Male Viera as a playable character! show your support

[Theodric]

I'd be very happy with something along these lines:



Tall, fairly well-built and classically handsome. There's also quite a few male characters, Snow included, who fit that aesthetic and are very popular over in Japan.

[Lauront]

Considering how the Au Ra look, I get the feeling the absolute most we'll get in terms of muscle is a twunk body type. It seems to be the limit that a lot people are willing to go to before they begin to look unattractive. The roe/Hrothgar numbers are very telling, there is an interesting correlation between how the less "cute" the guys look, the less popular they become.

Something tells me square has learned their lesson when it came to how people feel about bulky body types. JP audiences just aren't too crazy about them. And coming from an audience that had some who considered male miqo'te to look too masculine and "trying to appeal to westerners"...

Had there been a "lesson" to learn, they wouldn't have implemented Hrothgar.

I keep seeing inferences about the bigger body types being less popular as a result simply of their being bigger. That may hold for extremes like Hrothgar or Roegadyn, but for the "in-between" cases, like Au Ra and Highlanders (and Elezen if you factor their height in), in every single one there are issues hampering their popularity because SE cannot get their model design right. That's a problem with SE being incapable of identifying obvious design flaws, like the bizarre Elezen proportions, Auri clipping and hip ratios in armour, or Highlander awkwardness and poor facial design options, and then refusing to fix them due to costs or because it "may" (supposedly) upset people who already like them.

As for the comments from some vocal elements in the JP audience about Miqo'te being "too masculine", I'd like to see further data on that before extrapolating any such inferences to the entire JP audience. It just sounds to me like some people drawing whatever conclusions they please to push a narrative, i.e. that JP audiences don't like bulkier body types because some people don't like Miqo'te muscularity. Until such time as such data can be produced, I will regard such comments as anecdotal, at best.

To me, the picture that seems most consistent with how Viera were described is not an anime rendition of them, but this:

[Mochamonarch]

in every single one there are issues hampering their popularity because SE cannot get their model design right. That's a problem with SE being incapable of identifying obvious design flaws, like the bizarre Elezen proportions, Auri clipping and hip ratios in armour, or Highlander awkwardness and poor facial design options, and then refusing to fix them due to costs or because it "may" (supposedly) upset people who already like them.

The Elezen proportions completely gutted them, I will agree. But I think the Au ra hip ratios are fine; they're thicker than a snicker, and that's downright divine. I honestly do think that Squeenix thought they were being unique when it came to the Elezen, because when you break them down to their bare essentials, Elves are merely humans with pointy ears; so Squeenix probably felt they needed to do something to make them more unique and stand out more; so they figured splicing their DNA with swans would suffice.

To me, the picture that seems most consistent with how Viera were described is not an anime rendition of them, but this:

True we could say that the particular art style doesn't fit (I disagree but I digress), but it comes across as semantics, like a "Don't look at the finger pointing to the moon, look at the moon." thing. It's less about the style and more about what it depicts; and when looking at them both, they are quite similar. The picture I quoted is one muscle slider away from turning into the one you're quoting.

[Lauront]

Even if you put aside the hip design, the clipping is an issue for many as it's more pronounced on the males than on the females. Granted, there's less SE can actually do about it in a cost-effective manner.

Anyway, I agree with the second bit given that such stylised art (the anime rendition) is not uncommon for how they draw the races even though they have a more "realistic" look to them in-game.

[Mochamonarch]

Even if you put aside the hip design, the clipping is an issue for many as it's more pronounced on the males than on the females. Granted, there's less SE can actually do about it in a cost-effective manner.

A more cynical me wants to say that it might be less because of the cost for Smol Indie Company Square Enix™ and more because their game might be such a mess of spaghetti that even the tiniest disruption could break the entire game. We saw what happened with that one specific fishing spot that crashed the servers, Au ra hips could be the ff14 kill switch they're too afraid to pull.

Moral of the story: Auri men are so thicc they could end the world with their thighs. Not sure how I got to this point, but I'm here.

[grinkdaboy]

Had there been a "lesson" to learn, they wouldn't have implemented Hrothgar.

I keep seeing inferences about the bigger body types being less popular as a result simply of their being bigger. That may hold for extremes like Hrothgar or Roegadyn, but for the "in-between" cases, like Au Ra and Highlanders (and Elezen if you factor their height in), in every single one there are issues hampering their popularity because SE cannot get their model design right. That's a problem with SE being incapable of identifying obvious design flaws, like the bizarre Elezen proportions, Auri clipping and hip ratios in armour, or Highlander awkwardness and poor facial design options, and then refusing to fix them due to costs or because it "may" (supposedly) upset people who already like them.

As for the comments from some vocal elements in the JP audience about Miqo'te being "too masculine", I'd like to see further data on that before extrapolating any such inferences to the entire JP audience. It just sounds to me like some people drawing whatever conclusions they please to push a narrative, i.e. that JP audiences don't like bulkier body types because some people don't like Miqo'te muscularity. Until such time as such data can be produced, I will regard such comments as anecdotal, at best.

To me, the picture that seems most consistent with how Viera were described is not an anime rendition of them, but this:

are you serious? miqote are as bishonen as you can possibly get

[Lauront]

are you serious? miqote are as bishonen as you can possibly get

Yeah but that wasn't my opinion on them - it was in response to:

JP audiences just aren't too crazy about them. And coming from an audience that had some who considered male miqo'te to look too masculine and "trying to appeal to westerners"...

Considering the discussion is in the context of builds, I take the comment to be referring to their stockiness. Yes, Miqo'te aren't the most muscular of males in the game - not by a long shot - but they do have pretty toned muscle.

[Komarimono]

Think we can mostly agree won't be getting Male Viera anytime soon if ever though. Nothing recent posted about them other then the time needed to invest into something and the cost. People saying 6.0 are just being wishful, since nothing official has been said in that regard. So for now, this threads really just become a wish list of features wanted I feel, if they ever were to be put in game.

[Duskane]

but is it really a problem that people are optimistic about them

[Komarimono]

but is it really a problem that people are optimistic about them

It is, in a sense, especially when spreading rumors that are lies. Doesn't help really. All we can do is wait, and wish. If they feel the need to add them, we'll know then, so no point really in asking and begging.