Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

[j-man]

At the very least, Barret didn't spend the first half hour of gameplay making a complete idiot of himself.

DAMN! S&*%! WHAT THE HELL YO DOIN? DAMN! for hours and hours and hours

[CM August]

lol cid

[CM August]

Okay, to clarify (thank you edit lockout), Cid falls into the same loud, brash 'cut the crap' archetype as Barret - a welcome foil to the numerous convoluted plot twists and psychological fuckery. They also happened to be badasses, and were my personal favorite characters.

I don't tend to like overly goofy/clumsy/cowardly characters in general, but the fact that it's coming from the only black guy since... what, FF8?... makes it pretty disenheartening, you know?

[Zeta]

I just see him as a young paternal figure with a whimsical sense of humor despite a tragic past, rather than a goofy coward. I dunno, that's just from what I've personally seen of the game.

[Crisis]

As I recall, General Leo was the first playable black FF character, from FFVI. He was only playable for about 2 minutes, and his sprite was bright pink so you would only notice it if you opened your menu during the extremely small window it was available, but I always thought it was a cool piece of trivia. Plus, he was a reasonable, intellectual, tragic hero figure from which subsequent black FF characters have really backslided. Why is it that black characters in video games aren't allowed to be fragile, intelligent, or female? Alyx Vance is the only one who comes to mind.

So, FFXIII. It looks pretty shitty I guess. I like that the main character isn't androgynous or emo, and I thought the opening scene in front of the fireworks machine doodad was genuinely romantic (overlooking the hilarious lip-syncing). A shame it deteriorated from then onwards.

[Shadow Hog]

General Leo was black?

EDIT: So it seems. Weird. Never noticed this.

[Zeta]

He's part chameleon.

[Crowbar]

main character isn't androgynous

You're crazy.

Also I really don't see how you can say Leo is black from that portrait or artwork. His skin is just slightly grey , if anything.

[Shadow Hog]

The lips, honestly. It subtly makes me think of blackface (which I'd like to think most of America is above, but Japan I wouldn't put it past). Combine that with his darkish skin, and...

[Isuka]

spiritual train wreck retroactive continuity nonsensical clutsterfuck that KH has become?

It has always been like that. Really, the very first game's last hour or so and how it doesn't make any sense/ answer any questions at all/ "Another side, Another story..."s your ass gives away Nomura's real intentions with the franchise.

I just see him as a young paternal figure with a whimsical sense of humor despite a tragic past, rather than a goofy coward. I dunno, that's just from what I've personally seen of the game.

He's totally Usopp. That was my first impression, at least.

[Zeta]

Oh good, yes, Usopp, the Woobie who often adopts weird pets and who will not Quit but will make jokes to ease the pain and shoots things. That is indeed Usopp!

[Blank]

This trailer is a bit more promising in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I9v7EsA-wU

Specifically the last two minutes or so. Also I'm genuinely liking the change to Hamauzu as main composer. I've been a fan of his work since I heard the Sigma Harmonics soundtrack and most my favorite tracks from FFX are from him. Personally I just love his instrumentation and his samples have a lot more going for them then Nobuo's typical wind leads. I spoiled myself with the OST a bit and I love the tracks so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDwAN90M ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tf6lHla ... re=related

[Edgerock]

http://na.square-enix.com/khbbs/

The site has finally opened and updated with stuff. There's also an English gameplay video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VqFYkZoFy0

September 7th for US release. Also new content which includes a boss in the NA version.

[Team Mecha]

It should be the queen from Snow White, whom I was surprised got killed offscreen. But it will be some damn mysterious super-duper sequel foreshadowing guy.