The Women FFXIV Needs

[Senn]

I really have a preference for longer hairstyles, and the clipping is secondary, since I would do the same. My au ra always use the same long racial hair. Have to emphasize *quality* longer hairs nowadays though. It's too bad for the players that want more shorter masculine styles, because it seems like it would be one or the other, instead of both for both.

I do notice a lot of the current hairstyle options for men lean more towards feminine, and I really hope more masculine/shorter hairstyles get added for male characters (and I guess for female characters as well) to balance things out. A variety of options is always a good thing.
Might be a surprise to some... but I would actually enjoy seeing more rugged/masculine looking characters as well.

[Fawkes]

FFXIV already has the woman it needs.

[Rokke]

I feel like light hair + fair skin is hardly a female exclusive problem amongst the scions. Its like the default go-to for this game's art team, Graha and the lalas are the only main scions that escape this combo lol

That said, I'd agree it'd be fun to see some more vibrant/fantasy flavored hair and outfits like Rydia in our main/reoccurring characters. Anime protag aesthetics are always fun.

[Misplaced_Marbles]

weird half-shaved options that look like something out of a post apocalyptic survival game..

Hey, i enjoy putting on a bright, multicolored mohawk to get in the spirit of a post-apocalyptic world.

[Merrigan]

Nah, no Aerith, thanks. I hate this character for her band personnality.

I would definitly love to have more "particular" features possible though. Aquiline noses for example - give a more unique face, while being charming. I'm a little tired of having the choice between a doll, a russian model... and another doll. I also regret the total impossibility to be androgynous (while male have this possibility with each race) if you're not playing a roe.

[Darthgummibear]

I actually wasn't a huge fan of Aerith like so many others seem to be. She always seem to be a bit too floaty and esoteric for my taste.

I would love me some fang, though. That needs to happen.

[MikkoAkure]

No discussion regarding female character design would be complete without addressing a key issue that seems to hinder them: the fear of clipping and long hair. Unfortunately over the course of the game we have seen clipping be used as a means to explain why certain designs are impossible or improbable. However, especially given how well received the visual design for Venat was, I strongly believe that it is essential to look into having more npcs with such hair as well as offering similar hairstyles for players to use themselves. Clipping is a small price to pay for more unique and varied designs. This can be applied not only to female customization, but also to the issue concerning Hrothgar hairstyles as well.

The following are some iconic female characters whose designs I’d like to go into depth on as to why they work well and what they bring to the table in terms of visual variety. Given the oversaturation of blonds/light haired women in the cast, I chose to exclude such characters from the following list:

It's a bit weird to call out character designs for women in FFXIV and mostly concentrate on hair color and length of all things.

The game's lighting sucks when it comes to darker-skinned characters and that really needs to be fixed which I think will make SE make more dark-skinned characters, both male and female. Almost every male race has an "old" option, but that's absent for female character options and NPCs will go from looking like a 16 year old despite being 40, to straight to being a raisin and using the same old face common in NPCs.

One thing I think the game does do decent in, is that not every female NPC in the game is some sort of idealized, submissive princess, which plagues a lot of fantasy games. While she definitely does need more characterization since "mysterious" isn't a personality trait that can fully carry a character, Y'shtola doesn't need to be "relatable" to be a good character. I think they can give her more traits that don't necessarily make her relate to the broadest possible audience. If it's not a submissive girly character, writers often swing wildly into the tomboy, aggressive archetype (but who will be submissive as soon as she falls in love with the main character) as if those are the only two type of women who exist. While FFXIV does lean into each direction I think there's at least more variation than most.

The thing we don't have a lot of though are women who don't have an explanation for being bad/villainous. Yotsuyu was a good villain character, but we had to be spoonfed an explanation of why she's bad unlike a lot of the other villainous characters who are just allowed to be bad from the get go and don't get any redemption later. Fordola similarly got her own sob story. It's as if the writers treat being good/nice to people is the "womanly default" and any female character who doesn't fit that needs an explanation why and we need to feel bad for them. While there are some, a lot of them are locked in the side quests and not in the MSQ.

[SentioftheHoukai]

Who started a fight? Theodric said that people "get too focused on fringe aesthetics", and I disagreed as politely as I could.

If anybody's starting fights here, it's you.

Let's see... Getting focused on only some parts of Theo's post like Fringe, Conventional, Manly Muscly Men, and Conventionally Hourglass Figure Women. Also, "disagreed as politely as you could" implies you'd argue more rudely if you thought you could get away with it here. I'm simply tired of some who act like wanting more conventional options isn't welcome in game or on the forums for some reason. Seeing as how there are nearly no such options in game that don't SUCK or have obvious and easily fixed flaws (eyebrows, anyone?) adding such "manly men and conventional women" is literally only an improvement. That's all it can be. It's not as though putting them in is somehow removing the options that are already there.

Sure, that's cool. But Theodric's statement was that some people are "too focused on fringe aesthetics". I don't agree with him. If wider variety is what we want, then people should feel free to demand as much variety as they can get. Especially in a thread discussing the types of women the game needs or should have.

How exactly is wanting a bigger variety not what Theodric said, though? As people have said repeatedly, manly men should be in CC and are a neglected demographic. Stonewalling this is actually against variety and inclusiveness. This is counterproductive, and as I've said adding options need not mean getting rid of what's already present.

Anyway, respond if you must. I'm tired of this song and dance.

[KariTheFox]

It's a bit weird to call out character designs for women in FFXIV and mostly concentrate on hair color and length of all things.

Yeah, it's uh... interesting that the thread about men focuses on a wider variety of body types and facial features - but the main thrust of this one is more outfits and hairstyles to put on the same young and conventionally attractive template. If that's the problem, just have Y'shtola change outfits every patch.

Or we could actually talk about more diverse options for body types, skin tones, and women older than 20-something. Without those being dismissed as "fringe aesthetics".

[CrownySuccubus]

Let's see... Getting focused on only some parts of Theo's post like Fringe, Conventional, Manly Muscly Men, and Conventionally Hourglass Figure Women.

....I focused on the word fringe" because that word was literally the key word to Theodric's point. He claimed that people were "too focused on fringe aesthetics", which therefore means that they should be focused on more conventional ones. I find this to be a problem, and I don't see how it's offensive NOR extreme for me to say that I'm against the idea that people need to focus more on what videogames treat as "non-fringe" body types.

Also, "disagreed as politely as you could" implies you'd argue more rudely if you thought you could get away with it here. I'm simply tired of some who act like wanting more conventional options isn't welcome in game or on the forums for some reason.

Pretty sure nobody said either of those things, though.

Seeing as how there are nearly no such options in game that don't SUCK or have obvious and easily fixed flaws (eyebrows, anyone?) adding such "manly men and conventional women" is literally only an improvement. That's all it can be. It's not as though putting them in is somehow removing the options that are already there.

As I said earlier in the thread, adding more body types besides "Roe", "Lala" and "Conventional" is also literally only an improvement. There is zero downside to it. Let people play a badass grandma or rotund, feminine ball of death if they want.

How exactly is wanting a bigger variety not what Theodric said, though? As people have said repeatedly, manly men should be in CC and are a neglected demographic. Stonewalling this is actually against variety and inclusiveness. This is counterproductive, and as I've said adding options need not mean getting rid of what's already present.

Then what is your purpose in getting offended, here? Manly men are a neglected demographic but, what, fat or old people of either gender aren't? What Theodric said is that he feels players need to focus less on "fringe aesthetics", and I disagree that that's the case. They should focus on whatever they want. SE doesn't tend to give grease unless the wheels are squeaky enough, so let people give as much focus to anything they want in the game, no matter how fringe.

If both you and he want more variety, like I do, then great. Fabulous. That's why I don't agree with the argument that fans are "too focused" on it.

Anyway, respond if you must.

Cool.