The 7.3 Armour preview is offensive

Been playing the game since Heavensward; I have a lot of complaints and issues with the game, and I love quite a bit about it or I wouldn't still be here. This is my first time bothering with the forums because this is the most egregious issue presented. It has the vibe of people ignoring the sensitivity consultants, and said consultants allowing it to go through as malicious compliance to teach the company their wrong-doing. I might step back from the game for a while.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burgeaux

THE PROBLEM

I have my own reservations on the way Dawntrail has handled the variety of cultures across the two continents as a latino; but to take inspiration from military gear, not even really resembling Steiner (closest comparison to FFIX), is a poor decision considering the colonizing force parallels drawn from Alexandria/S9 in FFXIV.

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Posting to support friends and quoting a great post that lays it out.

Co-signed. I have maintained my sub consistently since I started playing in 2021, but will drop if they do not acknowledge this.

Furthermore, it is disappointing to see that threads on the General subcategory openly mocking or being incredibly passive aggressive about this discussion are still unlocked and seemingly unmoderated after the original thread was locked.

I've lost count of the number of people who were already on the edge of dropping the game, and this is the kind of poorly thought out decision that makes people choosing to divorce from a game they used to love so much easier. If the people you are taking inspiration from are raising their voices to tell you that they are hurt by that attempt, you aren't engaged in representation, you are simply lifting an aesthetic while ripping the people apart from it.

We know you can do better, and that you can course correct on bad choices before it is too late. Just because game companies have left the bar on the floor is no reason to slip underneath it.

Bumping this post because i couldn't have said it better than multiple have said in this thread. This is egregious and it really feels like the promises to be more thoughtful and respectful with the cultures CBU3 is taking inspiration from has been thrown out of the window. Where are the consultants in this? If you want to pull from real life cultures, you need to do appropriate research and be mindful of the connotations around the type of gear you're putting out. Please listen to all the native and LATAM players talking about these issues.

I love this game with all my heart but the multiple instances like this make it really hard to want to continue playing and come back, so much so that i'm thinking of unsubscribing from the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burgeaux

THE PROBLEM

I have my own reservations on the way Dawntrail has handled the variety of cultures across the two continents as a latino; but to take inspiration from military gear, not even really resembling Steiner (closest comparison to FFIX), is a poor decision considering the colonizing force parallels drawn from Alexandria/S9 in FFXIV.

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Signing, bumping, and highlighting how this lays things out; I encourage people to go read that full post.

Also doing my part to co-sign this. Having "conquistador" gear is wildly inappropriate. Wasn't the whole thing with the Imperial Army that "colonization is bad"? Why are we making such sensitive history a clothing item?

When so many people already have to deal with racism becoming normalized in real life, it's incredibly upsetting to see this gearset after all the promises to be more culturally sensitive. Especially when it's just another in a long series of missteps. Anything would have been better than this.

I personally had been hoping for more nods to the Alexandrian and Lindblum designs from Final Fantasy 9, or even more gear sets from the main cast of FF9 party members. There were so many options that they could have taken, this is incredibly disappointing and I have seen people canceling their sub over this.

that is some insulting correlation

i sincerely hope you relate to any sort of struggle to give your whinging merit

Does Square really want to appeal to the kind of horrible people who want to wear sets specifically to make LatAm/indigenous people uncomfortable?

Very gross of Square Enix to say they're doing better, they're hiring cultural consultants, etc., and then doing... this. Change the sets.