Playing a female WoL feels so natural for the story

Personally, my WoL is a male and I can't imagine a female WoL. Among many other things and relationships that I enjoy more from a male perspective, the whole thing about being "so similar" to Adbert wouldn't feel as natural, mostly because he was designed as the counterpart of canon WoL, who is a male.
So, the only WoL I am capable of seeing is a male Midlander, haha.

FFXIV is gernally very feminine and its presentation.

When I flew trough the Aether, and everything was bright and shiny, and everything's out for balance or this carebear attitude forced upon us ("Bring X a plate of food because X is sad" and, as far as I remember, one of the first quests in Gridania was to cheer someone up with /dance) I often had the vibes of this femininity.

Look at the fights for example:
Garuda and Shiva are attractive and beautiful, gracefully flying trough the air, with beautiful skills.
Titan? An almost naked, fat guy that stomps his feet. "ROOAAAHR I IS KILL YOUUU!"
Ramuh? Old guy with grumpy attitude!

Even the dragons: The females are the one you should settle for, the males are the brutal brutes.

Yeah..no.

Everytime Minfilla grined at me with this overly solacing smile and voice I felt talking to my best ingame girlfriend on what skirt she should pick during a shopping stroll rather than making world-saving decisions.

What NPC we have to deal with a lot in the story? Kan-E-Senna is a female ruler that is out for balance and diplomacy, Merlwyb is the tough female ruler, Nanamo is the cute female ruler that likes diplomacy. How often do we talk to a man that has to something to say? The vast majority, the males are just sidekicks. As a side note: Since decades, it is a discussion in Germany if the early educational system (kindergarden and elementary school) has bad effects on the kids as almost no male daycare staff or elementary school teachers are there, lacking the masculine parts similar to grow up without a father.

The lack of purposeful masculinity is evident.

Especially when you come from GW2, it is like jumping from the cold outdoor pool into the hot tub.


Sincerely,

https://imgur.com/kXOfaq9.png

I main a male toon and have a female alt the story feels natural for both of them. I like how SE keeps things as gender neutral as possible

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Especially when you come from GW2, it is like jumping from the cold outdoor pool into the hot tub.

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Off-topic:
It depends. Peple hate Braham, are mostly indifferent about Logan, hated Mr. Cauliflower, leaving only Rytlok and Cannach who is a fan's favorite. On the other gender side, Caithe is hit-or-miss, Awesome incarnated Taimi is hated for being used as infodump or deus-ex antics, Rox is considered as good to bland, Eir and Zojia were imho well-liked. And our Dragon daugther is/was just adorable. However, GW2 did a good job in voice acting each playable race and gender, ignoring if someone likes or hates the predefined characterization of the Commander.

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Originally Posted by Sonikku

The funniest part about playing a female char is the npc dialogue.

"I haven't laid eyes on a woman in weeks!

erm, I mean, well, besides yourself of course, miss."

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This is why I like female so much more. If I played male, I think male elezen would fit best. Statuesque, narrative wise can really look like an outsider anywhere which is how our WoL is portrayed and would have a bit of an oomph when going to Ishgard because no one's welcoming you besides House Fortempts.

I'm female and almost always play female characters. I also enjoyed the cutscene you referenced OP. Because of the she/her usage, I realized right away who the speaker was referencing.

The pronoun 'aha' moment reminded me of scene from a Mass Effect game. A companion of the main character is on his deathbed and requests his son to recite a prayer. It's beautiful with lines like 'guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the hungry never starve'. But the last line is 'and may she be a companion to you as she was to me'.

Then I realized the prayer was actually for my character, not her dying companion. I don't think it would have hit me the same way playing as a male.

Sometimes it seems like the female gender is just tacked on in stories (especially when dialog misses pronoun switches), but I've never felt that way with FF14. It's lovely to play a game where the hero fits naturally into the world regardless of gender.

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Originally Posted by Gula

This is why I like female so much more. If I played male, I think male elezen would fit best. Statuesque, narrative wise can really look like an outsider anywhere which is how our WoL is portrayed and would have a bit of an oomph when going to Ishgard because no one's welcoming you besides House Fortempts.

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Well I think male elezen works well but I might be biased lol

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

Well I think male elezen works well but I might be biased lol

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Agreed, Elezen are unique.

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Originally Posted by mario710

I just wish that there was a way to date Alisae.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

You are into kids? Dude that is disgusting you should seek some help.

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NEWS FLASH: It's a game everyone! It's okay to like and fantasize about FICTIONAL PEOPLE.

I want to hug Alphinaud and Alisae as I see them as my little siblings. When Alisae tole me not to leave her alone, my heart nearly broke. (Yes I cried).

.... I wish there was a way to date the Emperor. Damn he is hawt.

Personally, as a lalafell, I really appreciated the little moments when the msq actually acknowledged my race. Like when Dwarves would ask, "Where's your beard!?"

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Originally Posted by AngelCheese77

NEWS FLASH: It's a game everyone! It's okay to like and fantasize about FICTIONAL PEOPLE.

I want to hug Alphinaud and Alisae as I see them as my little siblings. When Alisae tole me not to leave her alone, my heart nearly broke. (Yes I cried).

.... I wish there was a way to date the Emperor. Damn he is hawt.

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NEWS FLASH: It's still weird to technically want to date someone who is considered a minor when you are not a minor yourself. At best the twins are 17 years old, due to time bubble shenanigans. At worse, they're 16 - and have the body types of every single 'child' elezen in this game. And for obvious reasons, we don't exactly know the 'age of consent' for Eorzea.

Also 'It's okay to fantasize about underage people if they're from fiction' - Never thought I'd see the day where someone would say something like this. Think about every single fictional character you've come across in your life... Someone pass me the bleach. There's a reason why drawings/artwork of these two being seen in a sexual manner is disallowed in most sites that aren't hosted or under the jurisdiction of Japan. While story works are pushing it very much into the 'What the heck' grey zone which can still be considered either illegal by law, or immoral. It's fine when it's not sexual. Sadly most folks are degenerates and do see it as such... Poor little Minfillia.

You can, however, fantasise about the Emperor. He is fine. And you hug the heck out of Alisae. You have my permission to do this. :eyes:

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Originally Posted by Gwenorai

Also 'It's okay to fantasize about underage people if they're from fiction' - Never thought I'd see the day where someone would say something like this. Someone pass me the bleach. There's a reason why drawings/artwork/stories of these two being seen in a sexual manner is illegal.

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It's not illegal depending on what location you're in. You must not frequent Japanese art sites often.
Personally I don't think it's weird at all.

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Originally Posted by Wilford111

It's not illegal depending on what location you're in. You must not frequent Japanese art sites often.
Personally I don't think it's weird at all.

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You're right, I don't for obvious reasons. I'm from the UK, where the age of consent is sixteen and even then I still consider this weird. And of course, where certain artworks from Japanese art sites could land me in jail - as it has in the past for some individuals who were looking into 'loli' art, I find it best to avoid them.

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Originally Posted by Gwenorai

And of course, where certain artworks from Japanese art sites could land me in jail - as it has in the past for some individuals who were looking into 'loli' art, I find it best to avoid them.

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I've never heard of anyone going to jail for having loli artwork. I have heard of people going to jail for having actual underage pictures though.

This conversation has gone way off topic though.

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Originally Posted by Wilford111

I've never heard of anyone going to jail for having loli artwork. I have heard of people going to jail for having actual underage pictures though.

This conversation has gone way off topic though.

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Yeah, throw a google search on it. It's like going down a rabbit hole though.

But anyway... now I'm confused why Alisae and dating her was even brought up. How did we even get here? Anyway. Blah blah. Gender has no barring on the story. I personally think the writing in this game is superb and thus why it fits in so well with all races/sexes.

Though, I am curious what games are people playing where the female 'option' is forced? I've play mostly Bioware/Bethesda RPG games as of late and I've seen no real difference, barring Fallout 4 really. I guess it all plays down to adaption and writing, as well as the immersion.

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

Even the dragons: The females are the one you should settle for, the males are the brutal brutes.

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Except for Midgardsormr, Hraesvelgr, Vedrfolnir, the dragons from the moogle crafting quests, the dragons from the dragoon quests....

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Originally Posted by MrKusakabe

What NPC we have to deal with a lot in the story? Kan-E-Senna is a female ruler that is out for balance and diplomacy, Merlwyb is the tough female ruler, Nanamo is the cute female ruler that likes diplomacy. How often do we talk to a man that has to something to say? The vast majority, the males are just sidekicks.

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You're forgetting some people from that list of rulers. Raubahn is probably the best-developed and most interesting of the original group, and certainly not a sidekick to Nanamo. Aymeric gets plenty of focus as well.

And then there's...

Alphinaud, our most regular "player stand-in" character with a huge amount of character development over the story.

The Ironworks character group.

The vast majority of Heavensward's supporting cast, most notably Haurchefant, Edmont and Estinien.

Hien and Gosetsu in Stormblood.

And right now we're in an expansion where some of our key supporting characters (the Exarch and Ardbert) are male, and all the Scions have had a turn in the spotlight.


I could probably list more if I kept thinking about it, but my point is: there are lots of characters of both genders that are important to the story and certainly have plenty to say.

I just want more options to flirt with Yshtola. The look on her face and the remark she makes when you tell her "Yes, Mother..." is awesome.

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Originally Posted by SaberMaxwell

Physically speaking they're still 16. It seems insane, but I'm gonna be that person back and remind you of the Great Eorzean Time Bubble that's vexed lore nerds for the past six years: no official amount of time, let alone years, can be determined to have passed since ARR. Koji hasn't even confirmed it's been more than a year. Again, seems insane, but that's the official stance on it.

Spiritually speaking, sure they're 18 now since they've been on the First for two years give or take. Physically though, still 16.

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Wasn't it confirmed that the time bubble was a lie? But damned if it hasn't even passed a year since we started our campaign... I read 18 as current on a wiki though which is where I got that number from, and it kinda made sense so I took it at face value, not that it even matter as you can CLEARLY see that the twins are NOT ok to date unless you yourself is a lower teen.

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Originally Posted by Lunavi

Wasn't it confirmed that the time bubble was a lie? But damned if it hasn't even passed a year since we started our campaign... I read 18 as current on a wiki though which is where I got that number from, and it kinda made sense so I took it at face value, not that it even matter as you can CLEARLY see that the twins are NOT ok to date unless you yourself is a lower teen.

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The time bubble remains in place. It means that character ages remain constant and the stated time since historic events does not increase. (The Calamity will always be five years ago.)

That doesn't mean we need to assume we really crammed several expansions' worth of activity into the space of one year. We're not supposed to. It's just that all that time sits inside a one-year span on an overall timeline of Eorzean history. Somehow. Don't think too hard about it.

All you need to remember is that the characters do NOT grow older, even if they logically should have by now. They have a stated age and they will remain that age for as long as this story lasts, no adjustments required.

Fan-edited wikis are not a guaranteed source of information, and even without the time bubble, we have no definite calculation of how much time would have passed, so 18 is just one person's guess. The lorebook says they are 16, and that is where they are staying.

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Originally Posted by Gwenorai

You're right, I don't for obvious reasons. I'm from the UK, where the age of consent is sixteen and even then I still consider this weird. And of course, where certain artworks from Japanese art sites could land me in jail - as it has in the past for some individuals who were looking into 'loli' art, I find it best to avoid them.

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Ok, we hear you loud and clear - it's subjectively depraved.

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Originally Posted by Doozer

Though now that I think of it, remembering how some of the male characters interact with the WoL, I feel like playing as a female character would make things seem way more heterosexual. So many dudes fawn over the WoL no matter which gender you pick, which I enjoy while playing as a dude.

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This is what I was going to say. While I agree with the other person on the first page that it's a little cringey for a man (or anyone) to talk about "female empowerment", I am a man who enjoys playing women characters and seeing strong women characters, for no other reason than I find it attractive. That being said, I am a new player who has just finished HW, and there are several interactions so far that have made me think that the WoL was meant to be a woman - the most recent of which being Aymeric inviting you over for a private candlelit dinner. There were some definite romantic undertones in that scene, and that's just the latest one that I've encountered. Not that I mind same-sex flirtations or relationships, but there are just too many of them in the game for that to be the case.

Female WOL feels right,huh ....
Well,we have a certain stalker follows us all the time.
So yeah,Female WOL is the right gender.

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Originally Posted by Diggles

This is what I was going to say. While I agree with the other person on the first page that it's a little cringey for a man (or anyone) to talk about "female empowerment", I am a man who enjoys playing women characters and seeing strong women characters, for no other reason than I find it attractive. That being said, I am a new player who has just finished HW, and there are several interactions so far that have made me think that the WoL was meant to be a woman - the most recent of which being Aymeric inviting you over for a private candlelit dinner. There were some definite romantic undertones in that scene, and that's just the latest one that I've encountered. Not that I mind same-sex flirtations or relationships, but there are just too many of them in the game for that to be the case.

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See I disagree in seeing that was a sexual thing, I think one thing we’ve really lost in our culture is the importance of close male friendships, it’s like the number of people that insist Captain America and Bucky must be gay because they are close friends, I don’t agree with that at all.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

See I disagree in seeing that was a sexual thing, I think one thing we’ve really lost in our culture is the importance of close male friendships, it’s like the number of people that insist Captain America and Bucky must be gay because they are close friends, I don’t agree with that at all.

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Oh... oh!! I absolutely feel this post! I'm all for for same-sex inclinations or theories but I hate how its seemingly so difficult to close male friendships to be respected without it instantly identifying as as a gay, romantic interest. However, in this example I feel like the gender is irrelevant since it can go either way but I still agree that it felt entirely platonic and wholesome to me, just like our Tia friend.

Yeah, ever since the fight with Hades, my head canon is that my bunny girl's voice is exactly like Ardbert's from then on out.

My bunny walking up to someone and going like "Hey." and freaking people out.

Its hilarious.

I think it feels right because we are us. Gender doesn't matter too much, it is calling back to our experiences and what we have been through. That is why it hits home so well. Any association to a certain gender is probably conflating personal identity with a group one.