Females in RPGS

Ok this might seem strange for a topic but as we all know in every game there is at least one female character that will join your party. The majority of the time most RPG's are placed with a male hero, making the female character either the love interest of the hero, or a random healer within the group. Just by a show of posts, how many of you actually enjoy having a female character in your party and why?

For me I find having a female character in the group balances out the team nicely in most rpgs. I also find that some female characters in games have slightly better stats, as well as better skills then their male counterpart. But its mainly about how you play the game I guess. For example, in Chrono Trigger, no matter what, even when I'm forced to have a party member in my group, only allowing me to add just 1 person I always take Marle with me. Not because she's the love interest of Crono, the games hero, but because she's one of my favorite characters in the game, and I always take her with me, no matter what. Even if the game wants to make me feel like I should take a stronger attacker or magic user, I always bring her along because its really about who you like.

But Kaloes, what about Phantasy Star II. The game requires you to at least have Rudo in the group to help make the game easier. One might say. But if you look at my current playthrough I am using Eusis, Shir, Anna, and Amy and I have yet come to any trouble, even after I've beaten the climcontrol. Sure there will be hard times, but its really about who you like, and if you can make the group work then it shouldn't matter about the gender of the character or their strengths.

Well I like having females in the party due to the fact they're much easier to look at than a bunch of sweaty guys, then again that's just my opinion. Typically the female in an rpg is portrayed as a healer[and a damn good one too], like you've already stated, or a really agile fighter[who will generally do a tremendous amount of damage through critical hits] and at least they give a whole new perspective on the same old tired class. Plus some games allow females to have access to gender specific classes and/or skills which makes things all the more better.

I do wish that females in RPGs would do more than A) be the healer or B) be the speed demon, and it seems they generally are one of those two things. Which is yet ANOTHER reason for my appreciation of Earthbound and Mother 3. In both games, you only get one female party member, Paula and Kumatora, respectively. Neither is a healer. Both possess mostly offensive PSI and some assist PSI (shields and such). Kumatora is quite clearly not a love interest for Lucas in Mother 3, and the issue is ambiguous in Earthbound.

I like difference!

I agree having a female player in your party puts balance in the game. Sure some are only seen as healers but they are still needed none the less. Also I highly agree with Dakril I'd rather look at a cute girl rather then some sweaty guys. Most RPGs see females as basically background or low grade characters this is one reason I love Xenosaga so much it makes females the center of the story giving them a chance to have a say in the RPG universe. Which is why when ever I play Xenosaga Episode II, I always have KOS-MOS in my party she has the highest HP out of all the characters excluding Ziggy. She is fast and deals great damage to all opponents. Not to mention she's pretty awesome in my opinion. Amen to KOS-MOS

It's great to have some diversity in the party. I do wish more games wouldn't fall into the healer or speed demon cliches. Having the female lead being a pure, saintly priestess that can't take a hit is overdone (I'm looking at you, Grandia 3 ). I usually bring them along (when given a choice) because they are useful or necessary as healers, but giving them a little bit of muscle would be a nice change.

Usually the games that avoid the common pitfalls are ones with large casts, like Fire Emblems, where females fill many types of roles. I really hate when the characters are almost completely generic, like in Final Fantasy Tactics. Of course, seeing a strong female as the main character is even more rare. It would be nice if more games took a hint from Phantasy Star on that one.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the obvious one: Alis! She was the first female protagonist in an RPG, and as such was skilled both physically and with magic. She doesn't seem to fall into either of the archetypes, which is pretty damn impressive for a 21-year old game.

I'd never put much thought into female characters in RPGs until I realized something odd a few years ago: when given the chance to create my own characters, I almost always make the females the magic users. This seems to be pretty deeply rooted in classic RPGs, wherein the women would be superior healers with inferior physical stats. My mind must have started equating female characters with poor strength, and by reflex I created male fighters and female healers. I realized this a few years back and have since then been spicing up my games with more female characters; a female hero in the Japanese version of Dragon Quest IV, and then a male hero in the English version, for instance. It's actually advantageous to have a female hero in the DQ games, as there are a few pieces of female-only equipment (with nothing specific to men).

As others have mentioned, I get a little tired of seeing the girls in RPGs being the saintly, perfect clerics. If they're not the clerics, they're usually a mage, summoner, or some speed demon that has a minimal attack power. That's not exactly weird; in real life, girls are usually physically weaker than guys. Still, I'd like to see more girls that don't fall under the usual archetypes that they tend to fall under.

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@Pitohui: I, too, tend to make the girls the magic users. I don't know why; I usually have the guys being the warriors and the girls being the mages. Hmm...

Come to think of it, what I find most irritating about the female-cleric-archetype is the wimpy, lame personality. Even if she's a healer, she doesn't have to be a perfect, gentle, and passive character. Eh... That's me.

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.

pitohui wrote:

Non-RPGs seem to have a better handle on the situation in general, I think.

I have to agree on that. I'm going to point to Destroy All Humans! 2 for having a female character (Natalya) who defies some stereotypes while also falling into others at the same time for the sake of the parody element that pervades the DAH games. She kind of reminds me of Trinity from the Matrix movies in some ways. She a rogue KGB agent who can hold her own with firearms...and not-so-kindly throw off Crypto's constant pathetic advances.

And then there's Samus from the Metroid games...

I usually enjoy having female members in my RPG party--The group would look a little unbalanced if it didn't include both genders. You may be wondering why I used the word "Usually." While I really like seeing a party with both genders in it; some heroines can really grate on my nerves--up to the point where I would rather not see them in my party. *Glares at the two main Grandia III heroines*

Thoul wrote:

Of course, seeing a strong female as the main character is even more rare. It would be nice if more games took a hint from Phantasy Star on that one.

Come to think of it; that game's over twenty years old and Alis is still one of the only strong female leads in the traditional RPG genre. It's too bad, really. >: