How many positive and well-made female characters can you think of?

[Elieson]

Also, Aya Brea (Parasite Eve) comes to mind. She's not /stellar/, but she's not an incompetant sexualized female by any means

[Ownagepuffs]

Lenneth Valkyrie - Valkyrie Profile (happy?)

Sheva Alomar - Resident Evil 5

Ada Wong - Resident Evil

Eclair Farron (AKA Lightning) - FF13. First one only.

The Joy/Boss - MGS3. Possible the best female game character in existence.

I could go on for days with Fire Emblem but I'll just say Titania since she's the best female character in the series.

Rutee - Tales of Destiny

Farah - Tales of Eternia

Natalia - Tales of the Abyss

Legretta - Tales of the Abyss

Ange - Tales of Innocence

No one mentioned Valkyria Chronicles? Come on, now.

Alicia Melchiott - Valkyria Chronicles

Selvaria Bles - Valkyria Chronicles (bust size is the only outlier lol). While she does what she does out of love, there is still a conflict in servitude vs morality for her.

Imca - Valkyria Chronicles 3

Mia Fey - Ace Attorney

Lana - Ace Attorney Case 1-5

Chun-Li - First lady of gaming.

Mitsuru Kirijo - Persona 3

Yukari Takeba - Persona 3

Aigis - Persona 3

Labrys - Persona 4 Arena

Black Rose - .Hack IMOQ

Shino - .Hack Roots

Tsukasa - Technically a female IRL. .Hack

Celes - Final Fantasy VI (I'm a general, not some opera floozy!)

Terra - Final Fantasy VI (Dissidia pissed all over her character)

Farah - Final Fantasy V

Freya Crescent - Final Fantasy IX

Fran - Final Fantasy XII

Fang - Final Fantasy XIII

Cynthia - Diamond/Pearl Elite 4 Champion

Edea Lee - Bravely Default

Emmy Altava - Professor Layton series

That's all for now. Will probably end up editing if I remember more. This was just for video games, yes? Because there is more if we are including all forms of media.

[Sasori]

How about Lucca from Final Fantasy 4: The after year. She's a fairly important character, realistically dressed as a mechanic and pretty though as well. She is crushing on one of the male characters, but it does not define her so I don't think that should really work against her.

[Snowy_One]

You sure that's not Lucca from Chrono Trigger? Cause that sounds like the same character.

And yes, claims like this pop up a lot, where female leads in a game are token, sexualized, poorly presented, and/or exist solely to titillate male players.

[Ownagepuffs]

Nah dude he is talking about Luca from FF4 The After Years. The Dwarf King's daughter and Cid's apprentice.

I forgot about her. She actually gets over her crush on Palom, so that's one more point for her.

[Sasori]

Yup I was talking about the dwarven princess. Both games where made by Square Enix so its not impossible that they drew some inspiration from Chrono Trigger's Lucca.

This is the one i'm talking about

[DragonLord]

Tear, as well as Natalia from Tales of the Abyss, although Ownage already mentioned the latter.

[Thor Odinson]

Aveline de Grandpre of Ass Creed Liberations

In fact there was a minority vocal outrage by some of the more sexist fans on her very practical Assassin outfit

mad about the lack of cleavage or some bullshit

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Lyn (Fire Emblem)

Samus (Metroid...and yes, even Other M Samus, that game did not "ruin" her)

Tifa (Final Fantasy VII)

Aerith/Aeris (Final Fantasy VII)

Syrenne (The Last Story)

Claire Redfield (Resident Evil)

Edited October 17, 2014 by Fire Emblem Fan

[Ownagepuffs]

Aveline de Grandpre of Ass Creed Liberations

In fact there was a minority vocal outrage by some of the more sexist fans on her very practical Assassin outfit

mad about the lack of cleavage or some bullshit

Lmfao Ass Creed makes it sound like a tooootally different game.

Going back to my reply, basically every female in Squad 422 in Valkyria Chronicles 3 counts. I just picked Imca to narrow it down. Also remembered a few more.

Judith - Tales of Vesperia

Magoichi Saika - Sengoku Basara 3

Palutena - Kid Icarus: Uprising

Esty Dee - Atelier Meruru

Astrid Zexis - Atelier Corona (the Atelier games have great art in general)

[Rehab]

If the one of the purposes of the topic is to be used to gather a list to be used as reference, particularly when responding to somebody who's talking about how they think video games (tend to) lack positive and well-made female characters, a problem is that even these criteria can't account for what that particular somebody has in mind. For example, I'm pretty confident I've heard from people who I don't think anybody could possibly convince that, say, Colette, is remotely positive.

Not that having getting together a list of characters who fit the given criteria isn't valuable, because the criteria are of a sort that a lot of people would agree do indeed help to make good female characters. I'd just caution against thinking you've got something that nobody could completely deny.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Nobody has said Lenneth Valkyrie?

Shame on you all.

HOLY SHIT THIS RIGHT HERE.

Lenneth is like, my go-to gal for Bamf Not-Bullshit Female Video Game Character. She begins the story all business and then you start scratchin' the surface and then you find out the truth and well....shes fucking awesome. Silmeria, not so much. Have i mentioned i hate VP2? Cuz i really hate that game. Bonus Points for Lenneth being non-scantily clad in her original form.

For example, I'm pretty confident I've heard from people who I don't think anybody could possibly convince that, say, Colette, is remotely positive.

Colette is not a bad example, tbf. Her portrayal is a bit iffy, but characterization-wise, shes kinda awesome. I am biased as hell cuz i love her to bits. But Colette says stuff thats really gr9. Like her speech to Lloyd before the first trip to Tower of Salvation....man the feels.

Rose from Legend of Dragoon is a pretty great character.

I also mention Lucca from Chrono Trigger, and Ayla for that matter. Ayla may be scantily clad, but shes all positive!

[Garland Chaos]

Nobody has said Lenneth Valkyrie?

Speaking of Valkyrie Profile...

Yumei from the very first Valkyrie Profile for the PSX comes to mind. Her recruitment sequence pulls at your heartstrings incredibly well, and Yumei herself is a remarkably likable character. When it comes to the field of battle, she's no slouch either, one of the better mages in the game, at least in my opinion.

[Wen Yang]

Long list incoming (well, not as long as I like, but I'm limiting it to leads only):

Aselia Bluespirit (Eien no Aselia)

Esperia Greenspirit (Eien no Aselia)

Oruphaliru Redspirit (Eien no Aselia)

Uruka Blackspirit (Eien no Aselia)

Lesteena (Eien no Aselia)

Misaki Kyouko (Eien no Aselia)

Kurahashi Tokimi (Eien no Aselia)

Midorishita Yumina (Tenkuu no Yumina)

Kurokawa Kirara (Tenkuu no Yumina)

Okitsu Ai (Tenkuu no Yumina)

Kagura Nayuta (Tenkuu no Yumina - Forever Dreams)

Tenrou Kunagi (Daibanchou)

Kobayakawa Senna (Daibanchou)

Retia Adolf (Daiteikoku)

Scarlett Tougou (Daiteikoku)

Magic The Gandhi (Rance VI)

Uesugi Kenshin (Sengoku Rance)

Yamamoto Isoroku (Sengoku Rance)

Pastel Kalar (Rance Quest)

Reset Kalar (Rance Quest)

Russian Kallette (Rance IX)

Kentou Kanami (Rance IX)

Tillday Shape (Rance IX)

Masou Shizuka (Rance IX)

Pigu Geleciam (Rance IX)

Senhime (Rance IX)

Miracle Tou (Rance IX)

Saber (Fate/Stay Night)

Tohsaka Rin (Fate/Stay Night)

Arcueid Brunestud (Tsukihime)

Ciel (Tsukihime)

Ryougi Shiki (Kara no Kyoukai)

Touko Aozaki (Kara no Kyoukai)

Edited October 18, 2014 by Wen Yang

[Aisuko Lyrical]

Rita(Tales Of Vesperia)

Neptune(Hyperdimension Neptunia)

Noire(Hyperdimension Neptunia)

Ursula(Final Fantasy 4 The After Years)

Rachel Alucard(Blazblue)

Aoko Aozaki(Mahou Tsukai no Yoru)

Cheria(Tales of Graces F)

Pascal(Tales of Graces F)

Reine Sage(Tales Of Symphonia)

Cassandra(Soul Calibur 2, 3, 4)

Talim(Soul Calibur 2, 3, 4,)

off the top of my head I mist list more later blame skimpy clothes for the short list

[RJWalker]

Mortred the Phantom Assassin

Tresdin the Legion Commander

Black Arachnia the Broodmother

Luna the Moon Rider

Krobelus the Death Prophet

Mercurial the Spectre

There are more but some might say their clothing is too revealing although I would disagree.

[Xator Nova]

Does FF6!Celes not suffice?

Green leotards.

Otherwise I believe that personality-wise, she fits here. I would have added her on the list wasn´t it for the green leotards which breaks rule #1.

[Ownagepuffs]

Eh, Leotards shouldn't be an instant DQ. Celes really was a good character that deserves a listing.

[deleted35362]

i really can't think of anyone better than lenneth valkyrie. right off the bat, you get a very leader-worthy character that ....actually gives me the impression that she's only female because valkyries in general are depicted as females. for the most part, it doesn't even matter that she's female.

http://i.gyazo.com/661383d5272681a79eed028bcd6c5963.png

that's a screenshot of when valkyrie saw this tall dark priestess causing trouble, so she just busted in a turned her blade on her with like no hesitation. XD as you can tell it shoots valkyrie in the foot to be so forward sometimes, but i think it's an admirable personality for ANY main character to have. i found this game pretty late so i don't have much nostalgia for it, but it might become my favorite rpg.

other than her, i guess maybe i can say blaze the cat from sonic rush and rush adventure? she deserves the popularity she got. sonic 2006 sorta hurts her rep, though...

1) The woman must not be overly sexualized. No breasts the size of her head here.

um...tbh i don't think breast size in particular is completely fair, since it's humanly possible for people to have very big breasts and possible for game developers to choose not to sexualize a large-breasted character beyond that feature. not LIKELY, but possible i think. i dunno there are many many video games i don't know about.

[eclipse]

But Estelle is a strong, independent, non-sexualized woman of great integrity and has a strong sense of justice!

Besides, it makes it all the better when they actually meet up again in SC.

I see her as an odd case, because half of her is defined by Joshua. The half that isn't is really awesome.

Firstly there is to be a degree of challenge with this beyond just ticking off female characters who are more than just background filler.

Secondly, hopefully, people can read this topic and find female characters whom they can look into, learn about, then use the next time someone claims 'there are no female characters in games that aren't sexist'.

Anything can be twisted to hell and back - what someone doesn't see as sexist is another person's "WTF did you just say?!" Hell, read through this thread, and you'll see disagreements.

[Snowy_One]

Ummmm... Wen... Is listing characters from a series of H-games a wise choice?

Well, since most of them actually get nude, they'd fail the qualifications anyways.

Keep in mind that, as someone who can only play so many games, I can only approve/dissuade those characters that I actually know about. If you were to claim a character from the Persona series fit, for example, beyond maybe a quick google image-search I would not be able to know any better/worse. Anyways, today is busy, but tonight I'll update the OP with the new characters, then see if I have the time to thumb through at least a bit of my collection.

[Rehab]

Colette is not a bad example, tbf. Her portrayal is a bit iffy, but characterization-wise, shes kinda awesome. I am biased as hell cuz i love her to bits. But Colette says stuff thats really gr9. Like her speech to Lloyd before the first trip to Tower of Salvation....man the feels.

I personally wouldn't dismiss her completely out of hand, in part because I think it could be said that she kinda screws with a certain kind of "staggeringly purehearted sacrificial female character" archetype, (and yeah, I remember liking that speech too,) but I've heard from people for whom (as an example) I think a combination of

-what could be perceived as a bigass martyr complex (dealt with in the story or not)

-nigh-saccharine demeanor/concern for others' well-being (again, dealt with in the story or not*)

-being the kind of female anime character who clasps their hands together positioned right around their neck area a lot you know what I'm talking about

-the "losing my humanity?" arc (again *)

-and yeah, the clumsiness (*)

-(among other things I'm struggling to enunciate on the spot and probably mis/underrepresenting)

might well add up to Colette being perceived by them as a certain kind of feminine (which they might see as completely artificial, as in male-constructed, and also generally gross) that could make it difficult to take her the least bit seriously, much less enjoy her

Again, though, not to say the characters on the list, including Colette, can't be argued for, that one can't feel that they're good/positive/well-made female characters and not have what I personally might consider a substantial point, etc. Just noting one shouldn't be surprised to meet people for whom these characters and criteria wouldn't be enough.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Rehab

[Nightmare]

Sakura is about her panty shots, and many of the older KOF ladies had their shirts explode (I think it was '95 that was guilty of this). ;/

I think it's unfair to disqualify Sakura just for that, though it's a thing to consider. Same for KoF, it mostly just started out that way but I feel like the characters, especially King, have since become very respected figures (what BrightBow mentioned notwithstanding).

I was going to state Mortal Kombat characters such as Kitana and Sonya but they have a lot of that in the newer Mortal Kombats.

They're bad characters anyway.

Eh, Leotards shouldn't be an instant DQ. Celes really was a good character that deserves a listing.

I agree. I don't think leotards or any other slightly "revealing" (using this word with much caution, here) should disqualify. Hell, we've got people here arguing for Bayonetta's case, and I agree with them. I think Celes should be completely safe.

Anyway, Alis from the first Phantasy Star is notable because it was a pretty old JRPG, and she's the main character. Phantasy Star IV also has Alys, who's a main character and tough as nails. Nei may fit as well, but I'm not sure.

[Tryhard]

I think it's unfair to disqualify Sakura just for that, though it's a thing to consider. Same for KoF, it mostly just started out that way but I feel like the characters, especially King, have since become very respected figures (what BrightBow mentioned notwithstanding).

I really like King, too. Seems like she would fit right in.

They're bad characters anyway.

Ouch, bro.

I agree.

[Original Alear]

When people talk about King I assume they are talking about King from Tekken...

She's a robot, but I'd like to propose Curly Sue from Cave Story.

[spoiler=Major Cave Story Spoilers]She even sacrifices her "life" to save Quote's, which IMO makes her pretty strong, and unless you have the right equipment she's gone for the rest of the game. It is true that she has to be carried through the games final dungeon, but she doesn't act as a hindrance in that regard and actually helps w/ shooting up the enemies once she wakes up.