Why Did You Choose Your Character's Race?

[Dogberry]

First, I have a bit of an axe to grind with most stories where the capital BG Big Guy isn't really a fully fleshed out character. They're often cast as the sidekick, usually portrayed as boisterous, jolly brutes, and if they have any kind of emotional depth it gets played for laughs. I wanted to play a Big Guy that could be that and more. I think I do well at portraying Dogberry as a well-rounded character.

 

Second, I'm what one might call a "viking enthusiast", and Sea Wolves' obvious nod to a viking-like history drew me in.

[Volk]

First, I have a bit of an axe to grind with most stories where the capital BG Big Guy isn't really a fully fleshed out character. They're often cast as the sidekick, usually portrayed as boisterous, jolly brutes, and if they have any kind of emotional depth it gets played for laughs. I wanted to play a Big Guy that could be that and more. I think I do well at portraying Dogberry as a well-rounded character.

 

Second, I'm what one might call a "viking enthusiast", and Sea Wolves' obvious nod to a viking-like history drew me in.

 

That's an interesting perspective. I have to admit that I've fallen victim to that assumption about the big fellas before. Posts like this make me re-evaluate my preconceived and possibly incorrect notions - thanks for that

[MikoBehnen]

Oh! Also... Miqo'te was the only race I could make my actual RL height

[Iex]

Oh! Also... Miqo'te was the only race I could make my actual RL height

 

If I did that... I would have to go with a Midlander or Miqo'te. Curse you min-height of 6 foot for Highlander. Though that is part of why I tried to make both those races.

[TheDerpCat]

Oh! Also... Miqo'te was the only race I could make my actual RL height

oh now that you said that i went and check and it's true i woundl'tbeen able to pick my size for other races i am happy i picked miqo'te now even more

[Guy Tower]

I am planning on playing Hyur Highlander. I enjoy role playing burly guys that can use their strenght and toughness to help others AND be cool - as in, spine-ripping, rock-crushing kind of cool. Role playing such characters is both most natural and easiest for me, since I'm not the smartest person alive, and this kind of character doesn't use his/her smarts as much as, say, rogues, casters or businessmen should. I enjoy the straightforward approach, at least on my main. I could choose the volcano tribe Roegadyn, but I prefer my tough guy to not be overly barbaric. Think in terms of a semi-bright but civilized knight errant, or viking (not the mushroom-eating kind).

 

PLUS! I always take a race which has similiar haircut to mine. Them long hairs .

[Shoshopu]

Back in 1.0 I chose lalafell because my FFXI character was a tarutaru. (that choice was made because I wanted to main summoner, which I did. and which I still do now in FFXIV)

 

When I came back a few months ago I chose lalafell again because I just so happened to have a fresh level 1 character made on Balmung for some reason before I quit a couple months after launch, so I just slightly remade her.

 

Also lalafell are hella frickin' cute

[Salinas]

Originally wanted to play a Seeker then I realized how bad I was with their lore. So decided against it and went basic so I ended up with a midlander.

Wouldn't have any other way since the type of character Caelia is.. she couldn't possibly pull it off as any other race.

[Elysia]

Hrmm, I feel like this might fail to land since the general paradigm is to say, "I chose x race because y race has z trait that I don't like." Still, here goes.

 

I went into the character creator with little to no knowledge of the FFXIV lore and no idea of what I wanted to play. I loved all of the races - they all had such unique charm! I skipped around and finally got to Elezen and was pleasantly surprised with their unconventional body proportions. I thought that it was a really unique visual representation on the 'elf' fantasy trope. The designers seemed to go out of their way to not make Elezen the perfect, beautiful people. They are gangly, awkward looking creatures that have a lot of visual character. So that's what drew me in!

 

That's what crossed my mind as well! I remember being surprised at how the Elezens (as the standard 'elf' race) didn't appear like a more perfect version of the Hyur. Their odd bodily proportions put me off them for a while, but I've come to deeply appreciate the effort SE puts in to differentiate the races in terms of lore and appearance. I now have to restrain myself from creating a Duskwight alt. 

 

My first character (on Gilgamesh) was a Miqo'te female; I loved her nimbleness. But when I moved to Balmung, I picked a Hyur Midlander initially simply because Midlanders don't have a strong cultural background or history the way the other races do, so I could build my character's story and personality without being restricted by these. 

 

I also have a Lalafell alt, because, well... my other half and I played a hobbit couple on LotRO, so we imported them into FFXIV as Lalafell incarnations :blush: I've grown a great fondness for Lalafells, though, the Lalafell NPCs in-game have got such great personalities. 

 

And I also have a Midlander alt for the warrior princess trope, though I hardly play her... The Roegadyn and Midlander females have the most beautiful and interesting faces, IMHO.

 

Hell, I love all them races. 

[Jana]

i wanted to make qt3.14grill and midlanders run funny

[Reshie]

Eresh was a Miqo in the beta for 2.0. When I started playing again earlier this year, I made new characters on a new server and made her an Elezan. I liked the way they looked and have always played elf type characters but hadn't played one on here so I went with it. Once I realized how hard it is to get a character on Balmung, I changed Eresh back to a Miqo because I really, really like the way they look.

[Zyrusticae]

T'rahnu was originally a completely different character in 1.0 - an Elezen with a name that I can't even remember. The reason I chose that race?

 

Because it had the smallest boobs for a non-Lalafell character.

 

...Seriously. That was it. Well, that, and they had a hairstyle I liked, I guess.

 

I would actually have rolled Lalafell if they were less rotund and their bodies weren't featureless potato-like blobs. (I have an image demonstrating an alternate look for Lalafell but it is a nude so I won't/can't link it here.) If they introduced Lala/Miqo' half-breeds you can bet your arse I would be rolling one (and they would probably be single-handedly the most popular race in the game to boot).

 

I then rolled Miqo'te in 2.0 because they actually had the closest thing to the right body shape and facial features for what I had in my head. Like Sounsyy, the racial lore is totally an accessory to her character and she could easily have been any other race with very minor background changes.

[K'nahli]

Miq'ote - EVERYONE IS A MIQ'OTE. Plus I never found them interesting to me. If they were dog people instead I mightv have been one.

 

Everyone says this but last I saw, miqo'te only had a 1% higher population than hyurs!

 

 

In any case, my main, K'nahli Yohko - a Sunseeker Miqo'te - was chosen because Clover suggested that I design my character to be a sister character to her alternate character if I decided to play the game, and so I did so. I also made two midlanders and a mostly-NPC highlander which is pretty typical of me since I like human characters and never really cared for other races(though I do love seeing them around as other players).

 

I started off really disliking lalafels. I had zero interest in making them though I did find them funny and maybe cute to see around but as I actually played the game and became really exposed to them, I fell under the same spell that most other people have and just loved them to bits. I waited until Clover made one before I did so that we could play them side by side. They are the most adorable things ever, seriously, though they'll never be my miqo'te or midlanders, haha.

[DreamedReality]

Going over the lore available for each race and subrace I fell in love with the Duskwights. So I built a char concept and BOOM JAQUES.

 

Ever since hobbits I have a soft spot for the tiny people. Even tho in this game the way they walk/run really bothered me for a long time. But I've gotten used to it over time. So I eventually had to make a lalafell but the pupil-less eyes of the Dunesfolk weird me out. And I like the naming conventions best on Plainsfolk. And I had a concept in mind that I still liked after months even tho I had never even created the character so BOOM OJUNE.

 

And I'm -still- really trying to find a female character concept that I can really get behind and play. I'm currently stewing on one and seeing if this one can actually stick.

[Maril]

Highlanders has a very cool ponytail option. 

 

 

... And then also when I read the lore about them I fell in love. But the first thing that made me decide was that hairstyle.

[Cliodhna Eoghan]

Two reasons; It fit the story I'm trying to do extremely well.....and the first reason was how big I could make her cupcakes in the character creation. .___.

[ProvaDiServo]

Highlander was my choice cause I drag my main to every single game there is character creation on, just to test the depths of character creation. Although if they would have had a race with say, six arms. I would have done that instead.

[Flickering Ember]

I am picky with my fantasy races. They can be such a dealbreaker for me in MMOs. I am very happy SE decided to add female roegadyns in ARR or I might not be playing this game at all. My method of choosing is very simple: I always go for the big, muscular woman option. It's just how I roll. Most female characters are conventionally pretty. They may whoop ass but they almost never have the body to match because society doesn't seem to like muscles on women. I like my female characters to look as menacing as their fighting styles do. 

 

Although, it's a bit more complex than that. In general, I feel that female characters across all media are too uniform-looking for my tastes and whenever a character creator is available I will do my best to step as far outside of this box for female characters as I can. I like to be the change I want to see.

 

 

 

Hellsguard I chose because...I didn't like the green coloration of roegadyns. Plus, I enjoy the themes of Hellsguard more: fire, mountains, and guarding of the underworld. Interesting stuff!

 

 I also quite like to be the furthest away from a human as possible. Humans are very vanilla-y so I avoid them whenever possible. I like to be something different. It doesn't really apply to this game though, since every race is very human-like. I'd be content playing a beast race, for example. But that's okay. I love being a roegadyn.

[Gegenji]

I also quite like to be the furthest away from a human as possible. Humans are very vanilla-y so I avoid them whenever possible. I like to be something different. It doesn't really apply to this game though, since every race is very human-like. I'd be content playing a beast race, for example. But that's okay. I love being a roegadyn.

 

A friend of mine who I got to try the free trial (but ultimately stuck with WoW), was of a similar mindset. He plays Trolls and Orcs and such, and was a bit miffed that there was no equivalent in FFXIV. He ultimately went with a Roe for his two week period, and his maximum size was quite amusing next to my minimum sized Lala.

[Aldotsk]

Anelia was originally named differently and was a Highlander at a very start for the closed/open Beta. However, I felt that the character was too aggressive and too manly for a female. I wanted someone a bit more feminine looking but with strong personality, and Midlander (derplander) was a perfect choice to my ideal in a woman.

 

Comparing to Elslie Strumwald which is my Paladin WoW RP character, who has been existing since vanilla was a 16 year old squire who was very energetic and tomboy outgoing girl. As throughout the expansion, she grew up to be more mature. However she was still outgoing and happy type of girl.

 

I wanted to take Anelia in a different path. At least, she started off brown haired and formal and smiling person with strong ideals. However, I realized that she's going similar path as Elslie, so I decided to take this girl into a huge darker side of path in dark past and painful memory due to Carteneau and her training as a Sultansworn.

 

She fitted blonde better and I intend to keep her that way.

[Naunet]

I tried both elezen and midlander before finally settling on miqo'te for my main, Antimony. Mainly, I was just trying to find a character who struck me as fitting the very loose character concept I had for her at the time (middle aged widow/mother, intellectual). I was going to go with elezen (Duskwight, in particular) initially because I was drawn to the elves, but the lack of hairstyles that complemented their body structure annoyed me too much. Then I tried midlander, but the look was just too generic. Then I found a particular Seeker miqo'te face and hairstyle and it was just, "Yep, that's it." Once she had some round wire-frames on her, she looked even more the part and I was sold completely.

[Seriphyn]

mfw miqo'te players say they play miqo'te because they like cats.

[Kamome]

In FFXI I played Hyur male first because I wanted to be 'typical FF hero' type, which I think of as a white human dude. I then fell in love with San d'Oria storyline (think similar to Ishgard society) and began the game anew as an Elvaan Paladin girl who ended up my main character all the way to 75 and back again.

 

I was really excited to make my beloved Elvaan in XIV but I remember within just two or three minutes... I realized her chin seemed to blend in to her neck oddly... that her emotes seemed to move in slow motion... and it looked like something was just wrong with her shoulders as she ran. Dislocated? It was strange...

 

It's weird, but it was the nice, sharp line of miqo'te shoulders that moved very well to me that made me realize how nicely they are animated. Honestly, I think the developers and animators are just giving them special treatment because they are cat-girls in how they are animated. The quality is just very good and you can see how attention was given to details. It's unfair almost!

 

I like how miqo'te females animate as athletic, even though they are small in size. Hyur midlander female seems so dainty in emotes and animation, highlander female is so excessive in expression (to my taste) and seem a bit overly showy. For me, miqo'te seemed the most 'middle road' and down-to-earth with so much charm thrown in with how their ears and tails are animated. Elezen seem just... so slow and stiff to me. They had the same kind of animation in XI, but with a martial power and crispness that was just awesome!! I miss my Elvaan. ; ;

 

Roegadyn female AND male were simply too tall for me to play comfortably. I felt my head was getting chopped off in cutscenes and I had to sit down to look any other character in the face or see their armors or RP with them! Frustrating!!

 

I love love love lalafell, but the small size posed similar cutscene issue to roe... >: (

 

So I guess for me it was trial-and-error. I love brown/tawny colors and warm hues so ended up going with Seeker vs. Keeper, and the lore followed from there. In fact I feel ALL racial lore is amazing in this game, so I went more with my personal favorite aesthetic for the race versus lore. If lore then hands-down Elezen would be my choice. So many great MSQ Elezen... ; ; And Elvaan in XI. T_T

 

Ramble is over. It is still so hard for me to pick a race. I'm going to end up with so many alt. T_T

[Jean L]

I went with Elezen for Jade because I wound up falling in love with the Elezen characters before I started RPing and getting into building up FFXIV OCs. Plus I love elves and I tend to play them a lot if given the chance. (gestures towards countless Elder Scrolls elf characters)

 

Nekhii I kind of wanted to make an Au Ra but I couldn't pick between Raen or Xaela. Then saw the Horo description and thought "hmm yes that would be interesting to RP and break down from an anthropological perspective". I just love the Xaela tribe lore in general though. ;u;

[LadyRochester]

When I moved to Balmung, I was a very casual RPer, so I began RP with my character's name "Sasha Rochester" Since name change wasn't available at the time, I stuck with it, and figured that it wouldn't make sense to change races now that I had established friendships under that name ICly. 

 

I initially went Hyur because I thought -everyone- was a catgirl, but I wanted my character to be good looking, so I chose midlander.