Serah is the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII-2 spending the game searching for her sister throughout time. The weapon you see there is a made up weapon (called a bowblade) that has the ability to transform from a crossbow into a sword. However it's mainly seen being used within cutscenes in its crossbow form. The reason I point this out is because in earlier development Serah was originally written to solely utilize a sword, but was rewritten to utilize the aforementioned bowblade to "preserve her femininity". The Final Fantasy series is notorious for having a majority of their female characters being relegated to "back row" positions casting spells or summoning creatures to do the fighting for them while the majority of their male characters get up close and personal with the enemy. There are only a handful of male or female characters in this series who go against these norms and are instead the opposite class of their gender. The following article also touches upon this female stereotype of non-aggressive female characters within the gaming industry.
http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/09/17/women-gamer-stereotype-girl-grrl-ladies-female-gaming/
However there are female video game characters out there who wield swords and bazookas with just as much or even more skill as a man, one of these being the heroine of Heavenly Sword Nariko. In the game Nariko is the daughter of a leader of a clan of warriors who was predicted to be born a boy who would bring great honor to the clan. However instead she was born a girl and this addled with the fact that her mother died giving birth to her caused many members of her clan to view her as a curse. However when they are captured by the evil King Bohan Nariko utilizes the power of the forbidden Heavenly Sword to save them. Now my question to all of the readers out there who watch the subsequent video is this; does Nariko still retain her femininity despite "fighting like a man"?
-Asael
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