The cat's (or femhroth in this case) outta the bag

[aveyond-dreams]

After reading the previous posts, my thinking at this point is the body we've seen used for the queen is the modified one built for female hrothgar (minus the tail, which is usually a separate model the player can customize). Since head models aren't attached to body models, it stands to reason they just swapped in the closest fit which was a femroe head. If that is the case, then as long as they have decent hair/face options I'm sold on making and boosting an alt of one.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

No, my logic is that this is finalized art in the art book for the Queen we fight ... because she's a trail boss and literally every trail boss in the game gets finalized art in the art book. I can legit walk 10ft to the book I have and find finalized art of every trail boss in the patches that book covers, and it's pretty much always "1 picture and maybe a front/ back" that represents what we got in game.

........You remember that we fight a FemRoe as the Queen in the game right?
And not a Female Hrothgar, right? So your logic here...makes...NO Sense.
If that was the Final Design that we fight...why was it not in the game?
And it wasn't a Trial Boss...it was the Final Raid boss of DR.
I really question if you know what you are talking about sometimes...

I stand by my logic born over a year ago that they wouldn't bother shipping the mural (Which looks just like this art) or even designing a Hrothgal NPC if they didn't know what they planned for them to look like. You can believe w/e you want about that.
But by all accounts, this art is what they intended this character to look like. And this art looks just like the faces we got in the mural that's in the game.

....There is no Hrothgal NPC in the game.....what are you even talking about?
This isn't even a "Belief" this is factually false nonsense at this point, and Id love to know where you are getting it from.
If this is exactly what they intended...why is it not in the game already, or why do they have nothing to show us, not even a tiny mild conversation so the people who care would know? They bothered with the Males, why wouldn't they with the Females?
If they had everything figured out already 2 years ago with a stylized Mural...why are they still in Development?

[HollowedDoll]

You do realize that the story line and character arcs was never dependent on the Femroes being Femroes, right? Turn them Hrothgal and literally nothing changes. Anyone with a passing interest in the story could tell that the only reason the Femroe were there was because they didn't make Hrothgals. Or they could have stayed Femroe and the primal hosting Femroe Ex-shrine-maiden could just take on the appearance of a female Hrothgar instead of being a Femroe with a unique body and cat eyes.

Sure, whatever lmfao

[Qurho]

After reading the previous posts, my thinking at this point is the body we've seen used for the queen is the modified one built for female hrothgar (minus the tail, which is usually a separate model the player can customize). Since head models aren't attached to body models, it stands to reason they just swapped in the closest fit which was a femroe head.

I'm seen this sentiment around but I just don't follow the hrothgal thread people are pulling from it. FF14 has adjusted NPCs to make them unique or more appealing before. Like Gosetsu and Moenbryda as non-Eorzean roegadyns or Aymeric's bigger head and more proportioned neck. They've also swapped parts for convenience, like using the elezen model for garlean NPCs.

I don't understand where this idea comes from? Why is the thought that they would use an asset of specifically an unfinished race for this character, when swapping or adjusting parts is just something they've done in general?

It just feels like a weird reach when this can just as easily be answered as it being a situation of "well, we've got a revealing outfit for the queen here, let's give her a more conventionally attractive body".


Also for future reference, since I saw it mentioned a bit ago, here's the quote from Yoshida regarding the initial Viera / Hrothgar split:

Providing a More Beastly Variety for FFXIV Character Creation and World Building

After seeing the positive reception of the Lupin characters we introduced in Stormblood, we concluded that, for the long-term health of FFXIV, it was important to implement a greater variety of character types beyond the traditionally beautiful in a future expansion. In truth, we had considered adding more beastly characters long before, and since this was possibly our last chance to do so, we decided that we should—much like we did with the Viera—in the interests of expanding the lore and the choices available to players.

Character creation is about providing players with options, and while there’s no telling how many people will utilize these options, we also believe that there is value simply in having them exist—in empowering people to fill the world with greater variety.

Although these second and third points are in conflict, we nevertheless felt that it was in the best interests of our players to try and satisfy both demands. We understood that some players would be upset if they were unable to use their preferred gender, but even so, after much internal discussion, we decided this approach was the best way to improve the overall game experience.

We could have decided to implement only male and female Viera, or only male and female Hrothgar. However, we instead went with an approach intended to expand the possibilities in multiple ways.

As you play through Shadowbringers, you’ll learn that both male Viera and female Hrothgar exist. While you won’t meet any in person, if we developers can find a way to address the various problems which are preventing us from implementing them, then perhaps someday you’ll be able to see them for yourself. I want to be clear that this does not mean it will eventually happen, and that I cannot make any promises at this time. I hope you will understand and bear with us.

- Letter from the Producer, LXII (05/09/2019)

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Letter from the Producer, LXII (05/09/2019)

Providing a More Beastly Variety for FFXIV Character Creation and World Building

After seeing the positive reception of the Lupin characters we introduced in Stormblood, we concluded that, for the long-term health of FFXIV, it was important to implement a greater variety of character types beyond the traditionally beautiful in a future expansion. In truth, we had considered adding more beastly characters long before, and since this was possibly our last chance to do so, we decided that we should—much like we did with the Viera—in the interests of expanding the lore and the choices available to players.

Character creation is about providing players with options, and while there’s no telling how many people will utilize these options, we also believe that there is value simply in having them exist—in empowering people to fill the world with greater variety.

[aveyond-dreams]

I don't understand where this idea comes from? Why is the thought that they would use an asset of specifically an unfinished race for this character, when swapping or adjusting parts is just something they've done in general?
- Letter from the Producer, LXII (05/09/2019)

Because when they made the queen's body they were working on male viera at the time without telling anybody, and they had plans to release both genders if possible at the same time but did not finish female hrothgar in time. They made the body but didn't finish the head.

[Nestama]

You people are trying awfully hard to frame Hrothgar as some charitable gesture to the gods of "diversity" that doesn't in any way make the game more appealing to some people who like beast races in MMOs. I have seen people who used to play WoW talk about how they love their Hrothgar because they remind them of Mag'har Orcs and Tauren, yet somehow the idea that Hrothgar could be appealing to someone who plays a monster Cow Dude or a Charr is too much, huh?

Diversity > sexy/bizarre sexual dimorphism imo. Also if people love their Hrothgar because it reminds them of Orcs and Tauren, then people will love female Hrothgar looking as bestial as the males (face, fur-texture, fangs, etc) because it'll remind them of their Khajiit and Charr.

[Qurho]

Because when they made the queen's body they were working on male viera at the time without telling anybody, and they had plans to release both genders if possible at the same time but did not finish female hrothgar in time. They made the body but didn't finish the head.

We don't know this for certain though? We have no idea where in production female hrothgar are at currently. By all accounts, it sounds like they worked on them one at a time:

They spent over half a year using what free time they had in between their normal work on the patches to consider ways to add another playable race. From this they concluded that we could probably squeeze in just one more at this time. Of course, by adding male Viera now, we anticipated people may be vocal about the absence of female Hrothgar and want to know what the situation was. Rather than waiting until (hypothetically) 7.0 to add two playable races at the same time, we realized we could actually ease the impact on our resources if we implemented these one at a time. Ultimately, I decided we should then move forward with implementing one playable race at a time, and I will make sure to explain that to our players: that’s what we did for this upcoming expansion.

- Playstation Blog interview with Naoki Yoshida

[nebby00]

Diversity > sexy/bizarre sexual dimorphism imo. Also if people love their Hrothgar because it reminds them of Orcs and Tauren, then people will love female Hrothgar looking as bestial as the males (face, fur-texture, fangs, etc) because it'll remind them of their Khajiit and Charr.

I'm all for the female Hrothgar looking like female Khajiit! ..Not so much female Charr, primarily because of the hunch. I really don't like the hunch for bestial races, it makes certain gear look awful. I also would be all for specific headgear or more braided racial styles for female hrothgar, though a bald head option would really work well too c:

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I'm all for the female Hrothgar looking like female Khajiit! ..Not so much female Charr, primarily because of the hunch. I really don't like the hunch for bestial races, it makes certain gear look awful. I also would be all for specific headgear or more braided racial styles for female hrothgar, though a bald head option would really work well too c:

A Bald Option would be really neat. So would more Braids
I really hope to make a Badass Amazon Beastlady :3