Reply to 'A lesson in speech'

by Raincrystal 

When I played the beginning of CC, my first thought was, "Whoa, that's a really extreme Australian accent." My second thought was, "Uh-oh, Mistress Nightshadow's gonna get mad." :P

I've noticed for a long time that games portray people stereotypically. It's just the way it always is. I think that as much as graphics and music and even story have evolved as time goes by, character designs haven't. Is it because game companies want to make them flashier and thereby more appealing? Is it another way to have "fantasy," since stereotypes don't really exist in real life?

I don't believe the thought that nobody, not even multimillion-dollar Squaresoft, has noticed the stereotypes or spent time on figuring how they could have better characters. But what happens when characters break down stereotypes and become more "real?" The story loses a large amount of its fantasy element and becomes something completely different. Square HAS moved in this direction with FF8. That's good and it works in its proper context, but if every game were like that, there would be no more "true fantasies" that old-school purists like to reminisce about.

Even though nobody talks like Kid, that doesn't mean she has no right to be there as a stereotype. Would you want to play a fantasy game peopled entirely with ordinary citizens of your daily life? Does a game with the mailman, your little brother, and your history teacher as a small band of rugged heroes destined to save the world sound more appealing to you than one with stereotypes like Barret? If not, you've just hit upon the exact reason why RPG companies don't "fix" the stereotype problem. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you can keep in mind that you're playing a game and not real life. And if you can't do that, you need to put your weapons away and do some serious thinking anyhow.
Original Editorial : A lesson in speech