FFXV Story + Character Bios + Lack of Female Protagonists.

[Rowan]

Recently this was posted by square:






"Story:
The only crystal left to the world lies in the Kingdom of Lucis. Upon striking a peace with the garrison state of Niflheim, Lucis rejoices in having at last brought the cold war to a close. Their celebrations, however, are premature. Under the guise of amity, Niflheim dispels the anti-armament runewall and launches a full-scale invasion of the kingdom. The peaceful lives Crown Prince Noctis and his entourage once knew are consumed by the flames of war as they struggle to mount a resistance.

Cast:
Noctis Lucis Caelum (Center): A childhood affliction endowed Noctis, heir apparent to the throne of Lucis, with the mystical power to see a heavenly light, through which he could sense others' deaths. Noctis rejects rigid royal conventions and acts as somewhat of a renegade, much to the dismay of those who tend to him. Yet while "Noct" may act brash at times, he does so in defense of those loyal to him.

Gladiolus Amicitia (Center left): As lord of the noble House Amicitia, Gladiolus continues a line sworn to protect the crown. "Gladio" shares a friendship with Noctis that transcends birth and title, and his loyalty to his liege is born not of duty, but of brotherhood.

Ignis Scientia (Center right): Ever the unwavering voice of reason, Ignis was weaned on shrewd logic and a classical education from boyhood so that he might one day counsel the would-be king, Noctis. He applies the deep mutual understanding and trust they have built over time to help smooth over Noctis's brusqueness with others.

Prompto Argentum (Left): The puckish playboy Prompto befriended Noctis in his school days. He wears a chip on his shoulder as an outsider to the royal circle, but remains eager to do all he can for the cause.

Cor Leonis (Right): A living legend of Lucian lore, Lord Commander Cor Leonis's devotion to the art of war is surpassed only by that to his king. Little love is lost between the ill-starred stalwart and Noctis's retinue, yet honor binds him to keep watch over the group all the same."


I'm concerned about a lack of female protagonists. Its not because im a feminists or anything, but I like having control over female characters (lol?)

Seriously. I almost always choose to play as a female character if I'm given the option. How do you feel about their not being any playable female characters (if such is the case)? And why do you think they have opted an all male party?

[Alpha]

Why? Because it's the same people whose idea of an engaging all-female party is a clumsy girl in a bikini for no apparent reason, a goth chick they invented out of thin air and who serves no purpose other than being a mopey goth, and a girl in jorts looking for a ghost-zombie (OK, unfair on Yuna, Yuna was alright). They've proven that they can't do all female parties very well because they feel they have to sex them up and give them a hot springs voyeuristic level where you literally sit there on cameras watching them bathe.

Maybe it also means that there won't be a theme (hinted or explicit) of romance in this one. Or that it will be homosexual. That would be a pretty interesting spanner. Or maybe it's some kind of setting where having a female party member does not make sense (like, all of the people in the royal court have to be male for some yet-to-be-explained reason, eliminating the possibility of any females in the battle party). Or maybe they'll pull a Faris and one of them is actually a woman.

[Crescent]

Why? Because it's the same people whose idea of an engaging all-female party is a clumsy girl in a bikini for no apparent reason, a goth chick they invented out of thin air and who serves no purpose other than being a mopey goth, and a girl in jorts looking for a ghost-zombie (OK, unfair on Yuna, Yuna was alright). They've proven that they can't do all female parties very well because they feel they have to sex them up and give them a hot springs voyeuristic level where you literally sit there on cameras watching them bathe.

Not the same people/team. Nojima is writing XV with Akiyama n Nomura whos also the game's Director, along with Tabata. Nomura has helped write the stories of VII, Crisis Core and X but was only asked to character design for X-2. He held no control over the story whatsoever. Tetsu Tsukamoto designed the new costumes for the main characters in X-2.

The First Production Department developing Final Fantasy XV is Director, Base Story, Concept Game Design n Character designer Tetsuya Nomura, co-director Hajime Tabata, Producer Shinji Hashimoto and lead art director Takeshi Nozue. Kazushige Nojima is co-writing FFXV with Jun Akiyama who is also the Event Planning Director. Yoko Shimomura, known for her work on the Kingdom Hearts series, is signed on as the game’s composer. The last projects Nojima n Nomura wrote together was VII, X n Crisis Core. Nomura also worked on AgitoXIII now FFType-0 with lead director Tabata.

FFX-2 Team:
Director: Motomu Toriyama also the director & scenario writer for the XIII series *cough*
Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
Lead art director: Shintaro Takai
Character Designer: Tetsuya Nomura
Alternate Costume Designer: Tetsu Tsukamoto
Music: Noriko Matsueda and Takehito Eguchi

Maybe it also means that there won't be a theme (hinted or explicit) of romance in this one. Or that it will be homosexual. That would be a pretty interesting spanner. Or maybe it's some kind of setting where having a female party member does not make sense (like, all of the people in the royal court have to be male for some yet-to-be-explained reason, eliminating the possibility of any females in the battle party). Or maybe they'll pull a Faris and one of them is actually a woman.

As for the OP's question I dont care. If everything comes together nicely-story,settings, playable characters are fleshed out n well developed-thats all matters to me. Its along the same lines of including a token black guy for the sake of it. There may or may not even be only 5 playable (male) characters. They might just be holding off announcing them all at this early stage and not wanting to give too much away including a full profile on Stella because she plays the role of both a heroine and an antagonist. But based on all the info Ive researched all of them look and sound like interesting characters but my only lil complaint is that Im missing the non-human and more stylised characters from previous games, like Umaro and Mog in FFVI, Red XIII and Cait Sith in FFVII, Quina in FFIX and Khimari in X. An ally like that will be nice. Though Ive mentioned before Nomura has stated that "the characters of Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be the most realistic and believable in the Final Fantasy series and they will talk and behave like people from the real world. Also, their personalities and mannerisms will be very realistic and unlike what one would normally expect from a Final Fantasy cast"...In any case if they're gonna include playable females, Id prefer ones that arent damsel-in-distress types.

[noxious.sunshine]

That Gladiolus guy is Sezzy as f**k... I'd do him.

[Kurt Zisa]

I'm not completely sold but it is nice to see no whiny kids in the cast. It's possible that this isn't the entire roster, they might release a few guest characters or at least have ones that rotate throughout the story.

As for the lack of females, I'm sure any one these guys could easily get swapped out for a female and it wouldn't affect their role or back story. Cor can stay though, he looks like a new Auron/Basch

[Alpha]

Not the same people/team.

I'll rephrase: the same company who is willing to even think about making X-2. Although I don't really have interest in the specific people behind video games. You know more than me. Never ever consider one of my opinions on a video game with any kind of credibility. I don't know why I'm even here sometimes.

[che]

Shutup.



Dat :56. <3

[Halie]

I am annoyed by the lack of female characters, but I'm not at all surprised. After the fan reaction to X-2's all female party and after some of the most recent FF titles containing female main protagonists (Lightning and Serah), I'm definitely not at all surprised. Alpha, you can bash Squares treatment of females in X-2 all you like, and I understand because it was flawed, but so far in XV there are nine male cast members announced whilst there are only two female characters (who haven't even received profiles yet), that is not cool. It sucks, but whatever.

I say nine males, though there are ten in this picture:


I excluded the character dressed as Ezio because I'm unsure if that's a separate character but who the **** knows.

Not that this'll stop me from playing, I still have high hopes.

[loaf]

Ezio is a female.

This game has some Mafia feel to it. I don't recall females having much to do with the Mafia. So why put them in as a main cast.

[noxious.sunshine]

Yeah and Ignus totes reminds me of Balthier. *drool*

[che]

On the other hand, they are objectifying a lot less females in this game. >.>




​>.>

[Rowan]

On the other hand, they are objectifying a lot less females in this game. >.>




​>.>

and instead objectifying males. Point?

[Alpha]

and instead objectifying males. Point?

I think it's over there. You missed it.

[Rowan]

I think it's over there. You missed it.

So its only important when its females being objectified, got ya!

[Alpha]

I think his point was that instead of objectifying women, this time around they're just not including them. Congratulations, as I'm sure that's what women want from the video game industry! Less inclusion!

[Rowan]

I think his point was that instead of objectifying women, this time around they're just not including them. Congratulations, as I'm sure that's what women want from the video game industry! Less inclusion!

oh now i actually get it


>_>

lol sorry

[che]

They're just objectifying 8 dudes now, instead of like 6 females. ; ; Lol.

[Rowan]

They're just objectifying 8 dudes now, instead of like 6 females. ; ; Lol.

well when you think about it, a character is a character because of a role they play. If the characters were anything other than male or female, it wouldnt be objectification. But what makes it, really? Stereotype? How is it possible to create a human character without giving them some form of role.

[HeroZero]

I don't know as I ever pay attention to gender when picking my groups, I go with the people I like. Although looking becak I 'generally' have at least one female in the group, and maybe I feel I must do that for whatever reason. But yeah if the story is good I won't really care.

[che]

well when you think about it, a character is a character because of a role they play. If the characters were anything other than male or female, it wouldnt be objectification. But what makes it, really? Stereotype? How is it possible to create a human character without giving them some form of role.

Oh no, it's not like that for me. Like. The dudes are just so perfect. That beard and shit with their perfect hair...And with females its like Rikku, Lulu. What do you think of when you see them? Perfect body, ABNORMAL boobs that are just out of control. Etc. It's making it appeal sexually instead of just being a character.

[loaf]

how are video games objectifying women. if she was real she wanted to be like that so it's her choice to be slutty

[Xanatos]

just bunch of posers, knowing Square I'm surprised half of them don't look like women

[Aerif]

It'd be an incredibly interesting move if Square decided not to include any female playable characters in the game, considering how this is a fairly large internal issue within the industry at the minute (or the Scottish industry - we have a Facebook group )

The objectification of women, the lack of women within the industry, and the disproportionate number of straight-white-male-brunette heroes is causing some stir. I mean we kind of know why the designers and writers chose to go with Nathan Drake over a black lesbian, but diversity is sort of dwindling in the industry. Outright leaving girls out in a cast of five could lead to a bit of controversy.

Of course, as I was going to say before pre-empted, there is at least two girls in the trailer with the portraits, and the ambiguous one with a hood up which almost resembles a white mage. And apparently there's a rule about white mages with hoods up.

Also there's the three girl rule, every main series game since FFIV has had exactly three playable ladies (or a Quina) - regardless of the entire cast size. The fact that there are the faces of three women in that trailer imply that that's that.

[Rowan]

It'd be an incredibly interesting move if Square decided not to include any female playable characters in the game, considering how this is a fairly large internal issue within the industry at the minute (or the Scottish industry - we have a Facebook group )

The objectification of women, the lack of women within the industry, and the disproportionate number of straight-white-male-brunette heroes is causing some stir. I mean we kind of know why the designers and writers chose to go with Nathan Drake over a black lesbian, but diversity is sort of dwindling in the industry. Outright leaving girls out in a cast of five could lead to a bit of controversy.

Of course, as I was going to say before pre-empted, there is at least two girls in the trailer with the portraits, and the ambiguous one with a hood up which almost resembles a white mage. And apparently there's a rule about white mages with hoods up.

Also there's the three girl rule, every main series game since FFIV has had exactly three playable ladies (or a Quina) - regardless of the entire cast size. The fact that there are the faces of three women in that trailer imply that that's that.

Quina was transsexual.. and S/he married Vivi, who was a young boy at the time. FF9 rated one of the best ff of all time. Square knows whats up.
.

[Gi1gamesh]

After Nomura saying that adding female player characters would be hard to do in this I have a feeling that female characters may end up being guests in the party so probably not playable but they will have a role alongside your main party in certain battles. It is not a concern for me if there is a lack of females as all I want is an enormous explorable world, great story and gameplay along with airships, chocobos and good character developement. Maybes a few other things obviously like classic summons returning, we have already seen how amazing Leviathan looks.

[mushroom]

I'd honestly just not have female characters than some of the terrible oversexed caricatures that have appeared in the past. (lulu springs to mind, wtf is up with the bunny and cat women also. i have an open mind, but catering to furries?)

how are video games objectifying women. if she was real she wanted to be like that so it's her choice to be slutty

wut?

[Rowan]

I'm curious. What is the problem with sexualising characters?

[loaf]

wut?

Yes, you answered that question correctly. Good job.

and now my reply to Rowan. Nothing is wrong with it. It's usually women that just think it's wrong in video games. It's a video game....

[Rowan]

Yes, you answered that question correctly. Good job.

and now my reply to Rowan. Nothing is wrong with it. It's usually women that just think it's wrong in video games. It's a video game....

Che's not a girl. Not good enough explanation. Please elaborate.

[che]

Yes I am. I will bust out my vagina right now.