Gender locked race?

[Alesone]

I think that's a different issue. Male Viera are made (potentially) unplayable because of their individual race-lore that states they don't go out of the forest.

No, Male Viera are potentially made unplayable because of the decision of the director of the game. Whether it's his personal hangups in finding them unappealing, or his desire to put in a male player race that he thinks people would like more, or that he likes more. The lore has little to do with it because the lore can always be written to accommodate their development decisions.

Garleans and beastmen aren't playable for world-lore issues. Both would make for particularly awkward storywriting when the Warrior of Light is "generic" and the script is the same regardless of race (except for the occasional nod) as their races are in direct conflict with the protagonists.

Except for all the ones we actively work with? All the Garleans we've now associated with, some of which were direct enemies before. All the Beast tribe quests we undertake that deals with members of those races who are in no way in direct conflict with us. There's absolutely avenues the devs could take to make these things playable, but the reality is they can't or won't. Those decisions come first, and the lore is made to adapt to those decisions. Same thing with male viera.

[Iscah]

No, Male Viera are potentially made unplayable because of the decision of the director of the game. Whether it's his personal hangups in finding them unappealing, or his desire to put in a male player race that he thinks people would like more, or that he likes more. The lore has little to do with it because the lore can always be written to accommodate their development decisions.

I know that's the *actual* reason why they're (probably) not playable, but that decision still needs to be "excused" within the story to explain why we don't see them, even though they do exist.

The "excuse" for not being able to play as a male Viera would be the race's individual lore, brought into the story alongside the race itself.

The "excuse" for not being able to play as a Garlean or beastman is the overarching story, pre-established in ARR as being "us against them", so the script would be strange if the generic player-character is in fact one of "them".

Except for all the ones we actively work with? All the Garleans we've now associated with, some of which were direct enemies before. All the Beast tribe quests we undertake that deals with members of those races who are in no way in direct conflict with us. There's absolutely avenues the devs could take to make these things playable, but the reality is they can't or won't. Those decisions come first, and the lore is made to adapt to those decisions. Same thing with male viera.

There's a difference between having individual characters who are Garleans or beastman, and letting the player be one.

The other characters are "unchanging" - Cid is always Cid, he's always a Garlean and the script reflects that.

But if the Warrior of Light might be a Garlean or might not, that's different. There would either need to be a separate version of dialogue to acknowledge it, or something that should affect how people respond to you goes entirely ignored.


As I said, it's already an issue in minor ways with the currently playable races - but for Garleans or beastmen, it would be a lot worse.