So is final fantasy now a girls game? Is their main target audience, girls?

I was a huge final fantasy fan. The first one I played was FF6, which to me, was the best game I ever played. But it seems Square has changed their target audience based on the character designs, and story, which has caused me to hate FF games. It all seem to start during FF8. For instance:



1) FF13's main character is female. Now, I love FF6, and the female lead was awesome to me. But FF13's female character is just an angry b**** who likes punching men around. There's the whiny emo kid dude who's very femmy and weak for half of the game. And the stories are all overly emotion and cheesy. The only thing I liked about the game was the graphics. I didn't even finish it. Screw that game.



2) FF12. Vaan looks like a boyish chick, or a girlish, flaming gay/bi dude. On the front cover with his shirt off. Thats not the kind of FF character I am used to since 6 and 7 didn't have that kind of character. Clearly he's aimed at girls and gay dudes. And there are a few other male characters in the game like him. I'm not against girls, gays, and bi dudes, I just don't like that I am not part of FF's target audience anymore.



3) FFX2. That game was clearly aimed at chicks, and I hated the game. Boring and senseless to me.



4) FFX was actually pretty awesome. Sure, Titus was a whiner, but the story was solid (until the end, they messed that up, but had a cool idea). I didn't see much wrong with that game.



5) FF9. All I have to say is "KUJA". So the main villain is a femmy dude in drag. WTF.



6) FF8 Mainly a love story. Boring. Hated that game. FF6 had love story aspects, but it was done well and was not the main focus.



7) FF7, great game. A hard to follow story that didn't make a lot of sense at the first half of the game, but overall, nice game.



8) FF6, awesome. Perfect. I want more of that, but I will never get it, because FF is aimed at a different audience, And that audience is not me.



9) Watched my brother play FF4, etc, which FF6 is basically the matured version of those in many ways.



So, anyway, what are YOUR opinions of FF games now?So is final fantasy now a girls game? Is their main target audience, girls?
Well obviously if you were trying to market a game, would you try to exclude 50% of the population? Girls are now getting more into games than ever before, and I think they're trying to take advantage of that. They probably think most male FF fans will get the games anyway (which they do).So is final fantasy now a girls game? Is their main target audience, girls?
I have a question for you.Why do you want to know?So is final fantasy now a girls game? Is their main target audience, girls?
Funny, I always thought that all the games after Final Fantasy 7, maybe with an exception of 8 and 9, the franchise was even more aimed towards guys (given all the girls were busty, scantily clad and cleavage bound). Yuna looks like she walked out of Tomb Raider in FFX-2. In FF7, all you could focus on was Tifa's assets, and same with Lulu in FF10. Just an opinion =] True, most of the games since FFX-2 have a female main character. But I think guys tend to enjoy watching and playing a woman as a main character than playing as a man just because they're prettier to look at. =]
Well, here's my take on your list of reasons why FF has switched to a female audience -



1. The reason FF13's lead character was a female was because the main character artist, Tetsuya Nomura, was asked to design a female version of Cloud Strife, so as to "repeat the magic" that FF7 had with sales figures.



2. The reason Vaan looks like a flaming bishonen is because apparently that is considered "hot" in Japan, the games point of origin. There are many, MANY such references to japanese pop culture in the game, J-Pop inspired visuals/clothing, etc.



3. FFX2 was meant to be a cheesecake fan service game for the guys. The ability to use dress spheres, with an all female cast, should have been self-explanatory in this regard.



4. I agree with you on this.



5. See answer #2



6. To each his own



7. I agree with you



8. To be honest, the story for this game did not make a lot of sense. In my opinion, the dialogue was unconvincing, and the plot weak, and very similar to that of Star Wars. An "empire" is ruling maliciously over the land, a rebellion has sparked to save the common people, and at the center is a young protagonist with spectacular abilities whose heritage has high stakes in the story. Sound familiar?



9. FF4 was ahead of its time when it came out. I loved it.