Gender locked race?

[Unpronouncable]

If we are to take the Dramaturge at his word, then it's safe to assume that male Viera will be relatively androgynous in their appearance considering how it's impossible to tell them apart from girls up until the age of 13, hell it was even brought up in his 'Viera physiology' segment so there's no doubt that it's meant to be indicative of their appearance. As for the prospect of Viera being genderlocked, I'd like to think that the people making the decisions know how implementing a Korean trope would be destructive to the game's image in the west plus the sheer backlash it would generate both at home and overseas. Their Japanese playerbase has been pretty vocal as well about their disapproval of genderlocking last I heard.

[Daralii]

I don't think Viera ears will move much unlike miqo'te it seems like we'll get different ear types i don't see devs putting that much effort for emotes per ear type

Can rabbits even really move their ears? Fran's ears are rigged so that they move with her and her head(you can just click on her over and over to make them bounce), and I assume the floppy ear style they showed will do the same, but I wouldn't expect them to move on their own like miqo'te ears.

[Lauront]

If we are to take the Dramaturge at his word, then it's safe to assume that male Viera will be relatively androgynous in their appearance considering how it's impossible to tell them apart from girls up until the age of 13.

Why? The text doesn't even imply that. It's just saying that up to that point, the gender is difficult to tell. Puberty is also where differentiation between the sexes kicks in for humans. Now consider a culture where clothing and hairstyle might not play a big role in differentiation between the sexes (whereas with hyur, they do, even at that age), and it's easy to see where this might be going.

[Theodric]

That's pretty much what I envision them as when referring to them as 'bulky'. It's very reflective of this particular bit of concept art:

[BillyKaplan]

If we are to take the Dramaturge at his word, then it's safe to assume that male Viera will be relatively androgynous in their appearance considering how it's impossible to tell them apart from girls up until the age of 13.

You realize that in many ways, that's true for humans too, right? Then puberty kicks in and boy, are the differences noticeable. So I wouldn't expect them to be androgynous, necessarily

[Shougun]

If we are to take the Dramaturge at his word, then it's safe to assume that male Viera will be relatively androgynous in their appearance considering how it's impossible to tell them apart from girls up until the age of 13, hell it was even brought up in his 'Viera physiology' segment so there's no doubt that it's meant to be indicative of their appearance. As for the prospect of Viera being genderlocked, I'd like to think that the people making the decisions know how implementing a Korean trope would be destructive to the game's image in the west plus the sheer backlash it would generate both at home and overseas. Their Japanese playerbase has been pretty vocal as well about their disapproval of genderlocking last I heard.

Why? The text doesn't even imply that. It's just saying that up to that point, the gender is difficult to tell. Puberty is also where differentiation between the sexes kicks in for humans. Now consider a culture where clothing and hairstyle might not play a big role in differentiation between the sexes (whereas with hyur, they do, even at that age), and it's easy to see where this might be going.

Yeah I'm going to go with Lauront (Edit: and Billy and Theodric lol), I don't see that line meaning it has to be anything special. Many young humans, irl humans lol, look similar until they have a chance to grow a bit more. There are many animals that radically change when their time comes to their own sort of puberty processing. Humans, irl again, radically shift at puberty both male and female (on average at least, obviously exceptions to the rule but the biological concept is pretty consistent).

There is nothing unique about Viera's explanation except that "it's harder to tell until they hit puberty" where in you could say females move one way and males the other just as humans do (except more extreme for Viera).

Not that I'm saying it's not possible for the males to be feminine, androgynous, or even masculine, but I don't see anything unique about that line except that it's what humans do but to a bit more extreme extent (you can tell male and female apart fairly consistently even before puberty in humans (without having to check the reproductive organs), but the task becomes exceptionally easier once puberty has taken place).

[Unpronouncable]

Why? The text doesn't even imply that. It's just saying that up to that point, the gender is difficult to tell. Puberty is also where differentiation between the sexes kicks in for humans. Now consider a culture where clothing and hairstyle might not play a big role in differentiation between the sexes (whereas with hyur, they do, even at that age), and it's easy to see where this might be going.

It tells us that sexual dimorphism among the Viera is ostensibly much lower than that of the other (playable) races, puberty doesn't come into it aside from making it easier to distinguish the genders by breast-growth for example. If it wasn't meant to be indicative of their appearance then why even bring it up in the first place?

[Shougun]

It tells us that sexual dimorphism among the Viera is ostensibly much lower than that of the other (playable) races, puberty doesn't come into it aside from making it easier to distinguish the genders by breast-growth for example. If it wasn't meant to be indicative of their appearance then why even bring it up in the first place? Short answer, because it is.

Actually it does the opposite.. imo.

It says at post-puberty sexual dimorphism IS a thing.

Only when they're children do you look at their face and go "hmm not sure", although I doubt the lore writer meant it as "we can't tell, if we checked" just that physically until puberty they're more similar. Humans have this, to some extent as well. Men get MUCH bigger (usually), with all their muscle mass and stench coming along for the ride. Females growing other things and other changes. To us this isn't that big because we're used to it but just compared children to adults, we look massively different and it's all because of puberty.

The lore admits puberty is a thing and admits it creates distinctive differences. I doubt they'd write that line if the males were basically bosom-less females.

You write the line because there is a radical shift, like humans, except it's possible its even more radical because we're in a fantasy game.

[Lauront]

It tells us that sexual dimorphism among the Viera is ostensibly much lower than that of the other (playable) races, puberty doesn't come into it aside from making it easier to distinguish the genders by breast-growth for example. If it wasn't meant to be indicative of their appearance then why even bring it up in the first place?

Well no, it doesn't tell us anything of the sort, because the same thing applies to humans as well... puberty makes all the difference, and not just due to breast growth. As to the why, based on some speculation I've read, it probably has something more to do with the way certain parts of their anatomy manifest, which is consistent with how this functions in rabbits, but I don't wish to say much more about it here. Another way to take it is what I mentioned - they may not differentiate child genders based on clothing or hairstyle, whereas hyur (and presumably many of the other FFXIV races) do.

[Unpronouncable]

Actually it does the opposite.. imo.

It says at post-puberty sexual dimorphism IS a thing.

Only when they're children do you look at their face and go "hmm not sure", although I doubt the lore writer meant it as "we can't tell, if we checked" just that physically until puberty they're more similar. Humans have this, to some extent as well. Men get MUCH bigger (usually), with all their muscle mass and stench coming along for the ride. Females growing other things and other changes. To us this isn't that big because we're used to it but just compared children to adults, we look massively different and it's all because of puberty.

The lore admits puberty is a thing and admits it creates distinctive differences. I doubt they'd write that line if the males were basically bosom-less females.

You write the line because there is a radical shift, like humans, except it's possible its even more radical because we're in a fantasy game.

So it was rather stated as a justification for having there only be one child-model for Viera as opposed to two (does this game even have non-Hyur child models?). I mean sure, though skipping a single child model would hardly make much of a difference imho.