So New years event npc is a viera boy because the rabbit year...

[TheMightyMollusk]

Fel Cleave intensifies

[Midareyukki]

It's a shame.

I genuinely wonder if it's because of how hard the bozja storyline was slammed by critics. Like, what if instead of attributing it to poor presentation, a dull buildup, a writing style that barely tries to pull you in, and an unsatisfying (borderline enraging) conclusion, they just assume people hated it because there were lots of burly hrothchads? Can you imagine? What if they perceive boybuns as just an easy win? A slam dunk, if you will, because their perception of male viera fans is "oh they'll just enjoy anything," but the one time they went all in on the hroth stuff they got panned so hard that they had to kind of finish it in a tweet and the writer behind it hopped on a train and left.

This isn't a call to never be critical again, mind you. This is just me loosely wondering if we'll ever see serious hroth centered side-content ever again or if bozja will have left such a sour taste in everyone's mouth that the devs will be too paranoid to utilize anything but dainty pretty boys from here on out unless it's hildibrand. God, can you imagine an MSQ quest where we force feed Graha a fantasia and turn him into a hrothgar instead? Because something in the plot demands it, of course. Or maybe into a male roegadyn? Or a male au ra? Haha. Imagine. Anyway

I have several theories, a lot of which might only be true in hindsight.

- The devs genuinely don't care to listen about feedback about XYZ content and prefer ABC content, thus they cherrypick what they want to focus on and make up excuses for the rest
- The devs were too busy dealing with lost time and resources to Covid and FF16 (don't even @ me, we know we lost members of the dev team to 16, so production for 14 was definitely affected) to properly make something. And now that that got screwed over they'd rather just bulldoze through it like nothing happened.
- The writer leaving the project due to creative differences was problematic as it was and led to issues where they didn't have anyone willing to touch on the story from then on
- They wrote themselves into a corner and likely don't know what to make of it and its future
- They weren't expecting the storyline to factor into anything else
- Feedback from fans overall was lukewarm at best, so they just ditched it and assumed that lack of popularity for an item was tantamount to every time we told them "X content isn't popular, stop caring for it"...

None may be true, every one may be partly true, who knows.

One thing is certain though. There's no major representation for Hrothgar. Not even Runar counts, as Y'shtola literally never says his name out loud despite being her main motivation for searching for a way to return to the First. It's not curiosity alone that drives her, she always specifies to people who never met Runar that she wants to keep a promise. And even if he did, he's literally off in another world. Viera at least have Erenville as a representative of their race (gender nonwithstanding) in the Source. And they got him when Male Viera numbers hadn't reached the same amount as Hrothgar yet; they do now, according to the census, but even earlier at the middle of this year during the Hrothgar hairstyle fiasco, they did not outnumber us.
So Bozja? They wash their hands of the whole deal. Even freaking Eureka had more of an impact in Sharlayan dialogues, whereas Bozja doesn't in Garlemald. Which is odd because THAT'S WHERE CID'S DAD DIED.

This, coupled with how they've handled the race overall, just goes to show favouritism and neglect.

It's just a shame that Square Enix isn't giving half a darn about this race. If they even cared, communication would have been far better and certain things would have been handled better. But alas: no such thing happened. And odds are no such thing will.

Oh well. Happy new year's I guess. I just hope that it won't take 3 more "happy new year"-es after Femgars are released for us to see anything done for us again.

[Atelier-Bagur]

It's a shame.

I genuinely wonder if it's because of how hard the bozja storyline was slammed by critics. Like, what if instead of attributing it to poor presentation, a dull buildup, a writing style that barely tries to pull you in, and an unsatisfying (borderline enraging) conclusion, they just assume people hated it because there were lots of burly hrothchads? Can you imagine? What if they perceive boybuns as just an easy win? A slam dunk, if you will, because their perception of male viera fans is "oh they'll just enjoy anything," but the one time they went all in on the hroth stuff they got panned so hard that they had to kind of finish it in a tweet and the writer behind it hopped on a train and left.

This isn't a call to never be critical again, mind you. This is just me loosely wondering if we'll ever see serious hroth centered side-content ever again or if bozja will have left such a sour taste in everyone's mouth that the devs will be too paranoid to utilize anything but dainty pretty boys from here on out unless it's hildibrand. God, can you imagine an MSQ quest where we force feed Graha a fantasia and turn him into a hrothgar instead? Because something in the plot demands it, of course. Or maybe into a male roegadyn? Or a male au ra? Haha. Imagine. Anyway

I mean its kinda telling when you see a TON and I mean a BUTTLOAD of positive reception and love to somebody like Erenville whom had such a miniscule role in EW where people attribute him to be such a great character when really he doesnt have much interesting going on for him. He's cool and he has an appealing look for sure but what about the other minor characters whom had just as much screentime if not even more. What about Julius, what about Matsya, what about Nidhana or Kokkol or Wilfsunn and Bloewyda? Little to no attention is given to them in the community despite having the same amount of impact as Erenville.

Oh well its just telling that people really only care about a character if they conform to the standards of whats "hot" anyway. I try to not let it bother me too much.

[Midareyukki]

what about Matsya, what about Nidhana

Hey, I prefer those two over any other NPC in the Endwalker MSQ

Nidhana is just the best person ever and deserves all the hugs. Damned be Fandango for putting her in that tower.
And Matsya had one of the most heart-stirring scenes in the whole expansion, especially after something done for the shock as Vanaspati and the mother bit.

[MikkoAkure]

Could just be because Hrothgar aren't native to Othard, where the Far-East and the whole group celebrating the holiday are from, but Viera are. Bozja is in Ilsabard and their culture is based on the Slavs. Last I checked, Bosnia doesn't celebrate Far-Eastern New Years traditions.


I don't think there's bias against Hrothgar from the devs and that feels like this is creeping into conspiracy theory territory. Last expansion had a whole storyline surrounding the race and their homeland on the Source. The Viis may have had some MSQ spotlight, but the Viera as a whole have not. Erenville and Loifa did pop up in EW, but so did playable male Viera so it makes sense for them to sprinkle a couple into the game here and there, otherwise there would be no male Viera NPCs at all.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Hey, I prefer those two over any other NPC in the Endwalker MSQ

Nidhana is just the best person ever and deserves all the hugs. Damned be Fandango for putting her in that tower.
And Matsya had one of the most heart-stirring scenes in the whole expansion, especially after something done for the shock as Vanaspati and the mother bit.

Those two arkasadora are the most precious things ever to have existed in this game. And they're flippin elephant people. I love them~

[Midareyukki]

Could just be because Hrothgar aren't native to Othard, where the Far-East and the whole group celebrating the holiday are from, but Viera are. Bozja is in Ilsabard and their culture is based on the Slavs. Last I checked, Bosnia doesn't celebrate Far-Eastern New Years traditions.


I don't think there's bias against Hrothgar from the devs and that feels like this is creeping into conspiracy theory territory. Last expansion had a whole storyline surrounding the race and their homeland on the Source. The Viis may have had some MSQ spotlight, but the Viera as a whole have not. Erenville and Loifa did pop up in EW, but so did playable male Viera so it makes sense for them to sprinkle a couple into the game here and there, otherwise there would be no male Viera NPCs at all.

Technically, Viera are as far removed from Othard as they can get culture-wise due to them being so isolated.

Also, they come from the lands around Ivalice, which is loosely based on India and some additional middle eastern stuff. They're otherwise cut off from Othard via mountains, the nation of Valnain and, again, isolation.

Either way, I don't think Hrothgar nor Viera could even wear the New Years helmets and it would be a bit awkward to have an NPC running the thing who can't wear the quest reward regardless.

They can't. It's why there's no NY Helmet this time >: D

Also o,o I thought Valnain itself was the region, and that Léa Monde was the city.

[MikkoAkure]

Technically, Viera are as far removed from Othard as they can get culture-wise due to them being so isolated.

Also, they come from the lands around Ivalice, which is loosely based on India and some additional middle eastern stuff. They're otherwise cut off from Othard via mountains, the nation of Valnain and, again, isolation.

Valnain isn't a nation, that's a port city that's still a part of Dalmasca and would probably have Viera in it as well. Living in a port city near-ish to Hingashi is still closer than any Hrothgar gets to the Far-East. Especially considering the closest port city to Valnain is Kugane, where the event NPCs are from.

Either way, I don't think Hrothgar nor Viera could even wear the New Years helmets and it would be a bit awkward to have an NPC running the thing who can't wear the quest reward regardless.

Also o,o I thought Valnain itself was the region, and that Léa Monde was the city.

Dalmasca is so large that the Garleans made 2 regions of it: Dalmasca Superior and Dalmasca Inferior. That might be what you're thinking of. Valnain shows up on maps and is also in cutscenes in the Bozja quests. It was the IVth Legion's capital as well and where Schrodinger's legatus, Gabranth is simultaneously dead and not dead until a story comes back to it, or not. It was described in the lore book as the major port city at the very least and is also in the jungle where the Viera live too.

From what I remember, Lea Monde was supposed to be a regional capital, but it was never on the maps and seems to have disappeared from the narrative in favor of Valnain.

[SannaR]

The Bugyo isn't even the Viera. It's a Male Roe.

[Slayer25c]

o_o what happened here...

Hats lol always hats