A translated interview has been published on Dualshockers — first appearing on Famitsu — which took place during a special Q&A event in Tokyo for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Two developers, Nobuhiro Goto (Character Modeling Designer) and Motomu Toriyama (Director) spoke candidly about changes made to Lightning’s appearance, in particular her chest region.
Q: Is it true you said you wanted Lightning-san’s size from a C cup to a D cup?
Nobuhiro Goto (Character Modeling Designer): Toriyama-san said “I want it bigger” so…
Motomu Toriyama (Director): [What a] cop-out! (laughs)
Goto: Yes, it was enlarged.
Q: Was it a C cup until now? Does it even jiggle this time?
Goto: Yes!
Toriyama: It’s determined by clothing, like the so-called corrective underwear. (laughs)
Masaru Suzuki (Designer): There’s an unreleased costume that exposes the l’Cie scar on her chest. Please think [carefully], is there any other information that should be disclosed? (laughs)
Q: So there were costumes that were rejected?
Goto: I think there are a few designs that were rejected.
Suzuki: If reproducing the outfit proves to be difficult, then I’ll consult with the artwork designer as much as possible, but if the costume design slows down to a crawl, it gets scrapped.
Dengeki also published a report on the Q&A which shed further light on the “new and improved” changes to Lightning.
Q: I heard that the chest Jiggles?
Goto: Yes, her chest jiggles. Since everyone can decide what costume she’ll wear, you can make sure it does (laughs). By the way, since Lightning swings her arm when you change her weapon in the menu screen, that’s a recommended action for sure-fire jiggling! To see it even better it could be useful to equip a small shield. Look forward to it!
The objectification and sexualisation of femal characters in video games is a hot button issue at the moment. While Japan certainly is culturally different from many Western countries and these changes may or may not be offensive in that region, this is sure to be something that will get people talking.
What’s your opinion?
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