The 7.3 Armour preview is offensive

[torpy]

I am beyond disappointed by this.
They've had so many slip ups in the past, but with dawntrail and how good of a job they did at handling the cultural influences, i was hoping this was behind us.
But then they just do it again.
It's deeply frustrating and risks alienating so many of the people that dawntrail initially appealed to.
Wouldn't be surprised if this is the last straw for a lot of paying users.

[GruffMage]

Bumping this thread, the use of conquistador imagery is incredibly bad on its own, but it is even worse considering the inspiration behind Tural.

[KobeniCar]

I'm really disappointed in the new armor sets. It shows a callouse disregard for the initial themes set up by Dawntrail and is wholly offensive towards the cultures that the various people of Tural are meant to represent.

I was really excited that Dawntrail delved into indigenous American cultures. It has even opened me up to and in fact caused me to search out more information on the cultures that the game is supposed to represent. And this set of armor is really painful to see. Because to some extent, a lot of Dawntrail was trying to see these cultures celebrated and undecimated by the horrors of colonialism and what white Europeans did to them. There's- a lot to say here. About how it could have been done better or certain parts should have been included. But at first it initially felt that- Hey, the FFXIV is trying and they're not being overtly disrespectful. I can appreciate that.

But adding the real life clothing of the genociders who actively wiped culture, history, people, off the face of the earth is not respectful. It almost feels like an endorsement of the history that occurred. It feels blind. It feels like the design team saying "Well you can't have indigenous Americans without their colonizers so might as well add them."

Its. Tiring. Its disappointing. Especially after time and time again I hold out hope of one of these patches exploring North American indigenous people further. The various people that the Shetona are meant to represent. Some kind of way for Erenville and the others who were ripped away from their homes and cultures to keep it going. To show us, the players, pur warriors of light, that their culture was important and wonderul. And instead we- get this. Just a confirmation that all of this wasn't meant in respect or love. That it was just set dressing to make an expansion unique.

Please do not add these sets to the game, Square Enix. Its bad enough they're being considered to add, it would be worse to actually do so.

[Dagny]

Cosigned. Please put in placeholders of a different (older) set and go back to the drawing board.

[musapichi]

Here to echo a lot of the above sentiments, as someone who was originally very pleased to see my culture represented in my favorite MMO. Now genuinely considering unsubbing -- and I have been playing since 2016 -- because, after promises of cultural sensitivity, of all things, this is truly the icing on the cake.
Someone above me said, "Just a confirmation that all of this wasn't meant in respect or love. That it was just set dressing to make an expansion unique." I agree wholeheartedly.
I'd like the sets to be changed, or just removed.
This, in tandem with the fact that the conquistador outfits are next to the vaguely indigenous-inspired outfits ONLY on the caster classes, is just distasteful, and ripe with the 'mystical natives' stereotype.

[Cutethulhu]

Bumping this thread as well as many others. I really don’t like posting in the forums (tbh afraid of checking in on the only post I’ve made at this point) but I think it’s vitally important to boost this sentiment.

It’s really hurt to see that the sinking feeling I had when the trailer dropped at fanfest was correct and it’s hurt even worse to see the disappointment it’s caused to some of the kindest, most creative fans of the game I know.

This gear set, specifically the helmets and the tabard drawing from conquistador aesthetics is a really thoughtlessly cruel thing to add to the game, specifically in this expansion. To have the phys gear draw from the aesthetics of violent colonizers and the casting gear draw from those they colonized doesn’t produce an image of coexistence but instead fetishization. I think latin american players, specifically those that are indigenous (as well as north american indigenous players) are owed a huge apology and some tangible change. Honestly, even if it delays the final patch to the story, the helmets and tabard should be replaced or removed.

Some more transparency as to what sort of cultural consultants or sensitivity readers are signing off on these things, if they in fact exist at all, would be a good practice as well.

[owlcall]

I am amazed at how foolish this design choice was.

The fact we even have to correct them at all on the inappropriateness is the disappointing part, even if they change their stupid mistakes the fact they made it in the first place damaged my faith in their sensibility

[magitekwitch]

Giving my support to this and quoting my reply on the other thread:

I want to add my disappointment to the cultural insensitivity shown in this outfits.
I am European Spanish, and my first reaction seeing this was repulsion. It's not a 1:1 copy of historical outfits yes, but the inspiration is very clear (except in the, what I suppose are, Casting and Healing sets).

I would never wear outfits that takes inspiration from historical oppression.

I understand the devs had no ill intention when designing this, but I also think they should check with cultural consultants to avoid trouble when they rely so much on real existing cultures and history. This is not the first issue with improper outfits (take the Sàmi outfit issue or the Korean designed Far Easter Performer with improper Japanese names).

Replacing a full set of gear so close to patch release date would be complicated, but I appreciate a lot if you could do something about these. As already mentioned by other users, a recolor of a pre-existing gear would be a fine adjustment.

[oschonseleven]

Bumping and agreed. The imagery evoked by the set in combination with the context of DT's setting as a whole feels like a particularly egregious oversight and yet another misstep that could have been avoided with more care.

[KannyChan]

I had wanted more medieval-inspired armor rather than the modern cyber-fashion that keeps being added, and I suppose maybe some fine print should've been added to that wish, because... This is just bad, y'all. Do better. Do anything other than this.

Each individual set, on its own, in a vacuum, isn't outright terrible. But together, in context, for Dawntrail content... whoever is on your sensitivity team should take all of this back to the drawing board and do more work than a few Google searches. Putting conquistador-inspired armor on the tanks/dps and giving the healers/casters the mystical native fringe is so incredibly tone deaf that it's giving me tinnitus. And no, conquistadors were not some explorers in funny hats looking for the city of gold or whatever. Their name literally translates to "conqueror" and their whole job was to colonize, convert, and slaughter. Putting them side-by-side with native-inspired mystics in an expansion set in the "New World" sends every single wrong message you'd ever want to send.

I'm also tired of the deflection of "not knowing better" or fans saying "they're an insulated Japanese company" -- this game is for a worldwide audience, with content depicting cultures and ethnicities outside of Japan, and being *played* by people from those regions. If your sensitivity team (if you even have one) reached out to.... *anyone*, really, from Central/South America, *any* organizations involved with indigenous outreach, and done *any* research beyond a Google image search of "New World attire"...

Oh, right, Googling "FFXIV New World Attire" shows that this has been an issue for years.

It's tiring.

For the love of everything, don't do this. Don't put this in the game. There's still time to make adjustments and tweaks. Don't just give a "we apologize and we'll do better in the future". Do better *now*. Please.