Final Fantasy 14 has become just as much of a social chatroom as it has an MMO. You'd be hard-pressed to find a veteran Warrior of Light who hasn't spent copious amounts of time rummaging through their glamour dresser or paying regular visits to the aesthetician for a new hairstyle in order to perfectly present their ideal image as they idle in Limsa Lominsa or run around the expansion's latest player hub.

That playstyle has led to an increasing demand for more flexibility and freedom in the way players can present their characters over the years which, for a long time, was met with a fair bit of resistance from director and producer Naoki Yoshida. Requests to unshackle gear from their job or role-based restrictions were long declined—once saying that "it would feel awkward if a Black Mage jumped into an instanced dungeon with full plate armour."

That argument very much lost its juice as Final Fantasy 14 started adding in more gear that wasn't particularly befitting of any job or role—hell, the game literally added a full plate armour set for all classes before Yoshida ever made the above comment.

At the end of last year, however, Yoshida relented. Patch 7.4 finally let us mix-and-match gear from all jobs, which made me inconsolably happy, as someone who's always felt as though Dancer's aesthetic was far more suited to Scouting gear than the Aiming gear it's assigned to.

It felt like the first foot in the door for Yoshida relaxing his views on staunchly maintaining the MMO's lore accuracy, and the recent Berlin Fan Festival has taken another step further. Upcoming expansion Evercold is giving players more freedom in how they customise their characters, like removing the warpaint from male and female Miqo'te, or having fully interchangeable horns across Au Ra instead of locking them to certain face shapes.

I can't help but feel like it's perhaps a decision Yoshida isn't entirely happy to be making, but one that he's choosing to do in spite of his own opinions. "It's our responsibility to come up with the lore, the world, and the rules of the game, and then to provide that to the players," he told the media during a Q&A at Fan Fest. "And because of that, I think from a creative perspective, we are really particular about how we want that world to be, and we are really honest about that."

Yoshida goes on to explain why he's perhaps been a little reluctant to relinquish certain characteristics until now. "Let's take, for example, the Miqo'te. The Miqo'te is a hunter tribe, and a warring tribe, so it's only natural that they would have their warring makeup. And previously, I said that we would not remove that war makeup from the Miqo'te.

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In the past, we did receive feedback from players. They were like 'Yeah, we want to turn it off. We want this makeup off.' But I refused because I said these are the rules of the world that we provided, and this is the lore behind the race. And it was for this reason why previously we hadn't allowed it."

The thing that made him change his mind, it seems, is allowing more freedom from a roleplaying perspective. "But when it comes to this lore and being very particular about the lore, I thought to myself that [removing markings] could be considered an aspect of roleplaying. And in that regard, I kind of upgraded my own mindset or my approach to it."

But despite all this, Yoshida still very much seems like he prefers to stick to the ways of the lore accuracy. "As a player myself, if I'm playing with a Miqo'te, I would personally not turn it off," he said. "The reason is that I love the lore behind Final Fantasy 14 and the unique characteristics of each race. But when it comes to the question of following that lore and being really loyal to that lore, I think it's not a question of good or bad. But now I think it's more a question of how particular you are about that aspect, and that's more tied into role-playing."

Ultimately, it seems like providing a choice was where the decision came from. As someone who is also a staunch enjoyer of lore accuracy, especially when it comes to Final Fantasy 14—as much as I love a silly name, I always love when they're actually accurate to a character's race and backstory—I can definitely understand why Yoshida has perhaps been a little hesitant to let go of a world he's helped to craft, even if it's through more trivial matters like a bit of paint on a catgirl.

But more choice is good for everyone, and I'm already excited to see what players do with a slightly more expanded customisation when Evercold launches next January.

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.