Quote Originally Posted by Gwenorai View Post
See, this is what gets me. If we go off by his history then he shouldn't be scared to go 'Oh, there's no male Viera.' If dropping disappointing news is something he's prepared to do, then why isn't he doing it?
I'd say because revealing 2 races (one of which is a complete surprise for the most part unless you buy into leaks) is revealing too much at a single fanfest? They saw an opportunity to do a surprise reveal at the last fanfest.

Why would the blow be lessened in Japan Fanfest? Yoshida doesn't understand English, it'd be much easier for him to take hate when he honestly doesn't understand what the people are saying? I think it'd be a lot more of an issue to say it in your homeland where they have the same nuances, language and all that. How would saying it in Japan make it better or easier? How would disappointing your original fanbase be easier? I'm not saying all of them are going to be up in arms about this, but you get my idea?
If anything, the blow wouldn't be lessened in japan considering the JP fanfest this year is about 3-4 times as many people showing up as the EU fanfest, with supposedly 15,000 attendees coming.
And we've been over it a few times now, no matter what they announce it's going to be a disappointment to some group or another. It's not like people are going to rush the stage if they don't get what they want. He doesn't have to directly interact with them when he's on stage, even if they start booing him (which the Japanese audience is probably less likely to do compared to western audiences who tend to be a lot more vocal).

As you've repeated, 'he's never strayed from saying it wasn't ready' - okay, then I have to ask, has he strayed from delivering bad news and just strung it along or just got it out of the way right then and there?
Add-on support and FC primal summoning are what come to mind first. These were features talked about as being in development and/or promised. That then didn't get any sort of announcement of bad news that they had been put on hold indefinitely until much later when asked directly about them in interviews. (We ultimately got some kind of primal summoning I think in Heaven on High though).

He could have easily have said 'It's gender locked' and someone would ask 'Oh are the males getting a new race then?' and he could just have said the very same thing. 'Wait till JapanFanfest.' and we'd still be in the same boat
Not really, because that's still pretty much a confirmation. The way he's answered the situation currently puts male Viera firmly in the ??? territory. There's nothing concrete confirming it and nothing confirming they won't happen. Only outside substantial evidence points to one thing or the other.

Yeah people would kick up a fuss, but he'd still get the same questions come Japanfanfest. 'Why didn't you add them in. Why did you pick this race.' All that's different here is that there are a few steps out of place.
Except it would have one, created a lot more negativity right before they opened pre-orders, and two, severely hindered the shock/surprise of a new race reveal, especially after they've been going on saying "This is probably the last race". There would be no point in setting up that misdirection to then just confirm it isn't by saying viera are the last playable race.

Not to mention, there would be people not only upset that there's no male viera, but then people who would take their comments of "probably the last race" as very literal (which has already happened, you can see it everywhere) and then you'd have even more people up in arms for that reason, because they would be stating that the last race is only gender locked and that's a bigger no-no than two genderlocked races (one male, on female).

There is something extremely out of character to add a gender locked playable race that no one asked for.
Says who? Did anyone ask for Au Ra, specifically?
They did polling before 2.0 launched about future races the players would like to see. A mamallian demi-beastman race got the most votes (although they listed Viera as an example which I believe Yoshida commented on at one point wishing he didn't use Viera as an example because he felt it swayed the results). After that, outside of more clans and mixed races, Reptilian beastmen, and reptilian demi-beastmen got the next highest votes. So, Yoshida went with the reptilian demi-beastman option for Au Ra, now they're adding another race and he'd consider that poll again, looping back to mamallian demi-beastmen. He picked the Viera which were for sure wanted, but that doesn't illiminate the possibility that a lot of those people might have wanted a demi-beastmen race that isn't Viera.

He may feel like doing a gender-locked option is the best way for him to try and take a shot at a unique demi-beastman race for this game (since Miqo'te were basically remnants of FFXI, and Viera are from Tactics/12.) He may simply want to make a race that's truly unique to Final Fantasy XIV like the Au Ra, while still giving players something they really wanted (Female Viera). I wouldn't blame him because he's the director of the game, in the end it's his vision and if he wants to make his mark than by all means he should. He shouldn't have to cater and only add races from other games he didn't make.

They would also still have the option to later do male Viera anyways. if the blowback was THAT bad (but it probably wouldn't be).

You say that adding Male Viera is a bigger gamble and I have to ask, how is adding another random race that isn't even established yet in both FF14 or FF in general?
It's not really that it's a bigger gamble, they're just about the same gamble. Except Viera comes with the blowback if it's not what people imagined in their head. A new race has no preconcieved expectations based on imaginary concepts in people's heads. Everyone has their own version of what male viera look like in their head and will be just as disappointed if they don't get their version. A new race is no different to them than if they got Viera flavored in a way they didn't like.

So male viera are by no means a safe bet, and will come with blowback no matter how they're implemented. It's Yoshida's choice to either do that, or go with something new that some players may end up liking more than male Viera anyways.

A completely new feline gender locked race, which as of right now there are zero ties into the story. Unless they're going to randomly introduce this new race between now and Japan Fanfest.
See my previous post regarding this. Races don't have to be teased or have breadcrumbs leading into them. Au Ra were implemented with virtually nothing and the setting didn't notice them until the expansion after they were added as a playable race.

Anyway, the thing is, from what I gather people like to play characters that not only look good but also the history of that race appeals to them. Usually, they establish this by having an NPC character that is tied into the game so you can see the in-game model. See how they move, see how they talk, the emotional scale and etc.
Yugiri's entire face was hidden until basically after the reveal of the Au Ra. And her model used Miqo'te animations. So, did a pretty poor job of demonstrating any of that.
Then we get the history and the lore and we think, oh, this works.
All of the Au Ra lore came from an info dump from Koji on the forums in the naming convention post. It wouldn't be until 2 years later that Au Ra as a race were really fleshed out in game.

I just don't understand how Viera is more of a gamble than. Race nobody asked for
Again, back up to the polls. People did ask for it in a vague enough way.