Gender-Locked Races have Final Fantasy XIV Fans Upset

Final Fantasy XIV, the MMORPG one, had a new expansion announced recently, Shadowbringers. And like most MMORPG expansions, this one comes with new areas to explore, new enemies to fight, new classes to fight with, and of course, new races to play. And normally, that’d be cause for celebration and joy, but it seems this time around, Square Enix screwed the pooch, as fans are more-or-less outraged about the new races that will be added to the game.

Here’s the skinny: the two new races being added to the game are the Viera, those bunny-women from Final Fantasy XII, and the Hrothgar, a race of cat-like folk inspired by the Ronso race from Final Fantasy X (to the point that in the alternate world, coming up in Shadowbringers, they are named Ronso). That in itself is pretty fine news, but here’s the kicker: both races are gender-locked. You’ll only be able to play as female Viera, while there will only be dude Ronsos. And for a game that’s all about freedom and choice, that restriction has many fans frothing at the mouth.

Now, for the Viera, there’s at least a lore explanation: technically male Viera exist, but they’re extremely secretive and live among their own kind, having never been seen by any except the females of their own species. Now, that’s still pretty lame, as having skilled hunters NOT be playable is a clearly stupid decision, but it’s even worse for the Ronsos, whose base race definitely had female versions that you could play, and only seem gender-locked to “balance” out the gender-locked Vieras.

So fans are angry and demanding change, and for what it’s worth Square Enix has said they’re listening and going through the feedback. But while it’s not impossible they’ll add male Viera and female Ronsos, if it does happen it won’t be for a while, since Shadowbringers is only three months away, and making new models takes significantly longer than that.

Still. We can always hope.