Square Enix to File For Bankruptcy? Earnings Down 91%, Final Fantasy XIV to Blame

[SouthtownKid]

Are you... are you serious?

You clearly have no clue what you're talking about whatsoever. The pictures of Cecil that people have posted are from when FFIV first came out. That's the character design.

It's one version of the character designs. The character design is also what APPEARS IN THE GAME. What is wrong with you?

Yoshitaka Amano designed both versions of all characters, and they don't look alike. I'm not saying one is "right" and the other is "wrong". I'm saying both are valid. But if I was going to give the edge to one, it would be to what actually appears in the game.

 

[Loopz]

Are you... are you serious?

You clearly have no clue what you're talking about whatsoever. The pictures of Cecil that people have posted are from when FFIV first came out. That's the character design. I don't give a fuck what was actually depicted in the game, the design is the design is the design. And it's not like we never saw it, they were in the manuals, on the boxes, in magazines, etc etc.

The fucking end. That's just how it is. You're getting senile, old man.

Say what you will about the older games, whether they're better or whatever. But if you're gonna complain about the character design being 'girly' when it didn't use to be, you're wrong, plain and simple.

And there's so much else you could complain about. Too many zippers/pockets/pouches/whatever.... A lack of innovation... Less endearing stories... All of these could be applied to the last few FF games. But the character designs have been 'girly' since the very early days.

*chucks massive pipe at Ninny, impaling him on the boiler*

"Let off some STEAM, Ninny!"

 

[bemanicho1]

The thing is, while the original designs/art for the characters were feminine-looking, the actual sprites in the games were the versions that players spent the most time looking at throughout the game. Like someone else said, they were easier for people to just put in their place or relate with because they didn't look very realistic or like a specific type of person.

I think if the in-game sprites looked a lot more like the original drawings, then a lot of people would have had a different impression or experience with the game.

 

[Nesagwa]

I'm not sure why you guys keep posting in this thread. I'm right and everyone is just making excuses.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

It's one version of the character designs. The character design is also what APPEARS IN THE GAME. What is wrong with you?

Yoshitaka Amano designed both versions of all characters, and they don't look alike. I'm not saying one is "right" and the other is "wrong". I'm saying both are valid. But if I was going to give the edge to one, it would be to what actually appears in the game.

I dunno man, it sounds to me like you're deliberately ignoring one 'version' in favour of another.

*chucks massive pipe at Ninny, impaling him on the boiler*

"Let off some STEAM, Ninny!"

Heh.

 

[Dr Shroom]

favour

Told you he's a fucking englishman in disguise.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I dunno man, it sounds to me like you're deliberately ignoring one 'version' in favour of another.

Amano also did illustrations for FF7.

Which version of the character designs do you feel are more valid?

The character as we know him FROM THE ACTUAL GAME?
Or Amano's stylized version? Be fucking honest here.

This?

or

As usual, Amano's version of a male character has feminine eyes and looks like he's wearing lipstick. And that is not the image we get from the character in the game AT ALL or from pretty much anywhere else.

So they are both "Cloud", they are both "correct", but the two versions project a somewhat different image of the same character, and most people associate one version more than the other with Cloud. Can you guess which one?

Yeah, that's what I thought. THE END.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

I don't give a shit about what you happen to think of the character as, I'm just talking about the original designs.

This is the point you were making: back in the good ol' days, the designs of the FF characters weren't so 'girly'. You are wrong, they clearly were, despite how you choose to think of them.

I don't care about your preconceptions. Those have no place whatsoever in an argument about fact. According to your logic, I could maintain that Tidus was the height of manliness, because that's how I thought of him in the game. And obviously that's ludicrous.

This isn't about your memories and nostalgia. It's about reality.

P.S. That character model you grabbed of Cloud clearly isn't from FFVII. But thanks for playing.

 

[Loopz]

I dunno man, it sounds to me like you're deliberately ignoring one 'version' in favour of another.

That's the exact same thing you're doing to validate your own argument, genius.
It's a perfectly salient question to ask what image more forcefully creates a character in the player's mind...an ornate image created for an ad campaign, seen by the player on the box or in the manual a few dozen times...or the sprite they spend 80-100 hours staring at on-screen? It's really not that hard for you to wrap your head around.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Don't bother. He just wants to argue. It's not like he can't understand. He's being dense on purpose, acting as if he doesn't know what Cloud looks like. In the game, on merchandising, action figures, anywhere else.

 

[Marek]

Those stylized cloud drawings are kinda sinister looking to me. Did Amano oversee game design too? What was his role in the look of the finished product?

I really dont know a lot about the FF7 team. They must have been an odd bunch.

 

[HeartlessNinny]

Pfft, I'm not the one who grabbed a Cloud model from another game that clearly isn't even FFVII itself — and while we're on the subject, Cloud has always looked effeminate, even in the in-game polygon model. So why you'd use him as an example is beyond me.

You guys are idiots if you can't grasp this concept. Regardless of what your own perception is, the original design itself was girly. The concepts and models and drawings they used to make the fucking characters are girly. The image the game designers had in their heads was girly. The pictures in the motherfucking manuals and posters and magazines were girly. ALL OF THEM. You yourselves have admitted it, but apparently you're too fucking stupid to comprehend what that actually means. I rest my case.

If you really want to insist that the FF character models were never girly until recently, you are fucking stupid, functionally blind or so deluded it makes no difference. That is not my opinion. That is reality, retards.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Pfft, I'm not the one who grabbed a Cloud model from another game that clearly isn't even FFVII itself —

It doesn't even matter! Then they are both different than what actually appeared in-game, but STILL -- there is one of those two versions that is much more closely associated with the character by virtually everyone in the world except you, the Great Contrarian.

When everyone other than you hears "Final Fantasy 7 Cloud," they think of this:

a lot sooner than they think of this:

You don't have a single leg to stand on, no matter how much you want to bleat and argue.

 

[OrochiEddie]

I don't think a bunch of transexuals are what killed Squenix

 

[Rade K]

I don't think a bunch of transexuals are what killed Squenix

You're right. It was the ladyboys.

 

[SonGohan]

No way I'm reading a mountain of text of two people arguing, but I will say what little I did read, I agree with STK. That's exactly what I think about when I think of Cloud. Still no idea what the argument is about, though.

 

[2Heed]

Stupid, stupid move to make Kain brainwashed by Golbez, and in turn Golbez brainwashed by some fruit on the moon.

Kain is one bad mother. His design is iconic.

I agree that Kain's design is the best of the series, although I always liked the blue-green (in-battle) look over the updated dark blue armor. Still, if he wasn't brainwashed all along he would have inevitably died as a boss character, and wouldn't have been in the After Years. He's probably the best 'tweener/borderline anti-hero in RPG history, and his rivalry with Cecil felt natural instead of forced or needlessly convoluted.

While we're talking about FFIV character designs, Cecil's blue lipstick in FMVs is jarring no matter how many times I see it.

 

[bemanicho1]

I agree that Kain's design is the best of the series, although I always liked the blue-green (in-battle) look over the updated dark blue armor. Still, if he wasn't brainwashed all along he would have inevitably died as a boss character, and wouldn't have been in the After Years. He's probably the best 'tweener/borderline anti-hero in RPG history, and his rivalry with Cecil felt natural instead of forced or needlessly convoluted.

While we're talking about FFIV character designs, Cecil's blue lipstick in FMVs is jarring no matter how many times I see it.

Agreed about Cecil's lipstick, lol. I, for one, am glad that the 16 bit sprites weren't completely faithful to Amano's designs.

 

[2Heed]

In the case of that Alucard picture, I think the design looks great because it fits the character. He's a aristocratic vampire, so being a little thin and well groomed feels right.

With Cecil, he's a regular human, the ex-captain of some knights, and he's a very strong fighter. His gaunt frame and blatant facial makeup just doesn't fit the mold, if that makes any sense.

Cecil's half-Lunarian and therefore not a regular human. I'm pretty sure his appearance (very pale skin in particular) is supposed to be indicative of that, although I'm not sure if it's consistent with FuSoYa or unmasked Golbez.

 

[2Heed]

That isn't official art. That's from one of Nintendo Power's artists, who also did some artwork for the magazine of LttP, among others.

The scary thing is, that art of Kain isn't even close to being the worst from the main cast. Cid's art has him weighing about 350 pounds with a spare tire that would be too big on a monster truck, while Palom and Porom look like 50-something midgets. I can't get the images out of my head for the life of me, and I haven't looked at the issue in question for 10+ years.

 

[2Heed]

I'm not sure why you guys keep posting in this thread. I'm right and everyone is just making excuses.

That seriously reminds me of a Neo-Alec quote someone had for a sig a while back.

 

[Loopz]

Pfft, I'm not the one who grabbed a Cloud model from another game that clearly isn't even FFVII itself — and while we're on the subject, Cloud has always looked effeminate, even in the in-game polygon model. So why you'd use him as an example is beyond me.

You guys are idiots if you can't grasp this concept. Regardless of what your own perception is, the original design itself was girly. The concepts and models and drawings they used to make the fucking characters are girly. The image the game designers had in their heads was girly. The pictures in the motherfucking manuals and posters and magazines were girly. ALL OF THEM. You yourselves have admitted it, but apparently you're too fucking stupid to comprehend what that actually means. I rest my case.

If you really want to insist that the FF character models were never girly until recently, you are fucking stupid, functionally blind or so deluded it makes no difference. That is not my opinion. That is reality, retards.

Why should I accept the opinion of a guy who gets steamed so easily?

 

[SonGohan]

Why should I accept the opinion of a guy who gets steamed so easily?

That fact that you used "steamed" made the hilarity of your comment jump ten-fold.

 

[Poison Sama]

I don't care what any of you say. CG Cecil is hot. End of story.

 

[Loopz]

That fact that you used "steamed" made the hilarity of your comment jump ten-fold.

Ninny's custom title needs to be 'The Vancouver Steamer'.