The Men FFXIV Needs

[aveyond-dreams]

Over the past decade there have been repeated tries to interpret the wants of the western playerbase in terms of male customization that have showed a fundamental disconnect between the type of male heroes they want to see and play as compared to what’s been designed. There is a significant demographic of western male tastes that are both not represented in-game by the cast nor character creator options. The men in FFXIV are overwhelmingly designed with slender and physically unimposing bodies, and the options that should supposedly address the need for more variety have all been affected by critical design issues that turn off players from them. Specifically, the lack of eyebrows on Highlander males, the lack of shape of Roegadyn’s build, as well as texture stretching on both Roegadyn and Hrothgar – with the latter having numerous issues that are still a source of discontent for players today.

In addition to having limited or otherwise unappealing options in character creation, there is also a lack of visual variety in the current main cast in terms of male body types. I feel the need to address this pre-emptively before I see the same arguments repeated here, but neither the midlander nor the elezen male body is anything a lot of western men are aspiring to. In no uncertain terms, we cannot continue to entertain arguments that claim characters like Thancred or Estinien fill the niche that a well-designed highlander male would. Arenvald would have been an excellent addition to the cast to remedy this situation, but rather than making full use of this character, he was left wheelchair bound and essentially written out of the main story.

Games like Black Desert Online have deliberately designed their Sage in order to appeal to and attract more western players, and were able to make a faithful representation of a handsome, masculine playable model. FFXIV has no equivalent to this. Even WoW was able to update their male Blood Elves to add increased muscle size in response to player feedback. How is it then that in FFXIV, which is more praised for listening to and responding to feedback than either game still not doing something so simple as adding eyebrows to male highlanders despite the amounts of requests that have appeared over the years? More recently, the only significant new masculine character creator option was the addition of a sole beard to midlanders, which the team at one point claimed to be unaware of requests for such a feature.

Giving specific examples to serve as reference material ended up becoming the basis for male viera’s design so I will do the same here, and explain how and why these characters have an appeal that current in-game options lack. The addition and inclusion of options and characters like this would do much to appeal to the western gamers that have been turned off by recent scandals as well, such as the Billboard Incident which painted an unfavourable look of the game to many. Though this will not undo all the damage caused by that event, it would nevertheless help create a better image for the game.

1. Basch and Vossler – FFXII

Basch is a permanent member of the party while Vossler’s stay is temporary, even so they were both enjoyable to have around and play as. They have the strongest physical builds in the cast, along with decent facial hair in the form of Basch’s stubble and Vossler’s beard. Both men also have well-shaped straight noses, which highlander males do not have access to.

2. Snow Villiers – FFXIII

Despite his unrelenting optimism, Snow’s unashamed and headstrong nature provided the sort of contrast that FFXIII’s party needed at the start, given the distraught or closed-off emotional state of the rest of the cast prior to their evolutions. He was quite tall and physically imposing, and through it all he faced his challenges with a heart of gold to lead him. He is a better example of how to make a male character with appealing looks and a more positive outlook on life than say, Alphinaud or G’raha Tia.

3. Clive – FFXVI

Given what we can infer from already available marketing material and interviews, Clive is roughly akin to Estinien in terms of personality and general basis for his story. Characters with revenge driving them make for compelling and entertaining experiences especially if and when such quests consume them and force them into making difficult, impactful choices that permanently affect their lives. His messy hair of dark locks and stern gaze make for a handsome character that can readily be taken seriously, especially when compared to this CGI art of Estinien which depicts him with a very uncanny facial expression.

4. Gladiolus Amicitia – FFXV

As shield of the king, Gladiolus provided a light-hearted attitude during the first half of the game before acting as a grounding voice of reason later on, and was the most rugged member of FFXV’s cast. With numerous scars, tattoos, and wild hair, I thoroughly enjoyed it when the game was updated with his DLC episode and later added the option to play as him.

5. Male Draphs – Granblue Fantasy

Admittedly I know very little about this game or its characters – given that it is a mobile game I will not expect much in terms of their development, but what can be said is that they have a very masculine visual design. Broad chested, defined muscles, and hips that are proportional to the rest of their bodies unlike male Au Ra.

6. Jack Garland – Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Jack Garland not only represents the currently under-represented body type in game but also exhibits a personality that was a breath of fresh air for the franchise as a whole. He gave being grounded and no-nonsense a whole new definition, and the inclusion of a similar character in FFXIV’s main party would do much to ease the same-ness of the Scions.

In addition to the above suggestions, here are some male actors that I feel have faces that would appeal to western male hero fantasy. Given that actresses like Cate Blanchet have clearly served as the inspiration for the faces of female elezen, it is only natural that attractive male actors be referenced in this case now.


Henry Cavill

This man was not cast as the Witcher for nothing. With a strong jawline and mesmerizing eyes, he looks the part of hero whether he has a beard or not.

Gerard Butler

Angel or father? Friend or phantom? He has a piercing gaze and attractive face with or without facial hair and doesn’t visually disappoint.

Kit Harington

The star of Game of Thrones and captivator of hearts worldwide, many people enjoyed watching his trek through the snowy wilderness with his curled black hair blowing in the wind. He has a reassuring face I’d say, with a noble gaze that vaguely reminds me of a loyal dog.

Liam Hemsworth

With a warm regard and scruffy face, he has a very inviting and friendly appearance. At a glance, he readily looks like a dependable and trustworthy individual I’d like to take on my adventures.

Calahan Skogman

Though his on-screen presence was nowhere near as long as I would have liked, this star from Shadow and Bone stole the show whenever he came into view. With or without a beard, he exemplifies the fantasy of a “northern” warrior character.

Charlie Hunnam

They didn’t choose this man to play King Arthur for nothing, and he never fails to disappoint regardless of whatever film he’s cast in. With slicked back hair and a golden beard, combined with his impressive physique he is a top pick for any party.

[Croweyes]

Got my vote.
100%

[Lauront]

Good OP. In the absence of them ever adding multiple body types, so that you could play a muscular derplander like the trailer one, I'd like to see highlander facial customisation options expanded and improved on. I do like auri males as well as they have good strong builds and appealing facial options, and increasing their presence in the main cast would be a good thing as far I am concerned, but they may as well improve the more 'vanilla' option as well for people who don't want the scales, horns etc. Also a more rugged male viera face and better facial hair picks; still a bit sad about how they handled their height but doesn't mean the faces can't be expanded on. It's at the point where games like Lost Ark and BDO do a better job of capturing handsome male aesthetics than this game does. All the examples you offer in the OP are excellent representations of the kind of aesthetic I like; I'd add Rufus, Roche and Sonon from the FF7R. And yes, blood elves were a firm fave from WoW, be it the original TFT ones or the reworked models or their WoW concept art.

And it's past time they figured out a way to introduce a muscle tone slider for races besides hyur and roe.

[Bukachu]

I just wanna be vincent valentine ong

[Absurdity]

but they may as well improve the more 'vanilla' option as well for people who don't want the scales, horns etc.

You mean like giving male highlanders actual eyebrows? lol

[Lauront]

You mean like giving male highlanders actual eyebrows? lol

Amongst other things, yep!

[VelKallor]

You DO remember that we DO indeed have massive graphic updates coming? They will be implemented over time, and that those were previewed in a Live Letter?

Yoshida also revealed that work is underway on Final Fantasy 14’s first-ever visual overhaul. The graphical enhancements will launch alongside the game’s next expansion, with more to follow. Both character and world visuals will be upgraded with higher-resolution textures, improved materials, and better lighting and shadow effects.

Patience.

[SturmChurro]

This isn't really the style of male character I like. I like them actually more around midlander's build (but taller), really just not as bulky as a highlander, but it'd still be nice to have more masculine options such as these for players who wanted them. Highlanders are a bit too stylized, in that they aren't really handsome, plus the whole eyebrow thing.

[aveyond-dreams]

You DO remember that we DO indeed have massive graphic updates coming? They will be implemented over time, and that those were previewed in a Live Letter?





Patience.

Please re-read my post in order to gain a better understanding of the issues male character customization as well as cast diversity are facing. All the textures and shadows in the world will do nothing to solve the issue of missing highlander eyebrows, their lack of straight noses, and the general lack of high quality facial hair among all male races.

[Jagick]

I remember really looking forward to making a more gruff male Viera when they came out, only to find that I was limited to about four different flavors of J-pop looking jailbait. Heroes in eastern media almost always tend to be younger, slender, or severely dehydrated shonen type characters. That's all well and good but some variety would be nice!

Then again I'm spoiled by Aion's character creator. You had sliders with numbers for almost everything. I'm not expecting black desert online tier customization but I'm sure everyone would enjoy not being a clone of roughly 1 out of every 4 or 5 other people.