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A question about female characters in video games that rely on Stealth for the majority of gameplay.

Are there any examples of games where the protagonist is a woman who knows she is at a disadvantage against much larger enemies, so she has to rely on stealth to take them down? I mean the character has to be self-aware about it. Like, none of this girlboss stuff like that recent Star Wars game where she can knock armored soldiers out despite them being armored. A well-timed dagger to the throat will take anyone out. I never believed it in those newer Tomb Taider games because she overpowers them with a bow across the neck instead of slitting their neck with those hooks of hers.

I think there was a Tenchu game way back on the PS1 that had those types of kills though while playing as a female character.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
Are there any examples of games where the protagonist is a woman who knows she is at a disadvantage against much larger enemies, so she has to rely on stealth to take them down? I mean the character has to be self-aware about it. Like, none of this girlboss stuff like that recent Star Wars game where she can knock armored soldiers out despite them being armored. A well-timed dagger to the throat will take anyone out. I never believed it in those newer Tomb Taider games because she overpowers them with a bow across the neck instead of slitting their neck with those hooks of hers.

I think there was a Tenchu game way back on the PS1 that had those types of kills though while playing as a female character.
Ubi said Naoe will play like a stealthy shinobi while Yasuke is the front brute force. We will see if they can deliver what they promised.
 
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Ubi said Naoe will play like a stealthy shinobi while Yasuke is the front brute force. We will see if they can deliver what they promised.
I did not know there was a female protagonist. Only ever heard people talking about the controversy of Yasuke. I might be interested now.
 

intbal

Gold Member
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I played the Xbox version, which has a sound bug that can be very annoying. Not sure about the PS2 or Windows versions.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
I did not know there was a female protagonist. Only ever heard people talking about the controversy of Yasuke. I might be interested now.
They claim she's the fastest assassin in the franchise history and can do naruto run, lol. Kinda intriguing.

 

xrnzaaas

Member
Alien Isolation would still be the same if you played a dude, because no one stands a chance against a xenomorph without weapons.

I will agree that Plague Tale 1 & 2 are great examples of playing as a young girl lacking massive body strength and having to outsmart enemies / rely on gadgets to succeed.
 
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Does gender even matter when there's smaller guys as well?
If the smaller men have known nothing but war preparedness, constant fighting and better weaponry, yes. Especially if the female character is not normally any of these things, or is, but still has to contend with aspects of the enemy around her and other factors out of her control. A non-trained or a woman trained in styles not related to brute force will still be at a disadvantage during these times, but that is what makes it more interesting to me. If there is no struggle and adaptation from the protagonist, it is not as interesting to me if she were to just go John Rambo on everyone.

A good male example would be Batman. The Arkham games. While Batman is brutal in his beatdowns, he knows that he still has to be careful. I get that most games are power fantasies, but I get more of a rush from being weaker and having to outsmart my enemies rather than being a Terminator let loose in a police precinct.
 

VulcanRaven

Member
Are there any examples of games where the protagonist is a woman who knows she is at a disadvantage against much larger enemies, so she has to rely on stealth to take them down? I mean the character has to be self-aware about it. Like, none of this girlboss stuff like that recent Star Wars game where she can knock armored soldiers out despite them being armored. A well-timed dagger to the throat will take anyone out. I never believed it in those newer Tomb Taider games because she overpowers them with a bow across the neck instead of slitting their neck with those hooks of hers.

I think there was a Tenchu game way back on the PS1 that had those types of kills though while playing as a female character.
Character knock out Stormtroopers in the movies too. Even Ewoks can do it.
 
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kevboard

Member
I remember trying that game on the 360, but the frame rate would dip into single digits. The 360 has several games I wish were on other consoles. I miss it.

it was on PC. I wonder how that version was.
that was during the dark ages of PC gaming, with shitty ports, but who knows.
 
it was on PC. I wonder how that version was.
that was during the dark ages of PC gaming, with shitty ports, but who knows.
Yeah I did not do the pc game, I was on 360. It was rough. I do not know if that will be shown in this footage, but I definately had to shelve it back then because it was hard to see anything. This was on a new 360, which was sadly the last time I was into Xbox consoles.

 
If the smaller men have known nothing but war preparedness, constant fighting and better weaponry, yes. Especially if the female character is not normally any of these things, or is, but still has to contend with aspects of the enemy around her and other factors out of her control. A non-trained or a woman trained in styles not related to brute force will still be at a disadvantage during these times, but that is what makes it more interesting to me. If there is no struggle and adaptation from the protagonist, it is not as interesting to me if she were to just go John Rambo on everyone.

A good male example would be Batman. The Arkham games. While Batman is brutal in his beatdowns, he knows that he still has to be careful. I get that most games are power fantasies, but I get more of a rush from being weaker and having to outsmart my enemies rather than being a Terminator let loose in a police precinct.
It was just a weird thing to focused on when typically size often isn't an issue with a lot of other characters. As for a Batman, I admit to love him being a powerhouse brawler, but also like moments of having to be tactical fighter as well where you just can't rush everyone at any given time. It's tough landing on which playstyle I love most.

It does because a small guy is stronger than the average large woman. Bruce Lee was not a giant.

Anyway, in videogames I don't want realism, but consistency. MJ shouldn't knock out enemies easier than Spiderman, for example.
Yet no one bats an eye with Bruce Lee taking out a bigger guy.

I do agree with your last point. In fact the last thing I even want to do in my superhero game is to play someone who isn't one.
 
It was just a weird thing to focused on when typically size often isn't an issue with a lot of other characters. As for a Batman, I admit to love him being a powerhouse brawler, but also like moments of having to be tactical fighter as well where you just can't rush everyone at any given time. It's tough landing on which playstyle I love most.


Yet no one bats an eye with Bruce Lee taking out a bigger guy.

I do agree with your last point. In fact the last thing I even want to do in my superhero game is to play someone who isn't one.
Nobody complains about Bruce Lee because he meets my earlier Batman example. He was still built strong for someone his size, as well as his knowledge and experience. So, it is less size and more Physiology between men and women. If a woman were just as trained as Lee was, I would still give him the edge over her if it were an all-out fight rather than Lee sneaking around in the dark looking for necks to cut or ribs to shank.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
In Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Evie is considered the stealth character while Jacob is the brawler.

Now you have a lot of options to do both with either, but the game not-so-subtely nudges you towards this dynamic.
 
Nobody complains about Bruce Lee because he meets my earlier Batman example. He was still built strong for someone his size, as well as his knowledge and experience. So, it is less size and more Physiology between men and women. If a woman were just as trained as Lee was, I would still give him the edge over her if it were an all-out fight rather than Lee sneaking around in the dark looking for necks to cut or ribs to shank.
No one complains because it's power fantasy where the idea of someone smaller can take on someone larger.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
It does because a small guy is stronger than the average large woman. Bruce Lee was not a giant.

Anyway, in videogames I don't want realism, but consistency. MJ shouldn't knock out enemies easier than Spiderman, for example.
Or clear out an entire symbiote nest on her own. :messenger_winking_tongue:
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
Ubi said Naoe will play like a stealthy shinobi while Yasuke is the front brute force. We will see if they can deliver what they promised.

I agree, but I don't know how much of that has to do with her being female or just being a Ninja, it seems they wanted to have 2 styles, but I don't think that was driven by gender as much as it was to set both characters apart from Ninja to Samurai
Alien Isolation would still be the same if you played a dude, because no one stands a chance against a xenomorph without weapons.
This. I was just going to say that might have more to do with that she is going against THE Alien and not really based on gender and the type of game it was clearly was focused on a Clock Tower type horror thing.

The one game Outlast has you running most of the game and its a guy.

So maybe, Clocktower IP


3_nZbftgA.jpg
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Does gender even matter when there's smaller guys as well?

Women are generally smaller than men, but even if you have men and women of equal height and build, the man will generally be stronger than the woman due to "biological differences in muscle mass and hormone levels, with the strength disparity being most noticable in upper body strength; this is generally true even when comparing individuals with similar body composition."

From a biological standpoint, the gender virtually always matters.
 
nah kassandra is a demi-god doing demi-god things, she's the most powerful of the ac protagonists by far, she'd kill all the other assassins easily even if they all teamed up against her.

I'm more thinking of the early to mid parts of the game, compared to the more brute of a brother, how the character is portrayed in the scenes and has to build up differently. A lot of humility and grounded personality is shown. I'm not comparing her to other assassins games.
 
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