Lebreau is my least favourite design, too. It just doesn't saying anything at all about her character, and it's not particularly attractive.
They attempted to make her look "sexy" with rather ugly clothes and odd cuts, with what looks to be half of a female pirate outfit and the other half a wench from Scandinavia during the 12th century. Notice how Oerba looks much cuter and appropriately feminine. There are many ways to make a female look sexy through clothes, and Lebreau's outfit is not one of them.
They do all look very generic from X/VIII. I'm not picking up hints of any personality from most of them. Even Lightning looks like a blank "vacant on the inside" Cloud clone. Snow just looks like some guy. Lebreau and Maqui look like sidekick fodder. And Gadot looks like Zack and Ifrit had a baby... Oerba and Sazh are the only ones so far that look like there's something inside. Though I can't say I like Sazh's outfit, he looks like a person at least
Am I the only one who doesn't really care if these designs are generic Nomura or not...? I mean, they kinda work... Aside from lightning, there's no belt-overkill and after Vaan, Basch and Ashe's strange fashion senses, normal, plain human looking people like Snow and Sazh really appeal to me. Sure, they don't look super duper very special, but is that a bad thing?
Take Team Nora for example. They are the worst designs of the bunch, and compared to the other character, they look 'special' (Gadot, shave your hair off, seriously). And it's one of those cases where special sucks. Main cast FTW! I hope Nora ends up like AVALANCHE in VII.
I like Oerba Dia Vanille the most, of all these characters. Sure, it kinda looks like she has even less on than Lebreau, but that's not my reason for liking her (besides, with Lebreau it's like they wanted her to look like she had nothing on, with Oerba, it looks like a tribal outfit you kinda expect for a girl from Pulse). Her outfit is win, I love how tribal she looks, the 'innocence' she gives off, her cuteness, her strange but good-looking weapon, the many bracelets and stuff she carries... Ah, it all just screams "Great design!" for me. I hope her character lives up to her looks. Please no Selphie or Rikku, SE! Make her more Penelo-like (who's unrightly called XII's Rikku and Selphie. Penelo was way more mature), if anything. Or better yet, make her a loveable character, that would suit with her design.
Aside from Oerba, I like the others of the main cast as well. Lightning has too many belts, unfortunately, but they don't ruin her design. Snow reminds me of Seifer, yes, but I liked Seifer, so no complaints there. Sazh is great, far better than Barret. And he has a baby chocobo, that's instant win.
I even like the new Vaan-Tidus-kid they've shown at E3. I'm very eager to learn more about him.
The Shiva-bike, I don't mind. I don't really care for summons anymore ever since they became playable in X.
Now, all that XIII needs is graves for team NORA and then this game might just have my favourite cast since XII ( ). It really could be worse, guys! (Right, FF X? <_< )
Lighting looks great, so does Snow. While Sazh's and Oerba's designs look simply amazing! Team NORA... Yeah, I have to agree with the majority. They do deserve to be squashed by a giant plate...
Anyway, any news on the platinum blonde-haired kid from the English E3 trailer? He seems to have potential...
You guys kidding me? I think Lebreau is probably the best character design of the game so far. Not overloaded with belts like Lightning at least. Belts and fanny-packs are the core essence of Lightning's design. =/
Sazh looks kinda stereotypical to me other than the outfit. He gets points for not being Mr. T or a blackface though.
Snow's kinda cool looking.
Oerba has a stupid name and looks like Penelo. Not good. lol
Lightning is extremely meh to me and looks like Yuna. Again, what's with all the belts and extraneous stuff?
Shiva looks cool.
Maqui and Gadot are kinda out-there but still look pretty cool and not like complete femmes like most of the later Final Fantasy males.
As y'all can kinda tell I have a complete distaste for the FF designs after VII.
Xenogears is the tragic story of how your whole life can take a crappy turn, just because you happened to see a lady in a wedding dress before her wedding.
This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broken down
This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broke down
I "fail" because I have a different opinion. I'm ever so sorry. I'll never doubt the oh-so-powerful FF master again.
She looks like Penelo to me in the face and her hair sorta does too (but without all the super-curl actiong going on). Hell a few people in the game look like past designs at least a little bit.
Xenogears is the tragic story of how your whole life can take a crappy turn, just because you happened to see a lady in a wedding dress before her wedding.
This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broken down
This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broke down
No, you fail because there's little to no resemblance whatsoever. She doesn't have braids, hair colour is completely different, design of clothing is completely different. Face... maybe a bit. Penelo? No.
And now that I'm busy being better than the world, let me add: Lightning = Yuna 2? Please. Cloud, yeah, maybe, since that was the intention. And Ashe, perhaps. But Yuna? No, lower-than-me, this god of the world doesn't see it.
So, I've brought salvation to the forum with these facts, my task as a deity is done for now. Bow down to my gloriousness and stuff.
Elpizo, you're free to disagree with people. You're not free to insult them for their opinions, so stop that.
Obera has the best design so far in my opinion, and Sazh looks to be the best character. Hina is so cute