“I’ll smash em.” – Tifa Lockhart.
Here at NGP, we do our best to keep up with the times. New isn’t always better, but it’s always exciting, and we love to share that excitement with all of our friends!
I’m sure you’ve heard or seen of the Final Fantasy 7 remake that was released this past weekend. Tons of long time fans have been waiting (not so patiently) for it, while others will be playing it for the first time, but in light of its release, I find myself feeling strangely remincenset.
Indulge me, if you would, by traveling back to a time where 3D was in its infancy and smartphones were considered science fiction…
1997
I was 9 years old when the original Final fantasy 7 was released in North America.
As a game obsessed child of the nineties, I cut my teeth on early FF titles for the SNES, action scrollers like Mega man X and many other games. I’ve always loved turn based games, especially, but I didn’t own a PlayStation, so I was forlorn when FF7 made its debut and I couldn’t play it.
1998
I distinctly remember my first time seeing FF7 in person. My uncle came to live with our family temporarily in the spring of 98′, and he brought his PS with him, complete with a copy of FF7. As you may imagine, I was stoked beyond belief, but, much to my chagrin, my mother wouldn’t allow me to play it because it was rated “T for teen”.
I was furious, of course, and being 10 at the time, tried to convince my mother that I was plenty old enough to play it. She didn’t buy it, so, like any kid, I had to content myself with going behind her back and sneaking into my uncle’s room to watch him play.
I probably sound like an old man describing how FF7 made me feel, but it was just…amazing.
I was completely taken by the incredible, 32-bit polygonal graphics and pre rendered backgrounds. Of course, they look dated as hell now, but all I had to compare it to was the 16-bit SNES.
More than the graphics, were the characters. Like most of Square’s main protagonists, Cloud was boring, limpy and aloof, but his female cohorts were anything but.
Needless to say, I was very taken with Tifa, Aerith and Yuffie. Not only as a hormone enraged preteen, but also as someone who’s always loved stories.
Shameless nostalgic monologuing aside, I am coming to a point! As weird as it sounds, I owe a lot to the women of FF7, particularly because they influenced me in a very positive way.
More than just a pretty face
At the time, the characters were accused of being ‘overlysexualized’ but what I experienced was a female cast that carried the plot and narrative in an interesting way. They weren’t just ‘support’ characters, in fact, most of the time they did all the work while Cloud brooded.
Sexy as they were, they were more than sex icons to me, and I really do believe that’s why FF7 has been the most popular game in the series.
The prolific female characters in FF7 have been obsessed about by millions for over 20 years now. Why? We like strong female characters! We like women that speak their mind and kick ass!
A slew of early game titles from the late eighties to the late nineties featured nothing but dudes saving poor, helpless women from distress. Square actually did a fairly good job writing stories outside of that tired architecture, but FF7 pushed the limits.
I’ll say it: the sexiest thing about Tifa was not her ridiculously huge rack, it was the fact that she used her fists.
Evolution of a character
Interestingly enough, Tifa’s boobs have actually shrunk over the years with almost every new design. I can’t speak for everyone, but it hasn’t affected her attractiveness.
If one thing can be said about this remake, it’s that all of the characters, especially the girls, have awesome, clean designs that well surpass the original.
In fact, over time, as the characters have become more realistic looking, they’ve all gained less exaggerated features. I think the changes have been very good for FF ladies, and hey, if you don’t like any of them, hop over to 3D!
Outside of games, movies and remakes, the 3D community has dipped and double dipped their chips into these characters, giving us a million different ways to appreciate them all over again.
A Legacy
The FF7 girls have definitely changed a lot over the years, but they were also the foundation of later female characters. Lulu and Yuna from FF10, for instance, were great, strong characters. Cindy, from FF15, is also a fan favorite, though many still criticized the creators for making her too sexy.
There will be no such criticism here! As proprietors and creators of 3DX, I think it may be easier for us to understand why a creator would design a character a certain way. There are plenty of male characters in the series who are wearing next to nothing or showing a lot of skin, but nobody calls them out!
Female characters, especially those in games, have always been under fire for being ‘too much’ of this or that. It’s really amazing to me how much of that biased criticism still exists, but FF7 girls have and always will be some of the most revered and cosplayed out of the entire series; prudes be damned.
Regardless, we will continue to love these characters as they develop, and we’ll draw inspiration from them for our art, which, in my opinion, is one of the most flattering things you can do for something you love!
