Gender locked race?

It has to do with the lore. Viera males are very rare. It would be silly to see them everywhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maedia

It has to do with the lore. Viera males are very rare. It would be silly to see them everywhere.

---

To quote wonderful GoldenTot :

*drives my car past Rathalos to get into the new NieR raid*

mAlE vIeRa JuSt AiN't LoRe FrIeNdLy

Besides. Male Miqo'te, Raen, and Duskwight are rare too. Pitiful excuse.

There are only, what, 4 White Mages in existence?

Sure do see a lot of White Mages around, huh?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Metsonm

There are only, what, 4 White Mages in existence?

Sure do see a lot of White Mages around, huh?

---

More to the point, there's only 1 white mage that isn't padjal - an unplayable NPC race.

Somebody posted on Reddit that they found another interesting line in the files. During one of the gladiator quests, an NPC refers to the player by his/her race and an accompanying descriptor that varies depending on the player's race.

For Hrothgar, it's their "majestic mane".

Considering that only male lions grow manes, I'm pretty certain Hrothgar is going to be male-only, leaving Viera to be female-only.

Unless females get manes too. It's not unheard of in video games. The female Pyroar in Pokemon have manes, and the female Pantera in Bless have long hairstyles that could be interpreted as manes.

https://i.imgur.com/lC0zwZm.png
https://i.imgur.com/6qwgW1L.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sGfxP07.png

Even so, my hopes for male Viera have pretty much diminished. I really don't think we're getting two full-blown races. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

It's just baffling, though. Why give us two half-races and deal with years of asking when we're getting the counterparts instead of doing the same amount of work, giving us a full race, and leaving the playerbase satisfied?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hunky

Unless females get manes too. It's not unheard of in video games. The female Pyroar in Pokemon have manes, and the female Pantera in Bless have long hairstyles that could be interpreted as manes.
https://i.imgur.com/sGfxP07.png
If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

---

I'm thinking perhaps the race has a lot of glorious thick hair.. just my personal interpretation of very little information lol (have your mountain of salt ;)).

It does seem hard to fathom two full races at once but... would be pretty awesome if true.. :3

Also the fact that the race in the data sounds like a lion, like what we've been thinking, (mane) really backs it up as not just some random thing. What a wild ride. Can't wait for Fanfest XD.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

More to the point, there's only 1 white mage that isn't padjal - an unplayable NPC race.

---

Padjal aren't exactly a race, though. As you do the level 60-70 white mage quests, you learn more about this, but basically people are chosen to be padjal by the elementals. We follow one person going through that kind of call during those quests.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tsumdere

To quote wonderful GoldenTot :

*drives my car past Rathalos to get into the new NieR raid*

mAlE vIeRa JuSt AiN't LoRe FrIeNdLy

Besides. Male Miqo'te, Raen, and Duskwight are rare too. Pitiful excuse.

---

Don't forget to put on your Garo glamor while your drive there. And maybe your Yo-Kai watch?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hunky

-snip-

---

The first thing that popped into my head was the Asmodians from Aion. Both genders had "manes". They don't exactly follow the text book definition, but were called them. Second thing I thought was that horses have manes as well. Regardless, manes + blufever saying lion race all along does seem pretty nail in the coffin for lion-esque over horse lol.

---

I had a couple of thoughts regarding these Hrothgar, and I thought I would throw them out there.

1. Could it be possible that these Hrothgar are male Vieras? Perhaps it is possible that because they live separately, the males have coined their own names for themselves. After all, we can assume that historians and the wandering dramaturge have only talked to the females with males being elusive and aggressive.

2. I hope this makes sense because I'm not sure which words to use - Why would Hrothgar and Viera be listed with both male and female pronouns and descriptors? Some are saying it's for consistency in the code, but Au Ra are written in as just l'Ao Ra while everyone else is la Viera/le Viera. They've established a precedent for reducing the race code to just one instance of it, so why couldn't they just write one la/le for Hrothgar and Viera? Not to mention, there was flat out shown to be an instance of an NPC describing a Viera as "beau" when they could have used "belle". Strange to call a woman "handsome". Then again, I don't speak French.

tl;dr I'm cautiously optimistic. If they do two full races, I will be absolutely blown out of the water and ecstatic. If they do Viera female/male Hrothgar, I will only be slightly disappointed as long as the males aren't beastly. However, they'll set themselves up for an absolute endless storm of "Give Male Viera!!!!/Give Female Hrothgar!!!!" If they do the sexy female and ugly male trope, I will be very, very disappointed. Give us both hot males and females AND beastly males and females.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hunky

Considering that only male lions grow manes, I'm pretty certain Hrothgar is going to be male-only, leaving Viera to be female-only.

---

time to be a fun-fact police and say "Well actually lionesses can grow manes." It's just kind of a thing that happens.

Regardless, surely they'd know that adding supposedly genderlocked races means they'd get requests for the opposite sex. They'll cave eventually, I think. The silver lining: If we don't get male viera/lionesses in 5.0, we'll get them eventually, as long as we keep asking for them. Just offering some positivity in the worst case scenario that both Viera and Hrothgar are genderlocked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roda

time to be a fun-fact police and say "Well actually lionesses can grow manes." It's just kind of a thing that happens.

---

That's true. There have been lionesses that grow manes.

If there were to be female Hrothgar, then of course they'd probably have access to all the current female hairstyles (including the long ones). Perhaps then that line of "majestic mane" would apply as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tsumdere

snip

---

The Au Ra thing isn't any sort of sign, it's just because in French if you're going to say Le/La and the following noun starts with a vowel, it becomes L' . It's actually a language thing. And Beau appeared because the person who talked to the npc was male but you're right! It'd say "belle" instead for female.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tsumdere

I hope this makes sense because I'm not sure which words to use - Why would Hrothgar and Viera be listed with both male and female pronouns and descriptors? Some are saying it's for consistency in the code, but Au Ra are written in as just l'Ao Ra while everyone else is la Viera/le Viera. They've established a precedent for reducing the race code to just one instance of it, so why couldn't they just write one la/le for Hrothgar and Viera? Not to mention, there was flat out shown to be an instance of an NPC describing a Viera as "beau" when they could have used "belle". Strange to call a woman "handsome". Then again, I don't speak French.

---

For au ra, in this example, whether the player character is male or female, the output will always be l'Ao ra so there is no need to check the gender. But if the output were pretty/handsome au ra, it would have been distinguished into le bel ao ra / la belle ao ra.

However, even if Viera and the other race are genderlocked, we could imagine that in the future, they will not. Therefore, putting the code to distinguish the output now is a good way to prevent any bug later after the implementation of their other gender.

SE is allowed to make their FFXIV races genderlocked no matter what type of lions are in other games. They get to create their lore from the ground up if they call this race by any other name than Ronso.

Calling them Ronso would come with the expectation that it follows the standards from FFX and there are female Ronso. But saying "hey we created a new race unique to FFXIV". Lore wouldn't dictate that there needs to be females unless they wanted that.

To clarify, I personally rather not hear the whining, so I want male Viera just to sate the "I deserve to be a male bunny even though more than 50% of irl males in this game play girl characters. "

But overall if we got a masculine male lion race with decent facial hair/beard options (I'd assume that's the trade off to the fact women Viera are getting optional bangs) that would be ridiculously cool!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yasminou

For au ra, in this example, whether the player character is male or female, the output will always be l'Ao ra so there is no need to check the gender. But if the output were pretty/handsome au ra, it would have been distinguished into le bel ao ra / la belle ao ra.

However, even if Viera and the other race are genderlocked, we could imagine that in the future, they will not. Therefore, putting the code to distinguish the output now is a good way to prevent any bug later after the implementation of their other gender.

---

Or... It's a copy paste of existing code that has male/female identifiers and it's ok to leave that in because even if there is only female Viera and Male lions, the if/then statement would only ever use the one.

Considering the numerous amount of instances that code is probably in the French Localizations version of the game I wouldn't be surprised if they copied and pasted the new Viera/Lion code in just to save time so it's uniform and didn't require a difference.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HadesNight

Or... It's a copy paste of existing code that has male/female identifiers and it's ok to leave that in because even if there is only female Viera and Male lions, the if/then statement would only ever use the one.

Considering the numerous amount of instances that code is probably in the French Localizations version of the game I wouldn't be surprised if they copied and pasted the new Viera/Lion code in just to save time so it's uniform and didn't require a difference.

---

Perhaps my words did not translate well my thoughts, but I do not disagree with you. The gender check of these two new race is unconsequential if they are genderlocked and needed if they are not. Therefore copy-pasting existing code was a solution.

Since we do not get any new transport-possibility, as in flying, swimming... and also no content like Eureka being announced during the Fan Festivals, there is simply not much being offered in this expansion

The same things as in:
2 new jobs+level cap increase
New Zones, New Story
New Beast tribes + new primals
New 24 man raid + new 8 man raid
and few QoL stuff like New Game + (which I doubt will take to many resources, as in create new maps etc)

I could imagine that they worked on 2 races - as they had not to work on new eureka-type content or working on swimming on all areas (+the ability itself, implementing it wisely into the story, etc) which would usually eat a lot of development resources. Meaning, more time for a second race.. maybe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xbahax92

and also no content like Eureka being announced during the Fan Festivals, there is simply not much being offered in this expansion

---

We haven't had a slide on it yet, but I'm pretty sure I remember Koji saying they're working on Eureka-like content, probably to be shown at Tokyo so as to not take the spotlight from Hydatos.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yasminou

copy-pasting existing code was a solution.

---

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE---
That's never a solution. I will repeat myself just because that sort of thing is such a berserk button for me - the text is probably made up from separate checks for gender and race. What the text is likely made up from is [gender indicator] [race indicator]. In which case there is only one place in the code that would have to change as far as texts go and that's the pool of race names the character can belong to.
For gender locked races - which I hope we won't really get - the [gender indicator] check will still happen but will only ever show the one result since the other isn't available to player characters.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BillyKaplan

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE---
That's never a solution. I will repeat myself just because that sort of thing is such a berserk button for me - the text is probably made up from separate checks for gender and race. What the text is likely made up from is [gender indicator] [race indicator]. In which case there is only one place in the code that would have to change as far as texts go and that's the pool of race names the character can belong to.
For gender locked races - which I hope we won't really get - the [gender indicator] check will still happen but will only ever show the one result since the other isn't available to player characters.

---

Honestly, that's fine. That is essentially the jist of what we're both trying to say.

Regardless of the text error in game showing all the races, there is nothing to indicate that we've definitely getting male Viera (on the flip side, nothing to disprove we won't). Being needlessly nitpicky didn't add anything new to this conversation lol. Regardless of how they are customizing their text to call out specifics, I wonder if Yoshi is gonna make them stop that practice going forward and have them adopt the "Hello Adventurer" approach lol.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maedia

It has to do with the lore. Viera males are very rare. It would be silly to see them everywhere.

---

I'd love it if we kept it that way but "MuH FeMme TwInK bUnNiEs!!".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BillyKaplan

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE---
That's never a solution. I will repeat myself just because that sort of thing is such a berserk button for me - the text is probably made up from separate checks for gender and race. What the text is likely made up from is [gender indicator] [race indicator]. In which case there is only one place in the code that would have to change as far as texts go and that's the pool of race names the character can belong to.
For gender locked races - which I hope we won't really get - the [gender indicator] check will still happen but will only ever show the one result since the other isn't available to player characters.

---

It's the other way around, there is a switch statement on the race and then a if-else statement on the gender for each case (in Rowena's speech, there is no if-else statement for the Au ra since it does not change the outcome), see the reddit thread. That is why copy-pasting from the other race is most likely what happened.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ErryK

I'd love it if we kept it that way but "MuH FeMme TwInK bUnNiEs!!".

---

This exact post nas suddenly made me lose all interest in discussion since I've realised everyone's getting incredibly spiteful and petty over what amounts to a height change and some different animations.
I'm waiting until Fanfest before I say anything else.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ErryK

I'd love it if we kept it that way but "MuH FeMme TwInK bUnNiEs!!".

---

Arent we bit too homophobic?

Beside I can tell you, players will ask as much for their lion female race. Its not always one-sided.

Imagine being this mad over people wanting balanced character customisation options.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by redcurrant18

Miquote are explicitly stated to be descended from Mithra in FFXIV. Bunny ears on them contradicts this lore. There's no need to merge them with Viera when they have such drastically different background stories surrounding them.

---

Explicitly stated where? From memory, it was suggested in the text for the Mithra minion, but it's never been canon that FFXI exists in the FFXIV universe.

From the lorebook there are two possible versions of man's origin: direct creation by the gods, or possibly evolution.

In an evolution scenario, even with Mithra as a direct ancestor of Miqo'te, there's no reason why there couldn't be a common Viera-Miqo'te ancestor before that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nestama

Au Ra males = Elezen.

---

I have alts of both those races, and they definitely don't have the same body shape. Costumes look very different on them.

A lot of it is due to the Au Ra chest shape, which isn't just wide but also seems to be quite deep front-to-back, and they seem to have slightly hunched shoulders? Or maybe that's just my perception due to Elezen proportions being my other main reference for male gear. But there are definitely some things that sit awkwardly on them - usually with wide collars.

For limb proportions, I don't have good reference screenshots showing their body rather than clothes, but from what little I have it's possible that there's not a huge amount of actual size difference (I can't really compare) but that the "unadjustable muscle slider setting" is up the high end for Au Ra and lower for Elezen, so the actual difference in their build is more than just the dimensions.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stopatfiveorsixstores

Hey guys, what about the possibility that they add female Viera and male Hrothgar first, with plans to add their opposite sex counterparts later depending on player requests? Say, if they get a high demand right away, they'll move development to release them within 5.x, else, in 6.0 instead. Edited: this would stay true that these will be their last races to add in the game. Adding the opposite sex doesn't count as adding a new race.

---

If that happens... as I've mentioned previously, I think there might be a programming limit of eight races (with hypothetical Hrothgar/Viera counting as one), so if we got that offer it might come hand-in-hand with "we can give you one more race or we can give you the other Viera/Hrothgar. Which would you like?"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BillyKaplan

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE---
That's never a solution. I will repeat myself just because that sort of thing is such a berserk button for me - the text is probably made up from separate checks for gender and race. What the text is likely made up from is [gender indicator] [race indicator]. In which case there is only one place in the code that would have to change as far as texts go and that's the pool of race names the character can belong to.
For gender locked races - which I hope we won't really get - the [gender indicator] check will still happen but will only ever show the one result since the other isn't available to player characters.

---

In English, you would have the [gender] [race] format but is it possible that "L'Ao Ra" messes with the ability to do that in French, thus requiring them to program in all those separate phrases instead?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Metsonm

Imagine being this mad over people wanting balanced character customisation options.

---

Balanced is pretty subjective though. Balanced by what metric? We've seen how diverse in appearance people have desires for regarding just male viera, some want buff masculine viera, some want petite effeminate viera, some want tiny cute viera.

There's plenty of metrics that would still be balanced if two genderlocked races were introduced as well.

Part of me knows that this may indeed be evidence that could be a gender lock; as Shippuu said in the past it is likely due to resource times and etc. The optimist in me believes they're going out with a bang regarding the last races and are introducing two at one time. They said Viera was the last race; though by looking at the glitch - Viera is last. Meaning this new race came first? Which is confusing seeing as Blufever didn't state that there was another race until much later.

Anyway; all I know is this. If they're genderlocked people will complain, that's a given. Will there be backlash, yes? Enough to have them revert the gender lock? Who knows. Or maybe, just maybe they're not gender locked; due to the whole stormblood expansion not having a new race that it might have been released with this one. Perhaps whatever they had just wasn't ready for release during that time and thus they pushed back the release?

It would honestly be huge for them and earn them so many dang brownie points if this was true.

Or the text is old, very old to the point that whatever this new race was, it was scrapped.

We don't need yet another cat race for Hydealyn's name.
It will be very silly if they introduce one.
Viera should have male and female period.
If they had time and resources to make 2 gender locked races then it means they could develop the male Vieras.
Looks like people want the Viera race and want both genders not only one.
Nobody asked for 2nd race and especially another cat one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Riardon

Looks like people want the Viera race and want both genders not only one.
Nobody asked for 2nd race and especially another cat one.

---

Don't just assume things for the whole Community. I never wanted Viera and would be all in for a Ronso-esque race, and I know quite a few people who think the same.

In the end, we'll have to accept whatever comes anyway and should wait for JP FanFest before making assumptions.

i would appreciate either on of them (ronsolike race or bunnies), but by all means, i don't want an half-assed race (genderlocking), genderlocking is one of the stupidest things to introduce and it's what has allways kept me away from asian mmorpgs
i don't want a "ronso" only male race without a female counterpart and if they really pull this halfassed genderlocking thing, i can assure y'all there will be some big backlash from both sides (not only male viera supporters)

and this backwards thinking of females allways have to be "nice and gentle" and males "bulky and scary" also grinds my gears

At Stormblood's launch I thought for sure Lupin was a sign we were getting a playable beast race in the future. When it was announced Viera would be the last race I felt pretty bummed out about it... then they didn't mention male Viera at all during the 'Fest, which was super suspicious. Hrothgar has rekindled my hopes. I'm excited that the possibility is back on the table and I can't wait to see what it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fukuro

i would appreciate either on of them (ronsolike race or bunnies), but by all means, i don't want an half-assed race (genderlocking), genderlocking is one of the stupidest things to introduce and it's what has allways kept me away from asian mmorpgs
i don't want a "ronso" only male race without a female counterpart and if they really pull this halfassed genderlocking thing, i can assure y'all there will be some big backlash from both sides (not only male viera supporters)

and this backwards thinking of females allways have to be "nice and gentle" and males "bulky and scary" also grinds my gears

---

What about viera do you interpret as nice and gentle? Their entire gimmick is that they're superhuman guerrilla fighters and marksmen that render almost half of Dalmasca impossible to colonize because they tear apart anyone that tries to enter and doesn't respect the Green Word.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daralii

What about viera do you interpret as nice and gentle? Their entire gimmick is that they're superhuman guerrilla fighters and marksmen that render almost half of Dalmasca impossible to colonize because they tear apart anyone that tries to enter and doesn't respect the Green Word.

---

This here. Yeah, male viera's lore has them as cold-blooded killers. They kill on sight and often don't bother to even ask why you're there. You could be lost and they wouldn't care. This adds to the whole 'why no one outside of Viera and the dead' has seen a male. I'm certain plenty of outsiders have seen the male, but sadly they're all dead. Or so scared they don't wish to relay.

But that brings up the question of how we know this lore in the first place. At least one female must have shared some of the information. And one male must have shared the information on just how they operate when they're outside of the villages and going through those sacred rites to become a master of the wood.
--
The only gentle male Viera would be a Viera that was taken away from the wood by their mother and never went through the brutal training. The training brutalises them. It, of course, would be great storytelling to hear the story of how one male who earned the title of master earned back his 'humanity' and was no longer just a killer who exist only to fight and breed. Or of course, be one that escaped the watchful eye of their 'Master' and ran away., etc etc

I want a proper beast race like the charr in GW2. Oh and pls give hammer class.

This is my stance on it I will wait for Tokyo fan fest for announcement depending what is revealed will depend if i am vocal about it. I am a hard no against gender locking races as i find this can spiral to gender locking jobs i will be as vocal as i can if they gender lock races no matter which way they do it. if they reveal both genders i will be content even if it isn't what i personally like as i got what i truly wanted which was no gender locked races

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daralii

What about viera do you interpret as nice and gentle? Their entire gimmick is that they're superhuman guerrilla fighters and marksmen that render almost half of Dalmasca impossible to colonize because they tear apart anyone that tries to enter and doesn't respect the Green Word.

---

Indeed - and yet somehow their reveal trailer involved standing around in cute poses and doing flirty emotes while wearing clothing that would never ever suggest “fierce jungle warrior” to someone who hasn’t read the lore.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

Indeed - and yet somehow their reveal trailer involved standing around in cute poses and doing flirty emotes while wearing clothing that would never ever suggest “fierce jungle warrior” to someone who hasn’t read the lore.

---

Aaannd this is why I never looked forward to Viera even though it was pretty clear we were getting them eventually. For the same reason I also don't have a dire need for male Viera, unless they are made beastly.

I remember a time when there was a long thread with daily pictures of male characters in feminine attire - and those creative people showed that male Miqo'te and Midlander males can be made to look cute as a button with the right gear and angles. Having a new androgynous male would not bring the kind of variety a burly lion race would.

Obviously having both would be best but if that's not possible then I'd like to see if Hrothgar would be new and different in ways the female Viera are not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crushnight

This is my stance on it I will wait for Tokyo fan fest for announcement depending what is revealed will depend if i am vocal about it. I am a hard no against gender locking races as i find this can spiral to gender locking jobs i will be as vocal as i can if they gender lock races no matter which way they do it. if they reveal both genders i will be content even if it isn't what i personally like as i got what i truly wanted which was no gender locked races

---

The discord leaker said that we will be surprised with dancer, maybe because its gender locked already? XD