Gender locked race?

[artyport]

Yeah he actually works for me as well albeit i'd use the prettier face option and no beard..
maybe make his arms thinner and we got a deal.

[Riardon]

It'd be ideal for them to release 2 races, however Hrothgar remain an enigma and there's an awful lot of body types which either race could fit.

I would not be disappointed if they enabled Hrothgar to feature faces like Byakko's, maybe with a body type similar to an au ra's or highlander's. I don't believe they will make them too similar to roegadyn, both because of that race's % of characters played but also because they'd probably want to distinguish it physically.

For Viera, I do like the official concept art they have put forward, but something like this would work (albeit I think it's consistent with the concept art):



They do need to eventually re-visit the older races and broaden the customization options, since some of the issues appear to arise due to limited customization options for them, or design flaws, like the awkwardness in elezen models.

If only the game wasn't built around a crappy spaghetti coded base. It makes me wonder what kind of game XIV could be without all these restrictions.
If Yoshi had developed this game from the start without the rush on limited budget to make it work and attract only few thousand subscribers to make it just viable enough to erase the costs of the 1.0 failure, it would be a truly way better game than it is.
Unfortunately the game engine and base code is almost a mess and combined with the lack of extra developer staff and extra budget it ties Yoshi's hands behind his back.
Adding extra customization options in character selection screen is a much requested feature yet they can't do it.
Same with other QoL features people ask.

[JamiaHaab]

Stop trying to make elezen happen. Just stop it. If elezen looked good they wouldn't be as rare as roe. Objectively ugo.

At least Roe players picked a good looking orc/ogre race, and not an ugly elf.

[Theodric]

I'd have been a lot happier with Raen/Xaela if not for their hips. The proportions just seem off to me and I think it'd have been better to give them clawed hands and feet and more scale patterns. Hrothgar could be designed to be fairly muscular but with no weird proportions - with the distinct features being patches of fur, a mane and clawed hands/feet. Give them a face similar to Byakko and they'd look human but inhuman at the same time.

Roegadyn are far too bulky. Highlander men lack eyebrows. The latter could be solved by updating the character customisation system - which is really what a lot of people should be pushing for. That way, everybody wins.

[artyport]

I'd have been a lot happier with Raen/Xaela if not for their hips. The proportions just seem off to me and I think it'd have been better to give them clawed hands and feet and more scale patterns. Hrothgar could be designed to be fairly muscular but with no weird proportions - with the distinct features being patches of fur, a mane and clawed hands/feet. Give them a face similar to Byakko and they'd look human but inhuman at the same time.

Roegadyn are far too bulky. Highlander men lack eyebrows. The latter could be solved by updating the character customisation system - which is really what a lot of people should be pushing for. That way, everybody wins.

the thing about viera specifically that i loved was that it was the first fantasty race that was featured as beautiful with darker skin tones. Even if they are now selling the very white washed version of them. But they made a beautiful race that was kinda ethnic. I loved that about them. So I NEED THE MALES

[WhiteArchmage]

A little thing is that, we don't really know what the Hrothgar will look like besides "majestic manes", I think it was even the less trustworthy leaks were the ones pointing towards bulky. It would just tickle me pink it if turns out the race everyone's thinking of "big, bulky, masculine, omg bara cats" turns out to be...miqo'te with manes

the thing about viera specifically that i loved was that it was the first fantasty race that was featured as beautiful with darker skin tones. Even if they are now selling the very white washed version of them.

Dear gods, that irked me as well, not to open a can of worms but if those were the "dark skinned" viera then I'm black, and I'm a white-passing hispanic <.<

[JamiaHaab]

The ONLY acceptable elezen in the game are Ramuh, Shiva, and Aymeric. I want tall, lean, conventionally attractive, with no horns.

[artyport]

I realise it might be “what they’re designed to be”, but I feel like Omega is as well - possibly more so. His face structure looks very similar to me, and (unlike some of those example characters) he really does have the arrogant “superior” personality that goes with it.

Still, personal taste and all that...

Idk omega has larger eyes. A softer chin/jaw. A less crooked nose. Nah not seeing it

[Sehrina]

Y'all gotta remember that this discussion is centered around personal preference. Different stuff looks/feels different to different folks. Elezen can be made to look good as previously stated, but it still comes with a little challenge, and even then it still may not satisfy what one is looking for. (Elezen features are all very angular. where as from what we've seen from the female Viera there's a potential for more rounder softer features in the males, and I think that's what some people are hoping for face wise anyways.) I have an Elezen alt that I love to bits,(1, 2, 3 I find going for the charcoal skin helps hide some of the sharp contours of the face... by making it harder to see.) but I do wish I had different and more interesting options for my main.

If this gender lock goes through( heck even if it doesn't) we need more options. FFXIV is kinda behind on this point with most new mmos having the option to straight up morph features to your liking(even some older ones did too). While I understand that this game's engine is kinda old and hard for the devs to work with,( and i won't even pretend to know how it works) it doesn't seem to be stopping them from adding new hairstyles every major patch. What is really stopping them from giving us more options for face, eyes, nose, body, etc. too?

It all seems to boil down to options and what we as players are given in what is, essentially, a theme-park mmo. We already got BLU because the players wanted it, and now we are getting Viera because the players wanted it. I'm worried why they would then potentially limit our options by gender locking and limiting races after going through all this trouble to please the players in the first place. This is the only thing that allows me to hold on to hope for the FanFest announcements next week.

[Lauront]

Yes, I'm against any long term gender locks. I think they are currently mulling over how they can upgrade the game's graphics engine, including the conversion of some 20k assets to high res versions, but they're trying to find a cost-efficient way to do it and are also freezing the hardware spec until 6.0 (to avoid losing subs)... which coincidentally will be out after the PS5's release. If there's no movement on that front for 6.0, there probably won't ever be much more than marginal improvements.