No matter what critics say, the cardinal sin of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is not the gameplay itself, but the sheer and vast amount of outfits that the player can put Lightning in. The game takes a perfectly good heroine and decides to turn her into a model for the players’ personal dress-up game: and when this wardrobe includes some of the scantiest, most out-of-character outfits possible, the concept in and of itself becomes kind of heinous.
However, there is one, tiny, tiny upside to this sheer variety. You see, every “Garb” (the game’s class/ability system for Lightning) has a category that it falls into with a group of other garbs. Every outfit in one category shares the same animations, basic aesthetic concept, and, apparently, NPC reactions to Lightning.
One category in particular— dubbed the “cloak” category by fans due to the prevalence of cloaks in the outfits— elicits an interesting reaction from NPCs. The cloak category encompasses Lightning’s more masculine outfits, including but not limited to a velvet suit and a butler’s tuxedo. Apparently, to reflect this, the developers programmed some NPCs to comment on how masculine Lightning looks with tones ranging from confused to derogatory, but one comment stands out in particular.
Sometimes, when walking around wearing a cloak garb, a random female NPC will run up to Lightning and exclaim: “I love you! Wait… was that a woman?”
Honestly, can you blame them? Lightning is already an incredibly gorgeous individual, and she looks especially dashing in menswear. But whether or not this opportunity to run around Luxerion in a tux charming all the ladies of the city is worth being able to put Lightning in some of the most horrendous bikinis in existence is… debatable.
At the very, very least, we suppose it takes the sting out of knowing people are out there objectifying one of the most iconic heroines in franchise history. Just a little bit.
NEXT: FFVII Cosplayer Finds Way To Make Buster Sword Magically Hang On Back
