Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Yana-Chan]

All of you should stop saying hrothgar should of been added instead of viera because of “limitations” I’m pretty sure they stated why and that’s because they have better plans for hrothgar and having their own unique faces and hairstyles. ShB isn’t even out yet so why don’t you guys be patient and just wait until they add them. If it was going to take a lot of time I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t of choose to do this. We will also probably be able to use hairs we bought or ones bought in game but as of right now no. It takes time. No I’m not saying hrothgar shouldn’t of existed but it’s also not right to just shut down viera because of it. Saying hrothgar is being dropped and stuff when it’s literally happening about viera. They both are limited, yes viera is just hair but for hrothgar you guys will be getting new faces as well.

[Lauront]

If we put it like this, it would be more logical to have full Hroths and don't have Vieras. Mostly because we already have human-looking races with animalistic features, but didn't have beastial races.
However, we have what we have (because they tried to please two audiences at a time, and did succeed at one hand, but failed at another hand) and I hope we can see counterparts, that both options do deserve to have, in some foreseeable future.

IMO, they should have done Hrothgar first, then. I say that as someone who has no particular interest in the race. I just don't like them doing half jobs in the supposed bid to please all and sundry at once. If this was the last chance they had to add new races, the question should be why was this the case? Escalating model cost? How does that bode, then, for wider character customisation/texture updates? It really does come down to how much they're willing to spend on the game, because these are problems which are solvable by hiring extra hands. Yes, they probably don't want to spend too much on it, but it's a money maker but will only remain so for as long as it sees adequate reinvestment.

I also don't buy that adding something different will necessarily result in a better outcome from a profitability standpoint when it comes to the new races. Things don't work that deterministically. It's down to how appealing the design is. It is a risk they are taking. Simply being better than existing models, and more appealing, would suffice to make male Viera sufficiently popular so as to be a profitable addition. They're banking here on players who absolutely must have a beast race to play the game, and who will be satisfied by the design they have gone for with Hrothgar, who see this as the only remaining obstacle to playing it. I'm not convinced that's a big demographic, but we shall see. They're probably going to net a good amount of fantasia sales from some Roe players, I reckon.

That said, I am happy for those people getting what they want - this is more to do with how SE is managing this.

[Theodric]

Well, if they're able to add new faces for Hrothgar then that suggests they'll - hopefully - be able to do the same for the other races.

The development team follow a very strict schedule and plan things out well in advance. I'm not particularly worried about the future of the game as many of the 'limitations' they've mentioned in interviews have been addressed over time.

The missing genders may be added. They may not. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Lauront]

I just hope ShB does well and they realise it's worth putting more money into advancing the game further.

It saddens me how quickly people I'm this thread are able to denounce Hrothgar and their inclusion in the world. Rather than support the inclusion of both, they think the race they want should have been the only race. This isn't targeted at the entirety, because there are many good people here. The ones that are doing it know who they are.

Fair enough but it cuts both ways and we've seen some of that sentiment expressed here by posters who shall go unnamed.

I think it is reasonable, though, to contemplate that staggered introduction of the two races would have been a better solution, whichever was to come first. My biggest concern right now is that they will divert energy from broader character customisation/high res texture updates and push these back potentially to the point that they are no longer feasible, if they seek to address the missing genders in time for 6.0. Unless Yoshi secures more funds for the game, that is, that would enable all these things to occur simultaneously.

[Yana-Chan]

I’m just gonna say this and I hope everyone agrees or understands me.

My theory for the reason they did the genderlock is so we could get TWO races instead of ONE. They didn’t think they were going to plan on adding anymore because of money and resources and how long it took. They decided to do the genderlock instead of getting a full race and never get the other again. So SE can see it and realize they need more money because a decent amount of people were complaining. The genderlock was the best solution to this so we can get both races fully eventually, instead of just having one.

[Lauront]

I’m just gonna say this and I hope everyone agrees or understands me.

My theory for the reason they did the genderlock is so we could get TWO races instead of ONE. They didn’t think they were going to plan on adding anymore because of money and resources and how long it took. They decided to do the genderlock instead of getting a full race and never get the other again. So SE can see it and realize they need more money because a decent amount of people were complaining. The genderlock was the best solution to this so we can get both races fully eventually, instead of just having one.

I’m aware of that line of thinking, and I believe there’s an element of truth to it, but that goes back to what I said about the problem here being intransigence on this being the last point where they could add new races.

[WhiteArchmage]

Indeed that theory's been floating around for a while (I think around MrHappy's interview with Yoshida during JP FanFest?). I WANT to believe it, and it doesn't sound too far-fetched, so if it was indeed the case, I'm hoping SE's recently announced projects are enough of a hit to justify an increased budget cut to this game (Off-topic: Especially Trials of Mana, it's taken that game about 20 YEARS to be localized, and it's one of my favorite games, ever).

[Lauront]

Cut? Kami forfend!

[Yana-Chan]

I’m aware of that line of thinking, and I believe there’s an element of truth to it, but that goes back to what I said about the problem here being intransigence on this being the last point where they could add new races.

It would be the only races for now, they said it’s because of money and resources. If SE gave them more then it wouldn’t be a problem. I remember a talk a bit ago about a dataminer finding 4 model slots so that would indicate the missing genders and 2 extra races. There is still a chance we will get races but that’s only if they had the resources for it:

[WhiteArchmage]

Err... bigger piece of the budget? The words, they fail me