Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida has revealed that the recently announced in-game male Viera race was created by artists in their free time.
In a new PlayStation blog Q&A, Naoki Yoshida discussed the brand new Endwalker expansion, along with details on the upcoming Reaper job, and the game’s musical score.
On the topic of the announcement of the male Viera race, Yoshida said that when Shadowbringers released in 2019, it would be the last time a new playable race would be added to the game.
“Adding a playable race does not end with just the initial resources needed to create the race (i.e. character modeling; preparations for variations in facial features, hairstyles and head shapes; animations that are unique to each race, etc.)” Yoshida explained.
“Even following initial implementation, the tasks required with each patch update will multiply. For example, when we implemented the Viera, because their ears are very long, we needed to add a new review flow to check how Viera characters would appear on screen in all cutscenes.”
The director went on to explain how if this was the last time a new playable race would be added to the game he would implement two (female Viera and male Hrothgar) as that was within the means of the team’s bandwidth.
Yoshida discussed how despite adding two new races, players around the world were asking for male Viera and female Hrothgar but was not going to change his stance, saying at the time the graphics staff explored all options to see if it would be possible.
“They spent over half a year using what free time they had in between their normal work on the patches to consider ways to add another playable race,” he said, “From this, they concluded that we could probably squeeze in just one more at this time.”
Yoshida also acknowledged that players would be vocal about the absence of female Hrothgar, but explained that it would come at a later date to “ease the impact on our resources”.
During the Final Fantasy XIV Digital FanFest, Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker will launch on November 23, later this year.
Naoki Yoshida recently revealed that World Of Warcraft was used as a “form of study” for the Final Fantasy XIV reboot.
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