Tetsuya Nomura - Your Thoughts? - Page 5

April 12, 2008, 7:36 PM

I think his designs and style are great, and part of what made, and continues to make the FF series so successful.

It's very ungrateful to attack him now. His most recent works may appear to be recycled from FFVII, but it isn't all that bad.

Yes, he needs to cut down on the Cloud cloning, but X did not look anything like VII. He's capable of originality, that's for sure.
I'd be more concerned with the repetition of the stereotype "pretty boy" main character. There will be a shift away from this with XIII, with the main character being a tough-looking girl.
That ginger-haired girl, looks pretty original too.
XIII's designs may look a lot like those in Advent Children, yes. It's because XIII's cinematics are now on the same level as AC's, and alot of the cutscenes will look like those out of a first-rate CGI film, a notch above those of XII.

And really, having some slightly reused character designs is better than having a repeat of what happened in FFXII. Yoshida's designs were just BORING, dull, and tacky, except with the judges, who looked pretty cool. It would have been alot better if Nomura had designed the characters.

April 12, 2008, 8:26 PM

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Originally Posted by Major Zero

It's very ungrateful to attack him now. His most recent works may appear to be recycled from FFVII, but it isn't all that bad.

Ungrateful? Why the hell should I be grateful to him for being an artist who clones his own work? When Amano designed characters we always had unique ones each game that were relatively hard to compare to the last set of characters.

And HA, you wanna talk about recycled? I took the liberty of making a side-by-side comparison of Sion from The Bouncer and Sora from KH1. Major recycling going on here:

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Yes, he needs to cut down on the Cloud cloning, but X did not look anything like VII. He's capable of originality, that's for sure.

And most of the designs in X were ugly. If you hadn't noticed, I'm not just knocking Nomura for being repetitive, his designs are usually ugly too. He can't design outfits worth a shit. Just look at Sora's outfit, ffs. The entire red portion is all one piece with a zipper running all the way down the front. It just looks like crap. But then I suppose that all just comes down to a matter of personal taste. Nomura really does need to quit humping his belts and zippers though, he likes them way too much.

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I'd be more concerned with the repetition of the stereotype "pretty boy" main character. There will be a shift away from this with XIII, with the main character being a tough-looking girl.

See that's sort of a whole cultural thing going on, not just in Japan but other Asian counties too, like South Korea for example. They like the androgynous men types, and that appeal has been around for a long time in those part. It's only manifesting itself in games and anime because it has new mediums to travel.

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That ginger-haired girl, looks pretty original too.

Kairi with shorter hair and a stupid hat

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XIII's designs may look a lot like those in Advent Children, yes. It's because XIII's cinematics are now on the same level as AC's, and alot of the cutscenes will look like those out of a first-rate CGI film, a notch above those of XII.

What's your point? We don't care about the CGI quality, it's the designs we don't like. And really, need I say more?

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And really, having some slightly reused character designs is better than having a repeat of what happened in FFXII. Yoshida's designs were just BORING, dull, and tacky, except with the judges, who looked pretty cool. It would have been alot better if Nomura had designed the characters.

Yoshida's designs did suck. That's because he strayed from his usual art style and tried something new. It didn't work. Now as for the personalities and character development, alot of that SE is to blame for because they rushed the project.

April 12, 2008, 9:31 PM

Well, I liked most of FFX's character designs, except Wakka and Tidus'.
Yes, it does come down to personal taste, always. Though I do agree about the belts. How does Lulu put that dress on with all those belts, haha.

It's not that I have anything against Androgynous/feminine male characters, it's just that there hasn't been a change for a while, and you get bored when the main character is recycled all the time. I wish they'd stop doing it. Vaan was the last straw.

What I'm saying, most of all, is that Nomura's designs were, and still are great in my opinion,and it's silly to bitch about him recycling some features of his outfits. Look what happened to XII, when he wasn't the character artist.
As I've never played (and don't care about) Kingdom Hearts, I can't really say much except that it's meant to appeal to kids, the characters are supposed to look silly. Really, if he wanted to cartoonise a character design from another series, possibly as a tribute to fans, what's wrong with that?

X-2, well, there was a different director as well, and as has been said before, the characters were intended to look slutty anyway.

It could be worse than varying degrees of recycling, that's for sure.
Anyhow, I'm no art critic, but I stand by the point that attacking Nomura, who has done alot for Final Fantasy, is ungrateful. Let's just see how XIII and Versus XIII turn out.

April 13, 2008, 12:33 AM

Ha, if Nomura designed the characters for XII, then Ashe and Fran would be even more slutty. He's the King of Fanwank. Even though XII's designs generally sucked, I proffered them to Nomura's. Hell, Basch would've been an emotard with anime spiky black hair and scars all over him to make him look 'cool' to go with his 'dark' personality + storyline. Why can I assume this? See Squall and Cloud for details.

And the other thing that annoys me: can this man draw hair that isn't remotely spiked or braided? For the love of God, realism in these goddamn "realistic" Final Fantasies sure has its holes. I'm so thankful that XII's hair was realistic looking, even Vaan's was. Nomura's hair designs generally make me sigh. Why is there never good looking hair? (Yuna's was the only remotely good design). Look what he did to Zidane for Dissidia T_T

Sure, I may be bitching and I don't really give a damn about being 'ungrateful', since the games he had creative influence over I generally liked less, but all I can say is that I think it's time for him to step down. SE have used Amano, Nomura and whatshisface from Tactics, XII and FFIII DS, I think it's time that they find someone new. And for the love of god, NOT the person who did the redesigns for Revenant Wings ... *shudder*.

I'd like for FFXIV to have a 'fresh' feel ... and nothing Nomura-fied. Hell, I can dream ...

April 13, 2008, 12:39 AM

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Originally Posted by Major Zero

What I'm saying, most of all, is that Nomura's designs were, and still are great in my opinion,and it's silly to bitch about him recycling some features of his outfits. Look what happened to XII, when he wasn't the character artist.

See, I'm not quite ready to give up on Yoshida yet, because his past artwork was awesome. He just decided to try something new and failed miserably at it. He still has a chance to redeem himself by going back to his old style from Tactics and Vagrant Story. Nomura, on the other hand, is as lacking in originality as Akira Toriyama.

With him at the helm of designing characters, FF is becoming another Dragon Quest. Each game you have the same characters, just with different hair and clothes.

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As I've never played (and don't care about) Kingdom Hearts, I can't really say much except that it's meant to appeal to kids, the characters are supposed to look silly.

I don't buy that. I don't think the story would be as heavy and complicated as it is if it was geared towards kids. SE's kid stuff is more like, you know, the chocobo games and Crystal Chronicles. Not to mention anime is supposedly modeled after old Disney cartoons or whatever, so they probably just wanted to collaborate with Disney for that sake.

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X-2, well, there was a different director as well, and as has been said before, the characters were intended to look slutty anyway.

No, the intention behind all the costumes was that they wanted to emulate the fascination Japanese have with transforming, "magical" schoolgirls, like in Sailor Moon and Cardcaptors Sakura. It's no more slutty than anything regular seen in anime, it just seems extra slutty because it's the first time a FF has centered around three heroines baring alot of skin.

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Anyhow, I'm no art critic, but I stand by the point that attacking Nomura, who has done alot for Final Fantasy, is ungrateful. Let's just see how XIII and Versus XIII turn out.

Yes yes, he's done SO much for FF. Here's a clue: all he's done is design characters. He doesn't direct the games, and SE has other artists. They let him direct AC and that turned out to be a pile of crap. He wasn't such a prominent figure before SE, he was just another character designer. SE knows that he has a legion of fanboys and they use him as their main character designer for that very reason.

Know what happens when he DOES play a central role in directing something? AC happens. The World Ends with You happens (which from what I've heard isn't that bad of a game, but its design is even more generic anime crap with no originality).

April 13, 2008, 12:10 PM

I know i said i wouldn't post anymoe on this thread but that last statement was so untrue. Nomura thought up the story for FFVII, yes thats right the guy everyonr hates created the story for the most popular and successful FF game. Also he directed the KH games and is directing FF versus XIII. He's done more than design characters in final fantasy. I maybe wrong but didn't he dirct Advent Children aswell?

April 13, 2008, 3:52 PM

Nomura didn't think of anything to do with FFVII apart from the characters and Advent Children. He just happens to be the most popular out of all the staff that produced it, and I think and I think Storm Shadow's post "SE knows that he has a legion of fanboys and they use him as their main character designer for that very reason." has been summed up in your post. It was Sakaguchi and Kitase who directed FFVII.

April 13, 2008, 4:13 PM

i never said nomura directed FFVII, i said he came up with the story but if you don't belive me watch the credits

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZhfdi_3eBQ

April 13, 2008, 4:20 PM

He might have a had a part to play in it but he would not have solely come up with the story behind FFVII. There were 4 people working on the story, therefore, if Nomura had ideas, like every other game made they will have been changed time after time after time.
...and directors are included in everything, especially the story...which is why AC failed.