Tifa's Remake design. What are your thoughts?

[Dionysos]

Tifa Lockhart is a fan favourite for many people.

Last night / early this morning the E3 trailer dropped, revealing the new look for the female monk.

She appears to be mostly the same, but for the addition of long socks and a new type of skirt. She's also wearing a black sports bra underneath her top, and some black shorts instead of white panties underneath her skirt to protect her modesty during high kicks.

So does her redesign do her justice in your eyes?

If not, is she mostly there for you, minus a few details? Or is there a lot to be desired?

If you do like her design, what is it that you like most?

-

Myself, I really like her design. I found the different style of skirt a little bit distracting at first for some reason (so much so that I didn't even notice the socks until people pointed them out), but I do think she is looking amazing on the whole.

Also... her gloves!

With Nordic runes serving as decoration, Square Enix appear to be putting some emphasis on the Norse allusions in Nibelheim (her hometown) or Midgar (her present dwelling / base of operations). I think this is a nice finishing touch to her design!





EDIT:
Also... Apparently Tifa will now be voiced by Britt Baron (from GLOW) rather than Rachael Leigh Cook. They appear to be changing all of them in favour of younger voice actors. Maybe because it will be such a long project now?

 

[Six]

The sports bra I can understand, the skort I can also understand as it still looks like her original design. Though, as a massive Tifa fan and loving her original design, the thigh highs being added (whether it looks good, makes sense ((it doesn't make sense)), etc or not) are ridiculous. It's not part of her design, and they left the other characters mostly true to their OG outfits as well, so why on earth did they have to change literally every piece of clothing for her and add thigh highs?

Don't like it. Tifa herself is stunning, though. I'm just disappointed SE went anime school girl style with her stockings. It's just not her. Oh well.

 

[FighterMcWarrior]

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that this Tifa was designed to look more Japanese than previous Tifa designs.

 

[Duhemsounds]

The face is beautiful and the global design is quite close from the original with a more Japanese style
Maybe there will be multiple outfits to customize her

 

[Mitsuki]

I’m really digging the sports bra style. The skirts, I’m kind of on the fence. I’m not sure what to think of it other than it looks a little different and flowy? Of course it’s flowy, it’s a bloody skirt so why am I cringing a little?

The thigh high socks... at first I didn’t even notice that, lol. But it is a bit of a drastic change and while I understand they’re trying something different, I would’ve preferred her original design. Reminds me of the Type-0 female characters—and I can understand the socks in that environment, but for FFVII... like, hello Tifa, just got out of class?

Still love her character though! Love her voice actress too. It has that edge to it.

 

[Miko]

I'm not gonna lie, I don't mind the high socks. I agree that it really isn't necessary, and I don't understand why they did it, but it's probably the last thing I'm gonna think about when I see her when playing the game. In fact, like a few others, I didn't even notice it till after I watched the E3 trailer. I think if it's optional I'd definitely remove them though.

The skirts, I’m kind of on the fence. I’m not sure what to think of it other than it looks a little different and flowy? Of course it’s flowy, it’s a bloody skirt so why am I cringing a little?

When I watched the trailer the first time I was wondering what it was that seemed off to me, and I think this was it. It looks really weird, doesn't it? I'm not sure why this bothers me more than the socks!


Anyway, I think she looks gorgeous and I'm loving the little subtle details on her gloves. Watching her in combat was pretty nice too!

 

[Linnaete]

Very pleasantly surprised by the direction they're going with Tifa. Giving her a sports bra underneath and a pair of skorts in lieu of that ridiculously tight miniskirt that I always felt was a ludicrous choice of attire for a physical fighter do so much to elevate and improve from a very 90s classic design.

Her proportions look reasonable and realistic without sacrificing the essence of the beloved original design and kudos to the designers for giving her some muscle definition. It's not as much as I'd like, as out of personal preference I would prefer Tifa with a bit more bulk. That second screenshot in particular does depict her on the conspicuous skinny side, but it's something I can easily overlook.

I also do agree that thigh-highs invoke a schoolgirl look with thigh gaps being very typical of female anime character designs (the tired zettai ryouiki trope) but nor is it a deal breaker to me.

 

[FighterMcWarrior]

What if they just didn't want her to be the only member of the party running around without anything covering her legs?

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

I think the design is fantastic. It's better than I could've hoped. My only personal gripe (and it's a very minor one at most) is that the pleating on the front of the skirt is a bit weird. But I don't mind it.

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

The sports bra I can understand, the skort I can also understand as it still looks like her original design. Though, as a massive Tifa fan and loving her original design, the thigh highs being added (whether it looks good, makes sense ((it doesn't make sense)), etc or not) are ridiculous. It's not part of her design, and they left the other characters mostly true to their OG outfits as well, so why on earth did they have to change literally every piece of clothing for her and add thigh highs?

Don't like it. Tifa herself is stunning, though. I'm just disappointed SE went anime school girl style with her stockings. It's just not her. Oh well.

I totally agree with Six on this. Tifa's design looks extremely good, but adding the long black thigh highs kind of ruin her personality. It makes her look more like a school girl than a fighter and that is not what people wanted to see. They should of kept it as the original version with the low socks since it makes her look more of a brawler. That is the only thing that I didn't like about her design. Other than that she looks awesome!

 

[FighterMcWarrior]

Alternaive Thigh-High Theory (and yes that was fun to type):

Stockings with a sheen can be a single texture. If you have to animate knees, they have wrinkles on even the youngest adult. Also, muscles and pores for the legs. If you cover her legs, they are easier to animate in a AAA CGI environment.

 

[Starships]

I love her design and it makes more logical sense now. Listen bigger boobs would just be a pain to battle with. They would flip around with no control, they would give poor Tifa some serious back pain, and would get all sweaty and give her a rash. It's more logical for a martial artist to wear a sports bra and support.

It's not censorship. It's logical.

Also, her new high socks are cute and her new skirt is welcome too.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Thought this was a really interesting look at her new design, as well as some of the debate around it:

 

[The Witch]

I love her clothing redesign for the most part, and I'm not even a Tifa fan. I loved the sports bra change, I like the pleated skort, too. But like Kira said, I dislike the thigh-highs a lot. It gives off this weird "highschool" look and I don't like that. But it makes sense that SQ-EN would continue to sexualize their female characters.

That said, I don't like her face at all. :/ I think she looks really weird facially. I can't pinpoint what it is, but something looks off. But her Dissidia NT face looks absolutely GORGEOUS. So I don't get how she looks so weird in the remake.

Another thing, for me, is that Tifa's arms look pathetically weak/thin. They said they gave her abs and I'm just thinking "where??", she has a flat stomach with barely a crease--that's not abs. Aerith's belly would exactly the same if she were to expose it. I know they would never make any of the women with any muscular shape because that's just not Square Enix's style--but it's incredibly dumb to have male monk/brawlers in FF series be ripped beyond imagination and then every single female monk/brawler looks like she can't lift herself outta bed. I didn't want Tifa to be huge or anything like that, but hell, she could have AT LEAST looked like Fang.

It's just dumb. Tifa doesn't have magical blood, she worked for years to gain her strengths. So her physique should show that she's a brawler, the same way Sabin and Zell and Yang look like monks.

 

[FighterMcWarrior]

Smaller arms move faster than bulky ones. Look at Bruce Lee and Jason Statham and such. Not really bulked-out guys, mostly built for speed. Fights between skilled fighters aren't decided by who hits the hardest, but by who scores more hits.

 

[Six]

Smaller arms move faster than bulky ones. Look at Bruce Lee and Jason Statham and such. Not really bulked-out guys, mostly built for speed. Fights between skilled fighters aren't decided by who hits the hardest, but by who scores more hits.

It's been a bit since I posted...

But, precisely. I think a lot of people confuse martial arts with looking fit, looking toned, muscular or bulkier. That's definitely not always the case.

More importantly, they're video game characters, they're not supposed to look realistic. However, even though Tifa (and Aerith, heck, I bet Yuffie as well) look quite slim, Tifa's physique looks fine to me aside from that.

The thigh highs I could still do without, but it doesn't bother me as much any more.

I prefer her face in the remake over Dissidia, though... But hey, it's Tifa, can't go wrong.