FFXIV gear causes nipple-like mark to appear on male Elezen’s chest

In Final Fantasy XIV, a seemingly strange bug has been discovered when male Elezens wear a certain piece of clothing. As seen on both the game’s official community site, The Lodestone, and the official companion app, a black splotch that appears to be a nipple is visible in the area of the character model’s pec. This effect has been reported as a bug on the game’s official forums but is currently included in the “insufficient information” section.

The clothing in question is the Summer Sunset Beach Cover-up, which was distributed as a reward during the Moonfire Faire in 2022. It is similar to a shirt with three-quarter sleeves that is worn open, with female characters sporting a bikini top underneath, while male characters are bare-chested. The gear gives off a cool, refreshing feel.

In FFXIV, female characters’ nipples are obviously never shown, but we also rarely see the nipples of male characters. Only the muscular Highlanders of the Hyur race feature visible nipple-like protrusions on their chests.

However, on The Lodestone and the companion app, some kind of black spot has been confirmed to appear on the chest of male Elezens who equip the Summer Sunset Beach Cover-up. Note that this nipple-like mark is nowhere to be seen in-game, even if you remove the clothing.

Opinions may be split on whether this black mark is actually a nipple or not, but players are clearly perplexed by what seems like a nipple at first glance.

Elezens are a slender race with long limbs. They have been prone to some strange bugs before, such as one that occurred in Eden’s Promise: Litany (Savage), the second wing of the Eden’s Promise raid which was added to the game in December 2020. If KO’d by a certain attack in this area, there was a bug that suddenly caused a naked Elezen to pop up out of nowhere.

There have also been other issues, like a male Elezen suddenly appearing when jumping in a certain location, and a certain standing pose causing the male Elezen’s neck to stretch out in a bizarre manner. While not causing any direct harm, these strange bugs continue to be reported one after another. Each of these issues has either already been or is scheduled to be fixed, but it’s likely that they are deeply etched into the minds of players who experienced them.

Although there may be some room for debate about whether this black mark is a nipple or not, to be honest, I (the original author of this article) think it would be a little strange for male Elezens to have dark colored nipples. Surely the male Wildwood Elezen that live in Ishgard and Gridania would have nipples of a lighter tone. And for male Duskwight Elezen’s who have a daker skin tone, I think some kind of greyish beige color would be more fitting.

These are only my personal opinions, of course, and I wouldn’t have any problem if there were Elezens with dark nipples. However, since the black splotch cannot be seen in-game, I am going to assume that the nipple-like marking is just an unintended effect created by the lighting and shadows of the clothing. What do you think? Is it really a nipple or just a shadow?

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Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-02-24 16:16 JST)