WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?

So this game is actually really, rally well done. Granted, there are a few horrible men within - Euram who pines after a 10 year old (lampshaded because it is used to show him in a completely bad light and you're not supposed to sympathise with him at all. He's legit creepy about it, and the fact it's your little sister he's wanting to marry makes it even worse - you really feel like punching him more than a few times, and you cheer when her bodyguard completely wrecks him any time he tries to so much as touch your sister.)

I should give a small review for those who don't know the game. Basically, it is set in the Queendom of Falena. The politics are basically thus:
Queen at the top, though she does have to listen to the noble houses so that she has their backing. She is the eldest-born daughter (except a big part of the motives in the game is that there was an inheritance war between two sisters and the younger one ended up succeeding, then killed off the older sister who chose to give her sister the throne. The children of the younger sister and older sister decided amongst themselves that they would allow them middle child of them to take the throne and the other two swore never to marry so that there would be no struggle for inheritance in the future. It causes a lot of political issues from the result of marriages being called off, that's for sure.)
Queen's husband is chosen during the Sacred Games, a series of arena battles against gladiators (slaves owned by nobles, mostly, but anyone can sign up). He becomes the Knight Commander, but he has no political power bar what his position (one of protection) gives him. He's supposed to work with the Queen in order to protect Falena, but he's in charge of the Queen's Knights, an elite force charged with protecting the Queen and her family.
A Princess is the daughter of the Queen and next in line for the throne.
A Prince is basically a bargaining chip for tying politics closer to the throne by marriage into the family.

That's the basic set-up.

Anyway, needless to say there's a lot of females in power in the game. The main group consists of the main character - the Prince, who has no political power and is seen as nothing more than a useless fop - and his family/friends/protectors. There's his mother, Queen Arshtat; his sister, 10 year old Princess Lym; his aunt, Sialeeds, who gave up her claim to the throne and broke off her engagement to the man she loved (and who loved her back); Lyon, the Prince's devoted bodyguard who is an ex-child assassin that was saved and owes her alleigence to the prince and his father and is a Queen's Knight Apprentice; Ferid, the first foreigner to claim the hand of the Queen in the Sacred Games in a very, very long time (prince's father) and the Knight Commander; Miakis, the Princesses bodyguard, a Queen's Knight and one of the best fighters in the game (girl is a fucking beast hnnng); Alenia, one of the Queen's Knights, who is a supporter of the Godwin faction (girl clearly has a crush and a half); Kyle, a pervert Queen's Knight who does make some inappropriate comments but can be quite serious when needed, has a good head on his shoulders despite the banter and is hinted at being in a possible relationship behind the scenes with Sialeeds; Geog, who is Best Buddies with Ferid and a new Queen's Knight who loves cheesecake and is awesome because Georg is best; Zahak, a Queen's Knight who is a supporter of a more military hard-line policy but very proper around the Royals and Galleon, an older Queen's Knight who is divorced but still wants to make up with his wife (who is a kick-ass doctor who takes no names and left him because their relationship was dissolving thanks to them both being too committed to their work.)

Now, as you can see, there's a fair few female characters there and they are all appropriately ass-kicking in their own ways. Of them all, only Sialeeds dresses in any way provocatively and only the Queen has a large bust. The other women mentioned have armour and clothing that befits their requirements of having to move and work hard. Funnily enough, it's the two oldest women in the group mentioned who have any sexual appeal added to them.

Sialeeds is a single woman who dresses for herself - she doesn't want to draw in men, she has no interest in getting married and settling down, she doesn't care what people think of her. She dyes her hair, makes snarky quips and hates lizards with a passion. She's incredibly clever, shrewd and protective of her family, even to the edge of going against their wishes in order to look out for them.

Arshtat, the Queen, is a mother, but she is also a ruler. A leader, a dictator, a woman on the edge of breaking down. She is someone who loves deeply and cares so much for her loved ones, but who has to deal with a heavy burden and is literally being driven mad by the machinations of both a True Rune (basically the Gods of the Suikoden world) and the political arena around her. She's being pushed by the nobles to hold the Sacred Games early so that her 10 year old daughter is engaged, having to worry over who she can and cannot trust, and having her mind messed with by an all-powerful Rune that she has no choice but to wield in case it gets stolen.


Women in this game are treated as their own people with their own fashion sense, their own morality, thoughts and desires. From Jeane, the bikini-clad mysterious woman who is a goddamn magical nuking machine who uses her sex appeal to confound men and monsters alike, to Marina who is dowdy, a little on the stout side and has a crush on the resident awesomely cool pretty-boy (who is a legit nice guy), to Lu, the teenager with a 4-way crossbow who talks like my valley girl impression and enjoys seeing things blow up a lot, to Lorelai who explores ruins in the hopes of finding out more about the ancient Sindar race and uses a whip in order to make her way through them safely, to Sagiri who is one of the detective group and whose backstory is so very sad (if you make her fight you're a fucking monster!), to Nikea whose only skills are fighting and eating but who you first meet demanding to take part in the Sacred Games despite the fact that'd mean she'd have to marry the Princess if she won, to Sharmista who is the childhood friend and bodyguard of one of the Armes generals, to Hazuki who is a wandering swordswoman whose purpose is to find Belcoot and challenge him to a rematch in order to salve her wounded pride (also she's fucking awesome. her in-battle start animation is so great and she hits like a truck), to Bernadette who is constantly cleaning up after the father who hasn't got a political bone in his body but ends up falling for his trick to get her to join up and help the prince out (also, she's like your cousin in-game, which is cool), to Josephine who is a fashion diva with a surprising connection to another character and ran away from home because she didn't want to get messed up in politics and instead followed her dream to become a designer of fashion... look I could be here all night, really.

Let's just say that I love how varied the female cast in the game is, and Suikoden as a series does this really well. Sure, there are some parts where you do the 'Whyyyyy?' thing, because it is a Japanese game, but it's incredibly fresh and progressive to have hard-hitting, very powerful (not just in physical form, but also in character and nature - Luserina isn't a combatant but her emotional maturity and loyalty is incredible and she's a really well-done version of the 'nice girl' character, especially since she has a backbone and steel will - girl ain't no stepping stone.

Add in that the series has no problem adding in homosexual hints (relationships aren't really the focus of the game - there's very few that are straight out confirmed as full-on relationships so you have to read between the lines a lot, even with the hetero ones. But V has a large number of pretty-much-confirmed non-hetero relationships that are just treated as relationships. The one between Lucretia and her lovers, for example (yes, more than one) is a pretty cool and welcome addition. Hell, men get in on that action too! Rahal is confirmed to be a cross-dresser who goes out dressed as a woman fairly often (it even comes up in the game to use this as a tactic to get inside a locked down area... and he makes a hell of a convincing woman. Disturbingly attractive, you might say ;p (*)), and the relationship between Richard and Mueller is... well, it might be one-sided but damn if Richard ain't loud and proud about how he feels. XD

(*)I have got to mention that I love the fact that despite Rahal being a known crossdresser, he catches no shame for it from anyone. His best friend is manly mcmanson but doesn't care two whits that his best buddy pretty much dresses as a woman from time to time... in fact, he calls him attractive in his dress-up, even.

I also have to talk a little about Lymsleia (Lym) and her suitors, because it's a big point in V. She is basically fought over and the winner is to become her husband. It is one of the few times the Queen/Princess has no power/say in her choices - they have to make do with who they get. Of course, that doesn't mean they couldn't, say, have them killed off after the fact or something... ;p

Unfortunately for Lym, she has no support structure when she is married to the much older man who becomes her husband. Of all the possible suitors (bar one) he's the best who could have won, though (he made goddamn sure he won, so I guess there's that at least) because he has absolutely no desire for her whatsoever. His whole reason for wanting to be Knight Commander is for the power, not for the marriage. That said, he still takes his duties very seriously, even staying to protect her to his death, despite his plans having fallen and failed completely. He doesn't see her as a sexual object which is great because she's fucking 10, ffs. Of course, he was one of the people pushing for the Sacred Games to be held earlier than usual, but it was for the political power, not because he wanted her as his wife (unlike some other assholes we could talk about. Fucking slimeballs. >.> )
He knew she hated him, he still treated her well and with respect and made an effort to be a proper 'husband' without crossing the boundaries that others might have. He didn't butter her up with compliments or try to worm his way into her good books with presents and gifts. He didn't say anything that demeaned her - he treated her with a lot of respect for her position as Queen and with more respect than some would have treated a 10 year old girl. Which was wonderful to see. Sure, he was an asshole, but he still respected her as a person, as an authority figure and as a ruler. He just, you know, threatened to kill a few of her family/friends in order to keep her in line and kept her confined to her room a lot.

Still an asshole, but an honourable one at least. He didn't care for her, but at the same time he did his duty towards her as a protector. It's a weird dichotomy and I love his character a lot because of this. He was in power but he also acknowledged her power and that she was above him in station. It made for a great villain who you hated but could respect as well.


Uh, I've lost some points along the way I think but overall, the series does well with portraying women who are sexual and non-sexual but powerful in different ways - whether that's by owning their sexuality or by standing strong against enemies or acknowledging their inability to save their people (but still trying) or fighting with all their might to protect what and who they love. All the games in the series have amazing female characters and yeah, there's some ick in there at times, but the designs and the characters themselves are so great. It's one of the games that really gave me an insight into what female characters in games should be like - varied and powerful and weak and sad and happy and fragile and volatile and all manner of things between.

So I don't have any issue with a woman wearing a swimsuit into battle as long as there's a goddamn reason for it, it fits her characters and not every woman in the game (or even, half of them) is treated with the same fanservicey bullshit.

I was looking for a picture of a glazed cinnamon roll with a bite out of it, but I found this instead. Enjoy the nightmares.