Up until now, all we have heard or seen about Final Fantasy XV’s party was that it was filled with dudes. That, however, might change, Square Enix says. It’s possible a female character could join the game’s four-character, all-male party as a guest.
In a recent interview with Weekly Famitsu, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata once again addressed the issue. Here’s how the exchanged played out:
Famitsu: A lot of comments from people who wanted a female party member seemed to stand out.
Tabata: It is possible that a female character may join the party as a guest. Because it’s four guys travelling together, it may be an interesting point to see how these youths react to a woman when she is in the party as a guest. (laughs)
This comes after Tabata told Gamespot that an “all-male party almost feels more approachable for players.” Continuing, he added, “Even the presence of one female in the group will change their behaviour, so that they will act differently. So to give the most natural feeling, to make them feel sincere and honest, having them all the same gender made sense in that way.”
This isn’t the first time this issue has come up. Back in 2014, some players seemed unhappy about the game’s male cast. (Though, in Japan, some pointed out that the all-male party might appeal to certain female players.)
Square Enix has a long history of making strong female characters, so as inelegant as Tabata’s comments might seem, I’m willing to give the developers the benefit of the doubt. Those same strong female characters might also be why this keeps being brought up.
Toshi Nakamura contributed to this report.
Comments
13 responses to “A Woman Might Join Final Fantasy XV’s Party (Temporarily)”
YOKO!
She will ruin the bro.
The comparison just begs to be made.
If this game has a band/musical section like Persona 4, it will be complete!
Adding a female character to the party at this stage will be met with the same BS ‘outrage’ as not including one. SE is walking into the no win situation with the outspoken lunatic fringe.
Don’t add a female into the party: “Where’s a female character? Think of diversity/equality”
Add a female to the party: “Oh look at the token female they added”
I know I’m being ‘too simplistic’ and probably using the extremes of the situation, but it doesn’t make it any less true. If you don’t conform to the Twitter/Tumblr outrage mob, they complain till you do conform. If you’re already conforming, then the same mob will be outraged that you’re not doing enough.
I miss the days where video games were allowed to tell the stories the WRITERS wanted to tell, not what the outraged checklist crew demands people should see.
I’m currently trying to contact Leonardo Da Vinci to put a bloke in the Mona Lisa…. He hasn’t as yet returned my call.
So, I’m going to start a petition for The Louvre to rectify this abomination itself.
Any transgender, ethnic minority or Eskimo can happily join my campaign because I’m just that DAMN PROGRESSIVE YO!
FF is the same series that had that all female game (FFX-2) so I personally don’t see anything wrong with an all male game.
As long as the game’s fun, y’know?
Bingo! Games are fun, I love video games! Great attitude dude, up votes for you!
You mean the game where the girls were nothing but walking eye-candy?
Exactly. Or Lightning Returns which was also ace.
The rage is mostly about their comments that you can only relate to male characters.
I don’t recall anybody throwing a hissy fit about Lightning Returns, where the sole playable character was female. Why? Because the story worked and was designed for that particular character in mind.
We should stop calling creative decisions ‘issues’ like this article keeps stressing.
If having a female character in the party, even briefly, happens in a way that furthers the story and develops the characters then go for it. If it is being put in to pander to the masses frothing at the mouth over equality in games then don’t cave. Don’t butcher a story by shoehorning in a character just to be politically correct. The party consists of Noctis’ three closest friends (and probably official advisors from the capital in his role as prince) It is logical to believe they would all be male. I could see the girl he is pining for joining the party. I could, at a stretch, see Sydney the engineer joining and I could see some as yet unrevealed outside party, the mysterious NPC that shows up to perform some task joining the party too.
Yep – no issues with an all male party seeing as that would ACTUALLY be a first for myself in a Final Fantasy – Ever… LITERALLY EVER Its always been 2males 1female OR 1male 2 females party unless the story requires so and that’s because they were the best characters to choose from statistically and personality wise – The issue only arose when it was a topic in the media about other games – go back as little as 5 years and no one would have said anything.