Square Enix censors skimpy male costume from upcoming Final Fantasy game

[crimson5pheonix]

Well, trampstamp aside, we've played as half-shorts ripped abs and a sleeveless monkey man with a frilly jabot (had to look up what those were called). Final Fantasy Fetish Fighters has been a staple of the series.

Oh, and this.

Butz

I'm fairly certain that's a mesh shirt.

Whozat?

In fairness, I wouldn't consider Zidane [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Zidane_Tribal.png] sexualised, if he's the sleeveless monkey-man. He's just sixteen, for one, and looks even younger.

Bartz. And don't let his age stand between who is or isn't fetishized. This is Japan and the oldest FF main protagonist if I remember correctly is 21. The rest are teenagers.

Oh, and this is an FF character too.

Spoiler: Sorry for reminding people of Dirge of Cerberus

That is literally a dude in fetish gear. He is wearing a jock strap on his face. I don't think Square has any (figurative) right to say a character design has gone too far. It'd be like a clown putting away the seltzer bottle, "no no, we run a class act".

 

[azukar]

Most Square(Enix) costume designs look ridiculous, when looked at from a practical perspective. Lulu in her Million Belt Corset springs to mind.

So... while yes, this character's costume design looks stupid, it's no worse than Lulu, or Kuja, or that one minor character from FFXII with a pink g-string over the top of her minishorts. I'd say it's pretty clearly insecure male gamers crying foul because they can't bear to see side abs on their dude characters.

 

[Silvanus]

Bartz.

Ah, never played V. Still, this is him from in-game;

Not sure about you, but the above don't quite do it for me.

Zidane's mostly covered, too. I'll *ahem* concede the Dirge guy, though he's an antagonist again, so what I said vis-a-vis Kuja applies.

EDIT: This isn't to deny that you have a point, by the way.

I don't think Square has any (figurative) right to say a character design has gone too far. It'd be like a clown putting away the seltzer bottle, "no no, we run a class act".

On that, certainly I agree. I'd have much preferred the design to stay as it was. I shamelessly like it, and would like to see more revealing male designs.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Bartz.

Ah, never played V. Still, this is him from in-game;

pics

Not sure about you, but the above don't quite do it for me.

Zidane's mostly covered, too. I'll *ahem* concede the Dirge guy, though he's an antagonist again, so what I said vis-a-vis Kuja applies.

If I want to be pedantic, Zidane is technically naked when he trances.

Spoiler: And he glows pink too

I don't think Square has any (figurative) right to say a character design has gone too far. It'd be like a clown putting away the seltzer bottle, "no no, we run a class act".

On that, certainly I agree. I'd have preferred the design to stay as it was. I shamelessly like it.

Here here!

 

[Longing]

I'm all for developers realizing what fucking dumbass characters design mistakes they are making and changing them accordingly, but I just wish they'd do it for females characters as well.

And this is some pretty lame soft porn, look at all that side torso. I remember playing Final Fantasy X-2 with a party character who had two tiny yellow triangles held up with flimsy red string and nobody made much of a fuss about it :/

 

[14341210]

The heck was that?! First costume was insane, glad they fixed it. Looked way off-place.

I mean, I don't mind a developer's own design choice, but making your character look like it walked straight out of a BDSM session with all its glory looks terrifying. Unless that was the point... which I think it was not, since the developers got their senses kicked back into them.

Hell, I'd object to any character who's design screams "my safety word is Alucard" all over whilst trying to be serious. :|

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I'd have used it for the psychological advantage it would give you over your opponent.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Hmm this is interesting. Square enix tried to be progressive and make a sexy male character to balance with sexy female character, only to be shot down by nay sayers. I can only conclude that people just want everyone to be dressed up head to toe and show no skin at all.

Basically, people don't want devs to dress down men, they want devs to dress up women.

Edit: i think squres response to change it depending on if fans want it or not also interesting. With all the cries of " vocal minority" ramping about, now is the time to see if those who are vocal are truly the minority.

 

[NPC009]

I hope Square Enix releases the earlier design as a little DLC thingie. Not because I want them to be money hoggers or I'm desperate for handsome man butt, but because I'd like to know if it would sell.

 

[major_chaos]

Well on one hand that costume was appalling and I'm glad they changed it. On the other hand I really wish they would do the same to some of their female designs. And I'm not saying that as someone categorically opposed to titillation, I'm saying that as someone deeply opposed to fucking horrid visual design.

 

[mad825]

The first design looked like he was wearing a bra...Or more importantly, he had breasts...Transvestite...Whatever I'm trying to describe he simply looked feminine.

 

[elvor0]

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/final-fantasy-butt

So some prudes on the internet decided that this characters magnificent male form was too much for their squishy soft delicate view spheres and demanded Squenix cover him up. I for one am outraged, and not even ironically. I am a firm believer that the solution to skimpy female armor is equal opportunity male skimpy armor. For christ sakes people, Conan the barbarian had this down decades ago.

1. The original outfit was horrendous. As in it was designed by someone who was blind, I'm glad it was changed, because it offends me by how awfully designed it is. Being prudish has nothing to do with it, it looks fucking shockingly shite. Original armor was not sexy, it was stupid.

2. The solution to a problem (stupid female costumes) is not to bring everyone else down to a shit level where everyone is designed by someone blind, and is thus hampered by the same problem, it's to remove the problem to begin with.

3. Conan the Barbarian wears a loincloth, he does not wear anything even remotely similar to what ever the fuck this FF character was wearing. That is an awfully bad false approximation.

 

[Fishyash]

It's not really censorship when the developer does it... (also considering this is a mobile game I doubt the developers haven't put enough stock into the game to really care anyways)

I'm not too interested in the game but to be honest I like the changed costume more, and I am someone who really likes character designs like Zangief and Blanka (and in relation to the thread, Conan) and they're practically wearing nothing. Even the likes of Voldo I find he looks pretty awesome (in a creepy way).

But that FF character before the change I'm just not digging. I guess it just looks too feminine for my tastes. But anyway those are just my thoughts on it. They didn't have to change it but I really do think he looks better now.

 

[DrOswald]

Well on one hand that costume was appalling and I'm glad they changed it. On the other hand I really wish they would do the same to some of their female designs. And I'm not saying that as someone categorically opposed to titillation, I'm saying that as someone deeply opposed to fucking horrid visual design.

I think the reason they changed it was because a bunch of people spoke out against it and virtually no one spoke up for it. But tons of people love their sexy woman designs, so even when people speak out against them tons of people pipe in to support them.

It might just be they are not good at sexy men yet.

 

[And Man]

I can't say that I approve of the costume change, but I'm not too surprised, considering that Bravely Default had some costumes changed to be less revealing in the NA version.

And to all of the people saying that the original outfit looked terrible: Have you ever played a Final Fantasy game? Every costume design is terrible. This reminds me of Lightning's sheath in FFXIII, which actually became a running joke among my group of friends; the way it dangles, it continuously bounces off the back of her legs whenever she runs, which looks incredibly uncomfortable.

 

[linwolf]

I really wish that prudish people would just stick to games that doesn't offend them. Instead of trying to get everything to conform to their views.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So it's all ok for skimpy female costume but not for male?

http://kuzunoharaidou.tumblr.com/post/115853207775/amaranthine-azure-pushtosmart-we-can-all-breath

I take it those who are complaining must be insecure with themselves.

 

[sageoftruth]

Like a bunch of others have said, stupid costumes are pretty much a staple of recent Square Enix games. It's certainly a turnoff for me, regardless of gender, but that's one reason why I don't play Square Enix games. Still, they're letting the crowd do the talking for this one, so kudos to them.

With that said, if you're among the crowd that wants to stick with the original outfit, then SPEAK OUT!! This is your chance to let them know that you exist. After what Sqeenix said about checking for feedback, there must be some link where you can cast a vote. I'm not really sure.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I think the second looks slightly less stupid personally but whatever tbh I dont care much what they wear. Im sure they are going for some sort of style thing like they usually do and there are no clothes more stupid than cutting edge fashion.

I would rather they went with just a pair of speedos than the first design though I think it would look cooler and thats not because I think speedos are kewl. But really dont care just make the game good and get on the FFVII remake (and stop trolling us Square Enix).

 

[DrOswald]

So it's all ok for skimpy female costume but not for male?

http://kuzunoharaidou.tumblr.com/post/115853207775/amaranthine-azure-pushtosmart-we-can-all-breath

I take it those who are complaining must be insecure with themselves.

I don't think this is a case of skimpy costumes for male are not alright and female skimpy costumes are, I think this is a case of people wanting skimpy female costumes but not skimpy male costumes. Square is simply responding to those desires.

Square did not remove the costume because of some great controversy or boycott or such. They removed it because a bunch of people said they did not like it and no one (or very few) bothered to say they did like it. Compare to sexy female costumes, where tons of people love them and really want them in the game and constantly say so.

That is not a double standard in the least. At least not from the perspective of Square.

And as far as those complaining being insecure, that is an old and pretty silly argument. There is nothing insecure about liking one thing and not liking another, or about wanting less of something you do not like and wanting more of something you do like.