By that logic, most men also don't go into video game development.

But that's not logic, that's a misunderstanding of statistics. For example most men are not brick layers or miners. And yet the vast majority who are, are men. That's the relevant point.

Yeah, okay, if people aren't doing those things, it's probably because they're not interested regardless of their gender. If women specifically aren't interested in game development or programming, it's probably because the path to get there is a men's club. Ergo, the lack of female led WRPGs is likely due to a lack of female presentation in the developer workplace, which you've probably read the news that it is incredibly toxic.

EDIT: Oops, better get this topic back on track before the mods close it.

WRPGs are cool because they give player agency and don't need no stinky fixed protagonist. Prerendered cutscenes were always a bad idea in the genre.

No. I take it you've never been in a Computer Science program. I have. Trust me, despite trying hard to encourage women to be in the field, given the choice, most choose other fields.

Ooh, I was going to mention cognition and grey matter but forgot. The KQ games are het white male, not female. I think there was maybe one game in the series where you play as female, I don't remember. But the main story was of the KING'S quest.

Huh. I didn't see any of the ads for the game. If anything, I think the cover art I saw was male, but I could be wrong about that.

I like both types. I think you can tell a better story if it's hand crafted and linear. But it can be fun to play in a sandbox too.
Yeah it started with Sir Graham. I think KQ4 & 7 had a female lead character but I'm really only familiar with 5&6.

Except when they don't. (Planescape: Torment, Lords of Xulima.)

Disciples: Liberation seems to fit all your criteria

I thought it was two :) Oh well.

I did not buy the game before GOG so what I remember from the time it was new is quite foggy. But if you try an images search on the Web for "Jade Empire", you will see that a vast majority of the pictures (including box art) feature prominently one of the female characters.

Too bad that never got a follow up. Would love more fantasy Asia in a WRPG format.

It's not just a men's club. At the worst end of things as someone who used to work in that industry, I found myself dealing with what I will not only refer to as Moclans (https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Moclan) because how openly hostile they are to women.

At the better end of things was the company where literally every male in the department got to take turns interviewing me. I mean like even people that would have no say on if I was hired or not got a turn. At least they came in groups because it otherwise would have taken a lot longer. You'd think that there was this massive plague in the US that wiped out most women and California got hit especially hard to the extent that I was the first time they saw a real live person of the female gender in years, maybe decades even. This ended up being one of the best places in the industry to work at, and I still found myself surrounded by adult men acting like they are twelve on a daily basis.