Are you a hardcore gamer? Prove it by listing all games and characters you can identify in this picture!
I’ll post my findings later, to let you have some fun. 
I’m going to prove my “intelligence quotient” by declining to try to identify random characters, some of which aren’t even original video game properties, and most of which are from games I don’t give a shit about. 
But seriously, those sorts of things just annoy me.
Ah, man, i saw Earthworm Jim in there, that brings back so many good memories.
Long life to the Megadrive and to Sega!
That’s a lot of characters.
It irritates me how so many of those characters are sexed up compared to other story telling mediums. How about some realism? Video games have a lot of catching up to do compared to books and films in that respect.
I would say I could probably identify about 80 - 90% of all of those characters, though I’ve not played all of their respective games. I can’t waste any more time staring at the image, though. I think my eyes are beginning to hurt like when I gaze into one of those Magic Eye things.
C’mon, Solo! We all know that sex sells! If we wanted realism, we wouldn’t play video games!
Sadly, any visual media that draws from written material always has to play up the appeal in some fashion. Sex appeal is just the most generic methodology. I’m not sure why I need a beautiful, half naked model to tell me to buy [insert random item here], but the ad certainly got my attention. Such marketing ploys are proven time and again to have an affect on the masses, so as long as they continue to garner results, I don’t see them changing their gimmick any time soon.
I don’t disagree with you, by the way. I’m a walking sex archetype. And I am now employed in a male dominated industry. Woot.
This ^
Ain’t that the truth.
Also, OT, I probably can’t identify over half of these characters because I never owned a Sony or Nintendo system.
There are two types of fantasy games (okay, there’s many more but I’m going to generalise here).
Firstly, there’s games like Sonic the Hedgehog that only incorporate the slightest trace of realism, with pretty much anything being possible (within reason). For a start, he’s a blue hedgehog who runs fast. You pretty much have to let go of any concept of what makes sense, even basic laws like gravity don’t always apply. I’m fine with these sorts of games, because they’re not trying to immerse you in the world in a believable way.
Then there’s fantasy worlds that are often inspired by Tolkien. They are historical in nature, they allow the reader/observer/player to hold a greater suspension of disbelief. These worlds sometimes contain traces of magic or spirituality, but they’re used sparingly, and there are rules to any use of magic. If someone is stabbed with a sword and they don’t have armour covering the vulnerable parts of their body, they won’t magically heal (although there may be some magic that will do this). They die. For the most part these worlds are grounded in the real world. And that makes the use of magic/special powers within the story all the more special.
It is this latter category of worlds that I can identify with the most, and what I enjoy in a good fantasy/sci fi novel or film. Panzer Dragoon Saga is an example of this category done well because it makes the player hold that suspension of disbelief more than most other fantasy/sci fi games (up until the ending, anyway). Every time I see a chain mail bikini in a Tolkien-esque game, I’m taken out the experience and that suspension of disbelief is broken.
It’s no fun when you go all logic on us, Solo. =P
Speaking as the sort of perv- err, person who tends to ‘choose’ female characters more often than not, in the sorts of games that may have that choice… I guess I’d have to admit the sex appeal angle isn’t generally a problem for me. But I could also qualify that in a couple more ways: as there’s very little suspension of disbelief as a starting point in most of the games that may commit that particular offense anyway; and then games such as PD are all the more special by contrast. Not to take anything away from the innate storytelling, but Saga sort of gets an automatic advantage in realism (and therefore immersion) by taking the rarely traveled high road on that count. 
I have my own somewhat parallel gripe to that armor issue though. For… well basically always, I’ve felt annoyed each time I see another game iterating the light/medium/heavy armor cliches, but without any attempt to make it interesting and meaningful. Diablo 2 being a classic example, where the class makes zero difference at all, other than causing you to walk slightly slower. Or WoW which simply imposes class restrictions, but again without the choices that remain having any meaning whatsoever.
Choosing to wear that revealing leather halter - be it to show off those bulging pecs and biceps, or other sorts of curves - should have consequences, both positive and negative. And consequently affect how you will play.
[quote=“Snow Girl”]It’s no fun when you go all logic on us, Solo. =P
[/quote]
Ah… I didn’t actually mean any of that. The truth is that there’s a magical force field being beamed from the chain mail bikini, it’s strength depending on the degree of femininity expressed by the character multiplied by other factors such as whether the enemy has had his morning coffee. It decreases the probability of the wearer dying by mystically tapping into an another dimension, the results of the wheel of fate sucked out the netherworld in the form of evil clouds shaped suspiciously like numerals which float above the character’s head, an omen of how such time the wearer has to live.
Yeah, that was essentially the point I trying to make. There aren’t enough games like Saga that immerse the player and make him/her believe that they’re part of the world/story in such a way. I think the portrayal of characters is a significant contributor to this “problem” (it’s only problem depending on your reasons for playing of course).
I was speaking to solo about this before, and he does have a good point.
Luckily i haven’t thought about it too much to ruin the atmosphere these type of games give me yet =D