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[Violet_0]

Baby steps. And Faith is very obviously Asian.

the girl from Recore looks sort of like Faith, no?

 

[Shmuppers]

Aloy I think was the real standout. Such an excellent, excellent design.

 

[Scipio]

Obviously we need a new Metroid.

And Emily looked pretty good, she gave me Asian vibes too.

 

[Applecot]

Asian people aren't white... ;__;

I would say many, many of the NE asians (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Northern China) are incredibly white (IE Pale skin complexion)

female: noun a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.

That definition really went skewed towards the end there.

 

[Zakalwe]

I noticed that myself. Horizon girl aside, they're all white (not Faith - I missed the edit!) 20 something athletic brunettes.

Athletic is kind of a must if they're action heroines.

 

[The Technomancer]

Some other notable elements:
1.) Lots of expensive AAA games.
2.) They're all dressed in actual clothing.
3.) Most are from story games instead of just MP versus mode options.
4.) Main are many characters or main character options.

Which of course raises the question: can anyone argue that this is just some natural trend that picked up critical mass this year or is it explicitly a product of all of the criticism around this very thing the last few years?

 

[Zomba13]

A friend actually thought Emily wasn't Emily at first because she decided she looked Asian, and I couldn't exactly disagree with her. If I didn't know Emily Caldwin's lineage, I'd be under the assumption that she had an Asian parent too. Is she still 'just another white girl' if her race is sort of ambiguous enough to be confused like that? Did no one else get the same impression?

Eh, she just looks pissed off to me. She was a white little girl in the first game, her mother was really white and

Spoiler

possibly, maybe, her father is also white

.

 

[stilgar]

Gotta say, it did feel that we had more prominent female characters at this year's E3 versus last year's. We had at least four by my count:

Emily Caldwin in Dishonored 2



Aloy in Horizon



Lara Croft in Tomb Raider



Evie Frye in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate



Am I missing any? Is my memory of last year spotty?

Edit:

Missed Faith in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst



Edit 2:

Also the protagonist of Recore

You missed Samus. I'm counting on you for an update in a few hours.

 

[Raxus]

This combined with Splatoon makes me very happy. It is nice developers are starting to branch out. Now we just need some more major minority characters and we are set.

 

[ViviOggi]

Yeah, they pushed that angle quite a bit. Well done Goobergaters

 

[SlowRevolution]

Yeah it's been cool to see. Some nice designs too.

 

[martino]

Female footballer in fifa 16 was a huge announcement imo

 

[Black_Stride]

"Don't mess with Evie"

Wasn't expecting to see her trailer so soon. Loved seeing flashbacks of young Faith as well and that we're getting actual 3D cutscenes this time.

If shes this badass during gameplay im gonna be happy as fuck.

 

[pantsonhead]

Halo 5 has four women you can play as (Kelly, Linda, Holly, Vale).

 

[MrCunningham]

Howard - Fallout 4

This one made me laugh when people started cheering that you could play as a female character in a Fallout game. You could do this in all the other Fallout games too, including the originals.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

This one made me laugh when people started cheering that you could play as a female character in a Fallout game. You could do this in all the other Fallout games too, including the originals.

I think that it was more a relieved reaction after that widely circulated rumor about F4 only having a male player character.

Todd Howard's "and yes of course you can play as a woman" seemed to be addressing that specifically.

 

[KissVibes]

Correction, don't forget the REAL female Spartans.

What does "REAL female Spartans" even mean?

 

[Garruson]

Soon we'll get bald gruff white space marines of the female characters - already they all are starting to look the same, athletic looking brunettes which don't look like they'd actually be able to fight as much as what their body size would let them.

 

[MrCunningham]

I think that it was more a relieved reaction after that widely circulated rumor about F4 only having a male player character.

Todd Howard's "and yes of course you can play as a woman" seemed to be addressing that specifically.

Oh that's right, I forgot about that little bit of controversy. I guess it makes sense given that they showed the main protagonist speak, which made people worried that they were focusing on only one main character. But Bethesda is going the Saint Rows route with this.

 

[PtM]

Aren't booth babes the female characters of E3?

Back to games, most of them look interesting. Cammy is nothing to write home about, though (except for her face).

 

[Yabberwocky]

When Faith was shown last week it was such a great start, and the bar has continued to be raised from there. I can't get over how impeccable Emily's design is, and I can't wait to see more of Aloy in Horizon, either.

I'm also really impressed to see the multiplayer games stepping up, too - wow on Battlefront, CoD and FIFA. (Even though it was inevitable, it's great to see Mass Effect and Fallout returning with their male/female protagonists.)

Real props to Microsoft, too - they did a great job of representation at the conference, and great female character additions with both Gears and Halo.

Seriously, it's such a nice palate cleanser for everything that's been happening in the industry lately. It's not perfect, but they are all really great steps. Gettin' the warm fuzzy feels.

 

[Yabberwocky]

You missed Samus. I'm counting on you for an update in a few hours.

Fingers and toes crossed. Please, Nintendo!

 

[FATALITY]

aloy looks a teenager

 

[Kin5290]

Neither Fallout 4 or Mass Effect Andromeda really count, since while they're both Create-A-Character games they both saw fit to push the male main character (and in Fallout's case the blandest version of a male main character) in their marketing.

"Don't mess with Evie"

Wasn't expecting to see her trailer so soon. Loved seeing flashbacks of young Faith as well and that we're getting actual 3D cutscenes this time.

I know this is probably a multiple finisher or whatever it's called (if it'll even be in gameplay) but damn it this is so much cooler than a stupid gang brawl.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Very nice to see. Aloy is my favourite.

 

[Kin5290]

Ah forget it.

 

[Kinyou]

Which of course raises the question: can anyone argue that this is just some natural trend that picked up critical mass this year or is it explicitly a product of all of the criticism around this very thing the last few years?

I think something like Dishonored 2, Horizon has been in production way too long for that they just react to criticism and change their characters.

What does "REAL female Spartans" even mean?

The emphasis should probably be on Spartans. Those are the original spartans that were created alongside master chief.

 

[chaobreaker]

This one made me laugh when people started cheering that you could play as a female character in a Fallout game. You could do this in all the other Fallout games too, including the originals.

The reddit leaks claimed that you can only play as a dude in Fallout 4. Nearly anyone should took that leak seriously we're holding their breath for the past 2 weeks.

 

[ninjabat]

Probably mentioned, but just in case it was not, the little girl in the Blind Eyes demo at Xbox conference.

 

[A More Normal Bird]

What does "REAL female Spartans" even mean?

The game features two teams of Spartans. The Master Chief and his team are some of the last original Spartans, whereas the other team is a bunch of Johnny come lately volunteers. So Bornstellar's post was just a little bit of fan wank pointing out that both teams have an even gender split, nothing sinister.

But yeah, Halo has always been relatively diverse; 5 is extending that with the constant presence of the squad mates in the campaign.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

was that angela bassett in rainbow 6? while not playable, it was nice to see a black woman in a seat of power.

 

[Tekomandor]

Neither Fallout 4 or Mass Effect Andromeda really count, since while they're both Create-A-Character games they both saw fit to push the male main character (and in Fallout's case the blandest version of a male main character) in their marketing.

We haven't seen the main character of Mass Effect: Andromeda yet. I suspect they'll mix the marketing up and do an androgynous character for the box art like DAI did.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

We haven't seen the main character of Mass Effect: Andromeda yet. I suspect they'll mix the marketing up and do an androgynous character for the box art like DAI did.

That was such a welcome change from ME pushing BroShep onto everyone. Hope they keep with it.

 

[Kin5290]

We haven't seen the main character of Mass Effect: Andromeda yet. I suspect they'll mix the marketing up and do an androgynous character for the box art like DAI did.

I thought that the person from the teaser trailer is pretty unambiguously male (if only because what we've seen of female player avatars are just ridiculously sexualized for a lady wearing a set of space suit power armor). He's the trilogy's Sheploo, only faceless.

Edit: ah, apparently the dude in the trailer isn't the player character. But still, he's getting all of the marketing love, so my point still stands.

And speaking of Create a Character games, I hope Ghost Recon Wildlands allows you to create female ghosts, since they've been around since the first game.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

If shes this badass during gameplay im gonna be happy as fuck.

Let's hope

 

[Ran rp]

Vast majority of them are white though, as expected lol

Still great to see all of them!

 

[Mononoke]

Which of course raises the question: can anyone argue that this is just some natural trend that picked up critical mass this year or is it explicitly a product of all of the criticism around this very thing the last few years?

It def plays a part. Although some of these titles have been in dev too long to be a direct reaction to any specific criticisms in the last year and a half. And I think most of these criticisms have been heaviest in the last two years.

Either way you look at it, it's hopeful. If this is a result of people voicing what they want, great. If this is a result of the industry naturally getting more diverse as time goes on, that's great too. Either way.

It has to have played some part.

I just hope these games all sell well and people play them and see it's fine to play a female protagonist. That a AAA game can have a female lead + advertising and still sell well. I hope these games succeed so we can move past these ideas that male consumers won't buy these as much as they would buy male lead games/marketing.

 

[shoreu]

Correction, don't forget the REAL female Spartans.

lol i'd never forget my babies they weren't in the conference tho iirc

 

[Adaren]

Cloud from FF7 remake.

Fantastic first post.

Glad to see a fair amount of variety in personality and style among the female protagonists as well. Diversifying gender is the first step to diversifying characters in general.

 

[RootCause]

It's refreshing.
Though Aloy>>>>>> everyone else. :3

 

[Htown]

"Don't mess with Evie"

Wasn't expecting to see her trailer so soon. Loved seeing flashbacks of young Faith as well and that we're getting actual 3D cutscenes this time.

this was the only good thing about the Assassin's Creed stuff this year.

I mean she fucking destroyed those dudes

 

[SolidusDave]

Aloy surprises me the most because she's... kinda ugly actually. Also has a stocky body type that actually fits to the physically demanding stuff she has to do.

Red hair + bow + powerful female protagonist reminds me of Brave


AC female character is their safe bet. Apparently you only play as her in some missions (and maybe even optionally) so she's not actually the main character and her impact on the plot remains to be seen.

 

[NimbusD]

And the women from the OP are all actually women and not just mannequins to hang boobs on, which is great!

 

[levyjl1988]

I'm looking forward to Recore. That character has a Star Wars vibe (Rey from Star Wars The Force Awakens and Padme) and Jade (Beyond Good and Evil) feeling to her.

 

[diamount]

Cloud from FF7 remake.

Jesus, SE's obsession with making effeminate main characters continues.

 

[Kinyou]

Red hair + bow + powerful female protagonist reminds me of Brave

I'd say she's totally Ygritte from Game of thrones

 

[SolidusDave]

I'd say she's totally Ygritte from Game of thrones

Oh true, her character is likely more like hers and not bubbly.

 

[luxarific]

Feels awesome. I'm very excited!

 

[Damerman]

Edit: should have known I'd get beaten xD

how was this not the first answer!

 

[Garrett Hawke]

I noticed it too and it's amazing. I love how progress is happening despite all of the bullshit and idiots trying to hold it back.