The common trend here and in many other message boards seems to be to bash the current mainstream Japanese-origin artists. This has nothing to do with their personal style, so much as their origin. What I've observed, and I'll use Square as an example is a constant stream of extremely negative criticism centered towards the in-house artwork, regardless of the artist. For every positive remark, there's boatloads of negative. And the negative comments don't seem particularly well grounded. I remember someone from this board critiquing Sephiroth's design. This person (I can't remember their name, sorry) gave some clear and well-thought criticisms, such as Sephiroth having way too high of a waist, and his rediculously large sword creating a sort of off-balance with regards to his center of weight and gravity. However, simply saying a piece of artwork sucks because there are too many accessories doesn't tell me much. I don't think the FFTA2 is particularly bad. It's centered towards a younger audience, and thus, is fun, playful and imaginative (as is expressed by the assortment of accessories, the child-like herioc poses, and the vibrant color choices). Anyway, I don't want to get too deep into this as I don't have time at the moment, but I'm getting pretty tired of all this non-stop bashing of Japanese-origin artists. Western artists seem to get all the praise, for whatever reason, and in much the same blinded manner.
