Let Us Change Skin-Color at Aesthetician

[Noxifer]

You're missing the point.

Please point out where your average Eorzean citizen has access to this technology.

They just don't. Eorzeans are simple people.

I don't think you'll find many people who would say that the Aesthetician is an average Eorzean citizen. And like the quest clearly states when you get access to him, it's really really difficult for the average Eorzean citizen to manage to get an appointment. So even should the Aesthetician have some contraption -- whether technological, magical or alchemical -- to adjust the skin tone of his customers, it wouldn't really be readily available to everyone in Eorzea. Apart from us speshful heroes, of course.

Lorewise, there aren't many arguments against it that you can't find counterarguments to, if any. After all, it's not a medieval world. It's a fantasy world. There are plenty of possibilities to come up with solutions that would cover the lore aspect without going against previous statements.

But I agree with you from the business standpoint: I doubt they'll ever make skin or eye colour changes possible via the Aesthetician, due to the fact that it would mean one less reason for people to use (and buy) Fantasia potions. And let's face it; there's every possibility that people would then start asking for the ability to change your voice via the Aesthetician, because voice training! Slopes can be slippery in both directions, after all :3

Personally, I'd love it if it was available. But at the same time I can see and understand why it's not.

[Shioban]

I don't think you'll find many people who would say that the Aesthetician is an average Eorzean citizen.

I take back my statement. He certainly isn't average, but I don't really see him investing on on Garlond's Magitek technology to 'Change your skin-tone'.

That would make even your average low end game designers toes curl. "Jandelaine, now suddenly has access to Magitek technology" is a tad jarring.


You're right that people could always counter-part it, but if you look at the current lore-set for almost anything outside of The Empire/Allagan's it's quite basic, there's no technology and very much intentionally so.


But, people will beat it down and add in some strange "BUT THEY COULD DO THIS!". But, they simply won't from a design/lore and business perspective. That's the only reason I'm arguing the fact.

[Edellis]

A person's skin color isn't like their Hair Color. You can style your hair, dye your hair, cut it all off, ect. But your skin color and facial features more or less aren't going anywhere without drastic measures. It's your skin. It's like going to a plastic surgeon and changing your facial structure...

...actually, no, changing your facial structure is significantly easier. But skin color? Not without some seriously drastic measures, involving long bleach routines or cancer-inducing radiation exposure. And lets be honest -- deliberate tans rarely look similar to a natural skin tone of the targeted hue, especially when they're more than a few shades.

It has nothing to do with lore. It's just a stupid idea. It doesn't belong in a game like FFXIV, a rare breed of MMO that actually makes attempts to take itself seriously. Such options should be kept limited to Fantasia.

[Demeos]

You can't paint crevices into the skin. Unless he's using his scissors in some way...Oh! Then if they're just illusions, let's just use glamour prisms to change the color of our eyes! Because magic.

Look, the point is you're looking for lore reasons to deny it, and it's silly in this fantasy game. If they're gonna deny it because they want money from fantasia sales, sure. But let's not pretend it's for some semblance of lore, shall we?

I offered a reason for why the feature you want isn't in the game. And as far as glamours go, I'd like to see them add it but unless they add a new slot strictly for eye coloring, we're gonna lose the option to wear glasses, hats, etc.

Now if I had it all my way, we could do all the changes within the game with gil and for a fraction of what the aesthetician currently charges. Of course if I really had it my way, the only armor/weapon a crafter would craft would be purely for looks-only and instead they would have the ability to alter stats of dungeon/raid gear instead AND an entire glamour set would be saved in a seperate slot in the character window and glamour shards wouldn't have tiers.

[BigPapaSmurf]

It has nothing to do with lore. It's just a stupid idea. It doesn't belong in a game like FFXIV, a rare breed of MMO that actually makes attempts to take itself seriously...

Yes, because letting us wear our underwear or snowman costume to the most hardcore end-game raid is trying to take itself seriously.

It's not a stupid idea either. People practically change their skin-color in real life already, to an extent (bronzing agents, Michael Jackson).

And the fact is, it is a FANTASY GAME.

Organic compounds which alter the skin's pigmentation, LORE DONE.

[Noxifer]

Plenty of stuff =D

Like I said, there's plenty of space to implement it in ways that would make sense =) But no, just plopping it in there with no story behind it wouldn't make sense, and I never said it would. But let's say (just as a brain exercise or something) that Cid (or Biggs/Wedge) tried to invent some camouflage thing for obviously at least semi-military purpose. Only it backfired and instead of camouflaged it dyed your skin. Cid/Biggs/Wedge naturally goes "Oh [expletive], back to the drawing board." Jandelaine, however, who happened to be in town heard of this and went "omgbeautification of the ugly people of Eorzea!" and offered (out of the kindness of his heart, of course :3) to test the device and report back on all the details regarding its use, provided he gets to keep it. Maybe throw in an appointment to sweeten the deal.

Or there's a guy at the alchemists' guild who, while trying out new potions on the refugees in Ul'dah, accidentally changed the skin colour on them. In exchange for one guaranteed appointment a year, Jandelaine got himself a lifetime supply of skin-changing potions.

Or there's a new type of glamour prism that affects people instead of clothes. Plenty of potential there to come up with a reasonable way for the aesthetician to have gained access to this.

Mind you, it's nearly 6am here, so the ideas above are likely to have plot holes in them. But if I can come up with those in just ten minutes, what couldn't the game designers come up with, given a week or even longer? ^^ So no, I don't agree with those who say it'd be impossible due to the lore.

[Edellis]

Yes, because letting us wear our underwear or snowman costume to the most hardcore end-game raid is trying to take itself seriously.

It's not a stupid idea either. People practically change their skin-color in real life already, to an extent (bronzing agents, Michael Jackson).

And the fact is, it is a FANTASY GAME.

1) It's not the same thing and you know it. FFXIV has a limited amount of joke costumes, and unlike the vast majority of MMOs on the market, the battle-appropriate ones are always given design priority. In FFXIV, people get hype for new dungeon loot, not random shit like snowmen or swimsuits.

2) No, 'people' do not 'practically' change their skin color in real life. Unless you're talking about dark-skinned people who bleach their skin, or lighter skinned people who invest in spray-on tan or deliberately bathe themselves in ionizing radiation for FAR longer than any dermatologist on earth would recommend. If someone is drasticaly changing their skin color, it's almost never a healthy process...and if it is, it's probably brought on by unhealthy reasons. (Michael Jackson?)

3) This is a "FANTASY" game? Okay, so are Blade & Soul, TERA and PSO2. XIV does not attempt to generate appeal in its characters using the same methods. It does not make the same levels of sacrifices in lore to include features as those games do.

"FANTASY GAME" is a horrible argument, it's far too vague and says literally nothing about the game other than "it's not non-fiction". Which is every videogame in existence.

[myahele]

Maybe allow us to be a shade or 2 lighter/darker than our current color?

[BigPapaSmurf]

...

I like how you skipped my last line.

You know, the plausible lore-reason.

[Riepah]

All the "lore" comments are funny. How can we kill the same bosses in the dungeons over and over and over again? How come Captain Madison is in Sastasha normal, human and alive, after I've run Sastasha hard? Please give it up. Not everything in a game will make sense, so the fact that it wouldn't make sense is not a valid excuse to keep a feature out of the game.

If lore is so important to you, why is throwing out real cash for it more acceptable? How does your character get their hands on this Fantasia potion, how does lore explain how you can pay money that doesn't exist in the game to achieve something that, according to the lore defenders, shouldn't even be possible?