I guess.... haha To me, there's a difference.

All of that could've been done without eliminating playable female characters. The reason for, as noted in the OP, the exclusion of female characters was to implement the guys on a road trip/journey trope that is found in a lot of fiction. That isn't new nor diverse. 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoadTripPlot?from=Main.RoadMovie

In my opinion the "Walking the Earth" trope that previous Final Fantasy games implemented is superior to the Road Trip trope because the world is more fleshed out, and there is no pressure to limit the type of characters you have purely for some cliche'd theme about the other gender. 

Considering the game is suppose to be part of the rpg genre, I think freedom of role-playing trumps top-down presentation. If he wanted to make an action-adventure, that is an entire different thing. People have different expectations from different genres. 

The difference was that Da Vinci was ' selling ' his work to a single client, not millions of people. You are naive if you believe the production of video games are not primarily about money. That doesn't preclude them from being artistic too, but the main purpose is to make money. That is why SE booted Nomura from this game and exchanged him for Tabata, despite Nomura having an artistic vision with respect to it. 

Ugh. To everyone that quoted me:

I don't care if 10-2 was a sequel. It still bore the name Final Fantasy & it was arguably more in line with series tropes than 10 (with ATB and a job system). 10-2 was big news when it came out, partially BECAUSE it was a sequel.

I also don't care what people thought of the game. Some hated it, enough liked it to warrant including it in the HD collections.

My point is, Square reps didn't have to waste time fielding questions about the role of the male characters in nearly every interview concerning FF10-2. Game journalists & the culture at large these days arw more interested in fishing for drama and intrigue than getting new info about the game itself.

Wow you are crazy defensive and I have no idea why. If you didn't know this is a gaming forum where people discuss various things related to games. Me quoting you doesn't mean I "care" it means I wanted to discuss the topic with you. If I knew you were going to react like a child about it I would have never done it. I guess your right that naturally I immediately do form some sort of opinion about soemthing just by looks. I guess what I should have said is that I don't let those quick opinions I get affect me in my buying deciosions or whether or not I enjoy a game. I wait until I actually try it and for a few hours at least before I start really forming an opinion I'm comftorable discussing.I never said you wanted them to change the game that just you being crazy paranoid/defensive. I was simply stating that we should let the devs create the games the way they want and we can try them out and then decide if we like what they did or not. Never said you didn't have right not to be interested but I'm sure your paranoia led your thought process in that direction. Welcome to the internet my friend I'd recommmend letting down your defeneses a bit you might enjoy yourself online a bit more.

This was not always the case with Da Vinici sometimes he just did it for the love of his art. I never said anything about video games not being about money of course for the most part that's what it's about. That has nothing to do with me thinking that the devs are the artist and should do with their game what they want. I've heard countless stories in the movie/tv industry of execs who have no talent ruining good movies/shows because they try to do what they "think" people will like instead of letting the artist do what they originally wanted.

New theme for the Jrpgs scene I said, the road trip theme itself is indeed known. However, it is not separated from other themes and events of the story that make it meaningful.

Each party has unique dynamics. Different kind relationships can be told through different kind of characters. It is a matter of perspective. What can be explained through comradeship of male characters can not be simulated by having females, and vice versa. It opens unique opportunities. Which is the reason for not having girls. So there is no "pressure to limit" anything. Different perspective. That is how I see it.

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It is up to personal preferences. Nobody is telling anybody what to like or dislike, there is no attacking either. But I think we all agree that pointing out some design aspect as a flaw based on one's preference is not reasonable, worthy of an argument. Especially when it is continously repeated. So let's not start playing victims here

The magic description makes sense then.. so is why everyone isn't considered a mage, as there is a higher order of magics that not everyone can use

What the ...

Whoa there, Barn.  Put the bullet back in your pocket before you hurt yourself.  I'm not sure what you're talking about but it sure sounds like you're trying to blow this way out of proportion.  I think you might want to find a mirror before you start talking about crazy reactions.

First of all, don't imply that others are being "dumb" then call someone childish.  Pot, kettle on line one.  You are the only one calling people names.  Read back over the posts and then deny that.  Second, don't try to make sarcasm out to be some kind of internet rage.  I was hardly spamming exclaimation marks.

Seriously, don't do this.  Tactics like this are lame.  They will only make you look fake and/or silly.

If you want to discuss in a civil manner then don't start out with an insult.  I don't even understand how that would be a point of confusion.

As for the rest of what you're saying, I simply do not believe that you buy every game out there to see if you like it or not.  Very few people are both willing and able to do that.  Most of us have to make a decision based on avaliable media--and, yes, that's the proverbial "book cover", which for games is pretty extensive.  People do this all the time.

Personally, I don't care for the character designs.  They look like they're about to go clubbing instead of adventuring.  I don't like that there are only five party members and that you only control one of them.  From what I've seen in videos, the battle system does not appeal to me very much.  I think that's enough for me to form the initial impression that I'm just not very interested in this game at this point in time.

As a man, I don't care if a video game has women--I care if it's fun. I don't care what gender any of the characters are.