Gender locked race?

[redcurrant18]

I think my biggest gripe with a potential male exclusive Hrothgar race would be that it's their very own original creation, and Square would be very actively choosing to genderlock it.

You want to cite "lore" or "past appearances/consistency" as a reason to genderlock Viera? Sure, fine.
But what reason could Square possibly have to genderlock their very own FF14 exclusive race? They, of all companies, should know what kind of shitstorm you bring about when you do something like that.

No, there is no reason to genderlock either of them because FFXIV has already demonstrated that it is not 100% responsible for following the lore of other games. Do not buy Shadowbringers unless you feel satisfied in what you're getting.

[Theodric]

I think my biggest gripe with a potential male exclusive Hrothgar race would be that it's their very own original creation, and Square would be very actively choosing to genderlock it.

...and yet that's exactly what they did with the Viera. Across multiple games, no less.

[Tabbs]

...and yet that's exactly what they did with the Viera. Across multiple games, no less.

Gender-locks in single player games or games with preset characters are a non-issue. Virtually no one complains about them. At least, not relative to what you see in games like 14 where we create our own characters. Gender-locking Viera or "Hrothgar" in 14 is not equivalent to not getting a male Fran in 12.

[Theodric]

Gender-locks in single player games or games with preset characters are a non-issue. Virtually no one complains about them. At least, not relative to what you see in games like 14 where we create our own characters. Gender-locking Viera or "Hrothgar" in 14 is not equivalent to not getting a male Fran in 12.

I think gender locks are silly. I've said as much throughout this thread. Yet as long as there's an equivalent it's not nearly as damning as some are making it out to be.

[BillyKaplan]

I think gender locks are silly. I've said as much throughout this thread. Yet as long as there's an equivalent it's not nearly as damning as some are making it out to be.

It depends on how you look at it. As far as the gender equalness goes (not really a word but 'equality' felt a bit over the top here), you're right, we get one option for male characters and one option for female characters. And looking at Au Ra, it's not like all races even have comparable options. Male Au Ras look like an Elezen's cousin while fem Au Ras take more after Miqo'te or female Midlanders.
But I feel like that's just going into the same trap as they did with Au Ra - what if people wanted a particular gender but with the 'opposite' aesthetic? We already have this with Au Ra where people wish we'd have gotten the bestial, amazonian female designs, and maybe an option for smaller males. So in this scenario they pretend to have avoided it because they're two different races! ...but at the same time they actually doubled-down on it because now people can ask for both male Vieras and female Hroths.
And this happened before, and SE caved, and Miqo'te, Highlanders and Roegadyns are all playable in either gender. It just seems like that's the inevitable conclusion we'll reach, only SE is postponing the inevitable and incurring player ire in the process

EDIT: if a gender lock is truly going to happen

[Roda]

I think gender locks are silly. I've said as much throughout this thread. Yet as long as there's an equivalent it's not nearly as damning as some are making it out to be.

See the thing is, at least for me, the only male equivalent to the female viera is a male viera. Creating an entirely new race to exclude one gender as a response to another race excluding another gender doesn't fill the gap, it just creates another gap that will need to be filled.

We shall call him Francis.

Frank

[Tabbs]

...

Yeah, I am not trying pick a fight with you, haha. I just don't think single player games from the past can be used as evidence that it would happen here.

That being said, I do have to disagree that it's not nearly as damning. Like Roda has said, I want male Viera. A male only equivalent race wouldn't really satisfy what I'm looking for, especially if it ended up being the huge beefcake lion that everyone thinks it is.

[Alleo]

I think gender locks are silly. I've said as much throughout this thread. Yet as long as there's an equivalent it's not nearly as damning as some are making it out to be.

I am just curious but would you say the same if one gender locked race would be a beastly awesome female without the male part and the male being a small cute race? Because I do get the feeling that you might be more fine with this because the other mentioned race could be something you like more than a male viera, but maybe I see that wrong.

Anyway, I really hope that they dont decide to gender lock Viera, especially since that could mean that the first more beastly race is again just male..which sadly would go hand in hand with the game where most female enemies are good looking, while a lot of male ones are more beastly..

I really hope we will get both races, that would finally create some hype for me..

[Gwenorai]

...and yet that's exactly what they did with the Viera. Across multiple games, no less.

My issue with Hrothgar is that the race would have been created specifically because Yoshida didn't want to have a male Viera, that's if it's gender-locked. That doesn't sit with me well. I'd rather Hrothgar not be gender-locked at all and the Viera locked than having both of them locked all because someone didn't like the idea of bunny men.

At least with time and effort, they'd end up adding in the male Viera? What lore are they going to give Hrothgar that would make it specifically male only? A mirror of Viera just the opposite? Sigh.

As for males in the other game that can be explained away; we never had any reason to see a male. With the limitations of those games and how the lore was so much smaller back then - why add in something that didn't need to be added at all that had zero ramifications on the plotline?

I'm just trying to wrap my head around how we're going to go into the Greatwood for ShadowBringers and how we're not going to end up getting attacked by the fierce wood wardens that inhabit it. What plot are they going to give us that would retcon their lore so that none of the males are there, not even NPCs? What side quests will there be, what fates! Etc

a male Fran in 12.

We shall call him Francis.

[GenericMagus]

Who knows, maybe Yoshi trolling with the fire and say "lol, fire killed most of them, they have to remain in the woods".