What is with this game and half-naked women as bosses?

[Underdog2204]

As parodine states, the original topic post was about bosses in particular, so yes. Somewhere down the line, it started going into other facets of the game which more than balanced in this regard.

(I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with a lalafell for once.)

I repeat it's easy to talk of unfairness when the counterpoint is shut out of the talk coz it's too inconvienient to those with an agenda.

If by "balanced" you mean more tailored to those who enjoy seeing guys? Yeah I agree. Can't remember any quiet time or "come get me" eyes that any of the female characters have.

[Parodine]

As parodine states, the original topic post was about bosses in particular, so yes. Somewhere down the line, it started going into other facets of the game which more than balanced in this regard.

(I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with a lalafell for once.)

I was a highlander a few months ago, gonna switch back before the expansion. Probably just my aura from back then. >_>

[Eul]

I also dislike the modern trope of female nudity = mystical and/or empowering, while male nudity = humorous and/or demoralizing. look at the example of Y'shtola emerging naked from the sea of aether it was very mystical and really cool looking, ment to be a powerful cs, when the same thing happens to Thancred his nudity is played off for a laugh. Though the trope goes well beyond just ffxiv.

When I'm doing /pose it's just a laugh and wtf for my friends

Much worse when I fantasia to roegadyn

[Jem]

When I'm doing /pose it's just a laugh and wtf for my friends

Much worse when I fantasia to roegadyn

As the leader of an all male roe LS on sargatanas called Roeman Empire, I resent that comment >.>

[CatStarPrime]

Naaaaah

First we get more half naked male (i thought there was enough) next we demand more curves on them.


and then bulge slider i guess.

We've had the bulge slider discussion before. Generally agreed, there's no point, as everyone would set it to max - everyone - and the male Lalafells would gripe "It !@#$% didn't get any bigger"

[Atlas-04]

More skin, both genders.

[sarehptar]

This completely falls apart because there are more than plenty of female gamers who find sexy/attractive female characters to be just as empowering to them as a buff barbarian would be to men, as well as the hyper-masculinity can (and is) just as attractive to huge swathes of women. Look at romance novels, one of the largest selling genre of books, often catered exclusively to women, you'll find their covers adorned with buff half naked men (often with a woman fawning over them), yet their demographic isn't "hetero-male gamers".

It's almost like intention means nothing... Sure, there will be subsets of people who find anything attractive and anything empowering. Someone probably thinks Arachne Eve is hot as all get-out. I'm sure some women think Xande is smokin, and indeed, some girls are sure to find Echidna's scintillating thong-filled crack empowering...

But if you can't tell the difference between a boss intentionally designed to appeal sexually and one not intentionally designed to appeal sexually, I have no idea what you're doing in this conversation.

Sophia was not designed like this by accident.

She's meant to be sexually appealing, utilizing broadly accepted standards of human beauty.

Conversely, a vast majority of the male bosses you posted were not designed to appeal sexually to players. We viewers are not supposed to go "Hot damn, Ferdiad is a daddy!!" or "Mmm Titan, exactly the kind of service I wanted to be dished out tonight!" ARE there people who would find those bosses sexy? Yes. There are people who get turned on by being crawled on spiders. There is zero accounting for taste in the outliers. But that does not change the fact that the intentions behind the designs are vastly different. You're supposed to admire Sophia's looks. You're supposed to admire Glasya Labolas's power. They're just... not the same...

On the covers of romance novels, you see "idealized" male figures according to those in the romance novel industry. They are indeed quite well-built and overwhelmingly masculine. But again, if you can't see the difference between the idealized men on romance novel covers and the grotesquely inflated muscular figures of FFXIV, I just... don't know what to say. You would not see Zurvan, Sephirot, Ravana, etc. on a cover of a romance novel because they aren't designed to appeal sexually to the applicable demographic.

Are there counter-examples? Sure. I guess Xande isn't hideous. Forgall is actually kind of okay up close, if you're into the emo scene. Scylla was probably not meant to be sexy. But are a disproportionate number of major female bosses designed to be conventionally sexually appealing even when it makes no sense for them to be so? Yeah, they are.

Instead of trying to argue against that, it would make more sense to just stick to one's guns and go with the argument that there's nothing wrong with that type of design. Which is a perfectly valid opinion to have, if that is indeed your opinion. Easier point to defend, my friend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Leep]

More skin, both genders.

Amen to that.

[Archvile78]

We've had the bulge slider discussion before. Generally agreed, there's no point, as everyone would set it to max - everyone - and the male Lalafells would gripe "It !@#$% didn't get any bigger"

Hehe, that's why i mentionned it. :P

[Vaeria]

Cuz I pay a monthly subscription fee so I can watch the bosses of 4.0 in turtle necked baggy sweaters and rusty brown pennie-loafers and Titan's big brother Bruno splash concentrated century-old loin cloth essence on me.

*Looks at OP*

...always a lala.


. . .ALWAYS a lala.