Gender locked race?

[ErysNight]

I think my issue with it more is that it kinda reaffirms that whole "only women can be sexy and cute, while men have to be big, hairy brutes" by going Viera female only / beast man male only. It's the idea that they are too "uncomfortable" (their words not mine) to make bunny men, bunny suits, female primals that aren't just babes painted gold, and tall, strong lioness women. Equal opportunity for those who want pretty things and those who want beast-like things. Actually, after thinking about it more, I think that those who would want female Hrothgar (should they be male only) would be the ones most SoL since there really wouldn't be something similar for them and everything is constantly waifu'd in this game until it's unrecognizable... looking at you Au Ra.

Also -



The one with the face paint is a lot harder to notice because of her face paint and turned head, but those are definitely all the same face with the same presets. The only thing that's changed is color palettes and the lighting.

They do look the same lol.

I engage you to consider the following though: Japan is a highly traditional country where even though in America we might be slightly more progressive... In Japan the typical "Sexy/soft female - Strong male" thing is their desired preset. It's ingrained in their culture as a patriarchal society.

So while they are a global company, they have to make certain accommodations (male bunny suit) they aren't going to jump with arms wide open into feminine bunnybois. This is represented in every anime trophe ever. But it's not as though strides haven't been made, we've seen some more progressive themes filter into the game little by little. But I mean keep in mind that this game is created by a japanese company. It's going to take time.

[Mikki]

I engage you to consider the following though: Japan is a highly traditional country where even though in America we might be slightly more progressive... In Japan the typical "Sexy/soft female - Strong male" thing is their desired preset. It's ingrained in their culture as a patriarchal society.

So while they are a global company, they have to make certain accommodations (male bunny suit) they aren't going to jump with arms wide open into feminine bunnybois. This is represented in every anime trophe ever. But it's not as though strides haven't been made, we've seen some more progressive themes filter into the game little by little. But I mean keep in mind that this game is created by a japanese company. It's going to take time.

I live in Japan and have for 5 years so far and am married to a Japanese man. I can tell you that actually, pretty men are quite popular here. No one even bats an eye at men with "cutesy" things like adorable phone cases (and I do mean sickeningly adorable ones that you'd probably never see men in the US having unless they are extremely comfortable in their sexuality or openly homosexual.), super cute charms and plushies dangling from their bags or phones, and in general being fashion conscious. Most men are slim... the only time I saw many buff men here was in university since my uni was known for PE and it was always obvious when the guys were studying for that. But look at any advertisements here, any popular and "heart throb" actors and any popular male singers. They are almost entirely "pretty boys". In fact, even looking at most protagonists from the FF series.... mostly pretty boys. Right? The buff guys tend to hang out as supporting characters. Why? Because they know that this is what sells.

I think the case with XIV is a bit different. There is no main character to sell - primarily Derplander acts as the "main character" and I think we can all agree that for the most part, midlander hyur males are "pretty boys". They are the "default" race for a reason. I think it's pretty obvious that in this case, if they don't include Viera males, it comes down to Yoshi P's personal taste which is a bit disappointing (I don't think it's Matsuno's personal choice, as if it were then I find it unlikely that those old concept arts would have happened in the first place). Did you know that Lakshmi was originally designed to look more like a traditional Hindu Goddess? She was more plump and mature looking. However, according to Soken, Yoshi P demanded that she be made cute and forced the dev team to change her. Her song even almost ended up changed but luckily everyone stood against Yoshi P on that and I feel the only reason they could convince him to keep it was because the song isn't meant to be sung by Lakshmi herself. I respect Yoshi P a lot but it's disappointing to me that he lets his own personal taste get in the way of his business sense at times. Although I do understand, especially with Lakshmi, pretty women sell. But so do pretty men!





I think, if male miqote had never been made playable, there would be a much smaller outcry. Most people arguing here are citing lore as a reason. But I feel it's a very weak reason, especially when someone has already crunched lore accurate numbers and found male moon keepers are more rare than male viera. What's more, I think player characters should be treated as if they don't exist since regardless, they do not line up with what lore dictates they should (way too many miqote, for sure - not enough hyurs).

In the end, I've been playing since 2.0 alpha and I certainly won't stop simply because they don't give us male Viera. Heck, I already pre-ordered. But I do think it's incredibly disappointing if the main reason we don't get Viera males is because Yoshi P was "uncomfortable" with them. And that WOULD be the reason, as I really don't buy lore being why when miqote have already broken that and when player characters should have no bearing on lore anyway. As long as the NPCs remain appropriately dispersed then I don't see the issue - I mean, I think I can count the number of male moon keeper NPCs I've seen on one hand. And outside of tribe areas, it's pretty rare to see male sun seekers, too. You know, lore also states that White Mages should only be padjals. In fact, in the class quest the brother was adamant that the player character cannot know the ways of the white mage. Yet we have tons of white mages running around. I'm pretty sure white mage can't be the only job that's not meant to be easily wielded by a majority of the population. PLAYER CHARACTERS CANNOT BE INCLUDED AS CANONICAL IN THE WORLD OR ELSE ALMOST ALL LORE IS BROKEN.

I'm not sure what to expect though. Will it truly be gender locked? Won't it be? We lack enough information to make any accurate guesses. But the response from Yoshi P when asked about males to "wait until fanfest" is a bit telling. It's possible the males simply weren't ready and maybe Matsuno wanted to be present for their unveiling since he couldn't be for the race as a whole. But it's also possible that he simply wants to reveal Hrothgar as the "male equivalent" - he can't do that at EU fanfest of course. To simply say "No male Viera" is harsh. But to say, "Well... we don't have male Viera but we DO have Hrothgar!!!" is, at least potentially in SE's eyes, less harsh. And perhaps they hope that the entirely new "surprise" race will be enough to placate the player base's rage about not having male Viera. So that's why he chose not to answer a direct yes or no. Who knows, truly. But I do hope that we are all worrying for nothing.

[Lauront]

I think the case with XIV is a bit different. There is no main character to sell - primarily Derplander acts as the "main character" and I think we can all agree that for the most part, midlander hyur males are "pretty boys".

As of late, he's a very rugged pretty boy.