National Geo

[Controller]

Stupid random question but I why not. We got animal like races in XIV, Veiras, Miqo'tes, Roths and Au ras. They aren't treated as such in the game I don't think, like I don't think there's any animations that display different traits. Like ears flicking randomly or tails reacting to moods or whatever. But my stupid question is this, How do you think they view each other? Do you think or should Viera's look at Miqo's like losers? Do they get along with them better then say Au ra's? I know it's a stupid question but I guess I just think about silly things.

Also do you think about that at all or are they just humans with animal tails? I do kindof wish we got more animations from the emotes. Like being able to move your tail or ears or something. Also what's your fav tail or race and why? Mine is a cross between Viera, Miqo and Au ra. I like the idea that miqo's have different tails like the overly fluffy ones to the lion one. The lion one is the one true tail. I'mma stop rambling and hope I'm not being too stupid. :C Don't hate me... I just want to talk XIV.

[kaynide]

While I’m not remembering anything specific, I do remember this was toyed with more in Final Fantasy 11, where the races were more tied to specific towns with a specific feel. In that game it was more about stereotypes (which sometimes NPCs actually reflected).

While I’m sure it exists in 14, I felt it was less about race than country of origin (eg. I’ve heard something like “Can’t trust an Ul’danian!” Or “Limsans just a bunch of pirates”)

Back to FF11 though, for example:
Roes (Galka) were seen as lumbering, less intelligent...even hints of slavery (they literally did actually have the lowest base intelligence stat)
Lalas (Tarutaru) were seen as manipulative/dishonest types that looked down on all others (literally had the highest base intelligence stat). I want to say the whole Lala Master Race joke we see originated in 11 and was actually somewhat supported by the NPCs in that game.

I wanna say Square got rid of as much of this as they could overtly because, well, times change and topics of race are a bit more...delicate.

[spf1200]

The only such thing I'm aware of is that Duskwights are seen as untrustworthy. There are at least 2 quests that show they are not seen favorable by the other races

[Vidu]

How do you think they view each other? Do you think or should Viera's look at Miqo's like losers? Do they get along with them better then say Au ra's? I know it's a stupid question but I guess I just think about silly things.

For this you need to take into account that at least on the Source the three races rarely come in contact with each other - its easy to forget with all those PC-Au ra and PC-Viera around, but speaking from a canon-lore perspective, Mi'qote mostly live in Eorzea (a lot of them even in tribes or close family structures, so not even in the cities - they tend to stick to themselves), Au Ra live in Hingashi (and again rather... hidden - Sui-no-Sato, hidden ninja villages in Doma, nomands in the Azim Step... and, also again, not mixing much with other races) and Viera live in Othard (most of them hidden in the Golmore Jungle, with only a very small amount living in Dalmasca before that got destroyed).
I can think of three Au Ra right now who are roaming - or used to roam - Eorzea (Yugiri, Princess Yuki and Sidurgu) and I am only aware of one Viera (Sophie). I might be missing some, but it cant be an aweful lot. So the chances of an average Mi'qote encountering either of those races is pretty slim - and vice versa, with Mi'qote sticking to Eorzea only.
And even if we can only speculate in regards to the possibilty of Au ra and Viera meeting, I'd go with pretty slim aswell, given how secluded both of those races live for the most part.

So, generally speaking I dont think Viera as a whole group would have any opinions on Mi'qote - simply because they dont know that they exist in the first place.

In regards to Mi'qote the first lorebook states that living in cities must seem weird to them, because its so different from their own hunting culture (something both clans are extremly proud off), so I wouldnt be surprised if the Xaela and Viera way of living would earn their respect and understanding - would they ever happen to learn about it in the first place.

[Lium]

What the hell, I’ll just ask. What does this have to do with National Geographic?

[Packetdancer]

While I’m sure it exists in 14, I felt it was less about race than country of origin (eg. I’ve heard something like “Can’t trust an Ul’danian!” Or “Limsans just a bunch of pirates”)

[ insert thousand-yard stare-into-the-void GIF on behalf of Ala Mhigans everywhere in Eorzea ]

[Controller]

What the hell, I’ll just ask. What does this have to do with National Geographic?

Ok you got me there... I loled. I was sitting here thinking of a title that wouldn't make people think I was asking a woke question since the state of the US right now. :C So here I was thinking and thinking and the only thing that came to mind since I was thinking about how animal like the races are, was National Geographic. I couldn't think of a better one. I'm sorry.

[Shougun]

I don't see too many race comments in FFXIV, definitely agree I saw mention of the dusk a few time though. They are there, just not as many as FFXI (from my memory, it's been ages.. maybe it was equal but from memory I feel it was quite a bit more often and just a prevalent thing to remark on in FFXI lol).

Honestly loved that part of FFXI, fantasy racism in games is hilarious and yet a bit realistic so it's like a dark comedy that adds pretty safe yet non-intrusive self critiquing... Allowing the game to touch on it without it feeling like the dev is slapping you in the face and being hypocritical/inconsistent for a video game (like telling someone they're a bad person for killing animals in a game, meanwhile the rest of the game you're killing people.. lol, which adds a feeling like whatever they say must be valueless then- imposing their 'lessons' like they're a superior figure). Which I think is great, it's funny, it's a bit realistic, and it generally critiques itself because of those two elements showing how silly racism really is- especially if they put a decent thought into it, to the humor and the situations (not so upfront that it grates on you like a lesson, adds world building/realism, demonstrates how silly it is to be that way because as a third party you can see the truth, doesn't require you to become unimmersed and see the obvious inconsistencies like killing people good but "this is thing that is less than ending a person's life is worse.. somehow"). Like why I think the whole nation v nation thing in game is fun, but silly in real life. I feel like it is an interesting type of comedy that has a nice balance of levity and seriousness (when done not for the shock factor, specifically at least). Color based though.. that needs significantly higher level of skill to tackle.. Too real, hard not recommend unless you're wanting to do some coal walking.

Dwarves giving elves crap while cliche gets me grinning, and again since it's fantasy so I think it both shows the silliness of racism but also can be taken very lightly and yet adds realism to the world as we know sometimes real life is just that sort of nonsense. Well at least myself. Everyone knows that's a bit subjective, some people can take/dish jokes on a group of people that were severely mistreated in a world war, that others would find that distasteful while, simultaneously being upset about a 'drop the body cleanser' joke. Not that I'm passing judgement in that example, it's merely an example that some people could be making one dark (very dark) joke but then find another dark joke unacceptable (neither of those two examples I'd recommend a game to use.. xD).

If anything I feel like the greater the issue our society has the better it would be some companies out there showing how silly it is (though that brings you into the crosshairs of the perpetually looking to manufacture and or greatly exacerbate outrage groups), but I find that showing the silliness method (soft hand, vs foie gras ham fist) a better way of teaching than "LOOK AT HOW RIGHTEOUS I AM, LOOK AT MY MORAL SUPERIORITY, IF YOU DON'T THINK LIKE ME- THE GREAT THINKER I AM, THEN YOU'RE THE PROBLEM, LOOK ONTO ME AND DESPAIR" (totally imagining this figurative hyperbolic example person being offered the one ring and having a melt down lol). A mindset that has always existed yet I feel thanks to the internet, with all it's echo chamber sharing (big back patting / self congratulating clubs), is now more and more popular. Part of the reason I love that this forum doesn't have downvotes or a way to easily mob hide another view point, well I guess you could say some stuff does get removed but to me the rules seem fairly simple and straight forward... don't post R18 content, swear at, or threaten people's well being.

--

For the later part of the post I really liked Highlanders minus the no nipple and no eyebrow part. Still played one for years- still loved them, just wish the lalafells stopped shaving my brows at night while the frogs could stop applying nipple be gone balm every morning, and obviously I quite like Hrothgar as well (playing one now). Wish there were a few more heads or easier to switch hair types so you saw more face differences in the wild but I do really enjoy the way my character looks and the result of their race, and like usual the animations, of all the races (imo), have a lot of heart so of course I like that too.

While I don't say this as a death knell, the game is doing great money wise and will continue to do so for quite a while, I do hope to SE is secretly working on a technically more advanced MMO to be released in the future (FFXIV still has some life so not like this exact second, nor even this or next year, I definitely imagine at least easily another big expansion and content year)- so we could get those more free form system intensive actions that disregard older day concerns as much (which I feel chains FFXIV, sometimes, even we get silly stuff like some mogshop purchases can't be account bound due to memory issues). Like character creation options (instead of face 1 2 3 4, that's it- like a few of our races with some more powerful sliders could look significantly unique, hrothgar skinny boi vs thicc daddy lol), allowing animations to be easier to make dynamic (some animations have beautifully done wobbles and bounces built in, but it seems pre-rendered vs letting the system act out something consistently natural with gentle physics), more memory generous design decisions like a complete glamour log (heading towards many western MMO's huge allowance)/far less constrained housing or at least personal airships, not asking for 4K textures but near pixeless designs (even WoW's recent content is pretty hard to 'spot the big pixel' unlike say some armors or plants in FFXIV which is like a 10 Ilm pixel staring you straight in the eyes- which isn't a comment on aesthetic design, FFXIV is great there, just levels of detail the system allows), etc (I know a huge pain but I'd also love to see it be open world lol).

[Morningstar1337]

The funny thing is that the original playable races were more humanlike then their XI counterparts

[Controller]

For this you need to take into account that at least on the Source the three races rarely come in contact with each other - its easy to forget with all those PC-Au ra and PC-Viera around, but speaking from a canon-lore perspective, Mi'qote mostly live in Eorzea (a lot of them even in tribes or close family structures, so not even in the cities - they tend to stick to themselves), Au Ra live in Hingashi (and again rather... hidden - Sui-no-Sato, hidden ninja villages in Doma, nomands in the Azim Step... and, also again, not mixing much with other races) and Viera live in Othard (most of them hidden in the Golmore Jungle, with only a very small amount living in Dalmasca before that got destroyed).
I can think of three Au Ra right now who are roaming - or used to roam - Eorzea (Yugiri, Princess Yuki and Sidurgu) and I am only aware of one Viera (Sophie). I might be missing some, but it cant be an aweful lot. So the chances of an average Mi'qote encountering either of those races is pretty slim - and vice versa, with Mi'qote sticking to Eorzea only.
And even if we can only speculate in regards to the possibilty of Au ra and Viera meeting, I'd go with pretty slim aswell, given how secluded both of those races live for the most part.

So, generally speaking I dont think Viera as a whole group would have any opinions on Mi'qote - simply because they dont know that they exist in the first place.

In regards to Mi'qote the first lorebook states that living in cities must seem weird to them, because its so different from their own hunting culture (something both clans are extremly proud off), so I wouldnt be surprised if the Xaela and Viera way of living would earn their respect and understanding - would they ever happen to learn about it in the first place.

You know what... I'll be honest. I was thinking about this from the PC's pov. I didn't even think about lore wise. And damn you're right, lore wise they would hardly if ever meet to form any kind of opinions. With that said though, how do you feel about them? Should they be more animal like? Should they have more emotes with their tails or ears in the case of Viera? Or should they remain pretty much anime people with anime animal ears? I kindof wish we got more random stuff ingame.. like their sleeping habits or whatnot. I dunno why but I'm digging myself a huge rabbit hole with this train of thought.