(04-17-2015, 12:15 AM)Tiergan Wrote:

(04-16-2015, 11:06 PM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote: The rarity of male Miqo'te is an excellent example - though compromises have to be made in that regard simply because of how popular they are.

Just as a random note ( I guess more like FFXIV triva ) -- the lore stated that male Miqo'te were rare only because in 1.0 you couldn't be a male cat. Lady cats only! Thus, they tried to plop some reason for why you couldn't be a mancat in the lore and decided they were just super rare.

All of that kind of got turned on its head the moment they unleashed cat boys into the world.

(04-17-2015, 02:29 AM)Seriphyn Wrote: But I feel it is better to admit that "I just want to play x race with x class" and own it rather than trying to bend the game world to make your character more authentic.

(04-17-2015, 03:21 AM)Ryoko Wrote: I feel like a lot of folks are unreasonably stubborn on their own preconceptions about the lore, though. The whole Ala'Mhigo thing proves that. Square Enix itself did everything possible to demonstrate that Ala'Mhigo is a racially diverse state with Miqo'te, Roegadyn, Lalafells, and maybe even Elezen. Not just as token minorities either, but as significant portions of the population. Yet we still have this idea persisting among the community that Ala'Mhigans are exclusively Highlanders. So now I'm wondering, if Ishgard opens up and we find a bunch of lalafells inside, are people just going to pretend they don't exist? I don't think it's likely to happen, but I think you get my point.

(04-17-2015, 03:26 AM)Seriphyn Wrote: They certainly did not do everything possible. The demographics of Little Ala Mhigo NPCs of being entirely Highlander (with an elderly Midlander here or there) with a Hellsguard couple does not tell me it is a racially diverse state, but has that usual "majority with select minority". Random smatterings of NPCs from 1.0 might say one thing, but Little Ala Mhigo being predominantly Highlander says something else entirely.

(04-17-2015, 03:31 AM)Ryoko Wrote: Isn't Little Ala Mhigo also composed almost entirely of a single extended family? Despite the name, I wouldn't really call it a microcosm of Ala Mhigan society. It's like a dozen people hiding in a cave.

(04-17-2015, 03:21 AM)Ryoko Wrote:

(04-17-2015, 02:29 AM)Seriphyn Wrote: But I feel it is better to admit that "I just want to play x race with x class" and own it rather than trying to bend the game world to make your character more authentic.

I feel like a lot of folks are unreasonably stubborn on their own preconceptions about the lore, though. The whole Ala'Mhigo thing proves that. Square Enix itself did everything possible to demonstrate that Ala'Mhigo is a racially diverse state with Miqo'te, Roegadyn, Lalafells, and maybe even Elezen. Not just as token minorities either, but as significant portions of the population. Yet we still have this idea persisting among the community that Ala'Mhigans are exclusively Highlanders. So now I'm wondering, if Ishgard opens up and we find a bunch of lalafells inside, are people just going to pretend they don't exist? I don't think it's likely to happen, but I think you get my point.

Speaking of which, I've been roaming around Coerthas, as I tend to do, and tonight I was paying particularly close attention to the NPC dialogue. And I realized something.  

Why does everyone think Ishgardians are racist? 

I couldn't find one NPC that made any reference to race. They didn't dislike me because I was a Miqo'te. They disliked me because I wasn't a local. "Oh, another adventurer," "Do not dare question our ways, unbeliever", things like that. Never once was my race brought up. Am I missing something here? Can somebody explain to me why Ishgard is seen as racist? Because, to me, it seems like they just dislike foreigners. They don't really give two shits about what you look like. 

Now, Gridanians on the other hand, those are some racist bastards. Always shit-talking Duskwights and whatnot...

(04-16-2015, 10:12 AM)Milly Wrote: I just had a thought. Is it ever explicitly stated that that Ishgardians are natively Elezen and don't like, or natively include, Miqo'te and/or Lalafell...? Because I don't personally remember race ever being brought up in regards to any of the nations, not even for Gridania.

Instead what's stated is they don't like 'outsiders' and it seems as a player base we've made an assumption that that means 'race' when actually... it just means people who aren't from Ishgard/Gridania. It doesn't matter if you're Elezen, Roe, Hyur if you're not from Ishgard they don't like you. Are we just concluding that there's no Miqo'te Ishgardians because we've not had it confirmed yet?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't have the best memory, I just get a feeling there's some assumption about race discrimination (as I mentioned earlier in the thread this is more common in other games such as XI) when, as far as I recall, race is rarely if ever brought up as being an issue. It's one of the things I like about this game.

(04-17-2015, 04:12 AM)Seriphyn Wrote: I can't speak for the family bit, but I'm pretty sure it's intended to be a microcosm. I don't see why Square Enix would call it 'Little Ala Mhigo' to subsequently go ahead and grossly misrepresent its demographics. Lore and random assortment of characters from 1.0 aside, all the stuff we've seen of Ala Mhigo is it being the city of the Highlanders. Raubahn, Ilberd, Avila from Hildibrand (to which a local Ul'dahn goes "These damn Ala Mhigans"). The Highlander refugees in and around Ul'dah, and those refugees who integrated into Ul'dah to become soldiers and other professions. We do not see Ala Mhigan refugees who are not Highlander/Hyur in 2.x, at least I have not seen them. And if these exceptions have not been overtly presented to someone who has played a lot of the game, then I feel pretty confident in assuming that Ala Mhigo is predominantly Highlander/Hyur.

Otherwise, I'd appreciate someone posting a very unambiguous piece of lore that indicates Ala Mhigo is not primarily Highlander. A Miqo'te Ala Mhigan PC doing so is probably going to have a helluva lot of bias to it, when the Miqo'te race is notoriously composed of the most lore libertytakers. Yes, terribly fallacious I know. 

I'm not talking about obscure characters or dialogue, too. The demographics of Ul'dahn Highlanders and Little Ala Mhigans speaks very strongly.

(04-17-2015, 06:19 AM)Sin Wrote: I suck at quoting stuff, but this in response to Milly's statement about the lack of racism in Eorzea to the best of their knowledge.

In Gridania, outside of the Lancer's guild there's a trio of Elezen having a conversation that contradicts your reality of the in-game world. A wood wailer is chewing out another gentleman for some transgression. His partner states "Damnable Duskwights!" As the duskwight apologizes, and assures the two Wailers it won't occur again.

That's just one example off the top of my head though, there's quite a few other examples out there about race-relations, and racism. Let's see, the interracial gay couple of the Wanderer's Palace unlock quest that are looked down on more for being interracial than being homosexual. (An interesting look at the realm's culture.)

(04-16-2015, 11:06 PM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote: ...and that's part of what makes the place so special and intriguing. So it's a real shame that some role-players end up making some pretty awkward justifications as to why their character is the exception to the rule and is well loved in Ishgard despite not being one of the two main native races.