Soragirl6

Birth by Sleep is (or should be) a pretty big deal for KH fans, since it's not really a "spinoff" or "sidestory", but rather a pretty important part of the series, effectively being "Kingdom Hearts Zero", and is going as far as introducing the third type of enemy (alongside Heartless and Nobodies, as there are three compononents of life in KH, hearts, bodies, and souls). 358/2 is probably just gonna be fanservice with some plot tacked on.

Suzaku

And...well, these games look like fun for the fans.

Wizard

And as long as I get to play as Jecht in Dissidia, I'm buying that game.

PSP is gonna have an awesome 2008. Definitely somethings to look out for.

Buttah

Ooh! Exodus! He'll probably be a tank character right?

Electroqueen

FFI - Warrior of Light / Golbez
FFII - Frioniel / Emperor Palamecia
FFIII - ??? / The Cloud of Darkness
FFIV - ??? / ???
FFV - ??? / Exdeath
FFVI - ??? / Kefka
FFVII - ??? / Sephiroth
FFVIII - Squall Leonhart / Ultimecia
FFIX - Zidane Tribal / Kuja
FFX - Tidus / Jecht

There was a huge Amano-illustrated poster of all the villains at Jump Festa (it was also at the Square-Enix Party 2007, I believe, but nobody got a shot of the FFIV villain). Tidus was in the most recent trailer at Jump Festa. The characters in the screenshots, from top to bottom, are Kuja, Frioniel, Frioniel & Palamecia, Palamecia, Squall, Squall & Ultimecia.

As for character genders, if you've been playing Japanese video games, or watching/reading anime or manga for a little while, it's pretty easy to tell who are the boys and who are the girls. It's incredibly rare that the male characters are more feminine than the female characters (see Ultimecia with her big breasts and cleavage), and the way male and female characters are portrayed are simply generally different.

Suzaku

Then again I don't really want ugly female characters either...

Ajh

The overly-muscly exaggerated characters just look stupid -- completely against the laws of physics/biology. Characters can be masculine and macho without physically-impossible muscles.

And I do object to the way women look in games; the giant bewbs are just as stupid as the giant muscles.

Evil Tortie's Mom

Well, I'm a woman and it's true for me. I want characters that are "pretty" for lack of a better word. They don't have to be girly, but I don't like muscle bound ugly characters. I don't think guys want ugly female characters, do they? I'd also say I don't even get the complaints since these characters (other then Kuja) don't even scream feminine to me.

Dissidia looks good. I'm glad to see more characters from other FF's. I'm not really a fan of VII at all, so anytime Square isn't hoing them out that's good to me.

Sugarbloodsuckers

@brainless: I'm trying to ignore the camera angle in favor of having my second favorite final fantasy villain on the head image for the article. (And no, Sephiroth is not the top favorite...Kefka is.)

Ajh

StratfordX

Hammertime

SpinAttack

I love me some Kingdom Hearts though :3 Liked KHII the best (even if it was a bit easier).

Mit

SSJPabs

Christoph

JimmyHACK

OT79

Suzaku

@TheCleaningGuy: The Kingdom Hearts games aren't shallow at all, and in fact, often get too deep for their own good. There are plenty of unknowns and things to theorize about, and most of the characters are fairly deep, especially with the inclusion of Nobodies and Heartless and affiliations to the Light, Dark, or Twilight.

Suzaku

the other shit about WW2 is hillariously pathetic

knoyd_mcbennet

Nomura is following Yoshitaka Amano's character designs almost to a T with Dissidia. Most people don't seem to realize that that was actually one of Nomura's jobs at SE before he became the character designer for FFVII; he was the guy that interpreted Amano's designs for the sprite artists and determined how they'd actually look in-game. He was the guy who gave Terra green hair, for example, and he also created and designed both Shadow and Setzer in FFVI, and also did work on monster designs (which is why he was asked to design Enuo for FFV Advance).

The reason for feminine looking male characters in Japanese games is because it's just what Japanese women generally find attractive in men. It's cultural. There's also the fact that there is generally less sexual dimorphism in Asian peoples, and full grown adult males have a tendancy to retain some of the androgyny that's usually present in childhood.

Suzaku

Maybe one day, if MS win the console war, SE will create a special FF for the Xbox ^^."

God, I wish I could move away from the US in live in Japan and just bask in the glow of Tokyo's inherent superiority.

It really is a damn shame they lost that war int he 40s, otherwise we could force all these stupid Americans to like Nomura's obviously perfect designs.

Lackshmana

Additionally, it is NOT "what they do." They PORT the 2D games frequently, but 3D remakes are something totally different.

It took them 16 years to remake Final Fantasy 3 and 4 respectively. And those were both remade for a handheld.

There isn't some long standing tradition of remaking Final Fantasy games.

Personally, I fully expect that one day it will happen, but not simply because a vocal minority on the internet insists that they have to.

Lackshmana

As for gameplay on Dissidia, I think the latest 1up preview covered it, if anyone's interested.

Saint Anima

Revenge_of_Nekojin

Coldbrand

DXY!

gitrooman

Detre

SNOW WHITE WORLD CONFIRMED!

For me this is bigger than Sonic in Brawl... even if everything else about this game is balls, I shall buy it simply for the SNOW WHITE WORLD!

MasterBalls

mossberg

Marked

TheCleaningGuy

I wonder, though, how much money/time Squeenix save by more-or-less reusing the KH character models for other games. ;)

Achenar

dissidia looks fun, but since the gameplay is so up in the air at this point, don't really know what to say. i'm a fan of brawling with memorable characters, though they all look like tranny's.

knoyd_mcbennet

Maybe one day, if MS win the console war, SE will create a special FF for the Xbox ^^.

Veltis

Dante18

suntorytime

remanance

Lackshmana

The reason for now FF7 remake has been pretty well articulated by Square Enix folks.

It would cost a lot of money to make the FF7 game people want them to make. And it would not help to grow the brand or expand the market.

They can pump out half assed side stories and the like which continue to sell VERY well despite low quality. Which from a business sense is a lot smarter than trying to fully recreate a previous game with a demand for high quality.

They are still making money off FF7 without having to invest a ton of cash in a full blown remake.

Lackshmana

brainless

For the record, I don't like GoW's character design (although the game itself kicks ass,) and I don't like the hyper abstract anime look (although kickass anime exists.)

I also don't like much of video game female character design, both Japanese and American, for the unrealistic body ratios, BUT I am not a feminist. Not even close.

Just because someone dislikes one extreme doesn't mean they automatically hold the other.

P.S. I know everyone says this, but why no Final Fantasy 7 remake? Does Square Enix hate money? It's not like Square Enix has any artistic qualms about remaking games. The word "exploiting franchises" comes to mind in regards to the Final Fantasy series in the last two years.

thenino85

finder39

interestingly (or not) there is a biological significance to the difference between the eastern and western 'hero' stereotypes. i am talking of the difference between superman's chiselled jaw and squall's smooth lines - according to scientific studies women are more likely to go for a one night stand with a 'virile looking' western hero type, but would choose the eastern 'androgenous' male as a life partener... this is due to the perception that the androgenous male is more caring and would be a better father for children whereas the chiseled hulk, while he is 'strong' and 'virile' he is a brute.
now i said women chose these males, but it is quite clearly something all people perceive, whether they know it or not...

so the reasoning, whether it is a conscious choice or just coincidence, behind japanese male heros looking affeminate is that people who look like that tend to be more caring, better fathers, and are thus more 'trustworthy' ... basically we probably will care more about them than marcus fenix (if that's his name).

comedy

suntorytime

Yukito

Yukito

@Dangeresque: I'm a large breast fan my self, And it's not that they are too big for her, it's just that they are a bit misshapened for someone with a cupsize that large.

Besides, they seem to get larger as the series goes on

huginn

Moonshadow101

Ryuzaki

Soriya

Dangeresque- Got temp banned and learned his lesson! (Crazy!)

Soriya

RRRansom

Birth by Sleep looks amazing and if it lives up to the previous entries will be nothing short of the best adventure game on the system.

And Dissidia...man, I've been waiting nearly a decade for Square to do a follow-up to Ehrgeiz. And here it is...the Final Fantasy ensemble fighter I've always wanted.

Star Ocean: First Departure and Second Evolution look excellent. This will most likely be my introduction into the series.

Great stuff all around and making 2008 (and possibly early 2009) look like another great year for the PSP.

Nightshift_Nurse

Please, KH2 was already a butchered version of the first. Don't make it even worse.

Ninja-Z

crim

Ruisu

SecondTomorrow

SSJPabs

cyhborg

I am still hoping to see Kain and Cecil in Dissidia, especially after IGN falsely claimed they were in it.

I like the way Ivy looks in SC 4. She has some meat on her, which I think is a lot more realistic than the typical anime-freak anatomy of skinny girls with huge boobs that so often occurs in the genre.

Yeah Americans are all about power armored soldiers and homophobic muscles... like you know..in all those...things? Wait, what?

Lackshmana

Seestoff

I know, eh?

The only thing I hear from the excess muscles are "'roids 'roids" and "I WAS CREATED BY A HUGE HOMOPHOBE DESIGNER"

ILOVEGAMES

And one can certainly see-more. O_o

Brackynews

Yeah, no kidding. They all look like they're from 80's rock bands.

ktun

Kyle81

Sailorcancer

@blackadvent: I know what you mean. Can we have some normal looking males soon :(

Albino

Wow, now I need to get a PSP.

Rebochan

Yin

Yin

Ajh

flukielukie

Seriously, the only reason I would want to get a PSP is so I could play a FIGHTING GAME where I could play as freakin' KUJA. That's just too awesome :0

Yin

BassForever

bass.exe21

KeroseneClimax

The Vampire Raziel

The Vampire Raziel

This is sweet, FFVII:CC, birth by sleep and dissidia all coming ou for the PSP

Cant wait :D

Fluffy22

KeroseneClimax

Rock-Byron

blackadvent

scruffy, the janitor