We were going for games were the female is the lead. You can elect to not play as the chick in Rolling Thunder 2.
El Viento is way better than the Valis games (if you're only going to cover one Telenet game/series), but you've covered it before.
El Viento vs. Valis III (TG-CD)?
No way, Valis III pulls ahead.
This is not really for you, DragonMasterDan, but this is really just a rehash of what I used 10-15 years ago to defend VALIS III from El Viento fans.
I've played and beaten El Viento countless times and I like it, certainly. But it is not not without its shortcomings.
So, here we go...
[rant]
I know folks love El Viento and Wolf Team, but Valis III doesn't have the UGLY PIXELATED EXPLODING EVERYTHING (I like to joke about the OCTOPI or whatever those things are in the sea stage, but every stage suffers for it).
GRATUTUITOUS PIXELATION + goofy explosion SFX = destruction of atmosphere, detracts from music, etc. This automatically disqualifies El Viento from being a serious contender to Valis III, and I haven't even started on how the level designs in El Viento (back and forth, back and forth, back and forth) are NOT better than Valis III (admittedly, level design had never been amazingly inspired in Valis series, but Valis III > El Viento).
Parodius Da! For example, is a great game that has GIANT PIXELATION FX inspired by SNES. Parodius is a thoroughly solid game, though, which lessens its offensiveness. Not so for El Viento, where the giant pixelated explosions seem like a garish joke that is used over and over and over.
The exploding "tiny round logs" and "bricks" are another example of how the OVERLY LOUD SFX really become grating because Annet destroys thousands of these damn things.
VALIS III offers superior atmosphere, music, level design, three-player-switching, satisfaction from SOLVING CHALLENGES (via character choice and magic), story, cinemas, etc etc.
....dare I say character design! Seriously!
Valis III is far more satisfying to progress in (solving challenges is rewarding) and also the game that has more replayability. At least for me, anyway.
Valis III will always be a second-class game to the Great Ones, but it is closer to the first-class than El Viento.
[/rant]
