Did the Ancient Amaurotians... (minor spoilers)

[TeraRamis]

...Actually look like that - all clones of one another - or is their appearance merely analogous with their status as shades (IE, they are all dead and gone, so their appearance doesn't matter; they have found a kind of equality in nonexistence)...?

It's made pretty clear from the dialogue (and from, like, the cityscape itself) that Amaurot's citizens were intensely creative people - not just in terms of art forms and stylistic choices, but also the raw conjuring of new objects and creatures out of thin air. Even their nightmares (the monsters that appear during the fall of Amaurot) are hyper-terrifying because they incorporate so many different ideas.

Thus, I'm disinclined to believe that every single Amaurotian was some identical twin of the next, save for personality. Even if their appearances were identical, it stands to reason that they would dress radically differently from one another, reflecting the variances of their identity.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[MaethusXion]

iirc, the clothes are required for public wear? There was one of the quest, don't remember if it was part of MSQ, an Aether Current Quest or a normal Sidequest, that basically says you have to wear the required clothes? It's been a bit, and I don't care to go through the Shadowbringers MSQ again right now.

[Lauront]

7. Did the Ascians Ancients really look the way that we see them in Emet-Selch's illusion, or is he making them look different for "dramatic effect"?

Oda: Despite the fact that they have kind of a glow to them, like a ghost or phantom, the culture from which the Ascians came did indeed wear robes and masks like that. The Ascians outfits descend from that tradition.

Yoshi: I'd like to highlight a point of confusion in our community: we are not calling all Ancient entities Ascians. The beings you see in Amaurot are not "Ascians" but the illusions of its Ancient citizens. So we can tell you for sure that the Ancient people you see inhabiting Amaurot did indeed wear robes and masks like those. When you look at them, however, you notice that individuals lack any real distinctive features. They are a bit blurry, and look a bit like aliens. This is an inaccurate representation. The actual Ancient people all looked different, but this is not reflected in their representation via the illusion. This is perhaps why some think Hythlodaeus and the apparition Emet-Selch sees when he looks at you might be the same person, but they are both imperfect illusions. Ancient people had faces just as unique as regular people. Hythlodaeus is also wearing a different mask than the apparition...

From here, and the original panel here.

Tldr: Emet's budget for the character models ran low.

[TeraRamis]

From here.

Tldr: Emet's budget for the character models ran low.

Boy, they really kind of talk past each other in those quotes, don't they? "Yes, they looked like that." "Well, no, they didn't REALLY look like that."

Were they actually human? Were they giant? I didn't even realize those were supposed to be masks and not actual faces. If they were gigantic and alien-like, why does Emet-Selch continue to portray himself as a Garlean - a race he must despise along with the rest - right up until the moment you fight him as a boss?

[Lauront]

It's a bit vague, but it confirms at the least that they had distinctive facial features and unique masks. Assuming the city Emet did was to scale, it does seem like they were giant in size - certainly, the NPC remarks in the area (referring to the characters as children) bear that out.

Based on the Ascians' general preference for hosts, I'd venture a guess that they look like giant (midlander?) hyur. As for Emet's preference for his host's form? I take it that he just enjoyed his time as Garlemald's Emperor and thus preferred that body as far as mortal hosts went. We know that he had white hair from his short story.

As to whether they were "human", it depends on your definition; appearance-wise, maybe they were giant hyur, but in terms of what they were, they were very long-lived beings with superlative aetheric reserves and powers besides that, of which the current Echo is but a fraction. So it's a bit of "yes" and "no". They have a similar range of emotions and interests to humans, but their characteristics make them something more.

[TeraRamis]

It's a bit vague, but it confirms at the least that they had distinctive facial features and unique masks, and by the looks of it, a glow. Assuming the city Emet did was to scale, it does seem like they were giant in size - certainly, the NPC remarks in the area (referring to the characters as children) bear that out.

Based on the Ascians' general preference for hosts, I'd venture a guess that they look like giant (midlander) hyur. As for Emet's preference for his host's form? I take it that he just enjoyed his time as Garlemald's Emperor and thus preferred that body as far as mortal hosts went. We know that he had white hair from his short story.

As to whether they were "human", it depends on your definition; appearance-wise, maybe they were giant hyur, but in terms of what they were, they were very long-lived beings with superlative aetheric reserves and powers besides that, of which the current Echo is but a fraction. So it's a bit of "yes" and "no".

[WhiteArchmage]

They really... did not contradict each other.

Oda: Yes, they all wore the same thing, or similar enough to not tell the difference.
Yoshi: They all wore the same thing, though they didn't all look alike under their robes.

And yes, there IS a quest about you having to get yourself a robe and mask because your individuality of attire is offensive to Amaurotians (or at least childish) or whatnot.

[Deusteele]

Were they all identical giants with a ghostly glow? No.
Did they all wear robes and masks? Yes.
A quest "Community Cohesion" talks about how the robes are a part of Amaurotine culture focused on equality and that your outfit is improper. (N.B. This is also the griffin creation quest.)
There may have been some individualism's with outfits but by far and large they stayed within the cultural lines.

http://garlandtools.org/db/#quest/69130

[Iscah]

I don't think anything involving Amaurot should be tagged as "minor spoilers"... the city itself is a pretty major one. Any discussion of it will be, too.

[Melichoir]

thought the simple answer was that the Amaurotian culture pretty much had people dress in robes and a masks, and that the people underneath the masks were of course unique (like you would expect). Whether each mask had its own distinctive features or not might not be something wed see in game cause, you know, development time, but that couldve been a possibility. There are different masks when you fight Hades, which represent various people of the Amarotian times, so its assumed people had different masks.

At least that was my takeaway.