Bunny outfits for men, not a cryptid!

[Theodric]

Wait, what? This was supposed to appeal to women?

It's especially jarring when you consider pieces of gear like the coliseum chestpiece. That does a good job at showing off the male form in a way that is sexy and conventionally attractive. I'd also point to games such as Overwatch and Soul Calibur as examples of fan service done well for male characters. McCree's lifeguard outfit is very easy on the eyes and shows off a lot of his physique. In one of the recent trailers for Soul Calibur 6, meanwhile, Mitsurugi loses more and more of his armour during battle and he's, uh, packing in his loincloth...and his muscles are shown off pretty nicely.

I'm tired of so much focus being placed on feminine gear/hairstyle options for male characters in FFXIV.

[DreadRabbit]

Well this devolved quickly. Whoo boy.

It's especially jarring when you consider pieces of gear like the coliseum chestpiece. That does a good job at showing off the male form in a way that is sexy and conventionally attractive. I'd also point to games such as Overwatch and Soul Calibur as examples of fan service done well for male characters. McCree's lifeguard outfit is very easy on the eyes and shows off a lot of his physique. In one of the recent trailers for Soul Calibur 6, meanwhile, Mitsurugi loses more and more of his armour during battle and he's, uh, packing in his loincloth...and his muscles are shown off pretty nicely.

I'm tired of so much focus being placed on feminine gear/hairstyle options for male characters in FFXIV.

As a Soul Calibur fan: YES! Like don't just study other games to figure out the combat mechanics and QoL stuff you want in the game. Study other games to check out their take on character designs!

I mean...even within Final Fantasy games themselves, the men have always rode that line between macho and traditional effeminate beauty. But they still look masculine. I mean look at the Dissidia design for Cecil: despite being beautiful enough to put women to shame, there's no denying he's a man. Now look at men like Jecht, Sephiroth, or even some of the good guys like Snow, Squall, etc. There's already examples from the franchise of varying degrees of masculinity that all work that many men and women find highly attractive. Use those ideas as inspiration.