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There is a cliche that JRPG heroines are all mages and healers but in actuality, there have been a lot of notable female characters who contribute through their skill with weapons more than magic. Although this list only includes 20 individuals it’s by no means comprehensive – there were several noteworthy characters that I ended up cutting.
Note: Although most of the characters on this list are primarily physical warriors, I did make a few exceptions for some hybrids (characters that are good at both physical and magical combat).
Top 20 Best JRPG Warrior Heroines:
20. Momo (Breath of Fire 3) – Inventor with a bazooka.
19. Azel (Panzer Dragoon Saga) – Dragon rider.
18. Lightning (Final Fantasy 13) – Gunblade warrior.
17. Recette (Recettear) – Shopkeeper
16. Alicia (Valkyria Chronicles) – Soldier (Scout class).
15. Aika (Skies of Arcadia) – Boomerang pirate.
14. Aya (Parasite Eve series) – Police officer.
13. Lin (Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter) – Gunslinger.
12. Alena (Dragon Quest 4) – Martial artist princess.
11. Nei (Phantasy Star 2) – Claw fighter.
10. Jean (Lunar: Eternal Blue) – Martial artist dancer.
9. Freya (Final Fantasy 9) – Spear wielding dragoon.
8. Nanami (Suikoden 2) – Martial arts fighter with a multi-piece rod. Step sister of the main charater.
7. Raquel (Wild Arms 4) – Giant sword fighter. Great strength of will.
6. Tifa (Final Fantasy 7) – Martial artist.
5. Alys (Phantasy Star 4) – Boomerang fighter. Mentor, partner, and friend to the main character.
4. Celes (Final Fantasy 6) – Sword wielding general. Practically becomes the main character halfway through the game.
3. Estelle (Trails in the Sky series) – Wields a big stick. Lead character in the series. Great character development.
2. Chie (Persona 4) – Kicks things to death. Great foil to the main character’s best friend, Yosuke.
1. Alis (Phantasy Star 1) – As the first female lead in a JRPG (way back in 1987!), choosing her for the top spot was a no-brainer.
Notable omissions:
Terra – Celes just barely fit my criteria because despite her being one of the best mages in the game, she was a sword fighting general who only gained magic at a later date through genetic modification. However, the whole point of Terra is her innate magic ability so off the list she goes.
Lucca (Chrono Trigger) – Momo made the list because although she has some powerful magic skills, she is also very strong with a gun. Lucca, on the other hand, is entirely a mage from a gameplay perspective.
Feena (Grandia) – Although IMO, her best move in the game is her fire whip, she’s clearly setup as a mage, both from a gameplay and story perspective.
Bonus feature – Best JRPG mage heroine:
1. Lemina (Lunar: Eternal Blue)
With so many strong female characters, is it any wonder that the RPG genre has long had a larger female demographic than just about any other genre in console gaming?
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Anyways, like I said before, most of these are really great examples! Thanks for compiling this.
And why did you not mention Terra and Relm from FF6? I think FF6 has the deepest characters anyways.
Edit: Oh how could we forget Mieu from Phantasy Star III... A claw cyborg fighter, the heir of Nei I'd say. She made a come back in PSIV along with Wren.
Rika from PSIV (I think you may be referring to, instead of a returning Mieu) would be a better example as she has much more of a combat role. She may have been excluded from the list since PSIV already had a representative in Alys.
Naoto (Persona 4) - Forced to crossdress to be taken seriously as a law enforcer
Yuna (Final Fantasy X) - The Martyr
Tear (Tales of Abyss) - Takes a long time before she ever respects you, even longer to become a love interest.
Sasha (Half-Minute Hero) - Saddest 5 minute story arc ever!
But I do like this list.
I also think it's weird Faris didn't make the list. She was Final Fantasy's first strong female warrior type.
In keeping with your actual intent here, I think it says leaps and bounds that we keep thinking of characters NOT on this list.
Fire Emblem 4 had Ayra, who would become the template for female sword fighters in fire emblem franchise from then on. And that's just for starters.
One that I enjoyed but never got to see in English, Royal Stone, had a lead heroine that seemed tough as nails. I always did wonder how she survived being crucified and thrown off a cliff at the very start of the game.
Let's see, Judith from Tales of Vesperia was awesome, and there are far too many fighter girls in the Suikoden series with all sorts of unique weapons, it's hard to whittle it down to a few, though Nanami was ok being such a plot-centric character, with that criteria I probably would have picked Miakis from V over her. I already stated my Breath of Fire choices above in another response :3
I probably would have tossed Nel in from Star Ocean 3 and maybe Meracle or Reimi from Star Ocean 4 just for pure power output.
While I wouldn't agree with a lot of the final choices on this top 20, any list like this is going to be affected by what games we personally liked more (and actually finished), but it's at least interesting to mull over.
EDIT: Argh, I almost forgot to list Aelia from Valkyrie Profile!
Definitely agree with mentioning Judith tho'. ToV was quite impressive. It's sort of a pity we never got to see Raven's old flame, the sidequests around getting her bow make it sound like she was quite the fighter herself.