Akihiko Yoshida's influence comes through in some of the new gear.

Tactics Ogre Dragoon:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/...20110101205855

HW DRG set:

http://i.imgur.com/TO8vk0A.jpg

-----

Tactics Ogre Rogue

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20140124153553

Monk Set

http://i.imgur.com/716Fn3Z.jpg

----------------------

Archer (Note Female)

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20130916182630

Bard Set

http://i.imgur.com/DnH4oyE.jpg

I always loved Yoshida's style.

I always prefered his designs over Nomura's designs. I love to see his influence here.

More to come with edits. I'm painstakingly making comparisons.

That's pretty wicked. Granted I know this doesn't pertain to "gear" but the changes to Bard with the charging skills I believe is a nod to FF Tactics and the archer skills which had charge times to activate based on range of attack.

Personally, I'm really hoping to see a lot of the NPC styles from TA: LUCT make it in. I rather liked Dame Ravness and Denem's styles. Akahiko Yoshida has beautiful designs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lusavari

*snip pretty pictures*

---

Neat! I would have never made this connection, thanks for posting this!

I pretty much jumped out of my seat in excitement when I saw the Tactics Ogre Dragoon armor. I really, really hope they continue this trend of bringing back older armor designs by Akihiko Yoshida. I absolutely love his work!

http://i.imgur.com/3CJ4kmZ.png

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tanama

I pretty much jumped out of my seat in excitement when I saw the Tactics Ogre Dragoon armor. I really, really hope they continue this trend of bringing back older armor designs by Akihiko Yoshida. I absolutely love his work!

---

Though maybe not with the gender differences shown in the image you posted XD

Other than that, I agree completely =D Even though the picture is a tad on the small side to be able to see details, they look really nifty ^_^
(Though I have to confess I accidentally managed to read the class name from the row below the pictures XD found myself looking at the berserker set, then down at ninja/kunoichi, then back up at the set, then down at the class name, going "that's a mighty weird armour for a ninj....oh.")

Yeah. I'm quite a fan of these toned down looks.
A lot of the endgame gear now has so many details and baubles that they get lost among themselves.
Yoshida's an excelent designer. Always knows just where to stop and his designs are stronger in their simplicity. Easily recognizable while retaining a creative and fantastic flair.

Akahiko Yoshida's influence? That's like....literally everything in XIV

Definitely, Yoshida is one of my favorite VG artists, and i think i owe most of my enjoyment of this game to his designs. He applies materials in fantastic but practical ways, which gives XIV a really good feeling for a game where all armor shows up on your body. Definitely one of my most admired artists.

I've always loved Nomura as an artist, but i've never been a fan of his designs. His over-the-top style works for games like Kingdom Hearts, but with bigger Final Fantasy titles it's almost always hit or miss for me. I wasn't very fond of how the cast of XIII failed to blend together in any meaningful way, everything in that game from outfits to weapons to enemies just looked like completely random doodles brought to life.