Why Does A Fierce Race Of Female Warriors...

[Jaywalker]

From what I've been lead to believe through my time reading these forums is that the money XIV is generating gets leeched off for other projects, which is why they're constantly low on resources. That's why I said this seems to be almost wholly a passion project, because why would you continue to try and deliver high quality content when you're not getting the funding and resources your content is generating? I get that the Japanese have pride in their work and all, but everyone has a limit on what they're willing to do when expectations over takes compensation.

Sorry for delay! Honestly I think you sort of answered your own question a bit here--SE still makes a ton of money from this. How they shift that money within the company to fund projects might vary, but if they did not have the money it would absolutely effect what they put out and how much various employees get paid. It would remain a detriment for them to not have income from this game.

Don't get me wrong, I do think passion plays a part in the motivation. This is not the same animal as an individual creator trying to put out a story though. It's not even the same as a small company trying to put out a story. When you get a massive company like Square Enix, an internationally successful franchise like Final Fantasy, and the ungodly amounts of money required to complete games like this... you absolutely will not find the required number or expertise of staff willing to go on pure passion without any notion of payoff. People cannot survive on that, and for the amount of labor involved the very idea of doing that work without a reasonable expectation of reward would be hugely exploitative. Further, those creators could absolutely attach themselves to other projects or even projects they own independently if their main motivation is passion, but they were concerned about success. Creators are generally not one-trick ponies or limited to a single passion. It's also often possible to adapt concepts.

I'm not saying they should ignore consumer demand, just that they should be allowed some wiggle room to be able to say "no" when a demand is either unreasonable/not possible or doesn't fit with what they have in mind going forward and that we as fans need to understand that they have limitations to what they can do from a technical standpoint and from a story/world building stand point.

With you on this! I'm not positive, but I think we might just have different stances on whether or not it would be fine to unlock the genders later? IMO it's very workable and just offers them an opportunity in the wings they can develop at their own pace. Would also bring new silhouettes/to the table for a fun range in character models, which from a design standpoint could be a lot of fun. And again, there's loads of precedence even on the lore front. If this was some soul-destroying task where there was literally zero joy for devs then yeah I agree they shouldn't do it. However, as a creator that seriously would be beyond bizarre and IMO undermine their skill, professionalism, and passion.

There have been stories and characters I undertook that initially I was unenthusiastic about. However, I'm also confident that can take those and make them into something really exciting and fun in my own way while maintaining concept integrity. SE creators have more experience and accomplishments than I do while being hugely disciplined. It feels like it would be selling them short to expect anything less, much less on a massive scale.

As for modding: that's a completely different area and SE should with all certainty put their foot down on that because the modders are breaking the ToS even if the mods they're adding is something minor.

Afaik a big reason against modding is the potential to glitch stuff out? I did hear that if ex. it's a minor glamour mod that doesn't scandalize, cause technical difficulties, or get waved in a GM's face they tend to not prioritize it as highly as other issues. Think I heard it mentioned that they get it's basically people into artistic aspects of the game. I'm mostly neutral on the subject as long as it doesn't impose on others and figure it's not my place to decide. I don't really see it on my server at any rate.

The reason I said that is because if you pay attention to some of the news around anime you can see some minor signs of western values affecting the genre. One example is the creator of Sword Art Online Reki Kawahara. He did an interview where he talks about how he needs to keep "political correctness" in mind in the future. Here's a video talking about the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2TGF60yGM&t=412s. It may be a minor thing, but that's how it always starts, you ignore it because it seems insignificant until you turn around and it's grown to consume everything, just like it has in the West.

I did hear about Sword Art Online, but my understanding is...

1) It's viewed as extremely unlikely to find traction in Japan, which is frankly way more sex-positive and into social norms than the West

2) This is being treated as weird to the point of being a drop in the ocean.

3) I've heard some recent stories about mangakas behind hugely controversial works being confronted by Westerners about addressing criticism. This was seriously next level edgy storytelling from what I've heard, not something where it's just the hypersensitive uncomfortable. The mangaka literally looked at the questioner and replied "there is no criticism". If there's none in Japan it might as well not exist. I might be able to re-find what the title was, heard about this incident from a friend

4) Seriously look at the racier stuff that is totally normalized in Japan, the West has never been at that level.

5) Look at how Western extremist propaganda works are received in Asia. Look at commentary those types of stories receive and how little money they make. I'm not just talking animation. Look at live action films. The general public in Asia does not have patience for this.

6) I really can't name names, but suffice to say there's a Western-extremism-spawned controversy happening right now where major anime companies are involved. The Japanese business side of things has been indicating more and more that they are pissed about it. And I don't mean pissed because needs more extreme political correctness.

Also, just to be clear--I'm not saying any of this to be weeby, imply there are no issues in Asian media, or poo-poo Western media across the board. There are different issues manifesting prominently in Asian media that I hope they can address, but overall they're doing WAY better. I personally look at Asia-based creators as colleagues and a standard to match or surpass. Have enormous respect for them, and I seriously want people to bring a higher standard here.

[Beki_Bayaqad]

But it's not.
Fran's armor is unique and iconic to Fran.
Other Viera in XII (and by-extension the Tactics Advanced series) don't wear that outfit. The only ones that come close are the Wood Warders in Eruyt Village and Krjn from Clan Centurio.
It feels more like either we're cosplaying as Fran or Fran isn't that special of a character here in XIV and is just part of the Viera-crowd.

And... your point? Fran never made herself out to be special, she's a veira. In XII she was special since she's the only playable non-hume, but in this game she's one of a playable race, so no she's not something special, and her outfit itself isn't anything special either.

[Mimilu]

And... your point? Fran never made herself out to be special, she's a veira. In XII she was special since she's the only playable non-hume, but in this game she's one of a playable race, so no she's not something special, and her outfit itself isn't anything special either.

Except she IS special here in XIV.

Spoiler warning

She's a general in the Dalmascan rebellion group, Lethe's Tears, which is implied to take orders from Princess Ashe, who was rumored to have died with her twin brother, Prince Rasler, during the Garlean invasion.

Saying she isn't special would be like saying that characters like Lyse or Hien aren't special because they're both just Hyurs.

[Nestama]

And... your point? Fran never made herself out to be special, she's a veira. In XII she was special since she's the only playable non-hume, but in this game she's one of a playable race, so no she's not something special, and her outfit itself isn't anything special either.

This is probably the one thing I don't like about FFXII. In the world of Ivalice, where you are likely to meet a variety of races, your party consists of mostly Hume and one Viera. No Bangaa, Moogle, Nu Mou, Garif or even Seeq party members

[xxvaynxx]

One thing I have to wonder is why did they straight up give all Viera Fran's outfit versus creating their own, unique starter gear like the other races (including Hrothgar)?
It kind of just dumps Fran and player-Viera together.
To me, it kind of feels like if Male Midlanders started out with Cloud's outfit and females started out with Lightning's. It brings the uniqueness of both the player character and those characters down.
I'm sure they did this to save time though...
It kind of makes me wonder if either:
A) Fran is going to get a make-over next time we see her,
or
B) We're just flat out never going to see her and/or Dalmasca ever again. Not like they're a giant country who we're sort of allied with but you know...

We probably won't ever see her again unless they do another 24man centered around Dalmasca again...(Which I hope they won't, the whole storyline was really boring and uninteresting to me)

Honestly...I don't mind the viera got fran outfit as a starter, shes really popular and probably (or is) the main reason people wanted Viera.

[Joven]

With you on this! I'm not positive, but I think we might just have different stances on whether or not it would be fine to unlock the genders later? IMO it's very workable and just offers them an opportunity in the wings they can develop at their own pace. Would also bring new silhouettes/to the table for a fun range in character models, which from a design standpoint could be a lot of fun. And again, there's loads of precedence even on the lore front. If this was some soul-destroying task where there was literally zero joy for devs then yeah I agree they shouldn't do it. However, as a creator that seriously would be beyond bizarre and IMO undermine their skill, professionalism, and passion.

There have been stories and characters I undertook that initially I was unenthusiastic about. However, I'm also confident that can take those and make them into something really exciting and fun in my own way while maintaining concept integrity. SE creators have more experience and accomplishments than I do while being hugely disciplined. It feels like it would be selling them short to expect anything less, much less on a massive scale.

Honestly it doesn't matter to me whether or not they roll out the other genders, I'd be happy either way.

Afaik a big reason against modding is the potential to glitch stuff out? I did hear that if ex. it's a minor glamour mod that doesn't scandalize, cause technical difficulties, or get waved in a GM's face they tend to not prioritize it as highly as other issues. Think I heard it mentioned that they get it's basically people into artistic aspects of the game. I'm mostly neutral on the subject as long as it doesn't impose on others and figure it's not my place to decide. I don't really see it on my server at any rate.

I think the main reason modding is essentially "forbidden" in these types of games is because it could potentially give those players unfair advantages over others, same with botting. That and it kinda ruins the spirit of multiplayer gaming, at least in my opinion.

I did hear about Sword Art Online, but my understanding is...

1) It's viewed as extremely unlikely to find traction in Japan, which is frankly way more sex-positive and into social norms than the West

2) This is being treated as weird to the point of being a drop in the ocean.

3) I've heard some recent stories about mangakas behind hugely controversial works being confronted by Westerners about addressing criticism. This was seriously next level edgy storytelling from what I've heard, not something where it's just the hypersensitive uncomfortable. The mangaka literally looked at the questioner and replied "there is no criticism". If there's none in Japan it might as well not exist. I might be able to re-find what the title was, heard about this incident from a friend

4) Seriously look at the racier stuff that is totally normalized in Japan, the West has never been at that level.

5) Look at how Western extremist propaganda works are received in Asia. Look at commentary those types of stories receive and how little money they make. I'm not just talking animation. Look at live action films. The general public in Asia does not have patience for this.

6) I really can't name names, but suffice to say there's a Western-extremism-spawned controversy happening right now where major anime companies are involved. The Japanese business side of things has been indicating more and more that they are pissed about it. And I don't mean pissed because needs more extreme political correctness.

Also, just to be clear--I'm not saying any of this to be weeby, imply there are no issues in Asian media, or poo-poo Western media across the board. There are different issues manifesting prominently in Asian media that I hope they can address, but overall they're doing WAY better. I personally look at Asia-based creators as colleagues and a standard to match or surpass. Have enormous respect for them, and I seriously want people to bring a higher standard here.

1-2. I certainly hope so

3-5. I've heard about that too and I applaud them every time I do.

6. I think I know what you're referring too and I've heard that it's getting to the point where the publisher is considering pulling the NA licensing and doing the dubbing in house.

So far Western media isn't entirely borked. We've still got a few beacons of hope in the different industries and I hope saner heads will prevail in the long run.

[Beki_Bayaqad]

Except she IS special here in XIV.

Spoiler warning

She's a general in the Dalmascan rebellion group, Lethe's Tears, which is implied to take orders from Princess Ashe, who was rumored to have died with her twin brother, Prince Rasler, during the Garlean invasion.

Saying she isn't special would be like saying that characters like Lyse or Hien aren't special because they're both just Hyurs.

So... what exactly? She's an NPC we meet in one part of three 24 man raids on ruins around the Dalmascan region, do we take part in the rebellion?
Are we inducted, even honorarily, into the dalmascan resistance?
Do we do anything to advance the resistance?

No?

Then she's not important.

[Vivi_Bushido]

I think it's kind of awesome that instead of having to use an event or mog station, they opted to put a FF character's gear as a simple in-game obtainable. FOR FREE. Instead of arguing wither the racial gear is to sexualized or not, the better question is how will the racial hempen gear complement it to be unique?

[Beki_Bayaqad]

I think it's kind of awesome that instead of having to use an event or mog station, they opted to put a FF character's gear as a simple in-game obtainable. Instead of arguing the racial gear is to sexualized, the better question is how will the racial hempen gear complement it to be unique.

I'm hoping it's like the Au Ra or Miq'ote style. since most non hyurs have it similar.

[linay]

Sex?! In my Christian game?!

Well, the first command to humans in the Bible is to be fruitful and multiply. Obviously the Viera and Hrothgar need help in that department. They should get to multiplying so there will be enough male Viera and female Hrothgar by 6.0!