Humanoid Avian Race?

[Nektulos-Tuor]

Would be cool to see an Avian race, harpy like girls and guys. I would love it, and their cultural clothing could be more indian-ish as well as their races lore.

They could have the ability to fly with their own wings.



Of course, there are thousands of ways to do bird people. Just don't see it too often, and it seemed more unique then another animal race. Could even make it more beastly like Garuda.

[Kosmos992k]

Why on earth would anyone *want* to be a Harpy?
Harpy, a definition: a rapacious monster described as having a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws or depicted as a bird of prey with a woman's face.
a grasping, unpleasant woman.

Yeah, no thanks..

Of course there are alternatives...for example the Featherfolk from Roak in Star Ocean 4.

[Reinha]

Why on earth would anyone *want* to be a Harpy?

Uhh... because they are way cooler than little girls with angel wings? We can't say for sure that they wouldn't be played because there are no dangerous looking animal themed females yet. Some people could like that combination of features.

[NessaWyvern]

We can't say for sure that they wouldn't be played because there are no dangerous looking animal themed females yet. Some people could like that combination of features.

I was hoping Au ra would be more fierce, but they're not, so I went back to my moonkitty with fangs, and just glamour claws of the beast the entire time. ;-; I want bad-ass females to play as! Harpy would be awesome imo

[IzVale]

Why on earth would anyone *want* to be a Harpy?

Why? Why you ask? Because they're ferocious beasts. That's why.
I wish FFXIV had playable beast races that does not resemble a hyur =.=

[Kurogaea]

Why on earth would anyone *want* to be a Harpy?
Harpy, a definition: a rapacious monster described as having a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws or depicted as a bird of prey with a woman's face.
a grasping, unpleasant woman.

That definition mostly refer to demons. These are suppose to be heroes with bird features. Example:

Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero. Its a transformation, but still doesn't mean she's evil or anything.


Myutie is a harpy, she's no baddie though, just a cutie X)


Random manga drawing


Or at least something similar to the Harpuia race from Agarest War
They're like harpies but with just the wings, basically angelic but an excuse to be a bird. Just add feathers to the arms and its official lol.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

That definition mostly refer to demons. These are suppose to be heroes with bird features. Example:

Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero. Its a transformation, but still means she's evil or anything.


Myutie is a harpy, she's no baddie though, just a cutie X)


Random manga drawing


Or at least something similar to the Harpuia race from Agarest War
They're like harpies but with just the wings, basically angelic but an excuse to be a bird. Just add feathers to the arms and its official lol.

I really like these designs the best. Honestly it would even fit pretty well into the game to have something beast-likish but humanoid. It would look nothing like Miqo'te/Viera/Au'Ra..

An avian playable race that can fly on under its own power? That will never happen. The entire playerbase would be in an uproar because their favorite race can't fly whilst the new one can. Not to mention it would require the creation of a new skeleton, new character movement physics, etc. Simply put, it would be a huge amount of work with little payoff other than complaints for SE. Instead, I think "mounts" that are worn by the players instead of ridden could be an interesting next step. Angel wings, Fairy wings, bat wings, light wings (like the achievement pony), and a jet pack are some options that could be explored here. I doubt something like this would happen either, but at least it's something that wouldn't polarize the playerbase.

Well, actually that is proven wrong. When EQ2 released the Fae and Arasai people were stumped that they couldn't fly. When they made them flyable by their own wings people didn't complain at all and in fact liked the changes. However they can only fly in areas other people can fly due to not being enough Wind.

[Ashkendor]

That definition mostly refer to demons. These are suppose to be heroes with bird features. Example:

Her definiton is spot on, though. Harpies have their origins in Greek and Roman mythology and were depicted as bird/woman hybrids (bird bodies and women's heads/faces; depending on the source, they were sometimes said to be filthy and gross, sometimes said to be beautiful) that tormented people (some of them deserved it, but some of them didn't; Greek Gods were depicted as notoriously petty) and brought evildoers to the Furies for punishment. There are no no "heroes with bird features" in any historical depiction of them. The stuff that you showed there is what happens when modern culture gets ahold of mythological creatures and turns them into cute monster girls instead. Japan has a weird obsession with making everything kawaii, no matter how repulsive it is.

[Kurogaea]

....

Why are you comparing real life theology with final fantasy's? You are aware that a Cait Sith is actually a folktale creature that steals souls in the Scottish Highlands, and the one here is a guardian trying to keep evil at bay right? Also, dragons in most religous culture are seen as symbols of evil and creatures associated with demons, though we have a race that's half bred with them and they save the world. Yeah, don't take reality into this game. It does. Not. Work.

About the japan thing, you say it like America hasn't done the same. We have tv shows where The Devil actually lounges around earth solving crimes for people, Werewolves and Demons doing the same, Teenaged girls with Vampire friends protecting their towns and a few times the world. If you don't like he idea fine, but that's not gonna prove anything -_-

[Ashkendor]

Why are you comparing real life theology with final fantasy's? You are aware that a Cait Sith is actually a folktale creature that steals souls in the Scottish Highlands, and the one here is a guardian trying to keep evil at bay right? Also, dragons in most religous culture are seen as symbols of evil and creatures associated with demons, though we have a race that's half bred with them and they save the world. Yeah, don't take reality into this game. It does. Not. Work.

I compared it with its real life counterpart. You compared it with unrelated games and anime. They're both apples/oranges. I mean, if you really want to get into how they've been depicted in the FF series, none of them seem particularly cute (or heroic) to me.

And er. We have a halfbreed dragon race? That's kind of news to me. I hope you aren't referring to Au Ra.

About the japan thing, you say it like America hasn't done the same. We have tv shows where The Devil actually lounges around earth solving crimes for people, Werewolves and Demons doing the same, Teenaged girls with Vampire friends protecting their towns and a few times the world. If you don't like he idea fine, but that's not gonna prove anything -_-

Japan specifically takes everything and makes it super cute. America doesn't tend so much toward cute, though I guess there's some. I honestly don't care if we get a bird race or not. Mostly, I think a lot of what's being talked about in the thread is a lot of wishful thinking since it would make more work for the devs as far as rigging gear and whatnot. We won't see wings or taloned feet or any of that stuff. A bird race would end up having little feathery tufts for ears and a texture on the skin or something. Viera would end up being an Elezen model with cute bunny ears (maybe at least the females would be tall, lol). No matter what race we get next or how cool the concept art is, when it's implemented it will end up being basically a hyur with a few animal parts tacked on.