Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Jul 24, 2008 12:56:51 GMT -5
(This is about visual stuff, not the character's personalities.)
So I was talking with a friend the other day about Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura (one of my favorite artists) and some of the standards in his work. He asks me, "Why do you think he doesn't come up with more Barrett-like heroes?", to which I replied, "I suppose he knows his audience well", and we had a laugh.
Yeah, I think the folks at Square and at other companies go out of their way to target younger, female gamers rather than the 18-34 male market when it comes to JRPGs. But that's not what's on my mind really- this is as to why the non-threatening looking avatar garners so much infamy among guys. A lot of folks will say, "well, it's a bit of a cliche, I think they're afraid to step outside of the box".
Know what? I don't think that's it.
To me, it seems more that guys (and occasionally the odd girl, don't get me wrong) who buy JRPGs want to be able to relate to the hero (or the cast) more, and a lot of the time it'd be easier for them to step in the shoes of a scruffier, less polished (or teen idol-like) main character- that's why so many people like FF7's Cid, as he looked fairly ordinary compared to the gorgeous (I'm comfortable enough to say that) Vincent Valentine.
Think about it- if it were entirely about "overkill", wouldn't you hear more discussions as to why the characters in FPSes are almost always the typical bad-ass space marine, or why there are so many cutesy funny animal types in platformers? In those genres you don't have the demographic-crossing sales that the RPG usually has, as it seems like people of all ages get into them.
Do I think it's a shame? Well, sorta. As far as appearance and mannerisms, I'm basically a typical guy, but I don't see the big deal about playing with a hero that doesn't look like me much.
Thus concludes my silly videogame rant. What do you guys think about my theory?
So I was talking with a friend the other day about Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura (one of my favorite artists) and some of the standards in his work. He asks me, "Why do you think he doesn't come up with more Barrett-like heroes?", to which I replied, "I suppose he knows his audience well", and we had a laugh.
Yeah, I think the folks at Square and at other companies go out of their way to target younger, female gamers rather than the 18-34 male market when it comes to JRPGs. But that's not what's on my mind really- this is as to why the non-threatening looking avatar garners so much infamy among guys. A lot of folks will say, "well, it's a bit of a cliche, I think they're afraid to step outside of the box".
Know what? I don't think that's it.
To me, it seems more that guys (and occasionally the odd girl, don't get me wrong) who buy JRPGs want to be able to relate to the hero (or the cast) more, and a lot of the time it'd be easier for them to step in the shoes of a scruffier, less polished (or teen idol-like) main character- that's why so many people like FF7's Cid, as he looked fairly ordinary compared to the gorgeous (I'm comfortable enough to say that) Vincent Valentine.
Think about it- if it were entirely about "overkill", wouldn't you hear more discussions as to why the characters in FPSes are almost always the typical bad-ass space marine, or why there are so many cutesy funny animal types in platformers? In those genres you don't have the demographic-crossing sales that the RPG usually has, as it seems like people of all ages get into them.
Do I think it's a shame? Well, sorta. As far as appearance and mannerisms, I'm basically a typical guy, but I don't see the big deal about playing with a hero that doesn't look like me much.
Thus concludes my silly videogame rant. What do you guys think about my theory?