Okami
Patient Gamers
A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
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If you accept games where you fully create the character, you've got a ton of RPGs. Baldur's gate, elder scrolls, arcanum, fallout.
Eien no Filena on the SNES/SFC (it was Japan-only but it's been fan-translated).
Not only is the protagonist a woman - that fact is repeatedly plot-relevant.
I'll recommend a few from different genres:
- Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (later FE games also allowed the player to choose between male and female)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (or Bloodstained: RotN for a newer, but aging, game)
- A Hat In Time (not sure if this is really that old but it's an amazing platformed)
- any Touhou game
- Life Is Strange (again, not sure if you'd consider this old)
Ms. Pacman :)
Cult: Heretic Kingdoms
Fantastic RPG game, with a badass female protagonist.
Wet is a fun game if you can handle the loading screens.
Venetica
A roleplaying game with a female hero and an interesting story:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/338140/Venetica__Gold_Edition/
another classic i totally forgot existed, thanks for reminding me
One of my top 3 JRPGs, Star Ocean: The Second Story, has a remake coming out early November. In the beginning of the game, you get the choice to play as one of the main characters, a male or a female, each of whom has their own story arc and exclusive party members that can be found during the playthrough.
- Broken Age - point & click
- Little Dew - ARPG/Zelda-like
- most RPGs with character selection (Elder Scrolls, Mount & Blade)
- Raven's Hike - puzzle/platforming
- Shantae - platformer
I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet.
Final Fantasy 6. There are technically several protagonists, but the one with the better claim to "main protagonist" is a woman.
Also, Heaven's Vault isn't an old game, but it's not very well known or talked about, so I'll throw it in anyway.
Erica
The Syberia Series
The Longest Journey
Gone Home
Virginia
What remains of Edith Finch
Beyond Good and Evil
Gabriel Knight 3 has shared protagonists that you switch between; one is a woman.
Likewise some of the Broken Sword series
Talos Principle is either non-gendered or whatever you want the protagonist to be.
The first Blair Witch game from 2000
Everyone's gone to the Rapture
Also, holla at whoever said "No One Lives Forever"; that game rules.
Most of my suggestions were already mentioned, but PN03 & darkened skye come to mind.
Pedantry aside, if you count the option of selecting a female character, trickstyle, borderlands, super mario bros 2, vigilante 8 second offense, tony hawk 3 (4, underground and probably any in this series but I haven't played them lol)