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[Gaming] Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions playthrough notes, sexism discussion
So.
I'mavoiding my thesis playing FFT: War of the Lions. I got the PSP on a whim, on a day when I was feeling bouyed by a nice soft cushion of cash in the bank, back before the whole damn economy gave up the ghost. I originally got the thing together with Patapon-- by the way, EVERYONE needs to watch the trailer for that game. (Joystiq also has a preview/review.) It's one of the most original things I've seen in years, such that I doubt even Yahtzee would have much to complain about regarding the innovative concept and gameplay (though I'm sure he'd find something to complain about, and as long as I can listen to him doing it in that dead-sexy accent, that is fine by me).
Uh. Anyway. I got distracted and had schoolwork and the PSP sat lonely and unloved.
Then I recently picked up Tactics: War of the Lions.
This game has a strange fascination with Delita's ass.
Seriously, that is basically half of the opening cutscene. Not that I mind.
In fact, the cutscenes are just plain gorgeous -- I'm glad that the remake departed from trying to make FMVs more and more realistic, with ever-exponentially-increasing strands of hair and particle effects. Instead, we get an interesting cel-shaded style with copious cross-hatching and textures:
[ source: Final Fantsy Wikia ]
There's also some great use of landscape and lighting and mood and it's just-- yeah:
[ source: Final Fantsy Wikia ]
It gives it all a nice handmade look. Although, I wonder, looking at some of the animations, I thought maybe this was not true hand-animation but cel-shaded 3D models. I've not seen any source actually going into how the cutscenes were made, but the shape consistency and... just the general feel of the animation, it made me suspect at points that 3D models were used, with basic cel-shading and outlining, and then textured over like woah. Does anyone actually know for sure?
That aside, I do have some gripes about the cutscene style. For one, sometimes they go KIND OF OVERBOARD with the texturing, giving it an unpleasant artificial Photoshopped feeling... here's a shot of that same gorgeous sunset scene again, except it looks like someone dragged it over sandpaper:
[ source: Eurogamer ]
That, I think, is just... poorly done, since at other times the use of texture is subtle and effective, as in the first two screens up there. My other gripe is... purely stylistic, as far as I can tell, but boy howdy does it get me every time!
THE EYES:
[ source: games.net ]
It's-- it's the pointy pupils. I think that's the problem. God, I just! Wow >.>
Incidentally, that shot also has a bit of gratuitous over-texturing going on. But that's really one of the most in-your-face eye shots -- usually they're a little less obtrusive:
[ source: Eurogamer ]
But hey, this is a game, not a movie, so. Gameplay.
Addictive. Completely.
I'm digging the job system like crazy, and the battle system is pretty smooth and way fun. The constant requests for confirmation of EVERY SINGLE THING are a little annoying, especially after you get used to them and just start mashing the X button -- yeah yeah, okay, I got it, cast the damn spell -- and accidentally approve something else. But for the most part, the battles -- the heart of the gameplay -- are fun and addictive and well-balanced.
So here's what I really want to talk about.
The wimmins.
Squenix kind of has a known problem with this whole gender thing.
I was somewhat encouraged when I was first nosing around the job system, since that part of the game seems largely egalitarian -- any gender can be equally kickass at any class.
Except... dancers and bards. Yeah. Only girls can be dancers, and only boys can be bards. Amid the beautifully gender-neutral background of the rest of the job classes, that one kind of stands out. Thanks, Squenix.
I was also encouraged when I was introduced to several kickass female knights right near the beginning of the game: Agrias, pictured in the first screenshot above, and Milleuda. Agrias is a Paladin (here, Holy Knight), which is kind of the default class Squenix shunts girls into when it has some kind of spasm of realization that "girl" and "mage" are not the same thing (see: Celes kinda, Beatrix for sure, Ashe as far as FFXII has classes). Milleuda, however, seems a true knight. Awesome.
And then she dies.
Well, okay. A lot of people die in the first chapter, right?
Okay. So. Tietra. She dies, too. She gets kidnapped, does the classic damsel in distress number, and dies so that Delita can get himself some character development. What. What.
Actually, there's TWO damsels in distress so far -- Tietra and Ovelia.
Now, to be fair, some old marquis also gets kidnapped (but doesn't die) and a couple of male Corpse Brigade leaders also kick the bucket. So for the boys we've also got a kidnapping and two deaths (without the overlap in the girls' case). But here is where a lot of people, including Squenix, get it wrong.
Guys, you can't just kill the same number of women as men, or black people as white people, or gay people as straight people in your canons and in so doing avoid being a twat. The ratios are important. When there are all of four girls so far, one of whom has about three lines, another who dies, and a third who gets kidnapped and dies, you are talking about killing HALF YOUR FEMALE CHARACTERS. Now, if you more to start with... what a strange and revolutionary idea >.>
This is a disconnect I've seen several times in discussions of race and gender in entertainment. The grievously wronged party bleats that the colored/female/gay/etc characters are dying/having their powers negated/raped/kidnapped/etc at the same rate as the white characters! Look! The numbers are even! What's everyone yelling about?? The problem is in the percentages, guys, not the absolute totals of corpses. Try again.
The point is no to treat girls with kid gloves in canon or anything. That, too, is sexist. The point is: examine the playing field from the beginning. It's probably not level. Check your assumptions at the door.
I'm not even going to start on Tietra dying just so Delita could have a Holy Knight shit-fit over it. By the way, if it turns out she survives, don't tell me -- I want to see how they handle it.
And yes, I understand that Tietra's helplessness serves to showcase the way the lowborn are helpless and are used by the aristocracy. That is not an excuse, that's sexist storytelling. Try again.
Really, FFT is very hit-or-miss with the sexism. The job classes are gender neutral (+5) except for the bard (-1) and dancer (-3); there are a couple of cool girls so far (+4) and only one is a paladin, except the other one dies (-5), bumping the gender ration from 5:1 to 10:1 (-10). Two girls are kidnapped (-4) as well as one man (+2), except then one of the girls is killed (-5) so that one of the male main characters had more motivation (-490390509).
All I gotta say, FFT, is that this is the sound of one hand clapping. You get half a round of applause for kind of getting the gender thing sort of right, and then fumbling the pass at the 5-yard line. A plus.
More random squee than anything else: so far I heart Mustadio. Also, he is a Bunansa! And if there is not REAMS of Ramza/Delita slash out there SOMEWHERE I will eat my keyboard. Speaking of which, feel free to rec any fics >.>
I'm
Uh. Anyway. I got distracted and had schoolwork and the PSP sat lonely and unloved.
Then I recently picked up Tactics: War of the Lions.
This game has a strange fascination with Delita's ass.
Seriously, that is basically half of the opening cutscene. Not that I mind.
In fact, the cutscenes are just plain gorgeous -- I'm glad that the remake departed from trying to make FMVs more and more realistic, with ever-exponentially-increasing strands of hair and particle effects. Instead, we get an interesting cel-shaded style with copious cross-hatching and textures:
[ source: Final Fantsy Wikia ]
There's also some great use of landscape and lighting and mood and it's just-- yeah:
[ source: Final Fantsy Wikia ]
It gives it all a nice handmade look. Although, I wonder, looking at some of the animations, I thought maybe this was not true hand-animation but cel-shaded 3D models. I've not seen any source actually going into how the cutscenes were made, but the shape consistency and... just the general feel of the animation, it made me suspect at points that 3D models were used, with basic cel-shading and outlining, and then textured over like woah. Does anyone actually know for sure?
That aside, I do have some gripes about the cutscene style. For one, sometimes they go KIND OF OVERBOARD with the texturing, giving it an unpleasant artificial Photoshopped feeling... here's a shot of that same gorgeous sunset scene again, except it looks like someone dragged it over sandpaper:
[ source: Eurogamer ]
That, I think, is just... poorly done, since at other times the use of texture is subtle and effective, as in the first two screens up there. My other gripe is... purely stylistic, as far as I can tell, but boy howdy does it get me every time!
THE EYES:
[ source: games.net ]
It's-- it's the pointy pupils. I think that's the problem. God, I just! Wow >.>
Incidentally, that shot also has a bit of gratuitous over-texturing going on. But that's really one of the most in-your-face eye shots -- usually they're a little less obtrusive:
[ source: Eurogamer ]
But hey, this is a game, not a movie, so. Gameplay.
Addictive. Completely.
I'm digging the job system like crazy, and the battle system is pretty smooth and way fun. The constant requests for confirmation of EVERY SINGLE THING are a little annoying, especially after you get used to them and just start mashing the X button -- yeah yeah, okay, I got it, cast the damn spell -- and accidentally approve something else. But for the most part, the battles -- the heart of the gameplay -- are fun and addictive and well-balanced.
So here's what I really want to talk about.
The wimmins.
Squenix kind of has a known problem with this whole gender thing.
I was somewhat encouraged when I was first nosing around the job system, since that part of the game seems largely egalitarian -- any gender can be equally kickass at any class.
Except... dancers and bards. Yeah. Only girls can be dancers, and only boys can be bards. Amid the beautifully gender-neutral background of the rest of the job classes, that one kind of stands out. Thanks, Squenix.
I was also encouraged when I was introduced to several kickass female knights right near the beginning of the game: Agrias, pictured in the first screenshot above, and Milleuda. Agrias is a Paladin (here, Holy Knight), which is kind of the default class Squenix shunts girls into when it has some kind of spasm of realization that "girl" and "mage" are not the same thing (see: Celes kinda, Beatrix for sure, Ashe as far as FFXII has classes). Milleuda, however, seems a true knight. Awesome.
And then she dies.
Well, okay. A lot of people die in the first chapter, right?
Okay. So. Tietra. She dies, too. She gets kidnapped, does the classic damsel in distress number, and dies so that Delita can get himself some character development. What. What.
Actually, there's TWO damsels in distress so far -- Tietra and Ovelia.
Now, to be fair, some old marquis also gets kidnapped (but doesn't die) and a couple of male Corpse Brigade leaders also kick the bucket. So for the boys we've also got a kidnapping and two deaths (without the overlap in the girls' case). But here is where a lot of people, including Squenix, get it wrong.
Guys, you can't just kill the same number of women as men, or black people as white people, or gay people as straight people in your canons and in so doing avoid being a twat. The ratios are important. When there are all of four girls so far, one of whom has about three lines, another who dies, and a third who gets kidnapped and dies, you are talking about killing HALF YOUR FEMALE CHARACTERS. Now, if you more to start with... what a strange and revolutionary idea >.>
This is a disconnect I've seen several times in discussions of race and gender in entertainment. The grievously wronged party bleats that the colored/female/gay/etc characters are dying/having their powers negated/raped/kidnapped/etc at the same rate as the white characters! Look! The numbers are even! What's everyone yelling about?? The problem is in the percentages, guys, not the absolute totals of corpses. Try again.
The point is no to treat girls with kid gloves in canon or anything. That, too, is sexist. The point is: examine the playing field from the beginning. It's probably not level. Check your assumptions at the door.
I'm not even going to start on Tietra dying just so Delita could have a Holy Knight shit-fit over it. By the way, if it turns out she survives, don't tell me -- I want to see how they handle it.
And yes, I understand that Tietra's helplessness serves to showcase the way the lowborn are helpless and are used by the aristocracy. That is not an excuse, that's sexist storytelling. Try again.
Really, FFT is very hit-or-miss with the sexism. The job classes are gender neutral (+5) except for the bard (-1) and dancer (-3); there are a couple of cool girls so far (+4) and only one is a paladin, except the other one dies (-5), bumping the gender ration from 5:1 to 10:1 (-10). Two girls are kidnapped (-4) as well as one man (+2), except then one of the girls is killed (-5) so that one of the male main characters had more motivation (-490390509).
All I gotta say, FFT, is that this is the sound of one hand clapping. You get half a round of applause for kind of getting the gender thing sort of right, and then fumbling the pass at the 5-yard line. A plus.
More random squee than anything else: so far I heart Mustadio. Also, he is a Bunansa! And if there is not REAMS of Ramza/Delita slash out there SOMEWHERE I will eat my keyboard. Speaking of which, feel free to rec any fics >.>
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Dude, which one of us dropped the e-mail ball? Was it me? I wander away sometimes! But I have missed them emails!
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I-- I don't know, at this point! I'm pretty sure I sent the last one, but I really can't recall! Let's rev those babies up again, because I miss 'em, too!
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BUT THE REAL POINT OF MY POST IS THIS: back when I was in the FFT fandom like.... eight million years ago (by which I mean, like, 2002/3), there was virtually NO Ramza/Delita slash. I, uh, er, must admit that the reason I was most excited about the re-make/re-release was that I was hoping that maybe the game would get a larger fandom and then everyone would write my EPIC HERETICAL TRAGEDY OTP, but I haven't ever bothered to check so I couldn't tell you how that turned out.
However, Someone wrote me slash Ramza/Delita for FF_Exchange... (http://community.livejournal.com/ff_exchange/6458.html#cutid1).
Also, This fic is pretty gay to. And beautiful. (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1221715/1/Deaths_Children)
IF YOU FIND ANY PRETTY FFT GAY I WOULD BE LIKE THIS: ♥
Also, I was totally Writing an FFT musical (http://community.livejournal.com/broken_zodiac/3366.html#cutid1) years ago (I still work on it from time to time; I've got way more written than what's posted there actually) if you're really digging the game and if that kind of thing appeals to you. XD
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Okay! The post!
Disclaimer #1: I've only just started the second chapter, so I of course don't yet have complete data. I'm planning to do a couple posts as I play to get down my developing impressions.
Disclaimer #2! If FFT were doing it ALL WRONG EVER I wouldn't bother to keep playing. Actually, I might not bother to write about it much, either -- I usually don't find complete failures interesting to talk about. Rather, I like taking works that I think are good, really, and picking at their flaws. One such is The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which
Anyway, uh. So, no, I don't think FFT is made of complete fail when it comes to the female characters. I still think Tietra was a bit of a bad call -- there are ways to make the same point that are not so... trite, I guess -- but I'm quite enjoying Agrias. And actually, for all her brief time, I LOVED Milleuda, and was very sad to see her die.
I've not yet given Ovelia a chance to develop; so far she has spent 100% of her time being variously kidnapped or coddled, so she's not really been given much room to grow... yet. What glimpses of her character I could see so far seem to indicate strength and intelligence -- I especially remember her conversation with Agrias shortly before they get to Cardinal Delacroix, that Ramza overhears.
Also, Squenix has been improving on this front, that's certain -- I have to keep in mind that FFT is actually pretty old, so I should take it with something like the same grain of salt as I did FFIV, which had its own gender issues.
Anyway, thanks for giving me a good positive outlook for the rest of the game, and for your point about the medieval tropes -- as far as those go, yes, FFT isn't really doing too badly!
And is there seriously not that much Ramza/Delita? It seems like a pairing that would be an obvious (slash) fandom hit! I think for sure I'll be drawing some, and probably also writing. I. I think I really like them. And yes, I'll definitely drop you a line if I find anything good myself!
Oh and PEE ESS you mentioned FFEX! We mods are still totally working on it, getting rid of the tl;dr, tagging the previous round, and in general getting our stuff together for another go. Hope to see you there again!
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You get more totally awesome female character later, but I agree with previous commenter *waves vaguely* that the medieval theme they were going for constrains their gender roles rather significantly.
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I'd been assiduously avoiding learning anything about the job system online, so I could cradle the joy of discovery close to my heart, so I didn't know anything about any of the jobs outside of what the game booklet says. (I try to do this with every game I play; do it once all on me onesey and then play it again with a guide later to make sure I get all the nooks and crannies.) Although in this case I might well have never gotten to the dancer or bard classes on my own, as I tend to cannibalize each job for its most awesome skills and then hopscotch to another one. My parties are, uh. Rather eclectic. (I am assuming that by "master" you mean "learn all the skills".)
So! In this case it is my self-imposed ignorance coming to bite me in the butt. Awesome. I'm very encouraged by this news, though. I'm surely enjoying FFT quite a bit so far, it's so terrifically hands-on. Micro-manage-y, or something. Also, the story is picking up, and Ovelia is continuing to not be a wilting flower, just a constantly captured one. My hopes are high!
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I count this as a plus towards FFT, really, that I want to play with it and figure out all the mechanics on my own, because it's fun. If that was tedious, I'd just look it up and have done with it. =)
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With FFT, I'm levelling a bit also, but that's largely because I've got a biggish party and I'm trying to keep everyone at more or less the same level and still be able to survive the story fights. But really, I'm digging the gameplay itself this time, so I'm trying to enjoy it to its fullest extent =)