This is a continuation of my previous part found here.
So you beat the game and you found the endings unacceptable. You want to know what the fuck happened and don't wanna end with those pitiful excuses for endings. There are four more endings. The true endings for either characters. And two alternate secret endings. For example in Momohime's ending Kongiku was punished for helping Junkuro and turned back into a normal fox and Junkuro died and sacrificed himself to save Momohime. Then Momohime wakes up with no memory and lives with an elderly couple until Oni's come and attack and she fucked them over with her Oboro style. She goes "what is this scary power" and goes around searching for the answer with Kongiku who is a normal fox. The end. WHAT THE FUCK. For Kisuke's ending you randomly meet Momohime out of nowhere and kill Junkuro's spirit and saves her. Then Torahime is like do me one last favor before I die and makes Kisuke Momohime's servant because Kisuke is madly in love with Torahime. Then Momohime goes "Lets go around and collect all the Muramasas!" The end.
You're thinking "Ok maybe the super secret super ending is better!" Nope! Its in fact worse. Worse than you can possibly imagine. First of all to get the ending you must first, beat the game with both characters. Then you must beat the White Monster Lairs which are only available after you beat the game with both characters. In here you fight series of challenges. You are rewarded with secret swords. Then you must equip two very specific swords and go fight the last boss with your two characters. Here you will find your true ending. Then after beating both you must get to maximum level wear the best sword in the game and fight again for the alternate ending. You must be going this is a lot of work. MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.
How would you like a game where you have to grind over and over again to reach the maximum level just so you can have a real ending. Because the regular endings go "this is not the end..." and tease you while giving you no fucking conclusion. To level you go fight challenge bosses. Theres one boss who is the easiest boss in the game but gives 12x the exp of every single boss in the game combined. So what you do is endlessly fight this guy until you level. Kill, save repeat. Kill, save repeat. I have to ask. Why do you need to level up to equip a sword? What is the point. If I got it just let me use it. The problem is, even after equipping it, it does nothing to help. Everything in the game scales to your level. A shitty ass boss does 7k damage a hit. What in the fuck is that? I thought the boss is level 35. How the fuck he do 95% of my health in a single hit when I'm max level.
Then you have fucking retarded pointless random encounters. I never pointed this out before but I'll point it out now because of how tedious it became when I realized how much running around there are. For example, Momohime's final dungeon will take at least five minutes to walk from beginning to the end without anything in your way. With random encounters this goes up to like an hour. Not exactly but it sure feels like it. Every four steps you take you fight enemies. I got a item from a challenge boss which says "greatly reduces random encounters." That item is a lie. Instead of fighting every four steps, you fight every six steps. Hardly any help. I did not notice any fucking difference with or without the item. You cannot run from combat either and while shit scales with your level you can't blow through them all instantly and move on. You're forced to fight and fight and fight. Why bother when you're max level? Nothing. You already wasted an hour grinding the boss so you can wear your fucking sword now you have to waste another hour walking to the last boss again.
So there I am pissed as fucking hell reach the final boss again make sure I have the final sword equipped, fight the guy. Notice he's scaled to fucking hell, beat his face in easily and then wait for the alternate ending. ONLY TO FIND OUT ITS A PIECE OF SHIT. Instead of Junkuro being killed by Fudoo-Mudoo, Buddha's bodyguard, you managed to kill him with your sword. Now you go back in time. You're Junkuro in human form and you see Momohime and her fiancée running from the castle that should have killed her. Instead of killing her and taking over her body like you did before. You let her go and walk away. Then you go into the future where its Momohime getting married with her fiancee and its hinted that Junkuro has taken over his body and is marrying you instead but since you went back in time Momohime never knew about Junkuro. Then the ending goes "It is said Momohime given birth three times and lived to be over 100. You have reached the end of The Pandemonium of the Oboro Sword."
WHAT IN THE FUCKING SHIT. I fucking did all that and this was what I got? WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY THINK THIS WOULD SATISFY ANYONE. First of all. Junkuro is like 60 years old and Momohime is 12. Fucking her finacee is like 35 years old. The worst part is that if I want to see Kisuke's alternate ending which would probably be just as fucking shitty, I would have to do all this again. But why would I? I would rather fucking play HoN, LoL, and DotA at the same time with 4 feeders on my team in each game while playing Persona 3 and 4 on the TVs while blasting Friday by Rebecca Black on repeat and having my dick sawed off by a chainsaw while cutting my stomach open with a knife. That is less painful that fucking playing this game again.
DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME.
EVER.
Save yourself from the years of nightmare and torture you get from playing this game.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Muramasa: The Demon Blade Part 2 - More filler content than actual gameplay
This is a continuation of my previous one found here.
Now that I went back and finished Kisuke's route, the only thing I can say is what the fuck. At first I thought Kisuke's story would be related to Momohime's story but no. These two are completely irrelevant. They don't cross over except you see them in hot springs and say one word to each other. A lot of games do the finish the game with two or more characters to have the full story shit. I always hated those. You are already attached to your first character. Why do I have to beat the game again to see the full story? Why not have multiple paths and endings so we can discuss with others and see what we got differently? Instead we get one confusing half of a story with no ending and no fucking answers. Until you play the other half you're in the dark. When you play the other character you notice that he or she is a giant dipshit and you don't feel like playing it again.
For example something like Mana Khemia 2 where you have to pick between the slave guy or the country bumpkin. I started off with the slave and you are forced into school by this girl who is your master and she literally drags you around everywhere. You reluctantly do whatever she says because hey she owns your life. Basically the whole half of the game is how you hate Manas and how she has a crush on you but you are oblivious as all fuck. If you play the country bumpkin you are this dipshit chick who is a giant airhead and pisses you off every opportunity she gets. Her story is about raising a Mana egg. The stories cross over a lot as both of these teams are rivals at school and you often fight against or with each other. Their team often joins your party as a guest and you are often helping the other team in quests or stuff. Thats alright. I get the majority of the story and each team has their own individual storyline.
Something similar but a little different is Arc the Lad where you play the story of two brother separated at birth. You have to play both of them at the same time as the storyline switches between them from chapter to chapter. One goes from one side of the world the other goes from the other. They never meet and just barely miss each other. One person is fighting for the monsters one person is fighting for the humans and they all hate each other. Until finally at the climax you both meet for the first time and then find out whose behind all that shit and team up brother with brother and fuck them up. That game had a nice story and combat was fun as heck.
But I'm getting carried away from the main point. Muramasa is neither of those. Its two confusing halves of two confusing stories with no ending no climax no character development. Hell the fucking filler content is more than the actual gameplay. You spend more time walking to the next location than actual storyline or boss fights. I finished Kisuke's route in a little over three hours. THREE FUCKING HOURS. And funny part is, over 75% of the game was walking from one side of the world to the other. The storyline is pathetically short. You must be asking, how do you develop characters in an RPG in three hours? The answer is you don't.
I liked Momohime's route a lot more than Kisuke's mainly because Momohime is always travelling with Junkuro who taken over her body and using it to kill gods and demons. Then theres the foxgirl Kongiku the servant of Junkuro and her fox friends who faithfully does everything Junkuro says. Basically her story is Junkuro is out to find the evil sword to gain unlimited power and fuck the world. You actually get travel companions with you and actual dialogue. Kisuke's route is you are this dipshit ninja who lost his memory. How cliche. You're this loner who travels around trying to find your memory and beating up the wrong people like a retard because you're being tricked. Following you is the foxgirl Yuzuruha who tells you that her master sent her over to help you by giving you swords to collect souls of the slain and forge demon blades. Yuzuruha is way better than Kongiku. First of all Yuzuruha doesn't talk like a dumbass, have breasts exploding out her clothes, and doesn't refer to you as master. She does do the little spin-around thing while holding her paper umbrella which is a little distracting but its forgivable. She doesn't really help you or do anything to aid you really. Shes hardly even in the story and only appears to say something then disappear. Kisuke is always and forever alone.
Kisuke's story is mainly about Torahime, Momohime's elder sister who died and was resurrected for 49 days. In those 49 days she's looking for revenge for the death of her entire family and clan. What I found retarded is Torahime is related to Momohime and Kisuke is related to Junkuro yet neither of their stories overlap at all. You would think its perfect to come together eventually but no. Its just two stories doing their own shit. The worst part is it still gives you half a story. So in total you get a quarter of the game in each route. Fuck this game.
One thing I have to point out is this game lets you forge a ton of swords. These names are all impossible to remember you just have to look at the stats. Each sword has a different secret art, basically skills unique to that sword. They also have a special stat such as +1 strength, +10% more damage to all swords, 50% fire resistance. Then theres the attack power of the sword itself. As cool as that sound, most swords you get and use for less than five minutes before you toss them for a better one. You might consider keeping one for their stats or secret art but no you rarely ever need to use them. Normal random mobs are too easy to need it. You might use it once or twice to wipe them out fast but your normal hits can kill them just as fast. For bosses you don't use the secret arts because you need to keep your sword power to block attacks. You can carry three swords with you at a time and you can switch at anytime during combat. Each sword has its individual health bar which is drained by blocking or from using their secret arts. Once a sword breaks your damage is neutered and you cannot block. When you sheathe a sword, it will slowly recover their health. A broken sword needs to wait until it gets full health before its fixed. Therefor the only reason you get a sword is for their attack power. Then you slash the boss until it breaks and switch to another.
Another thing is cooking. I pointed out how slow and tedious it is to make food. But there are actually two types of food. One type of food is shit that you can carry like rice balls you can make out of a pot and then gently knead it in your hands, baked potato by cooking yams under leaves, and grilled squid by sticking a fucking squid into the fire. These take forever to make but are cheap easy healing when needed. You can carry them with you into battle. The other type are hotpots. You cook them but you have to eat them right away. These are pure shit. You cannot cook in combat so the only reason to use them is if you are low on health from random mobs and you wanna heal up. They are also expensive a shit to make so you're better off eating a squid or something. However unlike the other type of food, hotpots always gives buffs. These buffs only last like 30 seconds so if you use it then fight a boss it wears off by the time it actually starts. Using it to clear random mobs are pointless because how easy they are. So what are the use of these? Nothing. Just for the food porn where you watch it get eaten away bite by tiny bite and comments on how good it taste. Fuck just go to a restaurant instead. At least you get to taste it.
Most good games you don't want the story to end yet, while shitty games you can't wait for it to actually end. For this game I'm torn between the two. I want the game to end but since theres no story or real ending I want it to keep going so it can actually give me something. I think even Blade Kitten has more story and depth to the game than this. You should just think of this game as a side scrolling action platformer than an RPG. The combat is fun. Yes its easy but its fun. Some people may find it a bit difficult but I was around 9-18 levels below the recommended levels the entire game and I managed to beat it fine. I was like level 23 by the time I finished the game on Kisuke's route. I couldn't even use half the swords I got from bosses because I was so underleveled. Funny thing is this is supposed to be the "hard mode." The real hard mode is unlocked by beating a game on either character.
There was some confusion from what I said before. When you start a new save, you automatically have two saves on your one save. One is Momohime's one is Kisuke's. By selecting your save you are able to pick between the two. The time spent and swords collected in either save gets totalled into your main save. If you wish to play the hardest mode you must start over after you beaten either Momohime or Kisuke. That is complete bullshit. Why fucking tease us with a mode we will never play. Should just enable it so on your second playthrough you can feel challenged. And after beating the game on both characters you can finally unlock the blocked monster lairs. All fucking three of them. In there you fight the same bosses as you fought in the main game but this time you fight more than one at a time! Gasp! Fucking too lazy to make real content and have to resort to repeating content into filler content. This game is pathetic and I take back anything good I said about it in part one of my review.
One last thing about this game before I'm done. When you play this game you'll learn that all Japanese women can't or refuse to fight and will whine at every opportunity they get. Seriously when you first meet Torahime you tell her that a woman wearing armor and going off into battle is stupid and should stay home. Then you kick her ass. Momohime cannot fight and will whine at every opportunity. In Momohime's route you fight a thunder god which you would think would be powerful as fuck but no. You just smack her then she falls down from the sky and reveals her ass and you have to spank her while she moans for maximum damage. Then she loses and the other lightning god is like stop being stupid or I'll stop liking you and she's all like what thats mean waaaah whineee whineeee. Fucking horrible portrayal of women in this game. Then again this is Vanillaware, known for their extreme sexism.
Now that I went back and finished Kisuke's route, the only thing I can say is what the fuck. At first I thought Kisuke's story would be related to Momohime's story but no. These two are completely irrelevant. They don't cross over except you see them in hot springs and say one word to each other. A lot of games do the finish the game with two or more characters to have the full story shit. I always hated those. You are already attached to your first character. Why do I have to beat the game again to see the full story? Why not have multiple paths and endings so we can discuss with others and see what we got differently? Instead we get one confusing half of a story with no ending and no fucking answers. Until you play the other half you're in the dark. When you play the other character you notice that he or she is a giant dipshit and you don't feel like playing it again.
For example something like Mana Khemia 2 where you have to pick between the slave guy or the country bumpkin. I started off with the slave and you are forced into school by this girl who is your master and she literally drags you around everywhere. You reluctantly do whatever she says because hey she owns your life. Basically the whole half of the game is how you hate Manas and how she has a crush on you but you are oblivious as all fuck. If you play the country bumpkin you are this dipshit chick who is a giant airhead and pisses you off every opportunity she gets. Her story is about raising a Mana egg. The stories cross over a lot as both of these teams are rivals at school and you often fight against or with each other. Their team often joins your party as a guest and you are often helping the other team in quests or stuff. Thats alright. I get the majority of the story and each team has their own individual storyline.
Something similar but a little different is Arc the Lad where you play the story of two brother separated at birth. You have to play both of them at the same time as the storyline switches between them from chapter to chapter. One goes from one side of the world the other goes from the other. They never meet and just barely miss each other. One person is fighting for the monsters one person is fighting for the humans and they all hate each other. Until finally at the climax you both meet for the first time and then find out whose behind all that shit and team up brother with brother and fuck them up. That game had a nice story and combat was fun as heck.
But I'm getting carried away from the main point. Muramasa is neither of those. Its two confusing halves of two confusing stories with no ending no climax no character development. Hell the fucking filler content is more than the actual gameplay. You spend more time walking to the next location than actual storyline or boss fights. I finished Kisuke's route in a little over three hours. THREE FUCKING HOURS. And funny part is, over 75% of the game was walking from one side of the world to the other. The storyline is pathetically short. You must be asking, how do you develop characters in an RPG in three hours? The answer is you don't.
I liked Momohime's route a lot more than Kisuke's mainly because Momohime is always travelling with Junkuro who taken over her body and using it to kill gods and demons. Then theres the foxgirl Kongiku the servant of Junkuro and her fox friends who faithfully does everything Junkuro says. Basically her story is Junkuro is out to find the evil sword to gain unlimited power and fuck the world. You actually get travel companions with you and actual dialogue. Kisuke's route is you are this dipshit ninja who lost his memory. How cliche. You're this loner who travels around trying to find your memory and beating up the wrong people like a retard because you're being tricked. Following you is the foxgirl Yuzuruha who tells you that her master sent her over to help you by giving you swords to collect souls of the slain and forge demon blades. Yuzuruha is way better than Kongiku. First of all Yuzuruha doesn't talk like a dumbass, have breasts exploding out her clothes, and doesn't refer to you as master. She does do the little spin-around thing while holding her paper umbrella which is a little distracting but its forgivable. She doesn't really help you or do anything to aid you really. Shes hardly even in the story and only appears to say something then disappear. Kisuke is always and forever alone.
Kisuke's story is mainly about Torahime, Momohime's elder sister who died and was resurrected for 49 days. In those 49 days she's looking for revenge for the death of her entire family and clan. What I found retarded is Torahime is related to Momohime and Kisuke is related to Junkuro yet neither of their stories overlap at all. You would think its perfect to come together eventually but no. Its just two stories doing their own shit. The worst part is it still gives you half a story. So in total you get a quarter of the game in each route. Fuck this game.
One thing I have to point out is this game lets you forge a ton of swords. These names are all impossible to remember you just have to look at the stats. Each sword has a different secret art, basically skills unique to that sword. They also have a special stat such as +1 strength, +10% more damage to all swords, 50% fire resistance. Then theres the attack power of the sword itself. As cool as that sound, most swords you get and use for less than five minutes before you toss them for a better one. You might consider keeping one for their stats or secret art but no you rarely ever need to use them. Normal random mobs are too easy to need it. You might use it once or twice to wipe them out fast but your normal hits can kill them just as fast. For bosses you don't use the secret arts because you need to keep your sword power to block attacks. You can carry three swords with you at a time and you can switch at anytime during combat. Each sword has its individual health bar which is drained by blocking or from using their secret arts. Once a sword breaks your damage is neutered and you cannot block. When you sheathe a sword, it will slowly recover their health. A broken sword needs to wait until it gets full health before its fixed. Therefor the only reason you get a sword is for their attack power. Then you slash the boss until it breaks and switch to another.
Another thing is cooking. I pointed out how slow and tedious it is to make food. But there are actually two types of food. One type of food is shit that you can carry like rice balls you can make out of a pot and then gently knead it in your hands, baked potato by cooking yams under leaves, and grilled squid by sticking a fucking squid into the fire. These take forever to make but are cheap easy healing when needed. You can carry them with you into battle. The other type are hotpots. You cook them but you have to eat them right away. These are pure shit. You cannot cook in combat so the only reason to use them is if you are low on health from random mobs and you wanna heal up. They are also expensive a shit to make so you're better off eating a squid or something. However unlike the other type of food, hotpots always gives buffs. These buffs only last like 30 seconds so if you use it then fight a boss it wears off by the time it actually starts. Using it to clear random mobs are pointless because how easy they are. So what are the use of these? Nothing. Just for the food porn where you watch it get eaten away bite by tiny bite and comments on how good it taste. Fuck just go to a restaurant instead. At least you get to taste it.
Most good games you don't want the story to end yet, while shitty games you can't wait for it to actually end. For this game I'm torn between the two. I want the game to end but since theres no story or real ending I want it to keep going so it can actually give me something. I think even Blade Kitten has more story and depth to the game than this. You should just think of this game as a side scrolling action platformer than an RPG. The combat is fun. Yes its easy but its fun. Some people may find it a bit difficult but I was around 9-18 levels below the recommended levels the entire game and I managed to beat it fine. I was like level 23 by the time I finished the game on Kisuke's route. I couldn't even use half the swords I got from bosses because I was so underleveled. Funny thing is this is supposed to be the "hard mode." The real hard mode is unlocked by beating a game on either character.
There was some confusion from what I said before. When you start a new save, you automatically have two saves on your one save. One is Momohime's one is Kisuke's. By selecting your save you are able to pick between the two. The time spent and swords collected in either save gets totalled into your main save. If you wish to play the hardest mode you must start over after you beaten either Momohime or Kisuke. That is complete bullshit. Why fucking tease us with a mode we will never play. Should just enable it so on your second playthrough you can feel challenged. And after beating the game on both characters you can finally unlock the blocked monster lairs. All fucking three of them. In there you fight the same bosses as you fought in the main game but this time you fight more than one at a time! Gasp! Fucking too lazy to make real content and have to resort to repeating content into filler content. This game is pathetic and I take back anything good I said about it in part one of my review.
One last thing about this game before I'm done. When you play this game you'll learn that all Japanese women can't or refuse to fight and will whine at every opportunity they get. Seriously when you first meet Torahime you tell her that a woman wearing armor and going off into battle is stupid and should stay home. Then you kick her ass. Momohime cannot fight and will whine at every opportunity. In Momohime's route you fight a thunder god which you would think would be powerful as fuck but no. You just smack her then she falls down from the sky and reveals her ass and you have to spank her while she moans for maximum damage. Then she loses and the other lightning god is like stop being stupid or I'll stop liking you and she's all like what thats mean waaaah whineee whineeee. Fucking horrible portrayal of women in this game. Then again this is Vanillaware, known for their extreme sexism.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Gender Inequality - Character Gender Roles
Video games have always been male dominated as I have already said before in another post. Its pretty chauvinistic but its nothing like the pure shit that is anime. Its the most misogynistic shit ever and anyone should be ashamed for watching it. But moving on from that video games seems to be doing better and better. Maybe more women started picking up games or maybe more women are developing games. There are always talk about how badly women are portrayed in video games yet no one really knows what makes a strong character. Not even the developers that made the character.
Men in video games have more variations. You have the hyper masculine tough guy like Duke Nukem and any other action game. You have the suave smart guy in like L.A. Noire, fat bald angry guy NPCs, feminine wimpy main males in JRPGs, and even homosexual guys like in Shadow Hearts. Theres a huge variation from main characters to NPCs. There are a lot more that I haven't said but then we get to women in video games. They all have one thing in common. They are always attractive first, then you add whatever else next. This holds true in all forms of media too. Watch a movie, watch the TV, look at a magazine. Anything. Just like how minorities aren't properly portrayed, women aren't properly portrayed either. You don't see many minorities in video games. Whens the last time you saw an Asian in a video game outside an Asian themed game that wasn't a martial artist or old wise man? What about a Hispanic that wasn't a gang banger? Like women, when is the last time you saw a non attractive women in a video game outside of background characters?
Women are used for sex appeal for the gamer. You see chain mail bikinis on women who somehow magically have more defense than a man wearing a full plate armor. Yet somehow those swords that stab her exposed flesh are magically deflected. Impractical? Fuck that show more cleavage. Zoom in on that ass. Put on some bondage gear. I already said a lot about this before. There is no need to go into more detail. Sure you get the occasional shirtless male with ripped abs but those are uncommon because they don't want the player base to start feeling insecure about their sexuality.
Men are usually the main characters and women are usually forced into the supportive role in games. Sometimes women are the main characters and men are the support but a lot of developers say they don't like to make games with a female main character because their fans complain about having to play a girl. But that is mostly because anything meant to appeal to both genders are male. A girl can be a tomboy an be socially accepted but as soon as a parent finds out their son is doing or watching anything girly they automatically assume he caught the gay and will put an end to it right away. Society says men have to be manly. And because of that, we have mostly male leads in video games. And since the lead is a male, the support roles are shoved onto females. Then you have the love interest role and the damsel in distress role.
A few games let you play as either gender. For example in Mass Effect you are able to choose a male or female Commander Shepard. People argue that the female Shepard is nothing more than a chick with a dick and shouldn't even be considered in any discussion about characters. Why? I thought feminism was all about equality. If both the male and female versions are doing exactly 100% the same thing minus the romance whats wrong with it really? But Mass Effect also has the worst portrayal of women in gaming. The Asari, an all female race of prostitutes and sluts. Then theres Jack a crazy psycho angry bitch you have to cure her broken life with your penis. Miranda who is the genetically engineered superhuman perfect sex doll who you cure her of her insecurities with your penis. And Tali the naive waif who you cure her of her shyness with your penis. Then Kelly your secretary who you can sexually harass and then molest with your penis. Basically everything else was badly done in the game.
Then there are the "great female characters" like Alyx Vance from Half Life 2 that men claim to be the best. However almost all women agree she is terrible. I have never played that game so I cannot comment but most agree that shes completely dependent on the main character and she just magically falls in love with him without any development. She also becomes a damsel in distress. Just because its a supportive character doesn't mean that she is automatically bad. Just because she plays the role of a damsel in distress doesn't mean shes bad. They don't need to be non feminine to be a good character either. What they need is character depth.
As long as they don't go into this.
Lets take a look at Aveline from Dragon Age 2. Yes I know the game is a piece of shit but she isn't. She is probably one of the most likable female characters in video games. She is well developed, she is a strong female character. She has her own life, her husband died early in the game but that doesn't stop her. She does what she feels is right and isn't afraid to voice her opinions and do what she sets out to do. Eventually she becomes the captain of the guard. She watches over you like a guardian would but at the same time she isn't without flaw. She has a crush on a subordinate but doesn't have the courage to do it even though she is strong when it comes to anything but love. It becomes downright embarrassing yet a little cute at the same time. Eventually she overcomes that hurdle and captures her love. I also like to point out she cannot be romanced by the main character. People go "oh shes ugly she looks manly she doesn't show any cleavage blah blah blah." So what? Do they have to be attractive to be female? Because of that she is overlooked a lot.
Just because it is a damsel in distress or even a supportive character, it doesn't mean they should be devoid of any personality or development. A lot of JRPG's do this. You get weak girls as casters and the males are hotheaded fighters. Most characters are one dimensional and are basically defined by one particular trait. Persona 4 I thought did a good job on the main characters. Yes the game was terrible like Dragon Age 2 but the main characters grow, they have their own lives they do their own shit. They have their own goals and own opinions. Which I thought was quite progressive for a JRPG. But outside the main characters its just horrible.
Games like Skyrim have both men and women in all roles. Gender does not stop you from doing anything. There are Jarls that are women. They can lead, they don't whine in their keeps waiting for a man to do their job. Despite what feminist may or may not agree, you don't have to be ugly, you don't have to be doing a usually male dominated role, and you don't have to be devoid of any sexual attraction to the main character to be a strong female character. One example is Fall-From-Grace from Planescape Torment. She's a succubus, and right away alarm bells go off your head. But she isn't.as bad as you would think. She's a chaste succubus who owns a brothel for intellectual lust over physical lust. She has a dairy that she always holds which you cannot read or get rid of.
There are motherly female characters to female characters who relies on the male lead. That is fine. She can be a prostitute, a mother, a warrior, an independent woman anything you want and still be a strong character. It's not that she has to fulfill these roles to be a good character, it's that she is a good character who doesn't sacrifice these roles in order to appear interesting. It bolsters her character, not defines it. Roles don't make a difference in character. Hell Bayonetta is like the epitome of everything wrong in a video character and she's a strong character. Sure I find her annoying as shit and over the top but I won't deny that she is a strong character.
So why all the fuss about strong female characters in video games? There are tons of weak male characters right? Yes but there are also a ton of strong male characters. Strong female characters are a rare breed and when people see it they notice it. And when its lacking people don't bat an eyelash.
Men in video games have more variations. You have the hyper masculine tough guy like Duke Nukem and any other action game. You have the suave smart guy in like L.A. Noire, fat bald angry guy NPCs, feminine wimpy main males in JRPGs, and even homosexual guys like in Shadow Hearts. Theres a huge variation from main characters to NPCs. There are a lot more that I haven't said but then we get to women in video games. They all have one thing in common. They are always attractive first, then you add whatever else next. This holds true in all forms of media too. Watch a movie, watch the TV, look at a magazine. Anything. Just like how minorities aren't properly portrayed, women aren't properly portrayed either. You don't see many minorities in video games. Whens the last time you saw an Asian in a video game outside an Asian themed game that wasn't a martial artist or old wise man? What about a Hispanic that wasn't a gang banger? Like women, when is the last time you saw a non attractive women in a video game outside of background characters?
Women are used for sex appeal for the gamer. You see chain mail bikinis on women who somehow magically have more defense than a man wearing a full plate armor. Yet somehow those swords that stab her exposed flesh are magically deflected. Impractical? Fuck that show more cleavage. Zoom in on that ass. Put on some bondage gear. I already said a lot about this before. There is no need to go into more detail. Sure you get the occasional shirtless male with ripped abs but those are uncommon because they don't want the player base to start feeling insecure about their sexuality.
Men are usually the main characters and women are usually forced into the supportive role in games. Sometimes women are the main characters and men are the support but a lot of developers say they don't like to make games with a female main character because their fans complain about having to play a girl. But that is mostly because anything meant to appeal to both genders are male. A girl can be a tomboy an be socially accepted but as soon as a parent finds out their son is doing or watching anything girly they automatically assume he caught the gay and will put an end to it right away. Society says men have to be manly. And because of that, we have mostly male leads in video games. And since the lead is a male, the support roles are shoved onto females. Then you have the love interest role and the damsel in distress role.
A few games let you play as either gender. For example in Mass Effect you are able to choose a male or female Commander Shepard. People argue that the female Shepard is nothing more than a chick with a dick and shouldn't even be considered in any discussion about characters. Why? I thought feminism was all about equality. If both the male and female versions are doing exactly 100% the same thing minus the romance whats wrong with it really? But Mass Effect also has the worst portrayal of women in gaming. The Asari, an all female race of prostitutes and sluts. Then theres Jack a crazy psycho angry bitch you have to cure her broken life with your penis. Miranda who is the genetically engineered superhuman perfect sex doll who you cure her of her insecurities with your penis. And Tali the naive waif who you cure her of her shyness with your penis. Then Kelly your secretary who you can sexually harass and then molest with your penis. Basically everything else was badly done in the game.
Then there are the "great female characters" like Alyx Vance from Half Life 2 that men claim to be the best. However almost all women agree she is terrible. I have never played that game so I cannot comment but most agree that shes completely dependent on the main character and she just magically falls in love with him without any development. She also becomes a damsel in distress. Just because its a supportive character doesn't mean that she is automatically bad. Just because she plays the role of a damsel in distress doesn't mean shes bad. They don't need to be non feminine to be a good character either. What they need is character depth.
As long as they don't go into this.
Lets take a look at Aveline from Dragon Age 2. Yes I know the game is a piece of shit but she isn't. She is probably one of the most likable female characters in video games. She is well developed, she is a strong female character. She has her own life, her husband died early in the game but that doesn't stop her. She does what she feels is right and isn't afraid to voice her opinions and do what she sets out to do. Eventually she becomes the captain of the guard. She watches over you like a guardian would but at the same time she isn't without flaw. She has a crush on a subordinate but doesn't have the courage to do it even though she is strong when it comes to anything but love. It becomes downright embarrassing yet a little cute at the same time. Eventually she overcomes that hurdle and captures her love. I also like to point out she cannot be romanced by the main character. People go "oh shes ugly she looks manly she doesn't show any cleavage blah blah blah." So what? Do they have to be attractive to be female? Because of that she is overlooked a lot.
Just because it is a damsel in distress or even a supportive character, it doesn't mean they should be devoid of any personality or development. A lot of JRPG's do this. You get weak girls as casters and the males are hotheaded fighters. Most characters are one dimensional and are basically defined by one particular trait. Persona 4 I thought did a good job on the main characters. Yes the game was terrible like Dragon Age 2 but the main characters grow, they have their own lives they do their own shit. They have their own goals and own opinions. Which I thought was quite progressive for a JRPG. But outside the main characters its just horrible.
Games like Skyrim have both men and women in all roles. Gender does not stop you from doing anything. There are Jarls that are women. They can lead, they don't whine in their keeps waiting for a man to do their job. Despite what feminist may or may not agree, you don't have to be ugly, you don't have to be doing a usually male dominated role, and you don't have to be devoid of any sexual attraction to the main character to be a strong female character. One example is Fall-From-Grace from Planescape Torment. She's a succubus, and right away alarm bells go off your head. But she isn't.as bad as you would think. She's a chaste succubus who owns a brothel for intellectual lust over physical lust. She has a dairy that she always holds which you cannot read or get rid of.
There are motherly female characters to female characters who relies on the male lead. That is fine. She can be a prostitute, a mother, a warrior, an independent woman anything you want and still be a strong character. It's not that she has to fulfill these roles to be a good character, it's that she is a good character who doesn't sacrifice these roles in order to appear interesting. It bolsters her character, not defines it. Roles don't make a difference in character. Hell Bayonetta is like the epitome of everything wrong in a video character and she's a strong character. Sure I find her annoying as shit and over the top but I won't deny that she is a strong character.
So why all the fuss about strong female characters in video games? There are tons of weak male characters right? Yes but there are also a ton of strong male characters. Strong female characters are a rare breed and when people see it they notice it. And when its lacking people don't bat an eyelash.
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