Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[zeylos]

Part of an interview of today about new races and missing genders:

TR: Shadowbringers saw the introduction of two new races, are there any plans in Endwalker to introduce anything new or even additional gender options for the Warrior of the Light and the introduction of armour which isn’t locked to certain gender/races?

Yoshida: “That’s another very direct question you have here… regarding the addition of new playable races, I have explained previously but the development cost is so monstrous that it is probably hard for players to imagine. As such, please understand that there’s no easy way to answer your question with a ‘yes’. As for the remaining elements that you’ll find in Endwalker, be sure to look out for announcements at the Fan Festival in May.”

https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/...to-ps5-4123752

If the awnser is 'no' just why can't he just say 'not this expansion', there is literally no way they dont know by now, I really think its only fair to at least ask for more direct awnsers and transparency. If they cant add something, fine, but just say it, this is literally the same 'I cant say yes but I cant say no either, we have a fanfest in march and there you will see whats new' we got the previous times, and by this time I simply dont believe they cant give us a hard 'yes' or 'no', its just getting tiring at this point

[zeylos]

that‘s the kind of thing that bugs me he was asked about new races or missing genders. it seems he said no to new races, but hasn‘t said anything about the genders. he just should‘ve said, nope no races or genders this expansion, but he said there is no easy way to say „yes“. what does that mean? no to new races / maybe „yes“ to the missing genders?

this bugs me as well, its like its just intentionally vague so ppl can see whatever they want or maybe its just mistranslation, but he said again no to new races (which are brutally unrealistic to expect) but apparently at least, unless by 'new races' he also refers to missing gneders, which isnt exactly clear on the awnser, it just seems its the same old story of 'look forward to the fanfest to learn more', and as much as their communication is much better than most developers, the fact that they cant be more transparent (be it because of choice or because its required by the company) really bugs me, I would of course be sad but I would understand it perfectly if the awnser is a 'No, not for 6.0, we have no plans in the future' but it would at least put the subject to rest, its just incredibly tiresome to go without any actual substantial news for so long and whenever news do come, they are just nothing new. And also, no it isnt like they 'have no news to give', they have basically 0 chances of adding them if they begun now, if they arent coming in 6.0, they should come straight up and tell us 'no, not right now' and I think most players would be understanding

[Roda]

If the awnser is 'no' just why can't he just say 'not this expansion', there is literally no way they dont know by now, I really think its only fair to at least ask for more direct awnsers and transparency. If they cant add something, fine, but just say it, this is literally the same 'I cant say yes but I cant say no either, we have a fanfest in march and there you will see whats new' we got the previous times, and by this time I simply dont believe they cant give us a hard 'yes' or 'no', its just getting tiring at this point

He may be the producer/director, but he's probably still bound by NDAs, and he most definitely has SE marketters on his ass to let them handle any and all sources of hype.

As someone who prefers more open, direct, and honest communication it's really frustrating to experience though. :T

[zeylos]

He may be the producer/director, but he's probably still bound by NDAs, and he most definitely has SE marketters on his ass to let them handle any and all sources of hype.

As someone who prefers more open, direct, and honest communication it's really frustrating to experience though. :T

Yes by 'him', I dont really refer to Yoshi-P as a person, just as him being the sort of 'spokesman' for the company regarding this game, considering he is in charge of basically delivering most of the information to us. It is of course true that he has a tons of rules to follow, and its exactly those rules that annoy me, not him, he does imo a pretty good job at working with what he is given

[WhiteArchmage]

If the awnser is 'no' just why can't he just say 'not this expansion', there is literally no way they dont know by now, I really think its only fair to at least ask for more direct awnsers and transparency. If they cant add something, fine, but just say it, this is literally the same 'I cant say yes but I cant say no either, we have a fanfest in march and there you will see whats new' we got the previous times, and by this time I simply dont believe they cant give us a hard 'yes' or 'no', its just getting tiring at this point

It's corporate-speak. Basically don't close the door either way because it's bad PR wether he says they're coming or not. He's probably learned after the housing situation that it's better not to outright confirm or deny anything that would be a large undertanking for the dev team.

Don't get me wrong, it DOES get tiring; but I understand why he's so non-commital either way.

[Theodric]

At the same time, he deliberately chose to add only half of two different playable races instead of one complete playable race. One of which ended up being a very niche option that seems to be driven by what he wanted to personally see - and like so many others, Hrothgar are talked up as much as Roegadyn women are but at the end of the day they're not actually all that popular as actual in-game race/gender picks.

The push for Viera to be added to the game was much more immense. Yet if the development team took that feedback into account, they should have seen that people were asking for male Viera just as frequently and as passionately as they were asking for female Viera.

Personally I don't have much patience for coy answers. He's well aware of the backlash that came as a result of people being disappointed by the missing gender situation. It'd mitigate any disappointment to come in May if he just stated outright if they're coming or not.

He actively encouraged people to have big expectations, which is fine - but it's a major gamble to hold off on the reveal as to whether or not we're getting what was seen as the biggest controversy of Shadowbringers for many players.

[zeylos]

At the same time, he deliberately chose to add only half of two different playable races instead of one complete playable race. One of which ended up being a very niche option that seems to be driven by what he wanted to personally see - and like so many others, Hrothgar are talked up as much as Roegadyn women are but at the end of the day they're not actually all that popular as actual in-game race/gender picks.

The push for Viera to be added to the game was much more immense. Yet if the development team took that feedback into account, they should have seen that people were asking for male Viera just as frequently and as passionately as they were asking for female Viera.

Personally I don't have much patience for coy answers. He's well aware of the backlash that came as a result of people being disappointed by the missing gender situation. It'd mitigate any disappointment to come in May if he just stated outright if they're coming or not.

He actively encouraged people to have big expectations, which is fine - but it's a major gamble to hold off on the reveal as to whether or not we're getting what was seen as the biggest controversy of Shadowbringers for many players.

The 'have high expectations' for the fanfest this month honestly was a bit of a mistake on their end, considering there wasnt anything that at least to me, blew me away. Was it good? Yeah, was it exactly the same as always? Yeah, the 'special' announcements were belts being removed and the island which we arguably know as good as nothing about, so I wouldnt define that as 'high' expectations, at least personally

[Lauront]

Personally, I'm not expecting them until 7.0, in line with other graphics improvements that may come then - at the earliest. 6.0 would be a nice surprise, but not expecting it really at this point anymore.

The 'have high expectations' for the fanfest in May honestly was a bit of a mistake on their end, considering there wasnt anything that at least to me, blew me away. Was it good? Yeah, was it exactly the same as always? Yeah, the 'special' announcements were belts being removed and the island which we arguably know as good as nothing about, so I wouldnt define that as 'high' expectations, at least personally

Even if he just meant by volume of announcements, considering they're dividing it between two, it didn't seem exceptional to me in that regard. Yes, the PS5 announcement was a "big" one, but it had been telegraphed a while back and I think it was understood that it would happen eventually. Otherwise it was very "business as usual".

[SomeRandomHuman]

The way this is going there are 2 ways it will end:

1. Missing genders will be added and they're just reserving the announcement of it until May.

Or

2. They don't get added and the whole mess starts over from the beginning for another 2 years.

[Yencat]

Sounds like he's saying that even though he understands they're highly requested and he'd like to be able to just say yes, he can't because the dev cost is just so massive. So a roundabout way of saying nothing's changed since their last statement on it really.

And the "look forward to further announcements in May" seems to be in response to the other parts of the question like gender locked gear.

That's my interpretation of it anyway.