Female Viera are what Au Ra should've been...

[Kolsykol]

I mean they're popular for a reason people clearly love them.
Imo it's actually the male Au'Ra that looks derpy ( especially their animations ) while the female ones look great.

Personally tho I would've prefered a Succubus race, I actually thought that some of the early concept art looked like it.

If they looked like demonic powerful Voidsent they would have been a popular race for edgelords such as myself.

While that may be true, they wouldn't have been as popular overall I'd bet.

I see a lot of people compare them to Miqo'te too, I think they look a bit more doll-like and a lot of people make them look '' goth '' in the Lolita fashion style.
Miqo'te are more like '' lewd neko chan '' while Au'Ra are more like dolls imo their faces have that look.

[ViolaLance]

Concept is just another form of an initial draft before it becomes a final piece.

If it was labeled as a final draft, the arguments about how the don't look would have some (not much but some) ground to stand on. As well since it is internal and not outsourced the final can still be changed to fit the needs and desires of higher ups with little to no regards to the artist(s) working on said project.

[Tsiron]

Yeah I don't think concept art is a promise of anything either, and didn't they show it after Au Ra had been fully revealed already as well?

That said though, the Xaela clan especially could have benefited from a taller / more mature model, while I think the current iteration suits Raen better.

I mean, yeah, we saw concept art after the final design had already been decided and realized but... concept art comes before all that, you know? I can only guess why they went the route they did catering to the precious fragile tiny waifu, must protecc, crowd which unfortunately has proved a resoundingly good choice but at some point they considered other options as well...

I also wish they'd made the clans distinct in more ways than just colour, but that's unrealistic given that Hyur are the only race afforded that privilege, and how much they say they're struggling when anything related to character creation is brought up.....

[MagiusNecros]

The Au Ra had two concepts with Demonic and Draconic. Which they had the Voidsent race they played around with and the more cutesy dragon concept and they went with the dragon one.

I would have preferred a Voidsent race from the 13th Shard myself.

I really hope that Hrothgar females are of a more "fierce" variety then just being "cute".

[Kolsykol]

Concept is just another form of an initial draft before it becomes a final piece.

If it was labeled as a final draft, the arguments about how the don't look would have some (not much but some) ground to stand on. As well since it is internal and not outsourced the final can still be changed to fit the needs and desires of higher ups with little to no regards to the artist(s) working on said project.

This reminds me a little of early concept arts of Ashe from Overwatch, in *one* out of *many* iterations she was black and ever since there has been this huge narrative that she was originally black and was '' whitewashed ''.
Just because they were playing around with an idea doesn't mean that it was the original idea or intent.
It was just an alternate idea put on the table on a sea of other ideas.

The Au Ra had two concepts with Demonic and Draconic. Which they had the Voidsent race they played around with and the more cutesy dragon concept and they went with the dragon one.

I would have preferred a Voidsent race from the 13th Shard myself.

I really hope that Hrothgar females are of a more "fierce" variety then just being "cute".

I dunno if I'd expect them to be fierce because I honestly don't think that the male Hrothgar are either, their faces actually look like a stuffed animal to me lol they look more cute to me than fierce.
But I do think that the female version will basically be a bit more slender version of male Hrothgar.

[Tsiron]

I wonder if (some) people's disappointment in the female Au Ra we ended up getting ever reached the devs' ears, or if their overwhelming popularity (especially in Japan, apparently) drowned out any other opinion on the matter...?

[HollowedDoll]

I wonder if (some) people's disappointment in the female Au Ra we ended up getting ever reached the devs' ears, or if their overwhelming popularity (especially in Japan, apparently) drowned out any other opinion on the matter...?

Even if it did it's a too bad, too late thing.

[TTiscancer]

The lack serious/mature "non-cute" faces is probably my biggest gripe about the char creation when it comes to females. Like, if you don't want your char to look 15, you're stuck with Highlander or a Giraffe.

To put my complaint in terms FF players can understand without misunderstanding, Quistis > Selphie, Lulu > Yuna, Lightning > Whatever her sisters name was, don't even remember.

[Jin-]

The lack serious/mature "non-cute" faces is probably my biggest gripe about the char creation when it comes to females. Like, if you don't want your char to look 15, you're stuck with Highlander or a Giraffe.

To put my complaint in terms FF players can understand without misunderstanding, Quistis > Selphie, Lulu > Yuna, Lightning > Whatever her sisters name was, don't even remember.

Lizards already have 2 older faces and 2 young. I let you decide which is what without spoiling it for you

[AnnRam]

Agree

Fem Aura are 0/10 to me, I don't hate them but they look so weird to be honest, and the community still calls them Lizards ,dragons ,crocodiles, succubus's , demons etc. People don't even know what they are.