Does FF14 needs a new small race?

[Hito-Shura]

Let's face it though... A short but ugly/old/beastly looking race will never make it to FF14. They will never appeal to the Japanese audience and I am part of those who do not want his small race to look ugly. We are playing a Final Fantasy game, gnomes and dwarves have no place in its universe. It has been proven countless times that an ugly race is less popular and only appeal to a minority. Just look a roes and lalafells. Even if they are sightly different in term of proportions, anatomy and physicality, they are the least played race(fact observed on my server).

Besides, let's face it, it's not uncommon for very young characters to become main characters in their respective games. I just want to play a Zidane or a Alphinaud since I see myself better in characters of that stature. And let's face it, a lot of female gamers will find such a choice very appealing. I speak from experience! ;3

I agree with what you are saying and I'd love another smaller race.

However...

Alphinaud isn't an elf mutant .___., he's just a young teenage elezen so he's not reached full maturity yet in terms of his build...

No worries. I was but jesting. He just looks so different compared to other elezens. I prefer his build vis a vis the giraffes! xD

LYN, YES PLEASE!.... In... *certain game* My phrase is "Lyn master race" instead of lalafell master race... I WANT THEM!

Very glad to see another lyn lover! <333

You must be speaking of male Au Ra, because females are far from "very tall" =P

I do. Females can be very short but the shortest ones kinda look grotesque in my opinion... They are not properly proportionate for how small they can be. And besides, I have nothing against female characters and their size but as a male character player, I feel there is a severe lack of options!

I would play one but I would like to see their proportions sightly changed since they just look like furry lalafells and their inclusion might cause frustrations! xD

I'd prefer something less Loli or generally regarded as "cute" for a new small race. Making a Lala with ears wouldn't exactly bring anything to the races that the gold saucer with Bunny Ears doesn't already.

Agreed but despite your argument, the demand for Viera which is essentially au'ra/elezen with bunny ears is still extremely strong. I fear YoshiP will submit to the demands...

[ErikMynhier]

Lali Ho?

[Hito-Shura]

Fair enough, dwarves exists in some FF titles. They're like lalafells with beards!

[Underdog2204]

Let's face it though... A short but ugly/old/beastly looking race will never make it to FF14. They will never appeal to the Japanese audience and I am part of those who do not want his small race to look ugly. We are playing a Final Fantasy game, gnomes and dwarves have no place in its universe. It has been proven countless times that an ugly race is less popular and only appeal to a minority. Just look a roes and lalafells. Even if they are sightly different in term of proportions, anatomy and physicality, they are the least played race(fact observed on my server).

Who cares if it's less popular so long as it's played? Why do the players who do enjoy "ugly" (I don't find them ugly at all) races have no other options that Roegadyn? I thought to point of new races was to inject some flavour into the world not just have everyone copy each other (yet again)...

Complaining about Viera possibly being included and then complaining that races should be pretty enough is totally contradictory.

For example say I think the Miqo'te look rediculous so that means you shouldn't be allowed to play it does that sound ok to you?

[Hito-Shura]

Lalafells are far from one of the least played races, those spots belong to the Elezen and Roegadyn last I saw.

Who cares if it's less popular so long as it's played? Why do the players who do enjoy "ugly" races have no other options that Roegadyn? I thought to point of new races was to inject some flavour into the world not just have everyone copy each other (yet again)...

Complaining about Viera possibly being included and then complaining that races should be pretty enough is totally contradictory.

I truly understand your sentiment and I respect your point of view entirely. Ugly races have their fans and will undoubtedly be played by both Japanese and westerners(including Europe) alike, albeit less popular than other options of course. But the fact remains that FF14 was designed to make your character look as pretty as possible, appealing to the majority with its race choices and armor designs since 1.0. This game is built entirely around it for its playable aspect while beastmen fill the ''ugly'' roles as NPCs. They shot themselves in the foot since the game was created when they decided to limit themselves to pretty humanoids while other mmos try to be as diverse as possible from launch to show how flexible they are and will be with their design choices, and let's not forget the different armors for each races in most of those cases to make sure they all fit the different races and their lore. Other mmos are very different in term of designs, let's admit it. Anyway, all that to say that FF14 built its system and fanbase around that and showed thus far that they would not deviate from that path.

And to clarify, I am referring to the Viera body type in my original post vis a vis other races, not their physical appearance. There are no contradictions in my reasoning.

[Underdog2204]

Snip

Ok fine I get that, but you are making no sense imo. So by your reasoning the Lalafell are one of the "ugly" and least played races but for some reason the Japanese love them - http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...e8ff1bcf34c5ae

So where do they fit in? Are they ugly and least played or are they pretty and popular? Are they a majority vote or arn't they?

They didn't shoot themselves in the foot at all imo, just because they have done something does not mean it has to continue that exact same way. There was an outcry about the Au Ra being too "ugly"... The majority has no idea what they want and is exactly why they should be ignored.

"I want my character to be unique" - Instantly rolls Miqo'te/Hyur
"Everyone looks the same" - Whilst playing Miqo'te/Hyur
"All the races are humans with animal bits" - Whilst playing Miqo'te/Au Ra.

They don't want different they want to all be the same then just complain about the lack of uniqness.

Just to be clear I'm not having a dig at you for picking miqo'te (your character looks pretty cool) I'm just refering to the community in general.

[Nexxa]

I'd honestly rather see playable half-elezen.

[Hito-Shura]

Snip

In my opinion, I think there is sense behind my words but one may disagree with me and refute my argument. That is perfectly fine with me.

When it comes to lalafells, I did mention my personal assumption was based on observations made on my server in my original post and never did I say they were globally hated. But the graphs do support my argument when it comes to US and European demographics. I have a feeling that lalafells are more popular in Japan since they fit well in the current moe movement in animes of this generation and the extreme popularity of female idols. I cannot prove it but it is a strong belief of mine that if there was a new cute ''loli'' race sightly bigger than lalafells but still smaller than miqo'te such as the elins, you would see huge amount of change in such a graph. I don't count the female au'ra since despite their small stature, they still look too mature to appeal to the moe fans. I myself would migrate towards such a choice if I could play a character akin to E-Sumi-Yan or Alphinaud which are amougst my favorites characters of this game.

As for au'ras... I fail to see such ''outcry'' about their appearance. Based on my own personal observations(which could be skewed, again, I do not have hard evidences), they seem to be very popular, both genders included. But I would though understand their lack of popularity in Japan since they are far from appealing to the majority or might be seen as a bit unoriginal considering the current races available(males looking like muscular elezens and females looking like smaller hyurs). But let's say for the sake of argumentation that your statement is indeed true and there is truly an outcry... Can you imagine the potential outcry an ''uglier'' race would have? Such a reaction supports my theory that players of FF14 are maybe not ready to accept an ''ugly'' race as they've been playing a game which enforces the physical appeal of a character both in term of race and armor designs. But again, that is but an opinion of mine and it is not my intention to force it upon you.

As for the outcry concerning the uniqueness of the different races... I fear it might be here to stay. A beastly race, althoguh original, would look very out of place in a game with only humanoids since day 1.

[Underdog2204]

As for the outcry concerning the uniqueness of the different races... I fear it might be here to stay. A beastly race, althoguh original, would look very out of place in a game with only humanoids since day 1.

Which is exaclty why one is needed and I don't think something like the Ronso would look out of place in a FF game. I did not say there is an outcry but there certainly was, now probably those people that complained are playing one I mean they certainly seem to be far more popular than that graph shows now lol.

Though you may be right about us being stuck with the rubbish requests people make (I'm totally with you about the Viera) if those of us that don't like it don't talk about it then it is all but certain it will be like that.

[Huskell]

I'd race change to a Goblin in half a second.

I think that would destroy the lore a bit.

I would like to see a mid term race, like Bangaa and Nu mou. One can dream, right?