Final Fantasy XIV: Do Races Impact Gameplay?

In Final Fantasy XIV, you have to make a lot of choices. You have to choose a starting Class, which effectively chooses your starting location. And after your starting Class, you have to upgrade to a Job, then decide if you want to pick one of the more advanced Jobs later on. You also have to design your character! One of the biggest choices is race, as that dictates the overall form, stature, and look of your Warrior of Light.

Final Fantasy XIV Races Guide

In some games, like Dungeons and Dragons or Skyrim for example, choosing your race can impact your gameplay. Usually, that means your stats have a different focal point or two, and your starting abilities, traits, feats or what have you will change. Considering the number of races Final Fantasy XIV has, you may find yourself worrying about form over fashion, especially if you want to play a specific Class. Luckily, it really doesn’t matter all that much, if at all.

Related: A Guide to Classes and Jobs for Final Fantasy XIV

When you create a character, you will notice that each race does have starting attributes. Some races favor certain stats over others. Even within each race, you have to choose one of two clans, which will alter the look and starting attributes of your character further. If you’re curious, you can see the starting attributes of each race (and clan) below:

That certainly looks like a lot of variation, but don’t fret – these differences are minimal. Frankly, it’s weird these attributes are even present, as they don’t dictate stat growth. So while characters start out with distinct stats, any race is viable as any class, especially as endgame stats escalate so high it ceases to matter as long as you’re playing your Role correctly. Tanks tank, Healers heal, and DPS does murders. As long as you have your rotations set up properly, and stick to the goals of the dungeon and your party, min/maxing your stats is the least relevant part of your setup. So, you won’t see things like Lalafell Samurai being booted out of parties. And that’s a good thing, because one of the key goals of Final Fantasy XIV is to let players use every Job on a single character. If starting stats were a huge factor, that goal would fail.

Ultimately, Final Fantasy XIV is great when it comes to customization. You can change the general look of your Warrior of Light any time, glamour up your armor to dress your clunky equipment up to look fashionable, choose from one of several mounts, and change Jobs on a whim. The only thing you can’t do is change your character’s race… well, not for free anyway. If you really need a whole new look, you can take your character back to the full creation suite for a ten dollar fee.

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What’s your favorite race to play as in Final Fantasy XIV? And why is that? Do the starting stats or that race’s in-universe social situation a part of it, or do you just like how they look? Let us know your opinions over at the Prima Games Facebook and Twitter channels!