Dear Devs, please bring the Male and Female Xaela Au-Ra closer to this artwork

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

If they ever add another race I would love to see something more beastly looking with imposing females. Right now all the races are human or human with tacked on animal-y bits. For the record I do not dislike the current races, but something different would be nice. It's not like they haven't had beast races in Final Fantasy, sometimes they have even joined the party. Heck the FFXI Mithra and Galka had more beast-like features and were a step in the right direction.

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So much this.

Miq females: human girl with cat ear headband.
Auri females: human girl with horn headband and painted scales.

They look like cospaplay girls. Human cosplay girls. If you have beast races, stop making them human girls playing dressup. Mithra and Galka were in such a better direction, but they striped them down so much in 14. Removed galka tails, removed peach fuzz from mithra, and redid their facial stricture to just be human. And don't get me started on all the stupid cutesy emotes and the salon hair. I'm a feral cat hybrid that runs around slaying voidsent and saving the world with my axe or lance. I don't want to look like I stepped out of a salon.

Stop making cosplay races and start making beast races.

You do realize that those artwork are just concept art. Concept art is normally done by more than one artist all working towards a design that will change bit by bit once it gets transferred into a 3D model. Just because they show the concept art on what you should generally expect, doesnt mean that it will be exactly what will be presented. Only artwork that would be presented that would be exactly what you should see in the final form is official promotional artwork not concept artwork as a preview which has been done in the live letters on occasion.
Concept art is pretty much, just gives you a general idea, not what EXACTLY will be the final form, its a work in progress and is considered the initial stepping stone in the development of the character/item/creature/building wutever is being depicted in the concept. As progress happens with the character through the pipeline of the development changes will me made, things will be removed, things will be added and so forth. (this isnt always the case, but the majority of the time it is.) Sometimes this cannot be helped, especially trying to throw in a new character in something thats already developed and does not have race specific equipment throughout the entire gameplay, but having shared equipment. In the concept art that was presented in this thread, the horns are clearly coming out of the top of the head, not the side of the head would be relevant to what the development team deals with on the long ears and cat ears. Imagine having to go in and edit all the helms in game to cater towards the different horns that shoot out from the top portion of the head. We probably would not even be getting the new race this early.

And I am not white-knighting here I am speaking from experience of doing concept art for character designs myself on private indie game developers and going through the schooling for it and all the crap gotta learn on this problem alone.

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Originally Posted by REPROBEAN_CHILD

Imo, I think all the races in this game ARE humans or at least related somehow (that's why they look similar.) That's probably why they're called "Races," suggesting they are connected in some shape or form.

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Well they can interbreed, so it's possible that they all share a common ancestor. (I know nothing on the lore btw, so apologies if I'm wrong)

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Originally Posted by Natsuno

Well they can interbreed, so it's possible that they all share a common ancestor. (I know nothing on the lore btw, so apologies if I'm wrong)

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While I never played 1.0, if I'm correct there was atleast one primal/beastman tribe (I want to say Ifrit, unless he was the only one...) that referred to the races as human. All of em. Now its just beings, but essentially the same thing. Doesn't necessarily mean Hyur were the first, but could point to having at one point being much more connected.

Yeah, "man" and "human" are interchangeable when referring to the playable race.

From lore Miqo'te atleast existed since the 1st Astral Era.

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The Keepers of the Moon have a matriarchal society, with surnames passed down from mother to child—some since the First Astral Era.

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It's also speculated that hyurs and elezens share a common ancestor due to similar names:

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There are Eorzean historians who believe that these similarities in names may be proof that the two races are of similar origin─’open-minded’ Hyuran historians claiming the Elezen are a bastard race spun off from the Hyurs (and not the other way around). Elezen historians, on the other hand, simply deny any blood relation whatsoever.

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Originally Posted by myahele

From lore Miqo'te atleast existed since the 1st Astral Era. It's also speculated that hyurs and elezens share a common ancestor due to similar names

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Not in Eorzea. The Miqo'te invad.., I mean migrated, to Eorzea during the 5th umbral era, wandering over the frozen ocean.
Also, Elezen have french names, Hyurs english names.

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Originally Posted by Natsuno

Well they can interbreed, so it's possible that they all share a common ancestor. (I know nothing on the lore btw, so apologies if I'm wrong)

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Do you know an example? I never saw an interbreed between different races ingame, only adoptions.
Like F'lhaminn adopted Ascilia after Ascilia's father died in the streets of Uldah, overran by a wild Goobbue (this was before Ascilia renamed herself as Minfilia) .

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Originally Posted by Felis

Do you know an example? I never saw an interbreed between different races ingame, only adoptions.
Like F'lhaminn adopted Ascilia after Ascilia's father died in the streets of Uldah, overran by a wild Goobbue (this was before Ascilia renamed herself as Minfilia) .

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post490835

Their main audience = anime crowd
That should be enough explanation...lol

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Originally Posted by tymora

Their main audience = anime crowd
That should be enough explanation...lol

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As someone said on another thread which I can't remember what it was about actually...
The Miqo'te and Au Ra are the eastern type of beastmen (human with some animal features) while beastmen from like The Elder Scrolls is the western version of beastmen (Animals with humanoid bodies).
I don't say that this is true or not. But looking at it this tends to be more correct.

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Originally Posted by tymora

Their main audience = anime crowd
That should be enough explanation...lol

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To be more specific, a majority of their playerbase is in Japan, if I remember correctly.

They're going to make a large amount of design decisions based on Eastern culture, with limited influence from Western tropes. As a result, we have more human-like characters.

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Originally Posted by tymora

Their main audience = anime crowd
That should be enough explanation...lol

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So boring (barring Roegadyn because at least they're adorable) playable races forever, then?

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Originally Posted by Izsha

Miq females: human girl with cat ear headband.
Auri females: human girl with horn headband and painted scales.

They look like cosplay girls. Human cosplay girls. If you have beast races, stop making them human girls playing dressup. Mithra and Galka were in such a better direction,

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I agree with this. I wanted to see more beastly looking women, in particular. Because it's so standard in games (and other media) to have the "alien" men look alien and weird, while the "alien" women just look human except maybe in a different color. Women characters are so often stuck in the "pretty girl" ghetto and it's getting really boring.

So was hoping that the female Au Ra were at least tall like the males (if they had been tall and fierce like the male Au Ra I would change to one as soon as they came out...), but since that sadly isn't happening I'm now hoping for maybe an extra face option for them that looks less "pretty" and more fierce and beast-like.

Make the next introduced race beast tribe-like
I want my dragon faerie ;^;
Also i would rather they find a way to reduce current clipping before adding races that look like pieces on all their gear and hairstyles are superglued together

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Originally Posted by Felis

Do you know an example? I never saw an interbreed between different races ingame, only adoptions.
Like F'lhaminn adopted Ascilia after Ascilia's father died in the streets of Uldah, overran by a wild Goobbue (this was before Ascilia renamed herself as Minfilia) .

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In addition to Fern's post on the subject, there's at least one rather important NPC with mixed heritage.
There was...Allagan tampering...involved, but the end result is a Miqo'te with "Royal Allagan" blood. It's implied that there was tampering involved with his ancestors, but since as mentioned the Miqo'te weren't really around in Eorzea until the 5th Umbral Era, and the Allagan Empire fell before then, it stands to reason his ancestry is mixed.

Really, the only change the Males need is, for the Xaela, making them a tad more muscular. I highly doubt it would require all that much work; they could absolutely have it done before Heavensward launches. They wouldn't have to redo any animations.

The proposed change for the Females, though, are definitely much deeper. That's where I have less faith, but honestly, those Au Ra in the concept-art shown look fantastic. I just think they would have a lot to gain.

Riardon

They can still change the Au Ra race's physical appearance, all it takes is a patch update where the upgrade is within and it would immediately be implemented as soon as it's been installed. Now, as for the "level of buffness", I would think that it would have it's own sliders, just like how you can chisel the muscles on the Roegadyn. Or, y'know.. not give it a slider, whatever works the best of course.

As for calling the artwork "too beastly" for it to be a playable race... ?????????? Dude... The Roegadyn race are a wall of muscles (nearly the size of an Amalj'aa), the Miqo'te males are more toned and muscular than the Au Ra (when taking their height into account), and they are by definition a "beastly" race. As for "civilized races", I'd say you should go and take a look at the many races living in Damascus (Final Fantasy XII), many of the beastly races that live there, are very civilized.

Someone bumped this....y.


On topic <.< I kinda do wish Xaela was that original concept, more "adult" & less "cutsy schoolgirl" while Ra en are still what we have currently, similar to Mid/Highlanders

That necro but I forgot how cool those designs were. Damn now I want that style in the game.

They aren't going to do an overhaul of any great scale to the Au Ra at this point I don't think. It would require a lot of work, practically making a new race, it would upset people who felt attached to their existing character's look and it would annoy players who favour other races and want more variation between the clans of their preferred race.

Tbh I would rather have the devs spend some time on this than on Blitzball or other minigames.
But it won't happen, so w/e.

Holy necro bumping batman!

Anywho, the devs did answer questions on why races have less monstrous appearances. Basically, the vast majority of players prefer "cute," especially JP. Case in point, Lalafell are considerably more popular across the ocean. Oddly enough, the Au Ra are not popular in JP. At least, not if Square's census is to be believed.

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

Holy necro bumping batman!

Anywho, the devs did answer questions on why races have less monstrous appearances. Basically, the vast majority of players prefer "cute," especially JP. Case in point, Lalafell are considerably more popular across the ocean. Oddly enough, the Au Ra are not popular in JP. At least, not if Square's census is to be believed.

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Probably because people who like cute races, already have cute races. I they weren't going to commit to designing something actually different, why bother? The original designs were great and distinctive and got good feedback. Just because other folks preferred cute (=existing races) doesn't mean they have to scrap the option for the rest of us.

Also, why does it have to only be beastly or cute? When I saw the succubus concept, I think beautiful, mysterious, and still definitely feminine. JP population sees something that's not a porcelein doll and runs for the hills I guess?

I think for a future race it is worth exploring a more beastal race. I just likewise think that changing the existing Au Ra models to something more like that is unrealistic and unfeasible for a whole slew of reasons. That said, those wanting a more beastal race would have to lobby against the devoted Veira supporters for the next race added. Veira aren't particularly beastal.

I think SE just really missed the target when it comes to male Au Ra. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard they wanted something more imposing and tough-guyish, no? I think they even said Roes coudln't fill in that gap because they were more "cuddly" than imposing. However, the au ra model for male bodies is so weird with these huge hips and exceedingly tiny waists, with the default pose of an in-training male ballerina, and less relative trapezius mass than male miqotes. Of course, with the right armors, that problem is a lot less pronounced, and it's enough for me to play and main and admire au ra, but it does make me envy the other races for being able to wear all sorts of clothes and have them look not weirdly distorted.

I'm not the least bit dissatisfied with the current appearance or personality of Au Ra, but I must say that concept art is still very cool.

I can't help but wonder if we'll learn about/see the third Au Ra clan that was off-handedly mentioned in a lore panel.

It was said to be far more ancient then the Raen and the Xaela, which suggests to me that the latter two likely split off from it.

I wish they would go back to Au Ra and change them more similarly to the artwork. I know that is very wishful thinking and current Au Ra are here to stay... but I can dream can't I?

Male Au Ra are okay. They really only have a few combos to look cool, and I wish they had more horns and other beastly traits. I personally dispise dislike how the female Au Ra look. Only race/gender combo I think is legit awful. :( Showed us cool succubus-like concept art with feral women and we got waifu simulator.

Ah yeah the artwork is amazing. I wish very much the same, if they only stuck to that. I think a lot of people would love that design. I also wished they would also expand the option to customize characters for next expansion, but wont happen I guess. People try making their character look cute which is not bad, however there is many people who also would love bad ass looking female characters. Roes are nice but I would love the art work look of the au ra's!

Man, this thread takes me back. Over two years old!

Still, I gotta admit, I'd love for them to change Au Ra females to look tall and fierce like the men, but seriously, it's not going to happen. I'd wager that the vast majority who play Au Ra females now picked that race/gender because they LIKE how they look. Sure, you have oddball outliers like myself (I play the race, because it's the only one in the game NOT based off a FFXI race, and I wanted to play a female character), but for the most part if SE were to drastically change their design now, on top of all the work they'd need to do redesigning armor and such they'll be pissing off a lot of players who now have to purchase Fantasias to change to Midlander Hyur or Mi'qote or whatever to maintain the cute, dainty look.

I'm afraid our lizard-lady waifus are here to stay!

Probably the best folks can do is clamor for a NEW race that has the imposing females we'd like to see.

It would probably be a bad idea to make major cosmetic changes to currently existing races, since the people currently playing them probably chose them for the way they look now. However, adding a third clan with different features, or with looks closer to the concept art, would be an excellent idea, and has been suggested many times before.

Personally I'd love to see this happen for the Au Ra, since I was super excited when I first saw the concept art and heard the devs talk about how the females would be these fierce succubus-like ladies...and then the actual in-game renders came out and I'm honestly wondering if maybe someone explained 'succubus' wrong to Yoshida or something...

Didn't realize this was a necrobump at first and read through the first three pages going "wtf do you mean the benchmark wasn't alpha au ra obviously they've been out since hw dropped"

Then I skipped to latest page.

TBH, female au ra is my favorite race/sex combo. It used to be lalafemale but my au ra is, in my eyes, beautiful and elegant and I love her to death. So yeah, dragonlady waifu ftw

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Originally Posted by SkyCri

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Skycri! You have been found guilty of the high crime of Necromany! And for your crimes you shall be flamed! What say you to this sick burn?!

Female Au Ra is my favorite too. I just love having a dragon girl character. I like their scales, horns and tails.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

I can't help but wonder if we'll learn about/see the third Au Ra clan that was off-handedly mentioned in a lore panel.

It was said to be far more ancient then the Raen and the Xaela, which suggests to me that the latter two likely split off from it.

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We may see that in Stormblood. I'm thinking that going to Othard will show this, but I do think that the third clan will be introduced in the patches for 4.0. If that's the case, than that opens up possibilities that 5.0 will have a third clan for every race.

People that are defending au ra don't get the point. It's not that the dainty female look is bad. It's the fact that Xaela, a supposed war-like clan is literally a recolor with a few more pale skin option.

sigh... I'm disappointed i how the Xaela have turned out.

It would've been nice if the Xaela were atleast a reverse in the extreme gender dimorphism. Nothing quite like the fierce but slightly cute warrior woman face I've always wanted... On a soft princess body...

Who dug up this ancient thread?