Playing a female WoL feels so natural for the story

[Clover_Blake]

Personally, my WoL is a male and I can't imagine a female WoL. Among many other things and relationships that I enjoy more from a male perspective, the whole thing about being "so similar" to Adbert wouldn't feel as natural, mostly because he was designed as the counterpart of canon WoL, who is a male.
So, the only WoL I am capable of seeing is a male Midlander, haha.

[MrKusakabe]

FFXIV is gernally very feminine and its presentation.

When I flew trough the Aether, and everything was bright and shiny, and everything's out for balance or this carebear attitude forced upon us ("Bring X a plate of food because X is sad" and, as far as I remember, one of the first quests in Gridania was to cheer someone up with /dance) I often had the vibes of this femininity.

Look at the fights for example:
Garuda and Shiva are attractive and beautiful, gracefully flying trough the air, with beautiful skills.
Titan? An almost naked, fat guy that stomps his feet. "ROOAAAHR I IS KILL YOUUU!"
Ramuh? Old guy with grumpy attitude!

Even the dragons: The females are the one you should settle for, the males are the brutal brutes.

Yeah..no.

Everytime Minfilla grined at me with this overly solacing smile and voice I felt talking to my best ingame girlfriend on what skirt she should pick during a shopping stroll rather than making world-saving decisions.

What NPC we have to deal with a lot in the story? Kan-E-Senna is a female ruler that is out for balance and diplomacy, Merlwyb is the tough female ruler, Nanamo is the cute female ruler that likes diplomacy. How often do we talk to a man that has to something to say? The vast majority, the males are just sidekicks. As a side note: Since decades, it is a discussion in Germany if the early educational system (kindergarden and elementary school) has bad effects on the kids as almost no male daycare staff or elementary school teachers are there, lacking the masculine parts similar to grow up without a father.

The lack of purposeful masculinity is evident.

Especially when you come from GW2, it is like jumping from the cold outdoor pool into the hot tub.


Sincerely,

[Kobalos]

I main a male toon and have a female alt the story feels natural for both of them. I like how SE keeps things as gender neutral as possible

[Mahoukenshi]

Especially when you come from GW2, it is like jumping from the cold outdoor pool into the hot tub.

Off-topic:
It depends. Peple hate Braham, are mostly indifferent about Logan, hated Mr. Cauliflower, leaving only Rytlok and Cannach who is a fan's favorite. On the other gender side, Caithe is hit-or-miss, Awesome incarnated Taimi is hated for being used as infodump or deus-ex antics, Rox is considered as good to bland, Eir and Zojia were imho well-liked. And our Dragon daugther is/was just adorable. However, GW2 did a good job in voice acting each playable race and gender, ignoring if someone likes or hates the predefined characterization of the Commander.

[Gula]

The funniest part about playing a female char is the npc dialogue.

"I haven't laid eyes on a woman in weeks!

erm, I mean, well, besides yourself of course, miss."

This is why I like female so much more. If I played male, I think male elezen would fit best. Statuesque, narrative wise can really look like an outsider anywhere which is how our WoL is portrayed and would have a bit of an oomph when going to Ishgard because no one's welcoming you besides House Fortempts.

[Missy_MI]

I'm female and almost always play female characters. I also enjoyed the cutscene you referenced OP. Because of the she/her usage, I realized right away who the speaker was referencing.

The pronoun 'aha' moment reminded me of scene from a Mass Effect game. A companion of the main character is on his deathbed and requests his son to recite a prayer. It's beautiful with lines like 'guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the hungry never starve'. But the last line is 'and may she be a companion to you as she was to me'.

Then I realized the prayer was actually for my character, not her dying companion. I don't think it would have hit me the same way playing as a male.

Sometimes it seems like the female gender is just tacked on in stories (especially when dialog misses pronoun switches), but I've never felt that way with FF14. It's lovely to play a game where the hero fits naturally into the world regardless of gender.

[SerLuke]

This is why I like female so much more. If I played male, I think male elezen would fit best. Statuesque, narrative wise can really look like an outsider anywhere which is how our WoL is portrayed and would have a bit of an oomph when going to Ishgard because no one's welcoming you besides House Fortempts.

Well I think male elezen works well but I might be biased lol

[mario710]

Well I think male elezen works well but I might be biased lol

Agreed, Elezen are unique.

[AngelCheese77]

I just wish that there was a way to date Alisae.

You are into kids? Dude that is disgusting you should seek some help.

NEWS FLASH: It's a game everyone! It's okay to like and fantasize about FICTIONAL PEOPLE.

I want to hug Alphinaud and Alisae as I see them as my little siblings. When Alisae tole me not to leave her alone, my heart nearly broke. (Yes I cried).

.... I wish there was a way to date the Emperor. Damn he is hawt.

[Wilford111]

Personally, as a lalafell, I really appreciated the little moments when the msq actually acknowledged my race. Like when Dwarves would ask, "Where's your beard!?"