games that don't try to tell stories traditionally, so most of those games aren't my bag. I prefer to tell my own story and create my own character, and then unravel a story myself instead of having the game tell it to me. In those types of games I usually do multiple playthroughs, and there is always one that is a female character. That is the true strength of games, and those characters resonate with me more than any of the above.

 

[Silvanus]

Just out of couristy though does Chell not have personality because she's viewed through a first person perspective? Aren't the actions taken by the player part of her personality?
I don't want to derail the thread even farther, I think I'll just make a new topic on the subject when I have the chance.

I think the first person perspective is part of it; it removes body language, which is mostly what characterises Amaterasu so well.

The actions undertaken by the player... Sometimes they can characterise. I wouldn't go so far as to say Chell doesn't have a personality at all; just that her personality isn't very well developed, because we only have a few little windows into it.

Ooh! I've thought of a particularly good example. The actions undertaken by the player can be great characterisation, I would say, when they're particularly mould-breaking. Chell escaping Aperture Science indicates a great resilience, but the same could be said of most video game heroes, silent or otherwise. It doesn't really indicate anything noteworthy in the context of video game protagonists. On the other hand, look at Daniel from Amnesia. At one point, Daniel must fill a large stone container with water to solve a puzzle, but the muffled noises from inside seem to indicate that something- or someone- is inside, and will drown if you do. There is no other way to progress, however.

That, I would say, sets Daniel apart. The player was in control, but It is part of his story that he filled that tank, and that differentiates him quite starkly.

I'm not sure whether I'm making my point very well...

EDIT: I forgot Grace Holloway, of Bioshock 2, and Brigid Tenenbaum from Bioshock 1 and 2. Those games have great all-round casts of characters, but those two are particularly complex and well-thought.

 

[Adam Lester]

Venessa (King of the Fighters)

Zero (Drakengard 3)

Chie (Persona 4)

Naoto (Persona 4)

Argilla (Digital Devil Saga...what can I say? I lurve me some Shin Megami)

Jade (Beyond Good and Evil)

Bayonetta (er...Bayonetta?)

Farah (Prince of Persia)

Olivia (God Hand)

Samus (THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY)

Amanda Ripley (Alien: Isolation)

Clementine (Walking Dead)

 

[LaoJim]

Faith from Mirror's Edge.

Faith - Mirrors Edge

Love Mirror's Edge, but the problem I have with Faith is that she is a great character design, rather than a great character. That is to say at the end of Mirror's Edge what do we really know about her? She's a good runner and she looks out for her sister. Having played through the game twice, I'm sitting here and I can't honestly remember if she's a silent protagonist or not? I vaguely think she might occassionally say something like "On my way" after her boss gives her the next location to get to, but I'm not entirely sure. There's a whole preface to ME about how the runners are fighting the faceless corporations but that doesn't really feed into our understanding of Faith, who she is or why she does what she does.

Just shows that many people have no idea what makes a good character or have the mentality of "I like the game therefore the characters must be good".The only thing separating Chell from the protagonist of something like Doom is Chell has a given name(I don't think Doom Guy does correct me if I'm wrong)and is female.Other than that they're both just essentially a camera with arms

Again this comment could apply to Faith, although Chell is a particualy bad example as I didn't realize when playing the first Portal that my character was supposed to be a woman, and assumed that I was just supposed to project my personality onto the nameless test subject. I think this actually works better for the game since it seems to help with my apprecation of GlaDos gradually going from impersonal corporate speak to highly personal insults.

(At least with Half-Life you had people saying "Morning, Gordon" for the first half of the game.

I said gameplay can be used as a way of characterizing someone in a video game. I did not say that the game is good therefore, I liked the main character in the game. Heck even bad games can characterize their characters this way.
Like, you used the Doom example, the person in Doom is an avatar for the player yes, but he is also his own intinity. He exists in a hostle world with demonic creatures trying to kill him and he has the skill and determination to survive. I know this because he can shoot 100s of these creatures no problem within his universe and he is looking for a way to escape because I as a player am controlling him.

Not every characterization needs to be narrative driven. In fact it is erroneous to think so as it limits video games as a story telling medium.
I know this is kinda of abstract, but this is why I love video games. This is something pretty much unique to the genre and even many developers don't even bother with it so I can understand why people don't even consider it an aspect of that narrative.

This is an interesting perspective in many ways. While I think it is right on some levels (the Prince of Persia is surely defined to some degree by his athleticism as is Faith), I'm not sure it really works for all characters. We don't know anything at all about the Doom guy and we don't even see him in the game. He doesn't really interact with the environment in any way that is unique to him (he shoots guns and opens doors). Duke Nukem becomes a character when he picks up a rocket launcher and says "Hail to the King, baby" or hands a (10?20?) dollar bill to a stripper with a lewd remark. That is starting to tell us something about the kind of guy he is.

Similarly Mario may be a great character design, but since he's never really evolved (in the main series at least, I haven't played the RPGs) into saying anything particularly meaningful or doing anything more than rescue the princess he's not really a great character.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Ellie and Elizabeth are both fantastic characters, though as Bloatedguppy points out, it's a shame they aren't given the focus they truly deserve.

The Boss is another great one mentioned, though she's skirting the decade line.

Zoey from Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a good character. The game isn't the best piece of fiction I've ever played, but the characters are memorable and Zoey stands out from the typical female representation in games, especially back in 2006. April Ryan is equally good, though in Dreamfall she's not as substantial as a character as she was in the original Longest Journey, which is too old to nominate.

Someone mentioned Flemeth. I wholeheartedly agree. Flemeth is enigmatic, powerful and possibly the most intriguing character in Dragon Age lore. At times she can feel a little cliche if you are looking at narratives from all mediums, but as far as games go she's surprisingly refreshing. I also think Morrigan is worth mentioning, but that might be because I've got a thing for Claudia black.

Speaking of Claudia Black, I think Chloe from Uncharted 2 and 3 (maybe? I can't remember her role in 3 very well) is worth a mention. A vast improvement over Elena from the first Uncharted, though even she becomes a sold character as the series progresses.

Silent protagonists can have a lot of personality; an example would be Amaterasu, who is characterised through quite a lot of expressive body language (aided by the art style) and her interactions with other characters. Chell doesn't get that.

I would put forward Ellie (The Last of Us), Lulu or Yuna (Final Fantasy X) and GLaDOS (Portal) as my picks.

Just out of couristy though does Chell not have personality because she's viewed through a first person perspective? Aren't the actions taken by the player part of her personality?
I don't want to derail the thread even farther, I think I'll just make a new topic on the subject when I have the chance.

So would you say the "Commander" in a command and conquer game is a character? What about The Keeper in Dungeon Keeper (not the Horned Reaper mind you)? Or the nondescript entity that controls the lives of the Sims? If yes, would you call them the "Best" characters in gaming?

There are certain things you can extrapolate about an Avatars intended personality by the actions you are forced to take over the course of a game. But to claim that makes them the "Best" characters in gaming is setting the bar awfully low or painting a really ugly picture of the state of gaming (or gamers themselves).

Honestly, what's more perplexing to me is that People choose Chell over Glados. She's an excellent character. Glados has far more of a presence then chell and for most of the game she's just a disembodied voice.

 

[Fox Pocket]

Problem I have with Faith is that she is a great character design, rather than a great character. That is to say at the end of Mirror's Edge what do we really know about her? She's a good runner and she looks out for her sister. Having played through the game twice, I'm sitting here and I can't honestly remember if she's a silent protagonist or not? I vaguely think she might occassionally say something like "On my way" after her boss gives her the next location to get to, but I'm not entirely sure. There's a whole preface to ME about how the runners are fighting the faceless corporations but that doesn't really feed into our understanding of Faith, who she is or why she does what she does.

She talks a number of times, the game has animated cutscenes. Her motivations and background are given in the opening cutscene, her personality is given in multiple cutscenes with her relationship with her sister and her boss and her abilities, strengths and reactions to tough situations are shown through actual gameplay.

The game is more gameplay focused so the characters aren't the most in depth but she certainly passes the Plinkett test (Committed, strong willed, loyal, diligent, brave, rebellious, etc)

Being an interactive medium I could also put pacifist on that list as in all of my playthroughs I never killed any of the opposition in the game despite the situations Faith is put in.

 

[Candidus]

As long as it's just all opinions in here:

Amazon from Dragon's Crown -- I can't spend 650 hours with a character and then not call them the best of 2013-2014 at least.
Mikasa Ackerman -- although technically she was introduced to videogames via anime.
Kancolle's Atago -- the best Kancolle battleship-girl.
Kancolle's Bismarck -- the other best Kancolle battleship-girl.

Edit:

Oh yeah, Zero of Drakenguard 3! Without a doubt deserves a mention.

 

[LaoJim]

She talks a number of times, the game has animated cutscenes. Her motivations and background are given in the opening cutscene, her personality is given in multiple cutscenes with her relationship with her sister and her boss and her abilities, strengths and reactions to tough situations are shown through actual gameplay.

The game is more gameplay focused so the characters aren't the most in depth but she certainly passes the Plinkett test (Committed, strong willed, loyal, diligent, brave, rebellious, etc)

Being an interactive medium I could also put pacifist on that list as in all of my playthroughs I never killed any of the opposition in the game despite the situations Faith is put in.

Gah, my browser just ate my long post, just as it was nearly complete. Oh well, the short version is, your right, I'd forgotten about the cut-scenes, I went back and watched them on Youtube. I was possibly being a little unfair to her. However I think the problem with Faith is that she spends the whole of the first game trying to rescue her sister and so naturally she's very focused and lacking humour or other characteristics that people would normally display when more relaxed. Conversely however her relationship with her sister, who is a policewoman, could be very interesting, but they hardly get any screen time together so this isn't really explored. In short she's no worse than a thousands grizzled and grim male protagonists but I'm not sure I'd go around saying she's a great character...yet, there's probably a lot of potential for development in Mirror's Edge 2, which I'm cautiously optimistic for.

 

[Flammablezeus]

Bonnie MacFarlane in RDR is a female character that's stuck with me. She just seems so authentic compared to many of the female characters mentioned so far. While I like characters like Faith from Mirror's Edge and Alyx Vance from HL2, they just don't feel believable in the end.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

Mission Vao
Bastila Shan
Juhani
Kreia

Knights of the old republic kicks ass in a myriad of ways.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

Today I learned that getting alive out of the humongous deathtrap that the Aperture Science is does not make you a character. Because you did say nothing quirky or interesting while at it.
The more you know...

Sorry, but it does not. The only way you even know you are a human is by looking in one of the very few reflective surfaces in the game. I am pretty sure my first time threw the game, for at least an hour I assumed I was male. I was far too fired up about the gameplay to stop and smell the reflective roses, or look at myself closely threw a portal.

 

[kaizen2468]

all the ladies in persona 4

 

[Story]

Silent protagonists can have a lot of personality; an example would be Amaterasu, who is characterised through quite a lot of expressive body language (aided by the art style) and her interactions with other characters. Chell doesn't get that.

I would put forward Ellie (The Last of Us), Lulu or Yuna (Final Fantasy X) and GLaDOS (Portal) as my picks.

Just out of couristy though does Chell not have personality because she's viewed through a first person perspective? Aren't the actions taken by the player part of her personality?
I don't want to derail the thread even farther, I think I'll just make a new topic on the subject when I have the chance.

So would you say the "Commander" in a command and conquer game is a character? What about The Keeper in Dungeon Keeper (not the Horned Reaper mind you)? Or the nondescript entity that controls the lives of the Sims? If yes, would you call them the "Best" characters in gaming?

There are certain things you can extrapolate about an Avatars intended personality by the actions you are forced to take over the course of a game. But to claim that makes them the "Best" characters in gaming is setting the bar awfully low or painting a really ugly picture of the state of gaming (or gamers themselves).

Honestly, what's more perplexing to me is that People choose Chell over Glados. She's an excellent character. Glados has far more of a presence then chell and for most of the game she's just a disembodied voice.

That's a good point and it had me thinking.

Honestly, I have not played the command and conquer games so I can't speak for them, but if they are anything like the other examples you gave. I suppose I'll say yes and no but it really depend on your perspective. I know, I know that seems like a cop out but hear me out.
The Sims player I would say is not a character because she/it/he is not a direct character in the game, they are not physically there. They aren't interacted with the same extant Chell is by the NPCs (who even has her own in game model). With the exception of the tutorials of course. This is the perspective I agree with the most.
Or if you want to be very esoteric with this, I can state that they are characters because they interact within their universe one way or another even if they are not interacted with by the other NPCs. Kinda like a god-like unforeseen force figure in which the player controls.

Even then, no I wouldn't call them the best in gaming, since there are many, many, examples of such "characters".
At the same time, even if I did, I don't see how having such an opinion would mean painting a bad picture of the state of gaming? I'm not even sure what you mean by that. (maybe that I'm praising power fantasies exclusively? I wasn't.)
If you suggest that I don't give even more credit to narrative driven characters who might be better characterized, I think you just misunderstand me. Characterizing something narratively is just fine.
Most of the time gameplay and narrative go hand in hand, though you already know this. My point is, narrative is not the only way a character can be defined in a video game. The actions they take can be too, in fact, player input and choice are pretty much exclusive to video games, yet this aspect is often overlooked. If anything, thinking more abstractly about how characters can be defined in games is a good thing for the industry. I wish it was considered more often in development.

And to be honest, I think Glados is a better character than Chell but hey, I hadn't thought of her when first typed my response. I was just defending someone else's choice.

I really don't want to derail the thread any more though, I'm going to go ahead and make a thread about it.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

Today I learned that getting alive out of the humongous deathtrap that the Aperture Science is does not make you a character. Because you did say nothing quirky or interesting while at it.
The more you know...

Sorry, but it does not. The only way you even know you are a human is by looking in one of the very few reflective surfaces in the game. I am pretty sure my first time threw the game, for at least an hour I assumed I was male. I was far too fired up about the gameplay to stop and smell the reflective roses, or look at myself closely threw a portal.

Chell has personality and backstory. It is rather well hidden and is not spoonfed to the player, but it exists. That's enough to make her a character. Now, what is or what isn't a character is a whole separate discussion, but as far as she has name and appearance that is enough to list her here.
Also, you see Chell through the first portal right at the beginning of both games. It's hard to miss.

Her game is clearly amazing, and im willing to concede she is a character. However that does not make her a good character. What are her flaws, how does she feel about her predicament, what lengths will she stoop to achieve her goals, how strong is her force of will, does she use her sexuality as a weapon? And so on, and so fourth.

Just to be clear, i love portal.

 

[Don Incognito]

Nothing new to add, really.

GlaDOS, Commander Shepherd, and Flemeth are on the medal stand.

 

[kilenem]

Any playable female Character from Borderlands since I actually want to use those characters. Take note gaming industry it doesn't matter if the Character gay, ugly, sexy, straight, male, female, white or a person of Color just make them awesome. Specially since people like Poison from Final Fight