MrHappy interview with yoshida from tokyo

[Shougun]

I agree with this too, Hrothgar do fill a niche that none of the other races (or male viera) do. I just think deciding to genderlock it and release it alongside viera was a mistake just because viera is such a fan favorite race to begin with. They had to know people were going to want males and females of it, so people are going to feel slighted even if that wasn't the intent. It was pretty much a repeat of the miqote situation all over, since people from FF 11 were already fans of mithra to begin with and wanted a male counterpart.

I get that to be honest, Viera is huge... and finally seeing a mystery race is probably very exciting for those who were wondering what they'd look like (and hoping to try them out). I actually imagine the debate inside the dev team was pretty heated and likely it came down to "do we want to start the work now on two races trying to create a diverse cast (especially the beast), or complete one fully that'll be popular at least and never make another one because everyone in here is screaming at the top of their lungs when I say "new race"?" lol. Thousands of gears needing to be adjusted, I bet you can see the knowing in their eyes as the huge wall of work comes running at them - late nights galore.

I think it's possible that this gender-lock might have been our only route to two races though, maybe we'd otherwise only have one. It might be impossible to say for sure if that's true, but if we picture it like that perhaps people can find more peace with it? (it sounds like a possible reality to me at least).

I understand some people would be fine with just one, but let's say in a few years after everyone is used to having both (assuming, and hopefully, they unlock both)-- I think we'll be in a better place overall because of it (with a wide range of choices for players old and incoming new to pick). Of course if they had the resources to make two full races at the get go.. that'd be pretty epic, but I can't begin to fathom what stuff costs and how much time they have available to get it done so all I can say would be "that'd be epic" haha. To be honest I try to actively avoid playing "accountant" when asking for stuff and just try to be very patient instead, maybe sometimes preface my more extreme requests with "I'm sorry but I still like this idea, here let me try to explain it as best as I can" lol.

Also...

Btw though, I always appreciate your replies to things. They're always thoughtful and well-intentioned. :3

<3.. Thank you :3. It's been great discussing stuff with you in the other thread - you've been fun and reasonable, was never afraid you'd come at me with the fury of a thousand bunnies and rather we could just discuss stuff together (which has been nice).

[DaulBan]

The words OT and MT coming up in the write-up is sort of... Worrying.

[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.

[Brill_]

We need to maybe change the way to present new jobs at Fan Festivals. Perhaps reveal the roles first and then reveal the job later to subvert expectations.

Since NA gets shafted with job reveals, they should reveal the job role in NA and then the jobs itself at EU/Japan fanfest.

[Iscah]

If Male Vierra shares their meshes and textures With Midlander Like Au'Ra, Elezen, and Miqote do then that would make things easier! and all those races have in my option very different body types! Alot of the work would be in the Helmets/headgear and the new body morph for the gear.

Indeed. Gear for a late-addition second gender is far more likely to be remodeled from other races of the same gender, than the opposite gender of the same race. (Depending on hypothetical female Hrothgar design, I suppose...)

Curiously, I'd read somewhere that male Elezen actually share models with Roegadyn rather than the human-proportioned characters - which is rather odd but does probably explain why things sometimes scale oddly on Elezen. The best "proof" I'm aware of is that the monk Lv50 relic gear actually has a few different shirt designs - from memory, Hyur, Au Ra and Miqo'te have a high-necked black undershirt, but Elezen and Roegadyn only have the collar as a necklace.

(Can see for yourself - go into character creator, go through to job selection, pick monk, set the character to wear job gear, then backtrack to character creation and compare.)

. I think it's possible that this gender-lock might have been our only route to two races though, maybe we'd otherwise only have one. It might be impossible to say for sure if that's true, but if we picture it like that perhaps people can find more peace with it? (it sounds like a possible reality to me at least).

I've wondered about that. Whether maybe someone higher up said "no more races, we're not giving you the budget for it" so they put in the two half-races exactly because they knew the fandom would rage and demand the other half...

They still could have handled the reveal better. Especially confirming we had something other than Viera coming, "please look forward to it", and getting a lot of that rage out of the way early. Then at least there would be some excitement for the second reveal in itself, rather than being overshadowed by the full extent of the negative reaction.

[splinter1545]

The words OT and MT coming up in the write-up is sort of... Worrying.

Yoshi did tell Happy to convey that nothing is set in stone yet when it comes to how the jobs will be balanced. So while it's worrying now, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is how the Jobs will be come launch. We just have to wait until May to see what they've done with them.

[Kazran]

Indeed. Gear for a late-addition second gender is far more likely to be remodeled from other races of the same gender, than the opposite gender of the same race. (Depending on hypothetical female Hrothgar design, I suppose...)

Curiously, I'd read somewhere that male Elezen actually share models with Roegadyn rather than the human-proportioned characters - which is rather odd but does probably explain why things sometimes scale oddly on Elezen. The best "proof" I'm aware of is that the monk Lv50 relic gear actually has a few different shirt designs - from memory, Hyur, Au Ra and Miqo'te have a high-necked black undershirt, but Elezen and Roegadyn only have the collar as a necklace.

(Can see for yourself - go into character creator, go through to job selection, pick monk, set the character to wear job gear, then backtrack to character creation and compare.)

I'm going to be careful with my words, but lets say I know from experience that Elezen shares with Midlander and that Roe has its own category. I have looked into it and it seems to be the case that Elezen is a Midlander based race and Roe is all by itself, though I wonder if male Hrothgar will share with it since they are very similar.

[Ogulbuk]

Extremely nervous about this MT/OT balance viewpoint. Last thing I want is to see anyone argue “you are not a real tank, we need a real tank” arguments.


Disappointed they really don’t understand the natural expectation of 4th Healer to go with the 4th tank. Virtually all reactions to the first reveal was “obviously the other job will be healer.” They would have to ignore all the community reaction to had been surprised at the disappointment.

I actually can I understand their art limitations for the races.

Still extremely disappointed with BLU and the whole limited job fiasco. Sadly my interpretation is the only thing in the table is wether or not there will be another limited job, it does not sound like BLU losing its limited status would ever be an option, but maybe I misunderstand his statement.

[Burningskull]

I'm going to be careful with my words, but lets say I know from experience that Elezen shares with Midlander and that Roe has its own category. I have looked into it and it seems to be the case that Elezen is a Midlander based race and Roe is all by itself, though I wonder if male Hrothgar will share with it since they are very similar.

I really don't want Hrothgar to share Roe's model even if it's easier to just retexture and rig it so it hunches over like it appears to be in the video... I don't want Hrothgar to have orangutan syndrome. Roe's legs look shorter than they should for their body. I want Hrothgar to be proportioned right. However in the reveal video they appear to have the same problem so perhaps I shouldn't hope.

[Iscah]

I'm going to be careful with my words, but lets say I know from experience that Elezen shares with Midlander and that Roe has its own category. I have looked into it and it seems to be the case that Elezen is a Midlander based race and Roe is all by itself, though I wonder if male Hrothgar will share with it since they are very similar.

That does seem more probable overall.

Seems curious to me that Au Ra don’t get their own separate category too, though - some things scale quite oddly on them and they could do with some better unique modelling. (I’m still annoyed that the Lv70 summoner gear basically stabs them in the face.)