Barefoot

[Niwashi]

Actually, there's a more fundamental reason for the sandals when barefooted. The shape of your foot. The default 'shoe' is done that way because the height of the character is based on the character's heels. This means that the character models are basically designed around always wearing shoes or boots, even when 'barefooted'. If they changed the mesh, your character would magically have heels which didn't touch the ground, or rather deformed feet to accommodate the heel position.

This was a theory someone suggested when speculating about possible reasons, and people have been repeating it ever since as though it were actually true. But the really wide variety of different heel heights already in the game clearly prove that it's not. SE is already adjusting for different shoes with different heel heights. This would simply be one more, with a height of 0.

(I'm pretty sure they take the shortcut of shortening/lengthening your calves to make up the difference rather than changing your overall height as would happen in real life, but that would work here, too. So what if our calves end up an eighth of an inch longer when barefoot than they are with flats, a half inch longer than with the default sandals, and a couple inches longer than they do with heeled shoes? All the rest of that variation is already there.)

[Callinon]

So I used to think the "no bare feet" thing was because the character models were incapable of displaying flat feet (so a barefoot character would be walking around on the balls of their feet for some reason), but no.. there are several pieces of foot equipment that flatten out your feet. So it's really just a matter of taking that standing pose and lowering the character's z-position by a few pixels to put them on the floor. The sound effects for bare feet walking on things is definitely a wrinkle since it'd be strange to have a barefoot character clacking around on stone or something like that when none of the character races have hooves.

Still I think it'd be a worthwhile thing for them to work on, especially with Stormblood's emphasis on underwater activities. Wearing sandals while doing that is weird.

[Adire]

I suggested this a while back and it got shot down hard by most people. Glad to see people are more open minded to it now.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I don't really... see the appeal of having barefoot characters. ^^; Is it one of those foot fetish type things? I dunno, I'd rather see bigger and more natural looking hips come first.

[Hen-Hen]

I don't really... see the appeal of having barefoot characters. ^^; Is it one of those foot fetish type things? I dunno, I'd rather see bigger and more natural looking hips come first.

It's all aesthetics. I've never noticed anything wrong with the hips? is this one of those hip-fetish type things?

Facetiousness aside, I think more people would appreciate the option of being able to go barefoot, and not have to wear stupid sandals while swimming, than would notice a different hip shape, that different outfits change the outline of anyway.

[Adire]

I don't really... see the appeal of having barefoot characters. ^^; Is it one of those foot fetish type things? I dunno, I'd rather see bigger and more natural looking hips come first.

It has nothing to do with a fetish. How many people do you know who run around in heeled sandals at all times in all places when not wearing other shoes? It's as if shoes are on Eorzeans at birth.

It's a matter of immersion and common sense.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I don't really... see the appeal of having barefoot characters. ^^; Is it one of those foot fetish type things? I dunno, I'd rather see bigger and more natural looking hips come first.

It's an aesthetic appeal. Many people find it strange seeing their character wear sandals in situations you'd normally be barefoot. In fact, it's incredibly awkward to swim with them on. As for the character model, I've long thought feet need to redone entirely. They don't exactly look proper. If it meant some occasional floating, I doubt many would care. That all said, I doubt they bother.

[Iromi]

I support this ^^ Would love to be barefoot for swimming at least ^_^

[Seig345]

Gau in FFVI ran around barefoot all the time, and he was a "beast" on the veldt (har har)!

Wait... Gau was also basically a Blue Mage... Maybe they're reserving bare feet for Blue Mage AF...

BLUE MAGE CONFIRMED!

*foams at mouth*

[Hen-Hen]

Gau in FFVI ran around barefoot all the time, and he was a "beast" on the veldt (har har)!

Wait... Gau was also basically a Blue Mage... Maybe they're reserving bare feet for Blue Mage AF...

BLUE MAGE CONFIRMED!

*foams at mouth*

I think I've just discovered why I want barefoot glams so bad.