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30 truly interesting female video game characters (Part 2 - The Guardian)

M

Moobabe

Member
Apologies for the incorrect title yesterday - fixed - and now with part 2! Again, slight spoilers in some places.

These aren’t necessarily the “best” or the most famous female video game characters; they’re the women who have intrigued us, perhaps because they’re great heroes, but maybe because they’re twisted and complicated. Whatever, they all more than just a warrior with a laser gun and the odd smart arse remark.

Please do add your own suggestions at the end – there were some excellent reader additions in part one!
Click to expand...

Some stand outs for me:

River (To The Moon, 2011)

ToTheMoonBanner2.jpg
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Kan Gao’s haunting adventure unfolds as a love story gone slightly wrong. If it breaks your heart (which it might) that’s mostly down to River, the wife of the lead character, who is caring, loving, creative and dedicated. She is also one of the few game characters explicitly diagnosed with Asperger’s, but it is never exploited during this nostalgic and poignant exploration of love and regret. Incredible to believe all this is achieved with a 16-bit game written using the $25 RPG Maker XP program.
Click to expand...

Hannah Smith (Her Story, 2015)

A murder suspect seen only through a series of police interview videos, Hannah’s story is unsettling and provocative, but that’s what makes her one of gaming’s most fascinating creations. [Spoilers ahead] She both desires and manages to hide the existence of her estranged identical twin Eve through their childhood and adulthood, until that age-old symbol of womanhood – pregnancy – ruins things. As the entire focus of the game, actor Viva Seifert is an extraordinary presence.
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Full article here - and part one is here.

And the full list just because:

Midna (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2006)
Wynne (Dragon Age: Origins, 2009)
Amaterasu (Okami, 2006)
Jade (Beyond Good and Evil, 2003)
Ada Wong (Resident Evil series, 1996-)
Bonnie MacFarlane (Red Dead Redemption, 2010)
Tetra (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, 2002; Phantom Hourglass, 2007)
Cass (Fallout: New Vegas, 2010)
Red (Transistor, 2014)
Brigid Tenenbaum (Bioshock, 2007)
Aveline de Grandpré (Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, 2012)
Ellie (The Last of Us, 2013)
Clementine (The Walking Dead, 2012)
Vella Tartine (Broken Age, 2014)
Faith Connors (Mirror’s Edge, 2008)
Chell (Portal, 2007)
Samantha Greenbriar (Gone Home, 2013)
Hannah Smith (Her Story, 2015)
Elena Fisher (Uncharted, 2007)
Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2, 2004)
Chloe (Life is Strange, 2015)
Bayonetta (Bayonetta 2, 2014)
The female Inquisitor (Dragon Age Inquisition, 2014)
River (To The Moon, 2011)
Vivienne (Dragon Age Inquisition, 2014)
Impa (The Legend of Zelda series)
Franziska von Karma (Ace Attorney series)
GLaDOS (Portal, 2004)
Fiona (Tales from the Borderlands, 2015)
Rosalind Lutece (Bioshock Infinite, 2013)
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
Ok, that second part is a lot more interesting.
Glad to see Bayo here too, hopefully some fighting character in part 3.
Again, while the descriptions are way too short and skipping a lot, this is nice to see.
 
D

Dunkley

Member
The only character that Guardian games editor Keith Stuart insisted had to be included in the feature, Vance is a resistance fighter leading the fightback against the Combine invasion of Earth. It was rare 10 years ago for video games give prominent roles to women of colour – something that has thankfully … Oh, wait.
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dat shade tho
 
P

Poltergust

Member
Huh, didn't expect to see an Ace Attorney character on there. Although, I would have chosen Maya over Franziska.

Also, no Emmy (Professor Layton) or Akane (Zero Escape) makes me sad.
 
Theodoricos

Theodoricos

Member
Freaking Franziska is on the list, but no mention of Kreia or Samus?

All the other choices for part two are good though.
 
O

oti

Banned
Chell (Portal, 2007)

Like Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman, Chell is a silent protagonist, but where Freeman represents our tendency to see “white male” as default, Chell challenges that assumption. She’s not on the box, and because of the first-person perspective players might not realise they’re playing as a woman of colour until they glimpse her through a portal. On top of that she also subverts the whole notion of the first-person shooter: her weapon delivers not death, but opportunity. Besides, anyone who can challenge GLaDOS deserves respect and admiration.
Click to expand...

What did I just read?
Yes, Portal is amazing and Chell is the protagonist but how does that fact alone make her interesting in any way whatsoever? Freeman is as interesting as a tomato and so is Chell.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
no kreia, no shodan, no SC1 kerrigan, but all that dragon age bogus and bioshock side characters, right
at least alyx is in, but still a wasted article
 
M

Moobabe

Member
Moff said:
no kreia, no shodan, no SC1 kerrigan, but all that dragon age bogus and bioshock side characters, right
at least alyx is in, but still a wasted article
Click to expand...

From the article

These aren’t necessarily the “best” or the most famous female video game characters; they’re the women who have intrigued us, perhaps because they’re great heroes, but maybe because they’re twisted and complicated. Whatever, they all more than just a warrior with a laser gun and the odd smart arse remark.

Please do add your own suggestions at the end – there were some excellent reader additions in part one!
Click to expand...
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
Moff said:
no kreia, no shodan, no SC1 kerrigan, but all that dragon age bogus and bioshock side characters, right
at least alyx is in, but still a wasted article
Click to expand...
There's a third part coming, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Never mind, lol.
 
K

Kinyou

Member
Greddleok said:
The female Inquisitor (Dragon Age Inquisition, 2014)


Ahahaha, ok I can't take this article seriously any more.
Click to expand...

That is a bit of a weird choice. Even femshep would have made more sense since she has a fan following. Haven't seen a similar response to the female inquisitor.
 
J

John Kowalski

Banned
Kinyou said:
That is a bit of a weird choice. Even femshep would have made more sense since she has a fan following. Haven't seen a similar response to the female inquisitor.
Click to expand...

Well there's only one Inquisitor game so far. She's very different from femshep too, more inquisitive (ha!) and relaxed whereas femshep is like "GUNS so many GUNS they're BEAUTIFUL".
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Acquiescence said:
I'm cringing at some of these choices. There is nothing remotely interesting about a silent protagonist.
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Actions speak louder than words.
Red from Transistor is super interesting simply because she's forced to be a silent protagonist and all of her personality is conveyed through her actions, expressions, and character design.
tumblr_n5x848Uf4w1qc26bqo2_250.gif
 
D

dralla

Member
I don't understand some of them, Chell or uhhh the Inquisitor from Dragon Age? Not a single character from Mass Effect? Aria, Liara, Tali? Oh well. Hopefully one day we can have a 30 interesting playable female game characters article.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Acquiescence said:
I'm cringing at some of these choices. There is nothing remotely interesting about a silent protagonist.
Click to expand...
They're mostly talking about how Chell is interesting on a meta level in that she subverts your expectations for what a silent first-person protagonist should be. I do think that argument is undermined somewhat by the fact that you can almost immediately see that Chell is female when you start playing Portal.
 
D

Dictator93

Member
Dryk said:
They're mostly talking about how Chell is interesting on a meta level in that she subverts your expectations for what a silent first-person protagonist should be.
Click to expand...

By allowing you to completely ignore any and everything about her because she is silent?
 
S

Synth

Member
Chell kinda voids the entire list tbh. Crash from Quake III Arena would be a better pick...

No, I'm not suggesting Crash would be a GOOD pick at all
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
Moobabe said:
Is Samus the longest running female lead/character?
Click to expand...

Maybe not, but I'd day she's the most important one from this era.

Dryk said:
They're mostly talking about how Chell is interesting on a meta level in that she subverts your expectations for what a silent first-person protagonist should be. I do think that argument is undermined somewhat by the fact that you can almost immediately see that Chell is female when you start playing Portal.
Click to expand...

That's really weird. She's getting the same treatment as Freeman, but with even less interactions or lore behind.
I really don't think she's interesting, it's glados making her seemingly interesting.
 
I

injurai

Banned
"On top of that she also subverts the whole notion of the first-person shooter: her weapon delivers not death, but opportunity."

dis2.gif
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
RMI said:
Came for Bonnie MacFarlane and was not disappointed. Best damn character in RDR.
Click to expand...

Bonnie is a great choice. One of my favorite characters from last gen.

plasmawave said:
I just want to say there's absolute nothing interesting about the character Faith.
Click to expand...

Same with Jade from Beyond Good and Evil. Did they add her? I am saying this preemptively because I know they added her! (Someone always does.)
 
M

Moobabe

Member
Spring-Loaded said:
Was this meant to be a "top 30" list? Or just a list of 30 truly interesting female video game characters?
Click to expand...

It's in the OP and at the start of both articles. It's not a "best of" - just 30 that they found interesting or noteworthy. It even encourages user suggestions in the comments.

Updated the OP to include the full list.
 
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