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

[Kikoten]

Meanwhile, Lol-afells are lol-ing at us all. They're the most inhuman of us all! It's official!

Just look at those little chipmunk faces, those cute noses, and RIDICULOUSLY CUTE(!!!!) ears. Why'd I phial to Roegadyn again? Shite, better go back.

[Chukkaque]

Because of all the beastmen stuff, I was hoping to see us getting to roll characters from the beastmen tribes.
Or those weird lizard guys from the Ivalice universe.

[Niwashi]

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.
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.

Well, to be fair, every new race gets entirely new animation. None of them, no matter how similar otherwise, move the same way another race does. (We know lalas have knees because they can sit, but you sure wouldn't guess it from the way they walk.) Having differently proportioned legs might actually make it easier to come up with those new animation sets, since it helps deal with the question of how to make their movements look natural without looking just like someone else's.

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.

scales / armour:
It's true that scales provide some protection, more than bare skin does at any rate. Perhaps a scaled race should get an extra few points of Vitality in their racial stats to reflect that fact. But scales aren't like a solid shell. They don't provide anywhere near the protection of even leather armour, let alone metal armour. If an intelligent humanoid race with scales were taking part in the sort of battles our characters do, with the sort of weapons we do, they'd still want the protection of armour.

fur / clothes:
Both fur and clothes can provide insulation and camouflage. But it's been a long time since those were the primary use for clothes (if indeed they ever were). Clothes have long since become both a cultural requirement and stylistic display. People will wear clothes even in climates where they're completely inappropriate as insulation, because even there, they're still appropriate culturally and stylistically. On the other hand, in climates where the insulation value of clothes is necessary, having fur wouldn't automatically remove that necessity. Just because most people have hair on the top of their heads doesn't change the fact that putting a hat on in cold weather will keep you warmer. A furry race would similarly stay warmer if they wore clothes over their fur. Whether it's for a second layer of insulation in cold weather or for stylistic / cultural reasons in warm weather, clothes over fur isn't any stranger than a hat over hair.

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.

If SE were bothered by that, they could have given all Auri the same kind of horns (which would actually make more sense from a biological standpoint as well). Instead they decided to offer a variety of different kinds of horns that players can choose from, and yes, in many cases that means they're going to make several different models of the same hat or hood just to support Auri alone, and that's in addition to the ones for other races. If they can make several different completely new models for Auri, then I'm sure they could manage to make another completely new model for whatever the next race is.

b. The tails on animals are a form of body language.

Somewhat off-topic, but I wish they'd improve the body language of Miqo'te ears and tails. The ears don't move in any of the emotes players can instigate, even though we know SE worked out the physics of how to show the ears moving between different positions. (We know because a Miqo'te's ears will flip back and forth during the brief victory fanfare scene after boss fights.) And the few emotes that involve the tail don't match a cat's body language. (A happy emote will have the tail lash back and forth in a way a cat will only do when it's angry, and an angry emote will puff up the tail like a cat that's scared.) I get the impression that whoever designed the emotes has never owned a cat, nor got any suggestions from coworkers who have. (The happy emote's tail wagging could have come from imitating a dog, but I don't know where the scared tail on an angry emote came from.)

[Alacran]

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 mad 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).


They're both 5'6, in case you're curious.

I understand this is meant to detract from the Au Ra as it is viewed as to similar to some current races, but from this post i can not help but notice the differences in their body structure. Nice to see some curves on a female, though i still like the Highlander females more but to each their own.e to look like something already in game.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

Maybe I'm just not seeing it or something, but can you point out how they look that different outside the scales and a hip pop to the left?
Like.. It's the same shoulders, same torso, same waist, same harms and legs... Maybe a little thicker hips, but I think that might just be the pose.

[AltanRapsied]

Actually the best race who could be implemented in the future, I hope.

[Alacran]

Maybe I'm just not seeing it or something, but can you point out how they look that different outside the scales and a hip pop to the left?Like.. It's the same shoulders, same torso, same waist, same harms and legs... Maybe a little thicker hips, but I think that might just be the pose.

A change in pose is not possible with an exact duplicate of a wireframe, were one to try you would see all sorts of deformities, and mistakes in the animation of any given character. For example a Highlander female though a hyur could not have a Midlanders animation/ pose set because issues would not correctly sync with the wire mesh of the two different character models, though the changes appear to be minimal any one who has attempted even cursory sculpting and animation using 3d rendering knows a small change can set back a models over all quality significantly. It is these factors coupled with added aspect of rendering armor/ clothing to these models after the fact that one begins to see the Monumental work load needed to bring them in to the game proper. This is not even beginning the to consider the work needed for collision detection, hit box alignment, battle aspects of character design needed in an mmo. Really looking at what the team has done with the over all expansion, i have to say were i any of them reading some of these comments i would feel slapped in the face, one can only see your hard work trivialized so many times, but that's just my opinion.

[ThanMazus]

Like a thirtieth post about how bad races that might be unpopular would be

For someone who showed such flagrant disrespect to the interests of others and to the work of other developers (if they happened to not agree with your point, those EQ Next guys seem to be alright by you), talking about slaps in the face seems a little hypocritical.

[Alacran]

For someone who showed such flagrant disrespect to the interests of others and to the work of other developers (if they happened to not agree with your point, those EQ Next guys seem to be alright by you), talking about slaps in the face seems a little hypocritical.

I ask how have i been disrespectful in any way, shape or form? I do not agree with those that want more drastically changed races only showed what i believe to be the reason why it is possibly not feasible. Should you wish to entice some sort of name calling juvenile attack session, i'm sorry you'll not get that from me. In my my post i simply addressed the technical aspects of this issue. The final statement was only my opinion, those everyone are entitled to.

[Nestama]

If the developers were unable to handle harsh criticism, then they may as well have never made FFXIV:ARR at all.