No, that isn’t Final Fantasy XIV concept art you see to the left… it’s an image of what Final Fantasy XI could have been. Those are early renditions of the five race of Vana’diel from an art book: Final Fantasy XI World Concept. It was made available in 2004, around the same time shipments of CoP were defeated by a tornado.

Recently, we learned that the races in Final Fantasy XIV will receive a variety of alterations to differentiate them from their Vana’diel counterparts, while keeping them familiar to veteran players. We can’t look forward, so let’s take a look back (and get back to some FFXI-related stuff finally) and see how the races evolved into the avatars we know and love. Maybe some of the choices left on the cutting room floor will get a second look in Eorzea.

The pictures have been ripped (quite literally, my poor book ) from the pages of Final Fantasy XI World Concept, published by Shueisha V-Jump.

Before we get into the character sketches, here is something I have not seen as much discussion about. The book contains a small flow-chart of the relationships between the various races.

• Hume and in conflict with the Elvaan, friendly with the Taru and live together with the Galka.
• Elvaan has a tenuous mutual trust with Taru.
• The Taru and Mithra complement one another as friends and allies.

The artist commentary explains how the relationships between these 5 races really shapes the history of Vana’diel. More than any physical alteration, I think these relationships are going to be much different in Final Fantasy XIV. Perhaps this time the sex of a race won’t be limited in the same way, or Taru will be industrious fighters, or it will be illegal to select Elvaan.

The Hume started as a classic-looking knight. They were given armor that was forged in the mines surrounding their home city. Male Hume had standard armor that gave them a little more of a bulkier look, while female Hume had more form-fitting equipment that matched the curves of their body. Males received longer, broader swords, while women’s swords were thinner and easier to carry and wield.

These are images of Hume in light armor. The male Hume has cloth armor reinforced with leather. This would allow for ease of movement. The female is a little more protected, wearing leather armor reinforced with metal plates on sensitive areas. The sketch on the right indicates that they wanted armor with a guarded neck area to be complemented with a helmet.

Hume did not change all that much… after all, they are based off of you and me, so there isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room. Once we get to Elvaan, we start to see more noticeable differences. The first thing that jumps out to me is their arms – much longer and droopier. They almost look like sea creatures. The Elvaan here are designed with extra long bodies that are protected with light armor to maximize speed and maneuverability. Perhaps this emphasis on range was meant to give them certain advantages that never made it into the battle system. It will be interesting to see if such ideas return, and races are given more distinct advantages and drawbacks.

The TaruTaru went through many interesting incarnations. Being the premier magical race of Vana’diel, the Taru were first based off of the traditional “Black Mage” within the Final Fantasy series. From this concept, they were made diminutive and plump, which as you can see above, had some TaruTaru resembling what we know today as Mandragora.

From here, the artists used an assortment of styles in an attempt to define exactly what a TaruTaru should look like. Above you can see the human-like Taru on the left, followed by an animal-like Taru that looks a little like a Qiqirin. The third Taru with wings is a fairy-like concept, and the final one was apparently drawn by a Kefka fan.

Now we see the TaruTaru really beginning to take form. The large one on the left is a White Mage Taru concept. To the right, are Taru children, and some kind of mouse that must be celebrating its birthday.

This picture shows an awesome looking Black Mage Taru concept, and what appears to be a TaruTaru Transformer on the right. Actually, it’s a Warrior, which brings up an interesting point. In Final Fantasy XIV, Taru could become a more physically powerful race instead of being adept at magic. I always had trouble wrapping my head around those tiny Lilties in Crystal Chronicles games being the strongest.

The initial stage of Mithra designs were much more feral in nature. The crouching one in particular reminds me of Gau from Final Fantasy VI. The key points of Mithra in this design phase were that they have large, exposed eyes, have the appearance of a forest animal and look like natural hunters in the wild. In the bottom right, you can see a Mithra mid-hunt, stalking what appears to be an early Crawler concept.

Eventually, the Mithra became more cat-like in appearance, while their posture was refined to match a normal human. Their wild nature was expressed more through skimpier clothing and the demeanor of Mithra NPCs.

Galka fans can get excited now, because these beastly guys went through the most twists and tweaks out of all the five races. The first concept you see here is a comparison of beastmen-like Galka on the left, and demon-like Galka on the right. Sketches of their respective body types are also provided.

Here are some more tribal-looking Galka. This was most likely before their role in the history of Vana’diel had been determined. The idea was that they would be a more wild race that was in tune with the land. This trait became more subtle and seeped into their backstory as they progressed through the design stages.

Galka were always meant to be the most beast-like of the races, but exactly what type of beast was something that went through many iterations. Here you can see many of the faces designers drew up. So many good choices, and they went with balding-French-mustache Galka?

By the time we get to these lion-esque Galka, the designers had almost finalized the concept for this race. The body-type was set, and was intended to be a massive wall of muscle. The lion head was meant to give Galka a more ferocious look, like a powerful, destructive beast ready for battle.

In this final stage, perhaps influenced by their role in the game’s story, Galka took on a more peaceful appearance. They still retained the bulk and the muscle, but now it was balanced by their calmer, more civilized manner. We also get our first glimpse of the Galka tail, something that was conspicuously absent in previous incarnations, and now also in the Final Fantasy XIV trailer.

Interesting stuff, to say the least. There was so much creativity and variety that went into designing Vana’diel. Having looked back on the development of the races also gets me excited to see what changes they will make for their appearance in Eorzea. Not to mention, without the graphical limitations we faced 7 years ago, many more of the original concepts have a better chance of making it into the actual game.

I hope you enjoyed this little look into the past. Thanks for reading!