Gender locked race?

[xbahax92]

Comparing the lionhead rabbits + old artworks from the FATE in tokyo, I can only assume male Viera ears do not look like normal rabbit-ears but of those lionheads.

I start to believe male Viera are dimorphic. The mane could be either face hair (beards) or actually chest hair (artwork). The end result might look like lions (as the leaker assumed the "icons" of this race). Also lets not forget, all Viera appear to have the same build til the age of 13. This also means their ears (the spot they sprout) are probably on the center of the head as well. (Compared to female Viera)

Im sure if someone would actually draw a sketch of a Viera with a mane, ears like a lionhead and made the face shape of a female Viera (small, round and with a button nose) + adding masculine tones, would end up as a "lion-lookalike" race.

Ronsos make 0 sense as we got none mention in FFXIV in the lore nor any mention of them appearing from overseas. We had the Return to Ivalice raid to tease Viera and this happened (just as they teased Au Ra with Yugiri in ARR).

If I dont remember wrong, Yoshida said he doesnt like male Viera because they looked to "cute". And we also learned from last FanFest during the Art Panel, that everything goes right into Yoshida's supervision. And since he does not like throwing away all the other ideas of the team, he told them to make a mix of said features. And thats why I believe male Viera look more like lions, than bunny bois.

[BillyKaplan]

If I dont remember wrong, Yoshida said he doesnt like male Viera because they looked to "cute". And we also learned from last FanFest during the Art Panel, that everything goes right into Yoshida's supervision. And since he does not like throwing away all the other ideas of the team, he told them to make a mix of said features. And thats why I believe male Viera look more like lions, than bunny bois.

It would be somewhat in line with the leak saying we're getting Viera and Ronso, if nothing else.

[Kupocoubo]

It would be somewhat in line with the leak saying we're getting Viera and Ronso, if nothing else.

Just to be clear, the leak never talked about ronsos

[Shougun]

It would be somewhat in line with the leak saying we're getting Viera and Ronso, if nothing else.

Just to be clear, the leak never talked about ronsos

I think it's being said just because it's a lion looking race, that's not Rev lol. At least imo Rev look like naked cats, and other naked animals, which look like.. uh.. ... .. Well I don't want to look like a big walking naked .. ... cat. So its being more used like "hopefully more Ronso" haha.

Although it is good to make sure people know that the only reference we have is a profile picture had rabbit and lion in it. Just in case that wasn't known.

I imagine if the males are technically Viera but look a bit different, like that lion rabbit, then they escape the gender locked complaint since it means they're not gender locked.. which would be a smart choice. I feel like gambling towards the males will be dimorphic like that as it seems to be playing the board better than two races, while still addressing Yoshi-P's issue with male Viera and perhaps finally adding a bit more non-standard race (maybe?).

The good news though if they did really make two new races (both gender locked), is that we can spend the next year asking for the counterparts like SE has done already. So we end up getting two complete races - at least that's good news if SE really meant that this expansion is our last new race (which may or may not be true).

I hope they can add more clans and customization if they're done with makes races... That might allow us something really neat. For example adding miqote with a more cat nose or peach fuzz face (like FFXI), or the mature succubus and demon of Au Ra. Each new clan could have a little bit of lore without having the work of adding a whole new race. Like finding an Au Ra tribe that made home near a void portal, which had slowly accentuated their features.

[Kupocoubo]

I think it's being said just because it's a lion looking race, that's not Rev lol. At least imo Rev look like naked cats, and other naked animals, which look like.. uh.. ... .. Well I don't want to look like a big walking naked .. ... cat. So its being more used like "hopefully more Ronso" haha.

Although it is good to make sure people know that the only reference we have is a profile picture had rabbit and lion in it. Just in case that wasn't known.

I imagine if the males are technically Viera but look a bit different, like that lion rabbit, then they escape the gender locked complaint since it means they're not gender locked.. which would be a smart choice. I feel like gambling towards the males will be dimorphic like that as it seems to be playing the board better than two races, while still addressing Yoshi-P's issue with male Viera and perhaps finally adding a bit more non-standard race (maybe?).

The good news though if they did really make two new races (both gender locked), is that we can spend the next year asking for the counterparts like SE has done already. So we end up getting two complete races - at least that's good news if SE really meant that this expansion is our last new race (which may or may not be true).

I hope they can add more clans and customization if they're done with makes races... That might allow us something really neat. For example adding miqote with a more cat nose or peach fuzz face (like FFXI), or the mature succubus and demon of Au Ra. Each new clan could have a little bit of lore without having the work of adding a whole new race. Like finding an Au Ra tribe that made home near a void portal, which had slowly accentuated their features.

I personally would have preferred an announcement of both male and female vieras at the same time, even if it was during the last fan fest, announcing just one gender and not confirming the other give me anxiety and im not kidding lmao

[Shougun]

I personally would have preferred an announcement of both male and female vieras at the same time, even if it was during the last fan fest, announcing just one gender and not confirming the other give me anxiety and im not kidding lmao

I could imagine that especially if someone was looking forward to it. I was just meaning that if the race is different enough to deserve a reveal, either because of dimorphic or different race, then it would make sense to separate them out. I personally don't think if they were the same that it is worth separating out the hype or at least keeping players in the dark, but obviously we'd agree there then lol.

So I'm was just guessing that due to outside information + their actions of keeping people in the dark that something must be off (whether that's good or bad remains to be seen). Of course it's also just a guess, it could be literally "male" to the "female" like a hyur midlander is and they separated and stayed silent about it just because they can.

Tl;dr agree if they're the same that they should have been announced together, even if it was "males are not ready yet". But there may be another reason in which case I might understand why nothing was said yet. Although I have no PR strategy, maybe giving people anxiety and then giving them what they want is a strategy? XD

[Kupocoubo]

maybe giving people anxiety and then giving them what they want is a strategy? XD

Omg it would be so evil

[Hunky]

I would absolutely love to have playable male Viera, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

I have a sinking feeling we won't get them. According to those blue leaks (which were proven to be accurate), there are 2 new races. The leaker's only hint about what the new races could possibly be was a picture of a bunny and a lion.

Most likely, Viera will be female-only and the male-only race will be Ronso. I really hope this isn't the case. But something tells me we're going to be disappointed.

On the other hand, it could be possible. Perhaps the reason why males weren't revealed is because the models aren't ready yet.

It makes sense that female models would be ready sooner, seeing that Fran was already implemented into the game.

On a side note, I don't think Fran's outfit is going to be the Viera race gear. They probably haven't finished designing and making it yet. So they gave their current models the Fran outfit so they had something on for the reveal, since it already exists in the game.

I really hope we get male Viera, but this insistence of how they're so rare and almost non-existent is leaving me thinking otherwise.

The character designer in the art panel mentioned how there is a "young Elezen-looking variant". Perhaps there will be different-looking Viera clans, similar to Hyur (Midlander and Highlander), as opposed to the typical color swap of the racial clans. I wouldn't be so quick to say that males will be this variant. It was clear to me that this variant will be female also, since the artist was discussing the long hairstyles and bang options.

Also, considering how much work would have to be put in to modify armor to fit Viera bodies, the team probably found it easier to just focus on female.

Lastly, and I may be wrong about this. I read somewhere online that Yoshida supposedly said that he wasn't personally a fan of the idea of having male Viera. But again, I could be wrong.

When Yoshida was asked at the EU Fanfest if there would be male Viera, he dodged the question and just said something along the lines of "There is still the Tokyo Fanfest."

That response doesn't confirm we're getting male Viera. If anything, the way it made me feel was, "I know you want male Viera, and the answer isn't want you want to hear. I don't want to hear the crowd boo, so I'm going to show you what you will get at Tokyo."

What I don't understand is why dance around the question? Yoshida has never shied away from telling us that something isn't ready to be shown. Wouldn't he have told us something like, "Don't worry. We do have male Viera; they're just not ready yet."

But they know better. Announcing that Viera is gender-locked would've elicited negative responses. So instead of using that word, they decided, "Let's just show them Viera and not mention gender-locking at all!" Tippy-toeing like this gives me no confidence whatsoever.

Just don't get your hopes up. It's better to be pleasantly surprised than sorely disappointed.

[Jaywalker]

Comparing the lionhead rabbits + old artworks from the FATE in tokyo, I can only assume male Viera ears do not look like normal rabbit-ears but of those lionheads.

I start to believe male Viera are dimorphic. The mane could be either face hair (beards) or actually chest hair (artwork). The end result might look like lions (as the leaker assumed the "icons" of this race). Also lets not forget, all Viera appear to have the same build til the age of 13. This also means their ears (the spot they sprout) are probably on the center of the head as well. (Compared to female Viera)

Im sure if someone would actually draw a sketch of a Viera with a mane, ears like a lionhead and made the face shape of a female Viera (small, round and with a button nose) + adding masculine tones, would end up as a "lion-lookalike" race.

Ronsos make 0 sense as we got none mention in FFXIV in the lore nor any mention of them appearing from overseas. We had the Return to Ivalice raid to tease Viera and this happened (just as they teased Au Ra with Yugiri in ARR).

If I dont remember wrong, Yoshida said he doesnt like male Viera because they looked to "cute". And we also learned from last FanFest during the Art Panel, that everything goes right into Yoshida's supervision. And since he does not like throwing away all the other ideas of the team, he told them to make a mix of said features. And thats why I believe male Viera look more like lions, than bunny bois.

I have never seen this art before, thank you for sharing it!

Also, honestly as long as the facial hair is an option versus mandatory (which hopefully means that Yoshida is being very professional with this and leaving room for both his preference and other people's as well, which I suspect is the case) I'm thrilled with this possibility!

Also, chiming in on the lion race with personal two-cents--I do not want it.

Reason being





Hellsguard are easy to make look like big cats, dogs/wolves, bears... anything with a black nose really. Add the werewolf ears from the Halloween costume schtick it's even more noticeable. Having a big cat race, even if the overall features were more animal like Rev or Ronso, feels like it would be creatively redundant.