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Top 3 best and worst Final Fantasy protagonist designs

R

rataven

Member
z0m3le said:
Everyone has an opinion, but seriously? His asymmetric design is well crafted, his outfit is the soldier outfits and pulls directly from his story, it all hints at who he is. Honestly it is one of the most thoughtful designs for a game dealing with industrial designs... Think about it for a second. His Sword doesn't fit him because it isn't his, he is a "thin" man boy because he was given poison that gave him powers, his strength doesn't come from muscles alone but the tests that were done on him. His hair is part of the Asymmetric design along with his shoulder pad, it's all designed to tell a story.

I mean you can still hate the design, but it is not a thoughtless design by any means, even stuff like the color of his eyes probably lead to the choice to give him blonde hair, and the low polygon count of his model lead to the spiky hair so you could more easily tell where he was facing as he got further from the camera.

Lastly, I just don't sell why you think Squall is a good design either, he is about as try hard as it comes, hell the entire idea of a gunblade is ridiculous, and then you have the most cliche scar on his face. His personality doesn't do anything to help matters and really fits this design far too well IMO.
Click to expand...

Great post and spot on, for both characters.
 
P

Psycho_Mantis

Banned
Best:

1) Cloud

ea9f7e961ba6d885ce93c1d5f1637033.gif


2) Noctis Sasuke

tumblr_njh63u3SlB1sk2xoko2_540.gif


3) Stella ;___;

tumblr_o91hhlzkjP1tpdb1go1_500.gif
 
A

aerts1js

Member
Cloud as one of the worst designs ? OK. It's only one of the most iconic FF characters ever. I always instantly regret clicking on shit like this.
 
K

kromeo

Member
aerts1js said:
Cloud as one of the worst designs ? OK. It's only one of the most iconic FF characters ever. I always instantly regret clicking on shit like this.
Click to expand...

Just because people love the game doesn't mean he isn't wearing ridiculous shit. And that hair..

He get's away with it in the game because you can hardly see him with the lego graphics
 
J

jett

D-Member
Balthier is definitely the best FF design of the 21st century.

balthier-sexy.jpg


He looks just the right amount of eccentric, unlike Nomura's stuff which just goes way over the line.
 
1

13ruce

Banned
kinda like Noctis, Leon(Squall but i like his KH name better) and Cloud.

I hate Lightning, Tidus and yeah thays it notnplayed much FF games.

Noctis just should have had more clothing/costumes available.
 
baberunisei

baberunisei

Member
Noctis is much better than Squall. Cmon, look at Squall's jacket!

That said, my favorites are Lightning and Noctis and my least favorite is Vaan by a mile.
 
D

decoyplatypus

Member
My favorites are Firion (the bandana), Terra (the polka dots), and Balthier (that vest). Least favorites are Tidus (the asymmetrical wader shorts), Amarant (face hidden by hair), and Quina (???).

I have a strong negative reaction to two of the FFXV protagonist designs, but as I haven't played the game, it seems best to reserve judgment.
 
D

DrunkShogun

Member
Looking a thing the designs,who are the main character designers? I've guessed Amano for ff1-6, Nomura for ff7-10 with touches in 13&15 I think and yoshida in ff12. Damn yoshida deserves more entries if that's the case.
 
G

Grettir_the_Swole

Member
Best:
Squall
Older Noctis (Am I the only one who isn't bothered by the fact Noctis and his crew looks like they came from the alt cover of a GooGoo Dolls album? The whole game had a bold, alternate postmodern/art deco vibe to it anyways. While I hate those cargo shorts, I think it's fitting for a prince in that universe to look like he's up with high fashion)

Auron: Precisely because they modeled his look and personality from Toshiba Mifune's Nameless Ronin from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. One of my favorite characters of the entire series.
tumblr_myynpxOGWf1s12q34o1_500.gif
 
I

InfiniDragon

Member
Assuming main protagonists here.

Top, in no particular order:
Cloud - His look is iconic and memorable, like him or hate him. I really like both versions of Cloud but prefer Advent Children version as I liked the addition of the half cape (I also really like it on Dunban from Xenoblade).
Terra - Always loved her Amano design. Sprite version with no cape and a leotard instead of her tube dress was meh even though I liked the green hair as a kid a lot, I've since come to prefer blonde Terra so the Dissidia design is perfect to me.
Cecil - Both his Dark Knight and Paladin look amazing; although Kain is my favorite FFIV character, design-wise Cecil takes it handily.

If we count the MMOs, XIV Dragoon armor (male version) is my favorite incarnation of my favorite FF job so it's up there.

Worst:
Lightning (after XIII) - Hate the character but really liked her original design. What the hell happened in the sequels.
Zidane - proportions and art direction killed his design which sucks because I really like Zidane. I much prefer the Dissidia version though.
Tidus - Again, like the character but never liked the outfit, hate shorts even though they do fit the climate of Besaid.

If this were all FF main characters, add Auron, X Rikku and Vincent to the good list and Ashe, VII Tifa and Quina to the awful list.

EDIT: Oh and if spin-offs and sequels do count (I guess they would in my list based on Light), X-2 Yuna and Rikku, and Revenant Wings Penelo are really bad. Ramza is one of the best nonnumeric FF designs also and would be on the good list.
 
I

Ishida

Banned
Dangansona said:
Lol I'm glad we are starting to come back around on this image.
Click to expand...

It makes me laugh when people say "It would've been much better with the genderflipped versions".

Like... Why...? Wouldn't they be the same exact characters, but... females? Wouldn't that be basically the same thing?
 
L

Lothar

Banned
Ishida said:
It makes me laugh when people say "It would've been much better with the genderflipped versions".

Like... Why...? Wouldn't they be the same exact characters, but... females? Wouldn't that be basically the same thing?
Click to expand...

A cast of serious looking girls is atypical. I badly would want to play that game. While Noctus dressing like a boring looking dull boy is bland as fuck, a female character dressing like a boy is an interesting look.

It's the same reason why a cast of men wearing dresses would be more interesting than a cast of women wearing dresses. How can that possibly be the same thing?
 
H

Hashmal_Bringer_of_Order

Member
Lothar said:
A cast of serious looking girls is atypical. I badly would want to play that game. While Noctus dressing like a boring looking dull boy is bland as fuck, a female character dressing like a boy is an interesting look.

It's the same reason why a cast of men wearing dresses would be more interesting than a cast of women wearing dresses. How can that possibly be the same thing?
Click to expand...

I'm amazed some people can't handle the all male cast when we already had 2 games with no male party members.
 
C

CopperPuppy

Member
The End said:
gender-flipped FFXV cast is amazing

2914724-ff4.png


lady gladiola is as hot as the surface of the sun
Click to expand...

This picture sort of bums me out because gender-flipped Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus are so well done that it makes gender-flipped Noctis look phoned-in and consequently stand out like a sore thumb. I would love this mock-up if it was redone to give the same amount of attention to fem-Noctis as opposed to just giving him breasts and some mullet extensions.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
jett said:
Balthier is definitely the best FF design of the 21st century.

balthier-sexy.jpg


He looks just the right amount of eccentric, unlike Nomura's stuff which just goes way over the line.
Click to expand...

The only flaw are his weird fantasy crocs. If he was wearing boots or actual shoes it'd be perfect.
 
Wulfric

Wulfric

Member
I can't believe I forgot about Rosa. Barring Elia/Princess Hilda in later remakes, I think she was the original Final Fantasy heroine. I wish we could get a full 3D remake with the style of the DS CGI opening.

62BacBE.jpg
XlSwsh1.jpg
tumblr_l8mcamnSKs1qcbea7o1_1280.jpg
Click to expand...
 
D

Dangansona

Member
To actually give a list I would say:

1) Fang
2) Auron
3) Balthier
4) Cloud
5) Lightning
Bonus: Waka, Cecil, Vincent, and the rest of XIII

Bottom:
1) Zidane
2) Vaan
3) Irvine
4) Lulu
5) Steiner

I actually like the XV cast. They look better in game versus a black promotional image.
 
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