Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Theodric]

To be fair, there's a number of reasons to doubt the official statements. The most glaring being that back in an interview in 2013 Yoshi-P claimed that he found the idea of male viera to be weird and that if viera were to be added they would likely be gender locked and a different race would be created to serve as the counterpart for male characters. Mysteriously, years later, that's exactly what happened.

I'm also inclined to believe that the amount of backlash predicted in response was severely underestimated. Gender locked races and classes may be common in Eastern MMO's but they're not seen as acceptable in Western MMO's. FFXIV happens to have a lot of players based in Western world.

I enjoy FFXIV for the most part, though that doesn't mean that I have to accept everything at face value all of the time. Especially when one of the more common requests for the game itself - character customisation - is consistently handled poorly.

[wereotter]

While I think some of the claims about secret motivations are dubious, as well as the 'please no LGBTQ+' stuff being... icky... I think Amnmaat is correct that adding Male Viera and Female Hrothgar would STRONGLY signal an intent to keep FFXIV going and prioritizing keeping it good. The lack of them doesn't say the opposite though, we have known for a long time SE doesn't prioritize resources to XIV despite how much money it makes them.

I do think, on this note, its fair for people hoping for them to add the other sexes to reassess their expectations of when this might be added, though. With Covid delaying the 5.3 patch for 6 weeks, it's highly likely that development on other aspects of the game might have been delayed or canceled as well. We'll know for sure as we see the release of other patches in the future, and if there's a resurgence of the virus in the fall (like some experts are warning about)

I was initially hoping to see them in 6.0, though for me, I'm now thinking that it might be more likely to not expect to see them until maybe 7.0 if the game is still going strong at that point.

[Theodric]

Well, if the development team were planning on including the missing genders in the upcoming expansion then I'd assume that it'd still be the case. Pretty much all planned content is going to be delayed to an extent, though I'd expect a delay over major features being cut altogether.

It also remains to be seen as to how long the lock-down goes on for, since it isn't as if individuals and businesses alike can be expected to put their everything on hold indefinitely.

[Amnmaat]

I do think, on this note, its fair for people hoping for them to add the other sexes to reassess their expectations of when this might be added, though. With Covid delaying the 5.3 patch for 6 weeks, it's highly likely that development on other aspects of the game might have been delayed or canceled as well. We'll know for sure as we see the release of other patches in the future, and if there's a resurgence of the virus in the fall (like some experts are warning about)

I was initially hoping to see them in 6.0, though for me, I'm now thinking that it might be more likely to not expect to see them until maybe 7.0 if the game is still going strong at that point.

If they want us to buy a new expansion they cannot afford to charge the same price with the excuse of "there was corona running around japan, but here, it still costs $50." Male Viera wouldn't be the only thing affected by releasing it in june 2021 with the virus running around.

[Lauront]

I doubt they'll remove/cancel features of it, as opposed to trying to gain some speed and only if necessary delay 6.0 a bit. The final fanfest was already due quite early this time, in February, so they may have had some leeway for a delay anyway. Things should begin gathering pace again and hopefully any future "outbreaks" will be dealt with what we've now learnt about the virus in mind, rather than panicking.

[Taybat]

Hopefully they will announce more genders at fanfest.

[Senn]

Didn't Yoshi P say that he imagines a male Viera to have a Elezen body with a Miqo'te head? Excluding the chest hair that concept art does kind of look like how he imagine them to be

Yes, he did. Here is a source to anyone who wants it: https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/...ia-and-sexism/

I'm also glad I'm not the only one that noticed the bust-shot concept art looks like a mix of miqo'te and elezen. That's actually why I'm particularly fond of that concept art - even though it has some issues, I understand the idea and intent of the artist and Yoshi P (which is like you said, miqo'te head & elezen body).

I imagine the proportions look a little off in the neck area in that concept art because the concept artist was trying to mix and match a male miqo'te head onto an elezen body (which has a long neck and broad shoulders). If male viera were added to the game, I think the issues we see in the concept art will be corrected. Why do I think this? Because it appears that female viera have less broad shoulders and slightly smaller frame in comparison to female elezen. Basically, the issues that female elezen has isn't really prevalent in female viera. So I think the neck and shoulder issue we see in the bust concept art would be adjusted to look better for male viera in game.

Another thought I had is since female viera has less broad shoulders and a smaller frame in comparison to female elezen, then perhaps if male viera come out, they will have less broad shoulders and a smaller frame in comparison to male elezen.

No, I don't think he said Miqo'te.

Actually, Yoshi P did. See link above.

[MelodyCrystel]

:cough cough:
I tinkered something with three screenshots from the character-creator; please don't shoot me. >~<




Lightly deformed male Elezen body + edited male Miqo'te Face + Viera ears + edited Viera hair = my guess for male Viera appearance

[Az-man]

:cough cough:
I tinkered something with three screenshots from the character-creator; please don't shoot me. >~<




Lightly deformed male Elezen body + edited male Miqo'te Face + Viera ears + edited Viera hair = my guess for male Viera appearance

Not as horrifying as i thought it would be, lol. I can see the devs somehow making it work....

[Senn]

:cough cough:
I tinkered something with three screenshots from the character-creator; please don't shoot me. >~<

Lightly deformed male Elezen body + edited male Miqo'te Face + Viera ears + edited Viera hair = my guess for male Viera appearance

Hey, that's a good start. Looks really clean, thanks for sharing.
I took that image and made some adjustments to it. I just did it on MS paint real quick so it looks pretty sloppy.

What I've done to the left picture is give them a smaller frame as well as less broad shoulders. If we take a look at the female elezen and viera comparison, we can see viera has less broad shoulders. It's not perfect because their standing positions are a little different but the green line is a decent indicator showing that their frame and shoulders are smaller.The green lines are the same length.

When you make adjustments like this, you can start to see how it resembles the bust-up concept art for male viera. A mixture between elezen and miqo'te with adjusted proportions to the body.

I don't know how you did it in your picture, but is it possible to do the same thing with omega m's body and adding a miqo'te head on it?