Wanted: Leading Ladies

by Temple Priestess

Out of seven Final Fantasy games, the lead character has never been of the female persuasion.* Although Final Fantasy VI did come the closest, the game had more of a multi-character lead than one defined lead. As a female gamer, I think it is unfair that not even one game had a female lead character. The "main" female character is usually someone who is either a love interest to the male lead and/or has to be rescued (think Aerith, Rinoa, Garnet, Yuna). Wouldn't it be a nice change of pace to have the princess rescue the prince, so to speak?

I understand that the largest demographic for video games is the male audience and that game companies are inclined to market their games to the largest number of potential buyers. Therefore, companies like Square (now Square-Enix) often use a male lead (which their intended audience can identify with) or have female characters with massive chest sizes and skimpy clothing. This is not the case in every game, but it does happen far too often for my liking.

There are several games series that feature a female lead in one or all of the titles, such as Resident Evil and Parasite Eve. It is interesting that a long running series like Final Fantasy would not consider having a female lead in at least one of their games. It is my personal experience that a large number of female players do play the Final Fantasy series. I do not feel the series would be harmed by having such a change.

Before continuing, I must address Final Fantasy X-2, since that does feature lead female characters. It is my opinion that FF X-2 does not count as a game that has "serious" female leads. It falls more into the category of the scantily clad eye candy female characters and therefore I am not considering it in this editorial.

Perhaps it is a breaking of the mold that will add new life into old RPG cliches--male lead rescues female lead time and again and the two fall in love. I'm not saying that there can't be romance or daring rescues, but think of how things might be different if roles were reversed. What would Final Fantasy VIII have been like if you had played as Rinoa? How would your perspective change if Yuna was the character you controlled in Final Fantasy X?

It is my belief that Final Fantasy needs to produce a game in the future with a serious female lead, not only so the female audience can finally identify more with the lead, but also to breathe new life into the series. If female characters remain in the background or are resigned to damsel in distress roles, the series will one day become stale and boring.

*I am not counting Final Fantasy 1-3, as there was no clearly defined lead character