Quote Originally Posted by Metsonm View Post
There's nothing that can be done with a previously unseen, male-only lion race that can not be done with previously unseen male Viera. Other than opening the floodgates for calls to fill out the now missing counterparts.

I can't see any sensible reason to add two half-done races instead of a completely done one, other than to get a foot in the door for doing them later, which they have the ability to do anyway because they're the devs.
More creative freedom is what they are afforded by going with a new race over Viera. Viera have a history from past games, and choosing to include them as a race comes with issues. You either toss their lore and appearance out the window, which will piss off fans, or you're restricted by the pre established elements. The more freedoms you take with the design/implementation the less like their original incarnations they become.

So sure, they could make male viera look like anything, but to say everyone would be happy with how they turned out is just not true. You already saw plenty of people complaining about the female viera and they're hardly different from 12's.

With a new race, they aren't bound by these potential restrictions, and actually get to make something new. If I was a director of a big final fantasy game I'd want to put brand new stuff into the IP to make my mark too.