I don't agree. It's your opinion to think so, but hear me out on this. Based upon what you're saying, Advent Children would have also catered to feminists, but almost 15 years ago before the identity politics of today's Western society came into fruition?
Square Enix is a Japanese company first and foremost, and Final Fantasy is their Japanese franchise. I've lived in Japan for long enough now to know that society here functions much differently than the Western world. All the identity representation [nonsense] currently thrown into Western media and entertainment...it's not here. Most Japanese people are ignorant to its existence, and those who may get a whiff of it from the internet, don't care enough to ever talk about it. Another fact is that the majority of the player base is male, and the Japanese gaming industry heavily favors male loving aesthetics. They don't tone down characters because feminist activists [whom don't exist in Japan] demanded it do so. Trust me on this one...it's not a feminist thing.
I personally don't mind the new look they've given, but still enjoy the original the best. The changes themselves at least match pretty well. Barret with sunglasses though? That one will take awhile to grow on me.
This is my take as well. And we know it's a good system seeing how the Hardcore mod and New Threat have shown us what could have been developed instead.
