When I was playing FFIX, I was rather uncertain about whether Vivi is actually supposed to look the way we see him, or if it's just a weird high-res take on the classic black mage sprite.

Mainly, there's that whole running debate about whether he's really human - and if he actually looks like that, then surely the answer is "clearly not"?

Perhaps the word is being used in the loose way that this game's translators try to avoid, where (I understand) the Japanese version calls the player-races "human" and the English version substitutes "men" or "mortals".

But it still makes me think that perhaps the other characters aren't seeing the black-shadowed 'monster' we see in the game's art style, but someone who looks human (even though he actually isn't).