2P Skin Color

[MikkoAkure]

SE already has a pretty weird habit of lightening the skin of characters we're "supposed to relate to". It's possible I might be reading too much into it, but there's a lot of examples. I don't think it's enough for it to be malicious, but there's at least a subconscious bias. Cirina is pale with a human-like skintone while the rest of the steppe are dark or pale blue. The professor duskwight in the leatherworker quests is pale while the duskwights we fight are dark-skinned. Most of the moon keepers we interact with are pale with 1 exception but the ones we fight are dark-skinned. Yda, Lyse, and Minfilia? are all highlander women with pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair while most of the rest we see are all at least tan. Most of the important good-guy lalafell are pale but the two bad guy ones have darker skin. Viera have always been darker-skinned but the only ones we interact with on both the First and the Source apart from Fran are all pale.

As for 2P, it's strange because in the concept artwork for the patch, she is as dark as the player 2 reskin that inspired her.

[Freyyy]

SE already has a pretty weird habit of lightening the skin of characters we're "supposed to relate to".

What does the skin color of a character have to do with relating to them ? Relating to a character is about relating to what they're going through, how they react to it, the decisions they're taking, how they interact with other characters and the world around them. Relating to a character has nothing to do with sharing physical traits with him/her. You can relate to characters of the opposite gender as well as long as he/she is well written and well... Relatable. Hell, my mother told me multiple times that she relates to Peter Parker/Spiderman in most of his incarnations.

[MikkoAkure]

What does the skin color of a character have to do with relating to them ? Relating to a character is about relating to what they're going through, how they react to it, the decisions they're taking, how they interact with other characters and the world around them. Relating to a character has nothing to do with sharing physical traits with him/her. You can relate to characters of the opposite gender as well as long as he/she is well written and well... Relatable. Hell, my mother told me multiple times that she relates to Peter Parker/Spiderman in most of his incarnations.

That's why I put quotations around "supposed to relate to". I don't understand it either but noticed that a few instances of specific characters of who have more dialogue than the rest of their sub-race or having more of a presence in a positive light tend to have a lighter skin tone than the rest of their sub-race. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or a subconscious thing on the devs' part. I was trying to connect my findings with the fact that the player 2 reskin of 2B from Soul Caliber and the artwork of 2P for the patch are both darker than what the devs have given us for the actual game and she's expected to be an important character.

[MrThinker]

That's why I put quotations around "supposed to relate to". I don't understand it either but noticed that a few instances of specific characters of who have more dialogue than the rest of their sub-race or having more of a presence in a positive light tend to have a lighter skin tone than the rest of their sub-race. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or a subconscious thing on the devs' part.

I mean, Raubahn, Pipin, M'naago and Louisoix have/had darker skin tones, in line with the rest of their race/clan.

[Hash_Browns]

but noticed that a few instances of specific characters of who have more dialogue than the rest of their sub-race or having more of a presence in a positive light tend to have a lighter skin tone than the rest of their sub-race. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or a subconscious thing on the devs' part.

I agree that 2P having lighter skin doesn't make sense in her artwork, but this is getting to tinfoil hat levels.

[NessaWyvern]

SE already has a pretty weird habit of lightening the skin of characters we're "supposed to relate to". It's possible I might be reading too much into it, but there's a lot of examples. I don't think it's enough for it to be malicious, but there's at least a subconscious bias.

And then we've got the Garleans, one of this games baddies, being mostly pale with blonde or white hair.

Japanese media in general have a lot of pale-skinned characters, though.