MrHappy interview with yoshida from tokyo

[Leomoon]

the thing that I get is his mentions fans wanting a more animalistic/beast race, but in almost every MMO they make up a small minority of the playerbase (as low as 2% in some games) and that's with having them from release and not having to pay to race change or re-lvl and put yourself behind.

So from a game development standpoint it doesn't make sense unless they believe they can create a beast race that everyone and their mother is going to love and that will have more player then the potential for male Viera. ( know a lot of people who enjoyed the race in 12 and A2 who wanted to know what the males looked like, so it's chance not only to get those currently playing that are interested, but those who aren't)

Au ra are vary inhuman.... you know the race your playing...

[Iscah]

Au ra are vary inhuman.... you know the race your playing...

Au Ra (particularly the men) are a curious mix of "inhuman" features - horns, scales and possibly eerie eyes - on an a face that's actually quite human*. It's an interesting juxtaposition and I like it, but I thought it's as close to a playable beast race as the lore writers would be willing to go.

Up until now, I would have said it's that human-like face that is the clear dividing line between whether the race are considered "men" or dismissed as beastmen, but Hrothgar put a serious wrench in that understanding. Even putting aside the blurrier difference in regions beyond Eorzea, these new races still need to go through ARR's storyline where beastmen seem to be universally feared and reviled.

To some extent it'll just go in the same pile as all the other times where player race is ignored (Duskwights in Gridania; Au Ra meeting Yugiri; etc.) but it seems a lot more glaring.



* some Au Ra faces from the character creator are actually reused as 'unique' faces for non-Auri characters. Edmont is definitely based on Au Ra face #4, and I suspect Aymeric and Lucia might be male face #3 and female #4, but they don't have such instantly recognisable features so it's harder to be sure.