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.