I'd be surprised if we get two different models for a new beast tribe, that's a lot of extra work.
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This.
If they're going to add Viera, they should be so bestial looking that people will have serious second thoughts about viewing them as (yet more) fetish bait.
That "viera" picture is exactly what they should not look like.
I'd still rather something that looks nothing like the races we have now, though...
Last I checked, we have several...
Ivalice Viera FTW.
the best time to introduce the race even a glimpse of it will be in New 24 man raid "return to ivalice"
Here I am crossing all my fingers
I think it'd be cool to get Viera, but only if they're tall and muscular rather than cutesy and petite.
But I'm trying to imagine how they would pull off male Viera since Au Ra have already been released.
Female Viera and female Au Ra would be distinct from one another because of their size difference, but if male Viera were made to be tall and muscular like in the concept art, they'd end up being really similar to male Au Ra. I'm pretty sure the body model for male Au Ra was originally going to be used for male Viera.
And if I recall correctly, Au Ra were created to replace Viera. They couldn't make Viera at the time, so they went with Au Ra. I'm guessing that's why there were so many similarities between the Viera and Au Ra concept art.
But the thing is, male Au Ra kept the same body type as male Viera, whereas female Au Ra steered into another direction. I'm guessing they figured shorter, dainty girl characters would be more popular (and they're right, female Au Ra are the second most commonly played after female Miqo'te). It was a marketing decision, and a smart one at that.
If they were to release Viera in their tall/elegant version, females would be easy to distinguish from other races. But the males would probably end up looking a lot like male Au Ra.
Which leaves me with the fear that, in order to circumvent this, male Viera will be designed to be smaller and cutesy (like an inverse of the Au Ra sexual dimorphism).
Or worse yet, they decide to make both genders cutesy and petite because they know it will attract more players. And if that's the case, I'll be completely uninterested.
Because of the release of Au Ra, I think Viera's chances have been somewhat jeopardized.
Ivalice should mean Viera in Eorzea, that's the first thing I thought when they mentioned it a long time ago, since SE was unable to give us a new race upon release I hope they will a year or so after Stormblood became available!...
For those concerned about the races' similarities, you shouldn't, because SE will most likely give us two clans with hopefully very different looks for Viera, the first one being just like Fran in FFXII and the second clan should be the cute type, this way no one would have an issue with the new race!...
I like the concept art. Not a race I would play personally, but I see the appeal. I wouldn't mind seeing these guys running around, it might break up the monotony of all the cat people!
I still would rather have more options for existing races than a new race. Both? Even better.
I think male Viera should be left as is. I can see them being the most "pretty boy" of all the races, looking androgynous while being tall. Meanwhile their emotes are elegant.
For the body type they could slim them down probably to make it different from male Au Ra. Either way how they'd act would be different enough.