Letter From the Producer Live Part LXXIX - 24 September 2023 - Summary and Discussion

[Theodric]

It's disappointing but not surprising that they chose to 'censor' Thaliak...

A rather strange decision given that shirtless athletic men are rather well liked in general and they had no qualms depicting Nophica as being as busty as her original artwork depicted as well as Yoshi-P actively joking about it.

This is what we wanted:



This is what we're getting:

[Aldath]

It's disappointing but not surprising that they chose to 'censor' Thaliak...

A rather strange decision given that shirtless athletic men are rather well liked in general and they had no qualms depicting Nophica as being as busty as her original artwork depicted as well as Yoshi-P actively joking about it.

My wife is gonna be so angry lol. SE became surprisingly prudish for a Japanese company. Their culture hasn't as many taboos as ours when it comes to humor and character design. I'm not a fan of other hand having every female portrayed as a 14 year old with gigantomastia, but it feels weird when there's mega boob's Minfilia with her butt window, Nophica Mc Bonkers, and CGI Lyse whose breast reduction doesn't stop her from being super bouncy.

And then this dude can't be shirtless.

[Renathras]

It's disappointing but not surprising that they chose to 'censor' Thaliak...

Not arguing against you, just an amusing thought: So THIS is what people mean by "thirsty". (Since he's pouring that magic water, I mean. And...I mean that literally, not in innuendo. I legit have no reason why "thirsty" is a term other than either some innuendo or some metaphorical sense...)

Males get all kinds of body types, women are all models (or lalafells).

Honestly, both sides get it bad. It's not just FFXIV, pop culture in general.

Women are...
Either little girls, models with a perfect hourglass of all heights from 4 foot to 8 foot tall, or "step on me please" mommies.
(Lala, everyone else)

Men are...
Either little boys shorter than 4 foot, or (all taller than 6 foot) shreded athletes, underwear models with body fat measured in negative numbers, hyper-masculine powerlifting gods, hyper-masculine powerlifting gods with a bit of dad bod pooch, or hyper-masculine powerlifting gods with negative number body fat.
Lala, Miq/Hyur, Elezen/Viera, Roe, Hroth, Au Ra

At least females have the Au Ra female to bridge the gap a bit. With men, we get little boy blue or never leaves the gym + taller than Goliath as our two options. I was kinda hoping the Viera boys would be like the Au Ra females to stand in the gap between Lala and Miq, but no such luck, instead we get Miq boys with bunny ears who relaxed the angry hands.

I remember in WoW people complaining the Blood Elf males were too effeminate, then I saw them and was like "Guys, they're more buff than most of the playerbase, what are you talking about?"

.

Both genders have unrealistic standards these days, not just [st]men[/st] women. And while that's great for the people who want power fantasies, it sucks for people that want to have an avatar more reflecting their irl selves. I've just come to terms with the fact I have to choose dwarf or giant, and being irl short, I go with the former.

Nophica Mc Bonkers

XD

EDIT2:

Im jealous nobody's called me cute in the official forums before

It's because you're cute!!

[Lauront]

I remember in WoW people complaining the Blood Elf males were too effeminate, then I saw them and was like "Guys, they're more buff than most of the playerbase, what are you talking about?"

On that, agreed. Always found that really odd, they're already buff compared to the usual wiry elf (partly what I like about them) and no doubt the vast majority of an MMO's playerbase. You'd need to be in good shape to get and maintain a build like that. I preferred their V shaped build compared to some of the overly blocky options in the game and the reworked models removed most of the weird animation issues I had with them.

[aveyond-dreams]

It's disappointing but not surprising that they chose to 'censor' Thaliak...

A rather strange decision given that shirtless athletic men are rather well liked in general and they had no qualms depicting Nophica as being as busty as her original artwork depicted as well as Yoshi-P actively joking about it.

This is what we wanted:



This is what we're getting:

Reminds me of his comments back before male viera were added, so this hardly comes as a surprise.

[MikkoAkure]

It's disappointing but not surprising that they chose to 'censor' Thaliak...

Thaliak's official description is just "a reserved scholar holding an ashen staff". His gigantic statue in Sharlayan itself has different clothing than the Ewer card. From the trailer I can't tell if the white on his sides is a shirt or if he is indeed mostly shirtless with a sort of black front thing, I think it can go either way.


In any case it seems people are just nitpicking at things they weren't going to like anyway and coming up with more excuses to tell themselves the game is bad to justify the continued opinions they've been having and to make another sensationalized post on the forums.

The trailer showed another new male god (Oschon?) with no shirt on so it's not like they're suddenly censoring things in the middle of the story.

[Theodric]

Thaliak's official description is just "a reserved scholar holding an ashen staff". His gigantic statue in Sharlayan itself has different clothing than the Ewer card. From the trailer I can't tell if the white on his sides is a shirt or if he is indeed mostly shirtless with a sort of black front thing, I think it can go either way.


In any case it seems people are just nitpicking at things they weren't going to like anyway and coming up with more excuses to tell themselves the game is bad to justify the continued opinions they've been having and to make another sensationalized post on the forums.

The trailer showed another new male god (Oschon?) with no shirt on so it's not like they're suddenly censoring things in the middle of the story.

I literally linked the official artwork of Thaliak in my post that you quoted and compared it to how Nophica's suggestive artwork was carried over without any changes whatsoever. I'm also a gay guy, so I think you can cease your attempts to try and brush off my desire for eye candy as 'nitpicking'.

As another poster so kindly pointed out:

This may come as a surprise to you but there are people who play this game that are attracted to men.

[MikkoAkure]

I literally linked the official artwork of Thaliak in my post that you quoted and compared it to how Nophica's suggestive artwork was carried over without any changes whatsoever. I'm also a gay guy, so I think you can cease your attempts to try and brush off my desire for eye candy as 'nitpicking'.

The Ewer card is an in-universe depiction, not SE's official artwork. Other gods have been pretty close to that or other in-game depictions and others further away. Llymlaen doesn't look like her statues hardly at all.

You're also not the only person who's attracted to men who has an opinion. I'm attracted to men but I don't have the same opinion that you do and I don't think the game is censoring anything or has an agenda. There is literally another shirtless god in the trailer but you focus in on 1 dude to make some sort of point. How is that not nitpicking?

[Theodric]

The Ewer card is an in-universe depiction, not SE's official artwork. Other gods have been pretty close to that or other in-game depictions and others further away. Llymlaen doesn't look like her statues hardly at all.

You're also not the only person who's attracted to men who has an opinion. I'm attracted to men but I don't have the same opinion that you do and I don't think the game is censoring anything or has an agenda. There is literally another shirtless god in the trailer but you focus in on 1 dude to make some sort of point. How is that not nitpicking?

I think you're just moving the goalposts. For starters, I used the phrase 'censor' complete with quotation marks to reflect that I was questioning rather than claiming it to be the reason for the change. Secondly, when using the official forum for the intended primary purpose - leaving feedback related to the game - nobody is obligated to seek permission or approval from specific posters when raising their points.

They depicted Nophica's busty design in all its glory with minimal alterations but decided to take what is arguably the most conventionally attractive male counterpart and alter it significantly. If you're not bothered by that? Fair enough - nobody is demanding that you change your mind. They're simply expressing their disappointment at a rather obvious bit of fan-service being overlooked.

[Lauront]

Thaliak's official description is just "a reserved scholar holding an ashen staff". His gigantic statue in Sharlayan itself has different clothing than the Ewer card. From the trailer I can't tell if the white on his sides is a shirt or if he is indeed mostly shirtless with a sort of black front thing, I think it can go either way.

Still bare-chested there. I'd like to see them pull this excuse for Nophica.

In any case it seems people are just nitpicking at things they weren't going to like anyway and coming up with more excuses to tell themselves the game is bad to justify the continued opinions they've been having and to make another sensationalized post on the forums.

Very sensationalised and weirdly aggressive and patronising comment in response to feedback on what was in the trailer. I'm sure he knows better than you what he actually thinks.