Most influencial female characters
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Have you ever played Ico? If you did youll for now on understand me... if you dont... dont judge me and go play the game... if after playing it you still judge me... then bravo sir, you have a patience like no other!!!migo said:
Daystar Clarion said:
L3m0n_L1m3 said:
Drummie666 said:
Can people stop raggin on her entire character in Other M? The only issue was the poorly written way you unlocked weapons, everything else (while a little melodramatic) worked well with very little moments that really felt out of character, though those were mostly in the Young Samus cutscenes.RatRace123 said:
And no, the Ridley scene did make sense. This was after Super Metroid, by this time she'd only fought Ridley about twice or so. Seeing it return in a location unexpectedly would cause even rugged characters to wince a bit. Bringing back the childhood memories was a bit much but the writing in general was a bit hammy.
Ironically, Other M fixed this. But I agree she didn't have much character in the older games. She was a strong woman though, that's what counted in the 90s.hazabaza1 said:
Are you shitting me? I mean... Are you SHITTING me? Were you paying ANY attention during the previous games? Practically nothing made sense about her character during Other M. I honestly cannot think of one scene that made any sense except maybe that one where Samus meets the lead scientist or where she meets the AI unit.AdamRBi said:
Also apparently you have your facts mixed up. Other M comes before Fusion and after everything else. She's seen Ridley six times before. She would not freak out like she did, she would just kick his ass like every other time. A scene where her reaction to Ridley makes sense is her reaction to him in the first Metroid Prime. She was a little frustrated when she saw him and then followed him down to Tallon IV to kill him. She did not hesitate. She did not freak out. She kicked his ass.
And Lastly, your comment on her lack of character during the older games. She got development from Zero Mission. She got development from Fusion. The best development was in the final scene of Metroid Prime. Her reaction to the Chozo Sanctuary being destroyed was wonderfully done. She also got development in Prime 3. We saw NONE of that character in Other M. We saw a weak little girl with daddy issues. That was not the Samus Aran that we know.
Edit: After re-reading your post I noticed something you said. Please tell me what development Samus got in Other M.
Also have to throw my hat in for Alyx Vance.
As a new contender, how about Lenneth Valkyrie from Valkyrie Profile? (Haven't played all through VP2, but Silmeria also might get a mention.)
As a new contender, how about Lenneth Valkyrie from Valkyrie Profile? (Haven't played all through VP2, but Silmeria also might get a mention.)
Ashley Williams/Mass Effect: I loved her character and considering I've had to defend her on almost every forum I've ever been on at least once in my life, it demonstrates that she has certainly influenced me. Sure she gets a lot of hate, but the haters are blind fools... she is awesome.
Cortana/Halo: True, she is an AI and not really a woman. But she has the look, voice and personality of a woman not to mention she is cloned from the brain of a woman, so I'm counting her. She's smart, effective and capable of perfectly working with even the most advanced and ancient technology, plus the lines she exchanges are usually quite funny.
Samus/Metroid: Okay, I've never played any of the metroid games. But I've always admired its protagonist, I like how her being female is not (usually) the main focus of the game's plot rather it's just a case of 'deal with it'. That's all well and good, she did kind of get messed up in Metroid Other M but most people I know don't acknowledge that games existence either so it doesn't matter that much.
Alyx Vance/Half Life: I don't actually think she's the greatest female character ever, but there is something to be said about her looking so normal and kicking so much arse on her own terms.
Cortana/Halo: True, she is an AI and not really a woman. But she has the look, voice and personality of a woman not to mention she is cloned from the brain of a woman, so I'm counting her. She's smart, effective and capable of perfectly working with even the most advanced and ancient technology, plus the lines she exchanges are usually quite funny.
Samus/Metroid: Okay, I've never played any of the metroid games. But I've always admired its protagonist, I like how her being female is not (usually) the main focus of the game's plot rather it's just a case of 'deal with it'. That's all well and good, she did kind of get messed up in Metroid Other M but most people I know don't acknowledge that games existence either so it doesn't matter that much.
Alyx Vance/Half Life: I don't actually think she's the greatest female character ever, but there is something to be said about her looking so normal and kicking so much arse on her own terms.
Can't argue really, I realized after reading your post I did get a few things wrong. Timeline of the games, bits of story that slipped my mind from previous games, etc.Drummie666 said:
Essentially there are two ways to diverge personality from Samus, and Video Game characters in general. There's the story made up of cutscenes, bios, and tidbits of information scattered among the level and then there's user interpreted information garnered from the gameplay. For example, you look at Kratos from GoW and without knowing the story you may not realize why he's so violent or invent other reasons for him to be as violent as he is. Maybe your angers are projected on to him and he becomes one of the worker class who was just about to get that promotion until the rise of some unseen force ruined it for him. You then learn then that he was tricked by the gods to kill his loved ones, holding resentment towards them yet aiding them in order to forget his pains and you understand the character's own reasons for his actions. The Metroid titles, not being overly story driven in the past, have less of this luxary.
From the tidbits and bios, the basics of what we know (or I know, I haven't played fusion and forgot some of which was mentioned in the Prime games) is that Samus was adopted by the Chozo after her planet was attacked by Space Pirates, raised as a warrior, then served in the Galactic Federation before residing herself to the life of a Bounty Hunter. Combine this with the type of gameplay and most would assume she's a fearless "hunter"with little emotional ties. Taking on jobs as a necessity and doing them to completion, like a freelancer who must work for a client wether he or she's invested in it. There's also the possibility that she's more invested in the jobs we play her in due to some emotional tie to characters or events, or species, but most of this is assumed through gameplay. We knew Space Pirates were bad, but why we fought them was up to the player.
With Metroid: Other M we are given more backstory to understand the human aspect of Samus and what drives her emotionally, things we could only assume from previous titles. The writers of Other M gave us, although poorly written, reason for Samus's loner personality. Despite being raised by the Chozo, she's still human and even at times acted irrationally. She resented Adam as an authority figure yet respected him as a father figure. After the loss of Adam's brother decided to leave and become a bounty hunter. What happened between then and the following games is undetermined, but one can assume Adam's example sunk in as she learned to deal with the recluse life of a bounty hunter. That's what I took from it anyway, haven't thought enough about the baby stuff to reach a fully formed response to that yet.
When structured like this, Metroid: Other M actually makes her a better character when you work it into the rest of the series lore about Samus. This actually, in my opinion, does make her a strong female lead. Though if she had some female role models as well as Adam it'd make her even better and seem less like a woman with daddy issues.
So does this assumption clash with what you took from the lore supplied or with what you interpreted from the action and how you played? That distinction is important when judging a characters personality. The writing, though, you can mock as much as you want.
It's my opinion too, and why I don't really understand the backlash Other M is getting when all of a sudden Samus has feelings. Cue the fanboys raging, "NOOOO! FEMALE PROTAGONISTS CAN'T HAVE FEELINGS!!! THEY CAN ONLY LOOK HOT AND KICK ASS!!!" Seriously, I'm gonna call it. All this crap people give Samus for actually having emotion is just as sexist as they're claiming Team Ninja was being for giving her emotion in the first place.Krychek08 said:
*ducks behind flame shield*
Can't agree more. This ties in with one of Yahtzee's Extra Punctuations, the difference between strong female characters and complete bitches. FemShep is a great character not because she scoffs contemptuously at every being with a penis, but because Shepard is just a great character regardless what gender. The way to make a great female character is the same way you make a great anything character, give them a personality, a past, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and faults.Daystar Clarion said:
That really sucks that you haven't played Fusion, because Other M is supposed to be an explanation of some of the things that Samus text monologued about. Who Adam was and why he sacrificed himself for her and such. Thing is, In Fusion, we are told that Adam sacrificed himself saving Samus from a metroid. He obviously failed seeing as how she encounters more metroids after he died, but that's fairly insignificant. Moving on.AdamRBi said:
Very quickly I'm also going to mention the theme of motherhood in Other M. I've thought about it and I have no idea what it has to do with anything whatsoever. I don't know who or what this "Baby" is or why it's calling Samus. So I've decided to declare it irrelevant crap that Team Ninja pulled out of their ass. Feel free to correct me if you know more than I do.
Now then. Ahem. "She resented Adam an authority figure, yet respected him as a father figure." I find these two things incompatible. How can you respect someone as a father figure, yet resent their authority? That doesn't make any sense to me. Considering that Samus listened to him when his brother was about to die, I think that she must respect his authority. If she resented his authority, She would have ran despite his orders. She also listens to him at every other turn. Even willingly taking damage in the pyro sector because Adam never told her to put on the Varia suit. I have a huge problem with this by itself because it says that Samus is his personal slave. (That's were the sexism come from.) This is made even worse because he treats her like his personal slave. He even shoots her at one point because he couldn't be asked to just talk to her. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is: Adam is an asshole. That simple fact renders any respect and submissive behaviour toward him bullshit.
Really, I just find that the characterisation of samus in Other M cannot fit with the rest of the series. She seems to be reliant on every man around her, even the trooper team and the general dude that comes in at the end, Instead of being the independent loner that you mentioned.
Sorry, I had to.astrav1 said:
Having nice tits and nothing else doesn't make you influential.pulse2 said:No DOA characters?
Touchdown.RatRace123 said:
Really, I have no idea why, but Elena Fisher is by far my favorite female character of gaming.
She's kind of annoying at first, but then she starts being fun, participating in the smartass, sarcastic dialogue of the game and generally being a good gunman.
And that's exactly the type of character that so many action games try yet so little pull off.
From that same game - Lauren. So much in that character that it would take me quite a while to list it all.RatRace123 said:
OT: And, of course, the usual jazz - Samus, Lara Croft etc. Plus, I dunno, Cortana?
It's not the emotions people are giving the game crap for, or, rather, it's that there are too much emotions and all of them are stupid, cheesy and nonsensical.toriver said:
You can show emotions in a strong, mostly silent character without resorting to horrible silent monologues and making here about as likeable as any of those other "troubled" and codependent female character.
Except that it's worse. She's the one you play as. So, while in gameplay, it's all awesome stuff (most of the time), in cutscenes she suddenly degrades.