In THIS thread, I defend androgynous RPG heroes.

[J is Justice]

Balthier was the leading man. He said so.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

You don't even have to have Vaan as the party leader. Once you meet up with everyone else, you can just leave Vaan to die.

My party was always Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I would have Basch be the person I control during the non-combat parts.

[acressl]

Jul 24, 2008 19:12:39 GMT -5 Koda, Master Crunchyroller said:

You don't even have to have Vaan as the party leader. Once you meet up with everyone else, you can just leave Vaan to die.

My party was always Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I would have Basch be the person I control during the non-combat parts.

True, however your party doesn't dictate who's yaking during the cut scenes. It's always made as though you're Vaan. He's not the focal point of the story, but you're him. You can be Fran, Basch and Ashe, but you're him.

[Bedlam LadyD]

Jul 24, 2008 19:12:39 GMT -5 Koda, Master Crunchyroller said:

You don't even have to have Vaan as the party leader. Once you meet up with everyone else, you can just leave Vaan to die.

My party was always Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I would have Basch be the person I control during the non-combat parts.

Very true. My favorite party was Fran, Basch, and Balthier.

Vaan was an odd-looking fellow though, and from the way the game was made, yes you look through his eyes, but that really could have been swapped for another's perespective. You could have completely omitted him from the game, and it wouldn't have mattered all that much. It could've been Penelo.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

While I really don't like the overly fey/feminine looking characters, I can accept them if they at least have a good personality (But they usually don't) and more to say than ".........." (And they usually don't)

[acressl]

Jul 24, 2008 19:21:06 GMT -5 Bedlam LadyD said:

Jul 24, 2008 19:12:39 GMT -5 Koda, Master Crunchyroller said:

You don't even have to have Vaan as the party leader. Once you meet up with everyone else, you can just leave Vaan to die.

My party was always Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I would have Basch be the person I control during the non-combat parts.

Very true. My favorite party was Fran, Basch, and Balthier.

Vaan was an odd-looking fellow though, and from the way the game was made, yes you look through his eyes, but that really could have been swapped for another's perespective. You could have completely omitted him from the game, and it wouldn't have mattered all that much. It could've been Penelo.

I think Vaan may just be there to meet the JRPG girly man quota. You're right, he is rather transparent.
Whiny? Check.
Wants To be Sky Pirate? Check.
Other? ...
Whether that's by design and they were trying at deep symbolism that whooshed over my head or not is beyond me. I'm actually trying to get into that game for the first time since immediately after it's release right now. I'm just now where you link up with Basch and are going to I believe Bhujerba.

[kitsunestar]

Jul 24, 2008 15:23:44 GMT -5 Ace Diamond said:

Nomura is the Rob Liefeld of Video Game Character design. Except he has a fetish for zippers rather than pouches and can actually draw feet.

Then why does everyone Nomura draws wear giant clown shoes?

[Ace Diamond]

Jul 24, 2008 20:34:54 GMT -5 @kitsunestar said:

Jul 24, 2008 15:23:44 GMT -5 Ace Diamond said:

Nomura is the Rob Liefeld of Video Game Character design. Except he has a fetish for zippers rather than pouches and can actually draw feet.

Then why does everyone Nomura draws wear giant clown shoes?

Ok you have a point but it's still better than having the legs taper off into a vanishing point or hiding behind the landscape, i'll say that much.

[pks]

I still hold that the SOLDIER uniform pants+shoes are based off Piccolo.

[Ace Diamond]

Jul 24, 2008 20:39:56 GMT -5 pks said:

I still hold that the SOLDIER uniform pants+shoes are based off Piccolo.

The Black Materia is in Cloud's other pants pocket

Also it's inert.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

This is one of the reasons behind me liking the Suikoden series. It's men generally look like real men. I mean, look at Georg Prime


You cannot tell me that his gender is ambiguos.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Georg is the man. but he's also not the main character. the main character from Suikoden 5 looked kinda girly, especially in his main outfit. to be fair, though, while the Suikodenverse also relies on teenage boy heroes, they have the decency to make them look and act like boys.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

Jul 24, 2008 22:45:26 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

This is one of the reasons behind me liking the Suikoden series. It's men generally look like real men. I mean, look at Georg Prime


You cannot tell me that his gender is ambiguos.

While I too mark for Suikoden, it was confusing me FAR before Final Fantasy was.

I thought Gremio from part one was a chick for the longest time.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Jul 25, 2008 10:21:50 GMT -5 Johnny Danger (Godz) said:

Jul 24, 2008 22:45:26 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

This is one of the reasons behind me liking the Suikoden series. It's men generally look like real men. I mean, look at Georg Prime


You cannot tell me that his gender is ambiguos.

While I too mark for Suikoden, it was confusing me FAR before Final Fantasy was.

I thought Gremio from part one was a chick for the longest time.

Yeah, I had the same problem with Gremio. It's either a mannish looking chick or a girlish looking guy.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

yeah, the artist for Suikoden 1 kinda sucked. the way Gremio is drawn in Suikoden 2's sidequest clarifies things quite a bit.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Thankfully, It's impossible to mistake any of Suikoden 3's main characters based upon their gender. I mean, Geddoe is a real mans man (not in a way that makes me seem gay but in the way that the dude is freaking manly).