Only Vaan looks like a chick in FFXII. The rest of the characters look pretty normal (for a mystical fantasy universe anyway)

"make the dudes look 90% like chicks"

So Basch looks like a girl? As does Balthier? Yeah. Of course when one guy looks a bit girlish, it's a damn trend of Square.

So this dude in this artwork looks like a girl, does he?

http://www.ffxii.net/image.php?view=images/art/art21.jpg

I guess (Disney's) Aladdin's gay too. OMG! His bellybutton is visible! O_O

Seriously, get over it.

At least in Castlevania's case a woman is doing the artwork... I can't speak for other series.

re: bans. When I say ban, that's actually not what I mean. On a message board, people get banned all the time because the only thing to do on a message board is post. Here on GAF, you can make game collections, vote on games, etc. So when somebody causes trouble, we simply remove their posting privileges instead of banning. You can still post on your blog (with our current policy; that could change of course) even when banned.

Do you happen to have sales numbers for the previous Mana games?

I'm so tired of people calling characters gay then others getting up in arms. Cultural or not, many Japanese designed male characters look effeminate. This doesn't mean they have sex with men, go to slumber parties, and collect shoes. The characters are androgenous, not necessarily homosexual. On the other hand, defending the same type of character design that's absurdly cliche by this point simply because it's cultural also seems silly. Is it cultural to not make unique, interesting and different characters?

Also, in addition to onizuka's comments, Japanese men who look more feminine are considered to be more attractive (in Japan). In America we believe that an attractive man is someone who's big, strong, ripped, has a gun in one hand and a wine glass in the other. In Japan, they find fine and soft features more attractive. And, since it's produced by a Japanese company primarly for Japanese players, those are the kind of male lead characters you get. So deal with.

Indeed like someone else said, Nintendo own the japanese charts right now. Nothing wrong with that because software is where the real money is.

With regards to Nekofrog's comments about FF characters. Mr Frog you should really do your homework. Bare the following in mind.

1: FF series is a japanese game series and as such will fall into the realms of such designed characters in it's games, to appeal to the japanese fans (a large amount of which are female and like to cosplay (costume play, search wiwkipedia or google if you must) as their favourite characters etc, at anime and game conventions in japan, Square Enix also make a lot of money out of cosplay merchandise etc). Because of the female fans characters are designed in this androgenous bishojo design.

If you consider Tidus or Vaan to be gay as you say now you know the reason. They aren't gay, just designed to appeal to both sexes instead of just one (the males which a huge percentage of games do).

2: Why on earth do you think Square Enix made FFX-2? X-2 was a sequel aimed more at those same female fans. (would you play with dress spheres for real?) That's why all the focus lead characters are female, however I'm sure many male fans also like it because of this and the games merits.

3: The bishojo look also exists in other eastern games like Korean rpg Magna Carta, true and is also common place in anime and manga. Its something only anime/manga and hardcore gamers might know about.

Sure, your opinion is respected, but just do a little homework next time. Feel free to correct me anywhere anyone.

You know, Tidus is more male than half of you guys. By the way, Auron kicks ass.

I love how some guy makes flagrant anti-gay comments, and you guys are discussing the technicalities of the best way to ban him.

It's just kinda funny.

Banning the hostname is the best.

By the way I will still read your website ban MY ACCOUNT.

KILL GAYS

Everything in it has to be gold.

I'm surprised that that new Gundam game is doing as poorly as it is. The Japanese usually eat that stuff up, even if every single game that has ever been made in the Gundam universe is garbage. Except maybe Encounters in Space...but that was an hour long anyway so oh well.

"/uses Firefox"

..so do I, and I see the ad too.

I can't believe William Shatner has his own DVD club...

Believe it or not, gay is not an acceptable insult here. Can the gay talk unless you are talking about actual homosexuals or there will be temp bans imposed here. For reference, we'll tolerate an occasional remark about how gay something might look. But as soon as it becomes the sole topic of a non-homosexual news article or when members are being called gay, the line has been crossed. Use your blogs to call people gay.

P.S. Hooray for William Shatner ad to the left.

http://www.ffshrine.org/ffxii/gameshots/pic7.jpg

There you go, an ingame shot.

Think that's a chick? Nope, it's a very, very, very, very effeminate, gay male.

Nekofrog, you really should shut up when you have no idea what you're talking about. You shouldn't base your opinion on some promo pictures. Yeah, Vaan does look girlish/gay in those, but in-game is all different. Vaan just fits in the world he's in. Ivalice is a warm place, so why in hell should they be running around in tight leather jackets (I mean, that's as gay as it gets)?

There's no posing in the game, you can hardly see any bellybuttons.

YOU must be gay if that's the only thing you can think about while watching/playing the game.

"But that's just what Square's intended audience (girls) want right now."

Reminds me of the reason Hideo Kojima's team created Raiden for MGS2. (Watch the Pre-Order DVD, you'll understand)

That's cool.

If you enjoy looking at super-greased up guys who love to show off their bellybutton and their abs with a vest on but no shirt, in poses that only girls in porn would strike, you go right ahead.

You're just a little gay, is all.

I don't have a single problem figuring out who's male and who's female. You guys are just so cynical about everything that any sort of "pretty guy" becomes OMG METRO.

The games set in the future or modern day had androgenous male characters, too. And a large chunk of gamers will argue that the best FF game was based in the fantasy realm. You seem to be arguing that they should replace one cliched setting with another.

Nekofrog strikes again!

I will totally admit though you have a good point. The demographic of people buying the game is big enough for Square to make a profit regardless of what the game is up against.

November? where did you get that?I think SquEnix is a little smarter than that. If they wanted a game to do well, especially one that is kinda under the gun for its recent score in Famitsu, there gonna wanna give it all the space it needs so its sales arent affected by other big name games or the release of a consoles.

it'll be on the next one it was just released.

To nambit:

Particularyl when games like Brain Training and Animal Crossing should be really cheap to knock out.

Is anyone paying attention to what's going on up there? Take out Children of Mana and add up the totals of the games on that chart that belongs to the DS. See the final number? 7,092,245 (I hope I got that right). That's only 5 games, and *ALL* are made by Nintendo!! This isn't just a royalty going to nintendo, they get all the $Profits. That's a huge chunk of money, especially since it's cheap as hell to make games on the DS. People just don't understand that nintendo knows what they are doing when they focus more on their software. Don't even think about adding nintendogs, pokemon, and some others to that figure if you value your health. Heck, wait until Tetris and the New Super Mario... whoah! Cha-Ching!!!!!

Software is where it's at folks!

final fantasy is going to get animal crossing's sales in one week

It's incredible to see Animal Crossing go back to the top spot again. Four months later and the game is still doing really well for the Nintendo DS; it's great to see titles with longevity. On the Sony PSP side, it looks like Monster Hunter is that handheld's best bet at longterm software success.
Paul Gale

This must be one of the first times PSP has two titles in the top 10.