Support NeoGAF

[CrimsonCrescendo]

Well... I guess it's deserved? I mean she's one of the few AAA female leads in a videogame in recent years so it's also easy for her to be more recognizable than other minor characters. I might also add that she's the second most famous character in the series after Cloud so that's quite an achievement in itself. She's famous because the campaign marketing for XIII and her was simply perfect. Then they just went on putting her everywhere as they did for Cloud so of course that turned annoying for someone. It doesn't change the fact that for once a japanese company have been able to create a successfull worldwide "mascot" again after so many years of forgettable characters.

Like it or not, Lightning IS famous.

Define "successful worldwide". The games she stars in have plummeted in sales to the point where a 50 to 60 percent drop between games is to be expected. Whatever popularity she has does nothing to bolster sales, so for a company like SE, it's pretty much worthless. She has also never placed in a poll in the west. Many reviewers in the West lambaste her. Yes, she had some accolades in XIII, but as time has gone on, the criticism of her has gotten to be more and more. You don't see her mentioned when people talk about "mascots", at least not in my experience.

Famous or not, she doesn't have any traditional star power. Reviewers lambaste her, her games rapidly decline in sales, and she is most certainly not a mascot anywhere else but Japan (and even there I highly doubt it).

 

[hateradio]

my finest work

Spoiler

although if I had better PS skills would shop in the GAF website on to the PC screen

Just use the transform tool.

 

[Raitningz]

Just use the transform tool.

Lol this just keeps getting better

 

[Earthpainting]

My problem doesn't lie so much with Lightning herself, as the games she appears in and the state of the company she represents. I don't think Square Enix needs to be sent signals like these.

 

[daniels]

I still find it pretty amusing that sazh is the only decent character in the whole FF13 universe and the funny thing is if you look at the games i dont think squarenix intended him to be lol

 

[BishopLamont]

huh i thought Kagari loved lightning.

 

[Dark_castle]

Just use the transform tool.

 

[Raitningz]

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

beautiful stuff ;_;

 

[Sioen]

Final fantasy xv cancelled, new Lightning game in the works.

 

[mclem]

Who were the other options?

Lara Croft's Bow
Some Ramen from Yakuza
Suntory Orange from Yakuza

The Yakuza vote was split.

 

[Alastor]

she is truly #thesaviour

I actually don't like Lightning for a very personal reasons. Final Fantasy XIII killed my PS3 back in the day :\

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Oh god, we'll never get rid of her now

 

[jaxword]

They don't play video games all that much. It's not like they'd know that this is "normal".

At the same time, as a woman, I'm a little disappointed that this is "normal".

Normal what? How did the fictional weight of a character, a number that is genuinely meaningless, even enter the equation?

It's like blood types of a Street Fighter character. It means...nothing. It has zero influence on anything other than what you want it to influence. And if you think someone is being foolish for saying "I won't play Ken because of his blood type" then you know exactly what I am talking about here.

It actually means nothing even from a gaming perspective since, as I said above, there's no impact at all on the numbers that define abilities.

Honestly, Getting mad over weight is the perfect example of looking for an excuse to complain, a problem plaguing all gaming communities. Especially in a game where appearance and gender means absolutely nothing.

If anything, JRPGS should be PRAISED for making it 100% equal: male, female, black, white, thin, heavy, everyone has the same potential to be strong and powerful and save the world.

 

[Isaccard]

lmao

 

[Nohar]

Not surprised in the slightest. After all: Japan.

Which is a bit sad.

What was her competition? Because, really... Oh screw it, I can't express in words how she doesn't deserve to be voted a best character of anything, because if I begin to explain what is wrong with her character, I would have to write about everything that is wrong with the FFXIII trilogy, and I really don't want to waste my time repeating ad nauseum what I already wrote in other langages.

 

[Raitningz]

Not surprised in the slightest. After all: Japan.

Which is a bit sad.

What was her competition? Because, really... Oh screw it, I can't express in words how she doesn't deserve to be voted a best character of anything, because if I begin to explain what is wrong with her character, I would have to write about everything that is wrong with the FFXIII trilogy, and I really don't want to waste my time repeating ad nauseum what I already wrote in other langages.

2nd place was Hatsune Miku
3rd place was Monokuma
4th place was Zero from Drag-on Dragoon 3
5th place was Neptune/Purple Heart
6th place was God Eater's Alisa
7th place was Yuna and Raiden for a tie.
9th was Rorona
10th is Rean from Sen no Kiseki

 

[Nohar]

2nd place was Hatsune Miku
3rd place was Monokuma
4th place was Zero from Drag-on Dragoon 3
5th place was Neptune/Purple Heart
6th place was God Eater's Alisa
7th place was Yuna and Raiden for a tie.
9th was Rorona
10th is Rean from Sen no Kiseki

Well, thank you.
... Yeah, bullshit poll spotted.
Also, Yuna at only 7th place? That's insulting. Her character has more depths in one game than Lightning in all of her three games.

 

[ResidentDante]

What's going on in this thread?

 

[Kuja9001]

What's going on in this thread?

XIII related whining

 

[bloodforge]

Normal what? How did the fictional weight of a character, a number that is genuinely meaningless, even enter the equation?

It's like blood types of a Street Fighter character. It means...nothing. It has zero influence on anything other than what you want it to influence. And if you think someone is being foolish for saying "I won't play Ken because of his blood type" then you know exactly what I am talking about here.

It actually means nothing even from a gaming perspective since, as I said above, there's no impact at all on the numbers that define abilities.

Honestly, Getting mad over weight is the perfect example of looking for an excuse to complain, a problem plaguing all gaming communities. Especially in a game where appearance and gender means absolutely nothing.

If anything, JRPGS should be PRAISED for making it 100% equal: male, female, black, white, thin, heavy, everyone has the same potential to be strong and powerful and save the world.

Blood type is linked with a person's personality type in Japan and other Asian countries. Add in the weight and other measurements and it's basically there so you can find your ideal waifu.

 

[May16]

This poll seems about as legitimate as Famitsu's reviews.

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

Blood type is linked with a person's personality type in Japan and other Asian countries. Add in the weight and other measurements and it's basically there so you can find your ideal waifu.

WAT.

 

[2+2=5]

What anime is this?

 

[Principate]

WAT.

I know right?

 

[Raitningz]

Blood type is linked with a person's personality type in Japan and other Asian countries. Add in the weight and other measurements and it's basically there so you can find your ideal waifu.

I'm an Asian living in Asia, and I've been to many places in Asia but have never heard of this.

 

[gngf123]

What anime is this?

A quick google search brings up Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. Looks correct, but I've never seen it so I don't know.

 

[Prince Vultan]

This doesn't seem so bad if you think of it as a vote for Lightning actually being a vote for Maaya Sakamoto ~ <3 <3 <3

Also, for some reason I'm only now realising I don't think I ever caught an explanation anywhere as to why the character insisted on calling herself 'Lightning' to begin with. Did one of the games ever address that and I just forgot or what?

 

[2+2=5]

A quick google search brings up Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. Looks correct, but I've never seen it so I don't know.

Thanks

 

[Raitningz]

This doesn't seem so bad if you think of it as a vote for Lightning actually being a vote for Maaya Sakamoto ~ <3 <3 <3

Also, for some reason I'm only now realising I don't think I ever caught an explanation anywhere as to why the character insisted on calling herself 'Lightning' to begin with. Did one of the games ever address that and I just forgot or what?

Just a name. She renamed herself to become strong for Serah, casting out her weaknesses like her loneliness and fear. It's... like self-baptism, but instead of renouncing sins, she renounced her weaknesses, and took on a new name. Why she chose 'Lightning' of all things is never stated or anything.

 

[Holykael1]

This doesn't seem so bad if you think of it as a vote for Lightning actually being a vote for Maaya Sakamoto ~ <3 <3 <3

Also, for some reason I'm only now realising I don't think I ever caught an explanation anywhere as to why the character insisted on calling herself 'Lightning' to begin with. Did one of the games ever address that and I just forgot or what?

Both the original XIII and Lightning Returns did.

 

[Famassu]

SE is going to push Lightning into KH3 hard, probably stealing leadership of Squall's group...
Lightning in FFXV...
More Lightning quests in XIV...

Do not want.

Lightning won't be in FFXV (or if she will, at most it will be a super-small cameo as, say, an inn-keeper or someone, not some major story-role). There's really no reason why she would be (Lightning is more Toriyama's character than Nomura's and there are no additional FFXIII releases that would require that kind of cross-promotion that's mostly been the reason why she's in other games) and the characters in FFXV we've seen & have information about so far have a reason to be in the game (a prince, his father and his friends, a woman who is possibly the princess or other kind of royalty from another country who the prince knows from his childhood, heads & lackeys of yakuza/mafioso, the kings/generals/whoever of other countries and who are possibly their lackeys etc.). I don't really see where Lightning would go without sticking out like a sore thumb. I mean, it's not like Lightning was a part of Type-0 either and that would have had more reason to have Lightning than FFXV does, so suggesting FFXV will definitely have her is kind of silly.

Lightning will very likely be a character in KHIII, since that game has had characters from pretty much every post-V mainline Final Fantasy (Nomura doesn't really want to touch earlier ones or IX/XII because he doesn't like meddling with other people's characters too much). Don't really see what's the big deal in that, especially taking into account how KH games implement FF characters (they usually aren't that much like their own game counterparts).

Although Toriyama might take this as proof that Lightning is beloved, I'm sure SQEX can look at their sales charts and see that she really isn't THAT popular that they'd need to push her into everything. The only reason she has been any kind of big part of SQEX releases in the past few years (character skins, FFXIV quests etc.) is simply because SQEX has been cross-promoting their games and FFXIII saga's games have been some of their bigger games to promote and Lightning is the face of that. Now that Lightning's own adventures are over, there's really no need for Square Enix to push Lightning so hard. Other than Theatrhythm: Curtain Call (which is perfectly ok since it has the most notable characters from all mainline FFs) and maybe KHIII (for which Lightning is a natural fit, just like Tidus was a natural fit for KH1, being one of the more recent FFs before the release of that game), I doubt we'll be seeing Lightning too much in the future.

So your kind of fear & hysteria about Lighting suddenly being in anything & everything is completely unwarranted and silly. Let's get on the SQEX + Lightning hate wagon if they are actually shown to be adding LIghtning into FFXV & the like and not a second sooner, mmkay? Because currently you are standing extremely weak ground with your fears and it's so stupid to get so annoyed about what will likely not be happening (Lightning in FFXV) or what is not a big deal (a cameo of Lightning in KHIII for at most 10+ minutes).

 

[Parakeetman]

They dont realize that 2ch is trolling them.

 

[Prince Vultan]

Why she chose 'Lightning' of all things is never stated or anything.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Weird name choice for that reasoning though. If it was just wanting a name to sound tough I'd be more inclined to go with something like 'Butch' or 'Stone Cold' personally.

 

[bloodforge]

I'm an Asian living in Asia, and I've been to many places in Asia but have never heard of this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_types_in_Japanese_culture

I've seen it brought up in quite a few Japanese and Korean TV programs and movies.

 

[jon bones]

man people sure do have some terrible taste

 

[rvy]

Miyazaki was right. He warned you all.

 

[Tizoc]

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust curious but the poll isn't literally 'otaku-driven' is it? As in the target audience requested to do the poll were otakus?

 

[Josh7289]

You all have to calm down a bit.

 

[Famassu]

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust curious but the poll isn't literally 'otaku-driven' is it? As in the target audience requested to do the poll were otakus?

Nah, it's a salty mod's edit of the thread title.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Weird name choice for that reasoning though. If it was just wanting a name to sound tough I'd be more inclined to go with something like 'Butch' or 'Stone Cold' personally.

She's supposed to be the female Cloud. Where does Lightning come from? Clouds. That's it. That's the whole reasoning behind her name.

 

[Raitningz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_types_in_Japanese_culture

I've seen it brought up in quite a few Japanese and Korean TV programs and movies.

That's interesting. I stand corrected.

 

[Raitningz]

She's supposed to be the female Cloud. Where does Lightning come from? Clouds. That's it. That's the whole reasoning behind her name.

Maybe she just likes Lightning. She seems to be fascinated with lightning when she says "It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect, it only destroys."

 

[TheSeks]

Then why did her game bomb?

Because we just don't love her enough, Kagari! We just don't love her enough!

 

[Castef]

And the other participants were...?

The "L" shaped Tetris Block and Missigno?

 

[RedSwirl]

Not at all. Lightning is entirely capable of expressing various emotions.

But often, she's too busy doing various GRR ANGER SERIOUSFACE things.

 

[injurai]

Maybe she just likes Lightning. She seems to be fascinated with lightning when she says "It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect, it only destroys."

it's hard to say what direction the implication follows

 

[Raitningz]

it's hard to say what direction the implication follows

Yep, at this point it's just speculation.

 

[blitzcloud]

Not at all. Lightning is entirely capable of expressing various emotions.

But often, she's too busy doing various GRR ANGER SERIOUSFACE things.

 

[Prince Vultan]

She's supposed to be the female Cloud. Where does Lightning come from? Clouds. That's it. That's the whole reasoning behind her name.

You know, I think I'd have liked Lightning a lot more if the actual in-game explanation for her look and name was that she was a hardcore Final Fantasy VII fan.