Well, because we can't even trust trained professionals to use guns responsibly

Whatever it takes to protect these uniformed protectors of the peace from senseless waggling

Does Kotaku run these for genres, rather than consoles? I'm curious what the 12 best recent JRPG's are, because I think there's a bunch for consoles I don't own and don't follow

I think that's a fair point, but let's go back to your original point - that mindsale's thoughts on characters from past Final Fantasy games were driven by "rose coloured glasses."

This is a much better explanation of why Sazh is a good character, and as I'm sure you can see the reasoning goes much deeper than "concerned Dad." His character develops over the course of the story, his personality is motivated by events in the story, and he stands out quite a bit from the other characters. …

Hey buddy. Everything's going to be okay.

Interesting. By your logic, "Black man with afro" is not a stereotype. In my book, it's a stereotype. It's not a negative one, but since you impute a negative bias to all stereotypes I can see why you're confused.

"Concerned Dad" is a start at describing the character.

Great post, and you bring up an interesting branding conundrum for Square. Clearly, with the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, they were trying to find a mass market adventure game with some RPG gameplay elements, and they leveraged the Final Fantasy brand to give the game a bump.

Having a clear central motivation may make a character easier to remember, but it makes for a less compelling story. Most, if not all, great stories feature characters with multiple dimensions to their personality, who find themselves conflicted by situations which pit their values against one another.

It would be quite a challenge to find a fundamentally new story concept that's come to be in the past couple decades. Ultimately, themes are all recycled and only a particular execution of those themes is novel.

Whoa there, chief. Time to hit up the Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good.

Is it possible that you remember the character from FFXIII because he's been reduced to a collection of stereotypes and happens to have a quirky design choice, whereas Celes' character has some semblance of depth and doesn't fit cleanly into one of your trite and/or racist archetypes?

This took me like a full 10 seconds to figure out and then my mind was blown

Morrowind Sound and Graphics Overhaul looks way better, but I might download this one when it's in decent shape just to update that awful, awful Morrowind gameplay

I can imagine why someone named "Seoul Sister" is unimpressed by population density

Does this mean Rockstar is now aware of the existence of the third most populous city in the US?

You forgot Loneliness Simulator 2014, where you log onto Live and find out there's nobody online.

I spose Billy's Tavern is kinda like a club but there ain't no women there

Not familiar with it.