In 2001, SquareSoft released the first voice driven Final Fantasy game for the Playstation 2. The main character was Tidus, a Blitzball player from Zanarkand as well as Yuna, a shy summoner from Bessaid. Yuna is on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin which in the end will end her own life, or the story goes. Throughout the adventure of Final Fantasy X, the story between Tidus and Yuna grow and Yuna grows as a character throughout her pilgrimage. I’m glad that they made Yuna a shy and timid character and as she continues her journey, she starts to bloom. This is missing in a lot of video games where the character doesn’t grow from the experiences that were had. Yuna is one of those characters that stands out to me even after all these years and is one of my favorite characters to date but there’s a concept in video games that makes the main character of a video game that much better.
Currently I am torn between three characters for the number one spot and those three happen to be Revan from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, female Shepard from the Mass Effect series and the female main character in Dragon Age: Origins. As a side note, I might end up adding another character to this list due to Dragon Age 2 launching today, which would be Lady Hawke. Since I have not played Dragon Age 2 yet, sadly, Lady Hawke cannot be added to this list.
I am aware that Revan is regarded as male in several books written about the Old Republic but I honestly don’t care as my Revan is female and that’s what I’m sticking with. I think it has more to do with the story and circumstance that makes me enjoy Revan so much but she isn’t my favorite. The duel is more of Mass Effect vs. Dragon Age: Origins.
One is a medieval avatar of myself and the other a space cowgirl. If you notice the trend that’s going on between these three Bioware games, is that my favorite character is the one that I create. It brings more to a video game, the story and the overall experience when the main character is one that you shape. There’s just something odd, yet funny at the same time when my female Shepard is stuck listening to Mordin singing his rendition of a Gilbert and Sullivan song. With all of this being said, it’s great to be the hero…or villain depending on how you want to play that day.
