Square Enix censors skimpy male costume from upcoming Final Fantasy game

[Abbyka]

As silly as I think skimpy armor on female characters is, I'm not totally against it. Yeah, it doesn't make sense that a couple of nipple pasties and thongs can protect you, but hey, neither does magic or a lot of other things in video games. It's fiction, so whatever. What I do have a problem with is the double standard. If it's good for girls, then it should be good for guys. Hell, I'd find it hilarious to even have the option to put said nipple pasties on a guy character for shits and giggles because it'd not only make no sense in an armor sense but make no sense since he's a guy with no boobs that society deems too sexy to see the light of day. I demand the option to put ridiculous outfits on guys too for the lols of having an entire team of strippers with ridiculously high defense stats despite their lack of real armor.

Plus it's a butt for crying out loud. It's not his dong hanging out flapping in the wind. They'll work tirelessly to give boobs physics in games, design ridiculous outfits for women that make no sense for protection, and just focus entirely on the sexiness of women but they'll avoid men at all costs. Hey, men can be sexy too. Men can totally wear nonsensical armor as well. Though I won't ask for crotch physics on guys. lmao I'd really just like to see more effort put into guys that they put into girls, really. This just seems like they're uncomfortable with the idea that men can be sexy and there is a fan base that would actually enjoy said sexiness. No matter how ridiculous it may seem when it comes to defense. As a female the effort they put into the female characters' sexiness is completely lost on me. If they'd put more effort into the sex appeal of the men I'd be all over it. Like it or not, sex sells. It'll sell just as much if it's the sex appeal of a man because girls do play video games(and so do gay men, who I'm sure will agree that feminine sex appeal is meh).

 

[Major Kong]

I haven't played very many FF games in my time, but I've always known that the fashion sense of the developers - especially when it comes to armor - has been a little...unorthodox.

That being said, I don't understand what people's aversion to this particular outfit could be. The two commenters quoted in the article clearly didn't like it because they considered it "gay", and clearly it made them uncomfortable. All jokes about male gamers aside, is that really enough of a reason to alter the outfit? Because a few guys may feel uncomfortable having to watch that smooth, supple backside bob and weave in front of them...

...I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Why is everyone assuming that it was just men who disliked the costume?

The article only quotes two people from YouTube comments of all things. It's also got a pretty clear "look at these homophobic gamers" slant.

I'm assuming Square doesn't make games based on YouTube comments from Americans, so its more likely that the decision was made based on the opinions of Japanese focus groups.

Theres no way to know who/what prompted Square to change the design.

 

[cikame]

I prefer the update, neither option counts as "armour" and that's not a problem, simply the updated clothing looks better.
Armour is an asthetic in most games rather than a necessity, skimpy armour has the added benefit of looking cool (user preference).

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Eww. Vice. >_>

OP: Square Enix should get told off more often for their stupid character designs. It's like the Japanese equivalent of Warhammer 40K though without the Orkz to compensate for all the Eldar/Space Marine over-design.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Hmm this is interesting. Square enix tried to be progressive and make a sexy male character to balance with sexy female character, only to be shot down by nay sayers. I can only conclude that people just want everyone to be dressed up head to toe and show no skin at all.

Basically, people don't want devs to dress down men, they want devs to dress up women.

Option 2: It isn't the same group of people.

 

[hermes]

You reaaaaally need to check on the overuse of "Censorship" here.

While, on one side, I don't agree with Bob about the "only governments censor" line; on the other, not everything that gets changed happens due to censorship, even if you liked the original design. Sometimes those changes happen because the original is really, really, really dumb...

I have nothing against revealing characters, but that looked like he tried to use a steel belt as a breastplate, but didn't knew how. In a way, I am not surprised it is a Squarenix game, because, even when he looked barely clothed, he looks over-designed as crap. I can almost picture the following exchange:

- Make this male character as revealing as possible, so that we cater to the female audience.
[artists draws a character with only a loincloth and a single spaulder]
- That is not what I asked! What good is a costume designer that doesn't design costumes? Throw some belts or some other decoration on him...

 

[Abbyka]

Well it's still pretty skimpy looking, so there's that. I just kind of find it funny that it was the butt on a man that was too much but there hasn't been a line drawn yet with female costumes except for feminists who are totally against skimpy costumes on women. I totally don't care since I find the idea that skimpy and armor can even been in the same concept.

 

[Therumancer]

My big question here would of course be whether anyone who liked guys actually liked this costume. With the sexy things girls are shown wearing the bottom line is most guys appreciate them, and when you read fantasy created by women for women, or look at their own artwork, they tend to wear the same kinds of things since most girls wish they could pull off such things.

The opposition to this being pulled seems to mostly be political, people screaming "dual standards" and so on, but I don't think I've seen one girl or even a gay guy saying they liked this look and wanted to keep it. To be honest since I've seen guys in games wearing even less, we're talking furry barbarian shorts and boots or whatever, and dudes walking around entirely shirtless showing off their ripped physiques do not seem to be uncommon, I don't think it has much to do with the costume being too revealing. I mean Conan has had several games at this point and he's not known for conservative attire or for having anything less than an ideal physique.

Now I could be wrong, but the big question is who is challenging this except for SJWs crusading for some principle that they themselves seem to miss the point of. See, with people screaming censorship over pulling the "Batgirl" cover for example you at least saw clearly stated reasons for why it shouldn't have been pulled and how it was appropriate to the titles (sex appeal not having been the issue here however), you had many arguments, including some by me, explaining why this should have stood. Who exactly is it that feels this Final Fantasy artwork is appropriate and wants to see it preserved? It could be me, but I don't see anyone. What's more given that this game isn't out yet as far as I know (even in Japan) so unlike Batgirl you can't see many people saying whether it fits in with the rest of the work other than the creators.

That said given what say Wakka tended to wear (and the guy was ripped) in "Final Fantasy X" combined with some of the other outfits they have squeezed the men into, I doubt this outfit being too skimpy was that big a deal. Heck, half the time when people are fully clothed in Final Fantasy games they look like they stepped out of some fetish club (buckles and straps anyone?). I have no objections, but it strikes me as being odd to claim that the Japanese are being prudish when usually the opposite is the case with their fantasy works. They produce tons of Yaoi for the boy lovers out there and let's just say even to this day tentacle porn is something your average nerdboy can never unsee. You can't even claim the guy looks too effeminate given how androgynous a lot of Final Fantasy characters have looked in the past, and heck, while he didn't wear much that was skimpy that I can remember from certain angles I always thought Squall looked like a vintage "Boy George", if they had worked "Karma Chameleon" into the soundtrack I wouldn't have been shocked.

 

[Callate]

*snert*

I find the costume kind of amusing, but I wouldn't say it in any way offends me. Final Fantasy has pretty much always been the home of outrageous costumes, improbable hairstyles, and people lugging around weapons the size of battleships. Let the designers make what they want.

Really beginning to wish we'd stop letting the Internet as a whole have a say as an editorial board.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Hmm this is interesting. Square enix tried to be progressive and make a sexy male character to balance with sexy female character, only to be shot down by nay sayers. I can only conclude that people just want everyone to be dressed up head to toe and show no skin at all.

Basically, people don't want devs to dress down men, they want devs to dress up women.

Option 2: It isn't the same group of people.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some overlap. Also , people like to complain for the sake of complaining. This is especially true for gamers.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

So, yeah, it's awful design. Although it's a Final Fantasy game, so I come expecting awful character designs.

That being said, they didn't change it because they thought it was an awful design. It was changed because it showed too much skin, and commenters thought it looked too gay.

Some modicum of consistency would be nice [sub](<- NSFW)[/sub]

 

[Silvanus]

My big question here would of course be whether anyone who liked guys actually liked this costume. With the sexy things girls are shown wearing the bottom line is most guys appreciate them, and when you read fantasy created by women for women, or look at their own artwork, they tend to wear the same kinds of things since most girls wish they could pull off such things.

*raises hand*

I like both sexes. I like seeing this kind of design more than the ubiquitous revealing female outfits because it's so much less common-- I've been spoiled, saturated even with revealing female outfits, to the point where it's gone into eye-rolling territory. That's not the case with revealing male costumes. It's still something that draws the eye. I shamelessly like it.

You've got a number of people in here saying they personally prefer the original costume. No politics.

 

[Abbyka]

My big question here would of course be whether anyone who liked guys actually liked this costume. With the sexy things girls are shown wearing the bottom line is most guys appreciate them, and when you read fantasy created by women for women, or look at their own artwork, they tend to wear the same kinds of things since most girls wish they could pull off such things.

*raises hand*

I like both sexes. I like seeing this kind of design more than the ubiquitous revealing female outfits because it's so much less common-- I've been spoiled, saturated even with revealing female outfits, to the point where it's gone into eye-rolling territory. That's not the case with revealing male costumes. It's still something that draws the eye. I shamelessly like it.

You've got a number of people in here saying they personally prefer the original costume. No politics.

I like guys and would love to see it. Though I've only seen pictures, not video of the outfit actually in action yet. While I'm not into women the skimpy outfits don't bug me on them because I'm secure in my sexuality. Not sure why guys would be all "UGH MAN BOOTY YUCK". At least it's waxed, clean, and not this guy.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

So, yeah, it's awful design. Although it's a Final Fantasy game, so I come expecting awful character designs.

That being said, they didn't change it because they thought it was an awful design. It was changed because it showed too much skin, and commenters thought it looked too gay.

Some modicum of consistency would be nice [sub](<- NSFW)[/sub]

Again, I doubt two people from some YouTube comments prompted the change.

 

[Scow2]

Seems it wasn't a decision they were pressured into for political reasons.

Still plenty of gay pornography exists for the people upset about this.

This isn't gay pornography, and equating it to such only expresses your own ignorance and validates the complaint against the change. This is revealing/fanservice costuming in a major game. And no, there isn't a lot of that in large, high-budget game development.

Captcha: Men in suits

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Again, I doubt two people from some YouTube comments prompted the change.

Yeah. Just the two. Follow the links in the article and you'll find plenty more people decrying it for looking too gay.

Also, I was going by this for what the change was motivated by:

Yoshinori Kitase explained that after looking at various reactions online, the developer decided the character was showing too much skin.

EDIT:

Seems it wasn't a decision they were pressured into for political reasons.

Still plenty of gay pornography exists for the people upset about this.

Breaking news from our sources in the field:

"Straight women exist"

Back to you, Tom.