Support NeoGAF

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

"We simply want the focus to be less on the outward appearance of our characters and more on who they are as people."


Speaking to IGN, Yoshida was asked to comment on responses to the latest trailer that features mostly white characters.

Yoshida admitted it was a difficult question to answer, but that the lack of diversity fits the "isolated nature of this realm" - Valisthea, where the game takes place.

"This is a difficult question, but not one that was unexpected, seeing as diversity in entertainment media has become a much-discussed topic as of late. The answer I have, however, may end up being disappointing to some depending on individual expectations," he said.

The game's design has heavily featured medieval Europe and Yoshida felt "rather than create something on a global scale, it was necessary to limit the scope to a single landmass - one geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world in an age without airplanes, television, or telephones".

Naoki Yoshida addresses Final Fantasy 16's lack of diversity

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has addressed the lack of diversity in Final Fantasy 16, specifically the lack …

www.eurogamer.net

The face of the character

 

[ACESHIGH]

Big mistake. Never apologize or explain yourself to the woke crowd.

 

[Danjin44]

Western gaming media think everyone should follow their rules, for fuck sake let the devs make what they want to make.

 

[Exede]

Wonder what they will ask him about this topic when FF 17 is set up in the middle and south African continent. Nothing against deversity at all in games. But this question in this setting was stupid. (Inbefore but its a fantasy world)

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

This would have been my PR strategy:

Journo: what about Inclusion, diversity and representation in FFXVI?

Yoshida: What do you mean with I, D, and R?

Journo: blah blah blah blah blah.

Yoshida: oh that is very interesting, how do you define yourself then?

Journo: blah blah blah blah blah.

Yoshida: that is very insightful. Well, I think that is fair to say that whatever you defined yourself as, at the end of the day we are human beings. We are representing the human condition. And human condition is universal.

If you can't empathize with that, I think it says more about you that anything else

Mic drop queue the sigma male music meme.

 

[SlimySnake]

Imagine criticizing an Asian developer for lack of racial diversity. The nerve.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

I’m gonna trust Yoshida on this because he does have diversity in Final Fantasy 14 that even includes stuff to yiff too.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Western gaming media think everyone should follow their rules, for fuck sake let the devs make what they want to make.

"We want entertainment to be diverse... by demanding every piece of media represent the american demography."

 

[Shifty1897]

Lol at least he didn't say "Bro, Forspoken's main character is a pansexual black woman, leave me alone."

 

[YukiOnna]

That was a gotcha question by IGN, they knew what they were doing.
And then people who only read headlines and live on extremes went at it. Everyone ignored the main body of his statement which only proved his point.

Conversely, the Final Fantasy series of games have always inherently dealt with conflict and struggle, especially between the empowered and those used and/or exploited by those privileged few — a prominent trend in human history. In a game that, by design, allows players to experience that conflict and struggle first- hand through dynamic, realistic battles, it can be challenging to assign distinctive ethnicities to either antagonist or protagonist without triggering audience preconceptions, inviting unwarranted speculation, and ultimately stoking flames of controversy. The best part of pulling inspiration directly from history, however, is that it allows us to revisit and re-examine our own pasts, while also allowing us to create something new.

In the end, we simply want the focus to be less on the outward appearance of our characters and more on who they are as people — people who are complex and diverse in their natures, backgrounds, beliefs, personalities, and motivations. People whose stories we can resonate with. There is diversity in Valisthea. Diversity that, while not all-encompassing, is synergistic with the setting we’ve created and is true to the inspirations from which we are drawing.

 

[mortal]

Man I wish these sorts of people would fuck off already.

If you want more so called "diversity" then buckle down and make it yourself or collaborate with those that do, instead of demanding other creators conform their vision to your sensibilities and ideology.
If they cant manage that then they should invest and promote the actual creators that already do that in their own original work, but those choices take time, money, and effort. So it's easier fo them to just complain and make demands.

 

[Clear]

Actually thought it was a pretty decent answer.

As others have noted it was a "gotcha", as much accusation as question, and Yoshida handled it with sensitivity and reason.

 

[scoobidoo112]

We have absolutely regressed as a society when it comes to the topic of race, especially when compared to a decade ago.

Instead of normalizing racial differences, we've become obsessed about it. Race is no longer one aspect of a person, but the only aspect of a person that matters.

Instead of sharing and accepting each other's cultures, we are segregating ourselves.

Instead of a more diverse marketplace with more options for everyone, attempts are made to destroy anything that doesn't fit a certain quota or level of political correctness.

And as people have surely noticed, we are not treating each other as equals at all. A movie, TV show or game with exclusively minority characters is seen as the second coming of Christ, but something with too many white people is automatically evil, racist and wrong. It makes no sense to me. Apparently even Snow White is latina now...

It's a sad state of affairs if you ask me. Is being kind to each other based on our shared humanity really too much to ask for? Is everyone really better off this way?

 

[DeepEnigma]

"We simply want the focus to be less on the outward appearance of our characters and more on who they are as people."

Oh, the horror!

About to get Vávra'ed?

 

[GHG]

And just like that this will now be the focus of a bunch of Western "reviewers" when the time comes.

He shouldn't have given them the time of day.

 

[balls of snow]

Lol the savior of final fantasy is now the villain.

 

[Hugare]

Big mistake. Never apologize or explain yourself to the woke crowd.

Except he didnt

He explained, but there's no problem with it.

In fact it's quite good, because he gave them such an eloquent answer that it should be copy and pasted to all developers moving foward

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Another topic where those who have no short coming of representation will be saying "why does representation matter..." Yippie.

We have absolutely regressed as a society when it comes to the topic of race, especially when compared to a decade ago.

Instead of normalizing racial differences, we've become obsessed about it. Race is no longer one aspect of a person, but the only aspect of a person that matters.

Instead of sharing and accepting each other's cultures, we are segregating ourselves.

Instead of a more diverse marketplace with more options for everyone, attempts are made to destroy anything that doesn't fit a certain quota or level of political correctness.

And as people have surely noticed, we are not treating each other as equals at all. A movie, TV show or game with exclusively minority characters is seen as the second coming of Christ, but something with too many white people is automatically evil, racist and wrong. It makes no sense to me. Apparently even Snow White is latina now...

It's a sad state of affairs if you ask me. Is being kind to each other based on our shared humanity really too much to ask for? Is everyone really better off this way?

Right on que...

 

[F0rneus]

Could it have been more diverse? Sure. Does it need to be? No.

 

[Moses85]

It seems, mankind doesnt have real problems…

 

[scoobidoo112]

Another topic where those who have no short coming of representation will be saying "why does representation matter..." Yippie.

Right on que...

Tell me you didn't read what I said, without telling me you didn't read what I said...

 

[Fuz]

Big mistake. Never apologize or explain yourself to the woke crowd.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Except he didnt

He explained, but there's no problem with it.

In fact it's quite good, because he gave them such an eloquent answer that it should be copy and pasted to all developers moving foward

It doesn't matter if your answer is logically sound, undeniably true or whatever. You are not talking to normal, sane human beings here. You don't explain yourself to lunatics. Waste of time.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

Big mistake. Never apologize or explain yourself to the woke crowd.

Came to say exactly this. Don't explain shit just make the game and story you want and don't pander to the impossible to please crowd. Fuck em.

 

[Bloobs]

Not this shit again. Go cry on Resetera

 

[PhaseJump]

Western gaming media think everyone should follow their rules, for fuck sake let the devs make what they want to make.

No.

 

[March Climber]

Wait, is this thread a repost or did I jump backwards through time?

 

[Freeman76]

He should have just told the pansie brigade to fuck off

 

[DeepEnigma]

They're not real people.

They don't have agency.

Stop being marketed to, it's making you insane.

 

[Boralf]

I guess asking these kind of questions still works in the end. Ironic.

 

[Fuz]

He explained, but there's no problem with it.

Wrong.
They don't need nor deserve any explanation. It was a loaded question.
NEVER explain to them.

 

[gaming_again]

He should have told them to fuck off and that now IGN never get early review access to any FF game ever again. Just nip it in the bud. Don’t explain.

 

[IDKFA]

If this game was set in a fantasy version of Japan and only had ethnic Japanese characters, would IGN still question the lack of diversity?

 

[Robb]

Just make the game you want to make. Otherwise it’ll end up like the latest Saints Row.

I bet it’s just a loud minority anyway.

 

[tkscz]

Big mistake. Never apologize or explain yourself to the woke crowd.

This

There is no answer you could ever provide that would be good enough for them. And no matter what they say, they will NEVER forgive, even bringing it back up years after everyone stopped giving a damn.

 

[Swift_Star]

It’s a very lame excuse for not having diversity but honestly I don’t expect Japanese games to have diversity anyway, so…

I’d like to add some info tidbits here:
FF7 has a nice set of diverse characters and I like it a lot but you know what is funny? ERA hates Barret characterization because he’s angry all the time (and he has reasons for it)… so sometimes it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t.
I still don’t expect diversity from Japanese games anyway.

 

[Hugare]

It doesn't matter if your answer is logically sound, undeniably true or whatever. You are not talking to normal, sane human beings here. You don't explain yourself to lunatics. Waste of time.

Ignoring them and letting them live inside their own bubble doesnt help either

Inaction is what causes the vocal minority to be this much relevant. Because people arent being as vocal as those minorities.

I sure as hell wont ever shut up about how ridiculous opinions like those are.

So I'm glad that a big developer as Yoshida isnt shutting up about it either

 

[gaming_again]

Another topic where those who have no short coming of representation will be saying "why does representation matter..." Yippie.

Right on que...

Why should America’s never ending and frankly incredibly tedious hang-ups over race matter to the Japanese?

 

[nocsi]

It’s a very lame excuse for not having diversity but honestly I don’t expect Japanese games to have diversity anyway, so…

You don’t consider Japanese people to be POC?

 

[Fuz]

He should have told them to fuck off and that now IGN never get early review access to any FF game ever again. Just nip it in the bud. Don’t explain.

 

[Swift_Star]

You don’t consider Japanese people to be POC?

I’m not falling for this bait, sorry.

 

[Orta]

Teh anti-white RACISTS fire back!

Yoshida's response to Final Fantasy 16's lack of diversity is "souring", say Black players

Ahead of its release next summer, Final Fantasy 16 has received plenty of praise for its colossal Eikon battles between…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[hyperbertha]

It’s a very lame excuse for not having diversity but honestly I don’t expect Japanese games to have diversity anyway, so…

I’d like to add some info tidbits here:
FF7 has a nice set of diverse characters and I like it a lot but you know what is funny? ERA hates Barret characterization because he’s angry all the time (and he has reasons for it)… so sometimes it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t.
I still don’t expect diversity from Japanese games anyway.

How the fuck is a european setting a lame excuse for not having diversity? Diversity is not an obligation. It should always be a creative decision that suits the game.

 

[Swift_Star]

How the fuck is a european setting a lame excuse for not having diversity? Diversity is not an obligation. It should always be a creative decision that suits the game.

The game is not set on Earth, hence, it’s not an “European setting”.

 

[DragoonWalker]

We have absolutely regressed as a society when it comes to the topic of race, especially when compared to a decade ago.

Instead of normalizing racial differences, we've become obsessed about it. Race is no longer one aspect of a person, but the only aspect of a person that matters.

Instead of sharing and accepting each other's cultures, we are segregating ourselves.

Instead of a more diverse marketplace with more options for everyone, attempts are made to destroy anything that doesn't fit a certain quota or level of political correctness.

And as people have surely noticed, we are not treating each other as equals at all. A movie, TV show or game with exclusively minority characters is seen as the second coming of Christ, but something with too many white people is automatically evil, racist and wrong. It makes no sense to me. Apparently even Snow White is latina now...

It's a sad state of affairs if you ask me. Is being kind to each other based on our shared humanity really too much to ask for? Is everyone really better off this way?

By trying to avoid white supremacy, we have fallen into the very ideology behind it, that race matters above all else. Fucking idiots, anyone who thinks this is progressive.

 

[F0rneus]

Teh anti-white RACISTS fire back!

Yoshida's response to Final Fantasy 16's lack of diversity is "souring", say Black players

Ahead of its release next summer, Final Fantasy 16 has received plenty of praise for its colossal Eikon battles between…

www.eurogamer.net

If Nepenthe saw this, she'd be seething. Or he. Literally depends on the thread THEY are posting in lol.

 

[lukilladog]

If only these couch activists would care about real world human discrimination.

 

[hyperbertha]

The game is not set on Earth, hence, it’s not an “European setting”.

It was set in a medieval non globalized landmass. Its jarring and unrealistic to have multiple races in such a setting. Very immersion breaking.

 

[Swift_Star]

It was set in a medieval non globalized landmass. Its jarring and unrealistic to have multiple races in such a setting. Very immersion breaking.

Not on earth, so it doesn’t matter.
It’s not jarring and unrealistic to have people that turn into giant powerful monsters and use magic, but it’s jarring and unrealistic to have people with different skin colors and tones? Are you reading what you’re writing?
Like I said: lame excuse. They can do whatever they want and I’m buying the game, since I don’t expect this from them anyway and the lack of diversity is not a thing that will make me not play a game. There’s nothing else to discuss.

 

[Moochi]

How many movies have you seen lately where inexplicably the dad is white, the mom is black, the kids are Asian. RINGS OF POWER faux-Hobbits are the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Edit: dwarves too


Edit: damn also the elves