Wait, objectification and sexism are gone in modern games? Sure, if you ignore tons of major mainstream titles. For starters, here's a compilation of the cutscenes from Batman: Arkham Asylum, which shows how their female characters were represented. Catwoman
Frees herself and goes around overcoming obstacles, acting entirely independent of batman (much to his horror).
She even saves his life.
In game she negotiates a deal with Ivy after accidentally killing one of her special plants. No one else has done this before. She takes down countless amounts of TYGER guards. She pulls batman out of the rubble.
Afterwards her
house explodes, prompting her to
get out of unconsciousness and beat up the thugs who just blew up her house. Then she punches two-face in the faces. Knocking him out.
Catwoman's sexual flaunting makes more sense than batman's ab armour:
In that she actually uses it to her advantage, namely that of breaking bones.
She is a prime character with her own story, backstory and in short, character. She has flaws, she has strengths.
Harley Quinn
Harley being an object to be
won? You do realize that cutscene is Harley being an absolute sociopath to manipulate batman into believing there is no threat?! She's a horrific villain in that not only is she brutally cunning,
but she is a victim of the joker. Albeit, a very, very dangerous victim. She is very clearly fucking batshit insane, no pun intended,
and her unconditional love for the joker is presented as insane.Talia al Ghul
Ra's Al Ghul, her father, in universe is misogynist and does believe women to be inferior to men. Yet he appointed her his second in command because she far exceeded her siblings. Her getting lovey over the batman is a result of the two actually having a romantic past, which her father exploits. Standalone from any fluff, she is the leader of a powerful organisation of assassins, incredibly skilled on her own whilst retaining a compassionate empathy streak.
She is the one to give batman the cure to the poison, and is never actually confirmed dead.
Her father is literally a 600 year old patriarch and is one of the
villains. Yep, really supporting sexism there.
You also cite Portal as an example, though it came out over 5 years ago.
Did you even look at the links? Portal 2. The series is called Portal. Anita talks about mute protagonists being vessels for male players to project themselves into, while they exert their power over the female damsel. Portal has Chell as our mute female protagonist who thinks with portals, is demonstrated to be a savant of science from a child's age (her decade old super potato much?) and screws around with a supercomputer AI/Carol that killed an entire facility full of scientists and guards and everyone else.
A few games that came out since: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Calling it a game is a big stretch. Japan' making more boob content with game filler.
Which is why it didn't get mainstream popularity.Bayonetta
Ha ha ha Bayonetta, I'm glad you brought this one up. You're playing as Bayonetta. That's you, with the awesome groove.
"One of the most brilliant things about this backstory is how the two clans are portrayed. The Umbra Witches aren't necessarily evil so much as they are an important part of the universe's balance. The game, after all, is mostly about Bayonetta killing the angelic legions that stand in her way to the truth, but I never felt evil or diabolical while playing. It is just Bayonetta's purpose, and she fulfills that purpose with extreme skill.
Bayonetta is one of the coolest female characters I've ever come across in gaming. Although her sexuality is highlighted at almost every turn (which might lead gamers to believe she's a stereotypical heroine), she is also immensely powerful, calm and confident. Bayonetta is one of my main reasons to play the game, as she's just terribly fun to watch."
It's unabashedly sexual. Incredibly sexual even. She gets bucket-loads of character development and is a good example of a game that's both serious and whimsical with sexualized characters that aren't reduced to objects. You can really empathize with her. You couldn't do that with a sexy lamp or a sexy shoe.
Duke Nukem Forever.
Because people took Duke Nukem seriously and it was a good game that everyone liked oh wait massive disappointment piece of shit that no one will remember because fuck why would they even make it in the first place it is 100% hype and oh-.And upcoming games are no different. According to the devs, "You'll want to protect the new Laura Croft". Their upcoming Tomb Raider reboot will have the players "protecting" a more naive and vulnerable Laura Croft. Apparently this includes protecting her against rape attempts.
Ah what the shit. This, this cannot stand. THIS FUCKING CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. IT RAEGES ME. YOU CAN'T DO THAT. I WILL BURN YO-
"The ability to see her as a human is even more enticing to me than the more sexualized version of yesteryear,"
Less sexualization?
"She's definitely the hero but— you're kind of like her helper,"
You are
literally helping her?
Sounds dodgy. This may possibly be the worst thing since Samusgate. Time will tell. If big company designers make the same mistake again and again, something must burn. Burrrnnn.
So no, I'm sorry, but you are completely and entirely wrong.
I have a personal philosophy of not holding any information up to someone's image, it's why I like anonymous discussions: It's very hard to discredit or prove any one point solely based off of one's misdemeanors or merits, you get pure distilled discussion of information.