@EntropicByDesign
I wonder what the thought process is behind guys wanting to main female characters before they ever even play them. Do you relate to Girl Power? Are you feminists? Is it something more basic?
If you play a female character and she just fits your skillset best, then I think that's completely normal - but there is something odd (and everyone is a little odd, including me, so no offense meant) about men picking female mains before even making a button press. Maybe you're just more enlightened than myself if you do.
It has nothing to do with them being female and is purely based on how I THINK they will play. I typically prefer fast, mobile characters with numerous options.. This is an archetype that is usually represented by female characters in games, we can get in to the reasons why, but that's a losing battle for everyone, lol. But, suffice to say, typically when a female character is in a game, she *usually* isnt a big strong slow character, she's fast and mobile and her offense isnt based around strength, but rather trickery and speed. Again, not always, but usually, these kinds of characters have a higher skill ceilings than other characters but can do a lot of really cool shit and tend towards having more tech and such.
So when I play a new game and I look at the characters, Im not looking at male or female at all, Im looking at archetypes AS I UNDERSTAND THEM, until I have more practical, hands-on experience. I will almost always make a long list and a short list of characters that look to me to be fun or interesting in some way. My criteria is loosely based on:
Known tier lists - I dont zero in on broken characters or anything, but when Im new to a game I will usually avoid characters believed to be bottom tier and broken tier. I do this because a) If Im on a character that's just plain GOOD, I have no excuses. I dont have a mental option select because Im on a low tier character.. when I get bopped I have no shadows to hide in and have to face the plain and simple fact that I lost because Im bad. and b) because its just easier to learn a new game when I can focus on the game and not learning to cope with a shitty character. Also, I avoid broken-tier characters because in many cases you arent really learning the game if your character is legit broken. You're learning to lean on a broken character. And additionally, broken tier characters are almost always nerfed, so I dont want to invest time in a character I know is going to get shit on before long.
Archetypes I enjoy - Explained this already. Usually look for 'rogue' type characters.
VERY slightly factor in appearance. - I do want to play a character I find aesthetically pleasing. In this regard I would rather play a male than a female character because I can lose myself in whats happening more easily on a male character. If I could make Nobu, PK and Valk males, I absolutely would do so.
So thats basically why I tend to end up on female characters.. They just tend to fit the archetypes I like to play. Specifically, Nobu interests me because I like the idea of a bleed inducing, spear wielding, rogue-esque character with and interesting mechanic like Hidden Stance and a decent arsenal of moves for many different situations. I think her mask looks cool as shit too. PK interests me because she's a fast and mobile with good damage, some interesting combos, seems to have a high skill ceiling (to play her well) with fun feint options and a deflect dodge. She's like a sport car. She looks bad-ass as well. Valk interests me because I like her mixups and ability to bully an opponent, coupled with decent range and defensive ability. I DO NOT like how she looks though. I think her helmet looks weird somehow.
A lot of the male characters just dont grab me in FH right now.. Exception being Zerker and Warden and Orochi. However a buddy is planning to main Zerker and we dont want to overlap, and he will be my 2v2 partner, so Zerker isnt an option right now. Warden I fully plan to play and explore as a possible main. Oro I am very undecided on. I like a LOT about him, but I.. I dunno. I need to get real matches in with him and see. It's currently likely though that he will replace Nobu, since shes considered fairly weak right now, and as I said before, I dont want to learn a game on a weak character.
yes this has been a book. i have to leave for work in a few minutes and didnt have anything better to do, so I wrote an indepth explanation.
Additionally, I think some guys do it because they literally find the character sexy and want to look at something they find pleasing. Somewhat similarly, I think some people just dislike looking at a big man lumbering around and have insecurity issues to make them feel uncomfortable staring at a man.
