Opinion: Final Fantasy XV is a Bro Fest and I’m Okay With That

[Caelyn]

To be fair, this piece probably wouldn't have existed if Gamergate hadn't happened. I've been writing a lot about inclusiveness in game over the past couple of weeks, because it's been a big topic. I felt that the news that the latest Final Fantasy, a generally diverse franchise with some excellent female leads and supporting characters, was going to centre around an all-male party was particularly interesting when the timing was considered.

One of the popular ideas pushed in recent weeks is that critique somehow equals censorship. It's a pretty ridiculous notion; if it were even vaguely true, we wouldn't have any entertainment media left by now. Another one is the idea that people are calling for some kind of mandatory diversity check list. Again, it's utterly untrue.

I was surprised when I read about FFXV's cast, and also disappointed. I can't say that I wouldn't prefer a more diverse party. However, I wasn't bothered by it on a pro-diversity level. When I realised that, I had to spend some time thinking about why that was the case and I felt that writing it down was worthwhile. I feel that there has been a lot of negativity over the past few weeks and I tend towards negativity in my own writing sometimes, so I wrote something with a more positive spin.

[Depression Moon]

I'm not disappointed. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened sooner/ in the span of over 20 years of a bunch of people coming together to save the world, not one of those times it was done by a group solely composed of males, there was always a decent man to woman ratio?

[Mirage]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

[Hannibal_Khan]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

Who's the three? I dont mind FFXV not having black dudes tho, w/ sazh they proved they don't write well for black characters. Although we should not be surprised by this, Japan has almost zero black ppl and they don't want that to change(their immigration policies would imply as much).

[Mirage]

Terra Relm Celes.

[Depression Moon]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

Who's the three? I dont mind FFXV not having black dudes tho, w/ sazh they proved they don't write well for black characters. Although we should not be surprised by this, Japan has almost zero black ppl and they don't want that to change(their immigration policies would imply as much).

They don't have many white people over there either, but JRPGs always seem to have them.

[Ayen]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

Who's the three? I dont mind FFXV not having black dudes tho, w/ sazh they proved they don't write well for black characters. Although we should not be surprised by this, Japan has almost zero black ppl and they don't want that to change(their immigration policies would imply as much).

They don't have many white people over there either, but JRPGs always seem to have them.

More like they white wash the majority of Asians in their RPGs and anime.

Always wondered about that.

[Wolf Kanno]

For the most part, I'm not really bothered by it and I feel the blow up has more to do with the Gamergate issue that has caused an interesting and long needed discussion on the topic of female characters in media.

I still view this as a writer though, and if the story calls for an all male cast then I see no real problem with it as gender really shouldn't matter in a well written piece that works towards a purpose. I would be more annoyed if the creator's forced a female into the dynamic for the sake of marketing when the story didn't call for one. I've always hated the "Token" character that often creeps up in modern media.

This game was not originally intended to be a numbered entry, so the designers did a lot of things you normally wouldn't see in a mainline FF, but since we all kind of know this, I don't see the point in berating the game for it. This was never meant to be the calculated, focus-group approved, easy to digest FF vanilla we've all come accustomed to, and for better or for worse the game will shake up the series because of that distinction. Let's just relax and enjoy the ride. Well until some of us find out we hate it, then we can start the lynching... I er mean bitching.

[Hannibal_Khan]

Can someone give me a breakdown of what gamergate is? preferably 5 sentences or less. I tried to read an article earlier but i think i got side tracked and i dont remember what the scandal is..

[Momiji]

Hrm. I would definitely be exponentially more interested in XV if it had playable female characters, because I've always enjoyed playing as them more and that's my personal preference and always will be. So as far as it being an all-male cast goes, I think it's unfortunate but it's not damning. As mentioned earlier, if they actually take a few steps forward and write a decent romantic plot between some of them, I think that would be really cool.

What I am much more turned off by is the oversimplification the game seems to be getting in that you can only directly control one character. What is this, Persona 3? (And even then they fixed that nonsense in the PSP reboot.)

[~*~Celes~*~]

Hey guys, don't forget, Final Fantasy X-2 was YuRiPa. The fact that it was a sequel game doesn't really take away from it, imho. Still a female-centered game!

[Fynn]

Hey guys, don't forget, Final Fantasy X-2 was YuRiPa. The fact that it was a sequel game doesn't really take away from it, imho. Still a female-centered game!

I keep telling people that!

We had an all-female party, so why not an all-male one if it fits the artistic vision? And keep in mind it's PARTY, not CAST that is all male. As others have pointed out, there's at least three visible females in this game and they all seem to be (at least hinted to be) important, interesting characters.

[Hannibal_Khan]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

Who's the three? I dont mind FFXV not having black dudes tho, w/ sazh they proved they don't write well for black characters. Although we should not be surprised by this, Japan has almost zero black ppl and they don't want that to change(their immigration policies would imply as much).

They don't have many white people over there either, but JRPGs always seem to have them.

More like they white wash the majority of Asians in their RPGs and anime.

Always wondered about that.

Yea especially with female characters. Stella looks damn near swedish. We shouldn't be surprised by that either, Alot of women thoughout Asia are increasingly getting plastic surgery to get more caucasion features. The XV male characters still look japanese to me tho. Who wants to bet XV development team is 90%+ male lol

[Sephiroth]

Hey guys, don't forget, Final Fantasy X-2 was YuRiPa. The fact that it was a sequel game doesn't really take away from it, imho. Still a female-centered game!

But it does take away a bit from it. Sequels, prequels and spin-offs and such very often have a different focus and so traditions in first installments and such often do not appear in them.

[Mirage]

Not always. 3 females out of what, 16 in total isn't a decent ratio

Who's the three? I dont mind FFXV not having black dudes tho, w/ sazh they proved they don't write well for black characters. Although we should not be surprised by this, Japan has almost zero black ppl and they don't want that to change(their immigration policies would imply as much).

They don't have many white people over there either, but JRPGs always seem to have them.

More like they white wash the majority of Asians in their RPGs and anime.

Always wondered about that.

Yea especially with female characters. Stella looks damn near swedish. We shouldn't be surprised by that either, Alot of women thoughout Asia are increasingly getting plastic surgery to get more caucasion features. The XV male characters still look japanese to me tho. Who wants to bet XV development team is 90%+ male lol

It certainly happens, but I don't think it's a big enough percentage to be called "a lot".