Epic vs Enix
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Jan 3, 2009 03:42 JST
- Tags: Character Design, Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games, Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura
Veteran Final Fantasy designer Tetsuya Nomura, of Square Enix, is here pitted against veteran Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, of Epic Games. Both now have careers on rather similar footings, though their design styles could not be further removed from one another.
It may be rather trite, but this definitely appears to be a case of East vs West; both styles are almost bordering on the absurd, although they do not necessarily look the worse for it.
The text accompanying each just gives their career outlines, and insists on telling us Nomura’s bloodtype…
Poll unavailable.
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over the years, i started to notice how "cookie cutter" Enix's designs are. practically all the characters look the same, they just have different hair.
Yeah and like GoW designs arn't just Unreal Tournament and Warhammer 40,000 designs, right?
only voted for cliff out of protest.
i find bishounen of the recent final fantasy variant utterly boring, even disgusting.
Thank you.
It has to be Cliff Blezinski. But the other gay got more votes but it doesn't matter because this comparison is, not, how do you say... right.
Bleszinski makes too manly, I like traps.
Fucking Tetsuya Nomura.
He's a freakin' genius.
And you're fucking retarded.
that or you're fucking retarded for think he's fucking retarded.
who knows?
That or you're fucking retarded for saying he's fucking retarded for thinking Daisuke.exe is fucking retarded.
I know.
I choose tetsuya.
cuz I'm a weaboo!
i figure out Nomura likes beautiful men.
you guys are gays, really.
I just think that Cliff Bleszinski is a wacko.
Then again, so is Numora.
While I love prettyboy designs in Japanese games as much as the next person, those closeup pics are absolutely horrid. They're deformed beyond belief; it's not pretty, it's comical. And not in a "funny ha ha" way.
I agree with many people here who said that both design serve their purpose. I am not a fan of FF so I won't comment on that, but CliffB said himself that they only have bulky soldier because the locust kill everyone who are not that big. I mean, if you ask me, I agree that only the guys who are THAT tough will survive in that world.
THEY ARE BOTH THE CANCER KILLING VIDEO GAMES
goddammit why did Epic have to ruin UT3 so hard ;_;
Does anyone know what game/movie the Nomura designs are from...?
Nomura's designs = Win.
Square's animation of his designs: *groan*
I'll pay 1,000 dollars to anyone who teaches Squenix that you must animate both the mouth AND the eyes to portray emotions (i.e. eyes squint when smiling, cheek muscles pull upward, etc.). Until then these designs are going to be wasted on models with all of the emotional appeal of androgynous fuck-dolls.
As for Cliffy B: bitch has a serious hard-on for steroid-choked linebackers, I cannot deny this. They're ugly as sin, admittedly, but at least they don't appear to be mildly retarded (see ridiculous expression 1,2 and 3 from Nomura's side).
"i.e. eyes squint when smiling, cheek muscles pull upward, etc.)"
Sounds Asian.
Nomura hasn't ever designed a decent looking character. It's either over-complication with his designs or the same thing over and over.
Give me Yoshida and be fucking done with it.
My vote goes to Cliffy B. He wears pimp suits to E3 because he can.
Dude Huge, please =p
Most of the arguments here either vote for GoW because they are macho men, or FFXIII because it's FF. And the GoW fanboys are the ones raging.
Maybe this isn't a good comparison of character choice, but it's pretty clear that the only differentiation between character design in GoW are their heads, even if they are wearing armor because they're in a war. Their heads don't look too different from each other to me. A little palette swap here, more facial hair there, give this guy a head accessory, it's like playing with dress-up dolls.
And while the argument is made that Nomura characters tend to be androgynous looking, at least there is design differentiation. He goes for more casual and contemporary-inspired styles because, as can be seen in the GoW picture, giving everyone the same armor makes the design look plain.
It's really a contest between age, and burliness.
Dude Huge because his characters are the kind of guys the first GoW would sit and have a beer with. God knows what the GoWs would do to Tetsuya's characters...
Nomura wins, he's got variety among characters (even though it's lazy), their bodies are anatomically correct. But most importantly, his works have made/remained in history.
But even though Nomura wins, I'll say character designers have gotten lazy.
You can't get good character design by simply using a stereotyping cookie-cutter machine.
Most of the things we tend to "inherently" know about gender are the works of XVII century moral philosophy.
Juicer's vs. Boy Band. No matter who wins, we lose.
I feel sorry for those of you who call Nomuras's characters androgynous and can't tell the difference between his male of female characters, seriously you phail as males, how can you not notice the delicious female traits, is beyond me... anyway they are both good games, but eastern games tend to have more focus on character development, so the choice is quite obvious.
The two producers faces alone tells the tail why one is EPIC and one is ENIX.
To be honest, I wouldn't mind having an orgy with the guys on the right, since they don't look like roid-induced gorillas who just got out of prison after f*cking the warden with their feet and fisting the guards...
I love GOW because of the gore and the awesome weapons, but I just can't fap to Marcus and Co...Hell, the locusts look more sexy than them (or maybe I'm just into that sh*t, yes..?) by sexual comparison...
That said, I love muscular men, but with bishounen faces~
What's the name of the game on the picture by Tetsuya's Side? :O
I've never wanted a third option more than before now :|
It's amazing how the majority of popular games from either side of the world are full with dull and typical character designs.
Examples of character designs I do like from either side of the world: Nintendo and EA Big.
Holy fuck.
Nomura is just as pretty as his art LOL.
Looks vs. Muscle?
definitely the looks XD
I like how not only the Japanese characters, but even the Japanese developer looks female.
Personally Gears of War and Final Fantasy are both good games. No offence most of y'all shouldn't argue just 'cause of the way they look or comparing the design to reality.
Its a game nothing more.
All I can see is 4 excellent gay couples... Honestly, it's like the 4 right exist to "receive" from the 4 on the left if-you-know-what-i-mean... ¬_¬
If the gears dudes more resembled the more 'believably' lean warriors in the 300 movie... [aka genuinely fit fighters vs. over abused steroid pushers]
I vote gears. I'd rather have manly men save the world over ambiguously designed, she-men...
Then again, to us, that's normal, but to Japanese people, being manly makes you gay? erm...
WTF! Epic is losing... I have to say I like what Tetsuya Nomura does, but I really prefer my GOW.
The Programs are as far removed from one another as you can get, you have the unreal engine which is an epic original vs whatever the enix/insert random name engies since there are like 15 of them.
One is probaly the greatest user/player/corporation type engine ever created since every computer/console type system wants to have and want to be like it
vs
the tried and test and much loved enix system. again its all in context.
The second FF character face... The guy on the far left in the group pic... His face reminds me of the Blue Link crossplayer.
http://www.dsfanboy.com/2008/03/04/female-duo-sets-the-standard-for-link-cosplay/2
Excessively manly vs. excessively girly.....you know what...I dunno
since when mainly means arms bigger than your head?
and wouldn't say excessively girly, probably more excessively gayish...
How's it not manly lol
check history, when professional gyms started they were generally associated with gay culture.
I don't see a difference between fixation with male body sculpting and male face aesthetics. they both seem pointing towards excessive image fixation.
and don't think body sculpting is manly, to achieve most of the muscles you need to be on a diet (even stricter for 6 packs), do stretching (and embarrassing exercise postures), wear tight clothes, your butt will lift up, your breasts will buff etc.
Trust me, I frequent a gym and seeing buff men looking with admiration at body-builder posters or measuring other gym friends muscles is far from being manly.
Gym doesn't lengthen your d..k, make your voice stronger nor your gestures manlier. It only gives you physical strength, I think that's something to be proud and somewhat biologically manly, and FF character don't falter on that.
Nomura wins by default for providing me 98 hours of entertainment in Dissida so far.
Nomura was only responsible for character designs in Dissidia. He was not a game designer or director for that project.
The character designs were what kept me interested :D
fuck, that's why I hate these comparisons
THEY'RE NOT EVEN IN THE SAME GENRE OR CREATED FOR THE SAME PURPOSE. STOP COMPARING THEM YOU IDIOTS.
and whoever said they have Dissidia, damn you, damn you to hell.
Who cares - put those pictures side by side and compare away...
Compare what exactly?
The suggestion of this article is to compare character designs or maybe even visual design as whole, but the poll options only make sense if we're comparing Bleszinski and Nomura's skills and experience in game design.
Sigh, you guys are really spoiling the fun when you point out too much details.
You don't even need to get serious about such trivial things. Geez~
This was not a comparison. This was a blatant slaughter for the satisfaction of the Otaku fanbase residing here.
Let us understand the simple rules of arithmetic within this Complex:
Anything Eastern > Anything Western
I'm just going to throw my hands up in the air and say that Nomura is a more attractive guy than CliffyB.
No, it suggest what style we like better.
Artefact: well, sure, you can do that to anything, I just can't shake off the frustration that this is another one of those West versus East shitty comparisons, that's all. To be honest in real life either would pretty out of place, but it's not like either's so fucking ridiculous (well, the muscles...maybe, but I've seen guys with nearly that much muscle). There's really nothing to compare with because neither is IN reality, so I just think it's stupid to compare the two because they don't even relate.
One side looks like alcoholic bar thugs.
The other looks like a boy band.
Hard to choose.
nice and clean VS bulky and dirtyish~
or Gar vs girly?
most of you are mixing characters designs with the games itself, characters designs means visuals,
personality, etc, it has nothing to do with the games... -_-
this comparison is a joke...
Joke indeed. I think both designs suck, but if I had to choose I'd go with Nomura. I haven't played a single FF ever and have played through Gears 1 and 2 many many times, so I'm not doing this out of fanboyism. To look like the guys in GOW you would almost HAVE to be on steroids. The designs just really cater to the pre-teen boys who have major self-esteem issues.
Comparing these two is at best, pure stupidity, so i couldnt agree more on that part.
Gamers, whether they be asian or a bleach-haired california punk, has their own preferences in games.
just my 2 cents.
I'm more of a western gamer and Gears of war was indeed awesome so cliff bleszinski gets my vote. I haven't played a Final Fantasy game and enjoyed it since IX
I believe Tetsu Nomura would win this one; just because he's created such classical characters, and has such loyal fans. Though I do agree the last couple of Final Fantasy games aren't upto par with his the previous games, I am a fan of his work and am super ecstatic to play FF13.
Gears of War is a typical boring western shooter. I've had it since it was release and I've played it for 10 minutes alone and 20 minutes co-op with a friend. Didn't deserve any more of my time.
Winner is obvious.
Cliff - Dirty male nigga greased in oil with a big ugly armor.
Nomura - Hawt trappish male characters with good looking clothes.
Nomura looked pretty hawt in thumbnail view too.
I Enjoy the shit out of both Designer's. Gear's of war because it's so damn over the top. It's every action movie and Action hero compressed into a small little package and given a healthy dose of Ammunition. But with Square . . .Shit i love about 85% of everything they put out. but mostly the story and not so much the Character's. So i voted GoW Go Cog's!
Wow, you hate black people even in video games. Well, that just proves you're pretty much a sad, worthless piece of shit.
Please die Narcissist
While I do prefer Nomura's designs over human tanks, I have yet to play any JRPG that didn't suck. They may as well drop the "RPG" and just call them JTurnbased or JBeat'emup. Those "genius" games you've mentioned are not worth my time.
1. I really hope you're black yourself.
2. Of course they have big ugly armors and they're greased in oil, it's like the apocalypse.
Of course Nomura gets my vote, Kingdom Hearts, The World Ends with you, Final Fantasy, even Super Mario RPG, you can't really deny his genius.
Do you really think that I would have used the word nigga negatively if I were "black" myself? Lol.
"Black people" in games are such a turn-off. No-one wants them there and no-one will play with them if it can be avoided, but they are included anyways because otherwise the developers risk getting attacked by some ridiculous equality organisation.
And no, it is not the apocalypse. It is just some random alien attack.
"I wanna see a medium build black man, with fast movements. Anyone know aby western game like that?"
NBA 2k9
Uh..... CJ anyone?
CJ as in Carl Johnson from GTA:SA?
i can't believe nobody mentioned demoman from Team Fortress 2! Medium build (above average HP), above average move speed, awesome damage, and definitely not "brute". Extremely tactical to use.
Your comment has thus been rendered invalid, your challenge defeated.
Mindless fangirl post is mindlessly fangirlish.
@DmonHiro
If you want a medium build black guy, play Borderlands. The black guy in it is a professional soldier without all the giant muscles.
Funny enough, the role of the bulky tank guy is played by a giant white guy named Brick. He looks like the biggest bouncer ever.
Zack from dead or alive,he is fast and powerful
Lolz this person is so retarded
iam white i would happily play with a black character. so wtf this person stupid XD
Actually, that not really the reason people don't use black characters much. In western games, they use really annoyinf stereotypes. The black character will almost always be a big tough brute with heavy armor and a big gun, and will normally be too slow to take on the smaller characters. It gets boring. I wanna see a medium build black man, with fast movements. Anyone know aby western game like that?
In japanese shooters/rpgs/fighters, skin coloer is not used for a certain stereotype.
Also, I'm a big fan of weak looking characters that kick ass.
@pedobear:......should have seen that comming :D
@Kas: Yes he is. Never said the japs don't use the same stereotypes, just not so much
What about Barret from ff7 ? He's a black big though guy with a big gun :p
Left4Dead, but that's all that is coming to mind.
@iapfah
I believe he's also the most educated one of the lot.
i say Gears of War. becouse ive only ever really enjoyed one FF game.
I admittedly also only ever enjoyed one FF game to it's fullest.
But I still spent about 15 times as much time on it than I ever did on GoW.
'sides, while I'm not a fan of the general androgynousness, Nomura at least knows what he's doing when it comes to original clothing designs.
Blezinski looks like he took his 'clothes' (armor in this case) straight out of any generic gritty sci-fi shooter in existance. Poo.
CliffyB is a cock.
hmmm....im sooo into RPG's so....yeah the choice is obvious...east is a WIN for me in entertainment(games),porn(hentai),shows(anime/hentai) and etc..blah blah blah~
only thing i like about the west is barrack obama!
Gears of War is just too awesome in all aspects.
Lol, if in all aspects you exclude their glitchy multiplayer then sure, it's "too awesome" Hell, I'm a 360 owner and I sold Gears 2 after a while. Fun co-op game, not so much online.
Gears of war has sluggish controls. And before you say that people like me merely dislike it, you should take into account that I've beaten both games (GoW2 at home and GoW at a friend's house, but we didn't beat RAAM because we ran out of time). Otherwise, it's a straightforward 3ps game with enough merits as it is.
I agree.
but since this is an otaku Website
Well lets just say we know whose already gonna win
I have issues with both but what made my decision was strictly the character design.
Tetsuya's are only marginally better than Cliff's "refrigerator with a bowling ball on top" body type.
A bowling ball? I dunno, those heads are pretty square, cinder block I reckon.
rite, sticking to the walls in every move and fked up running, awesomeness PURE AWESOMENESSSSS
yeah sure because only otakus can distinguish between good characters designs and awesome characters designs...
give me a break, i really like gears but against Nomura's designs they just don't stand a chance...
yeah, there really isn't much of a gender.
but I also think its a matter of taste, pretty boys vs. rugged boys (altho I give gears of war credit for its realism). But neither gives an in between, and I'd rather see them compared doing the opposite's style before I judge
They don't? I see a huge error in Nomura's designs, and that would be that THERE IS NO GENDER, everyone is androgynous. I agree with Kama. Just because it's Final Fantasy it automatically wins.
It's not that girly... They look like they're just younger guys.
To be honest, I don't really like either visual design. One is absurd to the point the chins look like they're 1.5 the size of the rest of the head, if not larger and they're all gritty and MAAAANLY (it may be story appropriate, but I haven't played EITHER game...) and then the other has a little more variation (One looks like a thief, the other a main hero, one may be a bloody mage, all based on appearances) but they're a little boring and all but one seem to have the exact same features.
Nomura's characters look completely girly. Gears' soldier may look absurd, but I like them better than having some guys who look like women - or kids - as heroes.
If Nomura's design was just a little manly, it would surpass Cliff's in my opinion.
this is a tough decision though i mean they're both obviously insanely talented people.. >.< so i guess how well the game plays will sway each individual in voting... so to save my own ass so i dont cry at nite im not going to vote :P
I wonder if the programs they use are the same. It would be interesting to know if the same tool has something to do when it comes to conceptualizing.
Square have always used Softimage XSI, and before then Softimage 3D. As for what Enix use, I cannot answer.
They use their own middle-ware called Crystal Tools.
Square bought the rights to the Unreal 3 engine. But as far as I know it's only been used in The Last Remnant and Star Ocean. They should compare those characters to Gears characters as they are both Unreal Engine Rendered. They use the above mentioned engines as well. I think that new shooter/rpg coming out is from square and also Unreal powered.