New gearsets preview is a disappointment

[elysiontower]

I'm frankly just letting my sub run out and not coming back at this point. I'm latino, many of my friends are either indigenous or latino (if not both!) and we were all cautiously hopeful for Dawntrail after promises from the development team to take cultural sensitivity further into account after past mistakes. We hardly get to see our cultures represented in any good faith without egregious stereotyping and fetishization, so we hoped this expac would be a chance to see what that could look like after proper research and due dilligence.

Everything after the first half of Dawntrail has been a letdown on that front, but the irresponsibility of the gear sets are the final nail in the coffin. Seeing conquistador uniforms side-by-side with indigenous patterning and fabrics as if somehow these are the same culture on the same side of history has been the last bit that finally sets in "wow, they bothered to /lie/ about caring."

I'm not new to video games or media. I wasn't born yesterday. I know no one cares to represent peoples whose cultures have been obliterated by imperialism and slavery, not when the ones putting us in their games are to this day directly benefitting from the result of those attrocities. If we don't make anything ourselves, no one is going to care to see our lives the way we do. Whatever. That's not good and I want change, but I can stomach what I have to for some entertainment after a long day of working a job where my life already doesn't matter.

What makes the difference is transparency and honesty. I don't want companies to feed me lies about caring just to not follow it up. I don't want the false hope that something will be different, I want /real/ hope. I want a backbone and commitment from a team that claims to care. If you don't, then don't say you do! But if CBU3 or anyone else is actually sincere about wanting to enrich the world of FFXIV with the cultural reality of the diverse players that have supported the game to become what it is today, I would like to see actual sensitivity going forward about what they're really putting in their game.

I don't know how realistic it is to get this newest armor set changed with the patch release in a few weeks and the limited resources and budget this game already gets. But the heart of the matter is, unless something changes for the attitude they take with development to match the attitude they tell us they have, I'm not coming back.

This is a very longwinded essay but this has happened so much more since DT release, /after/ they said they'd do better, that I felt it important to express here.

[Miralleux]

What happened to the "cultural sensitivity consultants" this company so boldly boasted having for this expansion? Surely this wouldn't have been greenlit if they were still being utilized.

This gear has got to go. I don't care if you give us another reskin of something older, but to basically spit in the face of the LatAm players you tried to connect with by implementing armors directly inspired by Spanish colonizers? Horrendous.

[LeithValkyrian]

Alright giving new gear options is being culturally inappropriate now because something happened 400 years ago which happens to similarly match the current expansion location relative to the real world.

Must be exhausting to constantly be trying to find ways to be offended.

So would you be okay with Gestapo outfits with little red armbands if it was referencing something from 400 years ago instead of 80? Please get real.

[Altina_Orion]

I'm also offended on the behalf of others! /s

[Dagny]

Considering the emphasis that was put on hiring sensitivity consultants at fanfest, I'm surprised that these made it into the game. Did SE drop them after the base expac was done, deciding they've done their part?

These need to be replaced. Put in a placeholder old set for now and update them later. There's genuine harm and hurt that can be done by putting these sets in the game, especially since I know SE knows they have a rather passionate and underappreciated Latin American base.

[LegendWait]

So would you be okay with Gestapo outfits with little red armbands if it was referencing something from 400 years ago instead of 80? Please get real.

Quickly jumping to Godwin point I see.

Alright, fine, cancel 7.3 its postponed 4 weeks because glam issues.

[Altina_Orion]

So would you be okay with Gestapo outfits with little red armbands if it was referencing something from 400 years ago instead of 80? Please get real.

Yes lmao. 80 years ago some people still remember and had a major impact on modern history.

400 years ago is before my grandmas grandmas grandmas grandmas grandma.

[Raikai]

I like the new sets, they complement really well the other Turali gear. Which obviously we'd get stuff with that theme more often since we had a lot of Eastern themed items in Stormblood, for example.

What bothers me is the senseless glamour restriction between armor sets. The one that we believe it's aiming, would be absolutely perfect for the rapier wielder, since it reminds me a lot of the 3 Musketeers.

I also find surprising that they just slap in a couple of shoulderpads and greaves to call fending 'tanking armor'.

[Rahela]

The most charitable interpretation for this I can think of is “the dev team designed these outfits for minor antagonistic NPCs to wear; presumably for a flashback in this patch or later down the line but decided to let the players have them first” (a la the Orthodox sets for the High House founders or the Darbar set for that one Garlean senator I forget the name of) but. Even then. It’s such a bad look for this expansion especially and it’s bewildering that nobody caught it.

[ThreadOfFate]

Yes lmao. 80 years ago some people still remember and had a major impact on modern history.

400 years ago is before my grandmas grandmas grandmas grandmas grandma.

yeah you're so right, it's totally insane to note that stuff that happened 400 years ago might perhaps have some immense lasting impact on entire countries or even continents. only history that happened in the last century matters, clearly. anyone still feeling the effects of genocide or massive waves of deaths of their ancestors should just get over it and expect everyone to hug and shake hands and reference atrocities that happened to people in their bloodlines with no consideration.

read a fucking book. christ.