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

[Snowy_One]

Quite simple and straight forwards. With all this talk of how gamers are sexist in the media I have become interested in seeing how many positive female lead characters people can think of. So, let's define some terms and get started!

Here is what a character needs to be on this list.

1) The character must be female or, if the game allows the player to choose, have very defined differences from the male version that are not cosmetic.

2) The character must be important to the story and/or gameplay, preferably one of the lead characters. No spamming FE characters (if only to keep the list short). Elincia, someone who is important to the plot of FE9, would be fine but Calill would not be.

3) The character must be playable. I know there are plenty of female NPC's who are positive out there (like Glados), but lets see if we can throw an extra layer on this.

As for 'positive' I am fully aware that there is no 'set' definition, and even then these lines will be blurry, but we can probably ban a few things. I am aware that there can be positive portrayals of women with one or more of these qualities (

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

2) The woman must not be dressed in a scantily-clad manner or, if so, have a very good reason for doing so. Alternate costumes do not count, especially if they are not required to be worn at any point in the game.

3) The character MUST be independent. A woman working with a man to accomplish a goal is one thing. A woman being emotionally unstable to the point of needing a man for control and guidance or else she'll be left indecisive and confused, especially if it's because 'she a woman' is another.

4) While the woman can be captured and/or missing, rescuing her cannot be the main focus of the game. She must be more than just eye-candy.

Sound like a good set of definitions so far? If people have some more suggestions to either add or rework one of these rules to better define these terms. I know there are quite a few positive female characters who will outright fail at one of these points (I consider Sheena to be a positive female character, but she would fail the clothing bit and doesn't have a proper justification that I can recall for it), but the point of this is more to make a list of characters whom would not meet the 'norm' here.

The list (So far)

Aerith/Aeris (Final Fantasy VII)

Aika (Skies of Arcadia)

Alena (Dragon Quest IV)

Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness)

Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles)

Amaterasu (Okami)

Ange (Tales of Innocence)

Anges Oblige (Bravely Default)

Aoko Aozaki(Mahou Tsukai no Yoru)

April Ryan (The Longest Journey)

Arche (Fortune Summoners)

Aria (Blazing Souls)

Ashley Robbins (Trace Memory)

Astrid Zexis (Atelier Corona)

Athena (Borderlands: Pre-Sequel. Professional and capable mercenary.)

Aurora (Child of Light)

Aveline de Grandpre (Assassins Creed: Liberation)

Black Arachnia the Broodmother

Chell (Portal)

Cheria(Tales of Graces F)

Claire Redfield (Resident Evil)

Collette Brunel (Tales of Symphonia)

Cooke (Lost Odyssey)

Cynthia (Pokemon Diamond/Pearl)

Dawn Star (Jade Empire)

Eclair Farron (FF XVIII)

Edea Lee (Bravely Default)

Eirika (Fire Emblem Sacred Stones)

Elise (Chanelise)

Elizabeth (King of Fighters)

Elize Lutus (Tales of Xillia)

Ellen (Romancing Saga 3)

Elodie (Long Live the Queen! <3<3<3<3)

Estelle (Tales of Vesperia)

Esty Dee (Atelier Meruru)

Faith (Mirrors Edge)

Farah (FF V)

Farah (Tales of Eternia)

Fina (Skies of Arcadia)

Freya Crescent (FF IX)

Gaige (Borderlands 2)

Heather Mason (Silent Hill 3)

Imca (Valkyria Chronicles 3)

Jade (Beyond Good and Evil)

Jeanne D'arc (Jeanne D'arc)

Jenna (Golden Sun)

Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark.)

Karin Koenig (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)

Karis (Golden Sun)

Kasumi Goto (Mass Effect)

Kate Walker (Syberia)

Kaye (Blazing Souls)

King (King of Fighters)

Kluke (Blue Dragon)

Krobelus the Death Prophet

Legretta (Tales of the Abyss)

Leia Ronaldo (Tales of Xillia)

Lemina (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue)

Lena (Final Fantasy V)

Lilith (Borderlands)

Lucca (Chrono Trigger)

Lucca (Final Fantasy IV: The After Years)

Lucina (Fire Emblem: Awakening)

Luna the Moon Rider

Lyn (Fire Emblem 7)

Makoto (Street Fighter)

Maria Renard (Castlevania Rondo of Blood)

Maria Traydor (Star Ocean III)

Marina (Mischief makers)

Maya (Borderlands 2. I'm a bit unsure on this as I haven't played as her MUCH, but it would take something seriously messed up for her to fail.)

Maya (Septerra Core)

Mia (Golden Sun)

Mia Fey (Phoenix Wright)

Mercurial the Spectre

Micaiah (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)

Miku Hinasaki (Fatal Frame/Zero)

Mio Amakura (Fatal Frame: Crimson Butterfly)

Mirage Koas (Star Ocean III)

Monica Raybrandt (Dark Cloud 2)

MOMO Mizrahi (Xenosaga)

Mortred the Phantom Assassin

Natalia (Tales of the Abyss)

Nel Zelpher (Star Ocean III)

Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia)

Noire (Hyperdimension Neptunia)

Pascal(Tales of Graces F)

Penelo (Final Fantasy XII)

Peppita Rossetti (Star Ocean III)

Rachel Alucard (Blazblue)

Raine Sage (Tales of Symphonia)

Recette Lemongrass (Recettear)

Relm (FFVI)

Rikku (FFX. Not so much in X-2).

Rita (Tales Of Vesperia)

Rosalina (Mario series. Playable in side-games and Smash, which counts enough)

Rose (The Legend of the Dragoon)

Rose (Street Fighter)

Rutee (Tales of Destiny)

Sakura (Sakura Wars)

Samus Aran (Metroid)

Sana (Fortune Summoners)

Sarah Sisulart (Lost Odyssey)

Sheba (Golden Sun)

Sheva Alomar (Resident Evil)

Sierra (TearRing Saga).

Sif (Romancing Saga)

Skye (Sanctum)

Sophia Esteed (Star Ocean III)

Sveta (Golden Sun)

Sweet (Sanctum)

Syrenne (The Last Story)

The Librarian (Defenders Quest)

Talim (Soul Calibur)

Tear Grants (Tales of the Abyss)

The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3)

Tresdin the Legion Commander

Tsygan (Sanctum)

Ursula(Final Fantasy 4 The After Years)

Xelha (Baten Kaitos)

Vanessa (King of Fighters)

Virginia Maxwell (Wild Arms 3)

Yggdra (Yggdra Union)

Yuna (FFX. Not so much in X-2.)

Yunica (Ys Origin)

Yuri (King of Fighters)

Zoey (Left 4 Dead)

Positive but fail the criteria/debatable.

Ada Wong (can be considered 'skimpy')

Alice (Alice in Wonderland. Debatable since it's heavily based off a book.)

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca (Final Fantasy XII. Outfit can be considered sexualized. Death of male character her motivation.)

Ashley Williams (Mass Effect. Sex Scene)

Aya Brea (Potentially Skimpy)

Ayla (Chrono Trigger. Outfit is skimpy.)

Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

Cassandra (Soul Calibur 2, 3, 4. Can be considered skimpy/sexualized.)

Celes (FFVI. Outfit can be considered skimpy)

Chloe Valens (Tales of Legendia. Outfit could be considered skimpy due to being 100% formfitting)

Chun Li (Her outfit can be considered skimpy/sexualized)

Dark Éclair (La Pucelle Tactics. Outfit can be considered sexualized)

EDI (Sexualized)

Ellia (Eternal Darkness. Outfit is sexualized)

Fang (FFXIII. Outfit can be considered skimpy)

Fiora (League of Legends. Outfit can be considered sexualized)

Fran ( FFXII. Outfit is skimpy)

Jack (Mass Effect. Skimpy outfit, sexualized, sex scene)

Jill Valentine (Resident Evil. Outfit can be considered skimpy)

Judith (Tales of Vesperia. Outfit is skimpy.)

Katia (Lost Kingdoms. Outfit can be considered sexualized.)

Kerrigan (Starcraft. Debatable if she counts as 'playable')

KOS-MOS (Xenosaga. Outfit is skimpy)

Lenneth Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile. Nude Scene)

Leona (King of Fighters. Tanktop can be considered 'skimpy'.)

Liara (Mass Effect. Sex scene)

Liliana (Dragon Age: Origins. Sex Scene)

Marle (Chrono Trigger. Can be considered skimpy.)

Maya Fey (Debatable if her little bit in that one case is enough to be considered 'playable')

Milla Maxwell (Tales of Xillia. Outfit can be considered sexualized.)

Ming Numara (Outfit can be considered sexualized)

Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect. Sexualized. Sex Scene)

Morrigan (Dragon Age: Origins Sexualized and Sex Scene)

Nariko (Heavenly Sword. Outfit is sexualized)

Nina (Breath of Fire. Outfit can be considered skimpy)

Palutena (Kid Icarus Uprising. Can be considered sexualized.)

Prier (Outfit can be considered fetish fuel.)

Reimi Saionji (outfit can be considered sexualized)

Sakura (Street Fighter. Outfit can be considered fetish fuel)

Samara (Mass Effect. Outfit can be considered sexualized.)

Seth Balmore (Outfit can be considered sexualized)

Sheena Fujibayashi (Tales of Symphonia. Outfit is sexualized)

Shion Uzuki (Outfit could be considered skimpy)

Tara Grimface (Lost Kingdoms II. Outfit can be considered sexualized)

Tali (Sex scene)

Terra (FFVI. Outfit can be considered skimpy. Goes nude in transformation.)

Tifa (Final Fantasy VII. Sexualized)

That's about it for games I've recently played.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Generic General]

Pre-Other M Samus Aran.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Smogon'sLawnMower

[EricaofRenais]

I am going to say Bayonetta because she is a really kick butt fighter.

[Snowy_One]

Pre-Other M Samus Aran.

We don't talk about Other M round these parts.

And Bayonetta fails points 1 and 2 of the 'positive' rulings.

[eclipse]

The Tales series in general does a pretty good job with their female characters. I think it would be easier to list the women that DON'T fall under that list.

And then there's Aria from Blazing Souls. Yes, there's fanservice pictures of her in-game, but that goes for everyone (even the men). Also. . .

She wanders around with no memory, and when she finally regains it, she's absolutely horrified by a single event that happened when she was first brought to Neverland. Otherwise, she tries to integrate into human society by doing things such as shopping with the other female characters. Unlike most of her kind, she despises unnecessary bloodshed. The "other" exception is Duja, whose entire existence is devoted to finding the woman he was programmed to love. Oh, and don't get me started on Sexton, who I dearly wish was playable. I'd rather have her around than Zelena. But I digress.

I'd nominate Kaye from the same game (as she is literally made to counter the tropes about female characters in video games), but alas, she's not a main character (technically, Zelos is the only main character, but Aria is unavoidable, while it's pretty easy to miss Kaye).

[Tryhard]

Fighting games have a lot. However, a lot of the time all fighting game characters are equally "unimportant" in terms of the story, so I dunno.

Makoto, Rose, Sakura from Street Fighter for examples, and probably Chun Li too.

Vanessa, King, Leona, Elizabeth, Yuri from KOF.

Jade from Beyond Good & Evil is an excellent character.

And for some others, though not all are applicable.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Tryhard

[Fruity Insanity]

No Estelle from Trails in the Sky?

I'm disappointed.

[RJWalker]

Shepard from Mass Effect.

[eclipse]

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). ;/

Estelle is. . .odd, because. . .

She's chasing after her love interest

[Florete]

And Bayonetta fails points 1 and 2 of the 'positive' rulings.

You said yourself that the rules aren't strict and the lines are blurry, yet you're enforcing them? I haven't played Bayonetta (yet), but I can see her fitting.

Anyway:

Yunica from Ys Origin.

Skye, Sweet, and Tsygan from Sanctum/Sanctum 2. (Notably, Skye is the protagonist of the series and the other playable characters are one dude and a robot)

Boss of the saints from Saints Row 2/3/4? It's gender choice, but there are three different voice options for each gender and, to my knowledge, the dialogue tends to have differences.

Chell from Portal/Portal 2.

Faith from Mirror's Edge.

Elodie from Long Live the Queen.

I haven't played it yet, but I always hear about Jade from Beyond Good & Evil for this kind of topic.

That's what I got from looking through my Steam history. I could also list Giana from Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, but that's just a basic platformer and there's no real "character" to speak of. But as far as just a standard female protagonist goes, there's her, the claw girl from They Bleed Pixels, and Wryn from Bleed. Hell, I could also throw in Rosalina for her playability in Super Mario 3D World, (I prefer to call it Super Rosalina World myself) especially since she's no Princess Peach otherwise.

The Fire Emblem characters I'd say can be reasonably listed are Lyn, Eirika, Micaiah, and Lucina.

[Tryhard]

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 suppose I've never seen it like that, but SNK does do that unfortunately.

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.

Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Kerrigan from Starcraft (playable, to a degree)

Faith from Mirror's Edge (though I haven't played it)

Zoey, Left 4 Dead

I've heard April Ryan is a very good character from Longest Journey and its sequel

Aya Brea, Parasite Eve

Edited October 17, 2014 by Tryhard

[Skynstein]

Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark series. She wears tight clothing but she's never sexualized in Perfect Dark for N64 (not sure about Zero). I quite like Joanna's arc in the game because she's a kickass spy and collaborates with men but never in a romantic sense, although it wouldn't matter if she did have romance with them either. It even passes the Bechdel test since the relevant women in the story (Joanna and Cassandra de Vries) exchange words about something other than men.

Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3. However you can unlock Princess Heart costume which could make her fail the test, but Heather herself is a strong lead and the costume is just a secret thing so it doesn't matter.

Chun Li doesn't count since you can clearly see her very shapely legs in SF2 so fails the "scantily-clad" part. Still, I wouldn't name any character from a fighting game because most are accessory to the main story only.

Kitana has always dressed small clothes ever since MK2.

[BrightBow]

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). ;/

Assuming that XIII is still the most recent KOF game, they still do that. Apparently it's limited to King and Yuri. And to add to the creepiness, the latter looks younger then ever because of her really weird body proportions.

Vanessa, King, Leona, Elizabeth, Yuri from KOF.

In King's case, I would like to add that not only can her clothes be destroyed, the first game she appeared in actually made a big deal out of it.

In the original Art of Fighting, King had two different CGs to accompany her defeat quote: The normal one of her has her looking rather annoyed over her defeat, appearing rather dignified despite her bruises... and the second one that occurs if you strip her by defeating her with a fireball, has her covering her breasts with teary eyes while lacking any of the tough expression and body language of the normal one.

Personally I would actually be willing to cut Sakura at least some slack since I think those flashes during combat maneuvers could be considered as a mere expression of her energetic personality more then anything.

Edited October 17, 2014 by BrightBow

[Snowy_One]

The reason the lines are 'blurry' is because there are a bunch of characters who don't exactly fit firmly into one side or the other. It's not like there is an exact definition for what 'scantily clad' is. 10% of the body covered? 15%? 20%? 95%? But I'm fairly sure a woman whose main form of combat involves stripper-style moves and clothing removal is over the line for the sake of this topic. Remember, I'm fully aware that there are positive female characters who fail some of the criteria, but that's just how it breaks.

[Shin]

Remember, I'm fully aware that there are positive female characters who fail some of the criteria, but that's just how it breaks.

Surely criteria which exclude examples you're looking for is kinda counter-productive. I mean, saying you're looking for positive female characters and then saying "but not THESE positive ones" is a bit weird.

[Xator Nova]

Iji, from the indie game Iji.

The Boss, from Metal Gear Solid 3.

Those are the two best examples I can think of.

[Aizenberg]

Jill Valentine

[Fruity Insanity]

Estelle is. . .odd, because. . .

She's chasing after her love interest

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.

[Snowy_One]

Surely criteria which exclude examples you're looking for is kinda counter-productive. I mean, saying you're looking for positive female characters and then saying "but not THESE positive ones" is a bit weird.

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'.

[Refa]

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'.

You only need one example to refute that claim.

[NinjaMonkey]

Claire Redfield, Sheva Alomar, Ada Wong (she is playable in Umbrella Chronicles/ The "Assignment Ada" portion of RE4), Mia Fey (it's a real shame that Franziska isn't playable).

[Irysa]

Nobody has said Lenneth Valkyrie?

Shame on you all. McGee's Alice and a few Atelier games come to mind as well.

I could list a bunch of otome games but that's cheating I guess.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Irysa

[Snowy_One]

Well, a lot of this is that I haven't gone through my game collection yet and am waiting for the right moment to do so. Once I do there will be a lot more, like Maya from Septerra Core.

[Elieson]

Does FF6!Celes not suffice?

Edited October 17, 2014 by Sara.

[Skynstein]

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'.

Who's claiming that? Game programming is male-dominated, but good female characters pop out every now and then.

In AAA titles, which are the ones which get more exposition no matter what you think, males dominate. Only recently did Assassin's Creed have a female protagonist, for example, and that was because people complained to Ubisoft about it. The series itself isn't sexist, but the lack of female playable characters might be annoying to some.