Garlean Playable Race (?)

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

during the live letter they said if they added a new race again, it would be lizardmen.

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BANGAA?! :D

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

BANGAA?! :D

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I think he was referring to the proto-Au Ra

https://i.imgur.com/mmaeNmR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mzTEQ4n.jpg

So, thinking on it further I believe it'd be fitting for Garlean Purebloods to get some sort of toga for their starter outfit. We know that they're heavily inspired by the Romans, after all!

As for their facial features and physiques, their models could play upon their natural strength by allowing for another tall and well-built playable character option with conventionally attractive facial features and realistic proportions. Since facial features alone can make or break a playable race, I think it'd be cool to see them tap into similar aesthetics as seen in Roman/Greek sculptures.

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Originally Posted by Rokke

I think he was referring to the proto-Au Ra

https://i.imgur.com/mmaeNmR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mzTEQ4n.jpg

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Oh my! If Au ra would have looked like that, my favourite race would have been them forever. Now i'm really disappointed for how they look like :(.

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Originally Posted by Rokke

I think he was referring to the proto-Au Ra

https://i.imgur.com/mmaeNmR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mzTEQ4n.jpg

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That dream is dead....they decided to make them more Human-looking.
So now the solution, is Bangaa >:D

Not that I'm opposed to playing as pureblood garlean, but how are they going to justify it considering garlean can't use/manipulate aether, which is necessary for all jobs? I don't know if even the echo is enough excuse for garlean!WoL to use aether. The only exception Zenos, and he still needs crystal jammed into his hand to unleash magic.

Unless you want the WoL to be locked to reaper only...

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Originally Posted by Kozh

Not that I'm opposed to playing as pureblood garlean, but how are they going to justify it considering garlean can't use/manipulate aether, which is necessary for all jobs? I don't know if even the echo is enough excuse for garlean!WoL to use aether. The only exception Zenos, and he still needs crystal jammed into his hand to unleash magic.

Unless you want the WoL to be locked to reaper only...

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I wonder if I can get away with saying
"This wouldnt work because Lore"
But Im sure Ill get the "WOL is the exception" or "It doesn't matter they can just twist and change the lore to make it happen"
Even though literally, its established that Garleans can't use magic. So how could they become Warriors of Light or Champions of Hydalyn if they can't freely manipulate Aether?

Zenos could be used as an excuse, but he needed a special machine that didnt exist until later in Stormblood to give him his power. So what would be a Player Characters excuse?
Also...im sorry but Garleans are not a special unique race, they are made up of existing races that are born without magic talent and have a 3rd eye, so it would be a weird way to waste resrouces to make a new playable Pure Garlean Race for what is pretty much just an upgrade to the character models...which would make 1000x more sense to propose.

No, Garlean purebloods are a distinctive race in their own right.

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Originally Posted by Kozh

Not that I'm opposed to playing as pureblood garlean, but how are they going to justify it

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Very easily:

https://i.ibb.co/z24rHFm/IMG-2860.jpg

You will note the opening they left there that can very easily be exploited without any retcons.

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Originally Posted by Lauront

No, Garlean purebloods are a distinctive race in their own right.

You will note the opening they left there that can very easily be exploited without any retcons.

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Saying "but the lore left an opening" still doesn't change the fact that:
- They're all portrayed by midlanders or elezen with a pearl in their head and will likely continue to be so in EW when we inevitably bump into larger numbers of them unless there's a surprise brand new body for everyone.
- They're not visually distinctive enough to have their own playable race and Yoshi-P has already stated that he wants to do things that are different.
- Male viera were made on the side, with female hrothgar coming "later" and both are said to be the last we'll get. Even after getting their missing genders, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who says that they're "whole" considering the state they're still in.
- It makes no sense in the context of the story for a Garlean to be welcomed by everyone they meet before they're a hero.

Pureblood Garleans have a distinct look and they're considered to be their own unique playable race. Given that there's a lot of demand for those of us who play male characters to have an option that is tall, fairly well-built and classically handsome they'd fit that criteria pretty well. Especially if they get their own unique model where playable Pureblood Garleans are concerned.

WoW, a much older game, repeatedly went through the trouble of tweaking certain NPC models to be unique to justify adding them as a playable option. FFXIV could do the same thing, especially since it aims to provide updates for another ten years at the very least according to recent interviews.

A lot can change in even a year and many other elements stated as not happening in the past came to manifest through popular demand - though I believe Yoshi-P walked back the statement on the subject of no new playable races coming after Hrothgar and Viera were complete.

It also makes plenty of sense for a Pureblood Garlean to be welcomed by those they meet in the story as very few of the characters in the MSQ's actively refuse the aid of a Pureblood Garlean that is not aligned with Imperial Garlemald and those that do...end up changing their mind rather quickly.

Canonically most of the Eorzean populace are illiterate and likely don't even know what a Garlean Pureblood even looks like outside of their armour, at any rate.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

Saying "but the lore left an opening" still doesn't change the fact that:
- They're all portrayed by midlanders or elezen with a pearl in their head and will likely continue to be so in EW when we inevitably bump into larger numbers of them unless there's a surprise brand new body for everyone.
- They're not visually distinctive enough to have their own playable race and Yoshi-P has already stated that he wants to do things that are different.
- Male viera were made on the side, with female hrothgar coming "later" and both are said to be the last we'll get. Even after getting their missing genders, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who says that they're "whole" considering the state they're still in.
- It makes no sense in the context of the story for a Garlean to be welcomed by everyone they meet before they're a hero.

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I genuinely couldn't care less what you have to say on this. We've gone through this, your arguments failed to convince me then, they continue to fail to convince me now, much as your rather tenuous grasp on various points of lore fails to impress me much. I am here to address a specific claim that keeps coming up. You want to ramble about how they can't simply deal with this issue through glams? Whatever. I do not care. Address someone who is interested in your irrelevant anti-Garlean crusade.

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Originally Posted by Lauront

I genuinely couldn't care less what you have to say on this. We've gone through this, your arguments failed to convince me then, they continue to fail to convince me now, much as your rather tenuous grasp on various points of lore fails to impress me much. I am here to address a specific claim that keeps coming up. You want to ramble about how they can't simply deal with this issue through glams? Whatever. I do not care. Address someone who is interested in your anti-Garlean crusade.

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If you "couldn't care less" then you would ignore me instead of quoting and replying to me. At least Theodoric is coming up with some stuff that I agree with can change, but still leaves me unconvinced.

I'm not on a crusade against Garleans. I'm being realistic. Not sure why you're on about convincing when no amount of bringing up the fact that the lorebook has an entry that some Garleans have magic has convinced me or anyone else that it will lead to a playable race. You keep posting that same picture to the thread as if seeing it is supposed to open my mind to it when it hasn't. I never made the lore as my main argument so I don't know why you keep bringing that up.

If I wanted to shower the forums with my hopes and dreams maybe I'll start a thread about how I want au ra to be redone as oni with ears for ears and horns for horns instead of weird people with horns for ears and a skin condition and then say that anyone who disagrees with me has a "tenuous grasp on various points of lore".

I would rather have a unique looking race over “human with animal ears”, or in this case “human with gem in forehead”. I believe we should get a few more “exotic” races like Burmecians before we get something that’s akin to a Hyur recolor.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

If you "couldn't care less" then you would ignore me instead of quoting and replying to me. At least Theodoric is coming up with some stuff that I agree with can change, but still leaves me unconvinced.

I'm not on a crusade against Garleans. I'm being realistic. Not sure why you're on about convincing when no amount of bringing up the fact that the lorebook has an entry that some Garleans have magic has convinced me or anyone else that it will lead to a playable race. You keep posting that same picture to the thread as if seeing it is supposed to open my mind to it when it hasn't. I never made the lore as my main argument so I don't know why you keep bringing that up.

If I wanted to shower the forums with my hopes and dreams maybe I'll start a thread about how I want au ra to be redone as oni with ears for ears and horns for horns instead of weird people with horns for ears and a skin condition and then say that anyone who disagrees with me has a "tenuous grasp on various points of lore".

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it helped convince me tbh. Its not only the lore book but now we have reaper coming out which is also a garlean job that uses aether so... seems more and more likely that its possible for them to become a race in the future. I believe i seen you around when people were asking for male viera and you were one of the voices saying we'd never get them and then we did so... Anything is possible s im sure you've seen.

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Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

it helped convince me tbh. Its not only the lore book but now we have reaper coming out which is also a garlean job that uses aether so... seems more and more likely that its possible for them to become a race in the future. I believe i seen you around when people were asking for male viera and you were one of the voices saying we'd never get them and then we did so... Anything is possible s im sure you've seen.

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Reaper is the way it is specifically because Garleans have very little ability to manipulate aether.

In fact given that the lore book is written from in-universe perspective, it's possible that the writer has made a mistake and assumed the exploits of Garlean reapers are evidence of rare Garlean magic users.

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Originally Posted by Vipes

I would rather have a unique looking race over “human with animal ears”, or in this case “human with gem in forehead”. I believe we should get a few more “exotic” races like Burmecians before we get something that’s akin to a Hyur recolor.

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This is a common retort and yet 'exotic' playable races end up being the least played race and gender combinations in the game. Which suggests that the majority of people do, in fact, want to play something that is closer to 'human' or 'elven' than outright bestial or monstrous. We see this in...pretty much every major MMO.

I alternate between playing a Midlander or a Raen/Xaela myself as those are the playable races that I like most at the moment. Though I'd love to be able to play the equivalent of a Hyur that is tall and conventionally attractive. Pureblood Garleans would be a good fit for that. That they have some very interesting lore is a major bonus. Much as it was when I played a Night Elf and a Blood Elf back in WoW. Or a Breton and Altmer in Elder Scrolls Online.

I don't care for niche races that look strange for the sake of looking strange - and Highlanders are, unfortunately, ruined due to a lack of attractive facial options and no authentic eyebrows. If they looked more like Jecht, Snow or Gladio then I'd happily play one. Though they don't, so I won't.

I am not posting it to convince anyone, least of all that poster given that I was responding to a completely different individual (who raised that exact point about their inability to use magic), but to correct a misunderstanding of the lore that continues to be repeated both here and on other venues and demonstrate that that point of contention, in particular, poses no obstacle. Objections based on what people view as "jarring" etc. don't interest me and are irrelevant as far as I am concerned. It's not like SE give a kupo nut what we on this forum believe is credible or not in terms of future additions to the game, so frankly I see it as pointless to debate that.

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Originally Posted by Jandor

Reaper is the way it is specifically because Garleans have very little ability to manipulate aether.

In fact given that the lore book is written from in-universe perspective, it's possible that the writer has made a mistake and assumed the exploits of Garlean reapers is evidence of rare Garlean magic users.

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It's possible. But that goes for virtually anything in it. So shall we cast everything within it in doubt and could be explained otherwise?

The problem, once more, is that the average Garlean cannot wield aether into magic (and the lorebook is emphatic that it is a precious few who can.) I'm disinclined to doubt the lorebook on that until and unless it's corrected on that point.

Besides, it basically dissolves the lore objection in the event that SE wanted to take advantage of an opening it has created. So even if one wished to pick it apart in that manner, it is besides the point. If they don't wish to do so, then that is the end of it.

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?
(Beyond no new races except for maybe lizardfolk but probably not)

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Originally Posted by ItMe

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?

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I do not believe he has ever commented on the subject directly, though comments from older interviews lose relevance as time passes and the game's community grows and trends/expectations change. I've seen quite a few demands for Garlean related glamour/playable options on Twitter, though.

There's also a pretty sizeable number of Garlean role-players to be found in-game on Mateus, Omega and Balmung.

As for 'lizardfolk', it's worth noting that Yoshi-P specifically added Hrothgar because he wanted to see a beast race added as a playable option. Yet not only are they a very tiny percentage of the population...he does not even play one himself. A trend, I suspect, which applies to a lot of the people asking for more unusual options.

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Originally Posted by ItMe

We could go back and forth trying to convince each other of the viability of Garleans, but what has SQEX said?
Has Yoshi P more recently weighed in on this issue?
Last I heard he said "no" in... stormblood(?) but does anyone know if his perspective has changed?
(Beyond no new races except for maybe lizardfolk but probably not)

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I didn't know he'd ever even weighed in on it before, but if he said no before I can't really see what would have changed his mind.

He has recently discussed the possibility of other races after Viera and Hrothgar I think, but that was also a no, and when he speculated on what he would add if time and money allowed, it still wasn't Garleans. It was some lizardfolk type race.

Basically, I don't think the idea is even on his radar.

Well in all honesty I think if they were to enable it somehow, they would probably do so through Hyur customisation options. Whether you then slap on a subrace name to it or not is a different story, but they have (evolving) plans to improve on the graphics engine and character customisation (here, here and here), which may make such changes easier in the medium term. Bearing in mind that they had commented in less optimistic terms about these projects in the past (e.g. here), plus what they've been saying about how long they expect the game to last, I do anticipate it will happen at some point after 7.0.

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Originally Posted by Naaura

After playing since ARR and now going through Ruby Weapon, I just find Garleans to be so darn cool!

They are taller than Hyur and have such strong Western/Northern European features that I love.


What are your thoughts on them being a playable race? Cons and Pros?

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We don't need a new race. What we need is increase the height of certain races in the game.

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Originally Posted by Lauront

Well in all honesty I think if they were to enable it somehow, they would probably do so through Hyur customisation options. Whether you then slap on a subrace name to it or not is a different story, but they have plans to improve on the graphics engine and character customisation, which may make such changes easier in the medium term.

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Once Hrothgar women are added to the game, hopefully an expansion to the options for existing playable races is on the table. For example, it'd be neat to be able to play a Midlander as beefy as Hien. As well as having the ability to play a Raen or Xaela with a muscle slider for added muscle definition. Once that's done, ideally additional playable races would also be on the table.

The game expects to be around for at least another ten years, after all - and the current customisation options are lacking on many fronts in the eyes of many. What's interesting to me is that it's often people playing female characters who are the quickest to claim that we do not need additional options. If they're happy with their current options? Great! That experience isn't universal though.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

What's interesting to me is that it's often people playing female characters who are the quickest to claim that we do not need additional options. If they're happy with their current options? Great! That experience isn't universal though.

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Yeah, I've noticed that myself. Not sure why.

Playable race? Definite NO!

Playable clan? not likely.

Garleans are not all that different than Hyur's in general. The only real difference being the fleshy orb on their foreheads. If they were to introduce Garlean as something playable it is more likely that you would play as a mix blood garlean and it would function as a third clan type. However this is also very unlikely. (which I do hope they go back and add new clan types for older races to expand on customization)