Now, what are the initial thoughts on this? I personally think that it could do with a little more going on in it. I mean, when you look back at some of the ones that have graced us before, you cannot help but think that this one seems a little bare. Personally though, it makes very little difference to me. It is a nice cover with a half-naked lady on the front of it. Make of it what you will.
Thoughts?
It's good graphics-wise.... but it does fall a little short of expectations. With a game that has the Final Fantasy name, it could be expected to have a beautiful cover art. Not that this is bad. Then again, part of this could be that I just don't like CG. I have often preferred the cartoonish look for games, with the one exception being the Zelda series where I disliked the cartoon link.
On the girl herself.... I'll wait until playing a friend's copy of the game before I totally unleash any bashing of her not living up to expectations, but if this is the leading lady of the game then she has a lot of these expectations to live up to. Just about every FF game's leading lady had a character who was just as interesting as how pretty she was. Let's go through all the leading ladies of the main series.
FF1 - White Mages.
They appeared female, although were never officially said to be. No one in this game had a backstory though.
FF2 - Maria.
For an 8 bit female graphic, she was good looking. Same can be said for Layla, a playable female in a smaller role. Both of them had good backstories (at the time).
FF3 - Refia.
In the DS version everyone was given updated graphics and backstories. Going by the original NES version though, none of the onion knights had genders or names yet, so disregard this one.
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Ok, here is where the trend began. From Final Fantasy 4 all the way until 12, the leading lady has been an attractive woman with a great backstory. The same can be often said for the supporting cast.
FF4 - Rosa.
She was gorgeous as far as 16 bit women on the SNES were concerned. Also, the backstory involving her growing up with Cecil and Kain, the love triangle, and everything that happens in the game.... amazing for its time, nothing short of amazing. The playable female supporting cast role, Rydia, was also an attractive woman with a good backstory.
FF5 - Reina.
While not the most developed member of the cast by the end (Faris), Reina still remained an interesting leading lady the whole game. Faris and Krile, were also great female characters. Krile, being one of the more attractive ones on the SNES. FF5 almost fell short of the trend, but continued it.
FF6 - Celes or Terra.
There is a never-ending debate on whether Celes or Terra is the leading lady, so I'll mention both at the same time. Both had fantastic backstories and (once again) both were attractive for the graphics at the time. There was also Relm in a supporting female role.
FF7 - Tifa.
Arguably the most popular (and hottest) playable female in video game history. Great backstory, an absolutely perfect look, and could put up a good fight too. Tifa went on to become the standard that many playable women have been compared to. Aeris set a standard as well, for the old-fashioned playable females who still need the hero to save them, and for certain other massive spoilers. Oh, and then there's Yuffie, she was cool too.
FF8 - Rinoa.
Although she had a tough act to follow (Tifa), Rinoa was one of the better leading ladies in the series. Like Tifa, she too was yet another beautiful woman with a good story. A similar argument can be made for the other main playable women here as well: Quistis and Selphie.
FF9 - Garnet.
She was like a mix of Rosa and Tifa. A pretty princess who was good at restorative magic, needed help from the hero a few times, but could hold her own in battle if she needed to. Although in terms of backstory and development, this is where the trend began to die down. Also, the playable females in supporting roles were not attractive in this one. Freya & Eiko.
FFX - Yuna.
Like Garnet, she was a bit of a mix of Rosa and Tifa. She needed help from the rest of the party often, but had powerful summons she could use. Although the trend continued in this game, she was yet another attractive woman with a good backstory. The other playable women included Lulu and Rikku. Lulu had some good development during the game and wasn't bad looking. Rikku, went on to become one of the most popular playable women since Tifa. Paine (in FFX-2) not so much, but she was mainly just overshadowed by Rikku and Yuna.
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Then the trend ends.
FFXI doesn't deserve mentioning, and I actually count FFX-2 as the 11th game in the series. FFXII, the graphics were a little too realistic to me and none of the women came off as the same type of attractive that the leading ladies from the rest of the series did, because I did not like the new graphics style as much)....
Then now we have this woman on the cover of FFXIII. I'm not going to bash her completely, what my point is, is that she has SO many expectations to live up to from us older fans that do not like the direction the series has been going in. Also, I don't much care for the style of graphics that is used, RPG's look better as cartoons than in CG.
I'll still give her game a chance, but I don't expect another "Tifa" or "Rosa". The biggest problem this game has is the expectations that hardcore fans want it to live up to.