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Are you happy with the "visual identity" adopted by modern Final Fantasy?
- Thread starter MYE
- Start date
i dont like the design, either. But I think the main problem is that the design of the characters is the starting point for the games, and the background stories of the chars develop from this design and thus also the story. So, more simply put: char design -> char stories -> story (-> world design).
Final Fantasy has a lot of problems and I think one of the starting points is the char design, yes. However, never really thinking about the general game design (like generic quests, villages, places, switching from world map to fighting scene etc.) should be top on the list of things the developers have to improve on.
Final Fantasy has a lot of problems and I think one of the starting points is the char design, yes. However, never really thinking about the general game design (like generic quests, villages, places, switching from world map to fighting scene etc.) should be top on the list of things the developers have to improve on.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Nomura's haters:
"EFFEMINATE!!"
"OMG MASTERPIECE"
If we talk about "effeminate"-looking characters, Amano is surely in the top spots.
probably the hair and clothes, I would love to see more of Amano's styles of hairdos and tec. They look so otherworldly, less try-hard.
PshycoNinja
Member
These?
Could be worse. But I already want to punch Noctis. The fuck is he wearing?
YES. In setting and style anyway
What's wrong with what Noctis is wearing? A T-shirt and a jacket? I see people walk around with that style all the time. Hell I dong something like that on every once in a while. It's a popular style for males in Japan and NA.
Also great job on trying to chose selective photos as to not show any characters imperfections especially Galdiolus and Cor with all his scars and imperfections.
So what is this? A FFXV hate thread or a Nomura hate thread? Both?
They usually go hand in hand, unfortunately.
If we talk about "effeminate"-looking characters, Amano is surely in the top spots.
Get those dead fish eye characters out of my FF.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
In the end is not that the are effeminate, because there nothing wrong with it, but that they share about the same bone structure. The all look similar no matter how many tattoos, scars, or facial hair you throw on them. It all looks like it was pasted on top of an actor. Nevertheless, it wold be cool if they used prosthetic too. No everyone has to have the same nose and chin.
Baron Aloha
A Shining Example
I really like FF14's style. I wish they would give us a single player version of that. :\
Glass Rebel
Member
I don't mind the XV style. It's a bit drab looking but stylistically more consistent than whatever XIII was. I still prefer Yoshida's style over Nomura's and would love if he got a big role on XVI.
SolidSnakex
Member
It's a shame Squeenix decided to abandon a lot of wonderful FF spinoffs (Dissidia, Crystal Chronicles, etc)
When the Vita picks up maybe we will see another Dissidia title God willing.
But yeah, art work for Dissidia was fantastic
I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, since I also LOVE Amano's designs.
But it's funny to see people complaining about how Nomura "brought the effeminate male characters to Final Fantasy", and how they want Amano back....
we.are.the.armada
Member
I love how FFXV's male leads look. I hope it inspires people to get in shape and become more fashion-conscious.
As opposed to the gritty manly men ala Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock Infinite, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Gears of War, Call of Duty, God of War, Metal Gear, Batman, ad infinitum?
I'm not happy with the "visual identity" of the protagonist adopted by the majority of games.
I'm not happy with the "visual identity" of the protagonist adopted by the majority of games.
PixyJunket
Member
I haven't played a (main/numbered/whatever) Final Fantasy game since the awful vomit that was VII (except IX, which is indeed <3), so I would be squarely in the "unhappy" camp.
we.are.the.armada
Member
No hyperbole but he's one of the worst.
That seems to be an issue with a large number of Japanese manga and game artists. They draw the same basic male and female faces (maybe with child, young adult, and old adult variants) for everyone and use hair/clothing to differentiate between characters.
All of these FF characters look similar because they are all drawn by Nomura. Might as well complain about the sameness in every Dragon Quest character.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
When they're translated to 3D they look like this
Yeah, I'm not a fan of Amano style outside the paintings. Making it 3d adds too many things that were not there originally. What I like of Amano is that they are too tall, or too thin, or seemingly anatomically distorted in a way or another, and that gets lost when they become anatomically correct and 3d. I think they are sort of rigid because of it.
Neoriceisgood
Member
Absolutely not.
My personal favorite was the style presented in Final Fantasy XII, the characters were alright but the world as a whole was beautiful to look at. I have no problem with the current direction, on face value the games might seem to be superficially gravitating towards an anime-cg hybrid look but every game has a distinct feel to it. I don't know if we'll ever see a more stylistic approach with the series, a lot of different art styles seem to get pushed to their spin-offs or other franchises.
I hope that they don't try to adopt Amano's art style at a more accurate level though. His artwork is not something I've ever really liked, especially his works with the Final Fantasy series.
I hope that they don't try to adopt Amano's art style at a more accurate level though. His artwork is not something I've ever really liked, especially his works with the Final Fantasy series.
Excuse me for mostly choosing main characters to point out a trend in SE's designs?
And yes, I'm aware that villains and certain supporting characters are given the liberty to not be designed as androgynous mannequins
...what?
Part of the problem with the Final Fantasy series in particular is the fact that the mainline games have to push merchandise, as well as the game itself. Flamboyant characters are more marketable than regular looking people. JPop-esque looks also appeal to the game's primary fanbase (Japanese teenagers, the same ones who consume JPop in general).
hate it personally.
It is not that i hate characters being different. I hate that their hair is completely unrealistic like it was created via hairstylist for 4hours.
As of Squall. Squall is not from new bad design. Every character in FF8 had normal hair and rather normal looking clothes. Irvine was supposed to be kind of like cowboyish dude (shotgun coat, hat etc)
Squall hair was just long but it wasn't overly stylized.
The shitty design started after they created new cloud look. After that each character looks out of place.
Simply almost every new character from new design looks like he just walked out out of fashion mag. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but part of delivering good characters look is need to make them believable.
It is not that i hate characters being different. I hate that their hair is completely unrealistic like it was created via hairstylist for 4hours.
As of Squall. Squall is not from new bad design. Every character in FF8 had normal hair and rather normal looking clothes. Irvine was supposed to be kind of like cowboyish dude (shotgun coat, hat etc)
Squall hair was just long but it wasn't overly stylized.
The shitty design started after they created new cloud look. After that each character looks out of place.
Simply almost every new character from new design looks like he just walked out out of fashion mag. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but part of delivering good characters look is need to make them believable.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
It really doesn't bother me that much outside of old men who loos like a young actors with make up (CorvoSol's post is a good example of what I'm talking about). I don't think that's the case for DD, although all men of a same age, and women as well, do look the same outside for color palette swap.
There's no actual dismay against Amano, just pointing out that complaining about Nomura's effeminate designs while praising Amano is ridiculous. I bet most people here like Amano's designs, including me.
Ah I see. Should of have read it more carefully then.
I personally don't see what's wrong with the current art direction to FF.
Be it Amano, Nomura, or Yoshida, they each bring their own style to FF and I personally enjoy them all.
The visual identity of FF14 is really nice and I love XV's modern approach - especially after the weird sci-fi approach of terrible fashion design that was FFXIII. Although Nomura is going a bit overboard with the Roen stuff compared to what was shown when the game was still Versus XIII...