In response to your reply plus the comment exchanges with zen_monk & auronlu, I have so many mixed feelings about jigglyboob physics and the entire way this was handled in that press conference/publicity announcement.
I appreciate that many gamers (and movie-goers and anime viewers) enjoy eye-candy and like those aspect of the fantasy provided in games (and movies, anime, etc.). From the creator's side, I also appreciate drawing/modeling the human form** and I understand why artists enjoy making certain kinds of characters and costumes in video games. So, as long as the plot is good and the characters are interesting, I'm willing to forgive certain costuming choices and body choices. A big part of my forgiveness comes from me knowing that I strongly prefer realism over fantasy when surrounded by a mass commercial audience who more strongly prefer fantasy. This makes me forgive the aspects of fantasy designed into the original costume Lightnings wears in FFXIII. I can forgive Ashe's ridiculous "skirt" (although I rolled my eyes when one of the Squeenix dudes said in response to Ashe's costume that "it's hot in Dalamsca. hurrhurrhurr.") just as I can also forgive Basch's convenient keyhole-to-the-abs costume. I can even forgive Fran's costume (sort of...) because, in the end, Lightning, Ashe, Basch, Fran and others are more interesting to me as characters (people!) than as objects designed for oogling.
What pains me is when fanservice/objectification takes the driver's seat. Yet, my feelings are complex because I have a sketchbook filled with character designs that I made years ago and that sketchbook has just as much pin-up and beefcake as it has other kinds of body types and costumes and styles. (Although I really *did* learn something about the human form/anatomy when drawing hyper-idealized versions of it, but that's a discussion for another day.)
In a perfect world, I would make all of my video game female action heroes bind their breasts to their chest with industrial-strength sports bras so I don't experience sympathetic boob-pain watching them jiggle and bounce. Jigglyboob physics for serious soldier Lightning is not something that I want to see as a selling point for a new FFXIII game. :/
Yet, this line of discussion eventually ends up in sticky territory. More than once some female fans have called me out on me negatively prioritizing sex-appeal in character design. Their comments? (paraphrased) "Women have been told by society to be objects and not to express their own desire. Sorry, we want our eye candy too!"
So, idk... I'm highly unamused by the overt nudge-nudge-wink-wink manner in which jigglyboob physics was presented as a selling point for the new FFXIII and that lack of amusement stems from all the reasons discussed under this post of yours. I want to think that people like Lighning because she is an interesting character. But, I don't have answers or solutions because I've also been verbally beaten up by female gamers who don't like the way I sometimes overly deemphasize attractiveness and/or desexualize male characters whom they find hot and sexy because -- after all, they want to enjoy their fantasy! I deeply appreciate that fact, even if their fantasy isn't mine. (ask me someday about Ser Cullen's fandom...)
(** to me, when making art, every single face and every body is amazing, no matter the person's age, body type, or ethnicity. The human form as a whole is aesthetically pleasing in its complexity and diversity, and representing the human form is intellectually challenging because each person is unique. When I stare at a model for HOURS while trying to understand how to represent them on paper or canvas or computer screen, I am absolutely mesmerized by each little thing that makes them uniquely who they are. Most realist artists and art students I know who study/do figurative art also say the same thing, even if they later get hired to make commercial art that has extremely narrow interpretations of what people "should" look like.)
tl;dr: complex stuff is complex. :|
I appreciate that many gamers (and movie-goers and anime viewers) enjoy eye-candy and like those aspect of the fantasy provided in games (and movies, anime, etc.). From the creator's side, I also appreciate drawing/modeling the human form** and I understand why artists enjoy making certain kinds of characters and costumes in video games. So, as long as the plot is good and the characters are interesting, I'm willing to forgive certain costuming choices and body choices. A big part of my forgiveness comes from me knowing that I strongly prefer realism over fantasy when surrounded by a mass commercial audience who more strongly prefer fantasy. This makes me forgive the aspects of fantasy designed into the original costume Lightnings wears in FFXIII. I can forgive Ashe's ridiculous "skirt" (although I rolled my eyes when one of the Squeenix dudes said in response to Ashe's costume that "it's hot in Dalamsca. hurrhurrhurr.") just as I can also forgive Basch's convenient keyhole-to-the-abs costume. I can even forgive Fran's costume (sort of...) because, in the end, Lightning, Ashe, Basch, Fran and others are more interesting to me as characters (people!) than as objects designed for oogling.
What pains me is when fanservice/objectification takes the driver's seat. Yet, my feelings are complex because I have a sketchbook filled with character designs that I made years ago and that sketchbook has just as much pin-up and beefcake as it has other kinds of body types and costumes and styles. (Although I really *did* learn something about the human form/anatomy when drawing hyper-idealized versions of it, but that's a discussion for another day.)
In a perfect world, I would make all of my video game female action heroes bind their breasts to their chest with industrial-strength sports bras so I don't experience sympathetic boob-pain watching them jiggle and bounce. Jigglyboob physics for serious soldier Lightning is not something that I want to see as a selling point for a new FFXIII game. :/
Yet, this line of discussion eventually ends up in sticky territory. More than once some female fans have called me out on me negatively prioritizing sex-appeal in character design. Their comments? (paraphrased) "Women have been told by society to be objects and not to express their own desire. Sorry, we want our eye candy too!"
So, idk... I'm highly unamused by the overt nudge-nudge-wink-wink manner in which jigglyboob physics was presented as a selling point for the new FFXIII and that lack of amusement stems from all the reasons discussed under this post of yours. I want to think that people like Lighning because she is an interesting character. But, I don't have answers or solutions because I've also been verbally beaten up by female gamers who don't like the way I sometimes overly deemphasize attractiveness and/or desexualize male characters whom they find hot and sexy because -- after all, they want to enjoy their fantasy! I deeply appreciate that fact, even if their fantasy isn't mine.
(ask me someday about Ser Cullen's fandom...)(** to me, when making art, every single face and every body is amazing, no matter the person's age, body type, or ethnicity. The human form as a whole is aesthetically pleasing in its complexity and diversity, and representing the human form is intellectually challenging because each person is unique. When I stare at a model for HOURS while trying to understand how to represent them on paper or canvas or computer screen, I am absolutely mesmerized by each little thing that makes them uniquely who they are. Most realist artists and art students I know who study/do figurative art also say the same thing, even if they later get hired to make commercial art that has extremely narrow interpretations of what people "should" look like.)