Gender locked race?

[Theodric]

Limiting to the whole "Big Brute 'ugly' Muscle " Male and the "Pretty, cute, object" Female with with gender locked races just feels so old fashioned and gross!

Seriously, just give us some masculine females and some feminine males. This is literally the perfect opportunity to do so now.

You can already design rough looking women in-game if you wish as well as more delicate looking men. It's not as if either aesthetic is neglected when it comes to the character customisation system.

[Thefates]

With that logic, Hyurans are actually Humes from Vanadiel, because they're totally being called that in The First!

Sarcasm aside, they were just showing that you can recreate characters from other FF games, doesn't make them officially Ronso (because they're Hrothgar). Besides, Fran was already in the game, unless you completely missed her in the Ivalice raids (and technically, she isn't even the same Fran as the FFXII one, despite having the exact same looks).

Therefore the Viera lore shouldn't have bound the Viera to be genderlocked either.

[Novak_04]

Two factions have been screaming for races: Viera and people who wanted bestial. I think they chose to go with this because they had time to program one or one gender of each, so they took the middle ground and pissed of gender divides rather than style divides.

Do you really think they started designing Viera in November? This expansion has been in the work for years... Viera is one of the main features, in fact. They intended for the gender-lock on day one. It's possible that the Hrothgar were created as an afterthought to appease the masses (or so they thought). This would also explain why there aren't any in the trailer. This was a poorly made, and executed, decision.

[PangTong]

I was already pretty much certain that this would be the outcome all the way back during Paris fanfest when they were so clearly avoidant about mentioning male Viera, but I wanted to wait until it was officially confirmed to make my statement about it.

Obviously, this is a massive and frustrating disappointment. I had no personal stake in male Viera, I wasn't interested in playing one. However, I'm not so blind that I cannot recognize when something is an obviously good decision. When you run a business, selling a product, the feedback you receive from customers about that product is a valuable asset. When customers overwhelmingly give you direct, earnest, specific and voluminous feedback about specific changes they want to see, you should be thanking the gods for your luck. An obvious choice, a clear path on which to direct your work, that you know for certain will please your customers, drawing praise and attention to your product and business.

Square Enix did not do that.

In a game that secured its entire existence and success on the concept of correcting past mistakes and humbly listening to your customers, it feels like nothing less than a total betrayal for them to fly in the face of such overwhelming feedback. The customers and community, in this instance, were patently ignored. There's no other way to slice it, the fans were totally ignored. Square knew what the fans wanted, but ignored them. For what reason? Nothing but the whims and caprice of the producer and director? This decision appeases (effectively) no one, and does nothing but attract criticism and bad press to your game. Yet they went ahead and did it anyway.

It is so frustrating that my only route for feedback is this insignificant, impotent little post that will simply be buried and ignored under thousands of posts just like it. What I really want to do is grab Yoshida by the shoulders and shake vigorously while yelling "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Can you actually give satisfying reasoning for your business decision, or was it purely a flight of fancy? To not only deny the choice that your users are asking for, but to go with something that has never been introduced, mentioned, or even hinted at, in a style (big beefy dudes) that both historical polls and in-game data suggest is not at all popular or desired?

Based on previous interviews on the topic of Viera, this whole thing reeks of something Yoshida did on his own, against the advice of his co-workers, which only makes it all the more baffling. After building the game this far, carried by the good will of the users and an honest intention to correct the mistakes of the past and deliver something that people want to play, it's nothing short of shocking and depressing to see this team repeat the mistakes of 1.0.

If Yoshida and the dev team have any respect left for their players, they must offer the following: A formal apology for introducing genderlocked races against the will and wishes of the community, and a promise that the missing genders will be introduced and implemented into the game before 6.0. Obviously they will not do this, so I can only hope instead that a large number of people cancel their subscriptions and their Shadowbringers preorders. I hope that Yoshida is made to see the rewards that pride and arrogance earn him.

To addend: This is bigger than just some genderlocked races. It's a decision that shows without a doubt that this dev team does not care, and will not listen. It shatters the good will and confidence of the users they had built up over so many years. Even if it's not something that bothers you personally, your faith in the game should be shaken. Yesterday it was limited jobs, today it's genderlocked races. Tomorrow, who knows? Certainly nothing good.

[seros]

I'm disapointed, this is a really backwards way of thinking and I thought the dev team grew from that way of thinking. I'll probably play through the MSQ of shadowbringers but my sub time will probably be cut down majorly compared to SB. Since they're going about it this way.

[Anzaman]

Two factions have been screaming for races: Viera and people who wanted bestial. I think they chose to go with this because they had time to program one or one gender of each, so they took the middle ground and pissed of gender divides rather than style divides.

Two races, both having two clans. And some people demanding to have both genders available as well.

As someone who's been working with some 3D modeling, I've funny feeling that some people don't understand the amount of work needed. It'd be all nice and good if you could just launch Blender, snap fingers and have perfect model, skeleton and it's bones adjusted - along with every single emote and piece of equipment done.

It's just a bit odd watching stats; for example Roegadyn female sitting at all-time low - and then people would want another burly female race.

[WhiteArchmage]

So, out of curiosity...how many of those upset over this intend to take their leave of the game and at what point do they intend to do so?

Probably after 4.56. Honestly, my static is getting bored, our main healer has considered quitting for months and it would give me SO much time to work on my Master's (Plus, wouldn't have to worry about taking my PS4 overseas). I could even go to Fan Fest in cosplay with Bunny ears! Hope I could run in to Yoshi-P and say "Oh, it's not the Bunny set, I'm just cosplaying a male Viera"

[Baranobeefdip]

Count me in as another person dissapointed... gender locking in 2019 is just gross

[NahuNa]

Feminism can be a good thing when it's needed. Radical feminism is not. That doesn't seem to be happening in Japan though, so I'm all for it.

Stop implying that I don't care about women.

I'll stop implying it when you actually respect women's thoughts and not just when they're convenient to you. Anyway, you also missed the part where I'm implying you're racist by projecting your own, western-influenced opinions on feminism onto all of Japan.

And just to keep this on topic: even Japanese players are cranky about this so stop pretending you're dying on this hill for them.

[athisvolume]

I'm not going to quit playing over it, I love this game. I'm just kind of bummed and hope they add the other genders in the future. If not, I'll keep playing as a catboy and keep on enjoying all the things that brought me to the game in the first place. It's like pumpkin pie with no whipped cream. It's not as good as it could be but I'm still going to enjoy eating it.