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[inbarrenpraise]

Opposite here. I now wished FFXV would look more like Kingsglaive. Really loving the character designs. They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo. It doesn't scream Anime, yet it's still unmistakably FF-y and Japanese. Don't want to start another 10 pages of Balls calling everyone, who likes the Kingsglaive design more, a racist, but I'd love if future FFs looked more like that.

"Grounded Western" is the absolute fucking last thing FF ever needs. We have more than enough of that right now out in the world thank you very much. There's a plethora of it you can play right now until the end of time. If anything we need more whimsical art in games.

I'm excited for Kingsglaive just because I'm excited for XV and the positive reviews are only getting me more excited, and I can kind of appreciate the idea of giving "spin off" content for the game a different artstyle, but keep that "grounded" bullshit out of the games. Flush it down the toilet.

 

[wmlk]

It's basically an advanced version of Agni's Philosophy's artstyle. I'd love if FFXVI follows that artstyle.

Dunno, I think Agni looks very much like a standard Japanese design. Nomura was also an advisor to Akira Iwata, who was Agni's character designer.

Agni's costume though is so far and above most of Nomura's stuff while being very stylized. That red dress is what sets her apart.

 

[Setsu00]

Opposite here. I now wished FFXV would look more like Kingsglaive. Really loving the character designs. They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo. It doesn't scream Anime, yet it's still unmistakably FF-y and Japanese. Don't want to start another 10 pages of Balls calling everyone, who likes the Kingsglaive design more, a racist, but I'd love if future FFs looked more like that.

I can see why there are a lot of fans who enjoy the Kingsglaive designs, but whenever I look at them, I always imagine an artist desperately trying to appeal to both Western and Japanese audiences. This approach just doesn't work for me for some reason that I can't really pinpoint, but I feel like this particular mixture of Western and Eastern design tastes results in something rather ... off? Disregarding Luna and Regis (and the other XV characters), the only character that works for me is actually Libertus.

 

[wmlk]

I can see why there are a lot of fans who enjoy the Kingsglaive designs, but whenever I look at them, I always imagine an artist desperately trying to appeal to both Western and Japanese audiences. This approach just doesn't work for me for some reason that I can't really pinpoint, but I feel like this particular mixture of Western and Eastern design tastes results in something rather ... off? Disregarding Luna and Regis, the only character that works for me is actually Libertus.

Nyx looks great too. His render looked bad, but the moving shots from the trailers made him look great. He has the same hairstyle that Gladio had from that famous E3 2013 boyband render.

 

[wmlk]

Like, look at Gladio here. Nyx doesn't really look too different.

 

[Setsu00]

Nyx looks great too. His render looked bad, but the moving shots from the trailers made him look great. He has the same hairstyle that Gladio had from that famous E3 2013 boyband render.

Gladio's hairstyle works for him due to his stylized face, but Nyx looks weird with it because of his more realistic appearance. I wish they had kept Johan Akan's hair for him.

 

[Ydelnae]

I was trying to find pictures of Johan Akan from the time he worked with Visual Work to create Nyx' image and likeness and well, I wouldn't recomend doing it while at work lol

Now the shirtless Nyx magazine cover has more context.

EDIT: ... the video search did not help at all, don't do it lmao

 

[Ran rp]

 

[Koozek]

It's basically an advanced version of Agni's Philosophy's artstyle. I'd love if FFXVI follows that artstyle.

Yeah, though, it's still more on the side of FF-typical, "realistic" Anime humans compared to Kingsglaive, imo:

I still believe we'll see more of her someday. The last time I said this here we suddenly got that new DirectX 12 tech-demo out of nowhere an hour later

 

[jett]

I wonder what drove them to make a realistic-looking movie of an anime-looking game. It can't be "pandering to Western appeal" since the movie is pretty much a feature-long commercial for the game. It would have made more sense to change the character designs in the game.

On a semi-related note, youtube figures for Kingslaive's trailer are kind of miserable. I also wonder how much it cost. No doubt the most expensive ad of all-time.

 

[Koozek]

"Grounded Western" is the absolute fucking last thing FF ever needs. We have more than enough of that right now out in the world thank you very much. There's a plethora of it you can play right now until the end of time. If anything we need more whimsical art in games.

I'm excited for Kingsglaive just because I'm excited for XV and the positive reviews are only getting me more excited, and I can kind of appreciate the idea of giving "spin off" content for the game a different artstyle, but keep that "grounded" bullshit out of the games. Flush it down the toilet.

That's why I said "They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo.". Kingsglaive still clearly has that FF look and, outside of a few of the dudes, isn't as generic-looking as most Western games. The clothing still is unmistakably FF:

Like, look at Gladio here. Nyx doesn't really look too different.

How the hell haven't I noticed yet that Nyx pretty much has the same mullet as Gladio, lol.

 

[Ran rp]

That's why I said "They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo.". Kingsglaive still clearly has that FF look and, outside of a few of the dudes, isn't as generic-looking as most Western games. The clothing still is unmistakably FF:

How the hell haven't I noticed yet that Nyx pretty much has the same mullet as Gladio, lol.

now that i see the full body renders again.... yeah, these looks pretty dumb. except for luna, of course.

 

[Koozek]

I wonder what drove them to make a realistic-looking movie of an anime-looking game. It can't be "pandering to Western appeal" since the movie is pretty much a feature-long commercial for the game. It would have made more sense to change the character designs in the game.

On a semi-related note, youtube figures for Kingslaive's trailer are kind of miserable. I also wonder how much it cost. No doubt the most expensive ad of all-time.

If you count the different uploads on official Sony and SE channels it's at around 4 million.

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=kingsglaive+trailer&sp=CAM%3D

Oh, and regarding the budget:

It's being distributed by Stage 6 Sony in the US which was created to distribute low budget films. I'm guessing KG's budget should be around 10-20 mil going by other films this company released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_6_Films

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I like how they gave Ravus the most serious look on his face but the most ridiculous outfit.

 

[Crossing Eden]

"Grounded Western" is the absolute fucking last thing FF ever needs. We have more than enough of that right now out in the world thank you very much. There's a plethora of it you can play right now until the end of time. If anything we need more whimsical art in games.

I'm excited for Kingsglaive just because I'm excited for XV and the positive reviews are only getting me more excited, and I can kind of appreciate the idea of giving "spin off" content for the game a different artstyle, but keep that "grounded" bullshit out of the games. Flush it down the toilet.

I feel like Japanese games would be more successful if their character design was more grounded instead of "well we just think this looks cool." Especially if they're gonna have the fidelity that FFXV has. Hell they could even start scanning in actual asian people and have those people actually perform and get immersed in their roles instead of just providing voice over work. It's not even like the costume design would suddenly get "downgraded" or whatever, the opposite, they would just start to make more sense instead of "just looks cool and it's fantasy so believability isn't important."

I wonder what drove them to make a realistic-looking movie of an anime-looking game. It can't be "pandering to Western appeal" since the movie is pretty much a feature-long commercial for the game. It would have made more sense to change the character designs in the game.

On a semi-related note, youtube figures for Kingslaive's trailer are kind of miserable. I also wonder how much it cost. No doubt the most expensive ad of all-time.

A lot of western studios were involved in the creation of the film, probably had a lot to do with it along with Nomura not being involved. They were aiming for complete photorealism which for obvious reasons looks incredibly odd when you insert a Nomura face into it. No one who knows that this movie is coming out doesn't know about the game, the game has an incredibly limited release in theaters, and will be on bluray soon, yea I don't get the "it's to appeal to the west" idea.

 

[Turin]

I think some are getting carried away in feuding over regional design styles.

You can put different elements inspired from different cultures into something and it isn't always going to work. Of course, in some cases it will work splendidly.

 

[kurahador]

Western pandering sure works well for Spirit Within.

 

[DOWN]

I hope this movie feels like a success to them. More than anything they were aiming for it to be marketing for the game so I'm sure they didn't expect much money from it. But if they sell a few hundred thousand copies for $10 average, they'll get a few million back.

 

[Ran rp]

never forget

she was the perfect mix of stylized and grounded design

 

[Falk]

Hell they could even start scanning in actual asian people and have those people actually perform and get immersed in their roles instead of just providing voice over work.

What with an obsession with big eyes, multicolored hair, often hilariously curvaceous body figures, Japanese media generally looks nothing like Asian people. Even something targeting a more realistic look like FFXV doesn't have the same... gruffness that, say, MGSV or Kingsglaive does. (And FFXV is a little bit of an outlier here, while other Japanese franchises with realistically proportioned humans like, say, RE, etc tone a little bit back towards obvious anime stylings *edit: referring to facial features here, obviously)

Mocap on the other hand Japanese games could use a lot more of, although I think there's a fine line between the responsiveness of controls vs letting everything become animation-locked.

edit2: Aaaaand we're back on this topic again, hahahah. While I appreciate that this time it's more directly related to Kingsglaive we really should start a topic dedicated to mocap because I do want to discuss this a lot more, and it's just going to smother out people who want to discuss Kingsglaive, especially now that we've had a weekend with it out in the wild over in Japan.

 

[CrimsonSquall]

My friend hates all things RPGS, but the second I told him Aaron Paul was the main character he actually showed interest

 

[RocBase]

edit2: Aaaaand we're back on this topic again, hahahah. While I appreciate that this time it's more directly related to Kingsglaive we really should start a topic dedicated to mocap because I do want to discuss this a lot more, and it's just going to smother out people who want to discuss Kingsglaive, especially now that we've had a weekend with it out in the wild over in Japan.

Since this topic has been weighing on my mind a lot too I created one: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1244850

 

[Astral Dog]

That's why I said "They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo.". Kingsglaive still clearly has that FF look and, outside of a few of the dudes, isn't as generic-looking as most Western games. The clothing still is unmistakably FF:

How the hell haven't I noticed yet that Nyx pretty much has the same mullet as Gladio, lol.

those outfits look ok imo

 

[Falk]

Since this topic has been weighing on my mind a lot too I created one: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1244850

I wanna talk performance capture though!

 

[Crossing Eden]

What with an obsession with big eyes, multicolored hair, often hilariously curvaceous body figures, Japanese media generally looks nothing like Asian people. Even something targeting a more realistic look like FFXV doesn't have the same... gruffness that, say, MGSV or Kingsglaive does. (And FFXV is a little bit of an outlier here, while other Japanese franchises with realistically proportioned humans like, say, RE, etc tone a little bit back towards obvious anime stylings *edit: referring to facial features here, obviously)

Mocap on the other hand Japanese games could use a lot more of, although I think there's a fine line between the responsiveness of controls vs letting everything become animation-locked.

edit2: Aaaaand we're back on this topic again, hahahah. While I appreciate that this time it's more directly related to Kingsglaive we really should start a topic dedicated to mocap because I do want to discuss this a lot more, and it's just going to smother out people who want to discuss Kingsglaive, especially now that we've had a weekend with it out in the wild over in Japan.

I actually wonder if this film's gonna have some effect on the anime look in Japan. But that's probably wishful thinking. Also makes one wonder how this film would fare if it was the same product but wasn't FF related.

 

[Replicant]

Opposite here. I now wished FFXV would look more like Kingsglaive. Really loving the character designs. They strike a perfect balance between grounded Western and stylized Japanese aesthetics, imo. It doesn't scream Anime, yet it's still unmistakably FF-y and Japanese. Don't want to start another 10 pages of Balls calling everyone, who likes the Kingsglaive design more, a racist, but I'd love if future FFs looked more like that.

Same here. I wish Nyx is a playable character.

 

[Ydelnae]

If Nier 2 turns out good, we get XVI relatively soon (less than 4 years from now) and it doesn't mess up with any other projects, I wouldn't mind a Kingsglaive prequel made by Platinum in which we control Nyx, Crowe, Libertus and the others. That said, I still think it's better to end the XV universe with the main game and move on to the next thing, with no prequels or side stories even though I love the world and its characters.

 

[Falk]

Also makes one wonder how this film would fare if it was the same product but wasn't FF related.

I don't think you can disassociate it at this point, the way you can't really ask "I wonder how Star Wars VII would be if it wasn't a Star Wars film" since the entire DNA of the film was largely a tribute to what came before.

Unless you're asking how the writing, pacing, production value, etc fares without the brand name, I guess, which is fair.

 

[RocBase]

I wanna talk performance capture though!

Yeah sorry, I mostly created it in the hopes of moving the KG/XV aesthetic discussion that keeps coming up on in here while having a general umbrella. u_u

 

[Crossing Eden]

I don't think you can disassociate it at this point, the way you can't really ask "I wonder how Star Wars VII would be if it wasn't a Star Wars film" since the entire DNA of the film was largely a tribute to what came before.

Unless you're asking how the writing, pacing, production value, etc fares without the brand name, I guess, which is fair.

Very true. A bit OT from this current conversation I went back and watched the debut trailer, and we've seen Luna's brother since then.

The bottom left.

 

[Falk]

Is that Agent 47 bottom right?

That totally is Agent 47 bottom right.

 

[wmlk]

Is that Agent 47 bottom right?

That totally is Agent 47 bottom right.

Didn't you know? He was revealed alongside Ravus. His name is Quadraginta Septem.

 

[YunFang1130]

Very true. A bit OT from this current conversation I went back and watched the debut trailer, and we've seen Luna's brother since then.

The bottom left.

I should've known that would be Luna's brother. But, I thought it would be the short blonde haired guy that they showed in the previous trailers.

I wonder if he was her sibling though and that he got a redesign when it came to Kingsglaive.

 

[Aters]

Is that Agent 47 bottom right?

That totally is Agent 47 bottom right.

It's just Rude from FFVII.

 

[Falk]

It's just Rude from FFVII.

I'm such a failure of a Final Fantasy enthusiast that I didn't immediately make that connection.

 

[Flandy]

Judging from the impressions it sounds like we actually have a good video game movie?
Who would have thought that we'd get that from Versus XIII? :lol

 

[Natheren]

I'm really starting to wonder if we possibly still haven't seen the real main antagonist yet. Didn't Tabata say that the character hadn't been revealed yet awhile back? If so wouldn't that count Ardyn, Iedolas, and possibly Ravus out since we all kinda figured he was related to Stella/Luna?

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

Very true. A bit OT from this current conversation I went back and watched the debut trailer, and we've seen Luna's brother since then.

The bottom left.

I think it's still interesting that, even though they changed a good deal of the Lucis royal court's clothing, you still have a row of very mafia/Yakuza looking people on the Lucis side. And I still like how more diverse the court is. Prior to the change, they were all men(same race), and now you have some women in there, as well as a black guy. Awesomeness!

 

[Aters]

Judging from the impressions it sounds like we actually have a good video game movie?
Who would have thought that we'd get that from Versus XIII? :lol

Um, many of us?

People fell in love with FFVXIII because of nothing but some cinematic trailers, and many thought they should straight up make the game into a movie.

 

[jett]

What with an obsession with big eyes, multicolored hair, often hilariously curvaceous body figures, Japanese media generally looks nothing like Asian people. Even something targeting a more realistic look like FFXV doesn't have the same... gruffness that, say, MGSV or Kingsglaive does. (And FFXV is a little bit of an outlier here, while other Japanese franchises with realistically proportioned humans like, say, RE, etc tone a little bit back towards obvious anime stylings *edit: referring to facial features here, obviously)

Mocap on the other hand Japanese games could use a lot more of, although I think there's a fine line between the responsiveness of controls vs letting everything become animation-locked.

edit2: Aaaaand we're back on this topic again, hahahah. While I appreciate that this time it's more directly related to Kingsglaive we really should start a topic dedicated to mocap because I do want to discuss this a lot more, and it's just going to smother out people who want to discuss Kingsglaive, especially now that we've had a weekend with it out in the wild over in Japan.

Heh, one "problem" I have with Japanese mocap is the over the top mannerisms that it usually entails, for one reason or another. Maybe it's just a Japanese thing. Or an anime thing. I believe MGSV employed only western mocap stunt actors for this reason, to make the acting more palatable to worldwide audiences. Not that it helped the story any...

 

[Flandy]

Um, many of us?

People fell in love with FFVXIII because of nothing but some cinematic trailers, and many thought they should straight up make the game into a movie.

You expected that we would get a good video game movie from Versus XIII/XV after all the development hell it went through for a decade?

 

[jett]

If you count the different uploads on official Sony and SE channels it's at around 4 million.

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=kingsglaive+trailer&sp=CAM%3D

Oh, and regarding the budget:

I think AC had a similar budget too. I wonder if they have any expectations for the movie beyond helping FFXV sales.

On another note I really would be interested in hearing Nomura's thoughts and feelings about this entire situation. Probably never gonna get 'em.

A lot of western studios were involved in the creation of the film, probably had a lot to do with it along with Nomura not being involved. They were aiming for complete photorealism which for obvious reasons looks incredibly odd when you insert a Nomura face into it. No one who knows that this movie is coming out doesn't know about the game, the game has an incredibly limited release in theaters, and will be on bluray soon, yea I don't get the "it's to appeal to the west" idea.

Yeah probably a mix of an international crew plus maybe simply face-scanning models helped their pipeline some.

 

[sappyday]

Judging from the impressions it sounds like we actually have a good video game movie?
Who would have thought that we'd get that from Versus XIII? :lol

Who would have thought we'd get anything Versus XIII related ten years later.

 

[Aters]

You expected that we would get a good video game movie from Versus XIII/XV after all the development hell it went through for a decade?

I don't see how the development hell would affect a movie. It's not like they need a new engine for a movie.

 

[Falk]

Heh, one "problem" I have with Japanese mocap is the over the top mannerisms that it usually entails, for one reason or another. Maybe it's just a Japanese thing.

I don't disagree. There's just a complete difference in culture at play.

Even voiceovers and expected mannerisms are wildly different. Ask virtually anyone who isn't used to the excessive (or not) grunts, groans and sighs and little sounds inherent to Japanese voices in anime (and games), for example, and how that awkwardly translates sometimes to English dubs because they try to ape that, resulting in a mishmash that doesn't quite sound Japanese (because it's not in Japanese) and doesn't sound quite naturally English, either.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

I don't play FF14 but I just know they are going to have some of those FF15 movie outfits in the game, and I'm jealous. The white and purple outfit looks like something that would fit in FF14 perfectly.

 

[jett]

I don't disagree. There's just a complete difference in culture at play.

Even voiceovers and expected mannerisms are wildly different. Ask virtually anyone who isn't used to the excessive (or not) grunts, groans and sighs and little sounds inherent to Japanese voices in anime (and games), for example, and how that awkwardly translates sometimes to English dubs because they try to ape that, resulting in a mishmash that doesn't quite sound Japanese (because it's not in Japanese) and doesn't sound quite naturally English, either.

My "favorite" Japanese thing that never works in English is when characters just drift off mid-sentence (and always with a stupid look in their faces).

"Huh, that means...!"

...

...

...

Well, what does it mean?

 

[Yabberwocky]

Heh, one "problem" I have with Japanese mocap is the over the top mannerisms that it usually entails, for one reason or another. Maybe it's just a Japanese thing. Or an anime thing.

Oh, god, yes, this drives me batty, especially when it comes to young-ish female/male characters. For the ladies, Rikku, Vanille, and LR's Lumina are three of my most irritating examples. For the guys, Zack in Crisis Core, Prompto, and Gladio are really over exaggerated. Cindy's movement in FFXV is also bizarrely unnatural from what we've seen thus far, it's like she's perpetually posing, it's so frustrating. One of the reasons I love FFXII so much is that the characters behave, you know, like actual human beings! Even Vaan and Penelo are extremely understated in comparison to Prompto and Vanille. Look how Fran (who is running around with heels, boob armor, and a metal wedgie) is still framed and acted/animated in comparison to Cindy.

To keep relevant to the Kingsglaive discussion, I have been really enjoying the more understated acting from the characters - well, sans Ardyn of course, ha. I've rewatched the scene from the trailers with the guard and Nyx quite a few times, and it's such such a great synergy between acting and tech. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Luna in the actual film, too.

 

[jett]

Oh, god, yes, this drives me batty, especially when it comes to young-ish female/male characters. For the ladies, Rikku, Vanille, and LR's Lumina are three of my most irritating examples. For the guys, Zack in Crisis Core, Prompto, and Gladio are really over exaggerated. Cindy's movement in FFXV is also bizarrely unnatural from what we've seen thus far, it's like she's perpetually posing, it's so frustrating. One of the reasons I love FFXII so much is that the characters behave, you know, like actual human beings! Even Vaan and Penelo are extremely understated in comparison to Prompto and Vanille. Look how Fran (who is running around with heels, boob armor, and a metal wedgie) is still framed and acted/animated in comparison to Cindy.

To keep relevant to the Kingsglaive discussion, I have been really enjoying the more understated acting from the characters - well, sans Ardyn of course, ha. I've rewatched the scene from the trailers with the guard and Nyx quite a few times, and it's such such a great synergy between acting and tech. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Luna in the actual film, too.

FFXII is a great counter-example.

It was too good for the Squeenix of this world.

 

[Infest]

I can live with Luna's kingsglaive design but Ideloas' is absolutely horrible. He doesn't look even remotely as sinister and badass as in the game and more like a sad old man.

vs.