Garlean Playable Race (?)

[Theodric]

A clear distinction is made between Pureblood Garleans who identify as Imperials and those who do not. We've also seen multiple Pureblood Garlean NPC's and conscripts defect and readily work with the Eorzean Alliance with little to no outright discrimination involved. Given that we already see the likes of Cid and Nero frequently save the day for Eorzea from as early as ARR and many more times beyond that point...I have my doubts that it's the red line that some people are painting it as.

The player character is already a special snowflake on many potential fronts. Many circumstances of which are roughly equal to the idea of being a Garlean Pureblood who just so happens to be able to be one of the few capable of wielding aether.

I get that some people are worried that they might be super popular and that there would be many of them throughout the game world as a result but I, personally, don't believe that the player character makeup needs to reflect the rarity of supposed lore restrictions.

[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.

[Nanchi]

Huge yes from me. I'm sure they would make it work since the player character is being treated as a single entity.
Being allowed to play a pureblood Garlean would be amazing simply for the flavor text (that they really should include).

[Lauront]

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.

You do realise that's what many people say about Viera? I mean there's existing playable races I consider to be boring and a waste of time and resources, but then I realise that's down to my personal tastes and not really a compelling reason not to add something.

Of course I don't think it will be feasible until they proceed with this touted engine overhaul, to allow for more granular customisation options, and in turn reduce the amount of resources they spend when adding new options, but nothing in adding them would require ignoring existing lore to a greater extent than other new races have.

In fact, the lore objection and the way a major canon source is frowned upon because it "might" be wrong simply strikes me as bad faith, motivated reasoning... we heard this stuff with male Viera as well. It is no real obstacle.

[Jandor]

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.

I want a cohesive setting and a main story that makes sense, you want a classically handsome tall dude. We can both have what we want by spending the time and effort that adding the Garleans would require on instead expanding customization options for the existing playable races.

You do realise that's what many people say about Viera? I mean there's existing playable races I consider to be boring and a waste of time and resources, but then I realise that's down to my personal tastes and not really a compelling reason not to add something.

To be fair, they're probably right about Viera, I like my Viera but I never asked for them and would have been fine carrying on as a cat had they not been added.

I've said before, even in this thread, that I don't think they were handled particularly well, but I also don't think that's a very compelling reason to make the same mistake again. The work required to integrate playable Garleans into the setting and story is greater than the Viera required, and IMO simply too great to be worth it.

[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]

You don't care about the lore or how poorly they fit into the setting, I don't care about playing a round earred elf with a dot stuck to its head. It is what it is.



They're probably right about Viera. I've said before, even in this thread, that I don't think they were handled particularly well. I also don't think that's a very compelling reason to make the same mistake again though. The work required to integrate playable Garleans seamlessly into the lore and setting is simply too great to be worth it IMO.

They’ve never cared about the lore in terms of bending it in granting players’ requests. We have chicken suits, modern day glams, 90’s glams, Nier crossovers that make no sense. Again, it seems like people like to use lore as an excuse for things they don’t favor, but when it’s something they want, that’s when they shut up about it and look away. Quit with the double standard already. I’d say Viera and Hrothgar were a waste of resources considering they can’t even wear most headpieces and most Viera i see look like ugly porcelain dolls. It doesn’t change the fact they were wanted and thus the devs gave them to us, regardless of lore. Same with Male Viera. Male Viera is literally the biggest offender because the reason yoshi p gave for them not being included barring resources was their lore. Yet look what happened.

[Lauront]

You don't care about the lore or how poorly they fit into the setting, I don't care about playing a round earred elf with a dot stuck to its head. It is what it is.



They're probably right about Viera. I've said before, even in this thread, that I don't think they were handled particularly well. I also don't think that's a very compelling reason to make the same mistake again though. The work required to integrate playable Garleans into the setting and story is greater than the Viera required, and IMO simply too great to be worth it.

And what effort have they gone to in order to integrate Au Ra, Viera and Hrothgar into the story retroactively? They have a ready-made blurb on why a Garlean should be able to use magic, even if it is rare, so to claim this contravenes the lore is simply fanciful. Much as any of those races could conceal their features, so could a Pureblood hide their third eye. I really don't see what the massive effort here is. This isn't WoW, where you get zones and dedicated story lines to new races. The Au Ra got lucky in SB in that regard, and even then it is not a starter zone or an effort to integrate them into the earlier story.

In terms of resources? That strictly depends on where SE is with the engine overhaul if and when it decides to add new races over the game's projected future life span.

The only compelling reason to add something from a business standpoint is sufficient demand for it relative to cost. The lore is negotiable.

BTW, it's a trifle disingenuous to claim Theodric doesn't care for the lore. Rather, it's that the objections being raised here are not difficult at all to surmount, particularly because they can lean onto the lore book. And until they explicitly contradict that source, there is no real reason to assume it is wrong.

[Jandor]

The only compelling reason to add something from a business standpoint is sufficient demand for it relative to cost. The lore is negotiable.

BTW, it's a trifle disingenuous to claim Theodric doesn't care for the lore. Rather, it's that the objections being raised here are not difficult at all to surmount, particularly because they can lean onto the lore book. And until they explicitly contradict that source, there is no real reason to assume it is wrong.

Their ability to cast magic or not is not the main issue, they are the primary antagonists for the base game and one of the expansions. A good chunk of the story would come across as rather silly, at best, unless they changed chunks of it for Garlean characters, that's a rather large negative for a game that features its story as a big selling point.