Viera Should Of Happened

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I don't know... there are some sexy man speedos.

Speedos are overdone.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

That's one reason, but the other reason is that this game actually doesn't have a short race that isn't cute. It would actually be different.

To use your earlier argument, I'm not sure short Roes would be much different from anything else already in game.

[Nestama]

It actually would be pretty different, especially when you compare it to Viera. You can't simply shrink a Roe down and call it a day (their heads would be tiny and disproportionate with the rest of their body).

But how about this. A short race that is not cute (you have to work for that, like with Roegadyn), but can be as beautiful/majestic/whatever as a Viera... or a dwarf of the Dragon Age/Middle-Earth variety. That would actually be different. I wouldn't even care if they had rabbit ears, just so long as they aren't cute by default (like Au Ra, Miqo'te, Lalafell). This including emotes.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

The thing is, though, 'Shrunken Roe' is pretty much the most apt description based on middle earth and D&D Dwarves: Heavily bearded midgets with disproportionately longer and thicker arms compared to other races. They usually have disproportionate small legs as well, from what I've seen.

[VanilleFang]

Speedos are overdone.

I won't argue that. They are overdone.

[Kyuuen]

AuRa goes under the Reptilian Demi-Beastmen, their description on the poll even says "ex. a race with demonic features such as horns, etc.".
Link to poll
What's actually fun is that for JP, the option that got the most votes was "Races with Mixed Heritage" (granted by around only 2%), everywhere else (NA, UK, France, and Germany) had "Mammalian demi-beastmen" as its highest voted, an almost 4% difference with their second highest, Races with Mixed Heritage (except Germany, the difference there was about 10%).

I don't consider them reptilian. If they were less humanistic I'd be more agreeing, however they're presented more mammalian in my opinion, in that they are more human (hyur/elzen) than anything else.

[Mimilu]

I don't consider them reptilian. If they were less humanistic I'd be more agreeing, however they're presented more mammalian in my opinion, in that they are more human (hyur/elzen) than anything else.

There were two Reptilian options on the poll, Reptilian Beastmen (which is the less humanistic option) and Reptilian Demi-Beastmen (which is the "demonic features such as horns, etc" type).

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I don't consider them reptilian. If they were less humanistic I'd be more agreeing, however they're presented more mammalian in my opinion, in that they are more human (hyur/elzen) than anything else.

'Demi' is typically used to mean partially, and when it comes to character designs, characters like Mi'qote and Au'Ra are considered Demi humans, and so they are Demi reptilian/human hybrids.

[Nestama]

Wouldn't a demi-reptile look more similar to that Silurian race in Doctor Who (Au Ra wish they could pull off the reptile like they do)? If the Au Ra motif was demons, then mammalian makes more sense... or whatever the hell demons fall under.

Goats grow horns, too. Maybe Au Ra are demon goat people :I

[Mimilu]

I wouldn't even care if they had rabbit ears, just so long as they aren't cute by default (like Au Ra, Miqo'te, Lalafell). This including emotes.

The problem with that is this is an Eastern-MMORPG, "cute" and "pretty" are par the course here.
When they did their poll back in 2011, Yoshi-P even said they notices a prioritization with cuteness. Even with the influx of characters we have now, I don't think that will change, FF and SE are just too well know for aesthetics and pretty boy protagonists (and the two female protagonists) for them to decide to jump ship, regardless of the XIV's MMO status.
Dwarves would just be too out there, appearance-wise, and any version of them SE would crank out to appease their expecting fans would, as you put it, no longer be Dwarves. :-B