Was this art ever explained? Or is it just something to look at.

[Akujin]

I know the original XIV storyline was scrapped for YoshiP's storyline, so if it had any ties into something meant to occur it wont, or not in the same way. But I was cleaning some stuff up, looked at the CE's box art and couldnt remember if it had any purpose to it, other than just being art.



Which, for that matter, the figure in white really looks like Siren, doesnt it? I know it sort of resembles Garuda as she did in 1.0, but something makes me think of Siren moreso. I know there's been a lot of speculation over who our mysterious 'God/ess' is that Ifrit spoke of, could it be..?

[Gramul]

I think they just sort of made it up as they went along.

[Virtuso]

If that's from the original dev team, then I'm sure it's just random throw away concept art.

[bobbygunz]

Probably Siren manipulating a Walker of the Path to do her bidding or something.

[Zenaku]

it was explain to be garuda art work just what bobbygunz that was the first guess but it ended up just being garuda.

[Catapult]

This will be of interest to you.

1. The beast tribes have their primals, so what about the 5 races? Do they have their own? Is it Siren? It’s Siren, right? It doesn’t matter if you tell me it’s not Siren, I know it’s Siren. (Please tell me it’s Siren...)

This is a touchy subject. I can tell you that you’ve done a remarkable job of picking up a lot of the subtle hints that were dropped in the 1.0 story (the Ifrit diatribe being an excellent example), but the story was served to you incomplete (in addition to being served over a period of two years), and so you’ve been left to fill in the blanks yourselves. This has lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion, and fixing this for ARR has been one of the main things that Yoshi-P has been preaching to the new quest team. In other words, release more info, with fewer gaps in-between, so that players can better follow the story. So what we’ll see happen in ARR is an influx of quests that try to paint a better picture of what was going on in 1.0. That means, for info regarding this ‘another’ of which Ifrit speaks and the ‘paragons’ who supposedly taught the beast tribes how to summon the primals, you’ll have to wait until ARR begins.

What I have been allowed to say is, the Sanguine Sirens are different from the sirens which are mentioned in the blacksmith/armorer class quests, and both are different from Siren of Final Fantasies past (who has not been mentioned in-game). And then there's the provisional artwork that was recently released...

So wait, does this mean there is no Siren primal? Well, that remains to be seen.

Common sense now concludes that the artwork referred to is indeed of Garuda, who is known to have featured in the original plot concepts under Tanaka, while Siren as a primal entity is yet to be even mentioned in XIV's lore. If you try and read any more into it, you are only going to become dissapointed.

[Elexia]

If that's from the original dev team, then I'm sure it's just random throw away concept art.

The new dev teams artwork is throwaway too then (There's no such thing as throwaway concept art, concept art is usually used for ideas and modified upon throughout, not thrown out). Also if you actually played FF games, especially the early ones, you'd know Amano's art work for FF games doesn't always have an overall meaning to the image but more of an image of either people/places from that game that may be designed to symbolize certain aspects. So there's no "meaning" behind it as of the past 1.0, there could have been further meaning if 1.0 was fully developed by release instead of rushed out.

Example:

XI's Zilart Artwork:



Looking at this image you'd say: "OMG CHOCOBO KNIGHTS!" if you're trying to look for an actual meaning.

FFV's Artwork:



Note the lack of Gilgamesh or Exdeath?

There's no real "meaning" to a lot of his art for the games depending on which ones you look at, but cover art/early images are just concept designs.

[Warlock]

As others have said that is indeed Garuda ...we don't know if it is Amano's version alone or Tanaka wanted her that way..as she resembles a lot more to FFXI's Garuda ...Yoshi-P doesn't like fully naked Primals

[Akujin]

Hm, nice replies all. Guess it is just a pretty design to compliment the CE box art. I may need to put it somewhere facing out.

[Endigiont]

That's Garuda.........................................I don't see how you can't see that. Look at the feet, now go look at a picture of Garuda's feet. Look at her head now look at a picture of Garuda's oh wait.... It's the same....