One part game demo and one part brilliant marketing scheme, the Dragon's Dogma 2 Character Creator was released on March 7 allowed anybody to design their custom player character for free before the full game's launch on March 22. Considering this happened barely a week after Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was released, it makes a lot of sense that plenty of people out there would take a stab at recreating Final Fantasy characters for Capcom's high-fantasy adventure. Here's a look at spirited recreations, including some genuinely fantastic ones.
Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth makes fun of Cloud's spikey haircut numerous times throughout the game, mainly related to various yellow birds you encounter. Because the original game had polygonal character models, the spikes helped keep things interesting. All these years later, Cloud retains his signature spikes, but outside of anime or a Square Enix video game, you'd be hard-pressed to recreate it. YouTuber Littell Gamer did his best with the options at hand, but you can't tell this is Cloud at a glance. The character has some soft and rounded features, especially in the cheeks and jaw, that could be sharpened up a bit. The more you look at this one, however, the better and more accurate it gets.
Aerith (Final Fantasy VII)
This Aerith Gainsborough from YouTuber Senhoshi is really solid. The eye and hair color are perfect, and for Aerith, that bright green eye color is probably the most important thing. Aerith does have more slender features than the Dragon's Dogma 2 character created here, however. She has more of an upturned elven nose and sharper chin. Overall face and lip shape is also really good, but Aerith does have thinner lips that are more pink. "Well...hair is always the problem," Senhoshi wrote in their YouTube video's description. Aerith has a very particular hairstyle that's impossible to recreate perfectly in DD2, but this is as close as possible.
Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
YouTuber IamBraumer made Sephiroth — the iconic Final Fantasy VII villain — the character creator, and it does not disappoint. Hair style is, as always, the biggest obstacle. But he effortlessly nails Sephiroth's silver hair color. The overall look is pretty decent, but this creation looks more like a Targaryen than a half-alien demigod. Maybe it's because we never get to see his rendition with clothes on, but this version seems a little too muscular to be Sephiroth. Put some all-black leather on him, and we're good.
Zack (Final Fantasy VII)
"I'm from Gongaga!" is a hilarious title for the Reddit post from u/PajamaBottomsNToast showcasing a design inspired by Zack from Final Fantasy VII. Zack is a too-friendly guy with too much hair and so much enthusiasm that Sephiroth calls him a "puppy." The perfect armor design here and the faithful recreation of the X-shaped scar on the left side of the chin make this design instantly recognizable as Cloud's fallen friend from the Final Fantasy VII narrative.
Tifa (Final Fantasy VII)
Another great contribution from YouTuber Senhoshi, this Tifa design is solid. Tifa has dark, long hair with a center part, but her most distinguishing feature is her red eyes. The hair and eye color here is perfect. Tifa does have a narrower nose, however, with higher cheekbones and more of a pointed chin. Pretty much everybody that's not a cat or Barret in Final Fantasy VII has elvish-looking features. Dragon's Dogma 2's commitment to realism in design becomes something of an obstacle in that regard.
Moogle (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth)
My favorite creation is the stuff of nightmare fuel. Moogles are strange, furry little fairy things that appear in every Final Fantasy game in some capacity. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, they have little Keebler Elf-style treehouses and sell you stuff. Their design for the game drew a lot of negative criticism from the wider gaming community. Twitter user @ADAMTO_BEAUTY recreated that specific Moogle design in Dragon's Dogma 2. The result is a freakish nightmare that looks like it was designed by the strange people who turned Winnie the Pooh into a horror movie.
Tidus (Final Fantasy X)
Tidus from Final Fantasy X is a professional athlete with bleach-blonde hair and coppery-tanned skin. The skin color is really the only miss in this Dragon's Dogma 2 character design from Redditor u/Marc_Key. The hair color is perfect and ridiculous-looking with a hairstyle remarkably close to Tidus' actual hair. A more pointed chin would be a welcome improvement, along with more of a tilt inward for the eyes, which should also get some brighter color. The skin color is the main issue here. If you look at cinematic cutscenes of Tidus as opposed to his in-game character model, you notice that his coloration is a lot darker.
Yuna (Final Fantasy X)
Yuna's design is remarkably similar to many other female leads in franchise history, but she has heterochromia (two different-colored eyes) that help her stand out. Yuna is half-Spiran and half-Al Bhed; she gets one eye from each side of her ancestry. Redditor u/DannisTheMenace goes all-in on the eye colors which could stand to be dialed down a bit. While the hair style and color is somewhat accurate for Yuna, it looks a bit generic. Yuna's edgier hairstyle from her FFX-2 redesign could be a better inspiration here, even if that meant less accuracy. Yuna also has a pointier chin and nose with a narrower face shape.
Kimahri (Final Fantasy X)
Another classic from Redditor u/Marc_Key, this Kimahri Ronso is nearly perfect. A humanoid blue cat person from the Ronso tribe, Kimahri is the Summoner Yuna's most dedicated Guardian in Final Fantasy X. The new Battahl race introduced in Dragon's Dogma 2 is perfect for a character like Kimahri. This model gets blue cat fur and a mane of white hair. 10/10. Would be 11/10 if the cat had a spear instead of swords.
Gladiolus (Final Fantasy XV)
Redditor u/LordTubson shared his vision for Gladiolus, the muscly friend of and sworn protector to Prince Noctis in Final Fantasy XV. It is honestly incredible. Everything from Gladio's forehead and left eye scars to the tattoos across both arms are faithfully recreated. The hairstyle chosen gives more tribal barbarian vibes than Gladio's regal mullet, but in FFXV, he does get a small ponytail after the endgame time skip, so even this is pretty accurate.
Clive (Final Fantasy XVI)
I really wish Redditor u/Significant-King00 would post more images of his design inspired by Final Fantasy XVI's protagonist Clive. Like the previous Zack design, the armor and specific scar placement make this one of the most accurate Final Fantasy character creations in Dragon's Dogma 2. The hairstyle and color, the sparse facial hair, and even the scowling expression are all very Clive.
