Well this sums it up…
Dec 16 2012
If only
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Brad
December 16, 2012 at 12:41 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Excellent
Kels
December 16, 2012 at 3:34 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
FF III still remains my favourite. Interestingly, I’ve known a lot of female gamers who love it too, even though it was VII that really got the series into the public eye in North America.
On a related note, it’s interesting this came out more or less about the same time that Questionable Content had a character totally absorbed in playing the exact same game.
Kels
December 16, 2012 at 3:35 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
And by III I meant VI, blah. The numbering always screws me up, but III was good too. Apparently I’m a fake geek girl, even though I’ve been reading SF, using home computers and playing video games longer than most of the guys whining about it have been alive.
Rob
December 16, 2012 at 4:52 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ah Kels, Kels, Kels. Just think, if you didn’t have that extra X-chromosome and instead and a shortened corrupted twisted deformed little Y-chromosome, then you’d be able to do hard stuff like read and count and play video games and think hard and other stuff. Amirite!
Kels
December 16, 2012 at 5:39 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Well, I’m trans so I actually do have that damned inconvenient Y-chromosome. But even so, I’m as female and geeky as any girl or geek out there, and be damned anyone who says different!
My single X just works twice as hard, is all.
karellen
December 16, 2012 at 5:44 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I had to look this up, so to help anyone else out who’s wondering, the box in the final panel is of the original Japanese FF III, which the protagonist has presumably imported themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_III
michaeld
December 16, 2012 at 6:39 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Well Kels I consider myself quite the nerd have lots of games including the PS1 version of FF6 and I’ve never played it O.O
Kels
December 16, 2012 at 7:54 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
FF IV/6 is really awesome. The characters are likeable, the villain is wonderfully odd, the story is actually worth following, and there’s even an opera in the middle. What’s not to like?
#6 Karellan:
Yeah, mostly the original Amano box art never made it over here when the games were translated. For that matter, very little of the original Japanese covers did, which is a pity given the crap they were usually replaced with.
julian
December 16, 2012 at 8:09 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thought it looked familiar. Been forever.
It’s sad considering how progressive Final Fantasy tends to be as a series. There’s a balance between men and women in the leading cast, women aren’t exclusively depicted in bikini armor (really, there’s only one. All the other women protagonists wear armor similar to the men’s_ and the other worldly threats are usually just a back drop for real world issues to be played out in.
julian
December 16, 2012 at 8:16 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’d forgotten about that scene.
There’s a character for each archetype so you”re bound to find someone you like. Stoic samurai, dashing rogue (well, rogues), mercenary for hire and moogles! What’s there not to love about moogles?
michaeld
December 16, 2012 at 8:26 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I just havn’t gotten around to it yet. I’m also somewhat fearful as I tried playing FF7 and I just couldn’t get into it v.v http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EightDeadlyWords
julian
December 16, 2012 at 8:35 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
@michaeld
Then try FFX or Final Fantasy Tactics (War of the Lions on the PSP). The gameplay in Tactics by itself is worth playing but the world (loosely based on the Hundred Years War and War of the Roses) is just awesome. FFX… was pretty heavy handed on the symbolism but still fun. Just too easy :/
Nathaniel Frein
December 16, 2012 at 8:39 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Oh, Final Fantasy tactics was one of the best games on the PSX, hands down.
Another square RPG to try is Xenogears.
And…to be fair, I really liked the DS port of FFIII > .>
michaeld
December 16, 2012 at 8:55 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
'dirigible
December 17, 2012 at 1:37 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I remember when games were for nerds.
Kels
December 17, 2012 at 4:45 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
To be fair, while I love Xenogears it can be a bit odd at times. It’s still worth playing, despite its faults and bizarre Christian/Jewish mysticism references. Interestingly, when Xenogears came out it and Final Fantasy VII (huge plot holes and all) were massively popular among the primarily female group I was hanging around with at the time.
Thing about FF VII, it was the first RPG to really have a mainstream marketing campaign in North America, and was the first that really took advantage of the original Playstation. Heck, I remember TV commercials, which were unheard of for that sort of game at the time. In any case, it brought onboard a lot of people who’d never really played games before, including a lot of women. It also introduced Tifa, who while obviously designed for fanservice, was also a female character with a strong background (business owner in a tough part of town, etc) and not relegated to healer like female characters traditionally were (and of course Aerith/Aeris still was). but was made a brawler instead right along with the males and sometimes more so.
Fred Salvador - Colonialist
December 17, 2012 at 6:29 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That last panel. Right in the feels
I’ve been playing games since I was eight. That’s twenty two years ago. I can barely bring myself to look at them anymore since I realised how atrocious most – if not all – of the female characters in them are. Squaresoft have been one of the absolute worst offenders in this regard for as long as I can remember.
I recommend sticking to Dark Souls; no discernible story means no real possibility for gender stereotyping or misogyny. Also you’ll be so fucking frustrated and annoyed and homicidal that any misogyny they have managed to sneak in is likely to go completely unnoticed as you smash the television and throw the bastarding Xbox out of the window. “What’s that? Is it some kind of treasu- no, it’s three zombies on a rooftop throwing grenades at me and now I’m dead again.”
Best game ever, by the way.
michaeld
December 17, 2012 at 7:21 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Kels
Odd? Ears perk, I like odd!
Lately my jrpg fix has come from the atlus shin megami tensei games. If you know them you know odd 
Kels
December 17, 2012 at 3:16 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
michaeld:
I can’t imagine how a game about an amnesiac and a blackout psychopath falling in love and going to destroy God would appeal to a bunch of skeptics. Seems a bit far-fetched, I’d say.
Also, canon gay character.
Kels
December 17, 2012 at 6:13 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Come to think of it, they’re both blackout psychopaths, she just uses performance-enhancing drugs. Oh, and they’re friends with a pirate.
モンクレール ダウンベスト
December 18, 2012 at 12:47 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
恋にいくつかの狂気は常にあります。しかし狂気のいくつかの理由が常にもある。地獄は軽蔑官僚のように全く怒りをかれらない。