Female Hrothgar as a playable race. Show your support!

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I'm still holding out a tiny sliver of ridiculous delusional hope that we get bangaa as a playable race lmao

Im with ya there my Dude. Im not even a Bangaa Fan really, but I think they would be pretty awesome to have in FFXIV.
Or, pretty much any Non-Human & Humanoid Race seen in FF history.

Im VERY happy for the Hrothgar, but more then 1 Beast Option would be awesome to!

[Pip_Chick]

At this point in time I just want them to add female Hrothgar and to do it right. To give us ladies the female beast option just like guys have. I want SE to not beat around the bush and to add them properly, muzzle and everything. The head is all I care about and the body can be w/e as long as they are tall.

With the rest of the races, I would love another beast race, maybe a short one like burmecians, to give more options for people who want a short race, but don't like Lalafells. But I think this is not a possible thing to ask at the moment. It might be in the future after the game will get an engine update but bot now.

I am very grateful to get female Hrothgar in the first place and I hope the will please the most of people who want them. Even if they will have conventionally attractive bodies, I would be fine with that, even though I would prefer a more pear shape, fit silhouette. As long as I have at least 1 head option with a muzzle, I will be happy.

[ejunniim]

Complete with Tribe quests. Hopefully in the same expansion we also get Burmecians.

Oooh yes, Burmecians are amazing guys! Once upon a time, when I was just starting to play, had an assumption that Qiqirn is their local analogue. But still... still I would like to see them for real!

[Pip_Chick]

I would like to change the subject of appearance for a bit. I do feel like this is one of the main reasons for playing a race, but another important one is the animations!
What kind of animations would people like to see female Hrothgar have? I personally love the male ones, I think they represent a nice balance of adorable and fierce with a side of goofiness.
One of my favourite emotes that male Hrothgar have is the /blush I think it looks absolutely adorable! I do wonder in the context of their own species how would the /blowkiss emote from a female Hrothgar possibly look to create such a reaction? As well as how would their /blush look like in the context of the male /blowkiss?
What about their sitting poses? We know that all races got new sitting poses in 6.3. But my favourite sitting pose for the males is one of the OG, I am referring to the teddy bear sitting position! Do you guys think that the females will have something similar?
Or how about the new sleeping/waking-up animations? I think it would be so adorable if they literally take a similar pose to a sleeping lioness.

What about the overall feel of the animations themselves? For example, female Highlanders are very energetic, female Miquo'te have very cute and girly emotes, female Au'ra are more reserved and female Viera are more mannered. Do you guys think that the female Hrothgar will have very regal emotes or do you think they would subvert our expectations and make them more goofy and relaxed?
Also, SE can we get a "Hiss" emote? We need it! ... for lore reasons, of course!

I would love to hear what you think. We are so close I can barely contain my excitement!

BTW I am aware that the emotes are most likely already decided and probably done. But it is fun to speculate!

[DevonEllwood]

I really feel there's not enough appreciation for female beasts and I love them when they're included. I still remember my grumpy female troll I made in DAoC.

[CidHeiral]

What about the overall feel of the animations themselves? For example, female Highlanders are very energetic, female Miquo'te have very cute and girly emotes, female Au'ra are more reserved and female Viera are more mannered. Do you guys think that the female Hrothgar will have very regal emotes or do you think they would subvert our expectations and make them more goofy and relaxed?

Personally I would love if they were fairly stoic but with a feral edge that comes out sometimes. Going off of the art from the previous page I imagine them as being calm and cool under pressure as a counterpart to the males being hotheaded and goofy, but for some animations you'd see their bestial side shine through with a snarl or something.

[GTK0HLK]

Personally I would love if they were fairly stoic but with a feral edge that comes out sometimes. Going off of the art from the previous page I imagine them as being calm and cool under pressure as a counterpart to the males being hotheaded and goofy, but for some animations you'd see their bestial side shine through with a snarl or something.

I'd agree with this.., though I wouldn't be an expert in how well crafted the Wide Image of Female Hrothgars can be..,
______________________________________________
[though I'd imagine they'd have some emotes express the inside of the shell when not in a moment of FoF need..,]

it would depend on what you imagine them to be like in a world devoid of any outside influence(their basic nature..,)
their homeland outside of conflicts..,
and then their World today, under or no longer under the Garlean presence-be it a of their choice regardless or forced..,)

[that said, I'm probably overthinking it..,]

do you all feel they did well with the males to largely remove any fear of bad emotes on the Females..,?

[Midareyukki]

do you all feel they did well with the males to largely remove any fear of bad emotes on the Females..,?

...to me, the answer isn't a straightforward yes or no.

I'm sorry for the long post. I just need to explain how I've felt about Hrothgar over the years.

When Hrothgars came out, back when Shadowbringers was released, and even before that, I actually enjoyed the animations they had given us. There was weight behind them, because the race is so darn bulky on top of being animalistic. But they were also surprisingly gentlemanly and classically suave. Like, nothing's more cool than the Hrothgar /dote or /kneel. And I know /spectacles isn't race-locked but it fits them so well because of how cool they generally appeared to be. They looked knightly, and they looked respectable. Unlike other races whose mannerisms were obvious, Hrothgar had a mix of feral and rough animations, but also chivalrous ones.

I really liked that dynamic. For two reasons:
1 - At the time, we were under the assumption that they were in service of a Queen, which explained their more suave and knightly animations. Shadowbringers made use of Medieval Romance tropes1, especially with Thancred, with him being portrayed as a protector to a lady (Ryne) and pining over a woman he couldn't get (Minfilia). Thancred being written like this was meant to parallel Squall Leonhart, another Final Fantasy character who made use of Medieval Romance Tropes. And at the time, I thought that the dynamic was being used for Hrothgars too. Them being devoted to a Queen, Gunbreakers being her loyal protectors. That's what stuck out to me. The Gunbreaker quests show the same: Radovan is a protector figure to Sophie.
So... yes, to me, Hrothgars had a literary reason to be chivalrous: they were being portrayed as this huge hulking scary lion man with a heart of gold who'd protect their Queen out of love and duty.
2- Lions are often portrayed as symbols of courage, passion and kings. So to me, it was more than just having an animal guy around. It was all about using that image of a knightly lion to represent courage, devotion and regality. So yes, we have an animalistic tone, but also a very chivalrous knightly tone too.

But ever since then, and especially with Bozja, it just feels like they ignored that part. And not only did we not get stuff made to fit Hrothgars, it slowly became clear over the past year that Hrothgars were forever going to be just a backdrop idea in favour of streamlining the game and catering to popular options.

I don't know if Square Enix will continue the "animalistic knight" vibe Hrothgars have with their females. Because they had such a solid idea before. They had such a good concept that I loved and dove deep into. But now it seems they're not even caring about this race. So I don't know if that will still be around when they come out.
It just feels like they'll do what they did with Viera in Bozja and the Roegadyn lady in the Myths of the Realm quests, and the one female Hrothgar NPC we'll get is going to be a kogal fangirl.




1Romance is a Medieval Western Europe literary genre: There's a knight, and the object of their love, a lady. And the whole point of the story is how they court them and are protective of them, even die for them. But they can't ever have them. The love is seen as forbidden. The ideal relationship is that of a "loyal bodyguard".

[ejunniim]

So... yes, to me, Hrothgars had a literary reason to be chivalrous: they were being portrayed as this huge hulking scary lion man with a heart of gold who'd protect their Queen out of love and duty.[/SIZE]

Dare say, from my point of view, this is a great analysis, with which, moreover, I completely agree!
As said before, I found their emotions charming, and this combination of gallant, bestial and comically cute is a big hook that this race catched me with.
Besides, as a child, I was one of those guys who willingly play knights and defenders, selflessly bringing frogs and apples to the lady... ahem... well, now I have grown up, but yup: hrothgar's history is very touches me. Love it and want their legacy to be EXPRESSED (you got it ). Also, with your comparison, another great character came to mind that, think, many of us know: Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia. None of his features were distorted by the fact that he looked like a lion. He was one of the symbols of nobility for me and my comrades of youth.

[ejunniim]

Hrothgar men are protectors and women are queens. Possible queens. I'm really interested in how exactly they will be presented to the community, but believe and hope in the best possible way. After all, devs had time to think about their lines, and the source for that. Bozja's story is a good part, and don't forget about the creativity of the players!
In my imagination, about the same as described by Cid, it is quite vividly drawn:

Personally I would love if they were fairly stoic but with a feral edge that comes out sometimes.