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Gender in Video Games

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    MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Sonos wrote: »
    for the record I always pick the chick when it tries to imply you shouldn't.

    When given the choice between a male and female avatar, I pick the female in order to maximize the amount of time I watch female ass running around on my tv screen.

    Metalbourne on
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    The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2007
    Sonos wrote: »
    for the record I always pick the chick when it tries to imply you shouldn't.

    When given the choice between a male and female avatar, I pick the female in order to maximize the amount of time I watch female ass running around on my tv screen.

    I know so many blokes who do this. cracks me up. Certainly can't argue with the logic :P

    The Cat on
    tmsig.jpg
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    Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The Cat wrote: »
    Sonos wrote: »
    for the record I always pick the chick when it tries to imply you shouldn't.

    When given the choice between a male and female avatar, I pick the female in order to maximize the amount of time I watch female ass running around on my tv screen.

    I know so many blokes who do this. cracks me up. Certainly can't argue with the logic :P

    True gender equality only comes when both men and women get to enjoy fine computer generated female ass.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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    CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The Touhou series is the greatest series of shumps I have ever ever played. The characters are all girls, but the characters also all pretty much evil.



    Demo of Touhou 11: Mountain of Faith

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
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    DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The Cat wrote: »
    Sonos wrote: »
    for the record I always pick the chick when it tries to imply you shouldn't.

    When given the choice between a male and female avatar, I pick the female in order to maximize the amount of time I watch female ass running around on my tv screen.

    I know so many blokes who do this. cracks me up. Certainly can't argue with the logic :P

    True gender equality only comes when both men and women get to enjoy fine computer generated female ass.

    I could post a link, but then I'd get banned.

    DarkPrimus on
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    Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Giant-robots are the almighty equalizers.

    Until you note that in most anime the female pilots' mechs have pointless robo-breasts or are painted pink.

    What about the ones where robo-breasts are also missiles and therefore not pointless?

    Though seriously, there's a difference between super robot anime, especially 80's and older stuff, and mecha anime that uses more realistic machines. For one thing, some of the guys pilot pink mecha and manage to kick ass in them. The rule that red mecha have to be really strong apparently spills over into mecha that's pretty close to red.

    And there's often a female pilot that's meaner and angrier than any of the guys.

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    Heh. Most of my custom characters in Soul Calibur 3 are girls. Whatever man, girls kicking ass are hot. And their ass doesn't have to be hanging out for that to be the case.

    Is it wrong that I find killing-skills attractive?

    ViolentChemistry on
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    Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Heh. Most of my custom characters in Soul Calibur 3 are girls. Whatever man, girls kicking ass are hot. And their ass doesn't have to be hanging out for that to be the case.

    Is it wrong that I find killing-skills attractive?

    Naw. I bet a good portion of the male population feels the same way. I know I lean in that direction.

    Whenever someone brings up SC3, I get angry that it never made it to a another system. The one PS2 game that no one would mind a quickie port to another system, yet it still hasn't happend.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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    yalborapyalborap Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Heh. Most of my custom characters in Soul Calibur 3 are girls. Whatever man, girls kicking ass are hot. And their ass doesn't have to be hanging out for that to be the case.

    Is it wrong that I find killing-skills attractive?

    If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.

    yalborap on
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    DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited May 2007
    Heh. Most of my custom characters in Soul Calibur 3 are girls. Whatever man, girls kicking ass are hot. And their ass doesn't have to be hanging out for that to be the case.

    Is it wrong that I find killing-skills attractive?

    Rambo?

    Unknown User on
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    Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Heh. Most of my custom characters in Soul Calibur 3 are girls. Whatever man, girls kicking ass are hot. And their ass doesn't have to be hanging out for that to be the case.

    Is it wrong that I find killing-skills attractive?

    You know how when a guy asks for advice on how to approach girls, people will say that girls like confidence? So do a lot of guys and being willing to risk being maimed to beat down something is a good sign of confidence.

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    Giant-robots are the almighty equalizers.

    Until you note that in most anime the female pilots' mechs have pointless robo-breasts or are painted pink.

    What about the ones where robo-breasts are also missiles and therefore not pointless?

    Though seriously, there's a difference between super robot anime, especially 80's and older stuff, and mecha anime that uses more realistic machines. For one thing, some of the guys pilot pink mecha and manage to kick ass in them. The rule that red mecha have to be really strong apparently spills over into mecha that's pretty close to red.

    And there's often a female pilot that's meaner and angrier than any of the guys.

    I only ever saw one good-guy character drinking throughout the whole of Full Metal Panic.
    melissa3yl9.jpg

    And her mech doesn't have tits, it instead pays homage to Char. Wasn't she supposed to be an ex-U.S. Marine?

    ViolentChemistry on
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    SurikoSuriko AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Yup, she was. I'm somewhat ashamed I had to double-check it though, considering she's one of the best characters I've seen in anime.

    :^:

    Suriko on
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    Professor SnugglesworthProfessor Snugglesworth Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The medium actually shows a huge amount of variation in how genders are portrayed. Alyx from Half Life 2 was pretty good, not a lot of games you find female genius engineers. Super Princess Peach is totally fucking worth a mention for deliberately and completely inverting the usual conventions of Mario/Princess interaction. In most Final Fantasy games (excepting X and X-2), in contrast, the only major plot-related role held by women is "hero's love-interest". Like, that's all Tifa and Aeris do in FF7, for example, while Yuffie just ends up not being important to the overall plot (missable character).

    I'll have to disagree, and I'd like to offer my own thoughts about the subject. I'll focus on Tifa, since I tend to favor the character more than Aerith.

    As far as female RPG characters go, Tifa is quite interesting (and might be worth devoting the bulk of your paper to). If you look at her in the beginning in the game, or just by official artwork, you might think her role is purely for sex appeal, to give the horny players something to look at. Even though I've defended this stereotype before, it's hard not to take into account the tiny miniskirt and chest-filling baby-tee (or is it a sports bra?). However, the twist here is that not only is she a capable fighter, but she's powerful from a male's perspective; she doesn't fight with a woman's style of martial art like Chun Li, light and graceful, but she actually punches, kicks and suplexes like a man. She's actually stronger than most of the other main male characters in the game (not sure if it's official, but a tier list puts her behind Cloud and before Vincent in terms of overall strength).

    But the other draw is that she does all this while keeping her femininity. She doesn't have a faux-male/lesbian personality, demanding to do all the things a man does just for the sake of female empowerment. She has a kindhearted personality while raising a little girl that isn't even her own child, and has a very shy demeanor toward the one person she has feelings for. And while it is true that she falls into the "damsel in distress" category in more than one occasion, she also shows that she's capable of standing on her own two feet, and is even given the leader role, albeit briefly.

    And in regards to her feelings toward Cloud, I never considered that it classified her as being needy or hopelessly in love. In actuality, while her feelings are obvious, she often doesn't put them on the spot. Shyness is one part of it, but the other part is that she tries to remain strong for Cloud's sake, because it's later shown that Cloud also depends on Tifa for support; he needs her just as much as she needs him. I consider it a very well written romance (one that's still going as the Compilation continues), just as I consider Tifa a very well written character, whether male or female. Putting some modest clothes on her was the smartest decision Square has made in a long while.

    My problem with most of the women displayed in videogames is what 4chan has referred to as "distraction tits". While Tifa thankfully has hers covered up now (although I never considered her old outfit too much of a distraction; it's not like she openly flaunted her features throughout the game), it's hard to take a character like Taki seriously when they're drawn with a pair of knockers that are both pointlessly large and barely covered up. Basically there's no reason that Taki, who's supposed to be this serious and powerful ninja whose life is decided by her skill every day, to have such an incredibly large and consistently bouncing rack. It doesn't fit her personality. They added those tits just for the sake of adding tits.

    It does work for characters like Lulu, who give off that aura of allure, well aware of their endowed gifts and aren't afraid to use them to their advantage. It's the same with Dead or Alive; it's no problem for a hopeless flirt (I'll refrain from saying "slut") like Tina have a large endowment, due to her wild personality and american heritage, but if they actually wanted people to take ninjas like Kasumi and Ayane seriously, they've failed when they decided to dress them up for DOA Volleyball. Basically, if you're going to add a smoking hot female character in your game, give them the personality to back it up, or at least take the camera away from their jugs so they can be seen for their other traits.
    Willeth wrote: »
    The thing about Zelda/Sheik is that in order for her to become a powerful force she needs to completely change appearance and almost fully disguise the fact that she's a woman. It depends on how far you want to touch on sexism and the role of a dominant male, but that's definitely something that bears mentioning.

    Having lived on two college campuses I can assure you that spandex absolutely does not "almost fully disguise" the gender of the jogger wearing it.

    I'm pretty certain in Sheik's case, they just wanted to have the mysterious character appear to be male, since had it been a female, even with her face concealed, most people would immediately assume that it's Zelda.

    Professor Snugglesworth on
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    Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited May 2007

    I'm pretty certain in Sheik's case, they just wanted to have the mysterious character appear to be male, since had it been a female, even with her face concealed, most people would immediately assume that it's Zelda.

    I knew from the second Sheik appeared on screen that he was Zelda. Something about the way Sheik moves + the name. The offical character art is a lot more ambiguous than the in game model.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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    Professor SnugglesworthProfessor Snugglesworth Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Well sure, I was the same, but I'm mainly speaking for the kiddie crowd. Or Nintendo just wanted you to at least be somewhat unsure by making Sheik a male. The girly voice didn't help with the illusion, though.

    Professor Snugglesworth on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    You failed to show that Tifa served a role in the story other than "hero's love-interest". Her existence in the story is entirely dependent upon Cloud's existence in the story. Case in point, what does Tifa do when Cloud leaves the story? Lead the party long enough to find him, and then leave the story too. From a narrative perspective, no Cloud = no Tifa.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    Kevin CristKevin Crist I make the devil hit his knees and say the 'our father'Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    I am a fan of Tifa, I like her Advent Children outfit more then the FF7 one. Good balence between sensuality and function.

    Kevin Crist on
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    SonosSonos Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    every thread about video games devolves into a discussion about Final Fantasy Seven. Watch the Starcraft 2 thread. it will too eventually.

    Sonos on
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    The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2007
    snugglesworth, you do realise that boob size has no actual connection to personality/intelligence in real life, right? I mean, I get what you're saying for the rest of your post, but 'smart chicks should be flatter' or whatever is a bit retarded, and honestly insulting to women who are stuck with larger racks and have to put up with not being taken seriously because of it.

    The Cat on
    tmsig.jpg
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    SonosSonos Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The Cat wrote: »
    snugglesworth, you do realise that boob size has no actual connection to personality/intelligence in real life, right? I mean, I get what you're saying for the rest of your post, but 'smart chicks should be flatter' or whatever is a bit retarded, and honestly insulting to women who are stuck with larger racks and have to put up with not being taken seriously because of it.

    to quote from the internet bible...

    pwnt

    Sonos on
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    DodgeBlanDodgeBlan PSN: dodgeblanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Oh yes, the cat doth rule over us sexist bumpkins.

    She taught me that by disagreeing with her perception of reality I was trying to protect my hobby from a femalicular invasion!

    DodgeBlan on
    Read my blog about AMERICA and THE BAY AREA

    https://medium.com/@alascii
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    DodgeBlan wrote: »
    Oh yes, the cat doth rule over us sexist bumpkins.

    She taught me that by disagreeing with her perception of reality I was trying to protect my hobby from a femalicular invasion!

    Dude, nothing you've said in this thread so far hasn't been retarded. Like just now, with this post, where you defended the claim that large breasts result in low intelligence.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    gtrmpgtrmp Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    My problem with most of the women displayed in videogames is what 4chan has referred to as "distraction tits". While Tifa thankfully has hers covered up now (although I never considered her old outfit too much of a distraction; it's not like she openly flaunted her features throughout the game)
    ...really? Do you not remember her battle victory pose? She would cross her hands behind her butt, arch her back, and stick out her chest. Nothing drawing attention to her bosom at all, no sir.

    gtrmp on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    gtrmp wrote: »
    My problem with most of the women displayed in videogames is what 4chan has referred to as "distraction tits". While Tifa thankfully has hers covered up now (although I never considered her old outfit too much of a distraction; it's not like she openly flaunted her features throughout the game)
    ...really? Do you not remember her battle victory pose? She would cross her hands behind her butt, arch her back, and stick out her chest. Nothing drawing attention to her bosom at all, no sir.

    That's one of those things that a lot of people pick up on but don't notice themselves picking up on. It's always funny. It's also always funny how most of the time when discussions like this turn toward the appropriateness of attire, there is a noticable trend for people to only think of exposed skin rather than form when they talk about which costumes are "too revealing" or whatever.

    Edit: Oh and a funny one I remember from last time. Something to the effect of "Voldo's costume is okay, but Ivy is slutty."

    ViolentChemistry on
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    DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited May 2007
    Rygar wrote: »
    <character X> doesn't look original, but he/she does look interesting.

    I think this is an important concept.

    He's Dark.

    He's Brooding.

    He's Non-Chalant.

    He's Handsome.

    He's Young.

    He's Powerful.

    He's Casual.

    Basically he is everything those girls you like in high school were looking for when they kept saying no to you (and me.)

    Unknown User on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    Rygar wrote: »
    Rygar wrote: »
    <character X> doesn't look original, but he/she does look interesting.

    I think this is an important concept.

    He's Dark.

    He's Brooding.

    He's Non-Chalant.

    He's Handsome.

    He's Young.

    He's Powerful.

    He's Casual.

    Basically he is everything those girls you like in high school were looking for when they kept saying no to you (and me.)

    Teenagers aren't people.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    Kevin CristKevin Crist I make the devil hit his knees and say the 'our father'Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Teenagers scare the living shit out of me.

    Kevin Crist on
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    DodgeBlanDodgeBlan PSN: dodgeblanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    DodgeBlan wrote: »
    Oh yes, the cat doth rule over us sexist bumpkins.

    She taught me that by disagreeing with her perception of reality I was trying to protect my hobby from a femalicular invasion!

    Dude, nothing you've said in this thread so far hasn't been retarded. Like just now, with this post, where you defended the claim that large breasts result in low intelligence.

    Thanks man, I forgot to say that. I'm defending that post where breast size is inversely proportionate to intelligence. Sometimes I forget my posts actually contain things I don't say.


    Wouldn't it be a terrible world if breast size was inversely proportionate to intelligence?

    DodgeBlan on
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    https://medium.com/@alascii
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    agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Giant-robots are the almighty equalizers.

    Until you note that in most anime the female pilots' mechs have pointless robo-breasts or are painted pink.

    What about the ones where robo-breasts are also missiles and therefore not pointless?

    Though seriously, there's a difference between super robot anime, especially 80's and older stuff, and mecha anime that uses more realistic machines. For one thing, some of the guys pilot pink mecha and manage to kick ass in them. The rule that red mecha have to be really strong apparently spills over into mecha that's pretty close to red.

    And there's often a female pilot that's meaner and angrier than any of the guys.

    I only ever saw one good-guy character drinking throughout the whole of Full Metal Panic.
    melissa3yl9.jpg

    And her mech doesn't have tits, it instead pays homage to Char. Wasn't she supposed to be an ex-U.S. Marine?

    Back to the robot with boobs, the Arm Slaves of the chinese assasin girls in The Second Raid had high heels. Giant Robots with high heels.

    agoaj on
    ujav5b9gwj1s.png
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    Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    agoaj wrote: »
    Back to the robot with boobs, the Arm Slaves of the chinese assasin girls in The Second Raid had high heels. Giant Robots with high heels.

    I didn't bother watching much of TSR, but weren't the twin assassins often there for fan service in general? When characters show up nude in the opening and are the only ones that do so, I typically don't take them too seriously.

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    DodgeBlan wrote: »
    DodgeBlan wrote: »
    Oh yes, the cat doth rule over us sexist bumpkins.

    She taught me that by disagreeing with her perception of reality I was trying to protect my hobby from a femalicular invasion!

    Dude, nothing you've said in this thread so far hasn't been retarded. Like just now, with this post, where you defended the claim that large breasts result in low intelligence.

    Thanks man, I forgot to say that. I'm defending that post where breast size is inversely proportionate to intelligence. Sometimes I forget my posts actually contain things I don't say.


    Wouldn't it be a terrible world if breast size was inversely proportionate to intelligence?

    What happened there is I gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed your post was somehow on-topic and relevant to the discussion, instead of just deliberate trolling for its own sake. I didn't actually believe that, but I did give you the benefit of the doubt anyway. Of course now that you've confirmed that your only concern was to yell at The Cat for making a post, I can't really do that for you anymore.

    irt the loli-assassin's mech;
    For fuck's sake, lolis don't count as characters. Didn't I just finish saying teenagers aren't people? Geez...

    ViolentChemistry on
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    Professor SnugglesworthProfessor Snugglesworth Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    You failed to show that Tifa served a role in the story other than "hero's love-interest". Her existence in the story is entirely dependent upon Cloud's existence in the story. Case in point, what does Tifa do when Cloud leaves the story? Lead the party long enough to find him, and then leave the story too. From a narrative perspective, no Cloud = no Tifa.

    She does have another role besides "hero's love interest". She's also "hero's emotional support". Yes, 99% of Tifa's role in the story is due to her connection to Cloud. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I would rather take an acceptable reason for her to be traveling with these group of people rather than randomly meeting them in a forest, then deciding to join them for ulterior reasons (Yuffie). Oh, and then out of the blue she falls in love with the main character. Her relationship with Cloud predates the game's main timeline, and that's what makes her role so major.
    The Cat wrote: »
    snugglesworth, you do realise that boob size has no actual connection to personality/intelligence in real life, right? I mean, I get what you're saying for the rest of your post, but 'smart chicks should be flatter' or whatever is a bit retarded, and honestly insulting to women who are stuck with larger racks and have to put up with not being taken seriously because of it.

    That's not what I meant, though I suppose I wasn't clear enough in my post. I'm not saying the smart dependable female characters can't have sexy bodies (case in point, Tifa), I'm just saying that there needs to be a balance so that the character's looks don't end up being a distraction. Again, look at Taki. Massive breasts with erect nipples wobbling back and forth. It's impossible not to stare. Sure it serves as eye candy, but it also removes any chance of taking Taki seriously.

    I'll use Shadow Hearts 2 for my next example. On one hand you have Lucia; she's airheaded, ditzy, and an erotic dancer. So it's perfectly suitable for her to have a voluptuous physique and outfit to match. Then we've got Karin. She's supposed to be the brainy, strong willed female, but they still somewhat reduce her to eye candy when she loses the appropriate soldier uniform, and wears an outfit belonging to a doll (as in, it's super tight). Couldn't she have wandered to a nearby dress shop in town to wear something more appropriate? Although I am aware most of SH2 isn't to be taken seriously.
    gtrmp wrote: »
    My problem with most of the women displayed in videogames is what 4chan has referred to as "distraction tits". While Tifa thankfully has hers covered up now (although I never considered her old outfit too much of a distraction; it's not like she openly flaunted her features throughout the game)
    ...really? Do you not remember her battle victory pose? She would cross her hands behind her butt, arch her back, and stick out her chest. Nothing drawing attention to her bosom at all, no sir.

    I didn't say her pose didn't draw attention, I was just saying she wasn't intentionally jutting her chest so her unseen fans could get a good look. I feel it wasn't originally intended to be a fanservicey pose anyway, unlike Lulu's victory pose (jiggle jiggle).

    Professor Snugglesworth on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    You failed to show that Tifa served a role in the story other than "hero's love-interest". Her existence in the story is entirely dependent upon Cloud's existence in the story. Case in point, what does Tifa do when Cloud leaves the story? Lead the party long enough to find him, and then leave the story too. From a narrative perspective, no Cloud = no Tifa.

    She does have another role besides "hero's love interest". She's also "hero's emotional support".

    In that case, I know of a third role besides those two. "Hero's significant-other". And she's also "hero's girlfriend", and "hero's childhood-sweetheart", and "hero's boo-boo-kitty-fuck". It doesn't matter anyway, you're still failing to define her by any means other than her relationship to the hero. She is not her own character. Barrett is the leader of a rebellion, Rufus Shinra is some kind of megacorporate-warlord, Red XIII is a science-experiment and destined successor of the defender of something or another, Cid is the would-be spaceship captain who lost his dreams but found something or another instead, and Tifa is Cloud's girl.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    Professor SnugglesworthProfessor Snugglesworth Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    And like I said, there's really no other way to introduce her into the story. If you're bitching about Tifa not being her own character, you might as well say the same for Rosa, Rinoa, Elly, and most of the other main heroines. Again, if she's going to be the hero's love interest, then I'd rather her relationship be well written and with some history (and controversy) written into it, instead of some alternate lame subplot to introduce a martial artist barmaid who will eventually end up as the main hero's boo-boo-kitty-fuck.

    No, she doesn't have enough of her own scenes, but the story can't function without her. That should be more than enough.

    Professor Snugglesworth on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    And like I said, there's really no other way to introduce her into the story. If you're bitching about Tifa not being her own character, you might as well say the same for Rosa, Rinoa, Elly, and most of the other main heroines. Again, if she's going to be the hero's love interest, then I'd rather her relationship be well written and with some history (and controversy) written into it, instead of some alternate lame subplot to introduce a martial artist barmaid who will eventually end up as the main hero's boo-boo-kitty-fuck.

    I don't know those ones but I suspect it's true of them as well. It's not like it's an uncommon phenomenon. It takes some actual writing to make a character who is their own character and also the main character's main squeeze.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2007
    That's not what I meant, though I suppose I wasn't clear enough in my post. I'm not saying the smart dependable female characters can't have sexy bodies (case in point, Tifa), I'm just saying that there needs to be a balance so that the character's looks don't end up being a distraction. Again, look at Taki. Massive breasts with erect nipples wobbling back and forth. It's impossible not to stare. Sure it serves as eye candy, but it also removes any chance of taking Taki seriously.

    I'll use Shadow Hearts 2 for my next example. On one hand you have Lucia; she's airheaded, ditzy, and an erotic dancer. So it's perfectly suitable for her to have a voluptuous physique and outfit to match. Then we've got Karin. She's supposed to be the brainy, strong willed female, but they still somewhat reduce her to eye candy when she loses the appropriate soldier uniform, and wears an outfit belonging to a doll (as in, it's super tight). Couldn't she have wandered to a nearby dress shop in town to wear something more appropriate? Although I am aware most of SH2 isn't to be taken seriously.

    I can roll with that, although there's still something slightly off about denying that its even possible to take a big-racked person/character seriously. But then I don't think most men are stupid enough to treat a large-breasted woman like that. Am I being too generous?

    I think a lot of what you've written parallels what I've been reading on this blog about female representations in comic books. Its frustrating to see good characters gutted by retrograde writers and artists.

    The Cat on
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    Professor SnugglesworthProfessor Snugglesworth Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    And like I said, there's really no other way to introduce her into the story. If you're bitching about Tifa not being her own character, you might as well say the same for Rosa, Rinoa, Elly, and most of the other main heroines. Again, if she's going to be the hero's love interest, then I'd rather her relationship be well written and with some history (and controversy) written into it, instead of some alternate lame subplot to introduce a martial artist barmaid who will eventually end up as the main hero's boo-boo-kitty-fuck.

    I don't know those ones but I suspect it's true of them as well. It's not like it's an uncommon phenomenon. It takes some actual writing to make a character who is their own character and also the main character's main squeeze.

    The thing is, I don't see why it's necessary to give Tifa exclusive scenes, just to prove she's her own character beyond Cloud. There are already parts like that in Disc 2. Anything else would be considered filler. If you want to see Tifa venture off into her own, then Square needs to give her the lead in one of the Compilation games.

    And yes, that is something I would very much like to see.
    The Cat wrote: »

    I can roll with that, although there's still something slightly off about denying that its even possible to take a big-racked person/character seriously. But then I don't think most men are stupid enough to treat a large-breasted woman like that. Am I being too generous?

    I think a lot of what you've written parallels what I've been reading on this blog about female representations in comic books. Its frustrating to see good characters gutted by retrograde writers and artists.

    I never said it wasn't possible, I'm just saying that the more stacked or skimpily-dressed the character is, the harder it will be for horny male players (myself included) to take them seriously. I found Tifa within acceptable limits, but that clearly wasn't the case for many of the fan artists and fanfiction "writers" out there. Even in her new outfit, she's lusted over ad nasuem.

    It's a worse case in comic books. Power Girl is quite notorious (both in and out of the comic world) for her rack, and when she takes a page to get serious and tell everyone she's not happy that everyone stares at her like that, it only ends up as a comical embarrasment because, woo, look at those cans.

    And in the case of Rogue, I love the movie version (scared teenager wearing layers of clothing to protect herself from contact) over the old comic version (woo, look at mah titties, boys and gals. Look, but don't touch, y'all!). Even though I'm a Rogue fan period.

    Professor Snugglesworth on
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    ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2007
    The Cat wrote: »
    That's not what I meant, though I suppose I wasn't clear enough in my post. I'm not saying the smart dependable female characters can't have sexy bodies (case in point, Tifa), I'm just saying that there needs to be a balance so that the character's looks don't end up being a distraction. Again, look at Taki. Massive breasts with erect nipples wobbling back and forth. It's impossible not to stare. Sure it serves as eye candy, but it also removes any chance of taking Taki seriously.

    I'll use Shadow Hearts 2 for my next example. On one hand you have Lucia; she's airheaded, ditzy, and an erotic dancer. So it's perfectly suitable for her to have a voluptuous physique and outfit to match. Then we've got Karin. She's supposed to be the brainy, strong willed female, but they still somewhat reduce her to eye candy when she loses the appropriate soldier uniform, and wears an outfit belonging to a doll (as in, it's super tight). Couldn't she have wandered to a nearby dress shop in town to wear something more appropriate? Although I am aware most of SH2 isn't to be taken seriously.

    I can roll with that, although there's still something slightly off about denying that its even possible to take a big-racked person/character seriously. But then I don't think most men are stupid enough to treat a large-breasted woman like that. Am I being too generous?

    I think a lot of what you've written parallels what I've been reading on this blog about female representations in comic books. Its frustrating to see good characters gutted by retrograde writers and artists.

    Amusingly the first example that comes to mind that proves his absolute claim wrong (only takes one) is a whore. The Queen of O-Town, rather. In that instance, the guy and main character is actually the nobody.

    ViolentChemistry on
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    The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2007
    funnily enough, there's a piece about power girl on the first page of that blog :P

    The Cat on
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