Is Lyse ugly?

[Tsiron]

I don't think we've seen her mother, and the divide in FFXIV is far stronger in terms of nationality than skin color.
There is a bit of a divide in terms of average but I really get a bit tired of this constant harping on about how Lyse is '' white ''.

There are plenty of dark-skinned characters in regions where most people are light-skinned, and I see no one complain about that.
I can't really remember anyone being racist due to skin color alone it has always been nationality or race in a more literal sense so Hyur being in a relationship with an Elezen for example ( which is historically how it mostly worked ).
So I don't exactly see why it's so crazy for Lyse to have light-skin supposedly because of her mother.

People shouldn't look at a game like FFXIV full of fantasy races like it's real life where people obsess so much about the color of your skin, because people in the game don't actually seem to do that at all.
Like I don't see anyone treating Gaius badly because he's dark-skinned, and Garleans are pretty damn racist and most of them are light-skinned.
But they don't seem to care what matters is that he's Garlean.

Edit: To be clear I am not saying that she '' should '' be light-skinned, just that I think it's both dumb and pretty questionable to argue that she '' should '' be dark-skinned.
This isn't a historical medieval simulator, and contextually there is no '' should '' here it still makes perfect sense.

For the record I never said anything about discrimination (or lack thereof) based on the colour of characters' skin, I merely think it's a bit suspect how all the main characters are pale as hell (down to having white hair, more often than not), even those whose relatives we've seen (Lyse, the Twins) that were darker skinned. Even if you were to approach it purely from a design standpoint you have to agree it's kind of boring right...?

[Theodric]

Why would it be suspect? Not that I think that fictional fantasy settings necessarily need to reflect reality but if one goes to India or Dubai or Greece or Turkey they'll see some pretty varied skin tones amongst those who live there. Presumably Ala Mhigo is much the same - and in regards to Lyse herself, most of her time was spent outside of her homeland anyway. So it'd make sense for her to be paler than many of her people.

[Lauront]

For the record I never said anything about discrimination (or lack thereof) based on the colour of characters' skin, I merely think it's a bit suspect how all the main characters are pale as hell (down to having white hair, more often than not), even those whose relatives we've seen (Lyse, the Twins) that were darker skinned. Even if you were to approach it purely from a design standpoint you have to agree it's kind of boring right...?

Not really, no.

[Enkidoh]

I wish Lyse looked at all like the people she supposedly belongs to. Her father's dark-skinned (tho he was also blonde with blue eyes) and she popped out the most blindingly white character there ever was? C'mon...

That's a legacy of version 1.0 where Yda was first introduced. It's the same reason Minfilia is light skinned and blonde haired as well despite also being Highlander by descent - namely, in 1.0 Highlander hyur were exclusively male only (specifically as player characters), so any hypothetical female Highlander characters used Midlander hyur female models instead, and this extended to NPCs.

ARR corrected this and gave actual female Highlander models (and roegadyn female models at the same time), but they did not correct the discrepancy with Minfilia and Yda due to the game reusing their old 1.0 models for consistancy's sake. It's a necessary handwave unfortunately.

[Tsiron]

For playing a game about idealism and the power of friendship and community, y'all are shockingly conservative...

[TTiscancer]

Why would it be suspect? Not that I think that fictional fantasy settings necessarily need to reflect reality but if one goes to India or Dubai or Greece or Turkey they'll see some pretty varied skin tones amongst those who live there. Presumably Ala Mhigo is much the same - and in regards to Lyse herself, most of her time was spent outside of her homeland anyway. So it'd make sense for her to be paler than many of her people.

You probably know nothing of history, so don't understand why those countries are the way they are in terms of the gene pool.

Hint, the Greece portrayed in Assassins Creed Odyssey is a complete left-wing ideology fueled fantasy that doesn't reflect reality in any way.

[Theodric]

You probably know nothing of history, so don't understand why those countries are the way they are in terms of the gene pool.

I have a pretty solid grasp of history, actually. Though it goes without saying that some discussion points aren't really suitable for a forum devoted to a video game.

For playing a game about idealism and the power of friendship and community, y'all are shockingly conservative...

In what manner? Not that it particularly matters, though I neither identity as 'liberal' or 'conservative'. Perhaps it would be best to avoid making such bold assumptions about players with that in mind.

That aside, the writers are on record as wanting to leave the game's 'themes' up to a matter of personal interpretation. Idealism is in itself not without flaws and often comes with a mountain of death and heartbreak, thus isn't necessarily worth aspiring towards in the opinion of many.

The game also has players from a great many different countries, cultures, backgrounds and belief systems. True idealism would be agreeing to disagree and recognising that humans are nuanced and that diversity includes diversity of thought and opinion.

[Lauront]

You probably know nothing of history, so don't understand why those countries are the way they are in terms of the gene pool.

Hint, the Greece portrayed in Assassins Creed Odyssey is a complete left-wing ideology fueled fantasy that doesn't reflect reality in any way.

I think he's getting at the fact that the country sports a range of European/Caucasian skin tones, not so much that games like ACO are reflective of what the country is like. Quite obviously, you won't find the same selection of skin tones in Greece, as you would in Turkey, Dubai or India, although in Turkey's case there is some overlap because it took over former Greek territories in Asia Minor as well as having engaged in forced conscription across a range of southeastern European populations.

[Caurcas]

For playing a game about idealism and the power of friendship and community, y'all are shockingly conservative...

How are those universal concepts tied to anyone singular political ideology and across all in their own forms?

[van_arn]

I don’t really think changing lyse’s character design would make her necessary for the plot. She should’ve died at the escape of 2.x so we could find more out about her after we already lost her, then put her remains to rest in ala mhigo after its liberation.

She would’ve been more useful to the plot as a corpse.