Garlean Playable Race (?)

[SannaR]

Miqote are fairly common in Eorzea and 1 in 10 of them are male, it'd be weirder if we didn't see cat boys running about. Moon cat fellas are out making a name for themselves to impress the moon ladies, and Sun cat fellas are out getting stronger so they can lead their own cat girl harem one day, both perfectly logical excuses for why they're so over-represented in the adventurer job market.

It's far easier to stretch plausibility for seeing Miqote men hanging about everywhere than it for seeing Garleans chilling on every street corner. You could argue they've pushed up against the lore a little bit for things that were in very high demand, but that's not a particularly good reason to just plow straight through it, especially for something that doesn't really seem all that popular anyway.

Sure, it's easy to explain that. Yet many pro Garleans as a race people use the whole "Well I saw 50 moon cat boys, 12 Bunny girls and 30 whms when I logged into Limsa." as something that we all know only happens because the game has to allow everyone to play what they want to play as instead of forcing everyone to choose something else the lore wouldn't allow.

It's a bit selfish to go and use everyone else's character as a lore break or bend to try and justify one's reasoning behind why the devs should allow something to be put into the game.

[Ayuhra]

I could see Garleans being added after next expansion where they may become a more neutral presence for us. Older stories might be weird playing as a Garlean but you'd have to figure maybe your adventurer has something going on that prevents them from being loyal to the empire. IDK.

The purebloods are just Elezen with round ears so do that and make them another clan of hyur (the clan system could be expanded I think without adding entirely new races).

[wereotter]

I could see Garleans being added after next expansion where they may become a more neutral presence for us. Older stories might be weird playing as a Garlean but you'd have to figure maybe your adventurer has something going on that prevents them from being loyal to the empire. IDK.

Yoshida has stated that Garleans aren't playable because of the conflicts it would set up in the story. Imagine going into Yanxia as a Garlean during Stormblood and trying to beat back the empire to liberate the region how odd that will make a lot of the story. Similar conflicts would rise with the ARR story, and even some of the minor notes like how Lucia hides that she's Garlean while in Ishgard, yet you as an unknown ward of House Fortemps can wander around unashamedly Garlean?

This is all in addition to the issues brought up where the Garleans can't manipulate aether. This is a plot point brought up a few times. But the problem really would become that most if not every job in the game uses aether to charge up their attacks. So you'd be limited to like maybe one job? And that wouldn't make for a fun game experience for the player if they're limited on what they can do because of their race.

[Ayuhra]

Yoshida has stated that Garleans aren't playable because of the conflicts it would set up in the story. Imagine going into Yanxia as a Garlean during Stormblood and trying to beat back the empire to liberate the region how odd that will make a lot of the story. Similar conflicts would rise with the ARR story, and even some of the minor notes like how Lucia hides that she's Garlean while in Ishgard, yet you as an unknown ward of House Fortemps can wander around unashamedly Garlean?

This is all in addition to the issues brought up where the Garleans can't manipulate aether. This is a plot point brought up a few times. But the problem really would become that most if not every job in the game uses aether to charge up their attacks. So you'd be limited to like maybe one job? And that wouldn't make for a fun game experience for the player if they're limited on what they can do because of their race.

Garleans can do magical or magic adjacent things through a synthetic echo.

As things are right now, though, no playing a Garlean might not make much sense. But if we ever do a soft plot reset through another calamity or something I can easily see them be playable.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Yoshida has stated that Garleans aren't playable because of the conflicts it would set up in the story. Imagine going into Yanxia as a Garlean during Stormblood and trying to beat back the empire to liberate the region how odd that will make a lot of the story. Similar conflicts would rise with the ARR story, and even some of the minor notes like how Lucia hides that she's Garlean while in Ishgard, yet you as an unknown ward of House Fortemps can wander around unashamedly Garlean?

This is all in addition to the issues brought up where the Garleans can't manipulate aether. This is a plot point brought up a few times. But the problem really would become that most if not every job in the game uses aether to charge up their attacks. So you'd be limited to like maybe one job? And that wouldn't make for a fun game experience for the player if they're limited on what they can do because of their race.

Again, none of this makes much sense in the form of an argument because like, You can play as an Au Ra in ishgard during the story. Which, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at all but yknow...lore bend. You can play as a duskwight and have your starter city be gridania. Dialogue doesn’t make a lot of sense but yknow....lore bend. The aether thing has already been explained by their people that it is still possible for some to do so. Yoshida gave the lore argument for Male Viera back in ShB yet, look what happened. I understand if y’all say stuff like oh they can’t right now because of the engine. But please, stop trying to use the lore as an excuse. They bend the lore all the time to fit their needs, this wouldn’t be any different. It’s just weird to keep using it as an excuse when there’s multiple instances of things not making sense.

[Jandor]

Again, none of this makes much sense in the form of an argument because like, You can play as an Au Ra in ishgard during the story. Which, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at all but yknow...lore bend. You can play as a duskwight and have your starter city be gridania. Dialogue doesn’t make a lot of sense but yknow....lore bend. The aether thing has already been explained by their people that it is still possible for some to do so. Yoshida gave the lore argument for Male Viera back in ShB yet, look what happened. I understand if y’all say stuff like oh they can’t right now because of the engine. But please, stop trying to use the lore as an excuse. They bend the lore all the time to fit their needs, this wouldn’t be any different. It’s just weird to keep using it as an excuse when there’s multiple instances of things not making sense.

They bend the lore a bit if it is required to meet fan demand, they don't just break it and stamp on the pieces for the sake of half a dozen people.

Dialogue being a bit weird for half a dozen intro quests in Gridania is hardly comparable to hundreds of Garleans freely running about using magic they shouldn't be able to use in the cities they're currently at war with.

[MikkoAkure]

Again, none of this makes much sense in the form of an argument because like, You can play as an Au Ra in ishgard during the story. Which, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at all but yknow...lore bend. You can play as a duskwight and have your starter city be gridania. Dialogue doesn’t make a lot of sense but yknow....lore bend. The aether thing has already been explained by their people that it is still possible for some to do so. Yoshida gave the lore argument for Male Viera back in ShB yet, look what happened. I understand if y’all say stuff like oh they can’t right now because of the engine. But please, stop trying to use the lore as an excuse. They bend the lore all the time to fit their needs, this wouldn’t be any different. It’s just weird to keep using it as an excuse when there’s multiple instances of things not making sense.

How does au ra not make sense in Ishgard when the DRK quest giver is an au ra in Ishgard? Au ra are not dragons nor are they related to dragons. The DRK guy said his family were killed by the misunderstanding, but considering he's sitting in the bar there, I think the Ishgardians got over it.

[KizuyaKatogami]

They bend the lore a bit if it is required to meet fan demand, they don't just break it and stamp on the pieces for the sake of half a dozen people.

Dialogue being a bit weird for half a dozen intro quests in Gridania is hardly comparable to hundreds of Garleans freely running about using magic they shouldn't be able to use in the cities they're currently at war with.

How is it any different from hundreds of thousands of Male Viera running about? Their birth rates are supposed to be very low and none have been seen before but all of a sudden they’re now in high abundance everywhere? Yeah that’s stamping on the pieces. Also you’re assuming it’s only half a dozen people that are interested in this. Funny i’d think considering you’re a viera yourself you’d understand but i guess not. They don’t just bend the lore “a bit.” See 1.0 to 2.0 Male Miqote and Femroe lore bending. Again, you don’t seem to understand though. When it comes to the story, we’re the only one really there. Not the hundreds of other adventurers of different races or whatever, so it isn’t a huge lore bend to think we’re one of the very few garleans able to use magic(which we know is possible) or allowed to be in the city states. Literally please, stop using lore excuses when Yoshi P himself said back in ShB, they only use lore excuses for the mean time but a lot of it is done in poor taste and he acknowledges that after the Male Viera debacle.

Sure, it's easy to explain that. Yet many pro Garleans as a race people use the whole "Well I saw 50 moon cat boys, 12 Bunny girls and 30 whms when I logged into Limsa." as something that we all know only happens because the game has to allow everyone to play what they want to play as instead of forcing everyone to choose something else the lore wouldn't allow.

It's a bit selfish to go and use everyone else's character as a lore break or bend to try and justify one's reasoning behind why the devs should allow something to be put into the game.

I dont really see how its selfish? If anything the selfish thing is people trying to turn down people's hopes of a garlean race of sub race on the basis of lore, despite the lore constantly being changed or not making sense for many things. Your point of "only happens because the game has to allow everyone to play what they want to play," could literally be applied to the garlean argument. I really dont know how it's selfish to use other players' character as examples unless you for some reason take it as some kind of personal attack or something, in which case...idk what to say. Dont be so sensitive.

[Jandor]

How is it any different from hundreds of thousands of Male Viera running about? Their birth rates are supposed to be very low and none have been seen before but all of a sudden they’re now in high abundance everywhere? Yeah that’s stamping on the pieces. Also you’re assuming it’s only half a dozen people that are interested in this. Funny i’d think considering you’re a viera yourself you’d understand but i guess not. They don’t just bend the lore “a bit.” See 1.0 to 2.0 Male Miqote and Femroe lore bending. Again, you don’t seem to understand though. When it comes to the story, we’re the only one really there. Not the hundreds of other adventurers of different races or whatever, so it isn’t a huge lore bend to think we’re one of the very few garleans able to use magic(which we know is possible) or allowed to be in the city states. Literally please, stop using lore excuses when Yoshi P himself said back in ShB, they only use lore excuses for the mean time but a lot of it is done in poor taste and he acknowledges that after the Male Viera debacle.

When it comes to the story, you're the only Warrior of Light. You're not the only adventurer, either in the story itself or in the setting in general. The other players exist in the setting, and the setting is the foundation that the story is built on.

I have no intention of ignoring the lore, the world and the story are important, however I will add a non-lore reason. They're boring and bring nothing new or exciting to the list of options, adding them as a playable race would be waste of time and resources.

[Theodric]

They're boring and bring nothing new or exciting to the list of options, adding them as a playable race would be waste of time and resources.

That's completely subjective. A lot of people, myself included, have been asking for a tall and classically attractive playable race with no other features such as horns, scales or a tail for quite some time now. Garlean Purebloods if given a unique model true to their lore could provide that.

After all, the most popular playable races across multiple MMO's are generally either the equivalent of humans or some form of elf. That'd probably be the same case here in FFXIV if the proportions and design choices behind some of the character models were more palatable to mainstream tastes/conventional beauty standards.

As for it being a waste of time and resources? That's also subjective - personally I wouldn't agree with that. Nor would they necessarily need to be added right away.

The game's set to be supported for at least another ten years of development.