http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/22/the-devolution-of-character-designs
http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/220569-Who-wants-to-see-more-diversity-from-Video-Game-protagonists
http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=2521

Your problem, jay, is that you literally do not know what you're talking about. It's forgivable, since you haven't been exposed to much, but the same argument can be made about western males in games. Frankly, it's funny that you mention dragonquest, chrono-trigger, and dragonball. It's all the same artist! It's rather funny that you call the artstyles similar. You don't even know it's the SAME artstyle. That's how silly this all is. You call the dissimilar similar, and the exact, similar.

You say, "oh I can tell the characters apart". Of course you can! You're comparing the same art-style characters from only a pool of 50-60 characters made by a single artist who is CONSCIOUSLY trying to make each character very unique from the OTHERS HE HIMSELF CREATED. Meanwhile, you compare this girl to the entire catalogue of ANIME, thousands of different artists copying each other.
Since you appreciate criticism and welcome it, then take this to heart. You are being unfair in your determinations because you really don't know much about anime. Anyone into the medium can tell you that those characters are pretty different, or at least done by different artists.

Hell, the OP girl has short pigtails, held with bubbles, with a buble on top, oversized purple knit sleeves, and a european bodice. Her artsyle is done with a mix of marker and photoshop, her look is meant to evoke 'kawaiso', which is kind of a bumbling cute character, and silly.
The second pic is a moe, maybe from chara or one of those series. Is done with a color-pencil/marker, has long ponytails in ribbon, and a puffy shirt schoolgirl uniform, and meant to look cute and vulnerable.
the third is likely a fanservice/doujin type character, relying heavily on photoshop, the has a similar schoolgirl uniform but wears a tie, and her hair is in ringlets, and meant to look seductive.
The fourth is a traditional watercolor-color pencil markup likely from a girl manga or older videogame, and is meant to be a character a female would relate to or admire or serve as a love interest.

Id say you arent getting what Im saying yourself.

Similarities, similarities, similarities.

None of them stand out and I could have chose between thousands upon thousands of other similar characters.  Not talking about artstyle or shadings.  


P.S.  If you are trying to talk to me, then reply to me

lol, no, I AM getting what you're saying, I'm just relating to you how someone like myself can easily differentiate these characters, likely as much of the target audience can, and the reason you can't tell is because you really don't pay attention, dare I say, you don't give a flip about anime, seeing as how your only known characters are from a single artist.

A point I made earlier was that, in contrast, a person who is not into western games might consider those protagonists in the links I posted as being virtually indistinguishable. Of course, you and I can tell the difference between kane and lynch, and saints row, and Mass effect, and infamous....and we don't even need to look at the characters! We can just look at the artstyle and say, that looks GTA-esque, or that's really polished and metal, or Gears has kind of a grit feel, or infamous is kind of a polished innercity style. Even the individual games and their sequels are easily distinguishable just by mere texture and appearance. Killzone, battlefield, call of duty. Vast open areas, focusing on vibrant realistic landscapes. Intricate maps with a focus on details and textures. High contrast grittiness. You can likely match those three excerpts with the aforementioned three titles. 

And that is why it is so important to actually be involved in what you are discussing. I can talk all day about anime differences and subtleties, as well as I can talk about differences between battlefield and call of duty, or sim city and city builder, or even monkey island 1,2,3, etc.

You don't see a difference because you don't know what's different. You think the only difference is clothes, and you think that's absurd. But you're RIGHT! Clothing is one of the very important differences in anime, right next to the hair. The three most important factors are hair and clothes and style. Face is virtually the same everytime, BECAUSE THAT'S THE MEDIUM. This is why hair is every shade of color, to help differentiate. This is why their clothes (and why Japan is considered a fashion capital) are very different from each other AND also from the norm. This is why the artstyles use different techniques. When I first watched Madoka, you know what my first thought was? Huh, this is kind of an interesting style to use almost only color-pencil for the character's eyes.

So yes, like I said, it's forgiveable that you can't tell a difference like that. What is less forgiveable is you defending an ignorant comment by saying that the masses are ignorant also, ergo your opinion is valid. No. That just means you're being unabashedly ignorant.

PS: sometimes my phone refuses to quote. Srry!

PPS: Oh and yeah! You CAN compare to the literal TENS OF THOUSANDS of anime characters. That's your intent. Yet when you talk about good differentiation you say "dragonball, chrono, and DQ" characters all look unique to themselves. I'm saying that's right, because you're only comparing 70 characters and saying oh they're all different, whereas in this case you're looking at ten thousand and saying "op's character is similar to a few hundred". (At least that's what you're really saying by posting those pictures of things like fanart).

Nope.  I posted on your wall rather than continue derailing this.  Im saying it doesnt stand out which it doesnt.

Whatever floats your boat, dude.

It does. I didnt want any replies yet I have said it time after time with you criticising me and others as well.  Not one person told me how this stands out.  You can paint me as the bad guy and act like I'm saying something horrible but I'm not. I never said one time anything about this series or the game being bad.  I didnt even say that it looked bad.  A good game is a good game and I hope it is good.  But my original statement stands. It does not stand out.

The OP already explained to me he was talking about graphics and not style.  I agree it looks better than the previous games and I'm glad that games are coming so far that you are getting closer to playing them with graphics as good as the shows them selves.

I am really getting tired of you walking into a thread, saying something completely ignorant, and then playing the victim when people call you out on it.

People like this game and its characters. It will never be a huge game, nor does it intend to be. It is what it is and it does well for what it does. These are games that don't require even 100k to be profitable. The characters are fine, and the anime crowd can say immediately that she looks distinct. Just because she doesn't look distinct to you doesn't mean she isn't. It just means you're ignorant of the medium.

Link me to all these threads where I come in and say something ignoarant.  You guys are throwing a fit over something.  I read it wrong and i admitted that but I wasnt wrong either.