Ivalician Moogles As A Playable Race - A Mogifesto

[silverlunarfox]

You did an excellent job with this posting! I wouldn't mind see them in game either. +1

[SionDurant]

I'd take Any moogle as playable, a good idea.

If not however, I'll also take a Moogle companion that functions like the Chocobo (not rideable, but can be summoned as a companion in combat yah)

[AkashiXI]

I’d make a moogle character for sure. I think having a beast race that’s cute and charming is the best addition to 14. I don’t think we will ever see something like Orcs or Trolls because this is an Eastern game.

[Corue]

I just realised I didn't actually add how they'd work within the lore of the story, so I just wrote a short paragraph about how they'd fit in and what problems and solutions could arise from adding a beast race as a playable race. I hope this answers some questions.

To put aside the inevitable arguments of moogles already existing, I propose that Ivalician Moogles wouldn't be "real" moogles. They could potentially share an ancient ancestor, but they came from very different places and ended up as completely distinguishable races, because of this they share a species name and not much else. This can be evidenced by their behaviour. The moogles of Eorzea prefer to laze about and only work under promise of kupo nuts. The Moogles of Ivalice, however, work because they want to. Moogles are responsible for inventing the majority of technology in Ivalice, from weaponry to airships to even an entire city made solely of machinery, kupo nuts be damned. They aren't entirely work-centric though and do enjoy recreational activities such as playing music. Before the fall of Rabanastre, Moogle musicians would be at the forefront of royal parades.

They do bear similarities to the Goblins of Eorzea, Moogles are a race with a keen interest of tinkering and creating machinery and have closer relations to the Hyur-like races than other beastmen. Though unlike Goblins, Moogles aren't particularly known for being merchants, have absolutely no belief in any kind of Primal and have completely different styles of technology. Many a time has there been a heated debate between Goblin and Moogle engineers over whose technology is superior..

It wouldn't be easy to just stick Moogles in and have everything work out straight away. Having a beast-like race as a playable race would cause some complications, but I believe these can be addressed. Some of these would require conditional dialogue changes so I'm not entirely sure if they would be possible to implement.

The main issue I could see is starting in Ul'dah, as Ul'dah purposely evicts all beastmen due to fear of Primals. I believe that since Moogles live in such proximity to the Hyurs of Ivalice, lack any kind of belief in a Primal and have a strong work ethic, Ul'Dah would allow them as temporary visitors for work-related purposes. Though they would inevitably draw some ire from the locals.
Interactions with regular moogles could be seen as a problem, but I doubt this. Ivalician Moogles bear an incredibly faint resemblance to the moogles of Eorzea. At most they'd call them fat imposters and wouldn't give it a second thought. Adding onto this- due to the disparity of their appearance, there's no chance that a dragon would think of an Ivalician Moogle as a moogle of the Churning Mists. They would detest them due to how close they are with the Hyur-like races.
Beastmen can posses the Echo, as is evidenced by a certain scene during the Leviathan quests, so it wouldn't be impossible for a Moogle to possess the Echo. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn are incredibly wary of the beast tribes, but they would most likely make an exception for a Moogle with the power of the Echo. After all, they do allow for a Sylph to become a member later on so they aren't that averse to allowing beastmen to join them.

[mikanana]

So basically a lalafell for furries.

[mikanana]

As a person who has only played final fantasy 14, I didn't know this race existed, and it does not look like a moogle to me.

[RubenSnizzle]

As a person who has only played final fantasy 14, I didn't know this race existed, and it does not look like a moogle to me.

Yeah, the race first got reveal in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA.


On topic : A moogle race like that would be neat imo, pretty much the size of a children in 14 would be great and the hair color would be the ball on your head xD.

[Corue]

As a person who has only played final fantasy 14, I didn't know this race existed, and it does not look like a moogle to me.

They're the moogles from the Ivalice games that first appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and every new game in the Ivalice series since. As you can see, they're drastically different in design from the typical moogle.

In comparison to other moogles they had a far more active role their games. In Tactics Advance not only were a few main characters but they were playable and had their own unique jobs. In the XII series they had a lesser role but the lore states that they were responsible for inventing the majority of technology in the Ivalice universe.

[Corue]

I made a little comment about the differences of headgear in the OP, but I didn't really go into detail about it, so I thought I'd make a short post about how hats would be change to accommodate Moogles and what problems could be fixed.

Hats and how they would differ

While the majority of gear would easily be able to work with the body of a Moogle, hats could pose a unique problem for them. Moogles have a snout that sticks which causes there face to lack the flatness of a human face and they have noticeablly larger ears. Due to the size of the ears it would look rather silly for them to have "ear extensions" appended to helmets like Miqo'te or Elezen, so they'd have no choice but to stick out.
While some hats would be able to work with these issues (helmets are bulky and could cover the snout, headgear with flat designs will allow for ears to stick out, circlets and headbands will still work even with ears, etc), there will still be some style of hats would conflict with these differences in anatomy. I don't know a lot about modelling, and I know even less about the developer's modelling process, but here are the issues which I believe will arise and my proposed solutions to fix these.

(Please forgive my poor image editing skills.)

The problem:

Tall hats. Due to the tall ears of Moogles, the cone would clip through the middle of the ears and would look rather sloppy.

The solution:

Shrink the center of the hat and allow the ears to clip through the sides, like the mooglings of Final Fantasy XII.

Alternatively:

Disable the ears for tall hats, similar to the black mage design from the Tactics series.

The problem:

Masks designed to follow the shape of a human face. (i.e. Alexandrian Visor of Fending). Since Moogles have a snout that sticks out this would create clipping issues.

The solution:

This will obviously require modification of the model, but will not require a complete redesign.
The "jaw" of a mask and the part that covers the mouth would be extended to account for the snout, with the front widened to fit the width.
Whiskers would also be made invisible too.

Mouth-guard style masks can easily be fixed by stretching the mouth part sideways and bringing it forwards for the snout.

The problem:

Hats with brims that adhere to the shape of the skull will cause clipping issues with the base of Moogle ears.

The solution:

Widen the brim of the hat to cover the base of the ears and allow the ears to clip through the sides or the top.
This will retain the "tight-fitting" shape while removing ugly clipping with the base of both hat and ear.

I think I covered the main issues, but if there's a style of hat I forgot please let me know.

[NewAgeDoom]

I want this, but only to see them running around as Dark knights. Moogle Edgelords.