Final Fantasy 14 manages to remain relevant over the years, in-part due to frequent updates and expansions by Square Enix including new races that become available. With the Shadowbringers expansion, Final Fantasy 14 saw the addition of two new races in the form of the cat-like Hrothgar and bunny-like Viera. According to Naoki Yoshida, these will be the last races added to the game due to how demanding the process can be. However, the Hrothgar and the Viera have limitations due to them being gender-exclusive races, with the former only coming in a male variant and the latter in a female variant.

Many players have been asking for female Hrothgar and male Viera for a long time now, and Final Fantasy 14 developers took the time to bring these variants to life with the next big expansion, Endwalker, launching this November. Still, this is not something new for Square Enix, as Final Fantasy 14 had the same issue on launch with the Roegadyn and Miqo'te respectively lacking a female and male counterpart. As such, despite all the options that the character creator and the character customization process in the game have, there are still lingering issues that mainly have to do with inclusivity and gender.

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Sexual Dimorphism in Final Fantasy 14

Final Fantasy 14 uses a concept called sexual dimorphism, which means sexes of a specific species end up exhibiting very different traits. This happens in nature with many species, but in Final Fantasy 14 the sexual dimorphism for the Au Ra race is a bit over-the-top in the sense that male specimens are extremely tall and have distinctive cranial projections, whereas females are tiny and more human-like. This is also partly true for the Roegadyn females, and the phenomenon can result in a less inclusive experience for players who want to adopt different body types for their characters, even if it is explained in the game's lore.

An example can be seen in The Last of Us Part 2, where Abby is visibly buff, whereas Ellie is smaller and more agile. The example is useful to understand the context because it shows how different two characters of the same gender can look. This ties to Final Fantasy 14's sexual dimorphism, because while players can customize a female Au Ra to be buffer, the game basically makes the choice for them that there could only be so much improvement as opposed to males, who can be even taller than the Roegadyn and very muscular as well. Abby's look shows that it should be possible for Final Fantasy 14 to reduce the impact of sexual dimorphism for the sake of better representation.

Character Customization and Inclusivity in Final Fantasy 14

several lithe bunny-eared viera characters

One of the main selling points of the character creator in Final Fantasy 14 is that it allows players to customize a lot of big and tiny details so characters can be their best selves. Still, the fact that the character creator comes with height and body size options poses the question why Square Enix didn't allow players to select a preferred body type rather than a character's gender. This would solve many issues, such as having to differentiate characters between male and female variants, and it would make the game more inclusive because it would minimize a traditional, binary view of gender.

This is something the game is no stranger to thanks to all the inclusive options coming with costumes and the transmogrification process, which allows players to make their own outfits and customize characters in a unique way. As such, it would make sense if the character creator did the same thing on a deeper level.

Despite these issues, Final Fantasy 14's character creator does a good job at giving players enough freedom to customize their characters in a myriad of ways, including details like heterochromia and hair color highlights. Because of this, and because of how deep players can delve into the outfit customization process, Final Fantasy 14 remains one of the best games to play for RPG lovers and those who like to immerse themselves into a fantastical story.

Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.