I think there isn't enough female game characters that are actually the main character. Sure, all FF games have female characters, but (I 'm probably wrong on this) only FF6 had the female character as the lead. I didn't actually play FF6 (I will do one day - I played and completed the 2 FF games before and after it: 5 and 7), I only saw someone else play and it looked like the woman was the main character.

I want to see games where you can customize your main character so you can make him/her a boy/girl. ( Or at the very least give the choice of male or female like the 2 GBA Pokemon games did).

It seems that games with the female game characters are basing their games on that fact. It's like they come up with the idea to use a female character, and then they build the game around her. With male characters, it seems like they don't think twice about using him.

I think only online games have that ability to customize that much. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas will have a completely open, customizable, true-to-life character that can get fat, or go bald, or look rich, etc etc. But cant go female.

Games like Secret Of Mana 2, you can select from 6 (i think) completely unique and different characters, from a short little cleric girl, to a man who can change into a wolf at night, etc. Personally, I picked the Amazoness who wields a spear, or the witch.

Bloodrayne is a main character.
Lucia is a selectable character in Devil May Cry 2.

But sometimes, its okay when the female isn't the lead- like in Final Fantasy something, a flower girl gets stabbed by the villain and dies. And it's sorta sad. I saw it coming, but sorta sad, still.
In another Final Fantasy, 2 little twins, boy and girl, wizards, save the party from being crushed in a room by turning themselves to stone to stop the moving walls. The girl had to initiate the spell, the boy was sort of reluctant.
The girl was reasonable and nice, she was the healer- and the boy is sorta a prankster and obnoxious, and he was the attacking mage.

I just like female characters if they arent skimpy or just filler characters. I like them if they have a purpose to be there.

__________________

I was just reminded of one of the original female characters who is well dressed and intelligent.

The White Mage, Final Fantasy I.

FF-3/6 had both Celes and Terra, both of whom were central characters. I haven't played 7, 8, or 9 so I can't comment there.

FF-X had Yuna. Who along with Titus was very much a "lead actor" in the game.

FF-X-2, for all of its "girl power" issues, has three female lead characters: Paine, Yuna, and Rikku.

__________________
"'Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. " -- R. A. Heinlein

Oh yeah, how could I forget. x.x Yuna, Paine, and Rikku, they stick with you thru the entire game as your lead characters.

Terra is the girl in 6.

Silent Hill 3's Heather
Clocktower 3's Alyssa
Fatal Frame 1's main character girl
Fatal Frame 2's twin sisters: Mio and Mayu
Grandia 2's sub-main character Elena
Resident Evil's Claire Redfield
Siren lets you cycle thru a bunch of characters, some female
Resident Evil Outbreak has many female character leads
Viewtiful Joe 2 will have Joe's girlfriend be a playable lead, I think

Those're some I can think of balanced female roles. Claire redfield can be sort of independant, though. But she has been saved a few times, and depend son her brother a lot.

__________________

Final Fantasy series:
Yuna
Rikku
Paine
Lulu
Rinoa
Garnet
Tifa
Silent Hill:
Heather
Maria
Resident Evil:
Claire
Jill
Alexia
Tomb Rider:
Lara Croft ( that's for sure! XD)

__________________

http://www.myspace.com/mistaken_identity88

In Resident Evil: Code Veronica (best RE game ever), there was only a female lead character, and she was independent and all that stuff.

Viewtiful Joe 2? hey, even if it does have a playable girl character, the game is still about someone viewtiful called Joe..

Primal had a female lead.
And also, the game Dark Chronicle has a female character, she's not exactly the MAIN character, but she's only 15 years old, and is the warrior, empowered type with sword, etc.

__________________

Timesplitters 2 has a female role/lead somewhere in it, I think. I dont think personalities really develop in that game, though...

__________________

I commented earlier, but I just now had time to read/skim the entire thread. Some things I wanna reply to: Lara Croft's breasts have NOT gotten any bigger Graphics have simply improved. Look:

Early screenshot, I think either TR1 or TR2

Newest game, Angel of Darkness, screenshot

^So, as you can see, her breasts only look bigger because they look rounder due to the increased number of pixels!

As for regular art, look:

Tomb Raider 1 game cover

Angel of Darkness

I don't see much of a difference, but Lara does look more realistic.

As for anime... yes, there are some animes and mangas and no doubt, hentai, that have the stereotypes. But don't stereotype all anime and manga that way, because it's just not true. :\ There are lots of women like Rumiko Takahashi who have written/drawn numerous mangas and they're not stereotypical.

I like female video game characters more than male ones sometimes, because in some games they are stronger and have better storylines. (Bloodrayne, my favorite.)

__________________
.
April 24th 2007...