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+--- Thread: Au Ra Character Creation Screens discussion! (/showthread.php?tid=11291)
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Naunet - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 10:42 AM)allgivenover Wrote: After Aion I'm against having too much freedom with character creation sliders.
More preset choices are never a bad thing, but if you give people total control, well...
There is, as in all things, a happy medium. WildStar uses body type presets and a slew of face sliders; it works quite well.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - allgivenover - 04-28-2015
Honestly I'd be content with XIV if it wasn't PS3 limited.Â
I actually don't even recall if you could change the body type in Wildstar, I just remember not liking any of my choices.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Zyrusticae - 04-28-2015
Blade & Soul fixed all of that, however. They still have a huge number of sliders but limited them such that you can no longer make blatant monstrosities that defy the game's art style (though it helps in this case that the game has such strong art direction versus Aion where they just throw things in for the sake of it).
I find body sliders are the single most important ingredient in creating unique-looking characters. That change in silhouette shape completely alters your impression of a character and dramatically increases the overall variety. The complete lack of anything like that in FFXIV is a crying shame IMO. The racial variety helps but it is not even remotely a replacement. I can't make T'rahnu unusually broad-shouldered or give a guy a steroid gut or make an unusually thin Lalafell or any of that stuff, and that just kills it for me. The only reason I'm okay with my character now is because they thankfully went with a more androgynous female body shape versus the overtly effeminate shapes used in other games. If they did end up going the Wildstar route I wouldn't even be playing this game right now.
Hell, half the reason I'm putting up with a massive language barrier and huge latency disadvantage (in a game where 160ms latency cuts your attack speed in half) is just because Blade & Soul has such strong character creation that it really makes me attached to my character. If FFXIV could do something like that, it would be perfect, but...
All of this just to say that the Au Ra are disappointing specifically because the character creatoin itself is so weak. With more options and more variety even I, with all my complaints, would be able to find something to like in them... but being pigeonholed into their extremely narrow vision ruins it all for me.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Naunet - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 11:22 AM)Zyrusticae Wrote: All of this just to say that the Au Ra are disappointing specifically because the character creatoin itself is so weak.Â
This is the crux of it, right here. SE's character creation is pretty poor. You don't even have to dislike it to acknowledge the fact that it's extremely limited in scope.
Though even then, they should have at least gone the midlander/highlander route. Let the civilized and open Raen be the petite, cute ones (the males, too!), while the nomadic warrior Xaela can have a much more aggressive silhouette and options. Makes lore sense and lets both "sides" get what they want.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Wymsical - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 11:48 AM)Naunet Wrote:(04-28-2015, 11:22 AM)Zyrusticae Wrote: All of this just to say that the Au Ra are disappointing specifically because the character creatoin itself is so weak.Â
This is the crux of it, right here. SE's character creation is pretty poor. You don't even have to dislike it to acknowledge the fact that it's extremely limited in scope.
Though even then, they should have at least gone the midlander/highlander route. Let the civilized and open Raen be the petite, cute ones (the males, too!), while the nomadic warrior Xaela can have a much more aggressive silhouette and options. Makes lore sense and lets both "sides" get what they want.
At a guess, they might've considered doing that but decided that it wasn't worth the time and effort that could be put into other Heavensward stuff (especially with the Highlanders being significantly less popular than the Midlanders). Obviously some people in the thread disagree with that!
I also strongly believe most of the issues with character creation stem from the 'Character Data Limits' that surely are the fault of continued PS3 support. I hope this won't be as much of an issue once PS3 support is dropped.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Flickering Ember - 04-28-2015
On the bright side, Â FFXIV will eventually drop ps3 support. It is possible the next expansion could drop it. I recall them saying it would happen when PS3 players decline drastically. The PS4 is still newish. As time goes on more people will make the switch.
The char. creation was definitely a turn off for me initially when I first played in an ARR beta weekend. I still kind of laugh at some of the options. Some of the changes like jawlines and noses are hardly even noticeable in their differences.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - allgivenover - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 11:48 AM)Naunet Wrote: Though even then, they should have at least gone the midlander/highlander route. Let the civilized and open Raen be the petite, cute ones (the males, too!), while the nomadic warrior Xaela can have a much more aggressive silhouette and options. Makes lore sense and lets both "sides" get what they want.
We would've just ended up with another barely played race/sex combo (Roegadyn female anyone?) It would just mean that 90% of female Au Ra would be Raen. That's a lot of development on gear sets for a sex/race combo that relatively few would play. That's a very poor return on investment. (Hell, investing in RPers period is a poor return on investment, but that's a separate subject entirely.)
To be entirely thorough here, I do think that bestial Au Ra females would have been more popular than Roegadyn ladies, but not by a wide margin.
Not saying I like it or endorse it. But they're playing to their audience, and the vast majority of that audience likes their ladies petite and cute and their men tall and brawny. Beyond PS3 limitations, this is the big reason behind Au Ra design choice limitations.
Sure, there's two "sides" but one of those sides is 90% of the player base or more. It's a smart business choice.
Again, not endorsing it, this is just what I see as the harsh reality of the business world. MMOs are very expensive beasts. You play it safe and you do that safe well or you get hollowed out and become a cash shop disaster.
Sure it's pandering, but pandering the right way gets you long term dollars.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Naunet - 04-28-2015
I'm never gonna be okay with that justification.
[edit] Why even make highlanders/roegadyn in the first place. Let's just throw the standard design paradigm of recognizable, unique silhouettes right out the window. Everyone* wants to play the same thing, so the same thing they will get!
*for specific definitions of "everyone" that only include people who like a single aesthetic
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - cherrybomb - 04-28-2015
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed by the finalized design. I was definitely hoping for something less cutesy, and more strange/fey, ideally with a touch of savage for the Xaela. That's not necessarily a failing of the race itself, though; my expectations were just off-kilter from what they were actually aiming for, and that's okay. I'll still gladly play one because they do ultimately appeal to me for a main character in a way that no other race does, but I still can't help but wonder what could've been. Some of those scrapped ideas from the concept art album were really fucking rad.
edit: Actually, if I were to make one legit critique, I'd say that I genuinely think it's kind of lazy that the Raen and Xaela are pretty much identical-looking when they're supposed to be diametrically opposite. Like, c'mon. Even suncats and mooncats have some notable physical differences. Throw a spike or two on those black scales or something, at least.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Zyrusticae - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 01:34 PM)Naunet Wrote: I'm never gonna be okay with that justification.Likewise.
And really, when it comes right down to it, they already got that audience with the current races. The Au Ra are not covering any niche that was not already covered, with the possible (and only) exception of Au Ra males with their wild and crazy hairdos... a trait that, sadly, the females do not share. If anything, they're just going to end up cannibalizing a lot of the players of the existing races, but the actual player base will not increase sizably as a result of that versus the new classes or new gameplay options. But that's just my idle speculation and suspicion, and nothing more.
The most annoying thing is that a lot of the options - especially the face options - are extraneous and could easily have been applied to any existing race. The baby face options in particular could have been thrown on Miqo'te and they would have fit in handily. It's really sad that it takes an entirely new race just to get some of those options in there.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - allgivenover - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 01:34 PM)Naunet Wrote: I'm never gonna be okay with that justification.
[edit] Why even make highlanders/roegadyn in the first place. Let's just throw the standard design paradigm of recognizable, unique silhouettes right out the window. Everyone* wants to play the same thing, so the same thing they will get!
*for specific definitions of "everyone" that only include people who like a single aesthetic
I actually do kind of believe had YoshiP been in charge from the start we wouldn't have Roes or Highlanders at all.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Zhavi - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 01:50 PM)allgivenover Wrote:(04-28-2015, 01:34 PM)Naunet Wrote: I'm never gonna be okay with that justification.
[edit] Why even make highlanders/roegadyn in the first place. Let's just throw the standard design paradigm of recognizable, unique silhouettes right out the window. Everyone* wants to play the same thing, so the same thing they will get!
*for specific definitions of "everyone" that only include people who like a single aesthetic
I actually do kind of believe had YoshiP been in charge from the start we wouldn't have Roes or Highlanders at all.
That's ... interesting. Based on things he's said, or other art in ARR, or ?
But, considering the flop the first one was, I could understand a director trying to do anything possible to continue financial success of some kind, including playing it extremely safe in character design.
I did find a face that I can work with for my au ra, and will continue hoping that for the next new race they put out however many years down the road we'll see something a little tougher for the women.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Wymsical - 04-28-2015
I disagree that the Au Ra don't fill a new niche. People like horns, tails and scales, especially with ethereal, eerie customization. The race happens to be on popular face and body types that don't fill every taste, unfortunately for some. But if I had to pick my Au Ra's face either on a catgirl or a dragon-demon girl, I'd go with the latter every time. I actually was really excited that I could be a horned female without being super tall and huge-boobed because it was more to my tastes. There's plenty of people switching because they prefer the aesthetic.
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - allgivenover - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 01:55 PM)Zhavi Wrote: That's ... interesting. Â Based on things he's said, or other art in ARR, or ?
Based on Dragon Quest X which he was the principal designer for, and the reason he was given XIV to begin with. Heck we probably would have gotten another tiny race instead of just Lalafell.
Here's the playable DQX races:
![[Image: 17v7bqpok6ngejpg.jpg]](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--v85DXOSo--/17v7bqpok6ngejpg.jpg)
More on topic. I can't get over this cute, tempted to just ditch the purple altogether and go full on creepy glowy red demon eyes.
![[Image: Xw2M8Wg.png]](http://i.imgur.com/Xw2M8Wg.png)
RE: Au Ra Character Creation Screens! - Zyrusticae - 04-28-2015
(04-28-2015, 01:57 PM)Wymsical Wrote: I disagree that the Au Ra don't fill a new niche. People like horns, tails and scales, especially with ethereal, eerie customization. The race happens to be on popular face and body types that don't fill every taste, unfortunately for some. But if I had to pick my Au Ra's face either on a catgirl or a dragon-demon girl, I'd go with the latter every time. I actually was really excited that I could be a horned female without being super tall and huge-boobed because it was more to my tastes. There's plenty of people switching because they prefer the aesthetic.
Then you have folks on the exact flipside like myself who like the faces and eyes but cannot stand the horns and scales. Where's our version, eh? EHHH?
Sometimes I wish they didn't even have the silly little races and just had a more robust character creator where you could mix and match elements as you pleased. We already have confirmation that all the races could interbreed with one another anyway. If I want to have an Au Ra babyface with Miqo'te features and no scales, why the hell not? (note: I know the answer to 'why' is a combination of 'dev time' and 'because PS3'; this is a rhetorical question)
I still believe that the male and female versions could have been the two separate subraces with a female and male version for each. The blatant (and I mean IN-YOUR-FACE) pandering is downright insulting. Just on principle they should have developed both versions out completely instead of doing this crazy sexual dimorphism shtick. Another race with the midlander vs highlander level of differentiation would have been glorious. Too bad, so sad, etc.
I'm also going to reiterate for the hundred time that I don't necessarily want something that's vicious or ugly or frighteningly beast-like, just something that's not so damn obviously human. You can easily make non-human races that are also visually attractive and obtain a wide player base. The Au Ra themselves could have been this if they didn't back down and turn the scales into ridiculous cosplay ornaments instead of the full-body features they should have been (which also would have made them recolorable instead of completely static). Ugh, the missed opportunities...