Character design nowadays.

[darkchrono]

It seems that with the added advantages they have in designing characters with the technology they have nowadays they try to make the characters look like perfect physical specimen's. All the girls look like absolute beauty queens, and all the guy characters look as hunky as they can possibly look. When these systems with the abilty to create such good looking characters first came out it was all cool (it was fun to see what they could create through pure graphics). But now all the characters seem to look exactly the same (either a perfect beauty queen or a perfect hunk).

Now I think it would be cool to see just some average looking joe's (average or maybe just slightly better than average in the looks department.) I think it would be cool for them to start making games with just normal looking people instead of all these God's and Goddess's that they have in the games now.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

This is why the character designs in the Metal Gear games are so great. All the characters look like real people, and without having to look ugly.

[Erdrick Holmes]

This thread reminds me of something. Ever notice how with each FF game made after VII they made the main here look less and less manlike and more femenine?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Uhm, Amano's character designs are almost universally more feminine than any of Nomura's, and they go back to FFI.

[Shlup]

Uhm, Amano's character designs are almost universally more feminine than any of Nomura's, and they go back to FFI.

That's true, but I agree with Joel that they're indeed looking more and more like saucy little girls.

It's hot.

[TheAbominatrix]

Uhm, Amano's character designs are almost universally more feminine than any of Nomura's, and they go back to FFI.

Yup.

And this 'pretty' trend is nothing new, and it's hardly 'every character'. Look at X. Wakka wasnt hot... hell, he had a pudgy stomach to boot. Auron was old. And way back in say, IV, the major characters were pretty, from what could be seen. Cecil was handsome, as were Cain and Edge. Rosa and Rydia were very pretty.

The main characters are usually good looking, but travel with some odd looking types. In VI, good looking characters included Tina, Celes, Edgar, Lock, Mash, etc. The odd looking sorts included Stragus, Umaro, and Gogo. So this is nothing new.

And back to the 'feminine' subject... I know this may absolutely boggle the mind, but these games are... Japanese. Japanese culture has long prefered the feminine sort of males. Just look at their pop idols. Gackt, for instance. Very feminine in appearance.

[darkchrono]

actually i thoought ffX was especially guilty about making the human body look as good as possible. I thought they put alot of emphasis on making their characters look really beautiful in that game.

[Big D]

actually i thoought ffX was especially guilty about making the human body look as good as possible. I thought they put alot of emphasis on making their characters look really beautiful in that game.

Really? In X, Yuna has quite broad hips and a relatively small chest, compared to the stereotype of what's "hot".[q=TheAbominatrix]Look at X. Wakka wasnt hot... hell, he had a pudgy stomach to boot.[/q]Guess I'm the only one who thought he was pretty hard... lots of muscle, there.[q]Auron was old.[/q]Nothin' wrong with a few grey hairs

I agree that there are a lot of unnaturally good-looking characters in games, but there are also refreshing touches of realism, too. Lian Xing, from the Syphon Filter series, is in her early thirties, and far from conforming to the "beauty stereotype" (I say "stereotype" because my own idea of beauty is so broad compared to the "popular conception". There are plenty of people I think are beautiful, but who'd never be considered beautiful by the mainstream standards).

I suppose, though, that video games allow designers to indulge in a little hyper-reality. They can make images that look real, but can go to extremes with what they portray. I'm against it, since I prefer realism and inner beauty over superficial physical gratification, but I don't have anything against people - or characters - who look good, either.

[Lindy]

Silent Hill games have pretty realistic, and horrendously ugly characters.

The only character who wasn't ugly in SH2 was James, but then, I suppose you have to look at him for the whole game, so it'd rather annoying if he was hard to look it.

Ah, and then we come to Heather of SH3, she put me off playing the game for the simple reason that she was mind-bendingly ugly, and I'd rather not want to look at her very large behind for the entire game, kthnx.

SH4 characters aren't so bad actually.

[TheAbominatrix]

Guess I'm the only one who thought he was pretty hard... lots of muscle, there.

I dunno. They tease him about the pudge and how out of shape he is.

I agree that there are a lot of unnaturally good-looking characters in games,

Of course. But it's not everyone in every game, and it's certainly not a new thing.

[The Man]

The only reason people are saying that characters look better than they used to is because the technology has improved. Most of the important characters in games, at least on the hero's side, have always been scripted as attractive characters, it's just that the NES and SNES lacked the power to display them as attractively as the PlayStation 2/Xbox/Dreamcast/GameCube can.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Look at Vaan from FFXII. If he had a pair of boobs he'd actually look like a hot girl. (I can't beleive I said that)

[Lord Chainsaw]

This is pretty much the way it is everywhere. Books, movies, television, games, plays, anywhere.

You are usually going to have attractive lead characters. It's just received better.

[TheAbominatrix]

Look at Vaan from FFXII. If he had a pair of boobs he'd actually look like a hot girl. (I can't beleive I said that)

Amano's designs have always been girly, even moreso than Nomura's. If anything, the designs have gotten more masculine with the change to Nomura.

It's nothing new. Japanese games are made by Japanese people, and designed the way the Japanese like them. The Japanese like feminine men. Stop freaking out about it.

I've attached pictures of Lock (VI) and everyone's beloved, super-manly Cloud. Who looks just like a freaking chick, which explains how they were able to fool Corneo so easily.

So now, it's not the evil fault of the new, devil SquareEnix, and not new with Vaan and Tidus.

[The Man]

Indeed, Tidus is just the first one who managed to whine throughout the whole freakin' game. Plus they gave him a girly voice too, I can't imagine that helped at all.