Final Fantasy 14 Hrothgar Get New Hairstyles, at the Cost of their Ears

gamerant.com:

After three years since their addition to Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy 14 is finally adding new hairstyles to the Hrothgar race. Unfortunately, these hairstyles came with an unexpected price for these cat-like characters–their prominent ears are removed while using them.

The new hairstyles are ones previously available to characters of the other playable races in Final Fantasy 14. However, because of the way the Hrothgar’s head structure was designed, implementing their ears with the hairstyles proved to be a significant amount of work. Instead of delaying further, Square Enix decided to instead remove their ears entirely with these new hairstyles, allowing them to prepare several for the upcoming patch.

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Many fans initially thought the hairstyles were a joke since they were revealed duringFinal Fantasy 14's Live Letter on April 1st but were dismayed to find the hairstyles were releasing in such a state. They cited the long wait and attention the Viera race–initially added at the same time as the Hrothgar–has received as unfair. Many felt insulted by what they saw as a lazy solution and disliked how bizarre it made the Hrothgar silhouettes look.

However, Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida has already stated that the development team hears the criticism over the Hrothgar’s missing ears. Restoring the ears is possible, but it would take a significant amount of work, which would limit the number of new hairstyles Final Fantasy 14 could add to the Hrothgar.

To make matters worse, the preliminary patch notes stated these new Hrothgar hairstyles could only be accessed during character creation in Final Fantasy 14 or while using a Fantasia.