@people using ffx-2 and the ffxiii trilogy as arguments in favour of the all male party of ffxv: literally shut up
ffx-2 was fantastic in terms of gameplay, don’t get me wrong, but let’s not act as if it was any triumph for female representation in gaming. the main protags were taken out of character and hypersexualised. they starred in a game that had them magically undress and then redress into outfits that, for the most part, were not at all conducive to battle. on top of this we’ve got leblanc, a ridiculous villain who’s dressed like this and is entirely motivated by a man. it’s possibly the most sexist final fantasy game to date.
so the ffxiii trilogy had female leads. you know how many female leads the ff series had until its main thirteenth title? one. one female main character in thirteen main games. i can bet my ass that half of you didn’t even play ffxiii-2 or lightning returns and are just using it as something to complain about. anyway, lightning returns takes lightning and basically gives her the ffx-2 treatment. oversexualisation, a battle system that revolves around fanservicey costumes, the works. they upped her cup size and invested god knows how much in jiggle physics and passed it off as a design decision to show “how much lightning has matured.” ok.
your opinion on noctis & co. is your opinion. you can be disappointed, you can have the privilege to not care about it. but don’t act as if the female leads in ffx-2 and ffxiii excuse the decision to have an all male main cast in ffxv, or that square enix has had a great track record with female characters up to this point.
Please also remember guys that that one female lead was Terra Branford and her game was released in 1994. If you don’t count X-2 and XIII, please realize we haven’t had a female lead in a Final Fantasy game in about 21 years.
