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[Infernal Mass]

https://www.fighters-xtreme.com/galle...ge_22_1973.jpg

Asche and Van..it looks alot like FFX to me. And asche sorta looks like Yuna.

[kupoartist]

On first impressions it does have its similarities to FFX... Generic Heroine for sure, Nearly Generic Hero. Of interest to me for sure are the Snazzy as ever FFXII Logo, and the confirmation of ssjtrunks' Bangaa (sp?) appearance.

edit: i'm just wondering though, if this confirms anything at all about which character is the "lead"? for all we know, it could be the girl or both...

[MakgSnake]

Dont you guys think, that they are doing a little TOO MUCH on the cloths and the design on it. I mean......they just do it with more simple cloths and something different. Just look at Van's trouser.

[ssjtrunks13]

Wow, it looks better than I thought it would. I don't think they're doing too much on the clothes. BTW artist, it is spelled 'Bangaa'.

[Qjij_jijQ]

I think it looks okay... I like the look of the girl, but I don't like the little boy's appearance ( too young ). Plus, I'm also kind of getting a "FFX" vibe, but I think it's mainly due to the fact that it seems to take place in ancient tropical places ( based on the pics on the buttom right ).

... and like Makg said: look at Van's trouser!

---
Edit: Here's a bit more on what I think...
( BTW, double posting is a bad thing kids! )

I think the girl seems pretty original, she doesn't look like any of the previous female characters I've seen in FF ( at least in recent ones ). Although that little red skirt is somewhat... revealing, I'm not really dissapointed about that 'half' of the poster.

On the other hand... the boy looks just aweful. He looks like a younger, more feminine Tidus and for me, that's not really a good thing. I ( quite frankly ) hate his haircut and his pants... plus, when you look at the images in the buttom left corner, we see a character that looks like him ( it probably is him ), but seems somewhat 'older', no? Anyways... not really diggin' that.

Meh... look at me, I'm starting to repeat myself... repeat myself... repeat myself... dammit! The point his... I can honestly say that I'm half way satisfied. Let's just hope that "Van" is simply a little boy that gets run over by a horde of creatures at the beginning of the game... ( Yes, you read that right! )

[kupoartist]

Originally posted by Qjij_jijQ
( BTW, double posting is a bad thing kids! )

I'll let it pass this time , but you really should just edit your original post... So long as you make it clear that you've edited your post, people will probably look at it.

As for the appearances of both characters, its probably somthing to do with what Square-Enix believes it's audience is most attracted to in the real world. Using that philosophy, Guys want a Heroine who is perfectly shaped (ie. big boobies ), provocatively dressed, with a flawless face and a physical strength but inward insecurity. Guys have got that for a long time in games now, and it's getting "worse".

The hero is just an example of the flip-side taken further. Apparently, Girls want baby-faced, "pretty" and sensitive heros who can look after themselves in a fight, but loose the plot psychologically. The bottom line is that the hero doesn't appeal to you because he isn't meant to. Tidus was the same, Squall, Zidane and even further back were as well: its just an evolution of an idea, the same as us getting "Quarter Dressed Rikku" in FFX-2 instead of "Half Dressed Rikku" in FFX.

Personally, it annoys the hell out of me. Its just one of those things that stands in the way of games ever becoming recognised as an acceptable artform. Generic, made to fit characters. It'd make a nice change to not play as a white guy for once as well.

But thats just popular culture for you.

In other news (^_^), it has been said that the FFXII logo looks like one of the FF Tactics Advance judges. If thats true, could FFXII be more "tactical", or is the series adopting more elements of the FFTactics World than just a few races?

[Qjij_jijQ]

I think I read somewhere that they were going to put some 'gameplay' elements of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in Final Fantasy XII, but I don't know if that means that the game will actually be more 'tactical'.

You really believe that the majority of female gamers want a baby-faced boy that looks somewhat feminine? Tidus was too much of a 'big baby', but I didn't really dislike Zidane, Squall or Cloud. They were all pretty original and had a different mentality and that made it fun. ( They weren't 'pretty boys' )

Anyways... it's too late now.

[Brit]

Originally posted by the_artist
Personally, it annoys the hell out of me. Its just one of those things that stands in the way of games ever becoming recognised as an acceptable artform. Generic, made to fit characters. It'd make a nice change to not play as a white guy for once as well.

amen to that.

Originally posted by Qjij_jijQ
You really believe that the majority of female gamers want a baby-faced boy that looks somewhat feminine? Tidus was too much of a 'big baby', but I didn't really dislike Zidane, Squall or Cloud. They were all pretty original and had a different mentality and that made it fun. ( They weren't 'pretty boys' )
[/color]

to be honest even looking back at cloud in ff7 he fits the profile mentioned by the_artist. maybe not completely but certianly psychologically he broke down, all ff's spawned from the same kind of idea think about it - squall in ff8 was just one completely messed up kiddie who had his fair share of mental breakdowns throughout the game. granted the characters were very different but they were also the incarnation of what was believed to be the target audience. and audiences have a tendency to change

[Qjij_jijQ]

Cloud was simply 'messed up in his head', which is always good for a main hero... put he wasn't a cry-baby like Tidus. Can't they make a really messed up, dark and physically strong main character?

Seriously... would anyone here - not - like that?
( Would that take anything good out of the game? )

[Brit]

no offence but i honestly dont understand why we have to have another messed up character at all?

the only thing that spoiled ff7 for me was the fact that cloud was out of action for like the majority of disc 3 on the playstation. at the end of the day you feel maybe a little more connected to the main character because you come to know him well but there are other ways of doing it withuot having to be really messed up. top dollar point is that it wasn't an essential part of clouds character, there was already the mystery about his past and other issues to explore with sephiroth, mako, and midgar that they didn't have to have cloud repressing his past as well

if its a necessity to the game then so be it - squall for example was a highly personified three dimensional character who you felt close too coz he was so 'human'. it was his main strength and his main weakness, at times you got pissed off with him because he was so unbelieveably misunderstood and depressed at times. but that kind of character has already been explored why introduce it again in a later final fantasy?

ff9 would perhaps be a big counterattack defence for what its worth, zidane for me ended up being so 2d it was unbearable and he was one of the few main characters we've seen that have been fairly secure with themselves, a little too secure, the only redeeming part of the game was again late disc 3 where he goes off on his own thinking he doesn't need anybody, [plus the music for that was awesome

i guess at the end of the day what draws us close to these guys is the fact that we know their innermost secrets or we find out as they progress and secrets make up a character for me. it would just be nice to have a character that could have other personality traits besides repression, depression and a want to cry his heart out at any opportunity (tidus!!!)

just my views, undoubtedly a lot will disagree

[Qjij_jijQ]

I think you got confused with my use of the term 'messed up'.

By that, I mean a main character that isn't 'moralistic', that has a lot going against him, but still manages to "come out on top". I don't want a completely sane pretty boy that's into pop music and likes to party with his friends ( Damn, kill me if they ever do a character exactly like that! ). That's just my opinion though... I'd like to see a hero that has completely different views from all the others, a hero that stands out, but that also appears to be somewhat of a 'bad guy'. That would be fun... and different!

[kupoartist]

and with the website came the offical unveiling...

That IS a FF Tactics Advance Judge in the rather cool looking FFXII logo! In fact, Final Fantasy XII takes place in a world called Ivalice - a name it has in common with both tactics games. However, the world itself is only loosely related to those worlds - Judges and the FFTA races (such as Bangaa) seem to be the only relations. Gameplay wise, it'll still be classic FF, more or less. You can also expect to see FF trademarks like Cid, Moogles and Chocobos in there as well.

What about the story then: the Hero, Vaan is a teenager (surprise surprise) who lives in the kingdom of Damaska, ruled over by the (probably) evil Arcadia Empire. His parents were killed by the aforementioned empire, so he stands as yet another example of why you should never give birth to an FF hero (you end up dead, duh). The Heroine, Ashe is the previously missing princess of Damaska (not sounding very good in the originality department then). She forms a resistance group and meets Vaan at some point. and they'll probably like each other a bit, or somthing. (Unless Vaan turns out to be gay, in which case I think people will be crying for less originality).
Also worthy of a mention is that the Judges aren't good guys, or referees like in Tactics. They like hitting you with swords or somthing and go under the suitably corny "knights of terror", presumably with the intent of inciting... terror, into people.

The concept is one which Matsuno (Producer) came up with when working on FFTactics: an immature world culturally, where the rights of the people are undeveloped and one with many castes and deprived peoples. The visual aesthetic is apparently supposed to be a melding of European and Arabic architecture and culture. Technology wise, the FFXII engine is cutting back on the ammount of polygons that FFX showed, but improving the shading and texturing. Animations are apparently smoother as well, and it was said that the whole thing looked better than FFX.

IGN Article containing the above, but written by someone who actually got paid for it: https://ps2.ign.com/articles/441/441084p2.html

[Qjij_jijQ]

... you forgot to mention that Vaan wants to be an 'air pirate'!

BTW, don't touch my posts... ever.

[kupoartist]

Originally posted by Qjij_jijQ

You really believe that the majority of female gamers want a baby-faced boy that looks somewhat feminine?

The words of the lead character designer:

Akihiko Yoshida
In the early stages of development the hero character was more rugged -- big and tough. As we started shaping up the scenario and taking into consideration the target demographic, the character became what you see today.

So apparently, a majority in the target audience wanted an effeminate male character. I think its pretty safe to assume that that majority was a mostly female one...

The Source Article is well worth a read: https://ps2.ign.com/articles/441/441293p1.html

Originally posted by Qjij_jijQ
BTW, don't touch my posts... ever.

that sounds like fighting talk, mister.

[Qjij_jijQ]

^ I'm not asking what the character designer thinks the 'target demographic' wants... I want to hear it from the 'source'. The question was directed towards female Final Fantasy fans...

Maybe that's what most asian female like, but I'm not quite sure that most American female gamers want that... Well, not where I'm from at least.

... anyways, who cares.

[Infernal Mass]

https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/01.jpg
https://www.jeux-france.com/Webmaster...5551_6_big.jpg
https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/03.jpg
https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/04.jpg

[Infernal Mass]

https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/05.jpg
https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/06.jpg
https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/07.jpg
https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/08.jpg

[Infernal Mass]

https://www.gamesarefun.com/games/pla...ffxii/c/09.jpg
https://www.jeux-france.com/Webmaster...2020_1_big.jpg
https://www.jeux-france.com/Webmaster...2744_0_big.jpg
https://www.jeux-france.com/Webmaster...0714_0_big.jpg

tw0 new characters..

[pjb2006]

Those pics are unbelievable. And whose that cool dude accepting a sword and leading an army (sweet).

[ssjtrunks13]

Nice pictures, finally some visual confirmation on what I heard about the Viera from FFTA being in it as well as the Bangaa.