2013-03-08, 02:03 PM
That video was insightful and clear throughout, I'm glad I decided to watch it despite my issues with watching anything without subtitles.
My main problem with the Damsel in Distress trope largely has to do with its side-effects as most stories that employ this trope tend to be lazy and the female characters end up being flat which is a big shame especially if they showed promise. Likewise I usually find that the games where this trope isn't enforced in spades tend to have more detailed writing and I'm sure we can all agree that a game where you don't hate whatever percentage of the female population is on the basis that they're bland is a decent game.
There's one favourite series of mine that does employ this trope and yet actually balances it out too: The Lunar series. Sure, the lead female character is basically rendered helpless and can't break out of her own, but on the flip side two of your party members are a kickass mage and priestess respectively who take no lip, get downed only a short while and smack sense into the male leads when they're wallowing in self-pity. Now that's a balance that games today could learn to strive for.
And of course no mentions of awesome female characters can be made without drawing on the Suikoden series. While there's sexualization present it's still a lot less than what you'd expect of the era or of games in general, there's plenty of female characters who hold their own either in fighting, being politicians or tactical leaders and one of the funniest scenes you can get features the protagonist's sister busting out of jail on her own imagining her brother and his friend need to be rescued.
I'd also love to see Zelda starring in an actual Legend of Zelda game because she's already shown herself to be a capable fighter for one, and given that puzzles are a staple of the Zelda games it could be an excuse for Nintendo to make a game with more difficult puzzles too. Or maybe this has nothing to do with the trope and I just want more puzzles, but you get the point.
My main problem with the Damsel in Distress trope largely has to do with its side-effects as most stories that employ this trope tend to be lazy and the female characters end up being flat which is a big shame especially if they showed promise. Likewise I usually find that the games where this trope isn't enforced in spades tend to have more detailed writing and I'm sure we can all agree that a game where you don't hate whatever percentage of the female population is on the basis that they're bland is a decent game.
There's one favourite series of mine that does employ this trope and yet actually balances it out too: The Lunar series. Sure, the lead female character is basically rendered helpless and can't break out of her own, but on the flip side two of your party members are a kickass mage and priestess respectively who take no lip, get downed only a short while and smack sense into the male leads when they're wallowing in self-pity. Now that's a balance that games today could learn to strive for.
And of course no mentions of awesome female characters can be made without drawing on the Suikoden series. While there's sexualization present it's still a lot less than what you'd expect of the era or of games in general, there's plenty of female characters who hold their own either in fighting, being politicians or tactical leaders and one of the funniest scenes you can get features the protagonist's sister busting out of jail on her own imagining her brother and his friend need to be rescued.
I'd also love to see Zelda starring in an actual Legend of Zelda game because she's already shown herself to be a capable fighter for one, and given that puzzles are a staple of the Zelda games it could be an excuse for Nintendo to make a game with more difficult puzzles too. Or maybe this has nothing to do with the trope and I just want more puzzles, but you get the point.