Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Duskane]

But your points irrelevant since that's ff11 and this is ff14 two very different games and directions taken.

[Veis_Alveare]

But your points irrelevant since that's ff11 and this is ff14 two very different games and directions taken.

These are similar enough situations that his examples certainly aren't irrelevant. They don't assure us that we won't get make Viera but they're definitely evidence that SE is willing to consider adding a requested race to a game without making it playable.

[Gwenorai]

The issue I have with this is that it costs so very little to create an NPC when compared to a missing gender. There would be little need for all this run around if they were just going to add in an NPC. They don't need new animations, they don't need hundreds of armours. It can literally just be one Viera male who's stood with some text or a start of a fate. I'd find it insane if it turns out that they couldn't add in an NPC when there's nothing in the lore stopping them to do so which means that's its cost and resources. A none voiced NPC that doesn't move isn't going to make a dent in their resources. The only thing that would eat up some time would be creating the model/design.

[reivaxe]

Thats right probably because there's no profit gained unlike FF14 where we have fantasia in FF11 you just start another character.

There's no profit to be gained here.

I mean, how much do you all really think they would make on potions? Lets say that once the dust has settled there's ... 40K Viera active in ShB. How many of them used the free potion that's been sitting in a retainer? How many just made an RP alt for free that they never spend money on? Potions only cost $10, that's a lil less than paying an extra month right? That's like 2 years of hard work to make something that would get some people to pay a extra month for and it also makes everything harder to make moving forward.

If this work was profitable they wouldn't be saying "we can't handle doing anymore, this is it"

[Krotoan]

The issue I have with this is that it costs so very little to create an NPC when compared to a missing gender. There would be little need for all this run around if they were just going to add in an NPC. They don't need new animations, they don't need hundreds of armours. It can literally just be one Viera male who's stood with some text or a start of a fate. I'd find it insane if it turns out that they couldn't add in an NPC when there's nothing in the lore stopping them to do so which means that's its cost and resources. A none voiced NPC that doesn't move isn't going to make a dent in their resources. The only thing that would eat up some time would be creating the model/design.

Judging by this thread alone.. they may also be hesitating because there are people who take one little tidbit and then expect a banquet.

[Lauront]

I think it's less of a lack of reinvestment as it is a desire from a production standpoint, if I recall Yoshida said the only time they will update the graphical engine, or character creator was in conjunction with the jump from the ps4 to the ps5. So personally I'm not expecting any work on these system upgrades to even begin until the ps5 drops.

Bear in mind they have access to the PS5 before it comes to market. That said, they skipped a systems requirement update for 5.0, meaning 6.0 is the next possible point for it. So with reference purely to the graphics engine and textures, and not Viera, 6.0 is not an unreasonable point for this to happen if it’s at all in the cards, as the PS5 will have been put a year by that point and been in their hands longer than that - the high res texture conversion is also entirely independent of the PS5’s, or any other system’s, capabilities as it is an asset conversion issue. It’s a question of whether they want to do it. I say the game will struggle to maintain current or higher levels of engagement in the future if they don’t.

Regarding male Viera, as a general comment, trying to fix 6.0 or 7.0 on it is equally speculative. Without knowing what it is they’re really planning and reviewing, neither one makes inherently more sense than the other. Yes, they may not add them and people should modify their expectations accordingly but frankly one sounds more reasonable than the other for no real reason other than it’s farther ahead in time - to which I say, so what? The question is more whether they’re willing to commit the resources at all, and will likely be based on what they can surmise from 5.0 once it’s out.

[rachcouture]

There's no profit to be gained here.

I mean, how much do you all really think they would make on potions? Lets say that once the dust has settled there's ... 40K Viera active in ShB. How many of them used the free potion that's been sitting in a retainer? How many just made an RP alt for free that they never spend money on? Potions only cost $10, that's a lil less than paying an extra month right? That's like 2 years of hard work to make something that would get some people to pay a extra month for and it also makes everything harder to make moving forward.

If this work was profitable they wouldn't be saying "we can't handle doing anymore, this is it"

You might be surprised how often people fantasia, sometimes multiple times per week.

[Duskane]

You might be surprised how often people fantasia, sometimes multiple times per week.

in a day even

[reivaxe]

You might be surprised how often people fantasia, sometimes multiple times per week.

If people are already chugging potions like that then is a new race gonna change that? Like, if you're taking a potion a week ... ok? You pick Viera every other 3rd week or something, you're prob not gonna now buy TWO potions a week to spend half the week as Viera when your pattern is one race a week. SE have effectively not made any cash off you cause you change every week anyway regardless of the new race, right?

The only hard increase in sells would be those who DON'T change often who would either stay Viera or change back and DON'T have any of the free potions you get.

Again, if this was a profitable thing it would happen far more often. That's what GW2 does, they will NEVER add a new race to the game cause like most non-WoW MMOs it's too much work for the pay off. BUT they will add faces and hair styles and hair colors you can only get from a make over kit. That's profitable ...

The reason a dev would make a new race for a game is to give players more ways to express themselves in that world because it's nothing but more work for the team with no direct pay off.
Like, there's many reasons to want something added to the games ... but thinking that it would be profitable for them isn't one. If it were profitable then why is this the last addition according to them?

[Quipsy]

It's yet another thing they can fantasia as. "Fantasia addicts" are proud fans of novelty and pushing the character creator as far as they can. If male viera look good they'd generate a big spike based on novelty, and if they're particularly good-looking, probably boost fantasia sales in general because people wouldn't be able to stop tweaking them. Hell, if I had used my fantasia I would have thrown down the money to fantasia into a male viera that's a tall, lithe, well-proportioned practically normal dude (which we don't have currently) and I'm sure I'm not the only one. This doesn't even touch on the people that might buy and sub to the game because of them--hell, I picked FFXIV not because it was from SE but because it had the most okay looking characters. Many people put a lot of weight on how they present themselves in MMOs and will pay money to make sure their character is perfect--even if that means throwing down a fantasia JUST to change their eye color or ear type.