What is with this game and half-naked women as bosses?

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I believe this issue (as it is in most games) is that the design is geared with a predominantly male audience in mind. Because of this females are hyper-sexualized but males are not. Instead males are hyper-masculinized. There's a difference between the two, but in this case both are intended to appeal to the hetero-male audience. It's a societal thing. It's ok, and typically expected, for men to ogle women but it's frowned upon for women to engage in the same behavior. A guy sleeps around and he's a stud, but if a girl sleeps around she's a slut. In games, which are very often designed to appeal to the male gamer, its a double appeal. Hyper-sexualization of female characters offers males eye-candy and the hyper-masculinization of male characters offers idealized wish-fulfillment of the self. The babes are buxom and the guys are bad ass. That sells to male gamers (statistically speaking).

On the flip side, game companies fear (and probably rightly so) that hyper-sexualizing male characters in the hopes of appealing to female gamers (and non-hetero male gamers) would end up alienating the hetero-male gamers that make up the bulk of their customer base. It's a risk that few mainstream game companies are willing to take.

[nekuxdesu]

On the flip side, game companies fear (and probably rightly so) that hyper-sexualizing male characters in the hopes of appealing to female gamers (and non-hetero male gamers) would end up alienating the hetero-male gamers that make up the bulk of their customer base. It's a risk that few mainstream game companies are willing to take.

Can you show some proof

[myahele]

Can you show some proof

There was a slight controversy in the FF Mobius male character design when it was 1st shown

[Clethoria]

Can you show some proof

Modern Tales of Games.

[Nestama]

Modern Tales of Games.

There's a disturbing lack of bara in that image!

[Clethoria]

There's a disturbing lack of bara in that image!

Tales is fujo bait. Zaveid is the closest in the past few years and he's still too thin for bara standards, which isn't what fujos usually want.

I miss Regal. too bad he only likes lolis

"vaguely humanoid" then huh?

I can probably keep going...

Except, unless I missed the post that said it, they're just ugly. Plain and simple. I can have a hyper masculine, 80% humanoid with a gross face, loincloth wearing spider god and a very small minority will find it hot. I dont want to kiss Titan. I want to kiss Thancred. I dont want to motorboat Ravana's bug pecs either. It's simply not the same when Shiva looks like a super model doing a winter shoot and the males look like... well, that. In my post above about Tales. They are hot. The massive female fanbase said so. They are designed to be desirable.

Even Asura from Asura's wrath resembles the Crystal Tower guy who's name escapes me with their similar skin tone and design. But one of them is handsome enough to hit multi armed dilf territory.

[Cleftobismal]

Modern Tales of Games.

My Nose. It bleeds.

[Shippuu]

Hyper-sexualization of female characters offers males eye-candy and the hyper-masculinization of male characters offers idealized wish-fulfillment of the self.

This completely falls apart because there are more than plenty of female gamers who find sexy/attractive female characters to be just as empowering to them as a buff barbarian would be to men, as well as the hyper-masculinity can (and is) just as attractive to huge swathes of women. Look at romance novels, one of the largest selling genre of books, often catered exclusively to women, you'll find their covers adorned with buff half naked men (often with a woman fawning over them), yet their demographic isn't "hetero-male gamers".

[sarehptar]

This completely falls apart because there are more than plenty of female gamers who find sexy/attractive female characters to be just as empowering to them as a buff barbarian would be to men, as well as the hyper-masculinity can (and is) just as attractive to huge swathes of women. Look at romance novels, one of the largest selling genre of books, often catered exclusively to women, you'll find their covers adorned with buff half naked men (often with a woman fawning over them), yet their demographic isn't "hetero-male gamers".

It's almost like intention means nothing... Sure, there will be subsets of people who find anything attractive and anything empowering. Someone probably thinks Arachne Eve is hot as all get-out. I'm sure some women think Xande is smokin, and indeed, some girls are sure to find Echidna's scintillating thong-filled crack empowering...

But if you can't tell the difference between a boss intentionally designed to appeal sexually and one not intentionally designed to appeal sexually, I have no idea what you're doing in this conversation.

Sophia was not designed like this by accident.

She's meant to be sexually appealing, utilizing broadly accepted standards of human beauty.

Conversely, a vast majority of the male bosses you posted were not designed to appeal sexually to players. We viewers are not supposed to go "Hot damn, Ferdiad is a daddy!!" or "Mmm Titan, exactly the kind of service I wanted to be dished out tonight!" ARE there people who would find those bosses sexy? Yes. There are people who get turned on by being crawled on spiders. There is zero accounting for taste in the outliers. But that does not change the fact that the intentions behind the designs are vastly different. You're supposed to admire Sophia's looks. You're supposed to admire Glasya Labolas's power. They're just... not the same...

On the covers of romance novels, you see "idealized" male figures according to those in the romance novel industry. They are indeed quite well-built and overwhelmingly masculine. But again, if you can't see the difference between the idealized men on romance novel covers and the grotesquely inflated muscular figures of FFXIV, I just... don't know what to say. You would not see Zurvan, Sephirot, Ravana, etc. on a cover of a romance novel because they aren't designed to appeal sexually to the applicable demographic.

Are there counter-examples? Sure. I guess Xande isn't hideous. Forgall is actually kind of okay up close, if you're into the emo scene. Scylla was probably not meant to be sexy. But are a disproportionate number of major female bosses designed to be conventionally sexually appealing even when it makes no sense for them to be so? Yeah, they are.

Instead of trying to argue against that, it would make more sense to just stick to one's guns and go with the argument that there's nothing wrong with that type of design. Which is a perfectly valid opinion to have, if that is indeed your opinion. Easier point to defend, my friend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Shippuu]

It's almost like intention means nothing... Sure, there will be subsets of people who find anything attractive and anything empowering. Someone probably thinks Arachne Eve is hot as all get-out. I'm sure some women think Xande is smokin, and indeed, some girls are sure to find Echidna's scintillating thong-filled crack empowering...
But if you can't tell the difference between a boss intentionally designed to appeal sexually and one not intentionally designed to appeal sexually, I have no idea what you're doing in this conversation.

It's almost like you can inject whatever intention you want to push a narrative. Sophia has a revealing appearance, but she doesn't anything overtly sexual in the slightest, none of her actions or behaviors imply that kind of context or intention. You can have completely nude people and it not be a sexual thing.

She's meant to be sexually appealing, utilizing broadly accepted standards of human beauty.

You can say that about absolutely everything though. Just because you think it's designed to be sexually appealing or not doesn't necessarily mean that it was or wasn't. It's something that's entirely subjective.

But are a disproportionate number of major female bosses designed to be conventionally sexually appealing even when it makes no sense for them to be so? Yeah, they are.

There really isn't though, you can count them on pretty much one hand. Garuda (arguable, she's still very monstrous), Shiva, Sophia, Cloud of Darkness, Califosteri. And half of those appear as they do to properly pay homage to their presence in past FF games, so you arguably can't say that these devs designed them with any other intent aside from maintaining the identity (with their own twists) to past enemies/bosses. You also have bosses such as Succubi and Sirens, but their design certainly doesn't fall under the "makes no sense for them to be so" since by definition they're meant to play on those tropes. Ferdiad is potentially a male example of this, because arguably one could attribute his design to an incubus trope.