Square Enix has changed the icon for the Sage job in Final Fantasy XIV’s upcoming expansion after players expressed concern over trypophobia. As reported by IGN, the original icon featured three pillar-like symbols, each with a hole at the top, causing the holes to appear in a cluster.
Trypophobia is the aversion, fear, or disgust of irregular or patterned clusters of holes, bumps, and the like. In a blog post, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida addressed the concerns from the community over the original Sage job icon design and announced the new design.
“When we released new details for sage and reaper on the special site, we also included their icons, not thinking that they were particularly big reveals,” Yoshida said. “However, we soon received feedback from players all over the world, who told us that the sage icon made them uncomfortable or fearful.”
Yoshida said that the severity of reactions for people who have trypophobia varies heavily and something that triggers some people may not affect others, which is why they decided to change the icon.
“But regardless of such differences, you have given us your earnest feedback, and there’s still time to change things,” Yoshida said. “Considering also the fact that job icons are prominently visible in the game, and that they also appear on merchandise, we’ve made the decision to redesign the sage icon.”
The new Sage icon design is nearly identical to the original, just without the three holes clustered together. A post on the Final Fantasy XIV subreddit has a side-by-side comparison of the original design and the new one. Please be warned that the link contains the original icon if you have trypophobia.
The Sage class will launch as part of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker on November 23, for PS4, PS5, and PC.
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