Thoughts on the Au Ra?

[Naunet]

Of course, in FFXIV's case a lot of this can be chalked up to the game's rather sub-par character creation. With the only body slider being for breast size and the available variations for facial features being so limited it's no wonder it's so hard to make a character that's actually visually distinct from everyone else.

 

There's a lot of truth to this.

 

But yeah... one can dream.

[Caspar]

"All right."

>"Not interested."

[Elysia]

 

 

It's not even that I want to always have a badass, muscular female to play. It's that I would like for the males and females of fantasy races to look like they are from the same species. It always feels like the male characters have all the identifying features of the fantasy race while the female is more of an offshoot. She doesn't get to have the same features that the males do. The problem with that is that these features the male characters get are what make that particular fantasy race iconic.

 

At the end of the day, pretty much every fantasy race that can be can played across all games resemble humans. However, the more a race is defined by typically masculine attributes, the less identity the female has of that race. I am speaking in a broad sense here because as you pointed out, the races in this game don't have that degree of sexual dimorphism. And even Au Ra are not as bad as some other fantasy races out there. What I am saying though, is that the reason why I don't want to see it in this game, is that I am already tired of this trope that I have seen from the majority of other games.

 

 

TL;DR large males and small females is a tired trope.

 

And I would like to have more female options than "pretty girl, hooker girl, cute girl, petite girl, fragile-wallflower girl, elf girl" etc. in my games. I wasn't expecting for SE to make anything ground breaking, but I was at least hoping for the females to look just as iconic as the males.

 

"However, the more a race is defined by typically masculine attributes, the less identity the female has of that race."

 

 

These were my thoughts when I saw the footage. What really got my goat, though, were the typical cute, flirtish mannerisms exhibited in their emotes. Haven't we exhausted this via the Miqo'tes and the Hyur Midlanders?

 

That said, I think this sexual dimorphism has plenty of subversive potential for the RPers from an anthropological (?) perspective. It'd be interesting to consider if their difference in body shape could've been the result of some nasty evolutionary necessities sometime along in the past, and the implications of this might still be seen / felt today in Au Ra society. I'd love to see female Au Ra NPCs working against this, I do, and loreeeee, but I'd better not get my hopes up. (Coerthas was also disappointing in this aspect.)

[Haven's Fox]

Wanna see the lore on them and more importantly... The animations for the emotes!

[Jana]

Honestly, I thought the patchy scales kind of showed that the Au Ra might not be all that closely linked to dragons. If the lore for them does end up being descended from a dragon + Shiva's offspring, it would make sense for the dragon blood to get "watered down" over time, leaving them with more humanoid features.

[g0ne]

Are me and Clover the only ones who are actually happy about the Au Ra? 

[Tiergan]

Are me and Clover the only ones who are actually happy about the Au Ra? 

 

Not at all. I've seen tooooons of fans of the female Au Ra all over the net and on Tumblr. Don't feel discouraged.

 

Just because other folks don't fancy them doesn't mean either of you two should feel bad about liking them or rolling one up. Hell, I'm 90% sure that a massive, massive chunk of the miqo'te population is probably going to fantasia when the expansion hits.

[T'shina]

I'm excited for the Au Ra. I wonder how many horn options there are and what kind of skin tone options there will be.

 

I like how they made the males look kind of like Elezen but yet they have a muscular tone to them. And the random patches of scales are nice.

 

Due to lore it would be hard for them to make a beast tribe playable so they had to make them pretty humanoid which is what I expected.

 

And then! I can't wait to see the Ishgardian players go crazy because the "Dravanians" are around!

[Kismet]

Are me and Clover the only ones who are actually happy about the Au Ra? 

 

As I said in my first few posts, I really want to make one and I like them. There are things about them I dearly wish were different, but my bearing feelings of that nature are not exclusive to the Au Ra.

 

For example... Even though my main is a Miqo'te, I have tons of issues with them. I'm not fond of how cutesy Hyur females are, I hate how Elezen have little pea heads, I wish Roes could have Merlwyb's face/animations... I could go on for pages/hours.

 

But that doesn't mean I don't love any of those races, not for a second. Like a terrible movie or some greasy food, I can acknowledge its flaws if I want to and still adore it.

[Havoc Snow]

Are me and Clover the only ones who are actually happy about the Au Ra? 

Nope, I already bought a fantasia potion in preparation for changing when the expac comes out. I absolutely love everything about them (appearance wise) so far. I also have a friend who literally bought the game yesterday because I showed her the pics of the Au Ra.

[ArmachiA]

I know someone who is planning on killing their character off and fantasiaing to Au Ra. I know 3 other people considering it.

 

All of them Miqote.

 

HMMM.

 

I like them. I need to see more of them/their lore, but I like them so far. The men look REALLY good.

[Warren Castille]

A little let down at how human the females look, but I'm not surprised. Yugiri was really reaching when she said people might freak out if she took her hood off. From a distance, it isn't even noticeable.

[TheLastCandle]

A little let down at how human the females look, but I'm not surprised. Yugiri was really reaching when she said people might freak out if she took her hood off. From a distance, it isn't even noticeable.

 

In reality, the reason is because she got sick and tired of people making "horny" jokes all the time.

[Berrod Armstrong]

A little let down at how human the females look, but I'm not surprised. Yugiri was really reaching when she said people might freak out if she took her hood off. From a distance, it isn't even noticeable.

 

In reality, the reason is because she got sick and tired of people making "horny" jokes all the time.

Lmao. I figure they've probably been met with ill reactions to their scaly skin and horns before. Though, she has a TAIL. Why even bother to hide the rest! Still, the more hidden, the better.

[Eve Malusion]

Are me and Clover the only ones who are actually happy about the Au Ra? 

I adore them. I'd consider changing to one if I believed I could afford a fantasia by then, but any money I can save up by then will probably go to paying for the expansion itself.

[Kage]

A little let down at how human the females look, but I'm not surprised. Yugiri was really reaching when she said people might freak out if she took her hood off. From a distance, it isn't even noticeable.

 

In reality, the reason is because she got sick and tired of people making "horny" jokes all the time.

Lmao. I figure they've probably been met with ill reactions to their scaly skin and horns before. Though, she has a TAIL. Why even bother to hide the rest! Still, the more hidden, the better.

I've been thinking about the whole Ishgard/LaywithaDragon angle...

 

If it's true, I'm thinking that even though it's not toooo noticeable to us that it would still draw suspicion. Also, she's trying to garner support and one of the Eorzean allies is Ishgard. Somewhat. She doesn't want -anything- to get in the way of her and her people getting the support they are in need of, so she is taking all of the precautions that she can.

 

I bet there's gonna be some shitstorm going on when her face is shown.

 

.... On that matter, was the cross race thing in the MSQ said to be which races. I am now imagining Elezen and Au Ra and the shitstorm that'd be.

[TheLastCandle]

I'm staving off any alt-itis on my part until we see more of their emotes, hear their voices, and so on. It's hard for me to be excited for them based on their appearances alone, because they really aren't that different from what we have in the game already.

[Dat Oni]

A little let down at how human the females look, but I'm not surprised. Yugiri was really reaching when she said people might freak out if she took her hood off. From a distance, it isn't even noticeable.

 

In reality, the reason is because she got sick and tired of people making "horny" jokes all the time.

Lmao. I figure they've probably been met with ill reactions to their scaly skin and horns before. Though, she has a TAIL. Why even bother to hide the rest! Still, the more hidden, the better.

 

It wasn't so much a lore decision as a clever way of hinting to players that whatever she was, it was not like anything in Eorzea. That, and the horns covered in her veil. Instead of going full mysterious, SE decided to tease us as much as they could while still being able to cover her up.

 

That tail was basically one giant cocktease. And it worked.

[Seriphyn]

I know someone who is planning on killing their character off and fantasiaing to Au Ra. I know 3 other people considering it.

 

All of them Miqote.

 

HMMM.

 

Lol...

[Kage]

I really can't make alts. I don't have the time for them and I enjoy playing a Lalafell in all aspects (PVE and RP) to really motivate myself to either fantasia or kill Kage off unless it actually serves a good purpose (then I might change race. It's so hard to decide if I'd continue to RP if then... D:)

 

 

But I do so like the race starter clothes and I like both male and female Au Ra. Will I roll a female Au Ra if I replace LalaKage? Highly Probable that no I won't. The male Au Ra look like BAMFs imo.

[Zhavi]

I wish the females were rougher looking.

[Berrod Armstrong]

I've been doing some thinking! Some constructive thinking, if you'll all forgive me. Most, if not all of it lies in speculation, but it intrigued me.

 

So let's suppose that the dragon diddling thing is true. Missy Shiva and Bad Dragon did some things that are supposedly a BIG NO NO. They deedlydoodlied and LO, A nasty wreckblood half-race sort of breakaway thing comes to be, the Au Ra!

 

Shiva, the female, is hyuran, beautiful, petite and demure. 

 

Bad Dragon, the male, is large, tough and muscular -- pretty tall too.

 

Their offspring/the new race, thus forward consisted of petite and pretty females with mostly hyuran features, while the males were taller, broader and more rough looking. 

 

 

Though it's just speculation on my part, it sounds like the sort of thing that would go into the making of such a race, and I don't really deem it as lazy at all. This is just their thing. After much thinking I sort of sit here and realize it would be absolutely silly of me to sit here and rail about something not being done according to my expectations and standards. 

 

And if I really didn't like it to the point of being disgusted, I'd get up off my lazy butt and go design a game with the characters I had in mind.

 

But that's just me!

 

I would be so thrilled if that speculation turns out to be the truth, but as they say, who he expects nothing is seldom disappointed!

[Warren Castille]

If the Au Ra are credited with being the descendants of Shiva and dragons, their existing is going to make things... interesting come 3.0.

 

Can't wait for the first Au Ra Dragoon to exist.

[Steel Wolf]

I mean, in the myriad pantheons of gods and goddesses I've read, I know that these beings do all sorts of things out of what would appear boredom...but even with that in mind, one has to wonder what would make Shiva look at a dragon and go "Hay bby haaaay".

 

Could be, though. Seems no more or less reasonable an origin story than anything else.

[Aaron]

How much is the expansion? Do you buy it off Mog Station? 

 

I swear for some reason I never heard that part of anything regarding the expansion.