KJ

I missed this yesterday because work and D&D night, but it's never too late to jump in!

Once upon a time, I was very excited for this game. Then my trust in Squeenix began eroding, until this happened, and I washed my hands of it.

Which means that I completely forgot that a new game in what used to be my favorite series is coming out today, until I saw a poster for it on my way home from work.

How things change.

So unless you've been living under a rock (and if so, please tell me where this rock is and let me crawl beneath it with you), and if you're interested in the Final Fantasy series at all, you've probably seen people talking about this interview with Hajime Tabata, the director of Final Fantasy XV. Among other things, he discusses his decision to publish the first Final Fantasy title with an all-male team since 1990 -- yep, that's confirmed now, five dudes and no women in the player party -- in terms that are, shall we say controversial?

"Speaking honestly, an all-male party feels almost more approachable for players. Even the presence of one female in the group will change their behaviour, so that they'll act differently. So to give the most natural feeling, to make them feel sincere and honest, having them all the same gender made sense in that way," Tabata said....

For Tabata, the journey will have the cast adopting what he dubs a "boys will be boys" type demeanor. "It was the story we wanted to tell and what we wanted to show players," he explained.

"The world might be ready to see the curtain lifted on what boys do when girls aren't around, when they come out of the tent all prim and proper."

Ugh. So much ugh, I don't even know where to start.

Maybe I'll start by saying that, for me at least, the all-male player cast of FFXV wasn't a deal-breaker. Given Square Enix’s past track record with providing gender-balanced casts with interesting male and female characters in the Final Fantasy series, I was hoping for better, and the decision to break with that tradition disappointed me. But I had still planned to buy and play the game, to give the story and the characters a chance.

Tabata's interview has pretty much killed that desire for me, and if I'm reading reactions correctly, there's a lot of people who agree with me.

( This got long, predictably. )

If SE wants to break with their traditions and make a Final Fantasy game with an all-male cast, that’s their right. It’s their game, their company, their choice. No one is claiming otherwise. And who knows, maybe Final Fantasy XV will break free of the expectations that Tabata is setting up for us here and be an awesome game. But given his commentary, I have serious doubts. As it stands now, I expect I'm going to have to give this one a pass.

sathari asked for my thoughts on the Final Fantasy series, including a few specific titles.

I came to the Final Fantasy series, through my husband, T. He had started playing with FFVII, before I met him. Not long after we got together, he bought FFVIII, and he would sometimes play it when I was around, and I was interested to realize that there were video games in which story and character had so much importance (before that most of my experiences were with arcade and arcade-type games, and Civilization/Sim City/other world-building type games). FFIX came out after we moved in together, and I watched the entire time he played, like watching an 80 hour movie, and I got pretty invested in it. Finally, with FFX, for the first time he handed me the controller, and I was hooked: on FFX (which to this day remains my favorite game, not just in the series but of all time), on the Final Fantasy series, and on RPGs in general.

I love the same things about the series that most of its fans love: the characters, the settings, the stories they tell. As a newbie gamer, I appreciated being able to ease into combat via turn-based systems, and that my hand-eye coordination was not often tested (I'm better at that now, though still not great). I've played most of the numbered installments, although I'm still missing some earlier games and haven't ventured into the MMOs -- my biggest gap is FFVI, which I've started several times but never finished. Someday.

( Thoughts on specific games behind the cut. )

Here's the thing, about the recent announcements regarding Lightning Returns.

You all know that I'm a huge FFX-2 fan, so it's not like fanservice or character redesigns or playing dress-up dolls are deal-breakers for me. I might have rolled my eyes a little bit at Lightning Returns and her five million outfits, and I think it's more than fair to ask if a Final Fantasy game with a male protagonist would have ever included such an aspect, but it doesn't bother me really.

This thing with the breast enlargement bothers me. Not just the fact of it, but the way it was presented, the tee-hee-nudge-wink grossness of it, the idea that whether Lightning's breasts jiggle is the most important thing about the game, the fact that it's Lightning being sexualized in this particular way. In her original characterization, Lightning broke out of many of the female character stereotypes that have plagued Final Fantasy games in the past, so to see this change is really frustrating.

Take this news and combine it with the lack of female playable characters in FFXV (which hasn't been officially confirmed but seems highly likely) and the redesign of Stella from this to this, my faith in Squeenix is pretty much shot.

I will still probably buy and play Final Fantasy XV; I will still probably not get Lightning Returns unless I ever manage to finish FFXIII-2, so nothing has changed for me, really. But it's all very disappointing, and getting worse.

I don't usually pay much attention to E3 or other events like it -- I figure I'll get my information from the write-ups after the fact. But we were promised information about Dragon Age 3, so I've been keeping an eye on the date, and then my Tumblr dashboard exploded in liveblogs and commentary for the various press conferences, so I ended up following along for most of the day (except for an hour in the afternoon when the construction noise from next door got to be too much to deal with, and then early evening when our power went out). Naturally, with that much data, I came up with some thoughts and impressions, almost all of it making me very happy.

1. First, of course, the DA3 trailer, which has grabbed me completely:



Fall 2014! This is a little disappointing, but on the other hand I would really rather they take their time and make a solid game -- I enjoyed DA2 a lot, but it was clearly rushed, and I wish I had been able to play the game the developers intended. I'm glad they don't seem to be making that mistake here. Also, it will be available for both current and next gen consoles, which I know is good news for a lot of people (although I'm highly likely to buy a PS4 -- see below).

( Thoughts and speculation are spoilery for trailer )

2. Also good news: there continues to be absolutely nothing of interest to me that's exclusive to the Xbox, thereby validating my choice not to get one. :P

3. Sony announces that the PS4 will support used games and not require always-on high-speed Internet for single-player games. This is probably the single best announcement out of the entire show: Sony will not be playing along with Microsoft's attempt to destroy the used game market and price lower-income gamers out of their content. As I speculated on Tumblr, I have to wonder whether Sony was originally going to go down that road, then backed off when they saw the uproar that MS provoked over the Xbox One. But it doesn't really matter -- they aren't doing it, and given how much they poked MS in their presser, it seems pretty clear that they aren't going to. Score one for consumers. Does this mean that the console wars as we know them are drawing to a close? Only time will tell. But regardless, I know which company is getting my money.

4. Final Fantasy XV! Which is actually a rebranding of the long (long, long) anticipated FF Versus XIII, a fine decision on Square Enix's part. There's a new trailer, which is very pretty if a little heavy on the dudes. But I'm willing to cut Square a bit of slack in this, at least in the Final Fantasy series, as long as they have good female characters in the game. No release date, but still, more movement on this game than I've seen in a long time.

5. Last but not least: Kingdom Hearts 3. I didn't know how much I wanted this until I saw the teaser trailer, but now I'm a bundle of squee. No release date on this either, of course. I'm going to guess sometime next year, which would suggest that 2014 is going to be really, really busy on the game-playing front.

I was chatting with a friend about my Final Fantasy X replay (about which more at another time), and she expressed an interest in the series but was wondering where to start -- which makes sense, it's a huge series with no clear starting point since so many of the games stand alone. I have my own thoughts on this subject, of course, but I wonder what the rest of you think.

So here's the question: if you were to rec one and only one Final Fantasy game to someone who has never played anything in the series, which game would it be and why?

( My answer behind the cut, so as not to prejudice your comments. )

Update, Tuesday evening: it turns out that my friend doesn't have access to most of the platforms that have FF games made for them, so this discussion is mostly theoretical, alas. But thanks, still, for weighing in, and feel free to keep commenting! It's still an interesting topic and I've enjoyed seeing what everyone has to say.

I was getting coffee at the cafe across the street, as I often do on morning when I have no plans to go out, and someone was playing the piano. This happens so rarely that I forget that the cafe even has a piano, so it look me a moment to realize that the music was live. The song was also familiar, and it took me awhile to place it out of context. Then it hit me: it was the Hymn of the Fayth, from FFX.

By the time I pulled out my phone to inform Tumblr what was happening, the pianist had begun playing Zanarkand, followed by a little bit of Yuna's Theme, and then he moved on to other, less nerdy things (a bit of "Come Sail Away", and some other pop songs, some of the Top Gun theme, a touch of "Heart and Soul"), although there was also an attempt at Roses of May, from FFIX. Then, before I finished my breakfast, he was gone, vanished before I could compliment him on his musical stylings. A bit of random happiness for me, although it makes me a little sad, too, that he will never know that at least one person heard his musical choices and knew them to be a sort of fannish kin.

The Final Fantasy Kiss Battle is back!!! Details here. So excited!! :D

(Although I can't get too excited, because I still have to finish my Tumblr DA Valentine's Exchange story, gulp. Must do that first, must do that first... But at least I can leave prompts tomorrow!)

Speaking of Dragon Age and Kiss Battles, don't forget that it's still going strong! Prompts and stories have been trickling in, and I intend to keep actively promoting and modding at least through Saturday. So you have plenty of time, if you haven't gotten a chance to come play yet.

1. Final Fantasy folks: muggy_mountain has a modest proposal regarding feedback and remedying the recent lack thereof in our fandom. Check it out, and join in!

2. Avatar fans, or anyone who appreciates awesome television: KORRA. There is a trailer. It is awesome. I might need to watch it another fifteen dozen times.



More info and lots of pictures from the ComicCon panel here. So excited. Is it 2012 yet?

3. I get a weekend! Last week, I did not, so this is much-needed. I kicked it off yesterday evening with a friend's birthday party -- good company, toasted marshmallows, and maybe too much sangria. Today is quality time with T, and tomorrow I anticipate video games, shopping (I need jeans and shoes), and writing. Should be a good time. Hope you all are enjoying yours.