[REQUEST] Can we have a more original race next time?

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Originally Posted by Felis

the Draenei look like a grey Elezeen with horns and glowing eyes. Not different enough for this thread.

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They look nothing like Elezen

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Originally Posted by Felis

Try it with face 4. it give her a severe look that don't look like Barbie, i think

http://cdn4.dualshockers.com/wp-cont.../AuRaFFXIV.jpg

http://oi61.tinypic.com/v4a1l5.jpg

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Still has a fairly 'cute' look to them and their body/emote's aren't going to compliment their face very well (they were very cutesy).
It's like trying to make a female Roegadyn cute. It probably can be done, but that would require time and effort to succeed... and if it is successful, their emotes/body actions are most likely not going to compliment their face.

http://i.imgur.com/BeAsZVh.png
http://i.imgur.com/JE1ShyB.png

Imagine this Roegadyn being an Au Ra. Would you prefer this or what Au Ra females currently are (or their fierce demonic concept art that actually would have made them their own race and not look borrowed at all)?

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Originally Posted by Evangela

the problem is... races that don't look like a human are not popular.

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And races that don't look human require 100% custom made gear models. At this point, something as simple as allowing people to play Amaljaa would require a massssiveeee amount of work to get all existing gear to function with them, or even to just make completely new gear exclusive to them.

Even with Lalafell, it's mostly just proportioning. But change the anatomy and everything gets more complicated.


I dont mind the super cutsey look of the Au Ra mainly because they're the first super cutsey face race in the game. Miqo'te are adorable of course, but in a less "anime" way then the Au Ra are. Lalafell are tiny and such, but they're little people, so meh

And the guys look pretty rad, so yay for diversity.



I wouldn't be surprised if the next "race" for us to use would just be Garlean. They're human-esque and they have a third eye.

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Originally Posted by Edellis

And races that don't look human require 100% custom made gear models. At this point, something as simple as allowing people to play Amaljaa would require a massssiveeee amount of work to get all existing gear to function with them, or even to just make completely new gear exclusive to them.

Even with Lalafell, it's mostly just proportioning. But change the anatomy and everything gets more complicated.

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No they don't require completely custom gear, because we're not asking for a change in anatomy. Of course, all gear would have to be proportioned to fit, but that's just as true of every race, regardless of how human or otherworldly it looks. Beyond that, most suggestions don't need anything else, and those that do would be the sort of adjustments SE is already doing anyway to accommodate ears, tails, and horns.

There would be absolutely no difference whatsoever between gear on a current Miqo'te and gear on a Miqo'te that had fur, claws, and a catlike face. Nor would Au Ra need any more gear adjustments if they had actual scales. We aren't asking to play quadrupeds, just to make the sort of features SE is already giving us look like part of our character and not like cosplay accessories. The tough part, as far as the gear is concerned, is the part they're already doing anyway.

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Originally Posted by Reinha

Lets look at it with faction in mind then. Both factions have at least one pretty race to choose from.
Horde: 71% of characters are of an "ugly" or bestial race
Alliance: 48% of characters "ugly" or bestial (including dwarfs and gnomes) or 32% (excluding dwarfs and gnomes)

What you are ignoring is that the number of western players who would happily play as an ugly/beast race is not negligible. When split into separate races it may seem that the non-pretty are less popular, but that's because there's 8-10 of them to choose from and only 3-5 human like.

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You aren't reading what I am saying. Read what I am writing here very slowly. I don't think bestial characters are intrinsically uglier than nonbestial ones. There are plenty of Furries in the world. I don't consider Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins or Trolls as "Pretty races". Those are the ones I would actively call "Ugly races" and they are generally the least popular with the exception of the Pandaren. I was saying GENERALLY each faction tends to put more numbers in the prettier the race is.

I don't feel there's a HUGE drive for UGLY characters. I think there's a loud call out for it on message boards because people want to be the sole pretty character and guilt people into playing ugly because that makes them feel more special. I believe there'd be more Orcs if they were using Thralls model than the one they use. I've seen plenty of fan art that sexes up Orcs of both sexes.

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Originally Posted by jomoru

I don't think bestial characters are intrinsically uglier than nonbestial ones. ... I don't feel there's a HUGE drive for UGLY characters.

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If you aren't equating bestial with ugly, then whether you think there should be ugly characters is of limited relevance. The thread is about letting us have some exotic characters that don't look just like ordinary humans. Presumably the more widespread desire in this regard would be for ones that are exotic or bestial in a beautiful rather than ugly way.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

A great many people seem to be regarding the request for more exotic features as wanting something ugly. I for one don't want an ugly bestial character. I want a beautifully feral and exotic one.

(Not meaning to pick on you in particular Kisai, just picked a convienient example from all the references to "ugly" characters.)

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None taken. TESO players want dark, ugly and gritty. WoW players worlds are more colorful, but I've never played it. Screenshots/video from it always gave me the impression that there was nothing cute about it. I can level this same comment at quite a few Western games, hence all the screenshots in my earlier post.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

No they don't require completely custom gear, because we're not asking for a change in anatomy. Of course, all gear would have to be proportioned to fit, but that's just as true of every race, regardless of how human or otherworldly it looks. Beyond that, most suggestions don't need anything else, and those that do would be the sort of adjustments SE is already doing anyway to accommodate ears, tails, and horns.

There would be absolutely no difference whatsoever between gear on a current Miqo'te and gear on a Miqo'te that had fur, claws, and a catlike face. Nor would Au Ra need any more gear adjustments if they had actual scales. We aren't asking to play quadrupeds, just to make the sort of features SE is already giving us look like part of our character and not like cosplay accessories. The tough part, as far as the gear is concerned, is the part they're already doing anyway.

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Let me say this again, because people are ignoring things just to repeat the same argument again:

1) A non(human)-biped race can not be done - This requires more than just making unique gear, it requires having entirely new animation and physics programming. That is why even in games like Mass Effect, the playable aliens are little more than "rubber forehead aliens"
2) More "beast" like races have legs, arms and feet that are not "human biped" compatible. Many animals are digitigrade, which means they would have a different gait, thus requiring entirely new animation sets.
3) A "more furry/scaley" race can not be done without an entirely new gear system.
a. Scales on an animal in real life are a form of armor. Fur on an animal in real life is a form of camouflage and insulation. Neither of these apply to "playable characters" that can wear clothes and armor. The existing gear system can make exceptions for ears and horns because the ears and horns placement doesn't change between races or faces (they're on/off switches) and "are removed" when wearing certain hats/helmets. That's why you don't get to customize these features. This is why games "race differences" tend to be limited to just one gear part that has less frequent variation (eg hats, helmets, masks and crowns.) That way they can use the "human" base and make the same alterations for every gear. Every variation of horns or ears requires a different placement, hence a new model.
b. The tails on animals are a form of body language. Unlike the helmet slot, tails involve both the upper body and the lower body gear. A point made during beta was that Miqo'te 's butts were made smaller so that they could wear the same gear everyone else can wear. The result of this is that some of the legacy gear has the "tail" space, while all the ARR gear does not. Fan's weren't too happy about this. The fact that the tail clips through just about everything is repeatedly pointed out over time on the forum.

From:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...done-about-it!

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Originally Posted by Takeo_Suzuki

Hello,
Lead designer Takeo Suzuki here.

We understand that you all care deeply for the detail and shape of your characters, and while the development team is really happy about this, we would like to keep the specifications for character’s butts as they are.

I’d like to explain a bit about why we changed the shape of character model’s butts. It all began when Yoshi-P and the character team sat down and reconsidered what should be prioritized for players when we moved from 1.0 to A Realm Reborn.

Based on this discussion it was decided to place emphasis on the below:
• New races (male Miqo’te, female Highlanders, and female Roegadyn.)
• Increase the amount of content and the amount of reward items (equipment and weapons)
(We want to make a team that can create more than four times the amount of rewards compared to what there was originally.)

As a result of thinking about what could be done to fulfill the above objectives all while converting everything over and optimizing all the data by completely remaking the graphics engine, we decided to reduce the cost by simplifying items that were too complex when making them. One aspect of this was the graphical display of waist equipment.

I deeply apologize for those of you who were really partial to what Miqo’tes looked like in 1.0, but this decision was made so we could relaunch with new races and a lot of new equipment. We will be implementing a wide variety of really cool looking equipment moving forward, and we appreciate your understanding on this.

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So right from the Dev's mouth, they reduced complexity of the waist gear so that we can have more gear overall. The expense of that was that everyone has the same butt and by extension tails are little more than "cosplay tails" except during emotes.

A consequence of trying to make "more furry" or "more scaley" races would be race-locking more gear, greatly diminishing the amount of gear available.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

If you aren't equating bestial with ugly, then whether you think there should be ugly characters is of limited relevance. The thread is about letting us have some exotic characters that don't look just like ordinary humans. Presumably the more widespread desire in this regard would be for ones that are exotic or bestial in a beautiful rather than ugly way.

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I was responding to someone who said "Western audiences want ugly characters". I disagree with that. I agree there's a loud outcry on forums for actively ugly and old characters. I just don't think those options are used as much as the outcry would say.

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Originally Posted by Edellis

I wouldn't be surprised if the next "race" for us to use would just be Garlean. They're human-esque and they have a third eye.

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I'd really hope not. If Cid, Nero and Nael Deus are anything to go by, Garleans are literally just Hyurs with a third eye.

Eternal Eden (or something) has 3 classes that is not human related at all.

They are the Mouse race, the Frog race, and the Bear race.

A lot of people likes the bear because they look cute but the remaining two?

Let's just say mickey mouse and Kermit the Frog wouldn't have lots of friends there......

Draenei don't have special helmets or footwear.

Horns jut through helms, boots are missing below ankle...

All of WoW has no race special altered gear. The races with hooves or strange feet get no boots just strange looking anklets (ie the top of the boots).

This is a link to youtube video of a presentation of races to a mmo still in development. The developers are asked the reason as to why preexisting races were changed to more uniformed, less unique appearance in this franchise sequel. The most relevant portion begins at 25:56, and 47:37, These are answers by actual video game developers who do this for a living, these are the things that a team has to take in to consideration when designing a new character race. While this may not be Square-Enix, I feel the design process is not so different from team to team, company to company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnIrO1sYIxU

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Originally Posted by Alacran

http://40.media.tumblr.com/f96408be3...fyu8o2_500.png

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Don't get me wrong, I am all ready to embrace my inner lizardgirl.

But this needs to happen at some point, so we can behold the majesty of the bunnyboy.

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Originally Posted by TitaniaZero

All of WoW has no race special altered gear. The races with hooves or strange feet get no boots just strange looking anklets (ie the top of the boots).

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The races which don't have normal footwear instead get to have incredibly awkward, cheap, stretched textures that look utterly terrible and the artists for that game ought to be thoroughly ashamed of.

Seriously, it makes me actually angry, how bad it looks.

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Originally Posted by Nestama

Y'sure about that?

http://i.imgur.com/ivGgOsX.png
Now imagine them wearing the exact same clothes.

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LOL you made an identical character, how is this relevant?. Of course they are going to have similarities but to go making an identical character...you're just looking for something to complain about at this point.

That's the point, Onikimura. I shouldn't be able to make a "new" race identical to something we already have.

Bring the Vieras! That's all

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Originally Posted by Nestama

That's the point, Onikimura. I shouldn't be able to make a "new" race identical to something we already have.

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Look i understand that you want diversity but this race is pretty cool IMO, i will be picking up the male Au Ra myself, choosing xaela?(hope i didn't butcher that). As it looks more beast-like and actually reminds me of kimahri. But i can empathize with SE's decision on designing them the way they are. It is more visually pleasing than say...a khajiit. Which in turn is more likely to draw in newer players. Remember this is their first expansion and the goal is to bring in as many players as possible and then cater toward requests and player demands, kind of like how patches work. And i can almost guarantee come 4.0 you will have your beast race and all will be right with the world.

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Originally Posted by Mature

Bring the Vieras! That's all

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Bunny people are really original next to the already established Cat people.

Cat people are boring rabbit people got more identity and character.

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Originally Posted by Mature

Cat people are boring rabbit people got more identity and character.

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Very biased opinion.

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Originally Posted by Mature

Bring the Vieras! That's all

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Have you tried changing to a female Hellsguard and purchasing the bunny ears from Gold Saucer? Because I'm pretty sure that's all it will take to look like a Viera.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

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Considering SE's justification for the way the Au Ra (girls) look, we might get a race with men that looks somewhat unique, but I'm quite sure we'll be getting another Midlander Hyur with the traits slapped onto her in the lower 5' high 4' range again.

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Originally Posted by Mature

Cat people are boring rabbit people got more identity and character.

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Dog people are where it's at.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

...i can almost guarantee come 4.0 you will have your beast race...

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Mind if some of us hold you to that? "Almost"... huh, FFXIV is neither a horseshoe nor a hand grenade.

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Originally Posted by Dree-Elle

Mind if some of us hold you to that? "Almost"... huh, FFXIV is neither a horseshoe nor a hand grenade.

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lol if you want?. Considering some of the responses here i don't know why i tried to use logic in this discussion, it seems to be full of whining people.

If people who chose not to buy this game because of the current races, how is Au Ra going to win them over (what we already know is that the current playerbase who love FFXIV will be getting HW. So that's already probably over a million copies being bought. Possibly more if gifts or PC+PS4 purchases are taken into consideration)? I'll concede that males can have a unique looking face, but the rest of them feels very Elezen (I've honestly not tried to make a male Au Ra yet. Maybe I'll try and make one look like an Elezen). Female Au Ra can easily be made to look like something already in game. Their faces can be made to look similar to Hyur's and their bodies are pretty much a female Miqo'te's (which was Yugiri's placeholder in 2.2).

http://i.imgur.com/djXFal4.jpg
They're both 5'6, in case you're curious.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

Look i understand that you want diversity but this race is pretty cool IMO, i will be picking up the male Au Ra myself, choosing xaela?(hope i didn't butcher that). As it looks more beast-like and actually reminds me of kimahri. But i can empathize with SE's decision on designing them the way they are. It is more visually pleasing than say...a khajiit. Which in turn is more likely to draw in newer players. Remember this is their first expansion and the goal is to bring in as many players as possible and then cater toward requests and player demands, kind of like how patches work. And i can almost guarantee come 4.0 you will have your beast race and all will be right with the world.

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Agreed with bold. Sorry, I had to bold those. Made it to easy. :P

Edit:I forgot to add; I've been attempting on making an Au'ra male look similar to another race. Funny enough, it is their long faces which makes it difficult. I also hate to say, but I realized how more "scary" and rough Roe and especially Highlander can look compared to a race that is supposed to be demon-like.

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Originally Posted by Nestama

Snip.

http://i.imgur.com/djXFal4.jpg
They're both 5'6, in case you're curious.

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There is no "if players chose this " it has nothing to do with who bought what when. It has to do with marketing as i said before. And to answer your question, why didn't people by it before then?. Because they have a bigger campaign now and a player base to spread the word. If i never played XIV and i saw this race on top of the trailers, i'd buy it straight out. Again removing the scales and features only proves people are making excuses to whine about stuff that doesn't matter. People are happy with the race and they can be made to look extremely unique to other characters. Stripping them of the features that make them what they are only proves one thing.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

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I don't see how Nestama removed any features of the Au Ra, the scales and horns are still there, he just made one similar features to a Miqo'tell to point out how similar their body shape is, which is a hip pop to the left and thicker thighs.

Honestly Nestama, I feel the Auri men have a lot more of a unique body shape, a different hip to waist ratio, smaller arms proportionally, and really wide shoulders, so I feel they end up looking very different that the Elezen if were talking silhouettes (or just making a similar looking one). They could look a lot different, but the differences are far more apparent than they are with the Auri girl/Miqo'te comparison.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

I don't see how Nestama removed any features of the Au Ra, the scales and horns are still there, he just made one similar features to a Miqo'tell to point out how similar their body shape is, which is a hip pop to the left and thicker thighs.

Honestly Nestama, I feel the Auri men have a lot more of a unique body shape, a different hip to waist ratio, smaller arms proportionally, and really wide shoulders, so I feel they end up looking very different that the Elezen if were talking silhouettes (or just making a similar looking one). They could look a lot different, but the differences are far more apparent than they are with the Auri girl/Miqo'te comparison.

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Ok, where are the facial scales?. There is no reasoning in this discussion lol, people are trying their hardest to clone other races to make a point...its quite silly really. You can do this with almost any race unless you cover them in hair and give them fangs.

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Originally Posted by Mature

Cat people are boring rabbit people got more identity and character.

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Mmm yes. Long round ears instead of short pointy ones.

Just overflowing with character and identity.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

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Even with the facial scales, which are hardly noticeable if you've got a white skin tone and are Raen, the silhouettes are incredibly similar. I'd be really curious on you making a girl Roegadyn look like a highlander girl, maybe you could make a Miqo'te look like a Midlander, but I'd be pretty sure we'd be able to tell the difference outside of postures. The key here is silhouettes and diverse by shapes, the Auri men are different enough (though they could be more), while the Auri women are nearly identical in body shape to the Miqo'te.

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Originally Posted by Samcaesar

Even with the facial scales, which are hardly noticeable if you've got a white skin tone and are Raen, the silhouettes are incredibly similar. I'd be really curious on you making a girl Roegadyn look like a highlander girl, maybe you could make a Miqo'te look like a Midlander, but I'd be pretty sure we'd be able to tell the difference outside of postures. The key here is silhouettes and diverse by shapes, the Auri men are different enough (though they could be more), while the Auri women are nearly identical in body shape to the Miqo'te.

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Easy and i would but im not at my desk right now. You can change the skin tone too of course. And the scales make a huuge difference, and they're humanoids. They are also females which probably means they got most of their chromosomes from ice heart. The males probably got the stronger more broad look from the dragon blood.

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Originally Posted by Onikimaru

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Silhouettes and body shape are the issue here, not blonde hair and light skin. Even if you made a roegadyn lady and a highlander with the exact same choices, it'd still look different, very different. Elezen and Auri men have similar but distinct body shapes due to divergences in the face, shoulders, waist, hips, and arms. Note how I don't bring up the scales or tail at all, why? Because if you slapped a tail and scales on the Elezen, I'd wager that the silhouettes of the Auri men would look still distinct. Theories on their origin aside, which the Shiva/Dragon kids story doesn't make sense being that Odin existed for over a thousand years and he received Zantetsuken from an Auri warrior which predates Shiva being even alive for a long while, women can still be quite tall you know? And Shiva, presumably being Elezen being someone that was high in Ishgard society, sure isn't Midlander size and the men sure aren't as big as other dragons.

For 100 characters you'd have:
http://i.imgur.com/gXs4ou0.png

This is based on my server stats.

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Originally Posted by Nadirah

Scales, fur, tails, fins on the head and more obviously animal faces would work. Long claws on both feet and hands.

Hell, Aion Asmodian tail is actually a mane down the middle of the back and they wear "heels" because that spike is actually a claw.

Miqo and Au Ra are human girls with tails and ears. Vanguard did similar (human body, animal head) and folks complained there too.

What people are asking for is something that isn't very obviously a Hume with different ears/tail/skin color.

Now maybe if Au Ra were completely covered head to toe in those scales, making them look more alien, they'd pass.

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Ew, no thanks I'm looking forward to my Au Ra and I would not touch ANYTHING covered from head to foot in scales that just plain look ugly and blegh.

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Originally Posted by BunnyChain

For 100 characters you'd have:

http://i.imgur.com/gXs4ou0.png

This is based on my server stats.

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You sure you don't have the Highlander gender ratio backwards there?

I think that the au ra males are very different, just the females look a little too similar to hyurs/miqo'te. I was hoping that the scales would be smaller, more like body jewelry than the sort of plate look that they have right now..

I would love a small animal like race, though. Something like the little mouse race that someone posted earlier in this thread, or the moogles from FFT and FFXII would be adorable.