Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Whoops, I guess Thoul had already mentioned Phantasy Star before I got all high-and-mighty.

Another great addition: Dragon Force's Junon. * swordswoman who looks more or less like a female Witch King with her helmet on. Can't find a pic with the helmet, but here she is anyway:



Junon notwithstanding, the game is still awesome. The original Saturn release has become ultra-rare, but there's a Sega Ages version on the PS2 if you can play Japanese games.

pitohui wrote:Something I loved about the Lunar games was that kind of variety. One of the strongest physical attackers in Lunar 2 was a woman (Jean!) while Nash was a passable male mage. (magle? malge? I'm drunk)

Non-RPGs seem to have a better handle on the situation in general, I think. MGS3's The Boss is one of my favorite characters ever.

Hmm good point with Jean! She's one of my favorite characters. Another character who doesn't fit the same stereotype is Koudelka. I dunno if anyone has played that game but it's a load of fun, ableit slow due to being on PS1. Anyway Koudelka is a thief and doesn't have a very high atk power but she's strong enough[she can't do massive damage on her own but she gets some unique items to help her stand tall]. Plus she's a good magic user. I'd wager she would mirror Alis from PS1[more kudos for Pitohui].

It all depends. I like playing games with a female lead and when I play fighting games, I normally go for the females because they are smaller and faster. Females in parties all depends on if they can hold their own. If it's a female who does nothing but heal, I find them rather useless, if it's a female that can do both, right on, females that just fight and pack a punch, Oh yes.

However, I don't mind playing games with a male lead either.

pitohui wrote:Another great addition: Dragon Force's Junon. * swordswoman who looks more or less like a female Witch King with her helmet on. Can't find a pic with the helmet, but here she is anyway:

JUNON! That is such an awesome picture Pitohui! Junon is by far my favorite ruler out of Dragon Force. BTW here is a pic of her with the helmet on



It's a bit hard to see with the white background there but she definitely looks the part of a Dark Knight if nothing else.

Usually, I don't so much as determine characters by their gender but by their personality and skills. That said, I've played plenty of rpg's where the females aren't the typical gentle healer/mage.

Chrono Trigger: Ayla. Strongest physical attacker in the game. Of course, her boyfriend is much more feminine than she is.
Seiken Densetu 3: Riesz. Amazon and lance-wielder with above average physical attack.
Final Fantasy 6: Terra and Celes can both act as front-row brawlers or back-row spell slingers depending on what you equip them with.
Final Fantasy 9: The biggest * on the planet is actually a woman general. Most foot soldiers in the game are women while the mage soldiers are guys. And then there's Freya who, although not very feminine by human standards, plays very much like you'd expect a male brawler to.
Septerra Core: Main character is a female with a rifle and all-round stats.
Lunar 2: Female dancer becomes speed demon with painful attacks. (basically Rika without the healing skills)

Some examples of females who ARE healers but tougher than the stereotype would let you believe.

Lunar: Jessica's attack is actually above average and in addition to her in-your-face attitude, it's also revealed she can beat her muscule-bound boyfriend at leg wrestling.
Shining Force 2: Master monks can heal but due to the way the experience system in that game works, they can also become the hardest hitters on the force.

I haven't seen a lot of Alys equivalents in other games yet though...females with an attitude who don't fit into the tomboy category.