I’m a big fan of female characters in RPGs, especially in the Final Fantasy series. Games like FFX introduced us to strong characters like Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu; FFXII brought us Fran and Ashe; and FFX’s Garnet, Rinoa, and Quistis were fantastic too. But it feels like since FFXIII, we’ve been lacking decent female characters. After playing FF15, the lack of strong female representation was noticeable, with characters like Luna sidelined and Jill in FF16 feeling weak as a sidekick to Clive. Is this the so-called ‘Lightning effect’ that made developers hesitant to write good female characters? What does this spell for future games? Can we expect the return of well-rounded female leads, or are we stuck with these trends?
4 Answers
FFXIV has actually been doing well with female characters, like Alisaie, who grows into such a strong and independent character throughout the story. So, honestly, I’m less worried about the entire franchise. Just a couple of games in a row didn’t feature strong women as prominently, but that doesn’t define the whole series.
And let’s not forget about Y’shtola! She’s an absolute queen in FFXIV. The series isn’t short of well-written female characters.
While those two games may have dropped the ball, I think it’s unfair to paint the entire franchise as lacking female representation. We have a strong lineup of female characters in titles like Final Fantasy XIV that have been fleshed out over years. It’s just that the numbered titles have a different focus sometimes.
For real, FF14 has so many great female characters! It’s not fair to overlook them just because they aren’t in every main game.
Exactly! XIV keeps proving that Square Enix is capable of creating great female characters, so I believe we will see more of that in future games.
I think the reception of these characters has more to do with how the stories were structured rather than a cultural bias against female leads. FF15 was supposed to be about friendship among the guys, which is why the female parts felt lackluster. XVI just focused more on Clive, but Jill still held her own in the narrative.
Yes! It’s about how well they are integrated into the story. Jill had her moments, but it seems like they didn’t fully commit to her character.
I agree, but I wish they had dedicated more time to developing Jill’s arc, especially in relation to Clive.
I really liked Jill, but not being a playable character hurt her impact in the game. It felt like she was just there for convenience rather than really shining as a character. A colleague pointed out that it almost felt like the game didn’t want to let her take the spotlight, which was frustrating to see.
Totally! It’s like the devs had a good character but were too scared to take risks with her. They could have switched to Jill after Clive goes down, which would have been an epic moment!
Right?! She had such potential at the start, but then it felt like she got sidelined hard as the story went on.
Exactly! Alisaie’s development is one of the highlights of the game. It’s just frustrating when people overlook the strong female characters in MMOs.