A random question here. I’ve been thinking about the female characters in video games, and giving some thought to “why people like,” but then I realized that I ought to get some feedback from more people.
Who is your favorite female video game protagonist (or otherwise a playable character) and why?
Or if you like, favorite that hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread.
Samus from Metroid. Because gender doesn’t matter for storytelling.
Not really a protagonis or playable charatcer but TRISS MERIGOLD from The Witcher 2 .
I think Lara Croft, she’s got all.
I’ll mess up your data by presenting my favorite antagonist instead, and that is (of course) GlaDOS.
Lara Croft for me…At least sometimes…The why is because she transcended her Boobs…and with the immature culture we have, much less gamers, that took some serious charisma/story/gameplay to do so. The latest version of Lara more so than the older version.
although Samus is a very good choice as well…
Kate Walker from Syberia, Alice from American McGee’s Alice =)
+1
But my personal favorite is Abigail from The Witcher 1
Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3. She’s likable, has great VA and is very realistic in terms of mannerisms and dialog.
Shepard 
Oh yeah, Lara Croft is hot 
Ms. Pac-Man.
Just wait for Yennifer in witcher 3. She was my favorite character in books, hopefully they translate her to new game as good as they did with Geralt.
For mine i vote for Skyrim with mods, because customizing possibilities are almost endless.
Second place is Syren from Borderlands, she was so badass with 2 SMGs.
I have to go with Jade from Beyond Good & Evil. Just love that game.
I find this sort of question very interesting. Here are a few points I’ve considered for this question.
1: Sometimes, one’s favorite character isn’t necessarily a good or even well-written character. Samus (from Metroid) and Chell (from Portal) are very popular characters, but the characters’ personalities are mostly implied.
2: It’s pretty common for protagonists to have weak characterizations, presumably to allow the player to self-insert. Regardless of gender, I’d argue that most protagonists aren’t strongly characterized enough to be evaluated as interesting characters.
3: Because of 2, the most well-developed and interesting characters tend to be important characters other than the protagonist.
I think a lot of us would find this question MUCH easier if we included important characters other than the protagonist.
Still, to answer the question, I’d say that some of my favorites are:
Shepard (her voice actress conveys her so well!),
the nameless character from They Bleed Pixels, and
GLaDOS. I know, it’s kind of cheating, but it really feels like GLaDOS is the ’ character’ of the Portal series, even though you don’t play as her.
#1 Alyx Vance, Half-life 2: I mean seriously, Gordon would have no idea what he was doing without her leading the way, she’s always there before you get there and she was written very realistically as being brave to a fault.
#2 Elizabeth, Bioshock Infinite: Elizabeth is the character of Bioshock Infinite, not Booker. I really can’t get into why I think she is so deep and well-designed without spoiling a lot.
#3 Etna, Disgaea series: Hilarious little girl with a foul mouth and a bad attitude toward everything. Great voice acting and dialog reveal how much thought was put into making her rude, but likable.
My least favorite female character is Sophia Lamb, Bioshock 2: She was shoehorned into the story without any mention of the character in Bioshock (even though she is apparently a major politician who knew Fontain). Just a general communist staw-man antagonist with some tacked on “maternal instincts” for flavor; not very complex or well written.
Tiny Tina in Borderlands 2 is pretty funny and different from any other female character I’ve seen in games before.
Does SHODAN from system shock 2 count as a female?
Kate Archer - without a doubt. Probably one of the best written female protagonists in a game ever.
If you don’t know who that is, I think you’ve missed out on two of the greatest games ever made (and never got enough credit for how ahead of their time they were) 
The older version of Lara croft, Mona Sax and Jill Valentine, of course, all hard womans with guns.
ouch, yes i don’t remember yeaa good game.
Clementine - The Walking Dead
Reluctant, sometimes powerless protagonists are the best.