#also. tomoco kanemaki. i know you mostly write the kh novels. but you were actually brought in to write for kingdom hearts dark road

[oveliagirlhaditright]

These last few days, I've been trying to think of what I want out of a Final Fantasy XVII. And I've definitely had some interesting thoughts there.

But one thing I definitely want--which I just know is a surprise to everyone, I say sarcastically--is a female protagonist... which I'm sure would go over really well with the people who hated Final Fantasy XIII. -shifty eyes- (However, people seemed excited about the idea of Agni's Philosophy, that would have no doubt had a female lead.)

However, enough time has passed since XIII, right? I'd like to try this idea again. Especially since, let's be honest, the real leads of Final Fantasy VII, X, and XII are Terra, Yuna, and Ashe respectively, even if you might not know it because you don't necessarily play as them... So obviously female Final Fantasy leads can be done and done well. Why, then, does suddenly making them the playable character make a difference? (I know it's just because people didn't like Lightning. So let's make a character that everyone likes, then.)

Although, if I'm being honest, I also mostly don't trust Square Enix when it comes to writing female characters anymore. Though I still don't want them to give up, of course. So who would I even want to attempt this?

Kazushige Nojima comes to mind, as he's penned a lot of our favorite Final Fantasy games, of course (and some of our favorite leading ladies in them, like in VII and X). So if he wasn't busy, he could surely be great for this... However, I'm also somewhat afraid of his work now, because of the Final Fantasy X-3 stuff, but hopefully that was the one time he really failed--and will ever fail--amidst all of his stellar work.

Yasumi Matsuno, who was responsible for Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story? I'll admit that I'm a terrible person who has never played Vagrant Story, though I did start watching a walkthrough for it years ago... and though I loved it, for whatever reason I never finished it. Back then I had started watching a million different playthroughs of games and couldn't commit to one (I think because I had a busy work schedule hen, and if I chose one, I wanted it to be worth it. Not that Vagrant Story wasn't. It most definitely was... I also was so overworked back then, I would sometimes fall asleep while watching the games, sadly, like with Final Fantasy VI--that had nothing to do with the games themselves, but how tired I was, which is why I inevitably gave up on this whole endeavor). But even so, I of course could tell how genius the game was, and I can definitely understand why so many people love it and are clamoring for a remake of it. As a whole, I feel both of these games are very well-done and greatly scripted. And, while I'll admit, that the Final Fantasy XII heroines don't grab me as much as some of the other ones in the series do, they're still extraordinary ones, nonetheless. And no one can argue how great Ashe was at directing the plot of XII. So if Matsuno wanted to direct a female led FFXVII, I would be all for it.

Naoki Yoshida. While I do think some of the stuff with Jill fell apart at the end of Final Fantasy XVI, I felt like she was a wonderful heroine for most of the game--and I like the girls in all of this installment--so I wouldn't mind giving him another chance. And another chance at the next FF installment in general, as there was so much about FFXVI that really hit the mark and that I loved: and I think that many people agree with that sentiment.

Yoko Taro. I'll admit that the only thing I know about Yoko Taro is the little bit of the first NieR I saw from a playthrough I watched (so I might not be the best person to talk about this). But he's always willing to bring crazy ideas to the table, it sounds like, and to experiment. So if he'd be up for trying such a thing, I'd most definitely let him try.

Motomu Toriyama. Yeah, this isn't going to happen with how much everyone hated his XIII trilogy. But all of his female characters in the XIII games were so great, imo (-shot-). And he's partly responsible for X and X-2, as well, and the ladies were wonderful there, as well (he's also helping out with the FFVIIR stuff, and we all love Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie). Oh well...

Akiko Ishibashi. She was a female writer on Neo TWEWY. And I loved how our ladies there were handled--and, of course, having a woman write other women (or to at least help out with that process) is most definitely a good thing--and now she's helping out with the Kingdom Hearts series... which is a godsend. And I don't really want to take her away from there, because Lord knows we need her when it comes to KH. But if she were to also help out a bit with FFXVI, I certainly wouldn't mind that.

#and how i miss sakaguchi... #also. tomoco kanemaki. i know you mostly write the kh novels. but you were actually brought in to write for kingdom hearts dark road #and. i may be wrong about this one. but i think also maybe to help with the 358/2 days script? #if square enix wanted to bring you on board more to help out with the writing of kh #or to even help with ff--as is the topic of this post (like with the female characters). i certainly wouldn't mind that either