So.... why the Races from FFXI?

[Nakiami]

They used races that looked the same so the game was familiar to FFXI players so it helped them to change over.

Waiiiiiit, you mean to tell me someone actually payed attention to XIV before it was released!?

Brb, need to check the temperature in Hell.

[Pixi]

Waiiiiiit, you mean to tell me someone actually payed attention to XIV before it was released!?

Brb, need to check the temperature in Hell.

Plenty of people I knew quit FFXI when FFXIV was announced, because they saw it as a death sentence for FFXI.

[ThePatriarch]

They should have made the races:

Dhalmel, Goblin, and Raptor.

[Arcell]

Oh look, it's another "Zaaku not being able to let go of FFXI" thread. Woooooo. Roegadyn have both genders, Galka do not. Galka have tails, Roegadyn do not. Similar, not the same. That's like saying an apple and a red plum are the same thing because they're both red. From a distance you might not be able to tell much of a difference but up close you can really see it. All of the details are different, though they're both red fruit. Similar, not the same.

No one's denying that they are similar but the origin stories, background and lore surrounding them are quite different. I understand that they wanted to have something familiar for the FFXI vets and to allow people to re-create their characters but at some point they decided on different names, lore and features. They could have easily copied the exact same race names, lore and features over but they didn't. That was a conscious decision to make them similar but different. That proves that the intent was to be familiar but not exactly the same.

[Zaaku]

Some points you have there Arcell but riddle me this Bat Man. For both the Roegadyn and Miqo'te races why were the additional genders not made available at launch? They had spent just as much time in the Dev pot stew during production. If they had originally planned to have this "Brand New and Completely Original Races that are totally not Mithra and Galka!" mindset how come theys were with the keeping up the mono-genderism?

Seems kind of a peculiar concept. I mean Lore Wise, which as we know is fickle as the cross breeze. (Remember when all the mobs in the game doubled their size because of God Juice Radiation?) To have two whole Races follow in step with their FFXI progenitors. It seems only after the monumental failure at launch did SE have to go back to the drawing board and think of every tiny little thing they could implement to appease the fans and retain customers. It shows a pattern. They wanted FFXI fans, they made the game with them in mind, and only after desperate game ending woes were put on top of their heads did the Dev team suddenly decide to go back on this trend.

The honest purpose of using FFXI's Races was to make FFXI fans come play their game. Considering they butchered one of the Races to the point it shares only a passing resemblance to its origins, we got a problem. For those of us who took the Rock-Humpers as our avatar's it is a slap in the face that we get screwed over because SE thought Galka/Roegadyn would appeal to a wider audience if they looked more Hyur. How would you feel if you had played as a Taru Taru for years and bonded with your creation, then in FFXIV all the other Races got to hop over but they made the LalaFell 4' 10" thick bodied proportionate Hyur short people. They only thing in common was the /panic Dance then someone told you, "WORKING AS INTENDED!"?

[DarthTaru]

I like that they continued with similar races. In fact, I honestly wish they just made FFXIV a true sequel and brought us back to Vana'diel, even if a Vana'diel that exists a thousand years later than the one we experienced in FFXI.

I also believe that the fact that SE used the `same` races as FFXI is the only reason this game is still alive. The similarities tricked us into having hope long before Yoshi announced the 2.0 redesign. Had SE used Humes, Fairies, Lizard men and Fish-people, every last one of us would have long moved on after the disastrous launch.

MY MAIN GRIPE WITH THE RACES NOW
Is that they have no identity. In FFXI I knew who the Tarutaru were. They were kind, friendly, intelligent, sometimes humble, sometimes arrogant. Sometimes courageous, sometimes cowardly. They had fears, worries, dreams, goals, delights, allies, enemies, a culture, a past, a civilization, a way of life.

There was lore, history, personality, etc. I had an attachment to them and their civilization. The story telling of FFXI gave players reason to be nationalistic, no matter what race they chose. There was cause to be interested in your nations past as well as reveal its future through continuing with its story. Nobody in FFXI asked fellow players to hastily skip cut scenes so that they could get on and over with the fight at hand. It was commonly understood that everyone would want to see the next chapter in Vana'diel, of their home, of their story, and that was rarely infringed upon.

In FFXIV, nobody cares.

In other words, who are we?

I like that SE used the same races as FFXI but I despise the fact that they didn't give any of them any personality.
They are as bland and as empty as the copy pasted zones we chocobo through.

[Skies]

I like that they continued with similar races. In fact, I honestly wish they just made FFXIV a true sequel and brought us back to Vana'diel, even if a Vana'diel that exists a thousand years later than the one we experienced in FFXI.

I also believe that the fact that SE used the `same` races as FFXI is the only reason this game is still alive. The similarities tricked us into having hope long before Yoshi announced the 2.0 redesign. Had SE used Humes, Fairies, Lizard men and Fish-people, every last one of us would have long moved on after the disastrous launch.

MY MAIN GRIPE WITH THE RACES NOW
Is that they have no identity. In FFXI I knew who the Tarutaru were. They were kind, friendly, intelligent, sometimes humble, sometimes arrogant. Sometimes courageous, sometimes cowardly. They had fears, worries, dreams, goals, delights, allies, enemies, a culture, a past, a civilization, a way of life.

There was lore, history, personality, etc. I had an attachment to them and their civilization. The story telling of FFXI gave players reason to be nationalistic, no matter what race they chose. There was cause to be interested in your nations past as well as reveal its future through continuing with its story. Nobody in FFXI asked fellow players to hastily skip cut scenes so that they could get on and over with the fight at hand. It was commonly understood that everyone would want to see the next chapter in Vana'diel, of their home, of their story, and that was rarely infringed upon.

In FFXIV, nobody cares.

In other words, who are the Lalafell?

I like that SE used the same races as FFXI but I despise the fact that they didn't give any of them any personality.
They are as bland and as empty as the copy pasted zones we chocobo through.

Truth to be told, you can't tell one Lallafel from the other, but you can tell a Gridanian from a Lominsan. And that is perfectly the point, actually, in XIV. XIV is not based around racial identity but national identity, you don't gain a personality based on what race you are, but what nation you are from. Every race is literally the same to society and that shows, and sincerely it's a thing I personally like.

Even so there are still a few details visible, Miqo'te are more often than not either cute or lascive, Roegadyn are definitely in the badass range and often angry. I do not pay sufficient attention to the tiny details of other races so I cannot tell, but even so there are tiny diffeirences but the grand focus is still your mother nation.

[DarthTaru]

Truth to be told, you can't tell one Lallafel from the other, but you can tell a Gridanian from a Lominsan. And that is perfectly the point, actually, in XIV. XIV is not based around racial identity but national identity, you don't gain a personality based on what race you are, but what nation you are from. Every race is literally the same to society and that shows, and sincerely it's a thing I personally like.

Even so there are still a few details visible, Miqo'te are more often than not either cute or lascive, Roegadyn are definitely in the badass range and often angry. I do not pay sufficient attention to the tiny details of other races so I cannot tell, but even so there are tiny diffeirences but the grand focus is still your mother nation.

Disagree entirely. Under this model for identity we're essentially just midgets... Not very exciting.
The monolithic societies of FFXI gave the world diversity and clearly defined cultures that added a richness to the world this game completely lacks in its lore and mythology. If you were a Windurstian Tarutaru visiting Bastok or vice versa you were visiting a foreign land and it felt like it. Traveling to another city in FFXIV just feels like exactly that - traveling to another city. Denying each race a unique culture and civilization deprives them all of any real identity or character.

More over, if each race was given its own home nation the game world would be far more dispersed. Not everyone would be huddled in Ul'dah simply because of the market wards. People would be more inclined to stay in their own nation.

I started as a Lalafell in Gridania and I feel absolutely zero attachment to that place. It's in the woods. It has a creepy kid with horns. It has people of all sorts wearing silly wooden masks. It does nothing for me because it lacks a core or center that it would otherwise have if it were, for example, the home of the Elves.

[Pixi]

More over, if each race was given its own home nation the game world would be far more dispersed. Not everyone would be huddled in Ul'dah simply because of the market wards. People would be more inclined to stay in their own nation.

Very true. Despite Ul'dah being one of the three *home* nations, it may as well be the equivalent of Jeuno or Whitegate. People hang out there for convenience, not because they actually feel attached to it.

[Valmonte]

Disagree entirely. Under this model for identity we're essentially just midgets... Not very exciting.
The monolithic societies of FFXI gave the world diversity and clearly defined cultures that added a richness to the world this game completely lacks in its lore and mythology. If you were a Windurstian Tarutaru visiting Bastok or vice versa you were visiting a foreign land and it felt like it. Traveling to another city in FFXIV just feels like exactly that - traveling to another city. Denying each race a unique culture and civilization deprives them all of any real identity or character.

More over, if each race was given its own home nation the game world would be far more dispersed. Not everyone would be huddled in Ul'dah simply because of the market wards. People would be more inclined to stay in their own nation.

I started as a Lalafell in Gridania and I feel absolutely zero attachment to that place. It's in the woods. It has a creepy kid with horns. It has people of all sorts wearing silly wooden masks. It does nothing for me because it lacks a core or center that it would otherwise have if it were, for example, the home of the Elves.

Gil Hording Evil Casting Midgets....Big difference.