You Gotta (Not) Love the Double Standard

The Final Fantasy franchise is certainly known for some “offbeat” character outfits. Between the excessive ornamental decoration and strange mishmashes of different styles and themes, fans have come to expect unique interpretations of style in every new edition. After years of some visually stunning and detailed but occasionally odd clothing choices, including the slight mess that was Lightning Returns‘ array of dress-spheres, you would think that fans would be fairly used to some outside-the-norm character designs. But according to Yoshinori Kitase, the producer on the upcoming Final Fantasy mobile game Mobius Final Fantasy, the original design for the game’s male hero may have been a little too shocking and surprising for some.

Since images of the male playable character, Wal, were first released back in December 2014, Square Enix has apparently received negative feedback regarding the design (presumably primarily from their Japanese audience, as there are no current plans to release Mobius Final Fantasy in the Western hemisphere). Square Enix reported that they received complaints that Wal’s original outfit (pictured above and below), which showed a bare chest and a tad bit of side butt among other things, was “too sexy,” too scantily clad, and showed just too much skin. So, in response to this negative reaction online, the original design was scrapped and replaced with a more conservative design. Kitase had the following to say regarding the change:

“For this game, we’re moving forward during development and letting it evolve while taking into consideration users’ opinions, so I asked the character designer to make a change.”

I’m not going to argue that Wal’s original design was exactly battle appropriate. It doesn’t seem like a good idea for anyone to show any significant portion of skin out on the battlefield. But as we examine some of the outfits and armors that Final Fantasy’s leading ladies have donned in the franchise’s many years of existence, Wal’s outfit seems rather tame in comparison. One only needs to look back at Lightning or Serah’s wardrobe choices in Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy XIII-2 to see an example of this. Although not all clothing options were like this, some were basically little more than bikinis. Plenty of Final Fantasy fans complained about the decision to not only objectify Lightning with these outfits but to deliberately adjust her character model to add more sex appeal, myself included. But despite these vocal concerns, nothing was changed and no official comment was made to address these players’ concerns. And again this familiar cycle seems to be repeating itself, as many have raised concerns over the unnecessary over-sexualization of new female Cid from the upcoming Final Fantasy XV without any response thus far from Square Enix.

So why was Wal’s outfit quickly scrapped and redesigned after negative feedback while the same concerns raised over Final Fanasy’s heroines have gone largely unaddressed? Well, the answer probably lies in the fact that sexualization of a male character in video games is such a rarity. It’s likely that the producers and designers grew concerned after receiving this negative feedback that the possible over-sexualization of a male character would be too uncomfortable for male players to handle. In fact, though most of these discussions were probably conducted over Japanese social media, I’ve only seen male players express their concerns over Wal’s design. That’s not to say that female players couldn’t also think that the outfit was too sexy, but even that is likely the result of the same social convention making the male players uncomfortable. It’s normal for female characters to be portrayed as objects of sexual desire and for their outfits to reflect such roles – so common that most may not even bat an eye at it. But when a male character is portrayed in a similar way, it may create internal dissonance and calls into question ideals of male sexuality and gender roles. If you look at the pictures of Wal, not only does his costume reflect something a female character might wear, but he’s posed in a way that is very reminiscent of the way female characters are often posed: back arched and bearing chest, lips parted in a pout, backside highlighted. It’s uncomfortable because these are usually the kind of sexually compromising positions only female characters are placed in. This is an issue solely because a male character was being treated like a female one.

If Square Enix wants to continue to address, listen to, and incorporate player feedback, criticism, and concerns during the developmental process of their games, they cannot be selective about who they listen to and what feedback they incorporate. I love Final Fantasy and have a soft spot for their character design choices (for the most part), but, like many other games, I wish we could get the same sort of response from Final Fantasy’s producers over the tendency to create outfits for their female characters that do little more than objectify.