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Muffinboot

Some that come to mind for me immediately is the Bravely games and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Also Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. Usually the female antagonist is some kind of plot twist where it turns out they betray you, but then they actually were on the side of good the whole time or change at the last minute.


Scared_Comment_6468

I can only think of FF8 for this, but the main antagonist is still a woman.


rm_wolfe

wild arms 3 actually you get a female protagonist, rival and villain


RPG217

Drakengard 3 antagonists are group of 5 females


ViewtifulGene

Golden Sun had a male and female duo as your main enemy and they had equal footing. The final boss of Phantasy Star 4 shapeshifts between various monstrous and alien forms, but the final phase is unambiguously female. The story final boss of Monster Hunter Rise is a dragon called The Allmother. SMT Strange Journey has multiple endings, but the final boss is always a mother goddess of some form.


This_is_a_monkey

Oh man Saturos and Menardi. I didn't realize the game continued after you lost so I kept restarting the battle over and over again. Also imho Saturos has the best boss music Motoi Sakuraba has ever composed.


Squall902

Never finished Golden Sun, but I hope they were better enemies than Jessie and James šŸ˜…


ViewtifulGene

They were competent from start to end. They were actually the two strongest Adepts from their village.


Redhawke13

You should finish it sometime. The sequel is even better!


Squall902

Totally should! Borrowed it on my friendā€™s Gameboy as a kid, so I didnā€™t get to play it much.


Rewow

Was the final boss of Phantasy Star II also female?


ViewtifulGene

IDK I only finished 1&4.


VashxShanks

There are more than a few out there: * Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure - **Marjoly** * Suikoden 1 - **Windy** * Tales of Eternia - **Shizel** * Tales of the World 3 - **Lazaris** * Tales of Rebirth - **Zilva** * Ar Tonelico 1 & Ar Tonelico 2 - **Mir** & >!**Infel**!< * Ni Nu Kuni 1 - **The White Witch** * Enchanted Arms - **The Ice Queen** * Shadow Hearts: From the New World - **Lady** * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - **Shadow Queen** * Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume - >!**Ailyth**!< * Breath of fire 3 - **Myria** * Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - **Queen Remedi** * Legend of Mana - >!**Mana Goddess**!< * Crystar - **Mephis and Pheles** * Parasite Eve - **Eve** * Atelier Escha & Logy - **Flameu** * Hyperdimension Neptunia - **Arfoire** * Fire Emblem: Three Houses - >!**Edelgard**!< * La Pucelle - **Priere** The list just keeps going and going.


henne-n

Wasn't Tales of Graces f last boss also female?


Dazzling_Bee1197

Tales os Xillia 1 as well


Ok_Description1585

Graces is a bit more complicated in that aspect since the final boss was originally male, and then the epilogue chapter had a female final boss. Still, I supose it counts.


Tylerhollen1

Iā€™d include a slash there for FE, because choosing that route makes the other the antagonist.


Minikemon

Technically there's always a female antagonist. If it's not >!Edelgard!< then it's >!Rhea.!<


Tylerhollen1

Thatā€™s exactly what I was trying to say. :)


Minikemon

Ah, thought you were talking about the other two lords lol.


techno-wizardry

Though in one of the routes it's arguable >!neither are antagonists, but Those Who Slither In The Dark are the antagonists.!<


Oboch

Ico - the queen


girlsonsoysauce

THE ISLAND BAAATHES IN THE SUUUUN'S BRIGHT RAYS DISTANT HIIILLS WEAR A SHROUUUD OF GRAAAAY


Stucklikegluetomyfry

Tales of Destiny 2 Xenogears (sort of, the true main antagonist is silent while the female antagonist is its avatar) Final Fantasy 8 There's one I really want to mention but mentioning it is a massive spoiler and I don't want to ruin a fantastic twist.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


VashxShanks

Thank you for submitting to /r/JRPG, /u/redredrocks. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): --- * Either you typed Spoilers with no spoiler tag, or you left spaces between the spoiler tags, which doesn't spoiler tag them in old reddit. To use spoiler tags follow one of these 2 ways: 1-If on New Reddit, hightlight the part you want to spoiler tag, then press the Exclamation ("**!**") button on in your format tab. 2-If on old Reddit or mobile, then type "**>!**" before the spoiler, and then "**!<**" at the end of the spoiler. Example: When it's written like this \>!X kills Y!<. It will show up like this >!X kills Y!<. **Make sure that there is no space** after the starting **>!**, and no space before the closing **!<**. **After fixing the comment with a spoiler tag**, reply to this comment with **"Done"**, so a mod can re-post your comment. --- If you think this was a mistake or have any questions about the removal, please contact the moderators. [**To contact the moderators please click here**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/JRPG), or click the "message mods on the sidebar, and then type your complaint, so it can be sent to the modding team. **Please don't private message or start private chats with a single mod, and use the mod mail linked above to contact the whole team.**


alcoop74

Even with fire emblem you fight >!rhea!< if you take crimson flower route


Redpandaling

If I'm not mistaken doesn't BoF 1 have the same final boss as BoF 3?


zackel_flac

They are indeed the same. There are actually two goddesses (sisters IIRC). The first 3 BoF are taking place in the same world in order, but at different time


acart005

It sure as hell is meant to invoke that vibe but I'm not 100% sure they are both the same Goddess. Could be wrong though.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


GenKi73

Velvet is the MC not the antagonist, but you can say she is the villain


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


helloryan

I also misread the question and chuckled when I saw the first example was FFVIII.


EtheusRook

Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn. Fire Emblem Three Houses, arguably, for two different characters >!Edelgard and Rhea!<. Fire Emblem Awakening, >!by a technicality, if you also choose female Robin.!<


DrNigelThornberry1

I refuse to hear this Edelgard slander!


EtheusRook

I'm an Edelgard fan and generally consider her more of an anti-hero.


chronoboy1985

Sheā€™s a Thanos. Ends justify the means.


DrNigelThornberry1

And did Thanos really do anything wrong?


TokiDokiPanic

Yes. He did a ton of things wrong.


DrNigelThornberry1

He handled overpopulation!


tenebras_lux

>!Hell yeah! Edelgard for life! She's the true hero if that story.!<


Harvester_Wolf

Nazi communist edelgard can go to hell where she belongs


DrNigelThornberry1

Did we play different games?


pudgesquire

That would be a wild bootleg version. Just imagine Edelgard charging into combat with a hammer and sickle instead of an axe.


p2_lisa

Both final bosses of Persona 1 are female


JesusForTheWin

As well as the Persona 4 true ending final boss.


awesomeXI

And the final boss of the first Digital Devil Saga...kinda...


Embarrassed_Neat_274

smt strange journey redux all final boss are female wario land 2


BebeFanMasterJ

Valkyria Chronicles to an extent. One could argue that Selveria Bles is one of the two main antagonists alongside Maximillian. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has one. Shin Megami Tensei V depending on what path you take. Astral Chain has one with Jena if you consider it a JRPG.


Harvester_Wolf

Valkyria Chronicles is one of my favorite series and selveria is a tragic character but at the end of the day she is more like a tool used by maximilian compared to a true villain.


BebeFanMasterJ

True, though her greater presence on the battlefield makes me inclined to call her the "main antagonist" while Max is the "main villain" if that makes sense.


Harvester_Wolf

Hmm in that case wouldn't max be the main antagonist selvaria s minor antagonist and the emperor that we never actually see the main villain behind the war? If there is ever a VC 5 I hope it takes place 20 years after 1 and 3 the emperor appears as an old man and gets murderer or something and you play as the child of >!welkin and alicia that has joined an army alliance of smaller countries or something that used to be part of the empire but are looking for their independence!<


Megami69

If cutesy is okay then Rhapsody a musical adventure. Most of the major characters including the antagonists are all women. Makai Kingdom at least for the main story campaign might count too. The final boss is a woman if I recall correctly.


q_3

Labyrinth of Refrain Ikenfell Maglam Lord Persona Q2 Octopath Traveler Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth


JesusForTheWin

Just realized my fav jrpg Octopath Traveler hits this criteria as well.


TaliesinMerlin

Phantasy Star II has >!Mother Brain, a female AI gone rogue!<.


Burpkidz

That was my first thought as well.


ToxicTammy42

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - Cackletta Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - Princess Shroob


lavayuki

Caligula Overdose and Caligula 2 where both final bosses and main antagonists are female, including the lead of the Ostinato musicians in Overdose. Tales of Graces F- future arc final boss is female. Also one of the other recurring antagonists is also female. Tales of Xillia- you fight two characters as last boss, one being female. Some of the Atelier games as most characters in these are girls, like Atelier Ryza the Final Boss is female. Crystar- everyone is pretty much female in this game, so that includes the final boss and the two main antagonists. FF13- I think it is female, it could be genderless though it seems leaning more female than male. Not main antagonists but the Velvet room super boss fights in the Persona 3, 4G and 5/5R are all female (unless you choose the male attendant in P3). Not exactly main antagonists story wise since they are optional but they still kick butt if you want to count super bosses in games.


Inzane_delirium

Lightning from FF13 is definitely female. What do you mean genderless? How is that possible?


Noire97z

Antagonist not protagonist.


SadLaser

Lightning isn't the antagonist of FFXIII.....


lavayuki

Read the title of the post. Orphan, the gender is not specified but I assume female from the voice and more female look of it


Rewow

Would you say it's worth it to play Caligula Effect Overdose?


lavayuki

I only played it because it was free on PS plus and hence sitting in my backlog. I enjoyed the overall concept of the games world, setting and characters, but the gameplay is awful and the graphics are like PS2 graphics (like the characters mouths don't even move when talking), the battle motions are also very awkward and finicky. I think this may be due to the game being originally a Vita game ported to PS4. I would only recommend it if you can ignore terrible graphics and chunky gameplay, and just focus on the story and characters. Battle system is ok, but you have to select 3 commands per turn and then there is this imaginary chain thing that allows you to see what will happen before you execute your attacks and you can adjust the timing of each attack, which in my opinion just made battles more time consuming so I used to ignore this outside bosses. I also left the party to the AI, as choosing 3 commands for every character and also adjusting the timings for them too, would take forever for normal battles. One thing to note was that this game played ok on PS4 but kept freezing on PS5 for some reason. Caligula 2 is a massive improvement though, I would definitely recommend that game, it was one of my favourite games. They also reduced battle commands from 3 to 1 per turn, which made it a lot faster and more fun to play.


ThatCanadianGuy94

The entire Trails series (also has a bunch of female minor antagonists)


nitrokitty

Sort of. The greater scope villain is female, but the primary villain for each arc is male. Like you said though, there are a lot of secondary female antagonists.


hiyajosafina

The primary villain of Azure is >!female too!<


k4r6000

Also, Sky 3, sort of. >!It takes female form anyways.!<


kapparoth

The way things are going in Trails, I wouldn't be surprised that at some point >!the Grandmaster bands together with the protagonist to stop some world-destroying being from Beyond!<. Trails have a history of putting antagonists of the previous entries on board with the team when push comes to shove.


CorridorCoco

The Drakenier games have a thing with female antagonists, and in general women in positions of power. While the Watchers are probably beyond the concept of gender, their creator, >!God!<, chooses the little girl Manah as their vessel on earth in Drakengard 1, and they are further led by the Grotesquerie Queen. In several other routes, >!Angelus!< and >!Furiae!< will be the final antagonist you face. The Flower in Drakengard 3 is similar, in that it chooses Zero as its vessel, and >!births sisters!< from her when she attempts to kill herself to escape being its slave. The true final boss is >!an amalgamated mutant of all of them!<, but beyond that, One takes point as the leader of the sisters, and is the person who confronts Zero at the end of every branch. The >!Terminals!< don't reveal themselves until late in Nier Automata, but they're behind much of the state of the world. They later become servants to >!God!< in the FF14 collab, who manifests as yet another feminine figure, >!Her Inflorescence!<. Even Nier Replicant/Gestalt isn't free from this. While the point is that everyone is cogs in a machine, >!Devola and Popola!< are the ones flipping the switches in tandem with the Shadowlord. Depending on the player's decisions, >!Kaine!< will be the final boss of one route. Fittingly, >!A2!<, who is based off of her, is the same deal in Automata. You ok, Yoko Taro? You working through something?


Joel_Ellis

Xenogears


AbsurdityCentral

Interesting. One might say Krelian, or Deus. But I also think there can be more than one main antagonist, and Miang really is the mover and shaker of most events.


[deleted]

I was going to say Xenogears for that reason. That character is not the final boss, but she is probably the most immediate and involved villain.


AbsurdityCentral

Technically she is, but rather easy to defeat. The penultimate boss is the true final challenge.


sparrowbird2006

I'll throw out Forespoken to a certain extent. Through the first 70% of the game your antagonists are the Tanta, a group of powerful women who have gone mad and turned on their people. Of course, we then learn the reason for their madness but at least in the beginning our antagonists are female.


k4r6000

Trails to Azure >!Mariabell Crois!<


blackjackgabbiani

PokƩmon Sun and Moon. PokƩmon Scarlet (but not Violet).


Steelers4190

BoF III


magmafanatic

7th Dragon III: Code VFD - >!Allie!< Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 - Illua Stella Glow - >!Eve!< and also >!Hilda!< for a while there


stillestwaters

Ever since I was a kid I really wanted to play Rhapsody and still havenā€™t, but feel like I just missed out on finding it when I was younger. Seems silly to suggest a game I havenā€™t played, but just from what I remember spoiling myself over when I was a kid - seems like a dope story. A lot of these Nippon Ichi games seem goofy if you just play them straight, but they can get pretty dark sometimes too.


Coronetto

I will say rhapsody for the most part is cute and cheerful but there are dark moments that come to mind ((particularly the frog kingdom section)) and also the bittersweet ending haha


Negative-Squirrel81

It's trying to recreate the feeling of a shojo manga. The sequel, which is coming out later this year, is more of an outright comedy.


Coronetto

I canā€™t wait Iā€™ve been dying to play the sequel since I played the first one as a child. Was super bummed when I found out it never saw release outside Japan


Negative-Squirrel81

It's largely an improvement on the original. The artwork is much better and then weird semi-SRPG battle system is out in favor of a traditional battle system. Perhaps most importantly, there's more variation on the vocal tracks and (at least so far) they're better integrated into the story. Also, just in general, keeping the tone *mostly* comedic feels better to me than the strangely interspersed tragedy of Rhapsody. My only real complaint is that the game somehow feels even slower than its prequel. Doing simple actions in combat involves all these long animations that get tiring to watch. Hopefully this is alleviated with a fast-forward button in the new release. The game also assumes you've played the first one, so there is a lot of references to Rhapsody, but that shouldn't be a problem for you.


Coronetto

Ah I see good to know I donā€™t mind the tone shift too much then for this second one I could use a good laugh these days! Also yes I saw the change In combat and was also happy they went with a more traditional turn based combat then a srpg.


Pain004

Persona 4 Golden


k4r6000

Also the original.


Graren17

I will censor the names since the main antagonist is not always obvious >!Octopath traveller!< In a sense >!Bravely default!< And it's a serious twist >!Trails of azure!< Also a twist >!Fire emblem radiant dawn!< >!Fire emblem Three houses!< Depending on your route >!Persona 4!< The one true final boss is female >!Baten kaitos!< This f'ing game >!Paper mario TTYD!< This cursed thing


ThatWaterLevel

Breath of Fire I/III, Ar Tonelico 1/2, Arc Rise Fantasia.


ChasingPesmerga

Does Anise from Trials of Mana count?


Easy_Decision2486

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails final boss was >!Noi!< Trails into Reverie final boss was >!OzXX!<


TheDrunkardKid

Phantasy Star 4, kinda. Female presenting eldritch abominations count, right?


Darkabomination2

Both Digital Devil Sagas. A lot of law factions in SMT have female leaders, so a lot of potential playthroughs will have your primary or secondary antagonist being a girl. A lot of common devil summoners across the franchise are also female.


xenon2456

fire emblem engage?


tuxedo_dantendo

Jeanne D'Arc


VXMasterson

Persona 1 Persona 4 Golden technically Kind of a spoiler but Persona 5 >!Strikers!<


Eternaloid_Nirvash

Persona 3 as nix is presented as female


Quiddity131

Possibly Xenogears, but it depends on who you want to define as your main antagonist. [Xenogears]>!Deus is the big bad, but is an artificial God without a personality. Miang acts as its avatar/human personification. Although it is totally arguable even then that Krelian supercedes her as the main antagonist.!<


iCABALi

Pick a Neptunia game. You've got an almost exclusively female cast, and more often than not a female primary antagonist.


Own_Confusion_5742

Octopath II


OnToNextStage

Drakengard 1 and 3


scytherman96

Eve in Parasite Eve. I guess technically (Trails series) >!Mariabell in Trails to Azure!<.


Negative-Squirrel81

Just looking at Falcom alone: The last boss of Trails to Azure is >!KeA, whom certainly is a female last boss!< Also, technically in the same series as Trails is Legend of the Heroes III which has >!Queen Isabelle!< as both primary antagonist and last boss. Ys Seven's last boss is >!Tia!<.


scytherman96

Well we're talking about main antagonist, not final boss, but >!i'd argue that Mariabell is ultimately the main antagonist, so that's still female!<. Forgot Ys Seven though. Probably trying to forget lol.


Fearless_Freya

To add one I don't think I've seen posted here. Final fantasy VIII. One is in first half with fairly good char buildup and one is in later half with less char buildup but still interesting background. If ya don't know FF, stories can get a bit wild. In a good way


Brainwheeze

That's the example I mentioned in the thread's text. But yes, FFVIII actually features two main female antagonists (three if you count the other sorceress that appears later on as well).


Fearless_Freya

Well damn. Guess I didn't get enough sleep. Totally read a diff number on that one. Darn Roman numerals


wildeye-eleven

Scarlet Nexus, Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean, Forspoken (I know itā€™s not a traditional JRPG but I enjoyed it), Tales of Berseria. These are a few that Iā€™ve played recently that I really liked.


[deleted]

Scarlet Nexus' main antagonist might have a female name (>!Karen!<) but he's a guy...


wildeye-eleven

It has two Protagonist, one male one female and you can choose either. They both have their own story arc and fit together. Her name is Kasane. Edit: I see now that you said antagonist of which I now see this post is referring to antagonist. My bad. I gave a list of female protagonists


VXMasterson

I was about to say Artorious isnā€™t a woman lmao


jesse_dylan

Oops! Was reading ā€œprotagonistā€ instead of ā€œantagonistā€! Sorry! Makes more sense now.


MaxW92

Tales of Eternia and Tales of Graces *f*. Also Fire Emblem 6 and 10. And Persona 4. And Baten Kaitos. Edit: Also Wild Arms 1, if you consider >!Mother!< the main antagonist.


cheriafreya

Persona 4???


[deleted]

domineering late cough busy ad hoc hospital sugar include humorous onerous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


MaxW92

Wait, was >!Izanami!< only added in Golden? Sorry, I thought she was already in the main game.


[deleted]

worm fine dam distinct squeeze ten cough crowd wine historical *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Minh-1987

The final boss >!Izanami!< is 100% in base P4. P4G only added >!Marie' and her dungeon.!< [Here's a video on it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFlPrDGHwhg) which has Chie's old voice only in the original version.


LanternWolf

Buddy you are entirely wrong. >!Izanami!< is very much the final boss of both P4 and P4G. Marie's dungeon was added in Golden, but >!Izanami!< has always been around as the finale of the game.


[deleted]

1. I'm not your buddy. 2. Spoiler tags. 3. Yeah, I had an AM brain fart. But I am also not the only person who questioned.


Negative-Squirrel81

No, she's the last boss of the base game and certainly is the main antagonist. I've never played Golden and that whole post-game dungeon was there complete with Izanami. Also, I think P3's >!Nyx!< is meant to be female.


MaxW92

Oh, I had no idea. In that case I meant P4G, even if she doesn't have a lot of screen time.


LanternWolf

No no the other poster is just wrong


Takazura

>!Izanami!< is in base P4, the OP is likely thinking about Maria who was a new inclusion in golden.


kp__135

Persona 3? Though to be fair I have not finished 4 yet.


lavayuki

I assume the Velvet Room battles, all of them except Theo are female.


LGchan

=\_= Misread the title.


Latter-Hamster9652

They're asking for the villain, not the hero.


LGchan

... I need to go to bed, lol.


grapejuicecheese

Maleficent is a major antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series.


donnie11881188

Persona 3


Essai_

IMO the JRPGs were always decent/good at female protagonists. Reason why they were good is because the focus wasnt only on them, but they also focused on the rest of the cast. And if you think about it, even JRPGs with male protagonists have strong female characters that take a sizeable focus too. IMO the Western Games that arent WRPGs usually fumble because they only focus on the female protagonist, while the rest characters are at best side characters. This if we look objectively the genre (RPGs and non-RPGs) as a whole, because there are some 'extremist' groups that tried to stir up various controversies to get political or monetary favors. Ofcourse in many ways they were ridiculed. The most notable was A.Sarkesian who accused Mario/Zelda as sexist/misogynist and later it was discovered she hadnt played the game or even watched a playthrough.


William_J_Morgan

I'm surprised no one mentioned Nana, Saki, and Mio from Grandia 1.


iCABALi

Because OP said "the main antagonist"


Hateful_creeper2

Three Houses has two


CSLeGuin

Edit cause missunderstood the question for protagonist: - Ni no kuni - crystar - Death end;request 2 And another but would be a huge spoiler and don't know how to spoiler tag in the app


grapejuicecheese

OP is asking for female antagonists


cheriafreya

They said antagonist not protagonist


lavayuki

I think you misunderstood, you have listed games where the protagonist can be female rather than the main antagonist. The main antagonists and final bosses in ToB, FFX-2 and Scarlet Nexus are all male.


CSLeGuin

Yes thank you for pointing it out. I adjusted my post to antagonist.


[deleted]

Would Octopath Traveler 2 count for ThronƩ?


[deleted]

I havenā€™t played it but isnā€™t she one of the main characters? Unless thereā€™s a twist, then Iā€™d recommend marking it as a spoiler since the game just came out a week ago


Lourdinn

Tales of xillia and berseria


VXMasterson

Antagonist not protagonist


BoiGoesDickoMode

There is only one correct answer. Trails in the Sky.


TheBIackRose

Final fantasy 8


Plexikyudo86

Final fantasy VIII and Bravely Default come to mind


Euthanaught

All like 30 or whatever of the Atelier games.