Women in video games: which ones do it right?

[Koroviev]

which games do female characters right?

this is an excellent question.
but lots of people are saying good female game characters
like Alyx Vance. but isn't she the only female in Half Life 2?

I say Dragon Age handled female characters the best
but first I'm going to exclude Leliana because she's unlikeable, Morriagn because she's well rounded she's half naked. and Wynne because they made her a grandmotherly voice of reason character, but still managed to turn her into a sex fiend.

so after excluding all the female characters what am I talking about?
look at all the NPC's in that game
they're not all powerful or strong but a lot of them are
like in Ostagar, the army is almost half women
or Isabella in the Pearl, yeah she want's to have sex with you and almost everyone else in your party but she wants to do it for her not you.
or Annora who everyone respects as the real ruler of Fereldon over the king
and there are just as many poor examples but that's the thing about Dragon Age the female characters cover the entire emotional spectrum. not a lot of games pull that off

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything) and they loose 8 more points for there not being any female Turians or Salarians. please tell me I'm not the only person bothered by that.

I think it's compensated for by the fact that the Asari are a race of pure bosses, and a purely female race at that.

 

[monkey_man]

Any game in which women aren't just sex dolls.

Good: Half-Life 2

Bad: God of War

hey no fair! she was the goddess of love n stuff. SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SEXDOLL.

Love goes beyond just sex. Although I won't deny that Aphrodite was quite a sex kitten in the original myths as well, she was also a very romantic goddess. There is no romance in God of War.

i dont think Kratos has time for pity mortal things like love, romance and not-killing tons of dudes.

 

[repeating integers]

which games do female characters right?

this is an excellent question.
but lots of people are saying good female game characters
like Alyx Vance. but isn't she the only female in Half Life 2?

I say Dragon Age handled female characters the best
but first I'm going to exclude Leliana because she's unlikeable, Morriagn because she's well rounded she's half naked. and Wynne because they made her a grandmotherly voice of reason character, but still managed to turn her into a sex fiend.

so after excluding all the female characters what am I talking about?
look at all the NPC's in that game
they're not all powerful or strong but a lot of them are
like in Ostagar, the army is almost half women
or Isabella in the Pearl, yeah she want's to have sex with you and almost everyone else in your party but she wants to do it for her not you.
or Annora who everyone respects as the real ruler of Fereldon over the king
and there are just as many poor examples but that's the thing about Dragon Age the female characters cover the entire emotional spectrum. not a lot of games pull that off

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything) and they loose 8 more points for there not being any female Turians or Salarians. please tell me I'm not the only person bothered by that.

Hey, what you got against Miranda? I thought she was an OK character. I never noticed the whole thing about Turians or Salarians until I read about it on the Mass Effect Wiki, and after that it did bug me a little.

 

[Ekonk]

Any game in which women aren't just sex dolls.

Good: Half-Life 2

Bad: God of War

hey no fair! she was the goddess of love n stuff. SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SEXDOLL.

Love goes beyond just sex. Although I won't deny that Aphrodite was quite a sex kitten in the original myths as well, she was also a very romantic goddess. There is no romance in God of War.

i dont think Kratos has time for pity mortal things like love, romance and not-killing tons of dudes.

LMAO, I'd like to add that I wasn't saying GoW would be improved by a healthy dose of romance - except maybe in comedy value.

 

[Legendairy314]

Enslaved looks to bring a decent female companion (vulnerable but intelligent enough to know that). Not to mention that the facial animations are bringing so much character into the mix.

 

[Rawle Lucas]

Female characters done right?

- snip -

They're realistic to a certain degree. They all have personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and their looks aren't the focal point of their presence in their respective games - even though the fans of the games focus on that, IN game they are treated respectfully.

But who are they?

 

[JeanLuc761]

Female characters done right?

- snip -

They're realistic to a certain degree. They all have personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and their looks aren't the focal point of their presence in their respective games - even though the fans of the games focus on that, IN game they are treated respectfully.

But who are they?

Top to bottom:
Zoey from Left 4 Dead 1
Rochelle from Left 4 Dead 2
Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2
Elena Fisher from Uncharted 1 & 2

 

[Theron Julius]

Alyx Vance.

/thread?

Indeed. One of the few times the developers get it right with a female character. Kat from Halo:Reach gets close, but they don't personiphy her enough to make her to win the prize.

 

[Erana]

And I really adore Rosalina from Mario Galaxy. She's one of my most favorite characters ever.

Do you mind expanding that. I played mario galaxy and she didn't seem that special at all. I am somewhat perplexed now.

They did a really good job at capturing the mother goddess archetype. Most games (and media in general) don't quite get timeless mythological figures, and when they do, they go about misrepresenting them as some sort of Hollywood caricature. She isn't any specific deity, but her mannerisms really get this semi-omnipotent but benevolent entity. And then they still manage to humanize her in her storybook.
Well, did you see Ponyo? You know how the goddess in that was all graceful and feminine and magical? Even though I've only studied the Indian and Chinese forms of Bodhisattva Guanyin, the Japanese version can't be too far off, and she was characterized wonderfully.

Though I first knew of Guanyin as the male Buddhist permutation, Avalokiteshvarah, and became female through being combined with a Chinese goddess as the religion traveled East?

Its been a year since that class, how the Hell did I remember that?!

 

[Mikeyfell]

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything)

Hey, what you got against Miranda? I thought she was an OK character. I never noticed the whole thing about Turians or Salarians until I read about it on the Mass Effect Wiki, and after that it did bug me a little.

mostly her entire attitude and her romance scene

first off she's basically schizophrenic
every other conversation with her she has this Ice Queen "I don't need your help, I don't want to know you" attitude then the other half the time she has this deep admiration for you.
it's not even like there's a point where she switches she just jumps back and forth. and this continues even if you try to romance her

second she's obviously a Morrigan clone
the only human in the whole world who's not based on the same character model
cold and resourceful with massive parental issues
but the thing about Morrigan is that she made it through her troubled past and came out better for it. like she learned the lessons Flemeth taught her.
and Morrigan is sane
all Miranda does is whine about her past
"boo hoo I'm perfect. boo hoo I hate my father."

third she's a complete ***** for no reason
so Miranda Hates Shepard right off the bat, and the obvious reason for this is that Shepard is going to be the new number 1 and Miranda has always been the number 1
but she denies that if you ask her.
one of two things could be true about this
one: she is telling the truth about that not being the case and she just dislikes Shepard for no reason
or two: she's lying and that really is the case. and this would put her on the emotional level of a cocky seven year old who will never concede and cries loudly at the store when her parents wont buy her candy.

forth her loyalty mission.
it's annoying because I can't trade the current bitchy Miranda for the 18 year old, possibly much nicer, genetic clone of Miranda, Oriana
but I digress
it's most annoying at the end when

Spoiler

Nikket gets shot

and on the elevator she continues her schizophrenia by whining and raging at the same damn time (regardless of whether or not you did the paragon interrupt)

fifth her cat-fight with Jack
Jack "She won't admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong"
Miranda "That wasn't Cerberus"
Shepard "That shouldn't matter you fucking ****. If you don't think it was wrong I don't want you on my ship"
Miranda "You can't seriously be siding with her. She's insane"
Shepard "What? She's insane? Jack, put her in biotic stasis. Let's drag this ***** to the airlock"
and they all lived happily ever after
Fuck Miranda she couldn't say "Torturing children is wrong"
she had to keep up her stupid cocky seven year old ***** attitude against a completely valid complaint.

finally her god damn romance
Every conversation you have with her towards the romance is ridiculous. here's what I mean
Jack is emotionally vulnerable from having been traumatized in her past and being nice to her cracked her outer shell
Garrus just wanted to blow off some steam and respected Shepard enough to overlook the fact that she's human
Tali was hot on Shepard last time around
Jacob was horny and he never hid it. he's also a bit timid, but he never hid that either
Thane has a history with love at first sight and Shepard reminds him of his dead wife
Miranda has no reason at all to be attracted to Shepard she hated Shepard up until she loved him.
one of the last lines before the romance is "I don't know why I love you?" Or something along those lines. and the paragon response to that is "I don't love you, I just want to get in your pants."
I really couldn't have put it any better my self
and the actual romance scene is just a quicky on the engine room floor and that pissed me off for several reasons
1) her whole shtick on all the conversations leading up to the romance was that she loves Shepard but the sex was just a shag on the floor. I suppose she's consistently schizophrenic
2)she wanted to do it in the engine room? seriously there's like...a bed in the captains quarters...? the engine room is down 4 floors assuming that's the same elevator technology from Mass Effect 1 they spent more time getting to the engine room than they did on the engine room floor
3) doesn't Tali hang out right outside the engine room? I'm not going to pass Tali by for Miranda.

and also I don't think a big ass makes someone sexy
and I don't like boobs bigger than a C cup I think they're ugly
so with Miranda not fitting my definition of "sexy" her schizophrenic-cocky-***** personality was highlighted and unbearable to me

so yeah I pretty much hate every thing about Miranda
I don't blame Mass Effect 2 for having her in there because they let me kill her when ever I want.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything) and they loose 8 more points for there not being any female Turians or Salarians. please tell me I'm not the only person bothered by that.

I think it's compensated for by the fact that the Asari are a race of pure bosses, and a purely female race at that.

well I'd still like to see some female Turian, Salarian, or Krogan in Mass Effect 3

I just don't think the concept artists want to deal with putting boobs on a Turian

 

[repeating integers]

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything)

Hey, what you got against Miranda? I thought she was an OK character. I never noticed the whole thing about Turians or Salarians until I read about it on the Mass Effect Wiki, and after that it did bug me a little.

mostly her entire attitude and her romance scene

first off she's basically schizophrenic
every other conversation with her she has this Ice Queen "I don't need your help, I don't want to know you" attitude then the other half the time she has this deep admiration for you.
it's not even like there's a point where she switches she just jumps back and forth. and this continues even if you try to romance her

second she's obviously a Morrigan clone
the only human in the whole world who's not based on the same character model
cold and resourceful with massive parental issues
but the thing about Morrigan is that she made it through her troubled past and came out better for it. like she learned the lessons Flemeth taught her.
and Morrigan is sane
all Miranda does is whine about her past
"boo hoo I'm perfect. boo hoo I hate my father."

third she's a complete ***** for no reason
so Miranda Hates Shepard right off the bat, and the obvious reason for this is that Shepard is going to be the new number 1 and Miranda has always been the number 1
but she denies that if you ask her.
one of two things could be true about this
one: she is telling the truth about that not being the case and she just dislikes Shepard for no reason
or two: she's lying and that really is the case. and this would put her on the emotional level of a cocky seven year old who will never concede and cries loudly at the store when her parents wont buy her candy.

forth her loyalty mission.
it's annoying because I can't trade the current bitchy Miranda for the 18 year old, possibly much nicer, genetic clone of Miranda, Oriana
but I digress
it's most annoying at the end when

Spoiler

Nikket gets shot

and on the elevator she continues her schizophrenia by whining and raging at the same damn time (regardless of whether or not you did the paragon interrupt)

fifth her cat-fight with Jack
Jack "She won't admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong"
Miranda "That wasn't Cerberus"
Shepard "That shouldn't matter you fucking ****. If you don't think it was wrong I don't want you on my ship"
Miranda "You can't seriously be siding with her. She's insane"
Shepard "What? She's insane? Jack, put her in biotic stasis. Let's drag this ***** to the airlock"
and they all lived happily ever after
Fuck Miranda she couldn't say "Torturing children is wrong"
she had to keep up her stupid cocky seven year old ***** attitude against a completely valid complaint.

finally her god damn romance
Every conversation you have with her towards the romance is ridiculous. here's what I mean
Jack is emotionally vulnerable from having been traumatized in her past and being nice to her cracked her outer shell
Garrus just wanted to blow off some steam and respected Shepard enough to overlook the fact that she's human
Tali was hot on Shepard last time around
Jacob was horny and he never hid it. he's also a bit timid, but he never hid that either
Thane has a history with love at first sight and Shepard reminds him of his dead wife
Miranda has no reason at all to be attracted to Shepard she hated Shepard up until she loved him.
one of the last lines before the romance is "I don't know why I love you?" Or something along those lines. and the paragon response to that is "I don't love you, I just want to get in your pants."
I really couldn't have put it any better my self
and the actual romance scene is just a quicky on the engine room floor and that pissed me off for several reasons
1) her whole shtick on all the conversations leading up to the romance was that she loves Shepard but the sex was just a shag on the floor. I suppose she's consistently schizophrenic
2)she wanted to do it in the engine room? seriously there's like...a bed in the captains quarters...? the engine room is down 4 floors assuming that's the same elevator technology from Mass Effect 1 they spent more time getting to the engine room than they did on the engine room floor
3) doesn't Tali hang out right outside the engine room? I'm not going to pass Tali by for Miranda.

and also I don't think a big ass makes someone sexy
and I don't like boobs bigger than a C cup I think they're ugly
so with Miranda not fitting my definition of "sexy" her schizophrenic-cocky-***** personality was highlighted and unbearable to me

so yeah I pretty much hate every thing about Miranda
I don't blame Mass Effect 2 for having her in there because they let me kill her when ever I want.

Well, lots of that is opinion which I disagree with (for one, I do find her physically attractive, although I refuse to ever get into that sort of conversation with anyone ever). Personally I didn't dislike any of Mass Effect 2's characters and liked them all for what they were (and I wish you could romance Kasumi... after that first time with Miranda, nobody else appeals to me really).

 

[gl1koz3]

Female Shepard for the win. The voice is really well done. Aaaaand... sexy.

 

[jamescorck]

Mass Effect 1 and 2, and Alyx Vance from Half Life.

 

[C117]

The obvious answers (To me, at least, and an easy way out) are Mass Effect 1 & 2.
Female Shepard is good... and people say Jennifer Hale is a better voice actor than her male counterpart. I can believe that.

This. And the Metroid series (don't come crying about Metroid: Other M, I haven't played that one yet).

 

[Koroviev]

Mass Effect also but they loose 10000000 points for including Miranda (the worst character in the history of anything) and they loose 8 more points for there not being any female Turians or Salarians. please tell me I'm not the only person bothered by that.

I think it's compensated for by the fact that the Asari are a race of pure bosses, and a purely female race at that.

well I'd still like to see some female Turian, Salarian, or Krogan in Mass Effect 3

I just don't think the concept artists want to deal with putting boobs on a Turian

I can sympathize with those artists XD

 

[LastMondaysHangover]

My votes goto Jade from Beyond Good & Evil and Kat from Halo: Reach. And I also like to say the female characters from Mass Effect 1 & 2.