Alex_Mexico
Member
Ok so we all know the deal:
"Why are jrpg characters always so cookie cutter, why are they always kids of teens and why a 30 year old person is treated like a decrepit old man?"
The "Rinoa & Squall romance" thread got me thinking about so many jrpg tropes and their general aversion to trying to appeal to different audiences. For every FFVII (groundbreaking in its time) there's 400 Ateliers, Tailes of, Artonelicos, Trails in Cold Steel, Star Ocean 4s, etc out there. And then I realized something.
I couldn't think of a single jrpg male protagonist that had any sort of facial hair. I looked a whole bunch of them up. Nothing.
I know what you're thinking: "what about Barret/Basch/Sazh?"
Of course there will always be the token badass who may or may not have a random scar somewhere who's almost always the older guy who might sport some facial hair. I'm talking strictly of traditional jrpg male main protagonists of their respective games.
I'm not criticizing jrpgs for after all these years never having an MC with something so simple and real as a beard or a mustache. However I do think it's something worth pointing as maybe proof of how similar and oftentimes cookie cutter jrpg male protagonists tend to be.
See it as my response to the "bald, angry, white, straight, male with a gun, chin down and eyes up" criticism of western action games.
A single jrpg main male protagonist with facial hair, GAF. Cause I sure as hell cant think of a single one.
GO!
"Why are jrpg characters always so cookie cutter, why are they always kids of teens and why a 30 year old person is treated like a decrepit old man?"
The "Rinoa & Squall romance" thread got me thinking about so many jrpg tropes and their general aversion to trying to appeal to different audiences. For every FFVII (groundbreaking in its time) there's 400 Ateliers, Tailes of, Artonelicos, Trails in Cold Steel, Star Ocean 4s, etc out there. And then I realized something.
I couldn't think of a single jrpg male protagonist that had any sort of facial hair. I looked a whole bunch of them up. Nothing.
I know what you're thinking: "what about Barret/Basch/Sazh?"
Of course there will always be the token badass who may or may not have a random scar somewhere who's almost always the older guy who might sport some facial hair. I'm talking strictly of traditional jrpg male main protagonists of their respective games.
I'm not criticizing jrpgs for after all these years never having an MC with something so simple and real as a beard or a mustache. However I do think it's something worth pointing as maybe proof of how similar and oftentimes cookie cutter jrpg male protagonists tend to be.
See it as my response to the "bald, angry, white, straight, male with a gun, chin down and eyes up" criticism of western action games.
A single jrpg main male protagonist with facial hair, GAF. Cause I sure as hell cant think of a single one.
GO!
