Do you find FF guys good-looking? Why (not)?

[Shademp]

I want to spoon with Wedge. Big spoon, little spoon, just all the spoonage.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I wonder if Biggs was less Bishi oriented due to him being designed by Ferrari rather than Nomura? Jessie doesn't quite fit the usual mold either, and Wedge is the sort of character you never see get such a big role in FF usually. Here's hoping the trend continues.

My gut instinct is that this is correct. While FF7R is a huge step forward in terms of characters looking real, it's... really a step backwards to Square's earlier days when it comes to character design diversity. FFVII was Nomura's first FF game where he designed how the bulk of the cast looks and you can kinda see where the main characters tend towards the same design ideas. Go one more game forward and there's already some more diversity in character design (compare Zell to... just about anyone in FFVII). Flash-forward to FFXIII and there a lot of character design diversity. FFXV finally adds in older characters to that mix!

FFXII and FFXIV don't have Nomura designing any of the main cast of characters and you can... kinda tell that just by looking at the Main Cast of those games as a group. They just don't look like Nomura's characters do even though they very much feel like "fantasy" characters.

I don't want to say there will be a lack of character design diversity in FF7R, but... given that the game is constrained to the OG in a lot of respects, I kinda think there will be. I'll honestly be looking for more diversity in... just about any other SE game than the FF7R series. There's a lot more freedom for character design when there's no one a character has to look "similar" to, which is... really the entire point of the Remake. It has to look similar to the OG (and the rest of the Compilation).

 

[Odysseus]

The main cast will look the same as they ever did, but the side characters have a lot of opportunities to be more out there. What do you think choco bill will look like? Or Ester, or that dick in the fedora with the black chocobo? Hell, what about DIO? I think the remake will have a colorful cast of characters yet.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Is it true the young people dress like this in Midgar, boy?

 

[Rydeen]

This makes me realize that I haven't really played any FFs after VIII, aside from IX.

I think most of the FFVIIR guys are very good looking. I do like men on the prettier side, but not enough to pass as women. Cloud is too pretty for me, for example. I like how a lot of the clean shaven characters actually have some stubble. Pores, small facial irregularities, and other things we regard as "imperfections" go a long way with character design in general. Human beings, especially men, don't look like dolls.

So I'm gonna be shallow and rate my perceived physical attractiveness of FFVIIR dudes.

Rufus (surprise)
Reeve
Tseng
Rude (I don't even like bald heads, but hot damn)
Barret

Spoiler

Zack

Reno
Biggs
Leslie
Cloud
Sephiroth
Wedge

If you do find them handsome, does it make you feel bad about your own appearance (e.g. ugly, unfit, unworthy, etc.)?

Not really. I feel pretty average regardless. Never liked the lower half of my face, though it's a little better now that I've had my teeth fixed. But I'm just gonna be old before I even know it like everyone else , so...

Do you enjoy playing a character who has muscles of steel but a baby face? (A dig at Cloud or Vaan, for instance.)

I've never been into the ripped look, personally. I don't really have a body preference, I'm just not into extreme forms (very muscled, very fat, very short, very tall).

 

[looneymoon]

The main cast will look the same as they ever did, but the side characters have a lot of opportunities to be more out there. What do you think choco bill will look like? Or Ester, or that dick in the fedora with the black chocobo? Hell, what about DIO? I think the remake will have a colorful cast of characters yet.

oblig

 

[ForceStealer]

This makes me realize that I haven't really played any FFs after VIII, aside from IX

So you haven't played any FFs after IX?

 

[Rydeen]

So you haven't played any FFs after IX?

Nope. Unless you count the first two hours of XIII.

 

[Torrie]

So many sound ideas and honest confessions! TLS, you're wonderful people. Seriously.

I wouldn't go comparing real people's appearance with video game characters though, that's just begging for self worth issues and lord knows I have enough of those.

Lord knows we all do -__-

I agree with what @looneymoon said about having an uncanny impression due to the amount of "photoshopping"; that's what I find myself thinking sometimes. The lack of nasolabial folds and eye bags may make the characters more beautiful but less believable. The older the characters, the more realistic they look though. @Obsidian Fire makes a good point about the boys being "boyish" rather than "feminine" - they are probably designed to be seen this way, but as far as the idea of "punching them in the face" is concerned, I took it directly from one of letsplayers called Mage Masher: he was hating on Vaan during the entire first chapter and even further

Cloud's got the best balance between rugged masculinity (his musculature, his fighting style, attitude, etc) with grace (his hair flow, eyes, face shape, complexion, etc)

Thanks for your unbiased opinion, @Prism, I especially appreciate your take on Cloud since he's the main character and is always in sight. I believe "grace" really sounds best when describing him and other guys with similar features. I kind of liked the way the devs attempted to add some wrinkles under his eyes, but they still don't look convincing enough to me. But on the other hand, Cloud was bathed in mako for 4 years, so we should forgive him for looking a little less human, haha.

So we haven't really figured out yet what exactly makes the characters attractive, but there are some suggestions:

I can't really pinpoint what makes them all so attractive to me, but if I had to pick something about all of them, I'd say its their eyes and (for most of them) their slim muscular build. They all seem to have perfectly toned physiques.

So the key factor is their body build, a perfect balance between being slim and muscular; their faces are symmetrical; most of them are painfully tall (especially for me being 158 cm and usually the shortest girl around); the eyes, for sure, play a huge role, and I guess it's them that make the characters less realistic, because the pupils look much bigger and the colours are unnatural (as if one is wearing coloured contact lenses). I feel it must somehow be connected with Japanese (or generally Asian) standards of male attractiveness, which I'm not aware of, so I should take a deeper look.

Also, as @Glaurung pointed out, each of them is a high-quality personality who acts upon their moral compass, which certainly adds to the amount of adoration they cause. I wonder if all of the above, if aimed at an average female player, is supposed to evoke the desire to procreate, or, if aimed at an average male player, should inspire them to improve their own appearance... basically, in order to evoke the same desire to procreate. I mean, it's only my assumption, because I'm on the ace/aro spectrum quite like @Obsidian Fire I guess, even though I'm still questioning my sexuality and honestly, I don't know, I haven't reached the limit of my introspection yet. Basically, my own attitude to the variety of FF appearances is similar to what @ForceStealer said: I sort of acknowledge they're good-looking, but perceive them as detached from real life and therefore I'm unable to develop a significant attraction other than aesthetic. I only have special feelings towards Zack which are partly aesthetic, partly platonic, not only because his appearance is extremely well designed, but also because some of his ideals and his duality with Cloud remind me of the relationship between me and my best friend, and oh god, my platonic love for her goes to the moon and back. By the way, @Ryvius, why did you put him in the spoiler? I don't get it

On a less serious note:

I just... don't feel like these characters are capable of emitting any sort of odour.

It reminds me of Briana White's playthrough of the Remake. Whenever Tifa "worked up a good sweat" or "would kill for a shower", she commented in the most sympathetic voice, "Stinky Tifa!" It made me giggle every single time.

 

[Fade]

I guess I didn't consider Barret because I always think of him as a doting father, so sexualizing him is weird.

I dunno, I think this line of thought is weirder! He's not your dad.

I guess by far the easiest answer to the question is this: there's a reason people refer to FF main characters as twinks. Like, they tick a lot of the same boxes as that genre of attractive men. Don't have to look too much further than that. You're clearly coming at this from something of a "SCIENCE!" standpoint, so I'd offer that twinks are basically idealised youth and everything that implies.

As for me, yeah, there's an FF guy or two I wouldn't kick out of bed, but others have already covered the flipside. These characters are even more "photoshopped" than your average Hollywood actor, who, generally, are already too perfect for me to find attractive. Chris Hemsworth in full Thor mode does about as much for me as Michelangelo's David.

But it sort of loops back around again when I say that, yeah, some of the FF guys are hot because they aren't traditional big manly men. I prefer my men somewhere in the middle of the feminine-masculine spectrum; average-built, dorky and maaaybe a little androgynous, but not the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race. It just so happens that the anime/video game Japanese beauty aesthetic seems to fall into that region, for whatever reason.

Out of every single character in FFVIIR, my boyfriend looks most like

Spoiler

that random-ass Avalanche collaborator in the Shinra building

So, y'know, take that as you will.

Also, as a massive gayer, I would just like to express how fucking done I am with fetish-based female character designs. Like, I get it: it's not for me. But it means I can take half of your cast about as seriously as I could take Cloud wearing a thong the whole game. I mean, that would be serious business, but not in the way the story intends, for sure.

Anyway, my conclusion is that FMV Tidus is hot af thank you.