3 girls in all final fantasy (ff) games?

Question

Does anyone have a guess (or know) why there are usually 3 girls in final fantasy games? I don't know about ff III (3) but in IV (4) we have Rosa, Rydia, Porom (the White Wizard twin if I meant Palom), in V (5) we have Reina, Krilie and Faris (which by the way seems like a boy, but they made her a girl to fill the 3 girl quota), in VI (6) there is Terra, Celes and Relm (assuming Gogo is a he). In VII (7) there is Aeris, Tifa and Yuffie. In VIII (8) we have Quistis, Rinoa and Selphie. In IX (9) we have Dagger, Freya and Eiko (Quina may be called 'she' in part, but is also called 'he' in part and either way, this may not be intentional, based on the 3 rule, I say Quina is a he). In X (10) there is Lulu, Yuna and Rikku. XI does not count the way I (1) and II (2) don't. In XII (12) there is Fran, Penelo and Ashe.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Answer 1

X-2 Has three - Yuna, Rikku and Paine.
III - Only has 1 girl (Refia) as a main party member,
II - Only has 1 girl (Maria) as a main party member.

So, it seems this rule of thumb started with Part IV (Porom is the girl).

I wonder if it is part of trying to balance the male cast with some women, to give the women playing the game someone to identify with. Heck, Terra of Final Fantasy VI and Yuna of X-2 where main characters of their respective games.

I think it is to keep the cast from being all Male, and give the team some diversity. They also show these women to be strong and brave, and rarely are the women of the team Damsels throughout the entire game.

And, as for the why three? I do not know, I wonder if it was a coincidence the first few times, or if they had a conscious effort to add 3 in each game? Until you brought this question up, I had never really gave it a thought. Very interesting, and I bet there is a real reason behind it. Perhaps it was something the higher ups told them to do, because they could have the women in the game, and not be part of the party. So, I am not sure.

Very interesting.

Answer 2

You forgot FFX-2, which also has 3 girls: Yuna, Rikku, and Paine.