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Shuck · **06-24-2013, 08:37 PM**

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: I really hoped that this topic wouldn't show up in, of all places, a Final Fantasy community. One of the reasons why I'm into Final Fantasy is to get away with the obsessive fascination the world currently has with grittiness and dystopian mindsets.

Wait, why?

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: I have a pretty character. Big whoop. Mostly it has to do with his heritage, and the fact that he's lavish, and has not been through much physical activity in his life up to this point.

My thoughts exactly: Big whoop. I'm not entirely sure why you feel the need to defend yourself.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: I assume that kind of bishonen prettiness is more accepted here in a franchise that is Japanese and includes the cultural practices of romantic bishonenism and vibrancy.

Woah, woah, woah. Hang on just a goddamned minute. Not everything Japanese has to do with beautiful lady-boys prancing about in pretty pretty clothing.

This is Japanese:

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This is also Japanese:

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What you're talking about is a particular subset of pop-culture that has a global market. It's not even uniquely Japanese these days. It's certainly not the only method in which vibrance can be conveyed in character design or personality, and to suggest otherwise would mean a willful ignorance of every. Single. Other. Kind. Of. Media. On. The. Planet. Which I don't think you're trying to display. I mean really, someone with a more realistic take on the circumstances their characters are enduring is excluded from having a character with any semblance of energy?

Expecting uniform acceptance of any personal taste in media anywhere is crazy. Also, why would you want that? Why wouldn't you want a bunch of differing opinions to hold discussions with?

Why would you want everyone to sit in a circle, and nod their heads in agreement as they took turns talking about shit they liked? That sounds like hell to me.

All that being said, I still don't really know why you're on the defensive.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: For me, it really has to do with preferences in taste and presentation. Console JRPG's, to me at least, have always been more romantic, idealistic, and vibrant then their western counterparts. Even if 'gritty' things happen in a 'harsh' environment, the elements of the presentation is the difference. Yes, Eorzea is a harsh world, and yes, it's a dirty world, but it's also a romantic and idealistic world.

Ok, now we finally, after a whole lot of "DON'T TREAD ON ME!!!!" where no one was treading on you, get to the meat of your point. Grand. Personal taste is personal taste. Me? I grew up on those same console JRPG's, and came away from it with a completely different take.

Basically: I like Fire Emblem. In Fire Emblem, your choices count for a whole hell of a lot, and nobody is promised a happy ending. In the blink of an eye, shit can go south, and you just kind of have to deal. I'm sure that if the technology was around at the time, the developers would've included scarring and weathering.

My character? He spent some time at sea. Salt does some shit to skin. He's been in a few scrapes. Those're gonna leave a mark, because magic isn't gonna fix absolutely everything. If it did, there'd be...y'know, nothing to struggle against. And no fear of death. Just have someone magic it away.

He's been poor, and hungry, and wounded, and sick, and a part of hard labor. Those are things that I don't think should be ignored. If no experience leaves a mark, there's no growth. There's no progress. There's a group of static, boring supermen who are always impeccably dressed, and want for nothing anywhere ever. Why should they bother with the scrabbling mortals in the streets? Nothing's ever gonna effect them.

On the italicized bit: Is it that way for everyone? I mean...really? It's idealistic and bright for the people living in the slums of Ul'Dah? The busted-up, drunken pirates in Limsa Lominsa? The exiled and hunted Wildlings in Gridania? At the same time that you seem to be claiming that you have your right to do whatever the hell you want (and you do, don't ever think otherwise), you're kind of attempting to shove your lense in front of the eyes of everyone else.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: It's Final Fantasy. There are differences in the presentation and actions and events and even dialogue itself. Just how there are differences between JRPG's and WRPG's in presentation.

Pin down the aesthetic that makes a "Final Fantasy" game. Qualify this statement.

Personally, I don't think you can. Everything about the franchise (I can't even call it a series) has shifted over and over again, that I would posit that it doesn't even have a flavor all it's own.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: For me, it fits my tastes. I have always been fascinated by romanticized worlds. For me, they provide a stronger sense of escapism then stories that try to keep to realism. Sure, it might sound ridiculous for someone grounded to Earth, but one has to realize that this game has different atheistic tastes then those hour-long HBO series.

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...Who's talking about Deadwood and Spartacus here? That shit's just as over-dramatic and romanticized as your preferences. They just throw a ton of consequence free sex and violence on the cake, where as you seem to want...I don't know. I don't really know what you're hammering at, other than "I like pretty, and no one can tell me not to."

I mean, no one's telling you not to. No one. At all. Not the original poster. Not anyone in this discussion. Not anyone anywhere. Frankly, I don't think anyone cares enough to tell you not to like pretty things, and commit to that indefensible position, so...y'know.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: I gravitate to these aesthetic tastes because I don't get it anywhere else. I don't get it on TV, I don't get it IRL, I don't get it in pop culture. I get it in anime, and I get it in JRPG's. It's just my thing. It's what I like. It's what I prefer. It's what suits me. People who are needing more grittiness here can find their grittiness and ugliness in every other kind of entertainment medium they could possibly think of, especially here in the States. Just leave me a corner where I can live in a world where the fantasy element is ramped up to the point of idealism. It's what I like.

Ok, and this just doesn't make sense. You don't get it anywhere, except for the places you get it?

And then the rest of it: Are you seriously pulling the "My way or get out" stance? Because that's insanely toxic and childish. The people who like grit and grime and dirt are just as welcome here as you are.

Is their existence bugging you? Are you incapable of sharing space? I choose to believe that you're better than that, but correct me if I'm wrong.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: And thank goodness there is a medium out there that suits what I prefer characters/plots/a world to be presented like.

There's a lot of those. Like...a ton. Most high-fantasy, to be honest.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: Final Fantasy and JRPG's in general have always been prettier. Always been more theatrical and poetic. I got the same kind of praise for making a pretty character in Star Wars during my time in TOR that people probably get here for making gritty characters in Final Fantasy. It's just something more different then expected, really.

Wait. They've always been prettier? FFVII was set in a corporate dystopia. One of the "heroes" was a heavy drinking, heavy smoking, greasemonkey airship mechanic who swore at, and fought with his wife on a daily basis.

Rewind a ways: FFVI starred Locke. Described directly as a "Trail-worn traveler". In a world that was slowly being ground under the warmachine that was the Empire, with even it's Espers enslaved to the will of churning, smoke-belching machinery. Then a nihilist wrecked the world.

Let's have a look outside the Final Fantasy series: Earthbound. I mean, I don't know that I have to say a ton about it, but things god decidedly un-pretty in that series. It got downright terrible, and fucking sad.

Valkyria Chronicles is about World War II. C'mon. Largo Potter has a face full of scars. There's overt racism. The Edelweiss looks ramshackle.

I could go on and on. Your preference doesn't define a medium. Let's not pretend it does.

(06-24-2013, 06:35 PM)Ryanti Wrote: This always ends up being brought up in one way to another when it comes to Eastern tastes.. 'Why the pretty?' 'Why the romantic' 'Why the-...'x'' ... honestly, sometimes it hurts my feelings because it makes me feel like the kind of imagination I have in my head and what worlds I prefer to sink myself into are frowned upon. Even in a place like this I see it's inescapable.

But please just understand that there are people out there that prefer it this way. Like I said before, it's a matter of preferences and artistic tastes. It's on 'the other side of the fence', and grittiness as a result of the harsh world is a statement made based on reasoning in the real world.. fantasy has nothing to do with the real world..

If people disagreeing with you on a matter of taste hurts your feelings, then...I don't even know, man. I can't wrap my head around why you would feel personally put upon because someone else, someone who hasn't even suggested that you're a bad person or whatever the hell it is you're picking up on, has said that they have a different preference than you.

I don't know what you're trying to escape. Is it people in general? Is it differing opinions? Why are you trying to escape that? Seriously, there wasn't even a hint of an attack in that original post, or...any of these posts, but you've taken it upon yourself to start firing shots anyway.

You like pretty things. We get it. You could've just as easily said "I like X, and Y is my reasoning", rather than framing yourself as the victim of an attack that never. Even. Took. Place. Nobody said that your way was wrong. Nobody said that you had to do it one way. You were asked for your thoughts on the matter. Just provide that!

You don't have to pretend you're being persecuted in order to join a discussion.

Just...enough with this. Enough.

[split] Pretty characters in a harsh world.

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes