Well Square, you finally did it... you killed Final Fantasy (A Rant)

[Hectix777]

Here's a panorama of characters from the most recent trailer (that picture you're using is quite old)

Spoiler

As you can see, there are two girls, and when viewing the characters from the front they don't look so "brotastic" to me.

HOLY CRAP THEY HAVE THE ORDER OF ASSASSINS!!!

I'm sorry I just had to, you can't not look at that guy in the white hood and think," Assassin's Creed."

OT: I don't really see the big deal yet. I'm gonna wait until I see a trailer that gives me a better assumption of each character before I cast judgement though. I didn't play Final Fantasy 13 because every character just seemed... so, ugh. Hopefully the characters might be different and the world's and combat look pretty so far. Just wait is my advice.

Seriously though, if that guy doesn't turn out to be an Assassin or have wrist knife, I'm throwing my console out the window and complaining to Square.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Well Noctis look likes Noctis. It's been a while since we've seen his face. The guy on the right looks like Travis Touchdown. I don't think it's a negative. The first one on the left looks like one of my friend (Hair style and all). Lastly, the guy on the far left could use a decent meal. However, I'm pretty sure they'll announce a female at some point. However, if character design is something that bothered you, you may have overlooked a few things during the entire franchise. Nitpicking at this stage is like nitpicking a pie recipe because we forgot to buy some nutmeg at the store.

 

[Hectix777]

Here's a panorama of characters from the most recent trailer (that picture you're using is quite old)

Spoiler

As you can see, there are two girls, and when viewing the characters from the front they don't look so "brotastic" to me.

Whats Ezio doing there :3

That's what I thought too man. Though knowing Final Fantasy games this guy will either be some kind of monk or summoner and basically only heal players. He's also most likely really devoted to whatever religion is in this iteration of the game and will probably be passive or violent against the people who question his faith. I really want him to be an assassin though.

 

[Trasch17]

XV does look interesting. I hope the combat doesn't turn out to be crappy (again).
OP just seems to rant without any actual basis.

I noticed a strange phenomenon with the FF-franchise:
A lot of people consider the first FF game they played (seriously) to be the best, and that every other FF should be like that.
The first FF I got to play was X. Guess which FF is the best in my opinion? X.
My brother's first FF was VIII. Guess which is his favourite FF? VIII.
A friend of mine got into the series with XII and he thinks XII is the best one.
Another friend of mine has been playing FF since VI. And he still likes VI the most.

 

[bluegate]

The only thing killing the series ( FOR ME ) is the fact that they only managed to squeeze out 1 main final fantasy console game this generation. Coming this fall, this generation will have been going for SEVEN to EIGHT years, those are a lot of years to only create one console iteration.

If the combat system was ever a problem they could have just copied Kingdom Hearts' combat system, tweaked it a bit and voila; rpg with action orientated battle system for the 'western market'.

I just wish for them to return to their PS1 and PS2 days... [/minirant]

 

[ninjaRiv]

This looks like the least macho game ever. Besides the obvious games, of course.

Strange... Just as I'm getting interested in Final Fantasy (Playing FFVII and looking forward to this one) all the "real" FF fans decide it's shitty. Maybe you don't like the changes, I can understand that. I mean... The changes you don't like seem stupid to me but I understand it. I just think a series changing is far form the worst thing to happen, as long as lessons are learned from any mistakes.

 

[Schadrach]

There's still Final Fantasy XIV if you want a quirky Final Fantasy game :3 I got into the Beta finally and I loved it. Not only the amount of whimsey you can put into your character, but also how the game felt overall. There's lots of cute little details and the characters are very well-defined, even the minor ones that just give you fetch quests. I just can't wait til the open beta when my character data will be preserved...

I'd agree with everything you said about FFXIV ARR, but I wasn't fond of the gameplay as far as I took it (it might get better later, for all I know). It felt a little too...I don't know. It probably doesn't help that I quit WoW a couple of years ago and have been getting my MMO fixes from GW2, TSW, and DDO, so it may just be a clash of playstyles.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Here's a panorama of characters from the most recent trailer (that picture you're using is quite old)

Spoiler

As you can see, there are two girls, and when viewing the characters from the front they don't look so "brotastic" to me.

Is that Ezio in the middle?

I was going to ask that but I thought people might yell at me.

 

[Seanfall]

Really...this...this is what gets you stop playing. Not the stupid storylines about emo's who want to destroy the world cause it's filled with hate. Not the bad translations or 20 hour's of nothing. No it's the no female characters? considering the quality of the female characters I've seen from FF that might be a step in the right direction (again the one's I'VE PERSONALLY seen) .....I don't get it. And you seem to be upset Yet forgiving of action based combat? I for one have been sick of turn based combat in RPG's since Kingdom Hearts proved you can do inventory and spell selection during Real time Combat.

 

[Drauger]

Being fair, FF6 wich you mention as your first one, had one large cast 14 characters and from the 14 only 3 were female: Celes, Relm and tina/terra.

I'm sorry but I agree with the op, Final Fantasy being a rpg needs to have a good cast, if I don't give a shit about the characters well I won't play it, that's the main reason I don't give a crap for cloud and FF7

The "action rpg" puts me off a lot, they seem to be targeting the broader public..... again -.-

Why if you have your faithful public you go and pull this crap again? please just stop it, it's not that I care anymore, I stopped caring after FF6/3, FF7 WAS AND IS CRAP ... imho, kinda liked FF8 trough I mean at least squall had a personality, after that everything went downhill.

@offtopic cloud, lighting noctis .... quit it with the weather references btw

 

[Canadish]

Honestly disagree with you OP. Quite strongly.

This is some of the best character design Final Fantasy has had in years. It's got some flair but without all the overblown BELTS'NZIPPERS and dramatic gravity defying hair. I know it's old hat to complain about that now, but Nomura's influence on the series has been pretty negative in my opinion. It wasn't just the presence of the silly designs, that could be charming in it's own way, but the problem is that they BECAME what the series was about. Style came before substance, to the detriment of the games.

I still don't see the issue with the game exploring male friendships/relationships. Some drive based in common humanity is what Final Fantasy needs to rediscover. I know the industry is dominated by male characters, but most are just junk and don't really have any characterization. No reason to begrudge a game that looks like it WILL have some just because of the actions of the rest of the industry.
Besides, 13 was(still is considering how much they're dragging the thing out) extremely female orientated, so I can understand the desire for a change up of that.

 

[pat34us]

Honestly disagree with you OP. Quite strongly.

I disagree but for other reasons besides the characters, 13 (and the sequels) ruined FF for me. They were not good stories (not well told, with incomplete endings to be more specific). 14 (ARR) needs to be successful for SE to regain their financial struggles, but 15 needs to be even more successful (it has been in development for even longer than 14), and I really don't see it living up to the hype (and time/money spent).

Long story short, SE's poor decisions left not only FF but the entire company in serious trouble.

 

[Windcaler]

This may be the beginning of the end... for me and gaming anyway...

I've loved Final Fantasy since I first glimpsed my friends older brother playing FF6 back in the SNES days and I purchased both a Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 purely so I could play Final Fantasy. I even picked up a PS3 when it seemed like FF13 was FINALLY getting close to coming out, and hey it eventually did... but for both PS3 and the 360, not that a non-exclusive mattered. What mattered was that well... I just didn't like it much, it lacked a particular something that all non-mmo had that made me love them (yes even 12). So after putting out the first non-mmo Final Fantasy I haven't beaten it seems Square has finally killed my excitement in the franchise that made me interested in videogames in the first place.

I'm talking of course about Final Fantasy 15, no it's not the semi-modern world I can take that... it's not the more action based combat system... I can take that as well... it's not even the character designs themselves...

I mean seriously square, no playable Female Characters announced? And why is the cast of FF15 looking like a douchtastic boyband coupled with a bunch of old dudes with oddly trendy j-pop hairstyles? It's not even the hairstyles, it's not the look of the characters... it's the fact that you seem to be "broing" up the series in the worst possible way...

I mean seriously... look at these guys... they look like a bunch of douchebags going out to the club...

Spoiler

Perhaps I'm just being negative on the character designs but to me it feels like this is just... too big of a change for the series in a direction I have no interest in following. I mean I still WANT to play JRPG's and I still WANT to play Final Fantasy, but it seems that you don't want to give me Final Fantasy... you want to give me J-pop douchebros on parade...

*sigh* Ah well, with the way gaming is going these days I'm sure more and more of my favorite franchises will get unbearable and with the whole medium in general straying away from Narrative Driven Games I'm sure the day isn't far away when I'll likely give up videogames as my primary hobby...

So Escapist, how do the rest of you feel about Final Fantasy 15?

The second guy from the left looks like my friend Shawn. As for them "looking like douchbags" I always thought a douchebag was a definition assigned to someone due to their actions, not how they looked. So "dont judge a book by its cover" comes to mind.

As for playable female characters to be fair they havnt announced everything yet. Nor have they released the game so I dont see how you can judge them on incomplete information. Also what if theres a reason for no female playable characters? will you still be angry if the setting doesnt allow for playable female characters?

 

[Hazy]

If anything, I think this game is going to save Final Fantasy, especially after those travesties XIII and XIII-2.

That combat? That bro-tastic interaction? That high-fiving? Only one belt per person? I'm sold.
These look like really enjoyable characters. That blonde guy in particular seems really bro-tier.

Spoiler

My only gripe is with Noctis' kapris. Those look pretty silly. But aside from that, I like what I'm seeing.

There seems to be quite a few homages to Hamlet as well.

 

[In Search of Username]

Point me to a Final Fantasy game where the characters don't all look completely ridiculous. No really. Although I admit it seems to be getting worse, the whole resistance force in FFXIII seemed to be made up of scene kids.

 

[hazabaza1]

Spoiler: *Ahem*

Pfft... Kojima just ripped off the design for Snake from Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.

Spoiler

Hardly original.

But yeah OP kinda seems whiny tbh. Not everything's been announced, it's not grey and modern, and some of the characters don't even look ridiculously fucking stupid! Shock horror! They could use some of the creativity from earlier games but I'm looking forward to it.

Believe it or not, just because something isn't grey, gritty or modern doesn't mean it can't still be criticised based on its aesthetics. I mean, this is hardly grim or gritty, but it's still an ugly redesign of a classic PS1 character.

And in the case of FFXV, half the cast look like they're trying to audition for a goth version of Jedward.

Never said it had to be original, just well designed . And Snake looks pretty dang cool.

And I know things can be criticized despite not being macho, etc, but OP is criticizing it for the reasons that it isn't. Might have said something else, I dunno, on a bad laptop ATM so haven't read the rest but most of their complaints seems kinda... invalid? I dunno.

And aside from the 4 in the picture that just kinda look like Tokyo party goers I don't think we've seen the main cast full outfits so far, so it's hardly fair to say they're badly designed.

 

[Gearran]

Maybe you should hold off with your ranting (seriously, FF is dead because there are apparently no female characters to play as? That's your big argument? The original FF could be played with nothing but male characters.) until they actually release more information than one gameplay trailer and a few out-of-context cutscene clips. We've seen pretty much nothing about this game thus far, so I feel you're not so much jumping the gun as you are jumping the gun, the rest of the armory, and the entire flying doom-fortress it's housed on. There's not even enough footage out there to get a feel for who the cast IS, much less that they've announced every playable character. So calm down, wrap yourself in your white-mage robe, and wait for more information.