Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Tlamila]

I really don't understand why some people are so horribly opposed to the idea of males being shorter, for once. Would some diversity hurt, from the "male=hulk, female=loli"?

[Theodric]

I really don't understand why some people are so horribly opposed to the idea of males being shorter, for once. Would some diversity hurt, from the "male=hulk, female=loli"?

Diversity for the sake of diversity isn't a particularly thrilling approach for many, especially when it involves hijacking a race that have already been described in a certain way.

[Tlamila]

Diversity for the sake of diversity isn't a particularly thrilling approach for many, especially when it involves hijacking a race that have already been described in a certain way.

Where is the description? I genuinely want to read it because I missed it. If there's an in game description it makes sense, otherwise also wanting them bigger because "smaller males wouldn't look good" would be unifying for the sake of it.

[MikkoAkure]

Where did Yoshi P state this? Not because I'm doubting or anything, but because I'd like to read up on it. Or are you maybe referring to the concept art?

Wasn’t there like a live letter or something where he casually mentioned them being tall and savage looking? Man this whole thing has gone on for so long I can’t remember right so it’s possible it was never said at all.

As far as the whole rabbits vs hares thing, it doesn’t even matter anyway since viera are hunters who eat meat. Pretty sure viera only came about because the artist of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance thought putting bunny ears on a woman was hot.

[Senn]

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As far as I know, male viera were never described as being taller or shorter than female viera, so it's kind of hard to call that hijacking. Though if there's a source confirming their height in comparison to the females, I would like to see it.

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Yeah they are described as savage hunters, but Yoshi P has also described them as slim, elegant, and handsome. I have not seen him confirm whether they were taller or shorter than the females (but I don't doubt that they are tall in general). Since the females are already tall, even if the males were a little shorter than the females, they would still be considered tall.

[VirusOnline]

Simple - it's how we evolved. Men by and large are physically larger and women smaller and both genders find this sexually appealing. Exceptions to this are rare. It's little to do with "double standards of gender" and more to do with what they know their playerbase tends to find appealing for each of the two genders.

That said, I view the extent of the dimorphism with Au Ra to be a mistake and I would not want to see it repeated with Viera. They can just do what they ought to have done with Au Ra females - allow for a bigger height slider that lets the men go both below and above the female height, problem solved.

Also, as was pointed out earlier in this thread, female rabbits are only "larger" to accommodate sexual reproduction, i.e. possess more body fat, but are not longer, per se, and it's also not uniform across all leporine species. However, Viera are not rabbits (or hares, for that matter) and just loosely rabbit inspired, so it's of little relevance how they differ in size as animals.

Well, it's a game. This isn't real life where we play to find mates *saveforthatonethread*. The power to contradict biology laughably exists in every corner of FFXIV yet they employ it with apparent discrimination.
IMO, it technically still has lot to do with double standards because SE wants to predict and play on the playerbases standards, a playerbase where double standards are inherent when it comes to gender. Females can appear short and ambiguously young because "female uwu", but males cannot because "am stronk". Female Au Ra could have had the build of female viera, keeping in tact the female au ra body language. But I. Can. Only. Dream.

I reallly think the only reason that viera are not small in stature / a waifu race is because there already existed a model to build around. I can hear the screeching of the loremasters.

[Alleo]

I really don't understand why some people are so horribly opposed to the idea of males being shorter, for once. Would some diversity hurt, from the "male=hulk, female=loli"?

The only description I remember is them being fierce and living mostly alone (defenders of the forest type). Which of course means that they have to be huge and full of muscle, because even though its a game where we can play as Lalas and where we have female Au Ra that are fighting alongside their males, it still means that they somehow need to be big.

Its also good to point out that the fierce part of their description is not there in the japanese version.

In the end I dont care if they are slightly taller, a bit smaller or the same height as the females, as long as they look like they still belong to the same race. If that in the end means that we get a male race that is max as tall as the min. female, I would be fine with that too.

[Senn]

Its also good to point out that the fierce part of their description is not there in the japanese version.

What does the japanese description say?

[Gwenorai]

The Japanese version is a bit odd. In ff12 they have the males described as macho, aggressive - but more 'mad'. But I argued that the translation for that is that they're not mad of mind - just very aggressive to outsiders, to the point that females actually find it strange. But the males are described as very 'male' like - to the point where you get the imagery they're just straight up testosterone on legs following a simple directive. Kill, breed and survive.

So even if they were smaller, making them anything less than looking aggressive/cold/stoic/dangerous would be doing them a disservice.

Keep in mind that if you're in said woods with Viera, you want a female to find you. You're likely to survive. If you find a male - well, you're going to be dead before you even lock eyes with them.

[Senn]

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Does anyone have the japanese text or picture they can link me to?

edit:
I tried looking for your source, but couldn't find it. The only thing I'm finding from FFXII on male viera is from the Final Fantasy XII Scenario Ultimania book, which mentions they are vicious, but that is not a description of their appearance. Until you can provide an actual source, I'm inclined to believe this is based solely on your interpretation, and is not a reflection of what male viera really look like.