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Are you happy with the "visual identity" adopted by modern Final Fantasy?
- Thread starter MYE
- Start date
MoogleWizard
Member
I think you're confusing it with X-2, there's nothing Jpop about VIII.
I agree, that is too conservative. It had to have cost at least two billion usd considering all of the re-releases. Not to mention the recall they had to do due to all of the complaints that you could almost see Yoshi's vagina and could see her butt.
The Praiseworthy
Member
I always had back in my mind that the art direction for FFVIII's characters were better... but seeing this, I realize for the first time that FFVII were truly better.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I don't think he meant musically. As in the style of jpop performers.
Clearly VIII was the first game in the series with the realistically proportioned CG Asian doll look.
yes there is, it even had a jpop song in it. Squall was modelled after jpop star Gackt and Rinoah looks like your typical jdrama pure girl. Even cell sports a typical year 2k millennium tribal tatoo on his disgusting face.
oh, and every single one is young and handsome.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
It's not a bad thing. If you got rid of Tidus's left zip off pant leg, he'd be wearing shorts, shoes, a vest, and a jacket. You could argue for the psychological effect that colors can have on opponents/animals or the effectiveness of cover it would provide at night/when hiding, or how practical shorts are in cold environments (if only he could zip the bottom of his pants on and off on both legs)... but he's not exactly being shot at, reloading, or has a skillset that could benefit from being encumbered and weighed down. I can't even remember any enemy encounter in that game that would involve nullifying the effectiveness of blades.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Cpop, technically. Faye Wong is Chinese. Not sure if I'd call it pop either, more of a ballad.. But perhaps it is. The first sure pop, musically, was in X-2.
But I knew the main point wasn't about music, but style.
Well, playing with Auron would by default bring us Jecht.
Squall was modeled after Gackt?
What is Nomura's obsession with that guy? lol
Alkaiser! (from SaGa Frontier)
Sometimes as a main character, being awesome means you gotta be a little flamboyant or crazy, and not care what the haters say.
"Hey, Cactus head!"
It was cool because this was a part in the game. People were picking on Red because his hair looks like a cactus. Little did they know that he was a super hero!
EDIT: I think Tomomi Kobayashi has great character art, and the design aesthetic would work well with Final Fantasy.
Sometimes as a main character, being awesome means you gotta be a little flamboyant or crazy, and not care what the haters say.
"Hey, Cactus head!"
It was cool because this was a part in the game. People were picking on Red because his hair looks like a cactus. Little did they know that he was a super hero!
EDIT: I think Tomomi Kobayashi has great character art, and the design aesthetic would work well with Final Fantasy.
Well, playing with Auron would by default bring us Jecht.
Squall was modeled after Gackt?
What is Nomura's obsession with that guy? lol
Nah, jetch mode all the time,.
Also Gackt is a cool dude.
I demand a tidus team up, and jetcht boss battle in KH3
NinjamicWZ
Banned
I see different types of people everyday and never become upset with their appearance, or of similarities between them and others, outside of fletting trains of thought about the nature of conformity and autonomy. These characters that you think are rehashes of Squall are no more derivative of Squall than Walter White is of Steve Austin.
Meccanical
Member
Squall was modeled after River Phoenix actually.
Moon_frogger
Member
Interesting. I always thought he was modeled after this actor who was well known in the 80's. Can't remember his name. At least, that's who I thought Squall looked like. I'd be surprised if they didn't look at River Phoenix as a reference though, ha ha.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
I wasn't trying to contest your point, I just noticed the same artificial leg and arm get up going on. I think a lot of people unconsciously pick and choose what they find to be functional, based on predisposed thoughts on purpose and place. ex: spartan short hair vs samurai long hair. Sure, we can do the Pirates vs Ninja thing like Ultimate Warrior on History Channel in order to mandate conformity to support military convention, or we can go "oh yeah, things can be different and interesting, not just uniform and superior" and go with whether or not we find something visually pleasing. Every fictional woman doesn't need to chop their hair off during matters of survival as an act of solidarity and acceptance as well as outfit themselves to the attack-proof nines in full PTSD mode, in order to be an enjoyable character in an enjoyable story, and it shouldn't be an expectation for fictional men either.
I'm irritated Nintendo doesn't give this game more spotlight
I mean, look at all the attention they gave when DQIX came to the west. They went all out on advertising that game. Granted BD is no DQ, I still think Nintendo should give the game more attention to the JRPGs they get that isn't Pokemon, SMT or Fire Emblem.
Pretty sure it was genesis from crisis core that was modeled after gackt.
Squall was influenced by river phoenix.
FFXIII sold around 1.8M in US, not 2.5M like is depicted in that chart.
You should start FFchartz
Should I make up my own US numbers from my ass or are you gonna provide any source for yours?
pancakesandsex
Member
Nomura's 10 designs turned me off initially when it first came out, and I stayed away from the it for a long time because of it. It was a mistake. I'm glad I got over it.
I think Nomura's visual style is fine for the series, but I wouldn't mind them taking a tales-like approach and change it up once in a while between a few staple artists. As it stands, they tend to use one guy until they can't use him anymore. I don't think Nomura's designs need to be THE face of Final Fantasy.
I think Nomura's visual style is fine for the series, but I wouldn't mind them taking a tales-like approach and change it up once in a while between a few staple artists. As it stands, they tend to use one guy until they can't use him anymore. I don't think Nomura's designs need to be THE face of Final Fantasy.
I just chose that pic randomly because it was the first good quality picture I could find of a character in The Last Story. I was actually looking for a couple other characters, but I get your point.
Still, any character for the game would do. Just go and search them up, most of the characters in The Last Story have things going on that probably aren't necessary and yet the style looks nice.
Here is a good example of style to talk about. Now, this character's style has been taken up to 11, and you can see how most of it could probably be argued as unnecessary. However, I would shit some bricks if this character was included in The Last Story. Probably would have been my favorite design for the game. (it's just concept art by the artist)
Of course, it's all subjective, because some people would want something different in a character design. But perhaps, if this character had some sort of slow but powerful playstyle, or maybe he could be a 'tank' kind of character. Basically I think it is okay to have ridiculous looking characters because it is all part of the fantasy aspect of playing a game. However, there is proper use for a character that has a certain style.
Actually, this artist (Kimihiko Fujisaka) would be a good fit for a certain kind of Final Fantasy, probably in the same vein as the FF Tactics style or even maybe FF XV.
Of course, it's all subjective, because some people would want something different in a character design. But perhaps, if this character had some sort of slow but powerful playstyle, or maybe he could be a 'tank' kind of character. Basically I think it is okay to have ridiculous looking characters because it is all part of the fantasy aspect of playing a game. However, there is proper use for a character that has a certain style.
Actually, this artist (Kimihiko Fujisaka) would be a good fit for a certain kind of Final Fantasy, probably in the same vein as the FF Tactics style or even maybe FF XV.
GalacticGravy
Member
I've been playing the older games (played FF6 last month, beat FF5 a couple weeks ago and I'm currently playing FF4 now) and, well, I guess Japan is just obsessed with anime. The SECOND they got the chance they turned it into an anime. I don't like the belt buckles all over the place and other strangeness. I don't like the androgynous characters (to be fair, Kefka was pretty androgenous, too). I don't mind some, but SO MANY are.
Not only that but Rinoa was supposed to be European influenced, not Asian.
Of course they're going to give it attention but they just finished up with Pokemon and have A Link Between Worlds to draw attention to next.
You should start FFchartz
Someone is already running it here on GAF:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=73949608&postcount=1162
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=85211473&postcount=265
XIII and XIII-2 are so terrible that hundreds of thousands of copies have been returned since July "according to NPD".
These charts are very conspicuous and people have quickly clung to them as gospel without ever questioning their veracity.
We all appreciate anyone who wants to help, but I'd rather it not be with fake numbers (we already have that covered on another website).
Anyway, back to visual identity.
Loved this character. Made the game humorous.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
The earliest of FFs were anime too: basically game versions of Ghibli movies like Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
And while you may see anime as some separate world from "normal" fantasy, in Japan it is just their fantasy. Of course they made their video games expressing similar values.
For some reason, I really doubt Nintendo will throw this game any attention at all other than a trailer or two on their YouTube page.
And I'm also irritated Nintendo doesn't push Squeenix for more CC titles dammit.
Lots of concept art, not a lot of ingame models or screenshots....a lot of designs that look bland or weird in 2d look pretty damn good in 3d (FF8 and 10) and vice versa (FF7)
FFXV enemy designs look like a pretty damn good representation of early FF games in 3d,,,,,darker shaded, and intricate designs over all
FFXV enemy designs look like a pretty damn good representation of early FF games in 3d,,,,,darker shaded, and intricate designs over all
If Fantasy isn't anime and Lodoss Wars is anime? Who is phone?
Meccanical
Member
I love the character and world design in Crystal Bearer.
Also the character attitudes were interesting (how cool is having a cocky hero as main character).
The actual core game mechanics were a disappointment though.
mmmh, really confusing...
Why is he passing the "abroad" shipment given by Square during the fusion with Enix (some of which include the PS1 re-release) as NPD number?
/sorry for the off-topic
That explains 100% of the thangs. I will now go spread the gospel.
GuessMyUserName
Member
Love Crystal Chronicles designs, hate XIII designs (... really hate everybody's face)
7-12 I've got no problems
7-12 I've got no problems
I don't have a problem with the "visual identity" of FF. However, I do think it's up and down over the years. For example, some of Nomura's stuff I just don't like. Then I see his designs for the Dissidia series and for some reason, all of them are fucking awesome. FFXV's look, on the other hand, does nothing for me. On the other side, everything Yoshida touches is gold.
Dissidia is probably the best looking Final Fantasy game in terms of character designs though. Just from top to bottom, it is brilliant. They haven't been able to top it since.
Dissidia is probably the best looking Final Fantasy game in terms of character designs though. Just from top to bottom, it is brilliant. They haven't been able to top it since.
This is where I don't understand people say IC went back to the series roots. None of this bs was in the earlier games. White Wizard (not Mage) in the original ff looked awesome, chaos looked awesome. This is just a bunch of garbage.
thewhitehawk
Member
I don't like it as much as the previous cartoonish sprites but I do appreciate that there's at least one jRPG company doing character designs which are a bit more mature than the rest.
On one hand you have Final Fantasy's metrosexuals, on the other hand you have the Tales series teenage parades. I think having a bit of diversity is better than no diversity at all and I think Square pulls off this visual design rather well, they just need to work better on the other aspects of their games, like, the game part, and the story...
On one hand you have Final Fantasy's metrosexuals, on the other hand you have the Tales series teenage parades. I think having a bit of diversity is better than no diversity at all and I think Square pulls off this visual design rather well, they just need to work better on the other aspects of their games, like, the game part, and the story...
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
In some ways I think it's odd how western people have come to think of anime as "a thing", when it is really just the Japanese word for animation.
I think it would be more obviously nonsensical to say things like "why is Final Fantasy like the style of animation in its country of origin"?
Meccanical
Member
Let's boil it down even more, 'Is anyone tired of this Japanese series looking Japanese?"
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Exactly. I laughed.
I am, shitz fucking weak.
basically
Nomura is obviously a talented artist, but I personally have been overexposed to his style over the years and would like SE to veer from it occasionally to make some of the games' worlds and characters more distinct. I'd like a Final Fantasy game to attempt something truly visually different, perhaps something resembling watercolor. SE has great prowess when it come to visuals, so it would be interesting to see them diversify the type of art styles they cover and explore.
Except that they didn't ruin it.
I thoroughly enjoyed X-2. It worked as a sort of extended epilogue for me. I liked being able to revisit all the places I traveled to in the main game and see how things had changed now that Sin was gone. I enjoyed the whole "where are they now?" aspect of it. I enjoyed seeing the girls roll together and do their thing. And for once, it was a woman going through hell to try to get back her true love, rather than the other way around, and I appreciated that. (And before anyone says, "Bu-bu-bu-Jpop! Bu-bu-bu-dresspheres!", I got a kick out of that stuff too, so away with thee!)
I'll back you up. I love FFX-2 and look forward to the HD version.