Au Ra physiology and other lore.

[Sabeta]

I had a rather long post full of lovely points to make on the subject, but it imploded on itself somehow so I'll just shorten it all down.

Lalafells.

Check and Mate, and before you spout something like "yeah but they too look like they need protecting so lol they suck" just keep in mind that there are two NPC Marauders for Lalafells. I also remember there being a Pugilist or two. There's nothing stopping the insanely adorable Lalafells (even their sit emote falls into a "child-like" theme) from going on to wage war against the Gods of the realm. Keep in mind that the game's lore seldom applies to adventurers, especially not the Warrior of Light. We're special, and you forget that while your "dance, sit, cheer, grovel, pray" emotes may appear Moe, the emotes your going to see most are your class/job actions.

I said this would be abridged, but I ended up ranting a bit again. Oh well, at least I spared you the rant on Miqo'te culture.
(side note regarding Xaela and "war" theme. It's possible the tribes have strict gender roles, and that Xaela females do not typically participate in the blood bath)

[Nataruma]

Realized this was in the wrong thread, woopsie.

I don't know why the moé thing is bothering some people. I know some of you want to play a more 'tough' type of female character, but that sort of look was clearly never intended for the Au Ra from a design aspect, so pick a different race for it if you want your emotes to match your persona.

You can still make the moé thing work for you, if you go about it by playing a more manipulative type of person, who acts all cutesy to get their way, but in reality they're a psychotic b-word. Or simply ignore the game mechanics altogether, a lot of people in the RP communities of MMOs often do anyway because their characters go against the intended mold. The other option would be to create an Au Ra male instead of a female if you want a more imposing look.

As for me, I'm going male anyway because I want some manmeat to stare at between doing my grinds. Didn't collect all that male slutwear just to throw it out at this point.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

Well, to avoid getting back into that debate I'm just not going to respond to the first half :P

I just wouldn't mind a more diverse set of options with the Au Ra, as I'm sure you know >_>, Xaela looking badass and big all just kinda fits the motif of warrior imho.

Here's hoping? Though gonna be honest I doubt it'll be the case :P

Snip

I want to write a response, but I'm desperately attempting to avoid more debating, so instead I'm just going to say "Not a bad response! But I disagree". Not in a good spot lately to debate though, so... Trying to stay just personal opinions territory here.

Snip

Eeh.. I'd rather just play a tough dragon/demon lady without dipping into yandere stuff because I hate that trope or having to play Roegadyn lady to match that "Tough" type. I've attempted to do that, but I also like using in game emotes to help with well in game roleplay. I mean, what's the point of even making a character in game, to roleplay, if you're going to ignore most in game things? Like.. I enjoy using emotes to help give a more immersive feel whenever also doing /em for in game roleplay. Plus I like playing girls, roleplaying as a dude isn't something I want to do.

[Sigiria]

My point being, even official characters of the game have a personality far off the stereotypes of their species. Race is not tied to personality, from the lore there's calm and cold miqo'te, evil and strongs lalafells etc... however when it come down to the animations given to the players it's stereotypes all the way. (try to find something that's doesn't look cute or attention seeking on a miqo'te)

We should have some more serious/neutral options here and there.
Also don't expect every people to play an Au'ra "moe", once again your race doesn't make your personality.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

I know, I just wish emotes weren't so stereotypical in line with one personality, taking a more neutral tone. It's a little irritating attempting to roleplay in game and having to avoid emotes all the time, as it kinda just makes your character kind of dull. There's always out of game roleplay.. But eh.

[Raminax]

Rawr!

So... play a female Au Ra like this?

And aww yiss for Au Ra manmeat.

[lololink]

The only outright statement I can find on Au Ra being moeblobs is this summary of the GameWatch interview during the European tour. Translation seems fishy though, considering that another translation contradicts it on points like the Succubi image of female Au Ra. First guy did admittedly warn for mistakes as well.

That said, I suppose the full game will tell us the whole basic personality of female Au Ra!

I think there is a mistake in the blue gartr translation, this is the sentence that has an issue :

――アウラの吉田さんが考えているイメージを教えてもらえますか？
Can you tell us what is your image of the Au Ra ?

吉田氏：　キャラメイクで極端に自分の中のアウラの設定を変えられるようにしています。
In the character maker you can change a lot of options.

僕が基本路線として守れと言ったのは、ちょっと影があって守ってあげたくなるような女性のキャラクターメイクが今まで「FFXIV」にはないので、そこが維持できるようにと。
The basic route that I said I wanted to follow was that as it is now, in the character creation of FFXIV there is no kind of woman that have a little shape and that you want to protect.


The thing in that part is that he uses the words (影) kage and 守 (mamoru)

The issue is that these two can mean multiple things, kage can mean shadow or silhouette / shape / figure and mamoru can mean "to protect", "to orbserve" or "to follow" ( and even that observe and follow are more of the meaning that you must observe/follow a rule and not really look at, the meaning of that kanji is more about protecting someone or a promise, a word. ) that's where there is the mistake in their translation.

There is little sense that in a question about what's the image Yoshida has of Au Ra he talks about shadows, the first part is specifically about women and I don't think there are shadows made only for female Au Ra. I could go into details for that sentence if you want but there is just so many things to explain, I can understand that you can make a mistake in there if you go quickly through the interview.

[Raminax]

Thanks for the clarification!

[Nataruma]

I like the idea of the moé-ness of the Au Ra females, I keep thinking, "wouldn't it be ironic if they were actually the leading brains of the outfit in their warbands, while the males did all the grunt work?" and perhaps that petite look for the females actually excites the males. You know the chicks could all be closeted dominatrix size queens in reality, and with that much man to grab onto (plus handles!), I mean it may as well be canon *cough* >_> don't take me seriously I am a huge fan of size difference in roleplay, I'm so sorry m(_ _)m

As for my Au Ra his persona is a bit flamboyant (read: fashion-conscious) and quite snide, but the default look is more intense and aggressive; I think I can still make it work. I haven't quite found a voice set that fits exactly right, my kingdom for a sultry male voice for these guys, but eh it's not a big deal.

Point is imagination trumps game script, and the latter isn't necessary to make a concept work.

[Samcaesar]

Snip

You're not wrong.. But I still would love to have the option of cranking my Auri lady's height up to 7' (Or at least give them a height range to bring them up to 6'3 SE ;~; Girl Roes have a 1' height range!) and roleplay her as the sort of folk you'd see heading the charge into battle. Toothy smirk on her face as she smashes her fists into the faces of enemies and all that. I just don't get the same sort of feel with one that's like 5'3 and I wish I could at least hit up the height some.