First, quoting Nomura himself "the remaining undisclosed characters are post Playstation".
No, actually. What was said was "The remaining characters are from the SNES and BEYOND!" THat's actually was said. He never said "playstation" anywhere. This line has been translated multiple times, and "SNES" was always brought up (well, Famicom is likely what was said, but translating it to avoid confusion)
Anyway on Gilgy. On the assist system first. The lack of assist only character is what I have been complaining for a while. Yeah, a new system, but you don't throw enough gas in it to capitalize on it. When it is even possible to work the summoner thing out if they had done that. It can be a fight style that relies on assist action and summons can be unique assist.
I don't get what you're saying here. Are you saying they should add in Pure-Assist characters just to get more in the game? That's putting new full models of characters for a fraction of the purpose of genuine characters. MvC1 could get away with it cause they used singular sprites; sprites take up far less than models. DDFF? They'd have to make full models and yeah no.
Why else do you think Summons were made using 2D Art work for them with lazy animations? Obviously, it was a way to appropriately show the summon *BUT* not take up too much space with 50~ designs those only purpose is "appear briefly." Its the exact same logic really.
Its rare to see "Assist Only" characters in any game really. Capcom Vs. games totally got rid of them, for example. And in games that use Character Models (as opposed to sprites) its even LESS justified having that.
As for the weapon style user, none of them really emphasized on the difference between each weapon until Vaan, who actually shifts between combat styles base on his weapon and has required actions when switching weapons. I would say even Lightning counts more as a multi-weapon type character rather than Batz or Frionel, as like Vaan, her combat skill actually shifts.
Gilgamesh traditionally uses nothing but swords; the lone exception is FF5 where he has a bunch of arbitrary weapons IN DESIGN ONLY, and that's only his powered up form. His base form, he has a Halberd, and 2 arms, and...not seeing how that spells "INTERESTING FIGHTING STYLE!" more than many of the PCs.
You'll note with Vaan, he uses ACTUAL WEAPON differences. He has more than just Swords and Sword Variations; he has a Gun, Bow, Lance, etc.
Gilgamesh would be anything but a Multi-style character; he has one style, and that's Swordsmen. Or do you want him to just change stats as he changes weapons? Which honestly, would be a generic gimmick. It'd be a watered down version of what Cecil does (Cecil's entire fighting style changes when he swaps modes. Far more intriguing than "Change in speed, power and priority!")
Again, GIlgamesh uses a bunch of SWORDS, so to think he'd be a "Multi-style character" is just ludicrous. Vaan has actual different weapons, meanwhile.
The first thing that immediately pisses me off is that they toss in Vaan as the new multi weapon user, when nobody really cares about Vaan.
Do you...really not know the Japanese fanbase at all? Square-enix was going to REPLACE HIM ENTIRELY when the Voice Acting problem occurred, but a popularity poll kicked in, and it showed how damn popular he was that they realized they couldn't take him out. I forget the exact details, buts its known that Square-enix kept him in cause he IS that popular.
And in truth, Vaan is actually well liked for the most part. His haters are LOUD, and he's lacking in Hardcore fans to offset, but he's not as hated as you'd think. Even on GFAQs, Vaan didn't perform any worse than Balthier (who you'd think was massively popular) in the Character Contests, which says everything (well...more about Balthier.)
For Vaan's fighting style...they went the Firion/Bartz route. FF12 has no genuine PC distinctions (at least FF8 characters have different WEAPONS), so just make a character who encompasses the growth system as a whole, and represents the game that way. And considering Micromanaging weapons is a big deal in FF12 for beating higher end opponents, I think a Weapon Swap System fits him better than anyone else.
Also, lets not forget that Vaan has every OBJECTIVE reason to be in the game. Whether you like him or not, Square-enix decrees him as FF12's Main Character, if they wanted a Cosmos character from FF12, he's first in line as a result; its the same reason they chose Lightning, I'm sure.
You hate on Nomura a lot, yet, he declared he wanted SAZH in DDFF, not Lightning. Despite this, Lightning got in. Nomura isn't making the decisions really. in fact, Nomura stated the only character he really cares about getting in is Kain (who is a reasonable choice from FF4, much as I don't like him), and he expressed willingness to PUT Gilgamesh in. So your hating on Nomura makes no sense whatsoever...
Second, the Gilgy I have in mind would be more FF8 based, as in you won't know which sword he is going to pull with him switching between them randomly at end of his attacks, and each sword shall completely different property. (Like say, Excalibur is your typical all around balance sword, Excalipoor is completely useless but somehow does incredible damage when you got break, Ztentsuken does absolutely no break damage but has stupidly high critical damage, and Masamune makes him HP damage focused). Then you toss in some stuff from FF12 to make him fleshy. He'll at least be more interesting than say Frionel who essentially has only one combat style despite his claim as a multi weapon user.
So basically, he changes his stats based on his weapon? That's, again, a blander version of Cecil who completely changes. It sounds like a pretty boring gimmick seeing as we have *2* Multi-style characters who do a lot more with it as is.
Regarding his FF12 stuff...what does he add? A few un-memorable sword attacks? Seriously, Gilgamesh is just looking like "Yet another Swordsmen" the way you describe him, and its why I really question if he's better than other choices.
I mean, the way you propose his style change...why not use Faris instead, and give her Multiple Jobs, as a random example? You could do so much more having Faris swap between, say, Ninja, Geomancer, and Hunter (random jobs off the top of my head not-over-represented in the game) than a guy who "Changes his Sword!!!" Heck, Geomancer would be especially hilarious, seeing as it could have a skill set whose moves vary based on what stage you are (this...would only really work on a Multi-style character, cause they need SOME consistency, lest stages could be used to counterpick them ALL THE TIME)
You also do realize Firion has been completely redone for the most part, right? He can actually mix up his follow up attacks (so use Rope Knife -> The Lance Combo thing at the end of Reel Axe, for example.) They're also completely redoing Bartz's moveset to incorporate attacks from other Cosmos characters.
