I hope they don't add any more races at all, but I am just now still adding to the length of the thread.
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I hope they don't add any more races at all, but I am just now still adding to the length of the thread.
New races are fun. I like reading about their lore and culture. However, I also agree the character customization needs to be enhanced greatly.
Of course not lol, that would be silly. However, it does prove that it is a hotly debated topic. Combine that with the race poll SE made a while back where mammal demibeastman (viera) came out on top and you have a general idea of what the playerbase wants. It's impossible to force people to add their vote and things like "everyone I know says" isn't valid to support an arguement. What then are we left with but, more evidence for viera than against at this current time.
You know, its funny you mention those two. When I made that post, those were the two primary examples I was thinking of. Also, I made no reference to armor whatsoever, not even talking about such.
My point I was trying to make was the model of the beast race themselves are so... generic. Now, this is more wow than GW2 but, wow is the epitome of a failed beast race.
ALL of their beast races, are nothing more than pallete swapped models so generic they could be random trash mobs. Pandas you just changed their fur color with maybe some spots here and there on the face... didn't change the fact it was the exact same face repeated. Worgen were the same, fur and fur patterns... same exact face on every model.
GW2 did a better job admitedly... they actually tried to make them look different. Granted it didn't help get the playerbase to actually play them. c'est la vie I guess.
I hope so... I really REALLY hope so. I never want to see things like PS3 hardware limitations and memory limitations used as excuses for mediocrity in 14 ever again if they do.
Indeed, though I hope if SE decides to add a new race they'll do a better job incorporating their lore (both clans lore) in game. Au'ra were just kinda... shoehorned in and forgotten. Though I suppose all the races and their clans are the same in that regard. Just kinda their, all too often you meet npcs who represent nothing of their races culture. Like they were creating npcs for story and side quest purposes and chose their race through random selection (doubly true for clans within a race).
I feel they should just expand on the options for the current races by adding more face types and extra features for all the faces. This should be done before we consider adding another race in my opinion.
The main issue with expanding what we currently have for character customization is how the game is currently designed.
Almost everything in this game is instanced, dungeons, trials, raids, PvP, even the inside of FC and private houses and rooms. Every instanced area is on a separate pseudo-sever, with all the information one characters has (character creation options, gear, glamour, inventory, tokens, etc.), there's a lot of data that needs to be transferred over every time you go to an instanced area.
Granted, I agree that I would like to see them expand on their current races.
How the game is in it's current state some races have a few more faces than others. They could easily add more faces to at least get it up to par with the others. This would minimally effect the server-load, even with the straw man argument of "PS3 limitations". It's just a crutch they lean on fairly often when they might not have interest in further defining a system already in the game ex. character creation.
I also agree with this.
Vejjiegirl made a thread that showed how many different parts of different races and genders get for customization and asking for there to be an equal amount of option for all the races and genders: Link
And I've made a thread listing different suggestions people have made regarding character customization: Link
One point i like to make though to all the people that say its just the exact same thing then why not do it? If all they have to do is "minimal difference to what we already have" why not just throw it in to please the 40 percent of players or so that desperatly want it. If its the same thing it cant take too awful long to add them then right? Ive said the same with miqote... Like SE could be making some serious cash selling new skins on the mog station. Miqote reskined into a wolf or fox race? 20 bucks. Id pay.
Also you can blame ps3 for the current races not having customability. The ps3 memory issues are holding the ps4 and pc back from their potential.
I'm not in to the bunny people concept. I don't really want a third "Hyur with animal parts glued on" kinda deal. Maybe if they were kinda bottom heavy like the Lalafell but a little bit less stubby. Like, narrow shoulders and broader hips with really strong looking legs. Maybe make it so they've got larger than average (but otherwise comparable in shape to the other races) feet too. Probably make them a bit shorter than the Miqo'te but still taller than the Lalafell. Give them almost Lalafell levels of sexual dimorphism, so the overall body shape is pretty much the same, and give both genders two fiercer and two cuter faces. You know what, if you put a Lalafell, a Hyur, and a rabbit in a blender and then reconstituted the mix into a playable race I'd actually find that pretty neat.
Huh. Just talked myself into wanting bunny people.
I support this idea once again. VIERA please!
Millions of pages in a no word of the mods as to if this is even considered :/
You mean the poll about beastman / demibeastman / mammalian / reptilian? First of all the poll lacked options outside of those like avian or aquatic. Secondly, mammalian demibeastman doesn't mean Viera. People who want werewolves that can transform, a more human looking Ronso, fox people, satyrs or any beastman with some human features also have to vote for that option. Which means you can't say Viera won the poll if Viera was never an option in it.
I agree about WoW's copy paste faces but you are forgetting that applies to every WoW race, not just the beastmen.
GW2 had a pretty good character creator for all races. Charr, Sylvari and Asura all look distinct from humans and their popularity is about half of that of humans. None are as rare as Roegadyn. It's hard to estimate what amount of players would migrate to a more distinct beastman race in this game, because we actually don't have one yet. Some lump beastmen into the same category as Roegadyn (big and not cute) and claim that it would be equally rare. And yet our demibeastmen are among the most popular races of the game, and there's no doubt some players play them for the exotic features and not just the pretty faces. Who says some Miqo'te and Au Ra players wouldn't be interested in some more beastly looking options (instead of a change of ears)? They don't exactly have a choice at the moment.
There are more things to consider when it comes to the addition of new races. Variety and new players. Would I have tried GW2 if they only had humans and big humans? It's a 100% no from me. I picked the plant and cat race for my character and the alternative would have been no characters at all. I can play human IRL. There are very likely people who never even try this game because there are no interesting races for them to try like Charr, Sylvari, Tauren, Worgen or Troll. In game they would be surrounded by cat girls, lizard girls and plain girls. This is not appealing to some people, but we never really hear from that side because they never entered the game. Rabbit girls would hardly make this game appealing to any new audience. A lot of people think it was a good idea to include female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te to ARR even though the former has always been among the least played combos in the game. It may not be the most popular but it adds variety and attracts new audiences. I probably wouldn't have started the game if it wasn't for femroe because no other race "clicked" for me. Right now my game+expansion purchases and sub fees would have paid for almost 50 fantasia potions. That's how valuable new players are compared to fantasia purchases. Food for thought. :P
I'd love to see Viera added, but as a reversal of Au Ra with the females being these tall, hulking creatures and the males being the small, adorable ones. Au Ra were a disappointment in that regard. Alternatively if they do with Viera what they should have done with Au Ra, that'd also be acceptable; One tribe having tall hulking males and small cute females, and the other having tall hulking females and small cute males. Or One tribe having both males and females small and cute, and the other having them tall and hulking.
I don't feel that previous incarnations of Viera from other games need necessarily hold the addition of them to this game at the point of a knife. It's perfectly plausible to add certain characteristics, of course. Miqo'te Males are rare, something taken from their predecessors, the Mithra, from FFXIV. Rare males/females shouldn't prevent a race from being playable, or both gender options.
While I see your point, I don't think the game should sacrifice it's tone/thematic for the sake of variety. If people join a game just for the models, and not for the gameplay, chances are they'll get bored and leave anyways. While variety in races certainly opens up a wider possible audience in attracting new players, it just isn't enough if they don't enjoy the game itself. Buy the game, play a few months, get bored, and leave. That'd be... what? $100? Meanwhile a new race which sticks out like a sore thumb from every other race will be in various places in the game as NPCs or the rare few players who just like that race, altering the atmosphere existing players have enjoyed for so long.
I, personally, enjoy the race selection FFXIV has, and the thematic they share of being more human than beastly. I also enjoyed GW2's wider variety and selection of races, because that worked for that game. WoW's race selection leaves much to be desired to me because it's a bi-factional game with strict racial divides. However, I don't think you'll see anyone bashing LOTRO for not having playable Orcs and instead just, "Humans, Pointy-eared Humans, Short-Bearded Humans, and Barefoot Humans." It should be the same for FFXIV.
SE could just end this debate by doing a race poll again.
You know? For the people who actually still play the game rather than catering to 1.0/2.0 players which may have since left the game entirely.
I do want Viera added. I like the concept art for both the male and female, although I always envisioned the Male as a bit more graceful but oh well.
I'd also love them to do a Hyur Midlander/Highlander where the tribes are different.....I mean the concept art for those lil baby viera is so cute too...
Yoshi P has said many things in the past that turned out to not be true. And it's nonsense to say that something won't happen "no matter how hard the players want it". If the players want it badly enough that the game is losing a significant number of subscriptions without it, then it will be added. That's not the case here. I don't think there are many people seriously entertaining the idea of quitting the game just because they can't be a bunny person.
That said, of the many suggestions in this thread and others for a new race, I think Viera is among the stronger possibilities for a new addition to the game. It's obviously a popular choice among the fanbase, and it would be easy to make a watered-down, humanlike version of it, just as Miqo'te and Rogadyn were watered-down, humanlike versions of Mithra and Galka. Making them Hyur with bunny ears and tails would make adjusting existing gear to fit them so much easier and more economically viable. Personally, if Viera were added, I'd prefer them to be Lalafellike, rather than Hyurlike - it'd be nice to have a second "diminutive" race option.
Truly inhuman races, though, I just don't see as a possibility in this game. In addition to the difficulty of refitting equipment for them, there's the issue that a lot of the plot of this game centers around the conflict between humans and beastmen. If one of the "human" races looks even less human than, say, the Amal'jaa, why are they considered to be one of the human races, rather than just another Beast tribe?
I think one of the issues that we are facing right now is the unwillingness of the developers to redesign armour for races that have non-human features. This alone will make the odds of having unique race or the Ivalice Viera slim to non. I realy want the Viera to be released, but I fear which version of the Viera they will release in this game. I just do not want another Hyur + animal parts.
Aslong as Yoshida and the developers are sticking to the whole: no redesigning of armour, I fear this game will have only Hyur lookalikes.
You know, a Dwarf race would be a pretty neat addition to this game (sure, it's another "human" race, but at least it's not something cute, nor an Elezen/Hyur with rabbit ears). They'd definitely stand out more than a Viera would and I'm sure players who enjoy playing as a short race, but aren't fans of Lalafells would be happy with them. Short, stocky people.
I know I would give Dwarfs a go, especially if they have amazing facial hair options.
Coming from a cat boy, even MORE generic than a "bunny girl".
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Viera
Instead of hating on a race simply because they are half-humanoid, you should read up on their lore. They are super interesting. Having played the Ivalice games, I would say they would be a welcome race with their lore. Their lore is pretty fascinating.
And no, Elezen with bunny ears does not make anyone a Viera. Much like that spriggan cap doesn't make you anymore of a spriggan. Re-using the XI races and just renaming them is pretty generic too. Or having an elf race and human race like any MMO. See where I'm going with this?
The reason there aren't any beastly races is because the development time and ps3 limitations for the armor designs.
Which also applies to Viera. The only 'new' thing they would bring into this game is rabbit ears (feet and hands will be changed to human hands. This means they will be more generic than a Miqo'te) and they will look terrible with head gear (either clipping through it or ear socks, which will look ridiculous).
So instead, how about Dwarfs? That would be a better option, in my opinion.
Dwarves? A race that nobody will pick except people who will play the males? No, that's not how you run a business.
And honestly, the clipping will not be nearly as bad as the Au Ra and their horns. One of the big reason I don't play one anymore. It not only clips with head gear, but with hair and body armor.
Eh, the poll literally listed viera as an example. Which is why YoshiP was able to dismiss the poll results as he believed tacking viera on like that skewed the poll results in mammal demibeastmans favor. Thus Au'ra were born ;P (reptilian demibeastman were 2nd place iirc... that or hybrids, can't recall lol)
Technically, this is only true as of wow's recent upgrade from n64 to gamecube graphics ;P Ironically enough, before the upgrade most races had unique faces to choose from... ya know... for wow standards that is lol.
Unfortunately, these players are purely hypothetical at this time. Until they emerge from the shadows to let others hear their voice and have their presence know in polls and the like we have to go with the data we have. That data states, especially in this game, that beastman type races just aren't appreciated. As you said they might make up a number of the Au'ra and Miqo races however, I just can't see that number being anything significant. More likely, most who enjoy that sorta look have stuck to roes as you have. Roes who are the least played race in the game.
And I say this as one who does prefer the more exotic appeal of a race... within reason ofc. Roe's make my eyes bleed 90% of the time after all ;P but, I did prefer the concept art of the more demonic looking Au'ra than what we ended up with. But, from a company perspective I understand why and at the very least they, as a race, helped diversify things by converting a number of the miqo population lol.
Knew there would be some smart-aleck to bring up that I'm a miqote, which, is actually the most unique race in this game sans Au Ra, WHICH IS MY WHOLE POINT BY THE WAY. When cat boys are the most unique thing you have THAT IS A PROBLEM. You should be encouraging them to make races that are unique, not another generic race to add on to how generic everything is in this game.
Also their lore is irrelevant, as races are about the aesthetic here. Race lore would matter in a game like WoW, but here where all player characters are the same, 'some outsider that wandered into gridania/limsa/uldah one day and became the warrior of light', it really doesn't matter.
Not to mention, the lore would be completely different here since Ivalice doesn't exist on Eorzea. And they'd probably be woefully underdeveloped (just look at Au Ra, where 90% of their lore is in the white mage Heavensward story).
I just cannot fathom why anyone would want another human race with 1 distinguishing factor. Bunny ears don't even look good, they look stupid on humans. IMO anyway.
Dwarves are actually pretty popular according to statistics on WoW.
Though, I don't think they would look very good in this game's graphics, they suit WoW's more cartoony style better. (But they'd still look better and be more unique than Viera lol.)
My post wasn't close minded at all, I even said I'm happy for you if you like them, I just care about this game, and having them release another human with a different coat of paint would be pretty upsetting and might even push me to quitting. It's stupid.
And did you really just say that we 'got our unique race with au ra'? What, are we on a uniqueness quota? Lol.
Also to expand on your comments about a beastly race, I think someone else said it, but World of Warcraft has 4 different faces for Tauren, and how many faces do most races in this game have? That's right, 4. It would not be hard. Not that I'm saying a beastly race is the right choice either, but pretty much anything is better than another human with 1 odd appendage.
If the Dev-Team does not give us the Viera race, how would you all feel if they instead give us a demi-human beast race based off of Terra's Trance form?
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20090707205439
I miss some games like Eq2 of Istaria in which you could find very "strange" races, like dragons, fairy or satyre, here it's just cuteness and lazyness :/
Lore is irrelevant in a heavily story driven game? Lol, I can see it now. WoL Amal'jaa on their way to Ul'dah. "Oh hey there corrupt guard fellas. Now I know my race and yours have had our... differences but, I'm not like those guys about to jump us... honest" I'm sure they'll believe ya 100% ^.^ Not saying they couldn't do it... but, doing so would break the story. They kinda wrote themselves into a corner with how they presented the story in regards to what kind of races they can introduce.
Unfortunately, true and highly likely. Seems like they tried to use the new class quests to help round out Au'ra lore within 14 universe but, largely it comes across as forced, shoehorned, and kinda confusing.
Eh, wha, who, where o.O? Dwarves are among the least played races in wow. They always have been and always will be. What statistics are you looking at to think otherwise?
Yes, yes we are. It was another one of the reasons we got Au'ra instead of Viera. They wanted something more unique to 14 this time around. Along with the whole Viera are just hyur with bunny ears and high heels schtik. :rolleyes: Well, now we have it so get back to the more superior race SE :p
Yeah, ironically enough out of all the beast races wow made, the original one was the only one with some diversity in its looks. Which is soooo bad when you consider Tauren had the least amount of char creation options in game. and I don't know if I would compare wow faces to ff14 faces. I mean even though we have low face options we still get to customize the features within those faces; eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Could they create a beastly race with diversity features? Probably, though looking at how au'ra turned out... I wouldn't hold my breath.
I'd be down for that. <3 Terra esper form.
and a pox on ff6's ending.
Don't think hands need much changing. Seen similar hands in game, just might need to slim forearm a little.
Honestly, I think it would be easiest to list out all pre-exisiting races in the FF series and have players vote that way. Viera would still have my vote, but Ronso would be a close second. Guado would be interesting and easy to implement. Burmecian, Lilty (What would the lalafell fanbase do?????), Gria, Peruperu seem easily viable as well. There are a lot of races available that I think many players would love to see in game, but I'm not sure what SE's stance is toward this.
I must say, I really can't tell if you are agreeing with me or disagreeing with me.
But yeah, I'd be down for Espers. Ronso would be my ideal, but since we already have a cat (albeit way more generic) I doubt that will happen. Just please no Viera. They are gross.
Yeah, and the Au-ra are just humans with horns. What's the difference?
Something most people need to understand is the fact that this is a Japanese-created game. Their culture influences how they see and create things. This is by no means a bad thing, or a good thing. It simply is. Their pop culture tends to keep their player (and player-allied) non-human races extremely close to humans, and rarely changes their form to anything more non-human.
With that being said, the addition of the viera would be just as different from the miqote as the au-ra were. I find the addition of the au-ra extremely hypocritical after hearing Yoshi's comment. Following the apparent logic shown to us in the au-ra, there should be no reason not to add the viera.
Now, I certainly don't care much, either way, as I'm perfectly happy with my elezen, but I an certainly understand the feelings of the great many who want the race. For their sake, I hope they get it. From what I remember, the Viera were one of the top two player-voted races, weren't they?
Cultural reasons don't really work here, as there are a lot (A whole lot) of japanese games and MMOs that feature non-human races.
Heck, if that were true, there wouldn't be so many beastly characters and races in the final fantasy series alone. That's the main reason for me as to why it's so unforgivable to have the races in this game be so damn generic, it doesn't make any sense for the series that I've always seen as being super creative with character designs.
Even FFXI (as much as I shudder to compare to that) had creative, beastly looking races. Just look at Galka, they're awesome, while Roegadyns are meh.
Little of both? I dunno lol.
Mmm, which japanese mmo's are those? Last I checked there aren't really a whole lot of actual japanese mmo's. Much less popular ones or those that have beast races at all. Might be thinking of korean mmos? I know Bless has something closer to beastly races coming out, sort of.
Not sure that I'd count ffxi races as beastly races either... they didn't change all that much with their conversion to 14. Mostly just lost the fur, and tails in roes case. Granted I will say it did water them down a bit. Even within 14 miqo's got watered down again when 2.0 was created. Differences between miqo clans were... night and day........ XDXDXDXD aaaaah... bad joke bad joke ;P That aside, I'd also like to point out that ff12 viera are just as "beastly" as ffxi mithra and galka. Not just in hands and feet or ears but even their facial structure was different than normal humans.
As for races being generic in this game vs past iterations wellllll... I think that might just be that this game is trying so hard to play it safe. Maybe. Doesn't want to step too far out of bounds. Kinda makes sense with how hard 1.0 flopped. Could be wrong but who knows.
I was speaking more japanese games in general but Bless is a good example I think.
That's what I mean, they actually had fur and animal-like looks. I don't know why they watered them down for XIV, I guess to make them different, but they could have done that without making them so generic looking.Quote:
Not sure that I'd count ffxi races as beastly races either... they didn't change all that much with their conversion to 14. Mostly just lost the fur, and tails in roes case. Granted I will say it did water them down a bit. Even within 14 miqo's got watered down again when 2.0 was created. Differences between miqo clans were... night and day........ XDXDXDXD aaaaah... bad joke bad joke ;P That aside, I'd also like to point out that ff12 viera are just as "beastly" as ffxi mithra and galka. Not just in hands and feet or ears but even their facial structure was different than normal humans.
Definitely trying too hard to play it safe, good call, I think that's actually what the whole issue comes down to.Quote:
As for races being generic in this game vs past iterations wellllll... I think that might just be that this game is trying so hard to play it safe. Maybe. Doesn't want to step too far out of bounds. Kinda makes sense with how hard 1.0 flopped. Could be wrong but who knows.
This is by no means a want, I love being a bestlander. But I would think if we got a new race, and that's a BIG if, that it would be aquatic based. I mean for one its been hinted that we are getting ships right? Something about sky for 3.0, water for 4.0.... something like that. And as half animals go, a bipedal mer-type would be interesting and easily explained in lore as to why they were up until introduction uncommon in Eorzea.
Hyur - Base Human
Roegadyn - Giants
Lalafel - Gnome
Elezan - Elf
Miqo'te - Cat/Mammal
Au Ra - Lizard/Reptile
A fish/aquatic typing would fit well as would an Avian, but that would imply flight and the playerbase would go into meltdown if one race could fly without a mount.
I think they should have used the clan division to offer both. Have one of the clans be watered down to the more human look we have now, and have the other go the opposite way, accentuating the catlike features. It's also the main reason I'm hoping for a third clan of existing races rather than a new race entirely. I'm still holding out (probably vain) hope for a more catlike Miqo'te clan.
My point was "why did SE bother making female Roegadyn" (because like you said, they're the least played, most likely because they're not cute/adorable by default. They definitely can look cute/adorable, though), They could have easily made Roegadyn the male-only race like the Galka, with lore explaining they are born from the volcano, earth, or sea.