Unlike the last addition to FFXIV‘s cash shop, the two most recent new listings don’t come as too much of a surprise. First previewed some time ago for the game’s Korean version, the new Collegiate Attire sets (plural!) are based on designs that were part of an April Fools’ Day gag put together by the dev team featuring various characters of Ishgard in a high school manga. Like many previous sets first released for the Chinese or Korean versions of the game, these come in two gendered variants, one based on female school uniforms and one for male ones. In a first, however, both sets are fully modeled and wearable for both male and female characters. Since the sets are more or less straightforward variants of one another, I’m going to be reviewing them together.

Set Details
Cost: $18 USD each — Gender: Both — Dyeable: Yes — Set Bonuses: No
Body: Collegiate Blazer (Tie) | Collegiate Blazer (Bow)
Legs: Collegiate Slacks | Collegiate Skirt
Feet: Collegiate Shoes (Short Socks) | Collegiate Shoes (Tall Socks)

By and large, both sets are modeled rather well, with the only clipping issues of note I found coming in the form of some tail clipping with the version of the Collegiate Blazer that features the full necktie. The modeling is otherwise fairly standard, though it’s probably worth noting that these are indeed fully modeled for both genders. For example, unlike some gender-locked pieces (such as the vest from this year’s Valentione’s event), which have default models for female characters (that are just the male model displaying on the female frame without alteration), the “male” Blazer properly conforms to feminine body shape as you would expect.

Both sets are also dyeable, with samples of the Slacks set in Rolanberry Red and the Skirt set in Pure White featured in the gallery above. All of the dyeing is single channel here, and things largely dye in expected ways: the blazers, the slacks, and the skirt take on the chosen color fully. The only curve ball is in the shoes: the version with short socks dye in the shoes only (leaving the socks their default brown), and the one with the tall socks dyes the socks instead. The Ishgardian crests on both blazers can also be changed (with the Free Company crest feature, available at your FC’s Grand Company), which is a nice little bit of customization particularly for FCs focused on academic settings.

All of that said, however…these sets are definitely on the pricey side. Each set includes only three pieces—so few that by just including the same shoes on both, they could have more fairly been offered as a single purchase for $18 and be far more in line with normal pricing for the game’s cash shop, featuring five items. Instead, if you want the option to mix and match the sets in any way, you have to shell out $36, which is more in the price range for account-wide mounts, and these, like usual for cash shop outfits, only go out to a single character of your choice.

While I’m beyond glad and absolutely applaud that the sets are not unnecessarily gender-locked like many previous sets, it is admittedly very frustrating that there’s not some sort of bundle deal for buying both, or for the pieces to be available for purchase piecemeal, so that you can more easily mix and match to suit your glamour needs. I’d recommend thinking very carefully about which pieces you’re most likely to use and get only one of the sets if you get any at all—don’t do what I did and snap buy both sets for my coveted skirt and tie combo only to find that I really don’t like the skirt!