It's the day after the last of the ShB FanFests, and maybe, just maybe, I can say things are settling down a tiny bit. I've had a lot to say, but didn't even really try to put it into words, so that I could take a few steps back and look at things from a little distance, as opposed to ranting first impressions... But this might just come out as a rant anyway. Probably nothing here that hasn't been said several times already, even in only the past few days, but it seems everything bears repeating.
To say I'm flabbergasted is not really saying much. I'm speechless, gobsmacked, nonplussed, flummoxed, astounded, confounded, stupefied. I'm at sixes and sevens.
When Viera was revealed in Paris, it just... looked weird. Bad weird. Unpolished, unfinished, coming off as a Victoria's Secret runway show, if they only showed one single piece of lingerie. Males not being shown was strange enough, but the way they weren't even mentioned at all, and completely sidestepped even when asked about... Don't know about others, but as for me, the alarm was already going off in my head. Based on past experiences, I'm always of the view: "if it's not shown, it's because it doesn't exist, so don't expect it".
Of course the community went into a frenzy, speculation and requests and expressions of hope at an all time high - as it could be expected. Completely normal and understandable.
Fast forward to Tokyo, and just as expected: Viera boys are not a thing, but we get a completely different, brand new race that is male-exclusive. Just out of left field. And the community is in nuclear meltdown, because - why? All this secrecy, all this silence, while at the same time going on and on about how difficult and how big of a workload it is to add a new race. Just one, even. So instead of designing and implementing one as it is supposed to be complete, with two genders, they went ahead and designed and implement two incomplete ones. Two that are drastically different at that. Two that will be, as it turns out, "broken" too, because much of the headgear is too problematic to customise for them.
I'm at a loss for words.
What kind of twisted train of thought led them to believe that all those people clamouring for Viera FOR YEARS have only wanted one half of the race? When even during that time there had been more than enough requests for the males as well. What on God's green earth led them to believe that introducing the "more bestial" race in this way would go down well with the playerbase? Yes, there may well have been requests for that too, and I don't even wanna go into the amounts and proportions of requests. But has the three years of the bunny suit debacle not expressed very clearly what their community thinks of genderlocks, to say nothing about requests for other gendered things to be changed?
Hrothgar isn't my cup of tea, personally, but I'm not against them per se. From all I've seen, there are indeed very few who actually are. But adding it the way they did, as a quasi consolation prize for the lack of male Viera - that's gonna sour its entire existence, probably for ever. It would, even if they did not look as crude and unpolished as they do... And they do. Very much so. Perhaps not fursuit-lupin level, but not that far off either. If someone's against Hrothgar, it's more so because of how poorly they look, in addition to the unfortunate circumstances of their addition.
And all this is exacerbated by the ancient and outdated gender stereotypes that this split also displays and reinforces. Stereotypes that should be done away with, instead of embraced: big burly savage men, dainty underwear model waifus. Just stop with this. Please. There's been waaay more than enough of this in the game already, anyway, and it's been grating enough as it was. This sort of dumping a ton of coal on that fire... It was so unnecessary.
All this is also exacerbated by the "reasoning" for the gender split - lore. Like, really? The weakest, flimsiest excuse to ever exist. We've been playing this game for years. There's lore titbits everywhere: in the game, on the forums, in the actual lore books that were released. Anyone with half a brain cell can see how the application of lore is a matter of convenience: it's changed and broken without a second thought whenever needed, only to be used as an excuse when there is no good/logical explanation for something unpleasant. Why can't it simply be said that there are too many resource constraints? Yes, it would still make us grumble - but at least it wouldn't make us grumble because we feel like we're all taken for fools. As far as the WoL goes: no lore should ever apply to the protagonist of any story. At the core, that's what makes them special; if they had to adhere to all the rules the normal people of any given world live by, they couldn't rise to the heights they need to, in order to become heroes. And as for the rest of the world goes... I don't think anyone would have a problem if we didn't get to see a gathering of bunny boys in every street. That's not the point, it's not what we're asking.
Last, but certainly not least... There might not be many of us left, but I don't think I'm the only one: WE WERE HERE. Us Meteor Survivors, you know? We were here playing this game, paying for this product, when most people jumped and let the ship sink. We were here to give our opinion, to participate in the polls - we helped shaped 2.0 to be what it was: successful and acclaimed. We helped with that foundation that everything else since has been built on. We made that decision, players and devs together, that eventually did away with the genderlocked races. Time passes, things change - that's all fine. However, with this specific issue, the passing of time has been changing things in a way that people don't really appreciate it anymore, and want to move away from it. To reintroduce this concept, in such a global, AAA title, after all these years of (mostly) doing the right thing and staying away from it... To reintroduce it without even acknowledging or addressing those veterans who made the decision with you back then to not have genderlocks in this game... It simply hurts. Not the first of several promises that have been broken over the years, for sure, but probably the most quintessential one (yet?). This pain of disappointment doesn't quench the intensity of people's reactions, either.
Back when Anemos was added, that was the first time I've ever let my subscription expire. That's how profoundly insulting I found the "content" that's offered nothing but the absolute basics, the "content" that literally told me to go out there and just slay random creatures - something we hadn't had to since we stared lv.1 battle classes in ARR (or in 2.x). This time around? I run out of time on April 1, and so I'll have to renew if I want to take advantage of the server-reshuffle free transfers. But it won't be for half a year or even three months. It'll be for one month... and after that, I'll be taking a leave of absence as a form of protest. That's how much this whole debacle disturbs me. I haven't preordered ShB yet, either, due to financial issues for a while, and then I simply wanted to wait for the Tokyo FanFest to see what's in store for us. Now that I can see - I won't be preordering. I could, but I just don't think I should support all this with such an early purchase. Maybe a day or two before early access, or I might just skip that altogether - however bad I'll feel about it, I feel much worse now.
So yes, all in all, here's another person who does not stand for "limited races". It's not good, it's not right, it's just awful on multiple levels, and I'm genuinely amazed that none of those issues was deemed important enough to prevent doing them again. Viera needs its guys and Hrothgar needs its girls - if not for bunches of NPCs scattered in the world, at least for player characters.
Signed,
Shuu Naranol
Omega
PS: Apparently, at least our concerns have already been heard in this case, if that Gamespot interview is anything to go by... However, once again, I'm concerned. They still have to "identify" and "review"? Months after Paris, years of generic Viera requests, years of complete anti-genderlock and generic anti-gendered mentality? This really makes me insecure. Just how big can the disconnect between "Us and Them" be?...
Originally Posted by KoshirouTakenaka
(11)
Let's make things better
