Final Fantasy XVI & Masculinity

FF16 is a big game with many things. many cool things, but also some less cool things. this video is about those things.
#ff16 #finalfantasy16 #finalfantasy #gamereview #essay

[@thorhighheels]

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[@Bolsty7]

Umbrage tho. Dank bro.

[@MatchStickKilla]

LET'S GOOOO

[@happymate8943]

Just to clear up something. The woman that are friends with CID are their to help him in his goals. It doesn't say he slept with all of them. Also benadikta sleeps around only because her boss barnabas told her too. CID wasn't scolding her for having sex, it was because she was only going it for a tyrant king that doesn't care about her.

[@volantblade2024]

Those aren’t CID’s “side bitches” they are characters who have an actual relationship with him and support him and his cause. It’s even revealed that cid owes these women a huge debt for helping him fund the hideaway in the first place. Cid even set aside a rare jewel for each of these characters has payment for these massive debts and the quest ends with each of the women saying how they aren’t helping for monetary gains or anything in return They just support cid and his views.

[@dongodongo12]

Exactly how i read it, surprisingly most of the villages are run by smart, compassionate and strong women. And i just accepted it as part of the world. I wasn't amazed by it because i believe that drawing attention to it undermines it. It was good writing in my opinion because it felt seamless

[@777LS]

Thank you for saying this

[@williansnobre]

And if any of them really did have affairs with Cid it is completely justified because it is Cid.

[@volantblade2024]

It’s not “daddy was good to the slaves” it’s dad was actively trying to get them recognized as equals and died before he could see that dream come to fruition meaning his sons had to continue that legacy.

[@TheRustyLampPost]

Agreed, I think they kind of needed his character to be painted in a positive light because they wanted people to understand that no matter how good a persons intentions are, within an inherently flawed and oppressive system it simply doesn’t matter, dad was simply not able to do it, you can’t change anything from the inside, but by changing the status quo Clive can achieve his father’s dream.

[@Miksho7]

As much as I've seen this echoed, it feels like too little too late. You find out about Papa Rosfield's intentions in a single cutscene capping off an optional endgame sidequest. I think that the sidequests in XVI are basically mandatory if you want to really absorb the themes and all the dope character work, but this is also an example of how it can be a problem. Nothing in young Clive's interactions with his dad or any prior story-relevant scenes speak to this struggle. It feels like an afterthought, which (in my opinion) is what happens to the Bearer/Slavery plot threads as a whole. They created a world with a societal problem you couldn't punch and solve, but then condensed every single issue into...a God you could punch, which would solve the problem. I appreciate the effort, I don't love the execution.

[@TheRustyLampPost]

@@Miksho7 Just before the fight with Titan Clive tells Byron he was “raised in a nation that sought to lighten the bearer plight” or something close to that, and that is was his father that began this ideal. So it was brought up that’s what Elwin always wanted, in a pretty pivotal scene, too. Also I think a main point of the game is that often in oppressive systems violent revolution and a change to the status quo is the only thing that will bring real change. So saying all you do is punch a god to fix society is disingenuous (even if Ultima is a great embodiment of the game’s themes regarding class and the use of people as tools and resources). You also kill the great leaders that perpetuate the system and use it to subjugate the bearers, remember Cid theorises that many leaders might already know the mother crystals are fucked up, but that truth is inconvenient to them.

[@ryana3601]

@@TheRustyLampPost Tbf. wanting to "lighten the bearer plight" doesn't really say much in terms of liberation, it's an implication at best which isn't really enough. But I agree that Clive killing world leaders that perpetuate slavery does help promote a more revolutionary reading

[@Chatrbuug]

Ultimately, for me, we didn't spend enough time as young Clive in Rosaria to really get a feel for his father or how Rosaria treated it's Bearers. The time we got as young Clive was just right to get what we need for the greater story, but I'd want a young Clive and Bearer-Assassin Clive DLCs to flesh them out.

[@BlackfangDragon]

Annabella is basically the female mortal version of Ultima. Both are obsessed with their place in the world and rising above everyone else to be “in their right place” Even the “love” she has for Joshua and Olivier is very narcissistic and self-absorbed, since she quickly found a new reason to rise to the top the moment her crappy plan nearly murdered Joshua. It’s no surprise Olivier ended up a meatsuit of Ultima. He had to do nothing to corrupt Annabella or the Emperor, they both corrupt by their own hands and he needs only to play the role of the child.

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

I do really like the new villains. They behave like people you or I could meet. Not that there is anything bad with older, more cartoonish ones.

[@gordyhowitzer]

I really feel like Anabella was a deliberate homage-via-trope of Cercei, just processed thru the tropes of a JRPG. The number one change I'd have made in this game would be Benedickta having a face turn instead of just dying at the end of her fight with Clive

[@kar12894]

more like ripoff

[@xtoadsannom6704]

The parallels with Cersei Lannister are obvious, but I feel that it falls flat without all the context that Cersei enjoyed, notably her father's fucked-up views of Lannister superiority and the fact that she worked as much for her family as she did for herself. Anabella is very proud of her bloodline and family, but she seems to be the only member of her family still around and she doesn't even have a last name of her own.

[@antivanramun6998]

Mmm I mean if you study history you'd realize there were a ton of Anabellas and Cerceis, GOT didn't invent the wheel dude haha

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

@@kar12894 Edgelord.

[@skunthundler]

I agree with most of the video but when you got to the point of "The fact that I can wildly misread the game's themes means that something is wrong with the writers themselves" I found it to honestly be insane; it sounds like something you'd hear on Twitter. I also don't think destroying the crystals was "Let's make all the slaves normal" I think it's exactly what it's presented as, freeing slaves. The game still has an in-universe story to tell and not every analogy is gonna be 1:1 with our real world history and issues. Besides that though, everything you said about the treatment of female characters and conceits of setting felt spot on.

[@thorhighheels]

admittedly the thing about the possible reading was a first draft thing I just spammed into my notes while playing that made it in cuz I made this video back to back with the last one n by the time I got to that point in the script I was a lil done with it all and indeed of a break so I didn't look at my own notes as critically as I normally would. the moment I heard it in editing I was like yea nah not how I would've liked to have phrased that but shit is what it is I guess. I don't think that makes me insane just lazy. I do legit just feel v unsure about that as a plot direction still tho. I know the characters in the game do too it's defo not treated as a catch all bandaid on the situation. like this isnt goint to magically fix their society. but I dunno it just felt a lil under cooked to me. also while I am fully aware that the circumstances in the game don't fully mirror real life, I'm also not the one who made a side quest npc say the term "bearer lover". the moment that dropped I couldn't help but scan along with how it does or doesn't align with real life as a commentary or whatever. and I feel a lil conflicted about that. tho ultimately not where my main beefs were at with the story, obviously, so I'm sure I coulda missed things there. but imo, i do think it's more complex then merely freeing the slaves. cuz like, well just in gerenal, imo, if there's a problem in a society, and at the root of that problem sits something ppl are born with, then I don't think the solution to that problem should Ever be to make that thing go away. cuz the problem then is the society. they freed the slaves by making the magic users no longer magic users. even standing alone as in game universe shit, I think that sucks.

[@maxmillianwiegel1643]

@@thorhighheels Where the hell are your paragraphs?

[@tobigrantlbart]

What I find cool about Final Fantasy protagonists like Cloud or Tidus is how vulnerable they actually are. Like damn Tidus is showing emotion even if it's cringy laughing. And Cloud isn't an edgy self-insert for the kid playing the game. He kinda is the kid wanting to be an edgy teen hero.

[@mintyfreshmat]

I love that description of Cloud

[@furanpyon]

They didn't destroy crystals to free the bearers from magic, they destroyed crystals because they were sucking the life of the land. In fact they were trying to free the bearers by creating a network of likeminded people and a literal utopia of equal people in the hideaway

[@samwill7259]

"Curing" people of a born aspect that causes them to be treated differently in a society is ALWAYS poorly written, it doesn't matter how else you intend to explain it.

[@Lamasis2]

@@samwill7259 Then did they even try to "cure" them? This sounds made up.

[@samuelcampbell1730]

@@samwill7259 The thing is though, that the intention was never to "cure" the bearers. Clive nuking magic out of existence was completely incidental. Cid even makes the point that, in the proposed plan, things are going to get much worse for the Bearers before things get better. The purpose of taking away the mothercrystals was to force society out of dependence on magic, and thus eventually make the ability to do magic no longer a sought-after commodity. The game never really tackles the power imbalance that a mothercrystal-less world would have, primarily because the characters are told the "born aspect" you are talking about was entirely created by an arguably malevolent god, and was never a "true" part of the people. By trying to draw direct allegory to race or disability, you yourself are making the writing nasty. The writing isn't inherently nasty.

[@samwill7259]

@@samuelcampbell1730 If it is something immutable that people are born with, regardless of source or other use in story, then it becomes a racial allegory. That's just how the context is going to read, universally. This is basic writing knowledge that people have. Even if you didn't intend it to be a racial allegory, it is one, because that's just how it's going to be read. Period.

[@samuelcampbell1730]

@@samwill7259 That's just outright dumb and you are certainly wrong. Prejudice exists far outside of a purely racial basis and you are extrapolating what I can only imagine is your own personal experience into some universal truth when it very much is not. Prejudice can manifest from homophobia and misogyny, for example, both targeting things that the victim is born as. So, again, by boxing in the Bearers as an allegory for one particular real-life incident of prejudice, you yourself are making the writing nasty. Your own preconceived notions and personal interpretations are not "basic writing knowledge". And, as I'm sure you'd agree, implying that Maehiro's writing is an allegory for how minorities should just stop being minorities magically IRL is absurd.

[@NuclearXAtomico]

>starts the video with a strawman >the rest is predictable jeez these people really are a mob mentality

[@somenerd9135]

I've personally had a sort of disappointment on how much media focuses on like the big angry guy perspective. This video is great like all the rest of your content but it's nice to see you talking on something you got some personal opinions on and stuff. Opening up and talking about stuff a little is cool and im glad your cozy enough with your audience to talk on these sorts of things

[@minimalchill]

While I take issue with some of the perspectives expressed here, I can agree to this point for sure. I too am glad Thor is able to share and be intimate with his audience in this way.

[@morgannyan2738]

parasocial relationships, not even once

[@abaque24]

A lot of weebs and media illiterate people tend to forget that people write stories, that people made decisions on what happens in a story and what it all means. On the SA aspect, a big problem is that the writers use SA as a literary punishment for characters, just like death is punishment for promiscuity. They take it as ‘thats just how it be’ instead of ‘i’m not sure the writer’s head is in the right pace’ or ‘the writers beliefs are pouring through the work’ :U

[@SnakebitSTI]

Yeah, forget the "everything is political" angle, some people seem fundamentally unable to understand the concept that writers make decisions when they write stories, and that baffles me. Y'know, the people who only discuss stories by in-universe terms.

[@happymate8943]

Don't personally think SA was used as punishment. Seems more like something to make benadikta more sympathetic and agree with her anger. Reason for the flash back of her being saved by CID and her going full transformation.

[@abaque24]

@@happymate8943 i didnt say SA was used on benedikta as punishment since it was a flashback. Also that flashback was a cheap and lousy attempt by the writers to gaining sympathy, as well as her ‘relationship’ to cid. It’s meaningless. It could have been cut out of the game and nothing would have changed in terms on the storytelling, and it’s presence cheapens itself and cheapens benedikta as a character. The writers really did her dirty.

[@happymate8943]

@@abaque24 Knowing how quick it was, it was likely a good indicator that she was about to kick the bucket. So far the flash backs for the summons seem to be used to make them transform. Her character seems to be insanely loyal to barnabas out of blind "love". She freaked out when her baked powers were taken screaming about how the king will throw her away.

[@abaque24]

@@happymate8943 see? This is what i mean about the failure to realize that people write this things and that they have intentions/reasons. But this is a fun topic so we can explore it. Benedikta is ‘meant’ to be villain and a tragic figure in the story: as an antagonist to clive/cid, as a manipulator and a weapon for barnabas, and as a self-centered person. But this is in complete odds of her role in the story/gameplay. Benedikta serves 2 purposes for gameplay/story mechanics: to show that clive that can steal a dominants powers, & to show what happens to dominants that lose their powers to clive. She was concieved by the writers to die. The fact she was the first dominant boss is the foreshadowing she was gonna die. And this is where problems come in. Since she will die and she ‘has’ to die early in the game to fulfill her gameplay purpose, there is no space to explore her character beyond the few scenes she appears and the few aspects mentioned. Buuut the writer wanted to have their cake and eat it too, so she is also an example of how ‘dark’ this world is. She manipulates a dominant into fight for her ‘Owner’ barnabas as she lnows and understand that barnabas only sees value in her because she is ‘useful’ as a dominant. She doesnt love barnabas like you say, she is just desperate. But, like who cares? And i mean that from the pov of the writers and the audience. Up to the point she fights clive she is very much a ‘bad person’. Bringin up her past with cid is not meaningful because, again, she has to die in the next few hours so we cant explore that. Which brings us to her ‘losing’ her powers. At this point is when the writers finally want us to feel for her, but the writers didnt put effort into making you care about her beyond the superficial. So now she’s going to die. This is when the flashback comes in. Your reading it as foreshadowing of her death is a mis-read, its just a last ditch attemp to make benedikta into a sympathetic character, and they do it by cheaply writing her into a SA victim/survivor, and its cheap because thats all it is: a last minute tragic backstory. And to add insult to injury they attempt to make her tragedy be that she did not follow the one person who valued her for just being… which comes off as just aggrandizing cid rather than humanizing benedikta. Buuut times up- clive needs to resolve the lose eneds of his new power up by killing benedikta. After all what are they gonna do, leave her alive? She has to die. She has to. Thats all she was meant to do.- the writers decided to do all of that and did do all of that. The intention of the narrative is not open to interpretation when almos every aspect of the game is in service of that narrative. And so, who cares that benedikta died? Cid does. Clives doesnt. Jill not here either. Whether the player cared or not is more about the players own input than the creators output.

[@rearedlogarithm]

I absolutely adored XVI but Thor absolutely hit the nail on the head re: female characters in the game. Jill, when she got to do things, was phenomenal, but she was absolutely at best tangential to the story and development, pushed out whenever convenient.

[@mcgibs]

I haven't played it myself, but I assume it's a fujo-centric game. They just want to see hot guys bro-ing out with other hot guys. Any women in the story actively gets in the way of that.

[@happymate8943]

Jill is Shiva. Shiva through out the franchise focuses her attention on aiding ther heroes.

[@walksinrain]

​@@happymate8943then why give her personality at all if they're going to take 1 step forward tor every 2 steps back. Why develop her at all or allow her to have meaning? If it's *just* to service Clive's growth as a character, most people would label that as poor storytelling. If that's not the intent then they simply should have fleshed Jill out properly and given her more time to shine

[@LilMissThor]

@@happymate8943 The same could be said of Ifrit, Ramuh, Titan, and Bahamut, and yet their Dominants get a lot more agency. And even if that weren't the case, "this is how it's always been" is never a good excuse to keep archaic and outmoded tropes and cliches alive.

[@happymate8943]

@@walksinrain Likely because she's also Clive/ifrits lover. In ff series both ifrit and Shiva are either enemies, rivals, lovers. They probably don't want her to be bland imo. Although looking back , other than the cult on fire island, she doesn't seem to focus on any goals for herself only for clive's safety and his goals.

[@bornanime3255]

Gotta be real. This video was fantastic and captures a lot of concerns I have for the game, but I just gotta say that destroy the crystal black people to white people thing is a REACH. Like, nah, that is such a wild turn to take that idea💀

[@thorhighheels]

hmm. I dunno tho. like, imo, if there a problem in a society, and at the root of that problem, sits something ppl are born with, be it a skin color, or a disability, or a skill, or something like autism or whatever, then I don't think it's ever good to have the solution of that problem, to be making that thing ppl are born with, go away. because imo in thay case, the problem is the society, not the thing. and given that this game defo makes its fair share of allegories to slavery irl, das why I chose to word it that way. but maybe I should've added a bit more nuance to it

[@bornanime3255]

@@thorhighheels I feel like it's different. Cuz the main thing is that unlike with skin colour this is a real tangible difference that isn't arbitrary. People with magic genuinely do have an advantage over people that don't. The difference with racism is that racism is like if one group hates another because their nose is shaped differently while in this instance the difference is that the other group's noses can shoot missiles. We're in a Beastars scenario where in the discrimination can't be made as a one to one with real world discriminations like that of skin colour, because it would touch problematic territory. Rather the story is taking a unique fantastical scenario and applying how a negative idea in our world would play out with this world's rule sets that don't align with our own. I find that this is the case here in FF16. Discrimination based on appearances vs actual abilities aren't the same in my opinion.

[@ultimamage3]

​​@@bornanime3255On the contrary, the average Bearer in the setting of 16 doesn't have a massive supernatural advantage over normal people. The side effect of their ability is called The Crystal's Curse for a reason: they petrify from the inside and cough up blood if they use their powers too much, too soon, on top of the effect of their magic causing The Blight. It's like if having autism made someone visibly die faster from cancer AND damaged the environment and was turning the world into a barren wasteland, which is not something that happens IRL. Meanwhile the non-powered people can use a household object (a crystal separate from themselves) to replicate said magic with no bad effects, and Dominants are merely glorified Bearers in that they're more powerful than entire armies but they will still petrify and die from overuse (see: Jill, Cid, Joshua, Hugo, literally anyone that's not Clive). The average Bearer NPC is doing something benign like keeping a fish cold, maintaining the water on a fountain, or blowing wind on some hedges, like any household object (fridge, hair blower, etc). But it's still pretty explicit that the issue is that the exploitation is harming the people and the environment, and the conditions the Bearers are born under was forced on them by the Ultra Capitalist Slavemaster that is Ultima, whose people already destroyed their previous homeland by neglecting their environment for profit and insanely tries to replicate the exact same situation over again. When the Bearers tried to form a society that was more conscious of their plight, the non-Bearers went mask off and insanely violent. FF16's world is more allegorical to disability that affects someone's ability to work in society (not so much quality of life in a private space) in a world that doesn't sufficiently accomodate these kinds of disabilities and instead exploits them as an expendable part of the workforce, where the solution is taking away the abled people's means of oppression and forcing them to stop using other people in lieu of renewable tech that accounts for **everyone**, not only themselves so that people don't have to die (a blacksmith using forges instead of fire-type Bearers OR crystals, making everyone at the forge more or less at parity with each other). People seeing any type of "slavery" narrative and going "black people belong here! (in chains! and dying before the average life expectancy!)" is massive yikes.

[@chrisdaughen5257]

@@bornanime3255 I think SE was going for something like the Synergy (green) ending in Mass Effect.

[@SKSith]

I was really disappointed by Jill being mostly there to support Clive. The section where she gets to be the focus felt really forced to me. She keeps saying things like, "Clive I need you to understand that I have to do this." To which Clive is always like, "Yeah, I totally get it." Then you don't get to play as her, not even as Shiva. Shit was a let down for me. There's the basis for a great character there. Maybe she'll get some DLC attention.

[@1kbmahan]

She’s probably not the main character obviously and to be completely honest there’s like a dozen characters in the game that need shine. The crux of the story is literally Joshua and Clive.

[@TGPDrunknHick]

@@1kbmahan exactly. it's a tale of two brothers. Jill is important to both of them. especially Clive but, she is not the focus. it is a little disapointing that she didn't get much after Barnabas but, really at that stage it was full steam ahead on the Joshua Clive let's end this train.

[@yodoleheehoo90]

I never liked Jill, the main theme of the story was brotherhood between Joshua and Clive, yet the dog got more screen time than both brothers together, also 18 years is a LONG time. I despise timeskips, let alone 2 in a single story😤

[@Ozziw162]

I can't know what the intention was. And while I agree that the female characters were either underdeveloped or sidelined, I don't know if the ugliness and misogyny was a reflection of the writer, or a conscious portrayal of an ugly and misogynistic world; events, tropes and all. But either way, it's unfortunate it's not addressed in the game. It's taken as the norm, and it's never or barely ever challenged. There's so much that could be said about imperialism, monarchy, authoritarianism, misogyny and nepotism. And save for a couple of side quests, not much is discussed on how the land should be governed or how the norms should be challenged. "It'll be hard to fix this", is the one answer we usually get. Which is sorta weird, since there are scenarios in FFXIV that are so on the nose in their intent of message, I couldn't believe what I saw. Straight up communist revolution against a tyrannical capitalist zealot, who lives in a raised town adorned with gold, throwing all their waste to the poor people below, who are barely scraping by in a shanty town built in the shadows cast by the *literal* upper class. And as I understand it, it's the same writer? Don't get me wrong though, there were plenty of moments that hit hard in FFXVI too. That whole Mythos - Logos-theme was really fresh for one. But it could've been so much more. I hope they revisit Valisthea in a future installment, because it holds so much untapped potential. Minor addendum: I loved the game. One of my most cherished gaming experiences this year.

[@themeangene]

Oh no. How dare Japanese devs not share your cringe California leftist obsessions. How terrible 😂 People are sick and tired of these boring Marxist messages. They're tropes worse than traditional tropes

[@kaze23]

I feel like I had the same problems with Thor on the writing of some themes, it really came as awkward when the things he mentioned came up. IMO the greatest gripe with XVI is that, almost all of the side content contains VITAL information about the world and the characters that get sidelined, and in the last 10 or so hours the game bombards you with so much side shit that it really can miss the point much than it already does.

[@LilMissThor]

I think the game tackles a lot of themes it either a) wasn't equipped to deal with, or b) didn't have the stones to commit to in lieu of spectacle.

[@XVMatthew]

​@@LilMissThorFeel exactly the same. They wanted to tackle big themes without having to come to grips with the severity of the topics that's itself unavoidable and that killed any possible resonance it might have had for me.

[@alexandcrackers]

sick video good points etc but as a mere ff dabbler its crazy to me that this is the first one with sex in it

[@arof7605]

Canonical sex. 7 late game has a very similar fade to black that implies Tifa and Cloud do it. Later dev discussions in Ultimanias discussed it as such.

[@AwesomeFerret25]

Great video again Thor. I was wondering about the bendikta scene before her transformation. I didn't think she was SA'ed there. I thought the garuda fusion triggered and blew away the dudes trying to touch her. I agree with your points about how they used her in the story. From the trailers, I thought she would be around for at least more than half the game as an on again off again villain.

[@WonOneWun]

Yeah I was confused about the SA comment as well

[@charoleawood]

Ondore's medievaly journal interstitials in FF12 are some of the best writing in that game, I love it: "The Treaty would be signed with Steel and Writ in royal Blood", beautiful language. All around the English localization for FF12 is phenomenal and part of what makes it one of the best games ever made.

[@Yixdy]

Agreed. To everything you said

[@maxwellkazemba2299]

I love the classically trained theatre actors they hired for that game, a lot of the dialogue couldn't have been pulled off by lesser actors. "Too late and to their sorrow do those who misplace their trust in gods learn their fate!"

[@chaosdestructionlove]

Everything about the writing even if you don't quite understand the finer details adds so much to that world and game. I found it so magical as a child and need to get back to replaying it.

[@yodoleheehoo90]

yes, here! 12 did medieval-esque timelines and dialogue so much better than 16! It sounded way too modern with all the F-bombs being dropped like they were teens, sure Square drew inspiration from GoT, but only in the first few hours, then it all fell apart :(

[@Shiirow]

thats where most of the script problems stem from in the early games... "Localization" ...since woolsey was notoriously loose with actually translating it and instead making it more palatable for the 'murican audience, which lead to less fantasy and more modern speech. this is why you get silly memes like "Spooney Bard".

[@SionBarzhado]

You talking about when you found out Kuja was a dude reminds me of the first time I played FF7 for the first time six or so years ago and thought Sephiroth was 50 years old or older because of his gray hair.

[@kef0205]

Queer guy, if that matters at all. Cool video, Thor. You're the best type of influencer. Thanks for doing it.

[@ChickpeaTwo]

I'd be interested in hearing about your story. I don't think there is enough Intersex representation, or even awareness, out there. Also, supremely solid video, as usual. Your style is so chill and unique.

[@djblaklite]

100% fully agree with this.

[@kuronoroux8864]

I want to know too because in all his face appearances, voice, body language, height and whatnot he looked 100% male. Ngl it surprised me

[@ChickpeaTwo]

@@kuronoroux8864 Everyone has different levels of testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. Even cis women can grow beards. I think more intesex awareness could help (but I doubt it) with the whole "there are only two genders: male and female" argument. 1 in around 2000-4500 are born intersex.

[@kuronoroux8864]

@@ChickpeaTwo I'm aware. But now a thing makes itself clear. It's the username HighHeels. I recall in an old video (or was it in a QnA in those pages like Ask Cat was it? Said it was an inside joke for him. I do know it's because it's the similar to Thor's surname, but in retrospective it's also... Very fitting with this new info. I'm intrigued Edit: CuriousCat was the place!

[@caio8701]

hey, uhhh... I've been a fan for a while and, ngl, as a queer fan, it kinda warms my heart that you're a queer as well, I may not be intersexual as well, but it does make me happy to know about more LGBTQIA+ making cool stuff

[@jambyr2579]

No one cares

[@krool1167]

​@@jambyr2579shut it, nerd

[@raspberrylicious76]

@@jambyr2579 You clearly do if you felt the need to reply.

[@UenoHeavyIndustries]

cute and valid comment

[@greatrulo]

Don't listen to the one hater, I hear and support ya! Saludos from México.

[@m3llytan]

I grew up looking up to manly man RPG heroes and parties even as a young girl, but I have to say Thor's point about the female characters in 16 being more like accessories/additions hit home with me as an adult woman. It gave me some weird vibes like I didn't feel welcome in the game, and so for that and other reasons I didn't feel compelled to finish the game. Went right back to my second playthroughs of Dragon's Dogma and Wild Arms, haha. I get why people like 16 though, it's well made, but just a little too shaped by the marketing department even by today's standards for my taste. Something feels missing (soul? haha jk...kind of).

[@minimalchill]

You’re welcome wherever you decide you are. They don’t have that power over you, so don’t give it to them.

[@carriefernandez8705]

@@minimalchill that would be a nice platitude if it were true. there are absolutely plenty of spaces that various forms of non-men are not allowed in because of men with power. there are spaces that anyone non-white isn't allowed in because of white people with power. it's exhausting when you're continually the only one like you in the room, especially when you have to explain all of these aspects of your experience that other people have no idea about.

[@robinw.8083]

​@@minimalchillthat's sweet, but no. People absolutely have power to make others feel unwelcome, especially when it comes to things like minorities in nerd/gamer spaces.

[@abaque24]

I think a big BIG thing that added to creating this feeling is making the game a single character focused game/story. I compare ff16 a lot to BD1/BS and XC3 for the obvious reasons…

[@EvilIceCream333]

​@@robinw.8083that's when you don't give a fuck and do what you want because nobody controls you.

[@rpdt96]

I’m so glad Thor loved the towns in the game. Fresh break from so many people criticizing the map layouts

[@FijianSouljah1312]

“There’s nothing more Masculine than to wear clothes that you want or clothes that make you feel ‘handsome’ , and to not let the opinions of others to sway your thoughts.” - My Mum (Single Parent trying to raise a Boy into a Man)❣️

[@themeangene]

That's terrible advice

[@wyntonyang]

Great video. love your usual grab bag approach, but I also really I enjoyed this more focused review. By all means, talk more about square games and gender

[@danielsan901998]

I don't see a problem with the part about "daddy was good to his slaves" because the objective of the protagonist is to liberate the slaves, if this was a story about restoring the rightful ruler i would see that a problem because of being the typical conservative fantasy of the problem being not the institution but a bad ruler. Maybe this is stretching my interpretation to something i like, but I see the story as the protagonist learning that the current system is bad, even if the individual ruler can be good, that reform is not possible and that revolutionary action is necessary to destroy the system that is destroying the planet.

[@TacoDiceCosas]

I love this video (and all of your videos, really). You expressed very clearly what I like about this series, what I like about this game (I think is fantastic) but especially what I didn't like about the potrayal of women and sexual assault. I can't do this any better. This discutions are important in every piece of media, even and especially with things we like. Many people gets mad about this and I don't get it. Conversation is important and is part of the maturity of video games as an art form. Also, you are really funny.

[@themeangene]

😂

[@tariksnow4181]

Benedikta, Jill, and Annabelle would all be fine on their own if they weren't like. The MAIN girls. But all of them serve to either drive another dude's character developments or use a very tropified villainized version of womanhood and the fact that all three of them exist as the main girls just doesn't mix well. Benedikta would be fine if Jill wasn't sidelined and had her arc finished halfway through the game, Jill would be fine if Benedikta was a more compelling villain with a longer presence in game, and Annabelle would be fine if Jill and Benedikta had better presence overall. And of them all, I think Annabelle is like. The least offensive? Which is its own fucked little irony. I guess you could argue that Jote and Mid are more important than Benedikta but Jote is just diet Jill in terms of her place in the plot and Mid doesn't have nearly enough presence to make up for the rest, although she is fantastic

[@kei7540]

That's fine tbh

[@Kageryushin]

The idea it's offensive at all is laughable.

[@okuma1618]

So for Jill, being loving, caring, sweet and wanting to give her power to her love and the only person who can defeat Ultima is a bad thing? So outdated and patriarchal? Can't a women be nice and complimentary anymore? Do they really need to be the girl boss every time from what you get in all of Disney? A relationship is about complementing each other, not a competition of power. Jill seemed more actually real, strong and empathic than what you get from an angry Captain Marvel who has no empathy whatsoever. I am for women empowerment, just not at the cost of empathy and angry girl bossyness. My girlfriend is a strong woman and quite a feminist, but she's also caring and has a lot of empathy. In Jill I saw a lot of traits that my girlfriend has.

[@bleuumscarlett7977]

The problem with Jill is that her whole purpose is to be Clive's support. Remove Clive and what is Jill? What does Jill do except being the loving caring girlfriend? Does she have a personality beyond being with Clive? How much does she interact with the world around her? With the other characters? If we remove her from the story, is it impacted in any way? For me, Jill was just the "look pretty" girl... if she was a side character, I'd be less annoyed (annoyed still, but less) with that, but she's in the main cast. She follows on the adventure. Is it too much to ask for a main cast character to have more personality than just "look pretty and support your man"?

[@okuma1618]

@@bleuumscarlett7977 I get what you're saying but in my eyes she was not a main character but a supporting character. If Jill would have been playable and had her own quests and story arcs, then yes, I would agree with you. It's very unfortunate that this was the first ever FF where you could only play one character. FF was always about a team and team play.

[@connorhagerty537]

Yeah some of this video seemed more like a criticism against femininity, as if those traits you listed are weak, undesirable, or negligible for a female character to have.

[@antiproductive4131]

Nah bruh because women have to be strong and independent now, fuck men am I right

[@ediapaff8858]

I am so excited you felt like sharing this about yourself ♡

[@heepispeepis]

I felt the portrayal of women npcs was better than most games I play. You had Marta and the Dame actually have important fleshed out quest lines. I agree about Jill though, they throw her so far to the wayside I thought they like wrote a part of the story with her out or added her after a bunch of quests. She just never talks to anyone really aside from Clive.

[@heepispeepis]

Benedictas story ended in kind of a dumb way too I agree

[@J-manli]

@@heepispeepis I agree with Benedikta's story being cut needlessly short. The story can still have Hugo go after "Cid" by having Waloed send a fake vindictive letter to him written by "her."

[@3RNR3]

@@J-manli Yeah its strange how after the fight shes just laying there uninjured and they decide to just leave and the scene is over and later with Hugo they tell you she's dead

[@1chibanKasuga]

Idk why thor thinks is implied she slept with Cid

[@dongodongo12]

​@@1chibanKasugai never assumed cid slept with anybody, especially when at the beginning of the game you find out through a sidequest he has a daughter. Not that it would be impossible for him to sleep around but still i just thought he used his charisma to get to know the powerful women who are leaders in their respective villages

[@StormSnake0618]

It sucks that Jill's arc ended after the beach scene, but it was a fantastic scene imo. I felt the transfer of power and choosing to carry more burden so Jill's life could be spared from the curse was sweet, though I wish she was still around more after. Only time you get to use her again is after the flowers sidequest (which I also loved), and it shows that she can still use her ice abilities. I wish she would have gone with you to the final battle tbh. She could have primed one more time, like Dion.

[@gateauxq4604]

To be fair all Dominants are bearers as well so Jill had innate abilities independent of Shiva. Didn’t make it less annoying that she was sidelined in favor of Dion riding off with the brothers.

[@StormSnake0618]

@@gateauxq4604 I get the reason why, b/c her curse was progressing faster due to her overuse of Shiva during her servitude to the Ironbloods & the few times it accelerated afterward, but still. That's a writing contrivance to keep Jill out of the final battle that could have been avoided. I liked having Dion up there, but it would have been even cooler having the Ice Queen too. Pun fully intended.

[@THB192]

​@@gateauxq4604​@StormSnake0618 ...So I haven't played XVI yet but that sounds like... did they just make Ysayle again?

[@katarh]

Dion was ready to die. He actually _wanted_ to die. By that time, Jill had found a reason to live again. There was a real risk that priming one final time would cause Dion to lose control (as it did with Benedikta and Hugo) but he managed to keep control to the end. It's why he's got a dumb grin on his face even as he's falling at Origin. He felt like he had atoned for his previous loss of control with his maintaining control that last final time.

[@rearedlogarithm]

@@katarh It's frustrating that Dion was kept in his doom spiral: his lover was still alive, he bonded with the Medicine Girl and, if you did the side quest, he was able to reunite with his old tutor and made a promise to meet again. Them killing off Dion, albeit in a grandiose fashion, while Joshua, Jill and (maybe) Clive survive makes it more seem like he was a viable target for a dramatic sacrifice because he was the Gay Guy.

[@katarh]

I did not get the impression that Cid slept with characters like Martha or Eloise. (Isabelle? Absolutely.) Those two gals run non-brothel businesses, and Cid's biggest strength was the ability to form networks with both men and women. All I really wanted was more Jill time. Hoping that if they do add DLCs, we get more of Benedikta's story, and more of just what Jill did during those five years to make it so dangerous for her to prime.

[@canhedotricks6078]

When they implied Jill and Clive were pining I could feel the faith I had in Jill being nuanced in any way completely trickling down the drain. The romance between them should have never happened. There's nothing wrong with a romance between two lead characters but the two were raised as siblings; making it incredibly difficult to be interested in their relationship as a couple without it being creepy. That writing decision made it clear to me that the writers did not care who they were pairing together and only wanted an excuse to affirm Clive's heterosexuality.

[@talamzaman8536]

@@canhedotricks6078bro wut you babbling man

[@dongodongo12]

​@@canhedotricks6078she was sent to rosaria as a deal for peace, as a potential bride. I admit i thought they were siblings but they were childhood friends. Really says more about you than the writers if you read it as creepy

[@canhedotricks6078]

@@dongodongo12 My bad, I misinterpreted the politics.

[@katarh]

@@dongodongo12 Yeah, I always got the impression she was meant to unite the two houses, but because the Northern Lands were about to be lost to the Blight, they went with the tradition of sending her as a foster so she could be raised as a bride for one of the sons in the future. Anabella would probably have never allowed Joshua to marry a "savage" so Clive was the next logical choice, but I also think Elwin would have let the kids decide for themselves, too. He knew first hand how painful a loveless arranged marriage could be.

[@meowy2k]

i'm a woman but i also identify as nonbinary. i really enjoyed 16. i do get your gripes about the female characters but in my perspective, the game itself isn't just a lesson on free will, but a lesson that the world depending on who we are & how indoctrinated we are of society's weird standards can be a scary place and put us in unique situations. some good, some bad. it was like seeing a glimpse of my own reality, a hard truth because i am also a woman, i also escaped a cult i was raised in that destroyed my sense of self worth. even in modern day we can see these things take place. the SA scene with Benedikta at first i thought was unnecessary, but then i realized that unfortunately it reveals a truth of our society: that powerful, but vulnerable women just like Benedikta who have potential to start change are manipulated and tossed aside everyday, thus losing their own path and finding pain in the end. this is a common thing that has happened to the women in my family, sometimes i imagine who they would be if they didn't fall victim to some abusive men they eventually married. even though Cid had many women acquaintances, his efforts were moved by more positive motivations thus having so many people- men and women, deciding to follow and align with him. also i just really adored his character his voice had me swooning. i did want to see more of Jill though, she was such a cutie and i liked the little arc she had, her life was also very hard and she was forced to do many atrocities as much as Clive. those two are also just so cute together. and I really love Clive and Joshua, their dynamic has shown a fresh perspective for FF in my opinion. i did not expect all these characters to be so well written. it was a treat! also thank you for sharing your experience of being intersex, hearing voices from that perspective is important. i could also emphasize with you in a way because i do not feel like a woman most days and do have some masculine traits that stick out at times.

[@dirtyman19832003]

It's was very refreshing to read your comment. Thank you for your insight. It brings us more together when we talk like we're human beings and find our likenesses instead of our differences.

[@samuelcampbell1730]

100% agree on your take on Benedikta's character. I really was confused when I finished the game and people were saying what they were saying about her. Feels like a critical misinterpretation of the writer's intentions based on preexisting opinions.

[@meowy2k]

@@dirtyman19832003 thanks so much, i'm glad i could show another perspective!

[@meowy2k]

@@samuelcampbell1730 thank you! i do understand where folks come from, and male writers do have a hard time expressing the female perspective sometimes but i think we should look at ourselves and our world too because media is usually a reflection of our world and biases at the end of the day.

[@arof7605]

​@@meowy2kYeah, that scene read far more to me as "the world sucks for women" then any negative towards the women themselves.

[@catsoup9870]

Remember Jill being left out of the final battle? That was weirdly appropriate lmao

[@cybercop0083]

Even Torgal was left out of that!

[@guilhermecardoso2365]

She is so damn useless. Such a shame, she has a cool design

[@kei7540]

She would've died even Clive barely made it out alive

[@volantblade2024]

The only reason why dion is there is so the bros can hitch a ride

[@catsoup9870]

@@kei7540 it's equally possible that nobody would've died with her help

[@Ali-fs7ze]

"Watching a video on a game I have 0 interest in cause one of my favorite youtubers made it" has become a shockingly large portion of my life these days.

[@beng6149]

There isn't a rule that you have to be 100% invested in a topic in order to watch it.

[@SnakebitSTI]

I think it makes sense. I often avoid watching videos about games I'm interested in because I want to play them first.

[@crox22]

I would disagree with your assessment on the transition of power scene. I believe it had more to do with the pair being vulnerable with their feelings and emotions, and the decision was entirely hers at the end. Clive never would have asked that of Jill, and despite their shared love, he is the eternal gentleman and would never want to overstep. I would read the scene as empowerment for her character and a sign of her own autonomy, and the consummation as the emotional climax of their acceptance of one another and their pain.

[@JoeyCi]

You've played the game in english, right? Because in Japanese, Clive takes Jill's power without her offering it at all. It is very, very, very much not empowering for Jill.

[@crox22]

@@JoeyCi I haven't yet. I'm aware there is some addition and censorship in the English compared to Japanese (notably in the Iron Kingdom section). But I dont know if the English subtitles would be proper translations or still the English dialogue.

[@Zoeila]

nah its the same bullshit xenogears pulled with elly

[@crox22]

@@Zoeila never finished that game. Only ever got to around the desert level any time I've played, despite enjoying it. What happens with that character that makes you say that?

[@muunprince1992]

ThorHighHeels's editing never disappoints 👠👠

[@TirOrah]

Thanks for showing us your unique perspective on games! I was never interested in this one because it was an action game, but I can't deny that the look of early promotional material turned me right off even then. It looked like it was aping all the stuff I don't like about shows like GoT. I don't like stuff that thinks it needs cursing, gore and sex (in whatever form) to be 'mature'--that's such a surface-level way to look at it. I'm glad you had fun with it, despite the flaws. Edit: Oh yeah, I laughed when you went 'lesbians' and you showed footage of Fang and Vanille! Ha! It's so true.

[@darkfirecheetah]

One of your major allies is a brothel Dame and her and her workers are treated with respect throughout the game, to the point a late game quest has the town overthrow a Duke to follow her. Only people in game who say bad things about women sleeping around are all villains. Not to say women in XVI are treated super well, Jill especially deserved better, but I really dont think the game thinks women who sleep around are to be shamed. Benedikta's treatment is bad, but the game pretty clearly thinks the people who dismiss her or call her sexist names are in the wrong assholes.

[@blackholemonkey]

Also all this added to my comment above. Commenter, I am in full agreement with what you are saying lol I just wrote a rant comment responding to some of the nonsense Thor says in this video

[@Spikew]

You are missing THHs point.

[@ararebeast]

I really, truly agree with the problems with Jill as a character, I feel like she gets precious little to do and fades more and more into the background when she's not allowed to be a Marvel vs Capcom assist and that's a shame because she seems cool. And while I don't disagree with the problems with using SA in the case of Benedikta and others (which I assume is partially inspired by Berserk, potentially for the worse), I do think it's reductive to boil down Cid's "Is this how you want to live?" speech to just her sleeping around and not all the atrocities she committed in the name of an Empire, using her newfound power to prey upon others and make them feel as powerless as she herself once did.

[@TheRealAmericanMan]

I feel like Benedikta’s thing was that she was being used and Cid saved her from that Then the encounter with Clive left her powerless and her reaction is a very rap-y Then when the potential SA is about to happen she finds her own power again Nobody took it from her it’s self provided etc. It’s kind of the opposite of how you took it

[@Eddyoshi]

You are one of my fav content creators on this entire site, and this may be one of my fav videos of yours. You getting more personal in the middle was super fascinating to hear about (and also taught me that maybe if I'd played a few final fantasy games as a kid/teen I'd have found out queer parts of myself much earlier than I did). Would definetly want to hear more about it, and loved your perspective on this game's story!

[@ultimamage3]

16:00 It's in this regard that I'm less hard on XVI than I am with XV, because XV was very much a game about "guys doing guy things" but with a superficial and insincere element to it that saw Hajime Tabata say things like, "the addition of a female character as a party member would change how the men behave around each other", except even without the women around the bros were still somehow emotionally constipated and their shows of vulnerability and the resolution of their emotional arcs come in the late game, confined solely to DLC, or in Noctis's case, literally after the credits. Where Clive is allowed to express a variety of emotions including his grief not reserved for "moments with his boys" while keeping a veneer of "cool indifference" around the girls, every time Noctis got even remotely upset about his dad or about Lunafreya, there would be a character there primed to tell him to shut up and that he was too coddled, but now he has to MAN UP and BE THE PROTECTOR. Noctis doesn't make any real overtures to Lunafreya or admits that he felt some way about her until she's already dead. Before that, he has the option to indifferently write "Got it" three consecutive times in the only times he ever communicates to her through his notebook. His tears for her are shed to thin air with no one around or while the other guys are KOed from hypothermia. Sarah in the DLC tells him he needs to be more honest about how he feels before it's too late, really going hard on the fact that he's holding in his emotions. Gladio gets punked out by Ravus and feels emasculated, thus he goes on a manlyquest to swing his sword at things really hard and build up a literal Rage Meter, because he feels he isn't manning hard enough, and he gets lessons from Cor who admits he's kind of a fraud and didn't beat Gilgamesh as hard as people thought he did. There's some brief lip service to the idea that Gladio is afraid of failure, but this never comes back; he goes right back to telling Noctis to MAN UP and that he's CODDLED and HE NEEDS TO BE THE PROTECTOR when he's experiencing grief after Chapter 9, denying Noctis closure/mourning and the visit to Tenebrae that Luna literally asked him to do, in the belief that Noctis will simply give up. Ignis's relationship to Noctis in the English version and his casting in general was supposed to evoke "cool stoic Sherlock-type" and "the Alfred Pennyworth to Noct's Bruce Wayne" and his DLC includes spiritual mentorship from Ravus to teach him how to be an older brother as Regis decreed him be since he was like, six, and his highly emotional moment (the almost zealous element to his overprotectiveness of Noct) comes when Noctis is out cold or absent, and no other guy is present/conscious to see him lose his cool except Ardyn; he dons his cool stoic "protect Noct" mask when the other men around return or awaken. Prompto is the twinkest twink to ever twink in the party, and they all get their turns ribbing on him including implying he's still fat, or that he'll get fat if he so much as eats a burger. Guys like Gladio would bully guys like Prompto, easily. His character arc in Brotherhood is like a misread of The Little Mermaid in that he changes his entire appearance just to be worthy of the attention of the boy he fancies (Noctis), and all the boy ever said to him before then was _"you're heavy!"._ He performs a bunch of unrecognized emotional labor for the party only to be rewarded with snide remarks about how useless he is (or being shoved by his face on the train) and his character arc in his DLC centers around how useful he is to Noctis and his friends and needing validation from Noctis. The journey he undertakes in his DLC is never mentioned to the others, Aranea asks him what he wants for himself and his answer amounts to "join back with Noct and the others", and the one detail that keeps him going and maintains his faith in his friends is pretty much a lie: "Noctis told me to come look for you", when Noctis never told Aranea to do that. He's the youngest and the most waifish of the boys, and thus he's Damseled for Noctis to rescue in Gralea, a detail that never happens to Gladiolus or even to Ignis when _Ignis_ is kidnapped to Gralea in his own DLC-- Iggy's given free reign to wander around the compound! Noctis defeats the antagonist Ardyn not by a display of empathy for what he's been through or any attempt to reason with him or purge him of his scourge by using healing ability, but by agreeing with God that Ardyn in all his flamboyance and non-conformity to traditional gender has to be killed in a fight. All because way back when, he used Oracle-like healer abilities as a Lucis Caelum when the lore states that power belongs to women, opposed to Somnus who is not a healer and instead burned infected bodies, where traditional Caelum powers are all about black magic and summoning offensive weaponry. This non-conformity left him "unclean" and rejected from kinghood. Ardyn, in the end, has to die by _swordfight._ Only for Noctis to die by _impalement._ To then go to the afterlife and hit Ardyn with a bunch of swords _super hard._ And then it turns out Noctis did have his emotional breakthrough and admit how much his guys mean to him.... but it took him his fiancée being long dead and his own death being around the corner for him to come to terms with his journey. It was left to after the credits when the game was already over and not shown when it was actually appropriate in the chronology. Lunafreya centering her entire life around Noctis since age 4 was lol, Iris's character being defined by "crushes on Noct" was lol, Aranea being there to deliver exposition on the Empire and having an offscreen character arc was lol, Cindy just being eye candy for Prompto to Nice-Guy-ishly put on a pedestal and Gladio to comment on was lol, Gentiana only showing up to talk to Noctis about how much Luna is slavishly and uncomplainingly bearing his burdens for him (but doing nothing to help Luna in Chapter 9 because Luna's only value is dying for Noctis at that point) is lol. Her appearing in Chapter 10 or 11 to give him the Trident and expound that _she_ is the one who groomed Luna to center her life around Noctis since age 4 is even more lol. Shiva proceeding to define herself by her love of Ifrit and making him the reason she "loves humanity" because he did it first and inspired her, instead of her having an intrinsic motivation to love humans was lmao, even.

[@questioningespecialy9107]

As someone who's still got FFXV somewhere in the backlog, this was very interesting. thanks

[@swizzdawgg]

YUPPP

[@ultimamage3]

@@questioningespecialy9107 Don't let all that I said stop you from playing the game; if "just vibing with the boys" is your thing, go for it and ignore the rest of the plot and like, half the banter. It's just weird to me how the game presents itself as a fun time with the boys yet not even the worldbuilding is safe from Some Writer's Weird Hangup over Gender Politics: Take for instance, Lestallum, the one town on the map where "women do the work and the men stay at home! ♥️" and it's touted as super progressive and feminist, but in execution it's a cautionary tale on The Dangers of Women's Lib: you hear the male NPCs complaining about how they feel less manly because their wife earns more money than them, or another NPC discourages his son's aspirations to work at the nearby power plant because "that's women's work". There actually are plenty of men who own shops in Lestallum and Noct can interact with all these merchants, where the interactions are "equal" between Noct and the shopkeep (Noct wants item, has money, Merchant wants money, has item. They trade. Transaction over.) but the interaction with Holly (the only *actual* female NPC that isn't Iris) is framed as unequal-the boys of the party are the ONLY ones that can do the work she wants done, and she needs them, but the bros don't need her. Daemons overrun her power plant one time and all the "working women" of the city are hiding away at home and none of them are combat ready. This is also somehow apparently a job that Prompto, the most squishy member of the bros, can handle and isn't himself hiding away from. Holly's quests involve moments where the bros more or less make fun of her PTSD and how they don't believe it's real (she claims her back hurts at the mere mention of daemons; what's happening is that Holly is Cindy's friend through Cindy's parents who died being mauled by demons when Cindy was just 5-6, and their deaths caused Holly to devote herself entirely to her work and neglect self-care, leading to a back injury. And in general, PTSD triggers can be anything and can manifest physically, making the banter in this section of the game serious Yikes.) Also, the Oracles. At least four of them are meet an untimely demise for the sake of a king or protecting a close male and providing that man's motivation. Despite their importance to the lore as being the only ones capable of holding the "world-destroying darkness" at bay, the story moves on without them, they're replaced as unceremoniously as old batteries on a remote, and one of them is even replaced by a male king taking her role just fine-not even a man in the Oracle's own bloodline, but a king in Noct's bloodline who just decided to take on her role until a legitimate successor came of age. Meanwhile the one notable female king within Noct's line has a specific backstory of "the people of her kingdom didn't like that she was king, because she's a woman and that's not a woman's job". So uhhhhhhhhhh... yeah. The game's one of THOSE types when you look under the hood.

[@questioningespecialy9107]

@@ultimamage3 _spots another KZbin comment mini essay_ 🙌🏿 Also, yeah~ I'mma skip that game entirely and just enjoy video essays instead. Don't need that kinda bs in my life. thanks

[@ultimamage3]

@@questioningespecialy9107 At the risk of kicking a dead horse here, it bears (heheh) mentioning how funny it is this video brings up the game's treatment of Elwin as "one of the good ones" as suspect, given how _insidiously awful_ the same thing is in XV, it's just that little attention is drawn to it in the game. No one says anything about how King Regis treated his people, and anyone with criticism against Regis or Noctis is a villain that has to be killed and defiled for their transgression. XVI doesn't exactly frame the system of bearers as ideal, Clive and Elwin exist in that system and are complicit by acting within it, and not everything bad can be pinned on Anabella. XV meanwhile treats King Regis as a good king and a good father who did nothing wrong, except Regis exploited downtrodden refugees from conquered lands for his personal army. Said soldiers are only recruited when they have nothing more to lose, get treated as second-class, live in substandard housing akin to the Midgar slums from FF7. Regis otherwise employed a "strict refugee policy" that didn't let outsiders in, and never thought of exporting the anti-daemon technology the city uses to protect the rest of the kingdom outside of it, resulting in lives lost to completely preventable deaths (see: Cindy's parents), all before the setup of the game where he intentionally lets Insomnia be invaded just to save Noctis, because Noctis's life is literally that valuable. But he didn't bother preparing Noctis for his journey or telling him what his destiny was, he raised him as a "normal boy" to spare him the stress of knowing it, which screwed everyone else over. There is NO criticism of the system and classism within XV; the classism is its backbone. The Divine Right of Kings is canon to the timeline. The royalty really _is_ blessed with powers that make them better than the common man, passed down to them by the gods. No criticism of the "heroes' side" is allowed no matter what reprehensible things are done by the heroes or how Noctis and his allies endanger the lives of common people. For XVI, Clive, Jill, and maybe Cid have moments where they question if their journey is the right thing, and it's even mentioned outright that people won't just randomly grovel at their feet just because they're playing hero. No such consideration happens in XV because that story already decided that the only people who criticize the good guys must be the bad guys, and Noctis was predestined to be the hero so everyone must have faith in him specifically. Kingsglaive the movie is basically "Refugees Bad: The Movie". The climax comes from half the eponymous force betraying the king over his false promises, except for Nyx the protagonist who's "one of the good ones" when he remains on the side of the royalty exploiting him, shows absolute faith in King Regis's decisions, and gives his life to stop the villains of the movie. The "traitors" who betrayed Regis are later treated in the playable MMO "Comrades" as ungrateful sinners who bit the hand that fed them, then revived from the dead to "repent" for their "sins" by showing fealty to Noctis in turn and fighting in service of him, because again, Noctis is destined to be the world's savior by the word of the gods and a magic rock. There is no other way, so they had to fall in line, or else. Ultimately at the end of the game when Noctis is facing off against Ardyn, Noctis makes no mention of the common people who helped him get to where he is the way Clive acknowledges his "brothers and sisters"-- shit, the start of XV features banter that Noct is _debasing himself_ by helping commoners with errands, he's literally "too good" to be doing sidequests. There's brief visual lip service in the ending where Noctis is surrounded by his close friends and his dad, because by all standards of the game, those three friends, his dad, and ostensibly his fiancée are literally _the only people that matter in Noct's journey,_ certainly not the reporter NPC who spreads lore, the researcher NPC studying the effects of the plague on the natural world and figures out its source, the various cook NPCs who provide buffs for the party, or the jeweler NPC who's trying to create protective items to help people without magical bloodline bullshit. ( Even then Noct's friends are superfluous, because the power he actually uses to vanquish Ardyn and the Starscourge comes from not from his friends having faith in him or the bonds he forged, but from a prophecy, his royal bloodline, his girlfriend's bloodline, the gods of the setting, and a magic rock. )

[@tigerfestivals5137]

Not sure what you're on about with the straw man skit at the beginning, but censorship in games IS bad, regardless of if it's in a Japanese or western game.

[@caveirainvocada9438]

28:10 i think this comes from japanese developers trying to do "western fantasy storytelling". Like, "what do these american people do to make their stories dark? Oh yeah there is a lot of women being treated like shit i guess"

[@luizkorynga]

Exactly, that's why in 16 they did the same thing as "western fantasy storytelling" (they really have so many women like shit, they're misogynistic, there's no such thing as people with different skin color, etc.)

[@caveirainvocada9438]

@@luizkorynga It's so sad that they didn't take a note from the Souls series or Elden Ring. Their worlds are very rooted in western fantasy but they did away with a lot of this stuff

[@luizkorynga]

@@caveirainvocada9438 I don't think Soulsborne wouldn't help much with the narrative (but with the world for sure), for them to be inspired by Game of Throne and other "SERIOUS Medieval Fantasies" was a real shot in the foot

[@pablozambrano16]

Many of the aesthetics in this game even seem to be late coming responses to the complains that fifteen years ago some guys were making about FFXII not being more "serious and realistic", or it having a teen twink by main char and not the thirty yo rugged guy

[@mewmedic]

Love all the little pikachus you shoehorned into the video.

[@vazazell5967]

Seing a hyper manipulative woman as a villain is kinda fresh at this point lol, it's been so long since i saw that

[@antiproductive4131]

true, it's not like we have a lack of inclusivity and "strong independent women" in any media at this point. This is something fresh by now.

[@MrDarksol]

I do wish the game had more mini games instead of just quests that are very very much obviously a skeleton from the final fantasy 14 template of MMORPG's and that you have a party not just Clive. That and if you're gonna basically go for an action RPG scenario then go all in with it don't just limit yourself because now all you have is just diet watered down devil may cry but with final fantasy slapped on it. Although come to think of it it is pretty off that everything is resolved by the men and only the men but everything else by women is either they're there for support or they're there because they're evil or they're just always having the sex...... I mean I get that this had some inspiration from Game of Thrones but come on!

[@Unquestionable]

I'm at the very end of FFXVI, the giant amount of side stuff that popped up before the last dungeon got me a little burnt out, but I would say I enjoyed it for the most part. While I would say it's too early to say where I would place it on my personal list I appreciate how despite how grim dark it looked on the surface there is a ton of room for more light hearted and outright beautiful moments. Also very much dig those "looks like a real place vibe".

[@shirokazuchi]

"Kill god with the power of friendship" the ending to every Jrpg ever

[@ds2121able]

This is definitely one of the best videos I've seen on XVI. You give so much love to the smaller things I don't see too many other people talking about (like walking through the forest with Histoire playing) but you also point out some of the weirder things it has. That being said, to me, the game does feel very masculine, but in a healthy way. Clive's relationships and how he expresses his love for them is was tells me this. He is constantly telling everyone close to him how he holds them dear, like when Gav gets insecure while drinking, and Clive reassures him, then later embraces him before the end of the game (almost brought me to tears). I just wish the female characters (mainly Jill) got more to do, and didn't feel just there to be there for Clive, because I really enjoyed her presence and character design. The game generally could really have benefited the type of banter that was in games like FF Remake. Anyways, sorry for the ramble, great video!

[@om3g4z3r0]

If women sleeping their way into power was wrong there woudn't be a famous kardashian, they slept their way into fame and fortune.

[@bingus5488]

Interesting look at FFXVI, thanks for sharing. A welcome breath of fresh air from people who go all in and say "IT'S PERFECT NO FLAWS" or "THE END OF FINAL FANTASY AS WE'VE KNOWN IT." I think you may benefit from not classifying this as an essay-type video, and maybe as something more "personal" or "casual," because regarding some of the character critiques of the game being too much of a "men doing stuff" story and the females taking more stereotypical roles, I found you returned to simply saying "I don't like x" a lot. Which is fine because this is just own video and own opinions, and I enjoyed the video just on its own merits. But just based on the presentation I was expecting something a bit more... well, essay-like exploring these things. I hope you don't think this is too harsh, it's just one thing I thought I'd bring up. Love your videos overall, keep it up :)

[@gorcshurut4934]

Great video, made me reconsider and recognize a lot that I didn't see at the first playtrough. But I do have to admit, it really feels like Thor got to some conclusions that I think misses the point- the game never tries to justify anyone having slaves, and I think it is a very layered and nuanced theme that is explored quite well. But man.... Calling Benedikta a 'Monster'... I totally missed how tonedeaf that truly is. Again cool video as always! 👠

[@elinator8889]

this was difficult to even want to click on

[@heeeyyy2947]

Thor this may for real be one of your best videos! always love your perspective on games but here it feels like you really honed in on FFXVI thematically, like, it’s a fun but messy ass game and I love seeing people talk about it! thanks for sharing your takes (and your identity) with us! ❤

[@MidnyteBlaze]

I mean, what was he gonna do? Fight Jill to the death for her power? Which would have been dope.

[@monca1222]

I can't wait for a FF that shows the hero and love interest on opposite sides... Ff versus was the closest we got to it... I'm tired of the whole childhood friends thing to show they have a "connection". I want see them meet in person and show the development of love instead lol

[@Don9aldo]

They 100% should swap XIV WoL out for Yoshi P's Lala. 3ft tall friendos can kill gods too dammit! As much as I enjoyed FFXVI I really hope XVII genderly swings in the opposite direction and we get another Charlie's Angels X-2 style game. Jill losing all non-Clive related agency after killing the patriarchy was genuinely upsetting. I really wanted to see her grow as a character, making friends with Tharja, Mid, and Charon but the female cast hardly share a word :(

[@ilypo]

awesome video thor :) I'd love to hear you talk about your personal story sometime if you'd like to, seems like a really interesting and unique topic that isn't very talked about !!!

[@stephenrochester6309]

Naughty Dog should consult you on their next project instead of Anita Sarkeesian.

[@keithsimpson2685]

FFT I don't think is fully in the "men doing things" category. Like most of the main active political cast is dudes but Agrias and Alma are extremely important, Agrias being your strongest character for a while. Besides that Miluda's whole thing over two battles conveys a ton of character. It is annoying that classes have gender based stat changes but that feels like a weird Ogre battle leftover more than FF dna. Plus the art is pretty androgynous oftentimes.

[@09KEVO09]

the funny thing about jill is that the game goes out of its way to say that shes still a virgin just like clive

[@cybercop0083]

Oh, so that’s why she survived the events of the game!

[@roadsidepeekneek7259]

Man I could have sworn they did it on the beach

[@Rithysak101]

​@@roadsidepeekneek7259 the trophy confirms it.

[@SaberRexZealot]

@@roadsidepeekneek7259 nah they just held hands all night

[@SailorSnacks]

I feel so stoopid! When I first beat the game, I slightly sad about this. I was very much crying for the rest of the day and part of it was because of this. And then I saw someone on Reddit say that Jill was probably pregnant and that’s why Clive died. I dead ass, did not even consider that they had sex, LIKE AT ALL. Hahahah

[@TheRacePig]

I think some of the readings you take from certain plot points are maybe unnecessarily bad faith, but I think I can understand that perspective given how gross some of the plot points are, it's a game that kind of accidentally makes you read things in a certain way that I think weren't necessarily intentional. Like with the mothercrystals, I think that was more of a commentary on how we can't really build class consciousness today without first tackling the climate because it's kind of impossible to build true equality when the world you live in is dead. I also think the bearers wielding magic was analogous to certain technologies that we might use for manual labour today, and how they're dehumanised into being basically water fountains or heaters or things of that nature. I think the writing outside of the treatment of women (which sucks) is kinda surprisingly leftist, though that's not that surprising given some of the topics FF14 covers. It fucking sucks how even just studying gender is this big hot button issue today though, because I think if the writers at Square's studios could really benefit from it and produce better games.

[@landis9767]

right? on one hand the game gets so progressive, angrily revolutionary, pretty much anarcho-communist... and on the other hand you have the women being accessories garbage.

[@Zoeila]

the mother crystals arent about the enviroment its about the devs hating classic final fantasy

[@landis9767]

@@Zoeila get some media literacy

[@TGPDrunknHick]

@@Zoeila ah yes, the devs with their project lead who also heads up 14 in which every update contains a love letter to another game in the series. those devs right?

[@OtherlingQueen]

500% normalize crop tops for boys

[@kael070]

Damn haven't heard the word intersex in like 15 years

[@Necromancer1230]

Honestly I feel like you might be like under selling Benedikta as a character, like I know FatBrett actually has a very solid video discussing Benedikta as a character and she actually has a fair amount of depth and if you actually look at the scene with her and Barnabas she's actually very much trying to get him to connect with her throughout that scene and he just brushes her off and it's clear that she's desperate for validation from someone but she has a very particular view of loyalty that stopped her from just going along with Cid who would have been more then happy to give it and it's easy to just kind of overlook a lot of these details. Though you did acknowledge she's not a cardboard cutout and I think you're totally justified us having issues with how the threat of SA is used to kind of underline how vulnerable she is without her powers feels kinda shitty.

[@rearedlogarithm]

It makes her more nuanced, definitely, but it still exposes the same issue Thor brings up: Benedikta's validation is based on her sexual relationship with a man, which is a problem in a game where the female characters whose roles are not based on their worth to men are a definitive minority and the two most prominent female characters, Jill and Annabella, are very much defined by their relationships with men. If Benedikta was more or less alone in that fashion then it would be an interesting part of her character rather than par for the course.

[@Kageryushin]

​@@rearedlogarithm Yeah but like... _why_ is that a problem? It's really not one. There are plenty of stories with predominantly female casts where the most prominent male characters are defined by their relationships to women, but I can't imagine you whining about that. You probably never even thought about it.

[@WonOneWun]

⁠​⁠@@rearedlogarithmplenty of woman in real life get their validation from their sexual relationships with men though lol. Its a very real thing.

[@Zoeila]

@Kageryushin if you dont think its a problem you are mysiogynist

[@TGPDrunknHick]

@@Zoeila if you think it's a definitive problem you're a misandrist. see how that works?

[@OccuredJakub12]

I feel like actually 16 being more for boys was a good decision regardless of my own personal affinity for the FF twinks etc. because 1. If FF is about constantly doing something different, then actually doing big burly dudebros is a new direction that's interesting 2. I feel like by now FF being all genderbendery isn't as unique in the JRPG scene as it used to be. The SMT games now have Nahobino, Pokemon started doing more interesting and nonconforming designs, and lots of indie games are made by the LGBT+'s so I think FF going away from a neiche that it no longer has to fill on its own was a good decision It's okay not to like it personally but I think we'll look back on it as a good decision for the health of the franchise

[@antiproductive4131]

That is a very refreshing take that I 100% agree with. There is nothing wrong with making a game "for boys". Not EVERY game needs to be inclusive.

[@proxyboxie5584]

How does making a game more like the rest of the status quo of gaming make it more novel or diverse. Indie gaming is tiny too, compare it to most mainstream games and the new final fantasy blends almost straight in.

[@gtafan110010]

Personally i did not mind jill and clive having a good bone and her giving him her power. I think the game was fair about it in 2 ways. Jill was okay with it and it happened out of trust. So i think its a not very subtle way to address conscent. Jill was also still valued afterwards and the game showed her being petrified plenty early. So clive and her both got something out of it. Imo the game showed their relationship also as a partnership sufficiently well, and this was their literal and figurative climax

[@danutghidia5820]

In the Japanese script Clive takes Shiva from Jill without her consent at first. Jill does not offer Shiva. Instead she talks about how she wants to help and protect him till the very end and that makes Clive realize that he needs to take Shiva from her or she`ll end up killing herself for him. So he starts taking Shiva, Jill does not want to at first, but she lets him do it in the end. I still think its fine overall, considering the complication of how the power of Shiva would end up killing Jill, but maybe some people would have issues with the consent part.

[@vladtepes1047]

Gotta mention that Jill was absolutely robbed of her agency after she gave her power to Clive. Jill: I want to fight too! Clive: No Jill: Okay ❤ lmao

[@xc13runner]

It was her choice to give Clive Shiva. In what way was she “robbed of agency”? It would have been neat to have her join in the final battle, but that little “joke” you wrote is hardly representative of any possible interactions between these two characters. The idea that Clive would stop her from doing what she wants to do in any scenario is a laughably inaccurate read of their relationship.

[@jaron95]

Did anyone even comprehend the conversation in that scene or did all the blood rush to your heads? I need to get a rubber stamp made that says "THE NUDITY WAS A METAPHOR FOR THEIR VULNERABILITY" for all the chuds in these comment sections.

[@chrisdaughen5257]

The thing that really bothers me is how Jill doesn't follow Clive and the others to the final battle. She and Dion both got their Eikon's drained, but Dion gets to go because he is somehow able to control Bahamut perfectly with his "will". What does that say about Jill's will?

[@bitterbatterdog]

I thought LotR was a quintessential low fantasty. Magic is usually what defines fantasy. So Lord of the Rings which has like 5 semi-strong wizards is pretty tame in comparison to magical airships, continent-level magic, inter-plane politics, etc. I think in terms of Tabletop, Lord of the rings is considered a lvl1-4 campaign

[@RicochetForce]

Damn, this video was fantastic. I didn't agree with all of it, but you put voice to something that i've encountered in discussions about this game. How unapolgetically "Manness" or masculine it is, where it's very strongly about "Men doing things". I've spoken wit both in-person friends and family as well as folks online and one of the most consistent notes that comes up is that (which I had no name for until now). The game was overwhelmingly better received by men than it was by the women in those exchanges, with this as one of the main reasons. The guys liked it because it was a bunch of cool shit done by a guy that looked like them. Muscular, with very obvious facial hair, while also being respected despite showing a range of emotion they themselves were not afforded in real life. The women disliked it because for many of the same reasons Thor mentions here: The prominent women were either malicious pieces of shit that were killed off or supportive and sidelined. One of the discussions got a little heated when one really disliked that the SA victim got eviscerated just a few minutes after the reveal. Her point was it made Clive feel like an accessory to the violence Benedikta experienced, with the player input making her feel gross. But then there came retorts about SA survivors can both be victims AND horrible people, etc... Personally, I understand the concern here. As FF goes for a larger, more lucrative worldwide audience the franchise is definitely going to change. FFX had the twink-like, effiminate blonde airhead Tidus in odd fashion wear. The most important character (and the one who leads the plot) is Yuna. FFX-2 is the sequel to FFX where Yuna drops her conservative female presentation. The game has an all-female party and has a female led plot. FFXII had the unapologetic twink Vaan. The most important character in the plot (and the one who leads the plot) is Ashe. FFXIII had Lighting as the female lead, and the most important characters in the plot are two female lesbians (strongly coded as lesbians, especially in the ending). FFXIII-2 pulled back on this, but FFXIII dropped the party for Lightning Only, and she drives the plot of the game (much like Clive does in FFXVI) FFXV has an entirely male party and Noctis is easily the most important character in the game. The women are largely sidelined or an archetype (silly spunky little sister, or badass femme fatale) FFXVI drops the party for Clive only. The most important character in the game is Clive, by far. The women are either evil or sidelined. Laid out like this it looks like SE may have been made aware of a trend in the FF franchise and they're overcorrecting.

[@dragoncrashhero12]

I'm sure the comments will be very civil and well reasoned on this one

[@darkanddandy6898]

they honestly are.

[@windy4566]

@@darkanddandy6898surprisingly yeah

[@omaniels]

Hi, I really enjoyed your video. Thought it was funny and insightful. But gotta say I completely disagree with the SA part, and how you said the writers were out of depth. So if the writers were women, would it be ok? What if the writer was an actual victim of SA? If so, then how dare the writers write about murder, betrayal, slavery if they weren't victims of such? It is quite frankly, and I don't mean any disrespect, a stupid argument, and the definite low point of the video. I find it somewhat hypocritical the fact that you crap on and how this game is full of dudely dudes doing dudely stuff and how it depicts a possible SA, yet are perfectly ok that a dude got its head split open by an axe seconds before defending her. Now I understand if you didn't ultimately like the way it was portrayed or executed, that's your prerogative, but to imply that there is a certain way to write it or that you need like a license or something to do it, is not right.

[@thorhighheels]

ok calm down now bud. imo if u put sa in ur story, thats what ur story is about now, cuz das how it is in real life. thats the weight it has. i strongly belive that u should not put it in ur story as a aside, as they did here. who wrote it that way or why i do not care about, hence why i deliberately didnt assume that or even go down that path. u brought that up not me. its purely about the content & the context within the story for me.

[@alishegamer8490]

Ok sorry, but i can't just not write this comment rn even though i haven't finished the video. Holy shit as an FE fan who kinda fell off after type-0's remake i only now understood though your video that i like FF due to the femboyness of it all and already became scared that FF might stop being so femboy and then you hit me witd XVI being good and i felt so fucking relieved. Glad that Square is making good games

[@frogglen6350]

Oh crap. I'm early. Just wanna say you're one of the most chill and Least pretentious game reviewers on KZbin.

[@JuliusCaesar103]

It's time for the FF16 videos to roll out by the big gaming KZbinrs. Pumped for this

[@wanaan]

The masculinity in the West vs the East are really different. FF men are still consider extremely manly for Asians, even if they are seen as androgenous by Western standard.

[@YYui420]

I love when people just make shit up about my culture. No, they’re twinky boys here too. They are specifically designed to look androgynous. Do you think they put cloud in a dress because he’s super masculine?

[@goldentiramisu7935]

i have to say, Mobius's WoL is peak buff pretty dude design from Final Fantasy

[@dongodongo12]

Damn the video started kind of annoying, then got really good, and then the complaining became really annoying. But I still liked the video

[@Densoro]

Loved this vid on so many levels. ‘You can DO THAT?’ was my exact reaction to Kuja as a kid. Turning abuse survivors into monsters is such a lazy, thoughtless writing trend. The Medium did the same shit. If games want to court such serious topics, maybe they should examine what it takes for survivors to pick ourselves up and keep living, instead of taking those characters out back and euthanizing them for being ‘too broken.’ Also I’d love to hear more of your gender stuff! I’ve always appreciated your channel’s tendency to re/deconstruct gender.

[@themeangene]

Nah no thanks. We've deconstructed gender far too much in the West. It's time to celebrate media that recognizes gender differences again

[@soulx511]

It’s a bit strange… asian masculinity is much different then european/ american and I’ve seen people call men from asia effeminate because they don’t fit european standards etc. it can sometimes boil down to racy shit… I’m sorry if I brought this up I might delete this comment entirely

[@thorhighheels]

o nah i getcha i see that a lot in regards to kpop.

[@soulx511]

@@thorhighheelsI remember this HK director john woo where hollywood loved his action scenes and shootouts that heavily inspired Max Payne games but when he went to hollywood to work a lot of the time when he tries to have his movies with emotional men they shut him down and his career is kinda over at this date, he made big blockbusters in hollywood like Mission impossible though.

[@Duskof81]

This truly is a Final Fantasy ...XVI ...moment? Great stuff as always THH.

[@spandytube]

Jill's character arc being essentially "become a good girlfriend" I found to be the most lazy and disappointing part of the story. She had a lot going on in terms of characterization and story relevance for the most part, but as soon as the power transfer/intercourse scene happens she has absolutely nothing to do except be loving and supportive in the sidelines. This would have been fine as long as she continued to have things to do throughout the rest of the game, but her story just ends at this point. They did her dirty.

[@lonerdreamer92]

It's really annoying she couldn't have been flawed. Like, let her have an ice queen personality that would slowly defrost over the course of the game. She's been supportive of Clive for a total of 18 years; that's so boring. That one bit with her killing Imreann was *something* but it felt like a brownie point in the long run.

[@artemis1993]

Unfortunately, that's how japanese society is. The moment a woman engages to a man, she is expected to drop everything in her life to become a housewoman. The female character losing all agency once she develops feelings for the MC is something that has always plagued japanese media in general. Naruto is one infamous example of this...

[@brian728]

It's hard to say this, but I just love this dudes stuff.

[@HarukoSan]

I will scream it from the rooftops

[@Nov-5062]

Why is it hard to say it?

[@jeveritt8398]

Clearly not that hard 😂

[@brian728]

Maybe it wasn't so hard after all 😅 just felt a little weird to type those exact words out

[@lukedodson3441]

Don't think you listened to the video. They isn't a dude.

[@LovuxTheGreat]

25:43 "why are almost all the women you talk to [...] Cid's side bitches" To be fair, Cid was also heavily implied to sleep with most of the MALE npcs that help you out. Hell, one npc even tells Clive something like "oh you're up this late, I thought you and Cid would be busy fucking by now.... Gav is gonna be jealous!", completely unprompted. As far as I'm concerned, Cid is a bisexual icon - a BICON if you will. And yes, Gav is best waifu and must be protected at all costs.

[@darkanddandy6898]

Wait, how did I miss that?! Not gonna lie though, Cid did INCREDIBLY strong bi vibes while he was on screen.

[@volantblade2024]

I don’t even know where he gets the idea that they are his “side bitches” and not actual business partners that actually support his cause lol

[@Dom380]

I did find it weird how the few women in the cast were all dead or sidelined by the end of the game considering how 14 actively avoids doing that

[@jeveritt8398]

Yotsuyu was a pretty bad character in stormblood though and suffers a lot from some sexist tropes. She stands out more because the women in 14 are generally written okay to good

[@THB192]

14 does not actively avoid doing that, and has done it to most female characters that approached or were a part of the main cast. So far the exceptions are Alisaie, Krile, and Tataru. We'll see about Zero. EDIT: Y'shtola

[@3RNR3]

16 has the same directors and writers of the heavenswards expansion which did sideline the female characters like this near the end too. It got better in shadowbringers and after because of a new lead writer

[@THB192]

@@3RNR3 But even Ishikawa does it sometimes nowadays. It's just nowhere near as bad as HW about it.

[@kayare7]

I thought Benedicta would have benefited from her using sex to control or establish some form control over people... Using it as way to coerce Hugo into making a move or forcing herself on one of her soldiers who defied an order. Atleast it would have made the sexual assault and her losing her mind afterwards more rooted in her character. She's not only lost her power but her control mechanism has been turned on her.

[@xtoadsannom6704]

To be fair, she does use her sexuality to push Hugo into doing something at the meeting between Waoled and Dhalmakia at the beginning of the game, he intervenes and announces his intention to crush the Crusaders after she mentions that he's yet to do something in this battle.

[@Shamax0]

About Benedikta, I thought it was implied sa right before she gets her powers back not actual sa? Not saying that makes it better, was just surprised by your interpretation

[@thorhighheels]

its both sa. putting ur intent like that into someones head is already a gross traumatic violation. imo emotionally, psychologically, and legally, that should be considered sa already.

[@Shamax0]

Fair, I can agree with that Thanks for the great video man, have a nice one

[@brandonmazique]

I feel like you took half of the video to actually talk about the topic that the entire video was on.

[@perfectzerord]

in the future 16 year old nerds be like “this is rated m one; the serious one with dark themes. They say fuck and have sex and kill people with blood”

[@actuallynotsteve]

I'm just starting the video, but I thought 16 did a brilliant job of showing what it's like to be a desired himbo that's committed to the mission. It may or may not hit very close to home for me.

[@hetbigboy]

NORMALIZE CROP TOPS FOR BOYS

[@rkoep]

i rarely comment but i just wanted to say i love yr work. keep it up

[@clevershades]

When you recognise a voice actor and want to put a face to the voice... I'm OK with mapping voice actors faces or letting them create an avatar to use in games they appear in. Anyone else on board with me for that? Vocal and visual representation of the character, especially with such a recognizable voice. And if they voice multiple characters and reuse their voice (like Fry's voice actor in Futurama also playing a lot of the other dudes on the show) then they can have a few different avatars

[@rax2200]

I genuinely love Clive as a protag. Even though I dislike the second half of the game. FF16 Is extremely quirky and I would love to see more of this world

[@kirbles2035]

What'd you not like about the second half?

[@AGibson723]

I need some DLC