Naunet

But that's not how genetics works. Extreme dimorphism is usually a result of sexual selection. I have trouble swallowing "an entire race came from one couple", too, but my suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

There's been a point floating around this thread that the East and West are inherently different in aesthetics. I just wanted to emphasize how that is not as true as some would like to believe.

Oh my god, this is glorious.

I honestly know next to nothing about FFXV, but that is hilarious.

It's kind of strange to me to characterize it as "Western" versus "Eastern", to be honest. I mean, "the West" brought to you the likes of NSync, Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber, boy bands in general, many entertainers who capitalize on an adrogynous look, Orlando Bloom, young Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Elves, Tolkein elves, what much of modern vampires have become, the original versions of Greek gods, Edward Cullen, and... probably a lot more, but I suck at recalling the kinds of name details I'd need to google them all up. And in the East? Well, take a look at most Shounen manga/anime from Japan. That "bara" stuff, too. The heroes in Chinese action movies. Probably more, but I'm not really knowledgable enough on the details to speak in more than those broad strokes. So... er, yeah. Sorry, the constant harping on "Eastern vs Western" as though it's some sort of Berlin Wall of aesthetic preferences is really getting to me.

There's a lot of truth to this. But yeah... one can dream.

It looks like they had a craft day and glued some foam cut-outs to themselves for a cosplay.

The "lazy" accusation towards SE comes from the way they put no effort into maintaining a consistent aesthetic across the race. Rather than create an equally delicate and beautiful male model, or an equally fierce, lithe, and draconic female model, they went with plan B for the guys and "pretty human with some horns" for the ladies. I find it "lazy" in thought process. They couldn't fathom a beauty beyond the simple standard present in 90% of their women already. Do I think they're pretty? Yeah. Doesn't mean they're not disappointing, and I won't hesitate to call out SE for falling into the thoughtless character design trap.

There is no need to get so hostile. I think trying to equate dissatisfaction with the Au Ra as the same as calling Roegadyn "hyur with bigger muscles" is rather disingenuous. First of all, it's not the Au Ra in general that most people are critiquing - it's the differences displayed in the males versus the females. The Roegadyn have a distinctive musculature to them, as well as very different face shapes, and male and female roegadyn clearly share a common aesthetic. They are an example of it done right. They're obviously the same race. The same cannot be said for male and female Au Ra. The females are so delicate compared to the males that they look like nearly completely different races. The disappointment comes from how this is a pattern that is played out to a tired degree in so many video games. Why not maintain the aggressive, near-beastial aesthetic of the males in the women as well? They could still be quite beautiful, but in a way that would be in-keeping with the themes established by the males. (Or, y'know, they could go the other way around and have waif-like males.) Instead they made a female that looks extremely human, but with horns and a tail, with a few barely visible scales. The design paradigm is jarringly different.

Not actually what I said. RE: the impact of Au Ra - A character's appearance is just as important, if perhaps not moreso, than game play. It's perfectly legitimate to be disappointed in seeing yet again the "aggressive male/beautiful and mysterious female" trope played out. Also, this is a thread discussing the Au Ra, so... of course we're going to talk about the Au Ra.

Yup, what Tiergan said. More facial ridges, maybe a different bone structure (brow/nose/cheek/jaw), more apparent horns, a more powerful musculature instead of looking like children... It's lazy because SE just took a midlander and slapped some (small) horns on them, as per the image I linked a page back. There was almost no thought put into the design of female Au Ra.

It being foreshadowed only makes it even more disappointing. Pretty much this. That SE's laziness was predictable doesn't disqualify dissatisfaction.

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

I'm sure Antimony has scars; life in a nomadic desert tribe wasn't exactly easy. But this particular character has none that are really worth mentioning (i.e. no wild stories about them - just average ones!) and I haven't really given thought to specific locations. Just your standard nicks you get from life. And the scars of childbirth... My most seriously scarred character is in another universe, and she ended up that way through a couple major RP events. Then I roleplayed Forsaken in WoW, which were obviously going to be messed up in various ways (externally and internally!), but I guess that doesn't really count.

I promise I still intend to finish that other project. I've just been super distracted drawing WildStar art and the occasional TERA piece. To get myself back into the swing of FFXIV, have an Antimony... ... I couldn't figure out what clothes to put on her. *is a baddy*

I am toying with the idea of incorporating astrologian concepts into my existing character's roleplay. Just how I manage that will depend on the lore around the class and behind its abilities, but what little we do know if it has some really exciting parallels to the somewhat superstitious, symbol-heavy medicine I've got partially constructed for my character.

I'm betting cash shop item. Oh god. XIV is one step closer to becoming the nightmare of TERA. x.x *hides in a corner*

It's pretty much a guarantee that there will be an influx of in any MMO. It may or may not level out in time. Same with new classes.

There's nothing wrong with a bunch of people wanting to try out a new race, and there's nothing wrong with a race being popular amongst players. Maybe frustrating for those trying to find a particular race to RP out a cultural flavor, but there's no reason to look down upon the more popular races.

I'm not; I just hang out on the forums here so I can keep in touch with what's going on in game lore and the community, because I still roleplay my characters here (though I doubt hardly anyone cares ). All my game time goes to WildStar though; I couldn't justify supporting SE financially with their frustrating decisions. That's really what it boiled down to - the money I'd give them for a sub wouldn't be going towards the community, but towards implicitly supporting design decisions I think are idiotic (like pieces of the wedding system...). I definitely understand staying in the game, though, if you rotate around several MMOs. I used to do that with WoW, Rift, and TERA, though eventually F2P pretty much killed two of the three and I quit the first due to raid leader burnout. So no it's just WildStar. ^^; And continuing RP with FFXIV friends.

"Strong enough." like this game has some sort of pull on the weak willed. I like the game, man. Other MMO's bore me. I was replying to the two individuals who admitted that they hated a great many of SE's design decisions and that they've recognized a pattern that they will always be disappointed in SE's decisions for many things. And yet they remain. To me, that is just really sad - especially when there are MMOs out there who actually do right all those systems that they complain about in XIV. Clearly that doesn't apply to you, who likes the game.

Ridiculous male/female dimorphism in video game fictional races strikes again. Would've been nice to see the females as something more than just beautiful human with some itty bitty horns and barely there scales. *sigh* I really like the concept behind Astrologian, though.

More power to ya, I suppose. SE isn't going to change if people don't make them, but ah well. I was strong enough to set down my MMO roots elsewhere when this crap got to be just way too ridiculous.