Current Events > Final Fantasy XVI Developers: "Here's why there are no black people."

(+) Yeah! (+)

CyricZ posted...

I'm not sure I understand the argument of "FFXIV is diverse, therefore FFXVI doesn't have to be".

He made it clear that isolation is one of the key themes of the story and how it ties into the diverse setting that FFXIV has helped build will play a big part in the story.

If Yoshi-P wanted to say "there's a narrative reason that we don't want to spoil why everyone in this nation looks white", he should have said that and stopped there, and not tried to layer on "medieval Europe", "rooted in reality" baloney.

s0nicfan posted...

We could, but cyric wanted to shitpost today. But hey, since he takes issue with an ethnically homogeneous population in a magical fictional city based in reality that's been isolated from the rest of the world for an extended period of time for story reasons, maybe he can tell us how he's upset that Wakanda doesn't have more diversity.

i never really believed in the "virtue signaling weird dude who just doesn't know how else to get women to talk to him" strawman and thought it was just some chud bullshit until i encountered some people on this website

AirFresh posted...

How was his response a joke response?

Caring about maintaining "realism" based on historical misconceptions in a game with magic and monsters is nothing BUT a joke

AirFresh posted...

People love Final Fantasy XIV, to call it a mediocre WoW clone already shows that you're going to be disingenuous.

The game plays identically to WoW, one of the worst MMORPGs currently available. I don't care if people love it, it's an unimaginative derivative that anyone could have slapped together.

KhlavicLanguage posted...

can we examine how pressing our 2022 american standards for diversity onto a country that is 99.99% ethnically homogeneous might be problematic in itself or is that further down the terminally-online twitter reply chain

It's almost like a kind of colonialism, isn't it?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I hardly played either but ever since it came out how crummy Activision really is and a lot of WoW fans getting into FF14, I've heard pretty much universal praise from WoW fans and I have a lot of friends who were really into WoW and got SUPER into FFXIV. So from my frame of reference this is just outright a wrong statement and just outright dismissive.

Hmm, TIL "representation is the new colonialism".

In other news, seems to be a lot of excitement over an all-white FF.

Yeah using "realism" as an excuse here only works if there's absolutely no other fantastic elements in the game. We know this isn't the case, though.

I'm absolutely appalled at the people calling FFXIV a WoW clone.
I've played both extensively (raided in both as well).

The similarities are surface level and nothing more. To say they play "identically" is so beyond ignorant it's insane.

I won't say one is better that the other, they both do very very different things.

lolife67 posted...

Yeah using "realism" as an excuse here only works if there's absolutely no other fantastic elements in the game. We know this isn't the case, though.

That's a pretty dumb position to take.

played wow from vanilla-wotlk, and then legion-shadowlands

played ffxiv from its closed beta (before 1.0, not ARR) through shadowbringers

ffxiv went from being some kind of midway point between ffxi and popular hotbar mmos, to being a wow clone in the jump to ARR, and yoshida even talked about his aim to make it more like wow and western mmos

ffxiv might be prettier and have a semi-coherent story, but safety dance raid encounters, keyboard DDR rotations, and the core gameplay loop are all wow

Japan isn't as homogeneous as people think it is. There are Korean, Chinese, Filipino, and Indian populations there. There's even a Brazilian community iirc. Also the indigenous Ainu.

I don't blame people for thinking that tho since most of their exposure to Japan is anime and they certainly don't exist there. >_>

Magic and mythical creatures, but we can't have black people because apparently we don't exist in Europe?

Fucking Hell

CyricZ posted...

In other news, seems to be a lot of excitement over an all-white FF.

Name one post ITT going "OH YES! ALL WHITE FF!" bro reel it in a bit you're starting to combust for no reason now.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

A factor, sure. But WoW was still there.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

In your opinion. The expansions have all been universally well received.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Which is why I personally do not play the game because of how much nickle and diming there really is. Absolutely outrageous, just let me earn cool shit by playing the game like in every other RPG.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

That was probably for the best, though. The OG 14 has had to be one of the biggest disasters out there.

DeadBankerDream posted...

That's a pretty dumb position to take.

How so?

meestermj posted...

I'm absolutely appalled at the people calling FFXIV a WoW clone.

wait lol

i haven't been reading every post. thats really what people are saying?

yeah obviously FF14 and WoW are going to share a lot of common MMO gameplay mechanics.

but that's like saying Call of Duty is a Halo clone. uh???

Doesn't Golden Kamuy have an Ainu focus or am I thinking of something else?

Ivynn posted...

I don't blame people for thinking that tho since most of their exposure to Japan is anime and they certainly don't exist there. >_>

...which race is the one with green hair?

Ivynn posted...

Japan isn't as homogeneous as people think it is. There are Korean, Chinese, Filipino, and Indian populations there. There's even a Brazilian community iirc. Also the indigenous Ainu.

those groups amount to a rounding error and are sequestered off as second-class citizens. if you want the actual number per wikipedia, 97.8% of the country is japanese, and in the corporate world where this interview is taking place and where a large-budget video game is being designed that number easily goes up to 99.9%

CyricZ posted...

Hmm, TIL "representation is the new colonialism".

judging a completely homogeneous country by the standards of an unhinged reply-guy is at the very least a bad look

you do seem to feel awfully superior for prioritizing this issue in a way they haven't, dare i say burdened with that superiority

AmericaTheBrave posted...

Sounds like revisionist history. Before the Age of Exploration, the amount of non-whites in Medieval Europe didn't climb more than .1%.

Did you correct me saying there were non whites by saying there were non whites?

But anyway, I don't think there is necessarily an issue with having an isolationist/xenophobic land, just that you don't need to make incorrect claims about medieval Europe. Not that I blame him for thinking that, most people are under the same assumption due to the education system very much reinforcing that image.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


i thought everyone (retrospectively at least) liked legion
it was bfa everyone hated

A race of pedobait and bunny people is ok but nope no black people. That's too much diversity

Lol Final Fantasy XVI

technically no white people either going by anime standards it is all japanese people

The usual "woke" suspects on here trying to make an enemy of people who aren't even the enemy. This is what's wrong with the far left. You'll never be the progressives you claim to be.

AmericaTheBrave posted...

Sounds like revisionist history. Before the Age of Exploration, the amount of non-whites in Medieval Europe didn't climb more than .1%.

You're the one rewriting history. Europe wasn't stark white. Sure minorities weren't common but, they weren't rare. In big cities it'd be common to see. Did you know Rome had a Black emperor? Plenty of blacks existed in Rome. it was very common. But, i guess they all died off and Europe till now was just pure white.

VeggetaX posted...

The usual "woke" suspects on here trying to make an enemy of people who aren't even the enemy. This is what's wrong with the far left. You'll never be the progressives you claim to be.

You just copy and paste whatever your drooling masters say. You're pathetic. Can't even refute what we say. Just run off and cry. I'm better then you and always will be.

Being a black fan of anything non-street/music/sports/BET related is tough AF bro

Balnazarr posted...

You're the one rewriting history. Europe wasn't stark white. Sure minorities weren't common but, they weren't rare. In big cities it'd be common to see. Did you know Rome had a Black emperor? Plenty of blacks existed in Rome. it was very common. But, i guess they all died off and Europe till now was just pure white.

Yeah that .1% stat is completely false lol

Im Mexican or Native American or something. I just have to accept we'll never be part of any game that people are suppose to take serious. Just CoD and stuff. War zones don't see color in that way. Though, Im a goofy person myself, so I like when we're put in stuff because we come off as the fun ethnicity.

Why do people forget the Moors? Even Shakespeare made Othello about a Moor. To say there werent black knights in Europe is pretty ignorant.

But I have no problem with Yoshida's answer. Who the hell cares about POC representation in a video game anyways that has a multitude non human races like moogles anyways?

Lost_All_Senses posted...

Im Mexican or Native American or something. I just have to accept we'll never be part of any game that people are suppose to take serious. Just CoD and stuff. War zones don't see color in that way. Though, Im a goofy person myself, so I like when we're put in stuff because we come off as the fun ethnicity.

don't worry these fake progressives will be fighting for your right to be in video games soon

ManaYuka posted...

Why do people forget the Moors? Even Shakespeare made Othello about a Moor. To say there werent black knights in Europe is pretty ignorant.

That's Spain, while the FF16 guys seems to be thinking Svalbard.

Just make it so from now on everyone can only be a dragon or a cat person or a robot or something definitively non-human in every game ever. There. Problem solved.

ManaYuka posted...

Who the hell cares about POC representation in a video game anyways that has a multitude non human races like moogles anyways?

Presumably POC.

mario2000 posted...

Just make it so from now on everyone can only be a dragon or a cat person or a robot or something definitively non-human in every game ever.

let me show you down the "coded" rabbit-hole...

VeggetaX posted...

don't worry these fake progressives will be fighting for your right to be in video games soon

Yaaay. Can't wait for our brown square on instagram that pushes all real conversations out of people's sight.

Its grounded in reality guys, thats why we cant have black people in the game. Now look as my character casts a magic spell that fires down an explosive rain of meteors at my opponent a few away from me.

VeggetaX posted...

The usual "woke" suspects on here trying to make an enemy of people who aren't even the enemy. This is what's wrong with the far left. You'll never be the progressives you claim to be.

Far Left? Far left is progressives. We care about economic equality and give social concerns little attention.

The Center left is the people your mad at, the neo-liberals. They give two shits about economic equality and only care about social equality. These are the woke people we both despise.

Yeah, that answer he gave is weak as hell and honestly is insulting, lol. To be real I just prefer the brutal truth with this one.......white (or "white looking" since its a fantasy world, =/...also there is a touch of ambiguity in there so gamers from countries like japan and china can also kinda' self-insert there and feel he could be a asian guy too ) guys like this dude:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/0/7/AARkkPAAD2Sn.jpg

Appeals to both the japanese who love playing as cool-looking white foreigners and also to the majority in north america, a key area where AAA budget games sell the most. Black people (or "black looking", fantasy world yadda' yadda') in a final fantasy game is going to be in the supporting role at most. Get a chocobo chick in the afro again and whatnot. This is one of those things where its uncomfortable to say out loud, but fuck it....I prefer to hear something like this compared to what we got.

To me the MC thing sucks just for the fact that it would be cool to "mix it up" from time to time with the MCs, but this mentality here:

Lost_All_Senses posted...

Im Mexican or Native American or something. I just have to accept we'll never be part of any game that people are suppose to take serious. Just CoD and stuff. Though, Im a goody person myself, so I like when we're put in stuff because we come off as the fun ethnicity.

This is where I am at also. Black peeps can be main characters in pewpew games, ol' army guys, criminal GTA guys or something like a prototype main character, but its still awhile yet before we can be cool jrpg main character guys, lol.

iPhone_7 posted...

Its grounded in reality guys, thats why we cant have black people in the game. Now look as my character casts a magic spell that fires down an explosive rain of meteors at my opponent a few away from me.

This is always such a weird argument. People still expect elements of realism in fantastical settings. Unless otherwise stated, people expect things like round planets, gravity, human body functions being the same, etc. Any of those can be different depending on how fantastical the setting is, but it usually requires an in-universe explanation as to why they're different. In this case, you can argue "monoethnicity isn't even realistic in this setting" depending on how literal you're being, but I'd take the statement of realism to be "we're looking to reflect a setting that was primarily monoethinc" rather than "you'd literally find zero people of other ethnicity there."

Oubliettes posted...

i thought everyone (retrospectively at least) liked legion
it was bfa everyone hated

Apparently a lot of people hated the mid/end game of legion. Though BFA really should be on the list of hated stuff, cause Legion was pretty good.

I bet they will still find a way to put Japanese/Asian characters in, though.

Nasty_Nitro posted...

Being a black fan of anything non-street/music/sports/BET related is tough AF bro

This. Shit's tough, especially with Japanese media.

Oh God, yeah the lack of Black hair gets irritating.

What a dumbass question to ask. They aren't obligated to fulfill your diversity quota for the sake of it.

Solar_Crimson posted...

This. s***'s tough, especially with Japanese media.

I've often wondered why we support it so much, particularly millennials? I guess growing up on anime when it really started taking off in the U.S.?