If they wanted capes, I have two words for you:

HAVOK PHYSICS.

Seriously, Square Enix, the technology is out there - use it, implement it. Don't just run away from it because it's western. USE IT IN YOUR F*CKING JAPANESE PRODUCT.

For god's sake the more this thread gets discussed, the more I realize how Square Enix really skimped on their game engine programming and development.

I mean, what. Wasn't there a "flowing cape" in FF13 in Lightning's outfit? Granted, that was a smaller cape, but it still got animated with physics, right?

I get the feeling our developers in Japan are just coming up with unprofessional excuses.