Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Nonuel]

The female Viera have bodies that are very different from Elezen. Their necks and shoulders aren't horribly proportioned, their chests are shaped differently and their torsos are proportionally longer than an Elezen with similar limbs.

What do you meaaaaaan:

They just look strange, if they where proportioned like the elves in LOTR, Im sure they would be a beautiful race to play, but...sigh, this is just how they come off as.


X'D

Definitely upgrading to Viera!!! Obvious choice.

[Lauront]

Anyway, on the topic of the dev interviews:

We wanted to give players options and freedom to choose more races. We envisioned adding a new race, but people really wanted the Viera to play in-game. So if we add another new race that isn’t Viera, people might wonder why we didn’t do Viera, so we had to add them for sure.

We had a big discussion back when we added Au ra in Heavensward about whether to add Au ra or Viera. We knew we only had Female Viera for reference, so we had no idea what to do for the Male variant. We would have to use our own imagination for that. There was fear about how we would approach that. Perhaps an elezen body with a miqo’te face and bunny ears. Would this be the right way to add this race to the game?

It's basically spitballing ideas... in fact, going over past thought processes.

This one is a bit firmer:

With FF12, there are only female Viera appearing in the game. Due to that, we have no design references for the male versions. If we did create a male design for the Viera, he would be quite elegant, handsome, and slim. He would look more like the Elezen race, but with bunny ears.

Note, however, what follows this, which gives further context to the "more like" bit of the above:

What we were missing from the lineup of playable races was someone who looked more powerful and laser-focused on battle, while looking quite fierce. Implementing that kind of race, the dev team could bring more kinds of enrichment to this type of fantasy game. To fulfill player feedback as well as the dev team, we put the two races together.

So whilst I don't disagree that they are probably going to aim for something quite near to the concept art, with an elegant aesthetic, to me the "more like Elezen" comment is just stating a frame of reference rather than fixing on an exact replica albeit with improved proportions.

[Senn]

And no, I don't take mere words as a guarantor of much at all.

Then why say this?

At the same time, Matsuno seemed to like the Highlander physique for them.

It was obviously a joke tweet.

I just find it strange you would dismiss what Yoshi P has outright said about the appearance of male viera, as well as the concept art, by saying "things can change in development", but you point at a joke tweet and claim Matsuno seemingly likes a highlander physique for male viera. Judging by the interviews and concept art, things that are credible unlike that joke tweet, it seems like Yoshi P and dev team have a preference for slim, elegant, and handsome male viera.

It seems to me that a slim, elegant, and handsome kind of viera wasn't just Yoshi P's idea, either. It's very likely he discussed these things with the dev team as well when they were "spitballing" ideas.

Also, those interview quotes prove my point. The dev team is leaning more towards slim, modified elezen base, with a face similar to miqo'te (like what female viera have now). Of course, this can all change in development, but seeing what the females look like now, we can take an educated guess as to how the males will look like. Especially with Yoshida's description and the concept art. From the information we have been given at this point in time, buff is less likely. Slim is more likely.

...

I could be wrong, but it looks like female viera is using a modified elezen base. It looked like they fixed the elezen proportions.

[Senn]

...

I'm not stamping out anything. This is a discussion, and you're more than welcome to disagree. The only thing I'm doing is talking about the interviews and what's most likely to happen based off the facts we currently have. If this is a discussion you don't like or don't want to have, feel free not to respond.

[niteypants]

Anyway, on the topic of the dev interviews:



It's basically spitballing ideas... in fact, going over past thought processes.

This one is a bit firmer:



Note, however, what follows this, which gives further context to the "more like" bit of the above:



So whilst I don't disagree that they are probably going to aim for something quite near to the concept art, with an elegant aesthetic, to me the "more like Elezen" comment is just stating a frame of reference rather than fixing on an exact replica albeit with improved proportions.

Everyone gives Elezen hell for having giraffe neck, but it's not just their neck, it's their shoulders being as wide as a mack truck and their arms being way too large. They have turned what should be slender elegance to a weird, gangling creature.

The worst part of it is, it seems very obvious to me that Elezen used to look normal as originally developed, then some supervisor ran along and demanded it have a "manlier" upper physique.

Here are Elezen's correct proportions, which took me about 3 minutes to figure out. A veteran graphics artist could probably figure it out in 10 seconds. Working backwards from the After, someone made a normal looking Elezen then got told right at the end of crunch to inflate the upper torso.

[Lauront]

Then why say this?

It was obviously a joke tweet.

I just find it strange you would dismiss what Yoshi P has outright said about the appearance of male viera, as well as the concept art, by saying "things can change in development", but you point at a joke tweet and claim Matsuno seemingly likes a highlander physique for male viera. Judging by the interviews and concept art, things that are credible unlike that joke tweet, it seems like Yoshi P and dev team have a preference for slim, elegant, and handsome male viera.

It seems to me that a slim, elegant, and handsome kind of viera wasn't just Yoshi P's idea, either. It's very likely he discussed these things with the dev team as well when they were "spitballing" ideas.

Also, those interview quotes prove my point. The dev team is leaning more towards slim, modified elezen base, with a face similar to miqo'te (like what female viera have now). Of course, this can all change in development, but seeing what the females look like now, we can take an educated guess as to how the males will look like. Especially with Yoshida's description and the concept art. From the information we have been given at this point in time, buff is less likely.

Then we’re disagreeing over what that concept art represents. If ‘slim’ can apply all the way to a body type in the same range as an Au Ra, anyway, it’s not really a very precise term and again, they are stating that they’re closer to Elezen to reinforce that they felt there was a niche there for Hrothgar to fill, who are a great deal bulkier than just about every other male barring Roes.

All they really seem to be saying is that they envision them as closer to one than the other. There’s also more room to add bulk to the males compared to the females, without detracting from such an aesthetic.

Unfortunately, until they provide updated art it’s really just words we have to go off ... I’d be happy if they went with the physiques in the original concept art, of course, since they’re close enough to a hybrid elezen/Au Ra build.

[Senn]

...

I would also like them to look like the concept art.

This is kind of off topic from what we were discussing, but it's something I wanted to add to my post since I've been thinking about it.

I think right now, the devs are actually discussing whether to implement male viera or not. Well, not literally right now, but I think in this general time, this is a period where they are making serious considerations and taking in player feedback. Why do I think this? The longer they wait, the worse the consequences will be. What I mean by this is more gear will be coming out, and so they will have to adjust more gear to fit male viera. Especially the headgear. The longer they wait, the more it will pile up. I believe it was said that the dev team began working on female viera near the beginning of heavensward. I'm thinking the dev team, if they come to the decision of adding male viera, will have to make this decision swifty, and begin working on male viera models at the beginning of shadow bringers.

I can't even begin to imagine how many gear pieces this new expansion will introduce. Whether the answer is yes or no, I genuinely believe this is a decision that will have to be made soon.

[zeylos]

Come on guys we can't let this thread die down. We have to keep letting the devs know we want this!

[savageink]

Come on guys we can't let this thread die down. We have to keep letting the devs know we want this!

....but I want them to retcon lore and make both races hermaphroditic.

[zeylos]

....but I want them to retcon lore and make both races hermaphroditic.

The lore is actually designed to allow both genders for both races and I'm not sure about what a hemroaphroditic race is but I'm gonna guess u mean it with both genders