The Women FFXIV Needs

[SannaR]

The OP and those like them don't think ladies who look like Moenbrydas or the Farris of the world could ever be what some find as their ideal woman. Instead if they don't look like Jihl Nabaat or Beatrix then they're ugly or niche. They'd advocate for Mercy from Overwatch if she wasn't Blonde as that would just be adding more of what we already have even though I'm sure she'd meet the aesthetic they're wanting. It's funny that the OP basically took a femroe's body as what they want for lady Hrothgar but don't want the whole package cause then they'd be too ugly.

[aveyond-dreams]

There are marked differences between the standard femroe body model and the one that was used for the Bozjan queen. The Bozjan queen is hopefully an unfinished female Hrothgar base that was unable to be completed in time, and I intend to spend money to play the race if that is the case. The body is up to the standards I am looking for and is likely to look good in the equipment I use.

However, I will not be willing to play the race if they look like femroes. Gear appearance on them isn't so much a creativity issue as it is inherent problems with the femroe model that I have already explained. I am of the mindset that mistakes should be corrected rather than doubled down on. The design issues that male Hrothgar suffered from should not be repeated. It is important to consider the behavior of the playerbase in this regard. Introducing an attractive, long haired playable option would make female hrothgar much beloved, and I would rather see that happen rather than having them embraced only by a select few.

I consider women like Fran and Fang tough enough to serve as frontline fighters, along with the likes of Agrias Oaks, Lightning, and Celes. These are the kinds of women that appeal to the vast majority of Final Fantasy players, and even the latest rendition of Faris is also an excellent depiction of what they like to see in their video games. I was already turned off from Horizon Zero Dawn: Forbidden West due to the protagonist's looks, it is important to portray idealistic beauty in fantasy games because that is a major draw for people. I am given to understand that many npcs in that game also focused on realism to the point of oversaturation, which I also do not think is a good idea.

Overly masculine women, as has been said by others, may also cause the issue of drawing even more attention away from the male members of the cast which have their own set of problems. None of them are really fulfil the western hero fantasy many people would like to see, and transposing aspects of that onto a woman would not solve the issue of that male archetype's absence. This at least is understood in games like FFXVI, where the protagonist is designed in an appealing manner and so are the women of the cast. It would be to FFXIV's benefit to consider doing the same.

[Denishia]

Oh yes, let's have that Western European ideal feminine beauty body-type. Therefore I demand a Rubenesque plump body with some moderate fat rolls and a nice overall pear shape, with a bit of a double chin. And a really high forehead, as is the ideal going back all the way to the Middle Ages.

Okay, not actually joking. The body-type missing from the game for female characters is one without an hourglass waist, and my one complaint about some of the lovely FemRoe racial hairs is that the hairline starts too low for my tastes, but then because it's what I'm accustomed to and prefer, I didn't notice that Ysayle's forehead was considered abnormally large to other people. But even if the game won't give us Dulia's body-type (though that would be awesome to have that option), if the Hrothgals are less than half the body width of the Hrothgar males, it will feel like the mistake that the Roe already have. Yes, I like my Deni as she is now, but if the FemRoes were a bit wider like the Male Roes are, it would help to differentiate them from FElezen and Highlander Ladies. (And I cannot express my JOY that Bojza gave me cast centered on FemRoes both as villain, bit part characters, and backstory, even as I knew these positions really should have been filled by Hrothgal models)

[angienessyo]

If you couldn't play Horizon because of Alloy's appearance, you might be playing videogames for the wrong reasons. (I personally thought she was pretty, but I'm also a woman so my view of what we look like isn't unrealistic) Personally I think more options are good, we have more than enough very feminine options in this game. Having one more option that looks tough wouldn't bring player numbers down and doesn't take away from the feminine ladies we already have. You also can't really compare games with zero character customization like FF16 to FF14. People can make their character look how they want in this game, my miqo is definitely not feminine and uses an aesthetic I enjoy. I'm just here to raid and look cool while doing it, I don't need to be super attracted to my character. If female hrothgar look cool I'll probably switch, we'll see how it goes.

[IkaraGreydancer]

The following is my assessment of femroe.

2/4 faces I'd consider using on my female characters. While limited, they do have a few long hairstyles that are superior to what the original female models have from the ARR days.

However, due to the size of their bodies it is difficult for them to look like the other races in terms of a feminine silhouette and the way that clothes hug their bodies. Their proportions are simply too big. They don't look good in the NieR sets that I took so long to grind for so I refuse to fantasia my alts to one.

I do not believe we need to repeat this issue when it comes to female Hrothgar, when it is still possible to have a strong athletic build with a Viera body. Female models should embrace feminine characteristics and the ideal heroine fantasy. This is largely what Final Fantasy players prefer over the sort of "body type diversity" seen in games like WoW.

The body used for the Bozjan queen is an excellent choice for female Hrothgar and paired with a lion-like face and hairstyles of sufficient quality, it is possible for them to be successful at launch compared to the underwhelming reception that male Hrothgar had. It is important to compromise in this regard rather than fully embracing the nicheness of female beasts because of the target audience being Final Fantasy players whose interest trends by this point are largely predictable.

In any case, we need new female leads in the main cast. I miss Ryne, and neither Y'shtola or Alisae are all that impressive in terms of visual design. The fear of clipping must be overcome so we can have characters with Venat-length hair stay on as long term party members and their colors need to be diversified.

It seems you have a very...how would I say Hollywood model outlook on what women should look like and while that not an issue, it does lead to things being very boring and very samey. I'd think femhroth following the more strong side will be much better to offset the balance of cutesy we have in the game. Will the majority gravitate towards it? No but I'd rather they stay truer to what the race is suppose to be. (No shade to Viera but Viera in xiv look like Super models compared to their XII counterparts).

All in all, less waifu bait, more WOMEN.

[CrownySuccubus]

If we entertain the argument that SE should only cater to what people are more likely to buy or want, to the exclusion or delay of more niche options, then their first priority should be to double down on the cat boy/girl, bunny boy/girl and lala aesthetics because those are the most popular ones, and it ain't even close.

Even if we exclude the "Endgame" character numbers (which are even MORE skewed towards the aforementioned races), there are more people playing Miqote than Male Hyur, even with the hefty lead Male Hyurs have on every other race. There are 12.1 million people playing Miq, Lala and Viera. Even if we cheat and add every other race in the game combined (whether they're conventionally attractive or not), this only barely edges out those three races at 15.2 million. But again, the latter number includes buff FemRoes, along with any "effeminate" males of those races, so it's a bit of an overinflation.

If we're going with a "give the public what they want" argument, then they've very loudly spoken what that is.

(Edit: had to make a correction -- forgot to add Fem Hyurs to the numbers.)

[Doc_Seraph]

Xena The Warrior Princess and all the ululation that comes with her kupo <3 lol

[aveyond-dreams]

Xena The Warrior Princess and all the ululation that comes with her kupo <3 lol

I had to look up who that was but was pleasantly surprised by the result, I think her build strikes a good balance between feminine and rough/warriorlike and have no issues with a character of this design being in the game.

[Denishia]

That's Highlander.

And as somehow who used the Fantasia on my FemRoe solely to make her taller so that she wouldn't be mistaken as a Highlander - and that if you ignore ears there isn't a strong body-shape difference between Female Elezen, Hyur, Viera, and the FemRoes (Queen Gunnhildr's body suspected to be the Elezen not the FemRoe model to get that slightly more cinched waist, but you'd have to really know the difference to notice) - there's nothing NEW added into the game if the Hrothgals copy the exact same body type. Having the less human/more lion-beast face does add a distinct option, but there's something deeply frustrating if only one gender option is allowed to have meaningfully distinct bodies. There won't be enough options to please everyone, but isn't it better business-sense to add more than less?

And as someone who styles their character in outfits that I personally find to be quite high-femme, I have never thought of the FemRoe as 'masculine' - and the glory of having a range of glams mean that people can dress their characters to whatever style with perceived attractiveness and gender correlation as the gear is flagged for.

[Doc_Seraph]

I had to look up who that was but was pleasantly surprised by the result, I think her build strikes a good balance between feminine and rough/warriorlike and have no issues with a character of this design being in the game.

[IMG][/IMG]

Ahh the memories kupo <3 used to watch that show as a child. Lucy Lawless in those days was...kupo <3 lol