Is a less humanoid race impossible?

[CuteWhisper]

It would be nice to have another small race to make more variety since Lalafells are the only ones.

[Ovenmitts]

I think they wanted to play it very safe with their first expac. ARR was still young for an MMO and they have limited resources. As the game ages I think its possible we will see them take some more risks with things like player models but for their first tentative steps I think they wanted to take it careful.

That said I actually don't think we will get a new race in the next expansion. Certainly, they haven't been hinting at anything.

Certainly a better choice if that were the case would be to choose viera over au ra. I mean, the latter definitely suited the dragon themed content better than bunny people, but appealing to that group with the cute aesthetic would be better than ruining these amazing dragons.

Now the chance for a cool, scaly, lizard dragon beast thing is slim to null unless they make additional subraces of existing ones.

[Eloah]

Well wouldn't the only thing that really needs to be modified is like headgear and maybe footwear? A lot of these races have humanoid torsos, arms, etc.

I'm quoting this to share some info I think a lot of people might be over looking or are just using the word in the wrong contect. Humanoid just means a shape that resembles a human in structure. If everyone is asking for less humanoid for a new race/tribe SE would have to resort to designs like dogs or birds, or something else. Right now every race/tribe in the game, except for dragons are humanoid, since their shape resembles a human. What people seem to really want is a less humanlike race and a more anthropomorphic one.

Just throwing this little tidbit out there, since all of the races/pictures of possible races shown/mentioned, bangaa, burmacian, ronso, amalj'aa, goblin, etc, are actually humanoid.

The only true non-humanoid playable character in the whole final fantasy series was RedXIII.

[Roegadyn_Bear]

Unless the Japanese playerbase actually pushes for and demands a bestial demi-human race, odds are we're never going to see one because our opinion tends to weigh less overall.

It sucks, but this is pretty common with a lot of Japanese MMOs or games.

I, for one, would gladly accept a race that isn't just another Hyur/Miqo'te/Au Ra with different animal accessories.

Mmmmm yes. The waifus. Although they say they don't want to make beastly people because of problems with armor, it's really an excuse to say why bother when using precious Dev resources on something a majority don't want would be like throwing money away.

A pity really. Everyone's gotta be supermodel gorgeous to live out that fantasy.

This, unfortunately. A good example is World of Warcraft, before the Burning Crusade. The Horde had no "pretty" races, which resulted in a heavily underpopulated faction. The moment they added Blood Elves, the prettiest character model in the game, that problem was fixed nearly overnight.

[Gumbercules]

an octopus race! don't even need armor just the ability to wield 8 weapons! =D But yeah even yoshi-P said he'd like beastly races but was hard to justify them, both for the armor issue and the culture, namely in japan. as bear pointed out even in the US with WoW horde saw a considerable increase in population when blood elves were introduced, hell think its still the most played race in wow. Also from what I understand in regards to dev team size they are comparatively small versus other triple A MMO (well namely i mean WoW) teams from what ive gathered, to the point that during the remake yoshi-p said he had those teams working on assets all the way up to 4.0 since he knew he was going to lose all that manpower :P

[Leep]

Just throwing this little tidbit out there, since all of the races/pictures of possible races shown/mentioned, bangaa, burmacian, ronso, amalj'aa, goblin, etc, are actually humanoid.

The only true non-humanoid playable character in the whole final fantasy series was RedXIII.

I suppose what I meant was "less human".

This, unfortunately. A good example is World of Warcraft, before the Burning Crusade. The Horde had no "pretty" races, which resulted in a heavily underpopulated faction. The moment they added Blood Elves, the prettiest character model in the game, that problem was fixed nearly overnight.

One of my biggest complaints for horde races aren't that they're "ugly", but more along the line of all the horde males have back problems or something, they're always hunched over.

[dekal]

The problem I see here too is that some of the players replying here have in my male characters. They would look badass, cool excellent, but when they won't consider it for female characters. A good example is fem roes. They are muscular, big, and very well proportional and yet ppl don't have them a good impression of them.

If both genders look beady would be cool, but the majority of players would most likely pick the kne with the best aesthetic look to emphasis the looks most would want outside game or show their similarity to their self.

[Felis]

Though last I read they said they brought in a few guys so who knows?

Will still not help if those guys are not for the gear design team.

[TankHunter678]

I think the best possibility for a more bestial look would probably involve making a class that can temporarily assume the form of something else.

Using Vincent from FF7 as an example. As his various limit breaks were transformations into various classic horror monsters.

The various forms would have to be designed such that their appearance is independent of gear.

If they wanted to take it further, they could make it so that the form you take is influenced by race you are. That way the class would not result in a bunch of people looking the same and would have some variance in the design.


In a sense there is already precedence. Ysayle could transform into Shiva without losing control of herself, the Heavens Ward each transformed into mini-primals while retaining their sense of self. Summoners are capable of calling forth a portion of the essence of primals, while Scholar (theoretically) calls forth a portion (and aspect) of one as a fairy, with LB3 even empowers the fairy to become its mini-primal angel true form to heal/revive the party.

With how much the WoL has done, how many lives that have been saved, and how relied upon they are, the conditions might be met that the WoL player could become a mini-primal (or already is on the path).

[Roegadyn_Bear]

One of my biggest complaints for horde races aren't that they're "ugly", but more along the line of all the horde males have back problems or something, they're always hunched over.

Which is what made them "ugly" to most people. Just like Troll toes makes the race unplayable to some people.