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Naunet · **12-21-2014, 12:22 PM**

(12-21-2014, 07:12 AM)Flickering Ember Wrote: Female Au Ra not only look freakishly short next to their male counterparts, which I personally find disturbing, but the Dragon features are much less prominent on them. I believe that they could have made them a similar size with more Dragon features while still making them look beautiful, in a stereotypical fashion. That, and they just look like hyur females with tiny horns pasted on their heads.

I agree with your entire post. Also, this image sums up my feelings on the Au Ra:

[Image: tumblr_ngwpvpiNOO1txbw5lo1_1280.png]

Honestly, it's just plain lazy on SE's part. It would have been very possible to make female Au Ra as aggressive and beastial-looking as the males (though even they certainly aren't on the level of, say, aman) and still be beautiful. Instead they went the easy route. Disappointing to the extreme.

Berrod Armstrong · **12-21-2014, 12:47 PM**

(12-21-2014, 10:35 AM)Seriphyn Wrote:
(12-21-2014, 03:17 AM)Aya Wrote: I'm really not a fan of sexual dimorphism when it seems to mainly exist to avoid making an "unattractive" female version, and I feel like that's what we're looking at here.Â I also am not inspired by the idea of the race itself.Â So, overall, I'll give a resounding "meh".Â Don't think I'll ever make one :-]

Yes, the size difference between male and female is bloody disgraceful, I don't know how they think they can so blatantly get away with being so obvious that the females are clearly fan service. All other races are similarly proportioned, except Au Ra.

I doubt I'll have much interest RPing with Au Ra, except for the men maybe. I will not be able to shake the feeling that someone playing a female Au Ra is only doing so "because they're pretty". IC this might be justified by the fact Kale will despise "bloody foreigners" or what have you. I also bet there's going to be freaking Eorzeanborn Au Ra, because someone's going to go "Meh lore, I love this race OOC, I love this class OOC, I'm going to make it work". It's not impossible, but it's going to be equivalent to someone from Imperial China being born in 1500s Europe. Very strange.

I don't quite agree with this sentiment, because as someone attracted to males as well as females, I find the males just as much fanservice as anything else. Tall, broad shouldered, muscular, narrow-waisted with strong thighs. Yeah, the males are fucking sexy 'pretty' too.

As for not shaking the feeling that someone is playing a female Au Ra is doing so because they're pretty...uh. Exactly how is that anyone's business but that of the player's? Hell more than half the reason I rolled Highlander was because I liked the body.

I can see the merit of the sexual dismorphism argument. It made me tilt my head as well, then I realized, "Eh, maybe they wanted to go with the small and pretty vs big and mean thikng. Maybe that's going to be a part of the race that I don't know anything about yet. Maybe they were lazy after all but wow look at everything else!"

As for crying doom and gloom and predicting all the BADTHINGS roleplayers are going to do...masssiiiiivvvveee waste of energy. Better to just focus on your little sphere and see how thing are going to go forward. Goodness knows, none of us are infallible.

Kellach Woods · **12-21-2014, 12:49 PM**

Yeah let's be real I said I'd be rolling a dude if I were to roll one anyway because pulling on dem horns while AHEM.

I think the problem here is that we're not giving them the benefit of the doubt because sexual dysmorphism has never been done well before.

Steel Wolf · **12-21-2014, 12:54 PM**

I'd ride a male Au Ra like a naughty bicycle.

Nope. Not striking that one through. Just puttin' it out there. :3

Oscare · **12-21-2014, 01:05 PM**

Sexual dimorphism is very common place in reptilians/reptilian-like creatures. I'm honestly not bothered by the fact that the males are 'larger' than the females because in nature, that tends to be the case anyway. Yes, it's a sex-appeal thing. Male lizards are larger than female lizards. While female snakes (anacondas, for example) are considerably larger than male snakes -- because it's a sex-appeal for the opposite sex.

... I shamelessly agree with Steel Wolf, by the way. Because god those horns are good.

Edit: I am kind of weirded by the lack of muscle mass on the females though. Usually muscle mass is equivalent -- males just have a more profound one. That did make me double-take, but it's not too bad once you get over it.

Berrod Armstrong · **12-21-2014, 01:11 PM**

My initial thoughts on the Au Ra, in order:

"YAY SO THAT'S WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE!"

"Oh holy smokes, the girls are pretty and the guys -- hngh. Okay yay just so glad they revealed it!"

"-- IT HAS BEEN FIVE MINUTES WHY ARE THERE FULL COLOR PORN DRAWINGS OF THEM ALL OVER MY DASHBOARD."

Oscare · **12-21-2014, 01:12 PM**

Yes.

Just yes.

Zetchryn · **12-21-2014, 01:12 PM**

Berrod...

Rule 34.

Just...

Rule 34

Oscare · **12-21-2014, 01:14 PM**

(12-21-2014, 01:12 PM)Zetchryn Wrote: Berrod...

Rule 34.

Just...

Rule 34

What's the difference between Rule 34 and tumblr? Serious question.

Naunet · **12-21-2014, 01:18 PM**

(12-21-2014, 01:05 PM)Oscare Wrote: Sexual dimorphism is very common place in reptilians/reptilian-like creatures. I'm honestly not bothered by the fact that the males are 'larger' than the females because in nature, that tends to be the case anyway. Yes, it's a sex-appeal thing. Male lizards are larger than female lizards. While female snakes (anacondas, for example) are considerably larger than male snakes -- because it's a sex-appeal for the opposite sex.

Let's not kid ourselves by trying to suggest SE did this for any "legitimate" biological reason. They just have a default female look in the vast majority of their character designs and find it very difficult to stray from that look.

Oscare · **12-21-2014, 01:24 PM**

(12-21-2014, 01:18 PM)Naunet Wrote:
(12-21-2014, 01:05 PM)Oscare Wrote: Sexual dimorphism is very common place in reptilians/reptilian-like creatures. I'm honestly not bothered by the fact that the males are 'larger' than the females because in nature, that tends to be the case anyway. Yes, it's a sex-appeal thing. Male lizards are larger than female lizards. While female snakes (anacondas, for example) are considerably larger than male snakes -- because it's a sex-appeal for the opposite sex.

Let's not kid ourselves by trying to suggest SE did this for any "legitimate" biological reason. They just have a default female look in the vast majority of their character designs and find it very difficult to stray from that look.

I like to have a little more faith in the developers/designers, but I suppose this is true.

Kellach Woods · **12-21-2014, 01:52 PM**

I have exactly as much faith in the devs that I do in the devs of any other MMO. Which is to say, when faced with this problem, they just straight out ignored it and didn't even give us a handwave.

Dysmorphism complaints aside, I am down with the Au Ra.

C'kayah Polaali · **12-21-2014, 02:03 PM**

I honestly don't have a problem with the sexual dimorphism shown by the Au Ra. I mean, look at the Roegadyn. There's a similar difference in height between Roe men and women as there are in the Au Ra, but the build difference is almost enough to make them look like different races. The Au Ra, at least, have build similarities between the men and the women.

Granted, it would have amused me if the sexual dimorphism went the other way, but hey, it's a Final Fantasy game. It's like buying an AC/DC album. You don't buy an AC/DC album thinking "I wonder what this is going to sound like". You know what you're getting.

Kellach Woods · **12-21-2014, 02:22 PM**

See, I would have thought that too BUT I CAN'T PULL A FF7 CROSSDRESS OUTFIT.

So I dunno.

Edgar · **12-21-2014, 02:30 PM**

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Thoughts on the Au Ra?

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