I had playing Bravely Default and Final Fantasy IV as of late but there is something I baffled and fascinate me. Why are the human bosses bigger than the protagonists? I know it is justified with monsters but I see this in the earler games where the human bosses are bigger than the protagonists. Is this a design choice?
Why are the human bosses bigger than the player characters?
- Thread starter Guernsey
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Likely design choice, yeah.
Your playable characters lack full body proportions (either chibi-fied or are sprites), so having these grand, imposing and intimidating villains such as Golbez be the same size as you guys probably would not look as impressive. It's especially the case with the 2D form of FFIV. If Golbez was just a regular sprite, would you be as awed by him compared to this 10-feet tall hulking avatar?
Your playable characters lack full body proportions (either chibi-fied or are sprites), so having these grand, imposing and intimidating villains such as Golbez be the same size as you guys probably would not look as impressive. It's especially the case with the 2D form of FFIV. If Golbez was just a regular sprite, would you be as awed by him compared to this 10-feet tall hulking avatar?
Luminaire
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I would have to agree that it probably was a design choice. As stated, bosses are supposed to have a threatening presence. Our imaginations are boosted and manipulated by way of comparison even if it isn't quite realistic. One major aspect of conceptual design is size. I couldn't have said it better myself, Linnaete. ^.~
I giggled at the thought of Chibi Golbez though. : D Imma' have to draw that up just for you now!
I giggled at the thought of Chibi Golbez though. : D Imma' have to draw that up just for you now!
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It is standard in RPGs to have more detailed character models for monsters and bosses (or perhaps FF set that standard, I'm not sure...).
Back in the days of 2D sprites the playable characters needed to be represented in a chibi format since they needed to have a wide range of animations for various spells, status effects, and attacks. They needed to be much more versatile. Since most of the FF games give the player between 3-5 characters in the party at any one time, it would be impossible to have large, detailed artwork for every character and still have enough screen left for the monsters being fought as well. Animated large playable characters would be more of a pain as well.
With monsters and bosses, however, they could get away with using static images which had a higher level of detail. Human enemies might be 20 ft tall when compared with the playable characters in chibi form, but in 'reality' they would be considered to be the same height or within human ranges. Enemies are just represented in a different way. Maybe the images don't move much unless they are attacking, and then they shake or nudge slightly to the right of the screen with accompanying screen flashes, before returning to place. The illusion is that the picture has moved and attacked, and they haven't needed to animate anything to do that.
Since players may be familiar enough with the characters that they are controlling (be it from game manuals or artwork, etc) then they only need the smaller, cuter, chibi graphics in order to recognise and imagine the character properly. A monster or human enemy, however, might not be so familiar to the player, and they need all of the help that they can get to visualise it effectively. Hence we need larger images. They are also more imposing too, which helps for battles.
Moving on to the world of 3D RPGs and I guess it had just become part of the standard practice of RPGs. Most of the time in FF games though the human bosses are now proportional to the playable characters, but we do get some throwbacks. Maybe the series' fascination with transforming the most important bosses into impossibly hideous messes of limbs, wings, and twisted faces is related to the old school monster artwork such as this classic example:
Now compare that to what follows in later FF games... Meet Bizarro Sephiroth (or Seal Sephiroth, as I'd prefer to call him).
This form of Sephiroth is rather huge compared to the party members. It becomes a standard to depict villains metamorphosing into hideous ultra-powerful forms for one reason or another... We see similar things happen to Seymour, Yunalesca, Zorn and Thorn, Ultimecia, Barthandelus (although he wasn't ever humanoid, technically), and likely many, many more.
Maybe they figured that we'd be bored of humans of regular stature, and decided that for the most important battles the bosses should eat spinach and blast themselves with gamma radiation, and that all during a full moon.
Back in the days of 2D sprites the playable characters needed to be represented in a chibi format since they needed to have a wide range of animations for various spells, status effects, and attacks. They needed to be much more versatile. Since most of the FF games give the player between 3-5 characters in the party at any one time, it would be impossible to have large, detailed artwork for every character and still have enough screen left for the monsters being fought as well. Animated large playable characters would be more of a pain as well.
With monsters and bosses, however, they could get away with using static images which had a higher level of detail. Human enemies might be 20 ft tall when compared with the playable characters in chibi form, but in 'reality' they would be considered to be the same height or within human ranges. Enemies are just represented in a different way. Maybe the images don't move much unless they are attacking, and then they shake or nudge slightly to the right of the screen with accompanying screen flashes, before returning to place. The illusion is that the picture has moved and attacked, and they haven't needed to animate anything to do that.
Since players may be familiar enough with the characters that they are controlling (be it from game manuals or artwork, etc) then they only need the smaller, cuter, chibi graphics in order to recognise and imagine the character properly. A monster or human enemy, however, might not be so familiar to the player, and they need all of the help that they can get to visualise it effectively. Hence we need larger images. They are also more imposing too, which helps for battles.
Moving on to the world of 3D RPGs and I guess it had just become part of the standard practice of RPGs. Most of the time in FF games though the human bosses are now proportional to the playable characters, but we do get some throwbacks. Maybe the series' fascination with transforming the most important bosses into impossibly hideous messes of limbs, wings, and twisted faces is related to the old school monster artwork such as this classic example:
Now compare that to what follows in later FF games... Meet Bizarro Sephiroth (or Seal Sephiroth, as I'd prefer to call him).
This form of Sephiroth is rather huge compared to the party members. It becomes a standard to depict villains metamorphosing into hideous ultra-powerful forms for one reason or another... We see similar things happen to Seymour, Yunalesca, Zorn and Thorn, Ultimecia, Barthandelus (although he wasn't ever humanoid, technically), and likely many, many more.
Maybe they figured that we'd be bored of humans of regular stature, and decided that for the most important battles the bosses should eat spinach and blast themselves with gamma radiation, and that all during a full moon.
