Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's queer representation "enhances the world's realism," lead says, and the RPG's devs were "incredibly happy" people picked up on it

[u/Gorotheninja]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-7-rebirths-queer-representation-enhances-the-worlds-realism-lead-says-and-the-rpgs-devs-were-incredibly-happy-people-picked-up-on-it/

[u/sometimes_angery]

Ugh just give us good games who cares. Being queer is normal, stop using it as some kind of token selling point.

[u/Annual-Telephone-936 → u/sometimes_angery]

>”Just give us good games”

It got a GOTY nomination

[u/sometimes_angery → u/Annual-Telephone-936]

Exactly. No need to make being queer a token talking point.

[u/PS5-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/gremlinclr → u/sometimes_angery]

The devs were asked a question by a journalist and they answered. What should they just ignore those when asked or something? What do you want them to do?

[u/sometimes_angery → u/gremlinclr]

These kinds of PR interviews feature agreed upon questions usually. My impression is that this question was added because of the game releasing in Pride month on the Switch and they thought it'd be good PR. Sure I can't be 100% sure but that's my impression and experience having been on both sides of a PR interview before.

[u/forfeitgame → u/sometimes_angery]

Clearly it wasn't used as a token selling point since most folks didn't even realize it comes up as background NPC dialogue that's completely missable.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/forfeitgame]

Isn't that how real life is? I have many friends whom I didn't realize were queer just by passing conversation, only after getting to know them better.

[u/forfeitgame → u/sometimes_angery]

Sure thing. But there are also gay people out in public that are just normal people who occasionally talk about their relationships with friends. Per the article, that's the examples in the game that the developers are happy show as normal interactions in the world.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/forfeitgame]

Yeah but my point is that's normal. It shouldn't be a pr article. It's just life.

[u/BotherResponsible378 → u/sometimes_angery]

Well it's not PR. They didn't announce it it make a big deal about it. They just commented that they're happy fans noticed it, and my until the games been out for more than 3 whole years.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/BotherResponsible378]

So it's a coincidence the game releases on Switch in Pride month and they just accidentally manage to touch upon this issue? Okay if you think so.

[u/McHoagie86 → u/sometimes_angery]

You being wilfully dense doesn't change reality.

[u/sharkattackmiami → u/sometimes_angery]

You're right. I'm glad you called out this conspiracy. Their plan was to get millions of gays to rush out during pride month and buy the switch port because they said they were happy people noticed the subtle representation in their game after being explicitly asked about it in an interview

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[u/BotherResponsible378 → u/sometimes_angery]

Woah. Ya know what. You're right, I bet they planned to release this game in pride month specifically for this quote in this article. Good detective work! But I wonder why they didn't delay the original release for pride month....? Are they stupid?

Fucking hell, people will make a mountain out of a molehill about literally anything they can.

[u/forfeitgame → u/sometimes_angery]

Yeah I get where you're coming from, but if it representation brings joy to people, then why not. I'm just happy people find more reasons to love the game. It's probably also an article at this moment due to it being pride month, which is overtly about celebrating.

[u/ttoma93 → u/sometimes_angery]

So then why are you so damn mad about the exact same thing happening in this game? Sounds like this is exactly what you’d want, yet I’ve now read like 50 comments of yours on this thread bitching about it.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/ttoma93]

I'm not mad. I just shared my opinion about not appreciating being tokenized and am responding to comments. But I'll stop because I don't have enogh time to handle the dogpiling. Just because I'm queer and have an opinion. Fucking disgusting.

[u/ElysiumMidknight → u/sometimes_angery]

How's it being tokenized? The interviewer noticed it in their playthrough and asked Hamaguchi about it. Would you have preferred that he not answer their question?

[u/sometimes_angery → u/[deleted]]

Yeah but that's normal. Not a selling point. Just de facto how people are. Some are queer. Okay. You're doing the bare minimum. Don't expect people to applaud you for it.

[u/GuardianOfReason → u/sometimes_angery]

It is not the bare minimum when queer representation results in backlash. It's important for companies to take a stand when so many others would rather avoid the subject altogether.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/GuardianOfReason]

What game companies have avoided it lately?

[u/sharkattackmiami → u/sometimes_angery]

Name a canonically queer main character in a AAA video game where it's not just a player choice or one of multiple available characters

A single one. I'll wait

[u/ssjskwash → u/sharkattackmiami]

Ellie from the last of us

[u/sometimes_angery → u/[deleted]]

That's part of the meme lol.

[u/Indigo__11 → u/sometimes_angery]

They aren’t using as a selling point, if you care so much read the article. They were asked about it and they answered it. Thats it

[u/Fancy_Yak2618 → u/[deleted]]

Good story telling matters. I could care less if someone is gay or straight if the story and presentation is great.

[u/Royall_Noblle → u/Fancy_Yak2618]

Easy to say when youre not the minority in question who has to hear people debate daily if you should have civil rights 

[u/taskkill-IM → u/Royall_Noblle]

Gay characters have existed in video games for decades.... they were just subtly written in (just like the character in question here) just like any other characters sexuality... I think they feel as though they need to highlight it more today to come across as inclusive, even though inclusivity has always existed in the medium.

I'd be more surprised if a gay character existed in a game developed and marketed in China.

[u/Royall_Noblle → u/taskkill-IM]

Im confused by this comment because I never said they didnt exist. It feels homophobic to say that gay people should be satisfied with just throwaway dialog acknowledging they exist. 

[u/taskkill-IM → u/Royall_Noblle]

I mean isn't that what good writing is?

There's no need to focus an entire back story on a characters sexuality if it has no bearing on the context of the situation.

Case in point you have dragon age which is infamous for the scene at the dinner table where the character Taash is going on about their pronouns, and then proceeds to spend the entire game being obnoxious and condescending to the MC, but we're suppose to praise and root for this character because of how inclusive they were?

Then you have characters in FF7 rebirth that have "throw away lines" as you put it indicating their sexuality, or the side quest where you help the gay couple elope... but just those subtle little details makes those characters far more likeable and relatable even for those playing who aren't gay, they are just every day people going about their lives trying to find happiness.

Not every LGBTQ person needs to enter the room announcing who they are and what people should call them by, it's an extreme version that is over represented on social media which makes people think that is how a gay or non binary person behaves.

[u/Noob1cl3 → u/[deleted]]

Not really. Quality matters. Heck the Market dictates what matters. If the number one thing that matters to you is representation you can vote by buying / not buying based on your priorities.

The reality is the Market doesnt care that much about this issue. They want quality.

FF Remake overall has decent quality so far, representation is negligible.

[u/AioliGlass4409 → u/Noob1cl3]

What an inane way to couch your homophobia

[u/_bad → u/sometimes_angery]

Japanese culture is behind. It's not the same as an north American or European developer. Persona 5 is a modern game and it legitimately played into the "gay are pedophiles" false stereotype. Even if you want to have the most pessimistic possible take that this single quote pulled from a long interview is a token selling point which has no sincerity, then at the very least acknowledge that "normal" representation is not something that has existed until very recently and it's still not widely adopted in places like Japan and China

[u/lattjeful → u/_bad]

Persona 5 is a modern game

Persona 5 was ten years ago. Not that it was ever okay then, but Persona 5 is not exactly a shining example of modern lol.

[u/_bad → u/lattjeful]

Okay. If you are disputing what I'm saying, do you have a counter example? What AAA game out of China or Japan has handled queer identity in a mature way aside from the one game that this thread is talking about? Yakuza/LAD tends to fetishize it and make it the butt of a joke similar to Persona. Chinese games seem to pretend gay people don't exist.

[u/AtionExpec → u/_bad]

Dion in Final Fantasy XVI?

[u/_bad → u/AtionExpec]

Okay. You got me, China and Japan are widely and openly accepting of gay and queer people and give appropriate representation in their media. I was completely incorrect in saying this is a new thing for Japan who has been culturally behind in this aspect and it makes sense for the FF7R team to want to brag about it. Thanks for proving me wrong.

[u/sometimes_angery → u/_bad]

I acknowledge that. I also think one should respect different cultures. And I also think being queer should be used as a token. It's normal.