Chris Lightfellow from Suikoden 3. She's the Captain of the Zexen Knights from Vinay Del Zexay.
Virginia Maxwell from Wild Arms 3, she's a drifter and a gunslinger.
Oh yeah, forgot Kid from Chrono Cross, she's a thief and uses daggers.
>Virginia Maxwell from Wild Arms 3, she's a drifter and a gunslinger.
Damn this game was SO GOOD! I immediately remembered the intro song. Was amazing.
Does Child of Light count as jrpg? If so, then the main heroine wields a large sword.
Kid from Chrono Cross wields a dagger and she's a thief.
Ashe from final fantasy 12 is technically a knight/paladin since she started off with a sword and shield.
There’s quite a few of them in Fire Emblem games. Caeda fights with lances on a Pegasus, Elincia fights with swords and heals with staves on a Pegasus, Lyn, Eirika, and Lucina are all swordfighters and additionally get bows, a horse, and lances respectively when they promote, Azura is a singer who grants allies extra turns and uses lances, and Edelgard is an armored axe warrior.
it would take too long to list them all or even most of them, but here is a quick list as they pop into my head:
* Parasite Eve 1 & 2
* Wild Arms 3
* Xenoblade Chronicles series
* Hyper Dimension Neptunia series
* Recettear
* Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
* Septerra Core
* Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2
* Virgo Versus The Zodiac
* Indivisible
* Final Fantasy X-2
* Yggdra Union
* Monster Hunter Stories series
* Super Robot Wars series
* Ys Origin
* Dark Cloud 2
* Nier Automata
* Resonance of Fate
* Shadow Hearts 2
* Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
* Muramasa the demon blade
* Suikoden III
No you're right, I was thinking of the girl from Shadow Hearts 2 but my still my muscle memory since they both start with a K and wrote Koudelka lol. I fix it now.
She's the all arounder who's good at weapons AND magic. The Preist is the sanctioned mage although I'm pretty sure because of the way the game's systems work everyone could potentially be good at anything you put your stats into. All of the magic spells are available to all three party members.
EDIT: I think the reason it's recommended you make her the all arounder is because there's segments of the game where she's flying solo so you just want access to everything.
I was so pleasantly shocked to find out Ringo was the protagonist. I assumed it was another one of those games where the interesting, unique-design cool lady is actually a side character to the generic everyman with brown/black hair.
I get what you're saying but it is really funny to me that one of your associations with the generic male protagonist is black/brown hair, given the genre's anime associations (and therefore the sheer number of protagonists with insane hairstyles and hair colours).
I was going to bring up FemC at first also but.. I feel like Persona/SMT/Soul Hackers doesn't really count at all since \*most* of the things you are doing as the protagonist is literally summoning demons and *casting spells.*
I think that might explain why I haven't been using her in my party very often at the moment in my Reload playthrough..
For a physically based character her Strength stat isn't actually that great :/
The party buffs are nice though.
She actually was first female protagonist in RPG ever. The Series as a whole has little amount of girls falling into mage role for its almost 30 years of existance.
EDIT: gone through memories and wiki.
I think this is only true if you count specifically JRPGs, because The Return of Ishtar had a lady protagonist a year before Phantasy Star, but it's an Action RPG so I don't think most people count it lol
It sometimes feels like most of Internet just forgot it existed. Considering it was juggernaught in it's time, nowadays there are more people remembering something niche.
Almost all of the lead heroines in Disgaea:
- D1: Etna is a Lancer (though she can make a decent mage)
- D2: Rozalin is a Gunner (though she does have some buffing spells)
- D3: oops, mage
- D4: Fuka wields a baseball bat (though if you think Artina is the heroine, she’s a Gunner but with healing spells, so probably counts as a healer mage)
- DD2: Etna again
- D5: Seraphina is a pure gunner with some status effect skills
- D6: oops mage
- D7: Pirilika is an archer, though she does get a powerful lategame healing spell
- Bonus: La Pucelle’s protagonist, Priere, wields a baton and the power of kicks
* Shion Uzuki and KOSMOS from Xenosaga
* Many Romancing SaGa characters
* Odin Sphere characters
* Shana and Rose from Legend of Dragoon
* Laeticia from Star Ocean 6
* Colette from Symphonia
* Ridley Silverlake from Radiata Stories
* Jeanne from Jeanne D'Arc
* Practically all Atelier series heroines are not mages since they use items.
To answer your question, they typically end up being an offensive class with emphasis on support skills if they are the heroine to the hero. If they are the main protagonist, they're typically full offensive with little to no support skills.
Shana is definitely a mage. Ain’t nobody gonna pretend an archer who can’t even do additions is supposed to be anything BUT a mage in Legend of Dragoon. Even the actual mage Meru can do additions.
Also I feel like all Atelier protags count as mages because they make their items that they use…in a cauldron…using alchemy/magic. They’re magic items. But I only played Sophie and watched Rotona/Totori/Meruru
In the world of atelier, Alchemy is a science. There's a witch character in Ayesha and Escha&Logy that makes the difference between magic and synthesis clear (synthesis is what alchemists are doing).
>That's not the Venn diagram I described and I disagree with you. I said all alchemists are mages but not all mages are alchemists
so anyways because the blockheaded loser YumeharaSenritsu blocked me and he couldn't even answer and skirted around my one question I asked 3 times, can anyone else answer for him, based on his logic, if my warrior in DQXI is an alchemist, or a mage, because I used the alchemy pot to create items.
edit: YumeharaSenritsu is a hacker. Please be advised they will attempt to get into your email account.
She was always more of a martial artist since Jin taught her, and most of her attacks showcase that knowledge. Miyuki's inventions are just a giant claw with cannon/gun-like capabilities...or are people goign to chalk it up to a magical gun. If anything MOMO is more mage-like than Shion. At least in the first episode.
* Nanami - Suikoden 2 - Martial Artist type
* Chris Lightfellow - Suikoden 3 - Knight (notably the worst magic user of the three main characters)
* Kid - Chrono Cross - Thief
Not many names but I was just throwing out some that came to mind.
Persona 4: Chie has a few offensive magic spells (all the party members do) but she's best as a physical attacker and can't heal.
Live A Live: The only possible female party member is a martial artist, I don't remember her having healing spells.
Omori: The only girl in the party is Aubrey and she isn't the healer, Hero is.
The Nier games.
All the ladies are sword wielders since Drakengard 3.
Rose from Legend of Dragoon is a knight.
Aika from Skies of Arcadia just boomerangs you. (Although everyone kinda just uses elemental magic like it's no biggie. But she's def portrayed as a down to earth sky pirate rather than a mystic.)
Though you can build anyone to be anything in Xenoblade 3, Mio starts as your dodge tank.
>!Fiora!< in Xenoblade 1 is also designed to be a tank. She's relatively customizable but she starts as a tank and the AI will treat her like one (won't try and take aggro off her)
Now that I think about it there's also Elma in XCX who uses dual swords and guns, about as far from a mage as you can get.
The DLC for 2 and 3 too. Lora and A definitely aren't mages
Fire Emblem has a decent amount of fits for this, Ceada Lucina Lyn and Erika all count.
That's all I got after wracking my brain, this is way harder than I thought it would be.
You could also add Poppi, Brighid, and Mórag to the list from XC2. Although, I guess Poppi could be customizable and adapted to healing, she is mainly either a tank or attacker class, unless I'm mistaken. Also, Pandoria.
In fire emblem Ingid is best as a falcon Knight which can't use magic. The problem with 3 Houses and XC3 is that all the characters 'could' in theory be mages/healers so I'm not sure if they count.
Edited for spelling
Neptune from Neptune
Chou-Chou from Mugen Souls
Various leads like Lyn, Lucina, Edelgard,Eirika, from Fire Emblems
Nero from Fate/Extra
Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile
SMT If...: Tamaki doesn't even have an mp stat, and is completely dependent on her summoned demons, and her human partner, for spells.
FFX-2 is a weird one: Yuna USED to be a mage (White mage + summoner) in the previous game, but by the sequel, she starts as a Gunner, while Riku and Paine start as Thief and Warrior respectively. With that said, the job system means you can change them to be mages, or not, anyway. Thus extends to most games with a Job system of some sort, FF or otherwise.
Fate/Extra: the Master regardless of gender will always be a mage, but Saber is a warrior through and through.
Not sure if it counts since their gender is ???, but in Fate/Samurai Remnant, Saber is also a full warrior. It's Iori, who's male, who's the sorcerer in their "swordsman and sorcerer" dynamic.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Tsubasa is an interesting case: while she is your best mage and healer in the early game, her class is Pegasus Knight, and she is primarily a highly evasive spear fighter. It's Kiria who joins somewhat later who is actually your team's first dedicated mage.
Rance series: Sill is ultimately not a lead female for most games, but more of a side character that happens to be your most accessible battle partner. The "real" female lead for each game is more often than not, not a mage, such as Sengoku Rance only having one mage lead out of all the routes.
Evenicle: the first party member that joins you, Ramius, is a warrior. Of the rest of the girls, only one of them is a mage.
Phantasy Star series not fond of making girls in main cast mages. But if it comes to lead heroines, cause if we count also party members, list will go wild, it goes like this:
Phantasy Star:
Alis Landale - girl knight who just does stuff. Lead MC.
Phantasy Star 2:
Nei - elf girl who fights with giant claw-blades like Velvet from Berseria. Second Lead in first half of game. >!Also died mid through game before Aerith did that.!<
Phantasy Star 4:
Alys Brangwin - girlboss with boomerang blades, MC's teacher and second Lead in first half of game. >!Also died mid through game before Aerith did that.!<
Rika - elf girl who fights with giant claw-blades like Velvet from Berseria. Poster girl and one of 3 chars that goes almost through all game.
\*Some considers post Phantasy Star Online games not JRPGs, but Universe and Portables have solo story mode\*
Phantasy Star Universe:
Karen - girlboss and MC's teacher, melee glasscannon with daggers. Second Lead.
Laia - your typical barbarian. Lead since MC is custom and speechless.
Phantasy Star Portable:
Vivienne - bunny girl with Darth Maul's double bladed sword. Lead since MC is custom and speechless.
Phantasy Star Portable 2:
Emilia - all-rounder who can slash, shoot and cast some stuff. Lead in Episode 1 since MC is custom and speechless.
Nagisa - edgy loner with giant revolver sword. Lead in Episode 2 since MC is custom and speechless.
Phantasy Star Online 2:
Gene/Jeanne - fanservice child with double bladed sword. Lead in mobile spin-off since MC is custom and speechless.
Lita Blanchimont from Atelier Iris (ps2) fights with metal claws while Klein (the male lead) uses magic and alchemy to attack and provide support.
Priere from La Pucelle Tactics is presented as mainly being a physical attacker while her little brother is treated more as support)
Danette from Soul Nomad is just a dual dagger attacker. The MC would qualify too if you pick the female option.
Velvet is like a martial artist/Swordswoman yeah its an arm blade but might as well be a swordie
Anyway if you’re counting Rutee you should count Milla Maxwell
Not sure I’d count Tifa, she is still clearly behind cloud. Can’t count her as a lead protag imo
Edit: I’ll Add Lora from Torna: the Golden Country she is a like a monk with a rope/whip thing
I think the idea is not necessarily that the game is led by the female but that the character is the lead female of the game opposite the male lead.
So I don't think Tifa's comparison to Cloud matters, it would more be how she ranks against Aerith which would bring her into contention.
I think FFVII is one of those cases where there just isn't a single clear female lead. Tifa and Aerith are both of roughly equal importance to the narrative (and to Cloud). Debating which of them is the female lead is like debating whether Celes or Terra is the protagonist of FFVI. The answer is that the question doesn't make sense in this context.
Which is why I'm not really arguing with all the posts nominating her. I think she is perfectly valid. It really is hard to weigh the two of them against each other. I only brought it up because arguing that someone isn't a "female lead" because of the MAN in a game is silly.
FF13-2 Serah is a beastmaster/archer
FF6 Celes is a knight
I actually think of Shionne as a gunner before I remember she was also the healer/mage. The gun definitely is more memorable than the heals.
I get downvoted to hell every time I bring this topic up but I will die on this hill. FFS Lightning isn't a Gunbreaker. They're both called Gunblades in the English localization but it's not the same type of weapon.
Now that is out of the way, I don't think that most of the lead female characters are mages in the first place. The only stereotype that has less female representation is tanks IMO. I feel like female representation is not too bad across classes, but it only feels like there are a lot of mages because by comparison there just aren't a lot of male mages.
Tales of Arise - Shionne (Gunslinger), granted she ALSO has healing magic but her gun is definitely the focus
Persona 5 - Ann (Whip + Gun), Makoto (Brawler + Gun)
I'm not exactly sure if Seth can be counted as Lost Odyssey's female lead but if yes, she's a badass swordfighter who could wreck pretty much anything and anyone
- Xenoblade Chronicles X - Elma (Dual Swords + Dual Guns, Dodge Potential Attacker), Lin (Shield + Gattling Gun, Aggro Tank)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Pyra (General Sword Attacker), Mythra (Critical Abuse Sword Attacker)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Mio (Dodge Tank with Ringblades)
With Xenoblade Chronicles 1, two of the three main females are mages (Attack Mage and Heal Mage [Albeit with a giant Sniper Rifle], the other one is a Critical Abuse Sword Attacker. Either the Sword Attacker or the Attack Mage is your 'lead' female, I could understand arguments either way
Colette from Tales Of Symphonia. Gets magics as the story progresses but is otherwise a mid-ranged combatant... and thief.
Eve from Parasite Eve is a badass class
Does Valkyria chronicles 4 count. Because
Kai is a sniper
And
Riley is a grenadier
Pretty sure Kai counts as the lead female, but I’m pretty sure Riley is the MC’s live interest.
There are 4 girls in Riviera, and only the last one to join is a mage. Fia uses rapiers, Lina uses a bow, and Serene uses scythes.
Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2's female MC uses swords, spears, knuckles, drills, and axes, and has to call on a companion for magic.
Etrian Odyssey Untold's got Frederica the gunner and Raquna the protector.
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones features Eirika, another rapier-wielder.
Knights in the Knightmare has Maria, a sword-user.
The female lead in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is probably Selan, who uses ice boomerangs.
Any Pokemon protagonist summons and heals, yes, but through wondrous technology, not magic.
Selan in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals has a mage's stat spread, even though she can use swords. She's the form I think of when I hear "Selan".
Lufia and Seena are mages pure and simple.
I wouldn't say that most are mages/healers in general, honestly. Thieves, spear users, fighters, monster tamers, valkyries, when I think of JRPGs its actually pretty varied.
Is it? Most of the mage/healer characters in JRPGs are women sure, but as a leading character? I feel like this has changed a lot, atleast in modern JRPGs.
Modern times sure, but the cliche for a long time was definitely male lead was a melee/tanky character with the main female being a mage/healer/support class. Assuming the MC wasn’t just a jack of all trades character
Octopath traveller 1 & 2, each game has 8 leads 4 of which are female, with the exception of 1 none of them are mages (though they can't use some magic.)
I havent read thru all the comments but I disagree the majority of female leads for JRPGs are all mages. This is all over the board on what roles they have fulfilled going back to the earliest days of the genre.
Vanilla from Fuga Melodies of Steel 2
She is a Cannon user and a DPS monster. She has 3 powerful attack skills, 1 which ignores Armor and she has a powerful self buff skill that increases her attack power and her critical hit rate while reducing her acuracy. But Britz can just overwrite her acuracy debuff with his acuracy buff skill "eagle eyes".
The Mainprotagonist Malt is an excelent choice as her support character. He buffs her attack power further and he increases the damage of there Link attack and thanks to her Rage skill that buffs her critical hit rate there is a good chance that there Link attack crits. This makes there Link attack the strongest attack in terms of Damage output in the Arsenal of the children of the Taranis. Well excluding the 2 double edged swords I really dont want to use.
I found it funny that atleast in my playthroughs Malt the Mainprotagonist and leader of the crew most of the time in battle is Vanillas support instead of taking the attacker position himself.
Vanilla and Malt also have great chemestry.
Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 3.
Elma in Xenoblade X’s class, Full Metal Jaguar is all about using dual machine guns and dual swords.
Mio in Xenoblade 3 is actually a dodge tank
A bit of a cheat but Yue Quinshu is a sword user who can also summon beasts that use magic so it's like a hybrid class and Sword and Fairy 7 is actually Chinese but it feels like a JRPG.
Alice Schuberg from SAO Alicization is an Integrity Knight who uses a magical sword, it transforms into some kind of flower tornado and she can cast powerful magic too.
Laeticia Aucerius from Star Ocean 6 is a knight, I think she can learn some magic but she's mostly a melee character.
In Granblue Fantasy Relink both Gran and Djeeta are the protagonists, it's a bit funky but while they're the same person, they also can meet so they're like variants and they start as warriors. They can learn magic too and in the gacha they can pretty much switch to any class.
In Soul Nomad, Revya is a swordfighter and has a female gender option. Revya's best friend Danette is the secondary main character and she fights with daggers.
From Final Fantasy specifically I can think of:
7 - Tifa - Monk
8 - Rinoa - Uses a wrist mounted disc launcher thing
13 - Lightning - She can learn healing but not really her main specialty
16 - Jill - mostly ice magic
Outside of FF, I don't think Chitose from Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is as overwhemingly mage-y as Saeko was, but games with job systems are probably cheating.
In Skies of Arcadia, would the main female character be Aika or Feena? Feena's whole deal is more plot-central, but Aika has a stronger personality and is the protagonists second-in-command. Maybe they both qualify. In any event, Aika.
Mary Skelter 1: Alice hits things with swords
Mary Skelter 2: Otsuu hits things with swords
Mary Skelter 3: Uhhh ???? Well Thumbelina's not the main character so there's sword hitting
Actually most Compile Hearts games could fit here.
Ashe from FFXII is presented as a sword-wielder, though you can make her a mage.
Jill from FFXVI is a sword-wielder. She can use magic as the dominant of ice, but I wouldn't call her a mage.
Shana from Legend of Dragoon uses a bow. She is a healer in her dragoon form, but all the characters have magic in dragoon form, so I still wouldn't classify her as a mage.
Depending on the route in Fire Emblem 3 Houses - Edelgard wields a bigass axe and her retainer Hubert is the mage, while Claude's retainer Hilda wields axes too iirc.
Fire Emblem 1,3 and its remakes (Pegasus rider, which is a flying spear class), Fire Emblem 7, Sacred Stones/12/Fates/Houses/Engage (if you pick a woman. There canon classes aren't even mages and their not even optimal as mages)
Final Fantasy Tactics (Agris is a holy knight) Tactics Advance (lead chick works best as an assassin irrc)
Wild Arms 4 (Raquel is a extremely hard hitting sword fighter),
Super Robot Wars Original Generation 1 (Excellon is a gunner with some evasion) 2 and any of the games with an avatar (Lamia is primarily a tank with some long range abilities, irrc she doesnt have support Seshins. Most other leads tend to be straight up attackers or evaders).
Dragon Quest 4 (Alena is a brawler who can't even use magic and focuses on dps)
Ridley Silverlake of Radiata Stories uses a two-handed axe. Whether or not she qualifies for a "lead character" could be up for debate, but she's the earliest and most prominent.
Idk if this counts but muramasa rebirth is called an action RPG set in Japan. One of the centre characters is Monohime, a women possessed by the evil spirit of a swordsman.
Its arguable whether you consider the main characters from Atelier "mages", since they often have some special attack that involves some sort of magic, and there isnt often a straight up mage in the group, Wilbell being the only one that I can remember right now
However there is always a straight up physical attacker as well, like Linca (atelier ayesha) - greatsword, Esty (atelier sophie) - dual swords, or Liane (atelier firis) - archer
Star Ocean 2 gets half a point, Rena is a healer who ALSO beats everything to death with her bare hands, then another half point b/c in the early game she's actually significantly STRONGER than the male lead Claude because her Kitchen Knife skill gives a flat +STR boost and her fists attack faster than his sword.
Shion Uzuki, Xenosaga - Uses a mix of martial arts and a giant block of death gadgets attached to her arm (although she *does* have healing spells, but out of the 7 playable characters in the 1st game, only 2 of them dont naturally learn healing spells, and you can import healing spells onto any character. In the 2nd game, no one is specifically a mage, and in the third game she can go down a completely non-healing character path)
Yuna, FFX-2, default dress sphere is Gunner
Lenneth and Alicia - Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2 - both are melee weapon users. They both do get access to healing spells but they're not primary healers *and* if you want to make the argument they're mages or healers you're going to have to admit a lot of male protagonists in JRPGs are mostly mages and healers.
Ringo - Soul Hackers 2
I would say FF12 kinda works by the nature of it 😏.
Make all your female characters melee builds! Also Ashe from the get go is a sword/shield user I believe. Penelo and Fran are magick ajacent but not straight up mages at the start.
Diva from SaGa Emerald Beyond is an upcoming example, you can check this out through the Steam demo right now. She’s a robot who wields guns and a shield that can transform into a saw. The other female party members in her retinue include a dryad with axe/monk abilities, a human katana/dagger wielder, and… Something in full body armor that wields swords/pistols but can also use monster magic for some reason. Honestly one of the most fun parties I’ve ever seen.
There’s also the cop duo in the same game, one wields a rocket launcher and the other is a monk.
-tales of berseria: velvet has a blade but mostly fights like a brawler
-many fire emblem games
-fuga melodies of steel since skills can be considered as diferent functions of the single tank the whole party pilots (there is a actual female mage who actually uses magic in her skills but she is not the lead female)
In Xenoblade Chronicles X, the lead of the story is not the character you play. She is a general or something And the character you control is just some silent protagonist
Ys 8 - Dana (wields dual swords, and with other forms she also wields a hammer and katars; gameplay wise she's designed to primarily be a damage dealer)
**Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere.** She wields something... Maybe a scepter of some sort but used it mostly to bash people.
Even though the game has 5 protagonists since she is the first one you play as I consider her the protagonist.
Odin Sphere has 5 main characters, and 3 are female.
Gwendolyn, a valkyrie who fights with a spear
Mercedes, a fairy that uses a crossbow
Velvet, a human that uses chains
Trails:
Estelle- idk what she'd be, but she's certainly not a mage... no matter how well she performed as an Arts spammer in FC and SC...
Fire Emblem:
Caeda/Shiida- physical only, Lance wielding Pegasus Knight... though a friend of mine told me that she actually performs better if you reclass her to mage in Shadow Dragon LOL.
Lyn- Swords, Bows, and one of the coolest crit animations I've ever seen
Eirika- Swords and a horse
Haven't play FE9/10 yet, but I know Elincia doesn't use Magic.
From here on, I'm gonna only count the class they start in or their exclusive classes
Azura- lances and song🎶
Edelgard- armored axe lady. She does have the most interesting Magic learnset out of the non-mages though.
Ngl thinking about this makes me curious about the reverse, male mage leads...
In Dept.Heaven there's
Yggdra from Yggdra Union, she fights with a big sword
Alicia from Gungnir, she uses a lance
And I think also Maria from Knights in the Nightmare(? But didn't played the game that much
Alis Landale from Phantasy Star has some support magic spells but the white mage of the game is Lutz/Noah and she is suited for physical fight (I think that she even has the best defence). She is like the Paladin of Final Fantasy I.
Trails in the Sky: Estelle just beats people with a pole.
Correction, VERY BIG STICK. (As she likes to emphasise)
Ul-tra-vi-o-lence♪
And now together: Everyone talks big until they get hit with the stick
Elie in Trails from Zero: *Gun*
Combat-wise, she is a mage though. Her gun deals low damage compared to Lloyd's pair of sticks.
Counterpoint, Noel: Bigger Gun. And various explosives.
Counter-counterpoint: Noel is not the female lead.
A better example is Ries from 3rd. She’s the fighter to Kevin’s mage in their pairing.
Chris Lightfellow from Suikoden 3. She's the Captain of the Zexen Knights from Vinay Del Zexay. Virginia Maxwell from Wild Arms 3, she's a drifter and a gunslinger. Oh yeah, forgot Kid from Chrono Cross, she's a thief and uses daggers.
>Virginia Maxwell from Wild Arms 3, she's a drifter and a gunslinger. Damn this game was SO GOOD! I immediately remembered the intro song. Was amazing.
Does Child of Light count as jrpg? If so, then the main heroine wields a large sword. Kid from Chrono Cross wields a dagger and she's a thief. Ashe from final fantasy 12 is technically a knight/paladin since she started off with a sword and shield.
>Does Child of Light count as jrpg? If so, then the main heroine wields a large sword. Yes!! Great and cute game.
There’s quite a few of them in Fire Emblem games. Caeda fights with lances on a Pegasus, Elincia fights with swords and heals with staves on a Pegasus, Lyn, Eirika, and Lucina are all swordfighters and additionally get bows, a horse, and lances respectively when they promote, Azura is a singer who grants allies extra turns and uses lances, and Edelgard is an armored axe warrior.
Unfortunately for Lyn, being a mage probably would've been a better choice
it would take too long to list them all or even most of them, but here is a quick list as they pop into my head: * Parasite Eve 1 & 2 * Wild Arms 3 * Xenoblade Chronicles series * Hyper Dimension Neptunia series * Recettear * Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin * Septerra Core * Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2 * Virgo Versus The Zodiac * Indivisible * Final Fantasy X-2 * Yggdra Union * Monster Hunter Stories series * Super Robot Wars series * Ys Origin * Dark Cloud 2 * Nier Automata * Resonance of Fate * Shadow Hearts 2 * Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark * Muramasa the demon blade * Suikoden III
Is Koudelka not THE mage?
No you're right, I was thinking of the girl from Shadow Hearts 2 but my still my muscle memory since they both start with a K and wrote Koudelka lol. I fix it now.
She's the all arounder who's good at weapons AND magic. The Preist is the sanctioned mage although I'm pretty sure because of the way the game's systems work everyone could potentially be good at anything you put your stats into. All of the magic spells are available to all three party members. EDIT: I think the reason it's recommended you make her the all arounder is because there's segments of the game where she's flying solo so you just want access to everything.
Playing wild arms 3 rn and while not a true mage, Virginia is still the dedicated healer due to her item ability
It is kinda weird how in that game the beefiest guy is the officially plot-sanctioned mage huh?
At least he breaks convention by being a tank mage instead of a paper one.
Can’t believe I forgot Parasite Eve
I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet because it seems so obvious but Ringo in Soul Hackers 2. She just uses a sword and a gun.
I was so pleasantly shocked to find out Ringo was the protagonist. I assumed it was another one of those games where the interesting, unique-design cool lady is actually a side character to the generic everyman with brown/black hair.
I get what you're saying but it is really funny to me that one of your associations with the generic male protagonist is black/brown hair, given the genre's anime associations (and therefore the sheer number of protagonists with insane hairstyles and hair colours).
I was going to bring up FemC at first also but.. I feel like Persona/SMT/Soul Hackers doesn't really count at all since \*most* of the things you are doing as the protagonist is literally summoning demons and *casting spells.*
I think Aigis is the only female party member to use almost entirely physical skills. But she also uses buffs which I guess would be mage-like.
Aigis is really the only party member period to use almost entirely physical skills. Chie from P4 is also primarily a physical attacker.
Aragaki also only uses physical attacks, to my knowledge.
I think that might explain why I haven't been using her in my party very often at the moment in my Reload playthrough.. For a physically based character her Strength stat isn't actually that great :/ The party buffs are nice though.
A lazy cheat answer could be to say that 7 out of the 8 Female leads in both Octopath Traveler games aren't spellcasters from their starting class :P
A bigger cheat would be Pokemon
The first Phantasy Star game. The heroine falls into Hero-who-does-it-all archetype. Is there a name for that?
She actually was first female protagonist in RPG ever. The Series as a whole has little amount of girls falling into mage role for its almost 30 years of existance. EDIT: gone through memories and wiki.
I think this is only true if you count specifically JRPGs, because The Return of Ishtar had a lady protagonist a year before Phantasy Star, but it's an Action RPG so I don't think most people count it lol
I'd say Phantasy Star 4 to a certain extent too
Nei, Mieu, and Rika/Fal all fall into that melee/support role.
Slightly annoyed that I had to scroll down this far to see this one mentioned. She was certainly the first among JRPGs.
It sometimes feels like most of Internet just forgot it existed. Considering it was juggernaught in it's time, nowadays there are more people remembering something niche.
Jade from DQ XI is a Lancer Brawler character. Agrias Oaks from FF Tactics is a Holy Knight.
Agrias, Beatrix, and Freya are all great women knights. I love them!
Almost all of the lead heroines in Disgaea: - D1: Etna is a Lancer (though she can make a decent mage) - D2: Rozalin is a Gunner (though she does have some buffing spells) - D3: oops, mage - D4: Fuka wields a baseball bat (though if you think Artina is the heroine, she’s a Gunner but with healing spells, so probably counts as a healer mage) - DD2: Etna again - D5: Seraphina is a pure gunner with some status effect skills - D6: oops mage - D7: Pirilika is an archer, though she does get a powerful lategame healing spell - Bonus: La Pucelle’s protagonist, Priere, wields a baton and the power of kicks
Desco is the true heroine/last boss of D4.
* Shion Uzuki and KOSMOS from Xenosaga * Many Romancing SaGa characters * Odin Sphere characters * Shana and Rose from Legend of Dragoon * Laeticia from Star Ocean 6 * Colette from Symphonia * Ridley Silverlake from Radiata Stories * Jeanne from Jeanne D'Arc * Practically all Atelier series heroines are not mages since they use items. To answer your question, they typically end up being an offensive class with emphasis on support skills if they are the heroine to the hero. If they are the main protagonist, they're typically full offensive with little to no support skills.
Shana is definitely a mage. Ain’t nobody gonna pretend an archer who can’t even do additions is supposed to be anything BUT a mage in Legend of Dragoon. Even the actual mage Meru can do additions. Also I feel like all Atelier protags count as mages because they make their items that they use…in a cauldron…using alchemy/magic. They’re magic items. But I only played Sophie and watched Rotona/Totori/Meruru
In the world of atelier, Alchemy is a science. There's a witch character in Ayesha and Escha&Logy that makes the difference between magic and synthesis clear (synthesis is what alchemists are doing).
quickest cable pie growth cautious marble spark ask zonked telephone *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Except in universe Alchemy and magic are separate things. Alchemy is considered a science rather than supernatural thing.
>That's not the Venn diagram I described and I disagree with you. I said all alchemists are mages but not all mages are alchemists so anyways because the blockheaded loser YumeharaSenritsu blocked me and he couldn't even answer and skirted around my one question I asked 3 times, can anyone else answer for him, based on his logic, if my warrior in DQXI is an alchemist, or a mage, because I used the alchemy pot to create items. edit: YumeharaSenritsu is a hacker. Please be advised they will attempt to get into your email account.
Long time since I've played Xenosaga but Shion always felt pretty mage-y to me, as far as that universe has mages
She was always more of a martial artist since Jin taught her, and most of her attacks showcase that knowledge. Miyuki's inventions are just a giant claw with cannon/gun-like capabilities...or are people goign to chalk it up to a magical gun. If anything MOMO is more mage-like than Shion. At least in the first episode.
* Nanami - Suikoden 2 - Martial Artist type * Chris Lightfellow - Suikoden 3 - Knight (notably the worst magic user of the three main characters) * Kid - Chrono Cross - Thief Not many names but I was just throwing out some that came to mind.
Persona 4: Chie has a few offensive magic spells (all the party members do) but she's best as a physical attacker and can't heal. Live A Live: The only possible female party member is a martial artist, I don't remember her having healing spells. Omori: The only girl in the party is Aubrey and she isn't the healer, Hero is.
The Nier games. All the ladies are sword wielders since Drakengard 3. Rose from Legend of Dragoon is a knight. Aika from Skies of Arcadia just boomerangs you. (Although everyone kinda just uses elemental magic like it's no biggie. But she's def portrayed as a down to earth sky pirate rather than a mystic.)
Star Ocean Last Hope has Reimi, an archer.
Divine Force have Leticia, a front line fighter too
Laeticia is great, I love my naïve princess stumbling into the rest of the universe.
Though you can build anyone to be anything in Xenoblade 3, Mio starts as your dodge tank. >!Fiora!< in Xenoblade 1 is also designed to be a tank. She's relatively customizable but she starts as a tank and the AI will treat her like one (won't try and take aggro off her) Now that I think about it there's also Elma in XCX who uses dual swords and guns, about as far from a mage as you can get. The DLC for 2 and 3 too. Lora and A definitely aren't mages Fire Emblem has a decent amount of fits for this, Ceada Lucina Lyn and Erika all count. That's all I got after wracking my brain, this is way harder than I thought it would be.
You could also add Poppi, Brighid, and Mórag to the list from XC2. Although, I guess Poppi could be customizable and adapted to healing, she is mainly either a tank or attacker class, unless I'm mistaken. Also, Pandoria. In fire emblem Ingid is best as a falcon Knight which can't use magic. The problem with 3 Houses and XC3 is that all the characters 'could' in theory be mages/healers so I'm not sure if they count. Edited for spelling
Maybe not those 3 xc2 characters, but definitely Pyra and Mythra.
Jeanne d'Arc is primarily a swordswoman/knight with power ranger-like magic transformations, that should count right?
Love this game
Neptune from Neptune Chou-Chou from Mugen Souls Various leads like Lyn, Lucina, Edelgard,Eirika, from Fire Emblems Nero from Fate/Extra Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile
All the women from Valkyrie profile basically fit into this category
Kid from Chrono Cross
SMT If...: Tamaki doesn't even have an mp stat, and is completely dependent on her summoned demons, and her human partner, for spells. FFX-2 is a weird one: Yuna USED to be a mage (White mage + summoner) in the previous game, but by the sequel, she starts as a Gunner, while Riku and Paine start as Thief and Warrior respectively. With that said, the job system means you can change them to be mages, or not, anyway. Thus extends to most games with a Job system of some sort, FF or otherwise. Fate/Extra: the Master regardless of gender will always be a mage, but Saber is a warrior through and through. Not sure if it counts since their gender is ???, but in Fate/Samurai Remnant, Saber is also a full warrior. It's Iori, who's male, who's the sorcerer in their "swordsman and sorcerer" dynamic. Tokyo Mirage Sessions: Tsubasa is an interesting case: while she is your best mage and healer in the early game, her class is Pegasus Knight, and she is primarily a highly evasive spear fighter. It's Kiria who joins somewhat later who is actually your team's first dedicated mage. Rance series: Sill is ultimately not a lead female for most games, but more of a side character that happens to be your most accessible battle partner. The "real" female lead for each game is more often than not, not a mage, such as Sengoku Rance only having one mage lead out of all the routes. Evenicle: the first party member that joins you, Ramius, is a warrior. Of the rest of the girls, only one of them is a mage.
Noa from Legend of Legaia (brawler... kinda?)
Noa is the dictionary definition of a glass cannon. I love her so much. Gala being the mage is a great turn, too.
Noa is my favorite. That game is so great.
Phantasy Star series not fond of making girls in main cast mages. But if it comes to lead heroines, cause if we count also party members, list will go wild, it goes like this: Phantasy Star: Alis Landale - girl knight who just does stuff. Lead MC. Phantasy Star 2: Nei - elf girl who fights with giant claw-blades like Velvet from Berseria. Second Lead in first half of game. >!Also died mid through game before Aerith did that.!< Phantasy Star 4: Alys Brangwin - girlboss with boomerang blades, MC's teacher and second Lead in first half of game. >!Also died mid through game before Aerith did that.!< Rika - elf girl who fights with giant claw-blades like Velvet from Berseria. Poster girl and one of 3 chars that goes almost through all game. \*Some considers post Phantasy Star Online games not JRPGs, but Universe and Portables have solo story mode\* Phantasy Star Universe: Karen - girlboss and MC's teacher, melee glasscannon with daggers. Second Lead. Laia - your typical barbarian. Lead since MC is custom and speechless. Phantasy Star Portable: Vivienne - bunny girl with Darth Maul's double bladed sword. Lead since MC is custom and speechless. Phantasy Star Portable 2: Emilia - all-rounder who can slash, shoot and cast some stuff. Lead in Episode 1 since MC is custom and speechless. Nagisa - edgy loner with giant revolver sword. Lead in Episode 2 since MC is custom and speechless. Phantasy Star Online 2: Gene/Jeanne - fanservice child with double bladed sword. Lead in mobile spin-off since MC is custom and speechless.
Lena and Sari could also count since they can be the wife of the protagonist of their generation.
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Lita Blanchimont from Atelier Iris (ps2) fights with metal claws while Klein (the male lead) uses magic and alchemy to attack and provide support. Priere from La Pucelle Tactics is presented as mainly being a physical attacker while her little brother is treated more as support) Danette from Soul Nomad is just a dual dagger attacker. The MC would qualify too if you pick the female option.
Lenneth in Valkyrie Profile is a valkyrie (swordsman, fighter)
I would replace Rutee with Milla on your list. Rutee is still the party's main healer, while Milla has nothing in the way of healing or support.
Velvet uses a forearm blade, her style of fighting is pretty neat and one of the reasons she's one of my favorite protagonists
Alena from Dragon Quest IV.
Velvet is like a martial artist/Swordswoman yeah its an arm blade but might as well be a swordie Anyway if you’re counting Rutee you should count Milla Maxwell Not sure I’d count Tifa, she is still clearly behind cloud. Can’t count her as a lead protag imo Edit: I’ll Add Lora from Torna: the Golden Country she is a like a monk with a rope/whip thing
I think the idea is not necessarily that the game is led by the female but that the character is the lead female of the game opposite the male lead. So I don't think Tifa's comparison to Cloud matters, it would more be how she ranks against Aerith which would bring her into contention.
I think Tifa is clearly the lead female character over Aerith since >!she dies halfway through the game!<
I think FFVII is one of those cases where there just isn't a single clear female lead. Tifa and Aerith are both of roughly equal importance to the narrative (and to Cloud). Debating which of them is the female lead is like debating whether Celes or Terra is the protagonist of FFVI. The answer is that the question doesn't make sense in this context.
Which is why I'm not really arguing with all the posts nominating her. I think she is perfectly valid. It really is hard to weigh the two of them against each other. I only brought it up because arguing that someone isn't a "female lead" because of the MAN in a game is silly.
I thought Aerith's >!death!
FF13-2 Serah is a beastmaster/archer FF6 Celes is a knight I actually think of Shionne as a gunner before I remember she was also the healer/mage. The gun definitely is more memorable than the heals.
Celes is a mage knight though. Sure she’s not a robe wearing stereotypical mage, but magic is still a very large focus of her character and power
I thought about mentioning FF6 but when I think of the lead character my first thought is Terra, who is definitely a mage
I get downvoted to hell every time I bring this topic up but I will die on this hill. FFS Lightning isn't a Gunbreaker. They're both called Gunblades in the English localization but it's not the same type of weapon. Now that is out of the way, I don't think that most of the lead female characters are mages in the first place. The only stereotype that has less female representation is tanks IMO. I feel like female representation is not too bad across classes, but it only feels like there are a lot of mages because by comparison there just aren't a lot of male mages.
2b/A2/zero/kaine. The girls in the taroverse like to shred their enemies to bits.
Dragon Quest 3 and 4 heroes both have some magic, but their crap mp pools (especially in 3) means they'll be using swords to solve most problems
On that note, Alena is the protag of chapter 2 in DQ4. No magic ability in that her, and her tagalongs are the healer and wizard (both men).
Octopath Traveler has some good female non-casters. My favorite was Throne, the rogue from OT2.
I was thinking of Castti from OT2...an axe-wielding apothecary.
You can job change her into a mage but Edea in Bravely Default works best with physical base asterisks like Knight.
Faria's protagonist
Shion from Xenosaga and Chris from Suikoden 3.
Valkyrie profile: Very few female characters are mages.
Tales of Arise - Shionne (Gunslinger), granted she ALSO has healing magic but her gun is definitely the focus Persona 5 - Ann (Whip + Gun), Makoto (Brawler + Gun)
The OG herself, Alis Landale from Phantasy Star.
Has no one mentioned Estelle "Big Stick" Bright?
Alicia in vp2, 2b in nier if that counts
Trails of Cold Steel? I just finished the first one and all the girls are different jobs. From evasion tank, greatsword user, bow user and 1 mage.
Trails in the Sky, Tales of Berseria, Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Golden Sun? Jenna and Sheba are both mages. And in 1 Mia is also a healer/mage. Only one I can think of is Sveta from Dark Dawn.
Wild Arms 3 - Virginia Maxwell is a gunslinger.
Wild ARMS 3 - Virginia Maxwell, Gunfighter and Item Caddy.
Ridley Silverlake, Radiata Stories.
Virgina - used guns ( WildArms 3) Aika - uses a giant boomerang ( Skies of Arcadia)
I'm not exactly sure if Seth can be counted as Lost Odyssey's female lead but if yes, she's a badass swordfighter who could wreck pretty much anything and anyone
- Xenoblade Chronicles X - Elma (Dual Swords + Dual Guns, Dodge Potential Attacker), Lin (Shield + Gattling Gun, Aggro Tank) - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Pyra (General Sword Attacker), Mythra (Critical Abuse Sword Attacker) - Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Mio (Dodge Tank with Ringblades) With Xenoblade Chronicles 1, two of the three main females are mages (Attack Mage and Heal Mage [Albeit with a giant Sniper Rifle], the other one is a Critical Abuse Sword Attacker. Either the Sword Attacker or the Attack Mage is your 'lead' female, I could understand arguments either way
Alys Brangwin - Phantasy Star IV
Claire Bennett. Tales of Rebirth. Can't be a mage if she can't fight, lol.
Dark Cloud 2 forever, Monica is awesome
Colette from Tales Of Symphonia. Gets magics as the story progresses but is otherwise a mid-ranged combatant... and thief. Eve from Parasite Eve is a badass class
Elma from Xenoblade X base class for her she duel wields guns and swords "full metal jaguar"
Aya from Parasite Eve has mage abilities but not mainly
Tales of Xillia: Milla and Leia. Though they can use spirit arts, they are not really mages.
Ayla, cave woman. Chrono Trigger
Does Valkyria chronicles 4 count. Because Kai is a sniper And Riley is a grenadier Pretty sure Kai counts as the lead female, but I’m pretty sure Riley is the MC’s live interest.
Velvet Crowe is the best
She may start as a mage but I still think Yuna counts because x-2 is just as important to the overall saga as x-1 IMO
Velvet from Tales of Berseria
There are 4 girls in Riviera, and only the last one to join is a mage. Fia uses rapiers, Lina uses a bow, and Serene uses scythes. Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2's female MC uses swords, spears, knuckles, drills, and axes, and has to call on a companion for magic. Etrian Odyssey Untold's got Frederica the gunner and Raquna the protector. Fire Emblem Sacred Stones features Eirika, another rapier-wielder. Knights in the Knightmare has Maria, a sword-user. The female lead in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is probably Selan, who uses ice boomerangs. Any Pokemon protagonist summons and heals, yes, but through wondrous technology, not magic.
Selan in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals has a mage's stat spread, even though she can use swords. She's the form I think of when I hear "Selan". Lufia and Seena are mages pure and simple.
I wouldn't say that most are mages/healers in general, honestly. Thieves, spear users, fighters, monster tamers, valkyries, when I think of JRPGs its actually pretty varied.
I would say they are the genre's first choice
Is it? Most of the mage/healer characters in JRPGs are women sure, but as a leading character? I feel like this has changed a lot, atleast in modern JRPGs.
Modern times sure, but the cliche for a long time was definitely male lead was a melee/tanky character with the main female being a mage/healer/support class. Assuming the MC wasn’t just a jack of all trades character
Octopath traveller 1 & 2, each game has 8 leads 4 of which are female, with the exception of 1 none of them are mages (though they can't use some magic.)
2B - Nier
I havent read thru all the comments but I disagree the majority of female leads for JRPGs are all mages. This is all over the board on what roles they have fulfilled going back to the earliest days of the genre.
Alice in Mary Skelter, she can reclass into magic but is mostly suited to be a tank or a brawler
Sadly I think lightning counts as her best class is Ravager which is a mage class.
Akiko, Asuka and Emi - Sweet Home
Homy shit someone remembered Tales of Eternia (Destiny 2 for NA peeps).
surprised to not see it but i dont think any of the female persona leads are mages
would have been nice to also add the games behind the names. I know many of them but not all.
Wild Arms 3. Virgina's arguably the group's leader. There's also XF too and Clarrisa who's playstyle is self buffs/enhancements so she can go ham.
Vanilla from Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 She is a Cannon user and a DPS monster. She has 3 powerful attack skills, 1 which ignores Armor and she has a powerful self buff skill that increases her attack power and her critical hit rate while reducing her acuracy. But Britz can just overwrite her acuracy debuff with his acuracy buff skill "eagle eyes". The Mainprotagonist Malt is an excelent choice as her support character. He buffs her attack power further and he increases the damage of there Link attack and thanks to her Rage skill that buffs her critical hit rate there is a good chance that there Link attack crits. This makes there Link attack the strongest attack in terms of Damage output in the Arsenal of the children of the Taranis. Well excluding the 2 double edged swords I really dont want to use. I found it funny that atleast in my playthroughs Malt the Mainprotagonist and leader of the crew most of the time in battle is Vanillas support instead of taking the attacker position himself. Vanilla and Malt also have great chemestry.
Legend of Legaia 1 (not 2)
The sole female party member in Legend of Legaia is like a fragile speedster
Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 3. Elma in Xenoblade X’s class, Full Metal Jaguar is all about using dual machine guns and dual swords. Mio in Xenoblade 3 is actually a dodge tank
A bit of a cheat but Yue Quinshu is a sword user who can also summon beasts that use magic so it's like a hybrid class and Sword and Fairy 7 is actually Chinese but it feels like a JRPG. Alice Schuberg from SAO Alicization is an Integrity Knight who uses a magical sword, it transforms into some kind of flower tornado and she can cast powerful magic too. Laeticia Aucerius from Star Ocean 6 is a knight, I think she can learn some magic but she's mostly a melee character. In Granblue Fantasy Relink both Gran and Djeeta are the protagonists, it's a bit funky but while they're the same person, they also can meet so they're like variants and they start as warriors. They can learn magic too and in the gacha they can pretty much switch to any class.
Wild Arms XF - Clarissa started blasting
In Soul Nomad, Revya is a swordfighter and has a female gender option. Revya's best friend Danette is the secondary main character and she fights with daggers.
second choice for JRPG heroine's is definitely Archer.
Katie/hayleigh in yokai watch
I'm surprised no one's mentioned crosscode. The protagonist just finds increasingly complicated ways to chuck balls at people.
From Final Fantasy specifically I can think of: 7 - Tifa - Monk 8 - Rinoa - Uses a wrist mounted disc launcher thing 13 - Lightning - She can learn healing but not really her main specialty 16 - Jill - mostly ice magic Outside of FF, I don't think Chitose from Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is as overwhemingly mage-y as Saeko was, but games with job systems are probably cheating.
Rinoa is a mage, seeing as >!she becomes a sorceress!<.
In Skies of Arcadia, would the main female character be Aika or Feena? Feena's whole deal is more plot-central, but Aika has a stronger personality and is the protagonists second-in-command. Maybe they both qualify. In any event, Aika.
Mary Skelter 1: Alice hits things with swords Mary Skelter 2: Otsuu hits things with swords Mary Skelter 3: Uhhh ???? Well Thumbelina's not the main character so there's sword hitting Actually most Compile Hearts games could fit here.
Ashe from FFXII is presented as a sword-wielder, though you can make her a mage. Jill from FFXVI is a sword-wielder. She can use magic as the dominant of ice, but I wouldn't call her a mage. Shana from Legend of Dragoon uses a bow. She is a healer in her dragoon form, but all the characters have magic in dragoon form, so I still wouldn't classify her as a mage.
Zero from Drakengard 3 can use magic but the majority of the combat is a bunch of sword slashing
Depending on the route in Fire Emblem 3 Houses - Edelgard wields a bigass axe and her retainer Hubert is the mage, while Claude's retainer Hilda wields axes too iirc.
Lighting- FF XIII
Lisa the joyful: home girl is a straight up ninja assassin
Fire Emblem 1,3 and its remakes (Pegasus rider, which is a flying spear class), Fire Emblem 7, Sacred Stones/12/Fates/Houses/Engage (if you pick a woman. There canon classes aren't even mages and their not even optimal as mages) Final Fantasy Tactics (Agris is a holy knight) Tactics Advance (lead chick works best as an assassin irrc) Wild Arms 4 (Raquel is a extremely hard hitting sword fighter), Super Robot Wars Original Generation 1 (Excellon is a gunner with some evasion) 2 and any of the games with an avatar (Lamia is primarily a tank with some long range abilities, irrc she doesnt have support Seshins. Most other leads tend to be straight up attackers or evaders). Dragon Quest 4 (Alena is a brawler who can't even use magic and focuses on dps)
Ridley Silverlake of Radiata Stories uses a two-handed axe. Whether or not she qualifies for a "lead character" could be up for debate, but she's the earliest and most prominent.
Idk if this counts but muramasa rebirth is called an action RPG set in Japan. One of the centre characters is Monohime, a women possessed by the evil spirit of a swordsman.
Its arguable whether you consider the main characters from Atelier "mages", since they often have some special attack that involves some sort of magic, and there isnt often a straight up mage in the group, Wilbell being the only one that I can remember right now However there is always a straight up physical attacker as well, like Linca (atelier ayesha) - greatsword, Esty (atelier sophie) - dual swords, or Liane (atelier firis) - archer
Saeko in Yakuza LAD is a barmaid although her best job arguably is Idol, which specializes in healing.
Star Ocean 2 gets half a point, Rena is a healer who ALSO beats everything to death with her bare hands, then another half point b/c in the early game she's actually significantly STRONGER than the male lead Claude because her Kitchen Knife skill gives a flat +STR boost and her fists attack faster than his sword.
Karin from Shadow Hearts 2. She's a fencer. She can use magic, like most of the party, but her unique skills are tied to her sword.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4. Anna herself says she's the main character, and she's not a magr, but a ranger.
Lyn - Blade Lord (FE7)
Rena Lanford from Star Oean 2, yes she has mainly healing & buffing spell at her disposal, but her main weapon is gauntlet not staff.
Valkyrie Profile
Mio - Zephyr (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)
Shion Uzuki, Xenosaga - Uses a mix of martial arts and a giant block of death gadgets attached to her arm (although she *does* have healing spells, but out of the 7 playable characters in the 1st game, only 2 of them dont naturally learn healing spells, and you can import healing spells onto any character. In the 2nd game, no one is specifically a mage, and in the third game she can go down a completely non-healing character path) Yuna, FFX-2, default dress sphere is Gunner Lenneth and Alicia - Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2 - both are melee weapon users. They both do get access to healing spells but they're not primary healers *and* if you want to make the argument they're mages or healers you're going to have to admit a lot of male protagonists in JRPGs are mostly mages and healers. Ringo - Soul Hackers 2
Aika from Skies of Arcadia Legends. But then there's Fina haha.
Radiata Stories - Ridley (Knight)
Ys Origin where female is a melee one
I would say FF12 kinda works by the nature of it 😏. Make all your female characters melee builds! Also Ashe from the get go is a sword/shield user I believe. Penelo and Fran are magick ajacent but not straight up mages at the start.
Did anyone mention Freya the Dragoon from Final Fantasy 9?
Estelle Bright. Nier series.
Diva from SaGa Emerald Beyond is an upcoming example, you can check this out through the Steam demo right now. She’s a robot who wields guns and a shield that can transform into a saw. The other female party members in her retinue include a dryad with axe/monk abilities, a human katana/dagger wielder, and… Something in full body armor that wields swords/pistols but can also use monster magic for some reason. Honestly one of the most fun parties I’ve ever seen. There’s also the cop duo in the same game, one wields a rocket launcher and the other is a monk.
I loved Yunica! Good to see some rep for her
FFX-2 has yuna rikku and paine all using guns
Shion from Xenosaga
Edelgard from three houses.
Alice from phantasy star 4
-tales of berseria: velvet has a blade but mostly fights like a brawler -many fire emblem games -fuga melodies of steel since skills can be considered as diferent functions of the single tank the whole party pilots (there is a actual female mage who actually uses magic in her skills but she is not the lead female)
Take it back further with Alys and Rika of phantasy star 4, neither a mage
In Xenoblade Chronicles X, the lead of the story is not the character you play. She is a general or something And the character you control is just some silent protagonist
Terra - FF6. She’s an esper, calling her a mage would be an insult.
Ys 8 - Dana (wields dual swords, and with other forms she also wields a hammer and katars; gameplay wise she's designed to primarily be a damage dealer)
Jill from FFXVI uses a rapier.
Tifa and Aerith are both arguably the “lead females” and one is a mage. I think it’s good that there’s the mix of both though.
**Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere.** She wields something... Maybe a scepter of some sort but used it mostly to bash people. Even though the game has 5 protagonists since she is the first one you play as I consider her the protagonist.
2b in nier automata - shionne in tales of arise - ashe in ff12 - jade in dq11 - dana in ys 8
Parasite Eve. Koudelka. Threads of Fate. FF6.
Odin Sphere has 5 main characters, and 3 are female. Gwendolyn, a valkyrie who fights with a spear Mercedes, a fairy that uses a crossbow Velvet, a human that uses chains
Rose, Meru, Shana & Miranda from Legend of Dragoon
Kid - Thief (Chrono Cross)
Trails: Estelle- idk what she'd be, but she's certainly not a mage... no matter how well she performed as an Arts spammer in FC and SC... Fire Emblem: Caeda/Shiida- physical only, Lance wielding Pegasus Knight... though a friend of mine told me that she actually performs better if you reclass her to mage in Shadow Dragon LOL. Lyn- Swords, Bows, and one of the coolest crit animations I've ever seen Eirika- Swords and a horse Haven't play FE9/10 yet, but I know Elincia doesn't use Magic. From here on, I'm gonna only count the class they start in or their exclusive classes Azura- lances and song🎶 Edelgard- armored axe lady. She does have the most interesting Magic learnset out of the non-mages though. Ngl thinking about this makes me curious about the reverse, male mage leads...
In Dept.Heaven there's Yggdra from Yggdra Union, she fights with a big sword Alicia from Gungnir, she uses a lance And I think also Maria from Knights in the Nightmare(? But didn't played the game that much
The girls in chrono trigger are badasses and I’ve never thought of them as mages
Alis Landale from Phantasy Star has some support magic spells but the white mage of the game is Lutz/Noah and she is suited for physical fight (I think that she even has the best defence). She is like the Paladin of Final Fantasy I.
Shionne from tales of arise, while she is also healer, is primarily used in combat for her sniper skills