Final Fantasy - Boys game, or Girls game?

I know it's definitely more directed towards the male population, but I believe the Final Fantasy series can be for anyone who just wants to escape into a world where they can "play hero" for 40+ hours and just experience the creativity of the Square-Enix developers for a while.

However, I know ALL video game producers aim towards guys because that's who's more likely to sit down and power on a console as opposed to women who's hobbies more than likely differ over all ages. I'm not saying all women; just most.
 
Anyoen, regardless of sex, religion or age (well to a degree) can play a Final Fantasy. I dont class it as either sexes game.
 
I am a male and I love Final Fantasy X and X-2, and I have played Final Fantasy I-III. Most Final Fantasy fans I know are males. Final Fantasy X-2 has been despised by many female gamers.
 
more guys play playstation than girls so its not suprising that there are more guys playing than girls. very few games target one sex as its target market. although there is playboy mansion and barbie horse racing.

FF is aimed more towards guys a all the main characters are guys.
not counting X-2 as its terrible.
but FF is for any gender
 
Whether or not FF is directed to a male or female audience, it depends on which part of the series. Girls are probably more inclined to play FFVIII and FFX-2, though that's not always true; everyone is different. There is also a lot of sexy eye candy directed to both male and female audiences.

I think the main reason why a lot of people don't know girls who play these games in real life is because they don't want to come out of the closet. The stereotype for girl gamers is "DYKE!!!" which is something a lot of girls don't want to be labeled as. Furthermore, they get their fix on the internet where they're anonymous. (I'm not generalizing)
 
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Angella said:
Whether or not FF is directed to a male or female audience, it depends on which part of the series. Girls are probably more inclined to play FFVIII and FFX-2, though that's not always true; everyone is different. There is also a lot of sexy eye candy directed to both male and female audiences.
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FF is directed to both, I think. There's a romantic story in almost every FF, not just VIII and X-2. Just look at VI, or IX or X. There's elements in the games that can appeal to both genders, and they're usually pretty balanced (VIII and X-2 being the exceptions to this).
I think the main reason why a lot of people don't know girls who play these games in real life is because they don't want to come out of the closet. The stereotype for girl gamers is "DYKE!!!" which is something a lot of girls don't want to be labeled as. Furthermore, they get their fix on the internet where they're anonymous. (I'm not generalizing)
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What? Since when are female gamers thought of as dykes? o__O Guys generally like female gamers, and I've never once seen an instance of a female gamer being thought of as a dyke. And what do you mean they get their "fix" on the internet when they're anonymous? I guess you've never seen girls in Gamestop before.
 
FFX-2 was obviously (and somewhat painfully, I remember my friend telling me I visibly winced every time I opened a chest and 'scored' something) aimed at girls. And while I found the battle system and, to some extent, the funky minigames all sorts of fun the game really did suffer for it. It was all love and GIRL POWER and pretty, under the impression that that would bring in the girls and the main characters' clothes dissolving every three seconds would bring in the guys.

(They were right, of course, it did work. I'm just not happy about it)

The other final fantasies, I think, have equal attraction to both genders. The earlier ones were likely aimed solely at guys because they were the primary audience. The addition of secondary love stories and female characters was the first indication of acknowledgement of a female audience, but FF7 was, in my opinion, the first that gained a huge female audience.

This was likely the fault of Cloud, Vincent and Sephiroth and thier appeal to the ladytypes. A strong focus on character relationships probably didn't hurt.

From then on, they just continued a pattern that worked. Girls who didn't wear quite enough, pretty guys and battle systems that were familiar enough to be easy to pick up but with enough differences to avoid being repetative make for pretty broad appeal.

FF9's going back to the roots to some degree was a pretty good choice in terms of increasing the appeal. It pleased the older players by adding little things they would recognise (Garnet's white mage disguise, Vivi's appearence, summoner horns...) while keeping a strong focus on the TWOO WUV between Garnet and Zidane for the new female audience. Because they had thrown in so much of the earlier games this prompted much of the new audience (including the HUGE female audience that FF7+ had brought in) to check out the older games. (Pretty cool coincidence that the rereleases came out only a little while before 9...)

10 followed the nice pattern some more except with an added sports theme that could bring in yet another group of fans.
 
Apfelsaft said:
FFX-2 was obviously (and somewhat painfully, I remember my friend telling me I visibly winced every time I opened a chest and 'scored' something) aimed at girls. And while I found the battle system and, to some extent, the funky minigames all sorts of fun the game really did suffer for it. It was all love and GIRL POWER and pretty, under the impression that that would bring in the girls and the main characters' clothes dissolving every three seconds would bring in the guys.

(They were right, of course, it did work. I'm just not happy about it)
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It might have worked on guys, but the effect didn't last once they saw they saw how ridiculously girly it was. Not to mention it ruined X's perfectly good ending and wasn't anywhere near as good of a game.

The other final fantasies, I think, have equal attraction to both genders. The earlier ones were likely aimed solely at guys because they were the primary audience. The addition of secondary love stories and female characters was the first indication of acknowledgement of a female audience, but FF7 was, in my opinion, the first that gained a huge female audience.
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VI had a fairly prominent love story because of Locke and Celes, but yeah, it's definitely VII that brought girls into the fold. And I'm sure the part where you have to dress Cloud up as a woman wasn't aimed at guys.

FF9's going back to the roots to some degree was a pretty good choice in terms of increasing the appeal. It pleased the older players by adding little things they would recognise (Garnet's white mage disguise, Vivi's appearence, summoner horns...) while keeping a strong focus on the TWOO WUV between Garnet and Zidane for the new female audience. Because they had thrown in so much of the earlier games this prompted much of the new audience (including the HUGE female audience that FF7+ had brought in) to check out the older games. (Pretty cool coincidence that the rereleases came out only a little while before 9...)
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IX was actually very romantically themed. Not only is there the most obvious relationship (Zidane and Garnet), but also Freya and Fratley, Steiner and Beatrix, Eiko's crush on Zidane and seeing Garnet as her rival, and even Cid's little affair.
 
What? Since when are female gamers thought of as dykes? o__O Guys generally like female gamers, and I've never once seen an instance of a female gamer being thought of as a dyke. And what do you mean they get their "fix" on the internet when they're anonymous? I guess you've never seen girls in Gamestop before.
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Well, it's different where I live, lol.
I hardly ever see girls in game stores. Unless they are mothers inquiring about games they want to get for their sons, etc.

FF is directed to both, I think. There's a romantic story in almost every FF, not just VIII and X-2. Just look at VI, or IX or X. There's elements in the games that can appeal to both genders, and they're usually pretty balanced (VIII and X-2 being the exceptions to this).
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Yes, romance is a large factor in VIII and X-2. It's hinted at and shown in some other FFs, just not as powerfully.
 
Nine was so dripping with TROO WUV that I really didn't see any need to go into it. Not that I mind, of course, I love that kind of stuff in huge doses.

Six had the huge dollops of romantic sidestory, it was the console that stopped it from bringing in the huge female fanbase that seven had. Playstation/N64 generation was really the first time that a console was in every other house, making seven far more accessible (Hell, I've been to final fantasy message boards where members who declare six their favourite had never even HEARD of the snes.).

Personally I thought the dressing up Cloud was comic relief rather than fanservice. I HOPE it wasn't fanservice...
 
Angella said:
Yes, romance is a large factor in VIII and X-2. It's hinted at and shown in some other FFs, just not as powerfully.
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It's hinted at and shown...but not as powerfully? Uh...it was fairly prominent in VI, and you've either not played IX or you need to go back and replay it. That game has so much romance it can easily outweigh VIII or X-2, plus it's not sappy and corny.

Apfelsaft said:
Six had the huge dollops of romantic sidestory, it was the console that stopped it from bringing in the huge female fanbase that seven had. Playstation/N64 generation was really the first time that a console was in every other house, making seven far more accessible (Hell, I've been to final fantasy message boards where members who declare six their favourite had never even HEARD of the snes.).
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Very true. It's actually a shame VI wasn't FF fans' first delve into the franchise...then they might actually know what good character development and romance is :dry:

Personally I thought the dressing up Cloud was comic relief rather than fanservice. I HOPE it wasn't fanservice...
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I dunno if they meant it as fanservice, but it sure ended up that way, what with all the cosplayers and Rule 34 pervs using it.
 
boy or girl?

i believe its for both but its defiently more liked by boys
 
Summoner Yuna said:
Eh, I think FF can appeal to both sexes equally. It just depends if you actually like gaming and fantasy. And Laro, I love FFVII and I'm a girl. Lol ;)
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QFT.

The only FF that was probably targeted at one sex was X-2, obviously. The rest try to appeal to both genders. It's more of a series for both sexes to enjoy.

Both male and female main characters, 'cute' stuff such as chocobos and lurveeeee for the stereotypical "girly girl", big ass swords and badass monsters for the mr.men. Lol. No. It appeals to both sexes in many ways.
 
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Riku said:
It's directed at game geeks, not any one sex.
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I didn't get far into the thread before I saw the right answer.

The games contain material that appeals to both female and male gamers, anyway.
 
I'm pretty sure it depends on the individual when it comes to liking video games or not, let alone the Final Fantasy series.

Like, I more into RPGs, but other people could like games such as Grad Theft Auto where the game is more about playing it and not so much about the story (if there is one, I haven't played GTA before).

Another example: I'm a female, but I actually don't like too much emphasis on romance in a story; not saying it's bad, but too much isn't any good.
 
Like has been said, I don't think FF is effectively targeted at any sex in paticular.

I mean, its obvious that X-2 was targeted towards girls, but its also pretty obvious that none of the others are really targeted towards anyone but gamers who enjoy fantastical RPGs... and thats really their market... RPG gamers.

Now, even though it was never targeted to any gender in particular, I think its obvious that once they realized an increase in female fandom, that they reacted accordingly, bringing out the female targeted X-2... however, with its commercial failure, I think they realized that, even though the female fanbase for FF had increased a significant number, that it still wasn't a big enough chunk to warrant alienating the men... thus they returned to marketing for both.

The FFXIII projects are probably a really good look at the evidence for this claim. FFXIII seems to look like its more geared toward the female audience, but not enough to alienate the male audience, while FFvXIII seems to look like its more geared toward the male audience, but not so strongly that women won't want to play.

I actually think that when the games come out, most FF fans will enjoy both, but the men will be more prone to saying vXIII was better, while women will be more prone to claiming XIII was superior. Regardless, though, slightly geared toward one or the other, Square is smart enough, now, to not alienate either audience... thus, FF are not a boys games, nor girls games...

They are games made for gamers.
 
Like, I more into RPGs, but other people could like games such as Grad Theft Auto where the game is more about playing it and not so much about the story (if there is one, I haven't played GTA before).
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I am also more into RPGs, and I am not interested in Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto is all about gameplay and no story. Neither Final Fantasy XIII nor Versus XIII are geared towards either gender. I have seen Japanese commercials depicting a Japanese girl playing a handheld Final Fantasy game. However, it is said that male gamers prefer consoles while female gamers prefer handhelds. Most Final Fantasy fans I know are male. I know one female Final Fantasy fan who is middle-aged.
 
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Horatio Caine said:
It's directed at game geeks, not any one sex. This explains why so many forums dedicated to it spring up all of the time.
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QFT.

These games are not targeted at either sex, they're targeted towards people who enjoy RPG's in general. Square Enix wouldn't target any of their games towards either sex, they want their games to appeal to everyone. It's not only about sharing RPG love, or Final Fantasy love, it's about making money. Targeting a game towards a single sex would limit their income as well... it simply wouldn't make sense for Square Enix/Soft to narrow their audience like that.

But hell, I could be completely wrong. That's just my opinion.
 
I dunno....the majority are unisex, but I really do see FFX2 as a game aimed at girls, with the dresspheres and everything...it's like having a Barbie doll, only on a computer game...
 
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