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(01-18-2014, 07:55 PM)AvalonBright Wrote:Mmh.. I think we agree with each other, at the root of it. I describe Ken as having "wolven" qualities, but that doesn't mean I think he is, in fact, canine. I think the design intent for FFXI's Mithra was pretty obviously, "Hay guise, let's make a cat race." And, let's face it, Miqo'te are the Eorzean analogue for Mithra; I think it's a bit disingenuous to argue otherwise. There are plenty of differences, mind you, but all of our current playable races have their roots (on an OOC level, anyway) in the races of that other FF MMO.(01-18-2014, 05:03 PM)Kendha Wrote: Not sure it's fair to say that those qualities you just described (rubbing against people, hissing, etc.) is in any way, shape, or form playing up to the Miqo'te's "cultural identity." They have cat-like features, but they're not housecats. Feel free to espouse those qualities if you so desire - nobody should be telling you how to play your character - but I also don't want to hear that those who don't "might as well be Hyur." There are many interesting aspects of Miqo'te society, including what players have created for their individual tribes and such, and it's all a lot more involved and interesting than simply "they're cats."
Fair enough. I should have said "they're felines." I didn't mean to infer that because Ashe purrs/hisses/etc that every miqo'te does. I think in particular the Seekers are probably much wilder and more like big cats compared to Keepers too, and I know there's a couple camps that certainly seem to play that aspect of them up.
Regardless though, they're quite clearly Felis Sapiens or something, however you want to call it. There's pretty clearly no canine influence or any other sort of mammal beyond humans + a feline of some kind. What *kind* of feline they act like almost certainly varies from group to group and across individuals like any human, but apart from that. *shrug*
I feel like I may be coming off a bit demanding in saying "RP like I say so!" but it's more that I just can't see why people'd say otherwise. Individuals aside, the game has plenty of examples of how miqo'te act, and when someone tries to say their headcanon involves the entire race acting un-catlike, well. It's just objectively wrong. Do what you want with your own character but don't try saying the whole race has nothing to do with felines!
At the same time, though, there is a reason why people tend to downplay those similarities, and that is because it's very easy to fall into this cutesy, yarn-chasing, "nyan nyan" trap that is the bane of the folks who prefer to invest more heavily in the more tribal or even outright feral aspects of the race. Not that there's anything inherently wrong, I feel, with - y'know - being cute if that's how someone chooses to play, but there are a lot of Miqo'te roleplayers who simply don't want the race as a whole to be thrown into that category.