If Zidane were black and still had his tail...would FFIX be rascist?

[Vivisteiner]

Discuss

[Mirage]

Fun fact: you can be racist to people whose skin colour isn't black too.

[Aerith's Knight]

i dont even see how that would be racist.. how does your mind work?

[Vivisteiner]

lol, I was only kidding. Of course I know that mirage.


I was wondering though if people would have called it rascist because back in the day white supremacists used to call black people 'monkeys'. To have a black character with a monkey's tail would perhaps seem rascist to some people playing the game.

[LunarWeaver]

Black people do have tails, what's the problem.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

Racist and then some

[cloud21zidane16]

I hope this doesnt sound racist but if its ok for a white person to have a tail then it should be ok for a black person to have one isnt it? Everyones supposed to be equal nowadays:)

[Vivisteiner]

Yeah, I know it wouldnt be rascist. But I wonder if they had done that...would people have accused them of racism?

[Shotgunnova]

At the turn of the century, having a black RPG lead in Square's flagship series would probably have raised eyebrows for other reasons, especially for a character as well-balanced as Zidane. It wouldn't be wrong in any way, but y'can bet there'd be those scrutinizing the game for the slightest bit of parallel to racial stereotypes. Heck, maybe if this scenario occured back in the day, it would have sent the company into a new creative direction, instead of the spinoff-churning cash machine it's become.

[MustangCobraSVT]

A black charecter with a tail, whose prime ability is to steal things...ya i bet they would have got into a scandel with some people about racism

[G13]

Hahaha. You guys are too funny! I don't think the game itself would be racist, just whoever developed Zidane would be.

[BG-57]

I could see people objecting to racial streotypes in FFVII or especially Square's Tom Sawyer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square%27s_Tom_Sawyer), but I didn't see anything like that in FFIX.

I see your point though.

[Sarc the Swordsman]

...I wouldn't consider it to be racist. Still, I'm sure someone would have kicked up a fuss about it.

[Kain Strife]

Don't be silly, Black people can't be heroes!
I don't think so - Flying Mullet

[Bolivar]

Fun fact: you can be racist to people whose skin colour isn't black too.

Fun fact: the conception that you can be "racist" toward someone is a popular misuse of the word, as racism is the belief in the supremacy of one race. You can't say "I'm nationalist against Israel." I think the word you're looking for is prejudice.

Anyhow, ViviSteiner, alot of white people today STILL call black people monkeys, such as scientists who strive to use reason and logic to prove that there is in fact an evolutionary ladder for what anthropologists would rather call "anatomically modern human beings". So don't think it's over, we still a long way to go.

As far as the question, I don't know, but they never did... I guess it depends on what color(s) the genomes would have, because if the only black character in the game had a tail, that might be a problem.

[Aerith's Knight]

you know what wouldve been really sad? if the designers thought about this as well -_-

[No.78]

They would have accused it of being racist, definetly.

[Big D]

I agree with those who say that they would certainly have been accused of racism. A game where all the major human characters are white, except for the thieving, womanising monkey-boy? Hell, I'd probably consider that racist myself.

[Roto13]

Screw the tail, make him a big black dude who swears constantly and carries the biggest gun he possibly can, everywhere he goes!

[Aerith's Knight]

Screw the tail, make him a big black dude who swears constantly and carries the biggest gun he possibly can, everywhere he goes!

On his arm perhaps?

[Roto13]

Even better! Everyone knows black people would rather have guns than hands. They'd use them more often anyway.

[Aerith's Knight]

I feel like i know this from somewhere..

[DarkLadyNyara]

Would it have been racist in intent? Not necessarily, no.

Would it have been accused of being racist? Oh, hell yes.

[Suvious]

Not being racist or anything - But I thought FF Games were like set in Japanese? And in those days (Medievil based) there weren't many foreigners.. So no joke but why would there be lots of black people in FFIX if it's sposed to be Japanese a few hundred years back?

[Vivisteiner]

^No, final fantasy games are set in a fictional Universe(s), not Japan.

FFIX is set on the planet Gaia so Square were free to create what they like.

[Rantz]

Screw the tail, make him a big black dude who swears constantly and carries the biggest gun he possibly can, everywhere he goes!


Even better! Everyone knows black people would rather have guns than hands. They'd use them more often anyway.

*glee*

[Suvious]

Although it's fantasy based - it's NEVER based on stuff like Africa for w/e reason, it's always like America style terrain, with a north pole and a desert.

[Vivisteiner]

^Id say the characters look Western. But the terrain seems pretty varied to me. The North Pole is the part of our world, not America, after all.

But yeah, the worlds in FFs are similar in style to our world as a whole.

[BG-57]

Africa's climates are quite varied as well. My parents just got back from a well digging project in rural Ghana, which is tropical, while the north is Mediterranean and desert, while the far south is temperate, quite similar to Europe. Not to mention the Savanna grasslands. I've seen most of those climates in the FF series.

What is less visible in these games is traditional African achitecture. The heaviest influence there seems to be European, with a lot of traditional Japanese thrown in (Wutai in FFVII for example).

[Suvious]

I meant like big savannahs and places like that, in FF games there's nearly always: Western Style, A frozen wasteland, A desert, A chinese/japanese style city or vendor, a freaky scenery for the boss fight at the end.
I don't think tbh I've ever seen a savannah or anywhere like that o.0

[Vivisteiner]

^Yeah, that would be cool. Ive never seen it before, but one of the FFXIII images looked like there might be one.

http://i26.:bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::bou:/20utlow.jpg

[Suvious]

Aaah I think Square were sitting there saying "We re-graphiced the games... We're running out of ideas here people! We've been regraphicing them for the last 6 games now what!? I know... this is crazy... but... a new area...?"
"DON'T BE CRAZY JOHNSON!"
"Crazy enough to work..?"

[BG-57]

I think the Veldt in FFVI would count as savannah.

But I agree that African influences are underrepresented.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah most definetly I would think it would've been racist. I vaguely thought that Barret was stereotypical there were some suspicions, but if they did that to Zidane then most definetly.

[Suvious]

^ I laughed thinkin it was a Mr.T mick take xD
But, if FF was to START in an African area, i.e savannah, and you had Zidane would it be called racist?

[Unstoppable Pig]

I think if Kuja was black, game would have been definately accused of being racist. I mean black guy who has interesting choice of clothes and he gets beaten by white people and some other freaks.

Turn any main FF-villain into black and it would be called racist game. I find funny that Resident Evil 5 is accused being racist. C´mon Chris is in Africa where majority of population is black. Wtf you expect? Some grazy spanish villagers in Africa???

[Vinhsynd]

... I call my wife monkey. She sort of looks like one and tends to eat a lot of bananas when she watches TV. However she's philipino - is it still ok to call her monkey?

[crazybayman]

I meant like big savannahs and places like that, in FF games there's nearly always: Western Style, A frozen wasteland, A desert, A chinese/japanese style city or vendor, a freaky scenery for the boss fight at the end.
I don't think tbh I've ever seen a savannah or anywhere like that o.0

Giza Plains in FFXII is certainly modelled after a Savanna, complete with dry and wet seasons.

Then there's the Estersand and Westersand, deserts not unlike that of the Sahara and Kalahari in Africa.

As well the architecture in Rabanastre, Nalbina and Bhujerba certainly seem to have Moroccan influences, in my opinion.

But back to having a black dude with a tail play Zidane - even if intents would not have been racist (or prejudice) there certainly would have been those accusing square of being racsist (or prejudice), resulting in a lot of backlash. Due to lingering sensitivity on that subject, Square certainly would never attempt something like that.

Although......


Screw the tail, make him a big black dude who swears constantly and carries the biggest gun he possibly can, everywhere he goes!


Even better! Everyone knows black people would rather have guns than hands. They'd use them more often anyway.

[Mercen-X]

Only extremists would have even picked up on it. You guys forget about Amarant though. The guy walks around like a freakin' ape. What if he were black? Holy Crap!

FF7: What about Vincent? Another black guy with a gun? What about Tifa? Black slut? Scarlet? Black skank? I always imagined Red XIII's voice being that of the all-too-good Morgan Freeman.

FF8: Was Kiros a shot at African culture?

FF10: What if all the Ronso had brown fur instead of blue/black fur? Would they have been considered a racist element? Wakka sounded Latino.

FF10-2: Rikku... black..?


Western Style
What is Western Style? Are you talking about Cowboys, etc? The only cowboy I remember is Irvine.
What's western?