(08-12-2015, 07:39 PM)GYSig Wrote:Honestly it sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too. You want to be seen as low powered, but win fights regularly and demonstrate mastery. This lets your charcter be the underdog and eschew aesthetics you dislike at the same time, while building them up as competent. You say it's subjective, but you want free leave to criticize the game's presented aesthetic and poopoo on others for holding to it; cool, I subjectively don't find that all that amazing, it's a really common theme on here. You say there are a lot of mundanes not seen; agreed, they're often mooks in comparison to a dragoon or a fist of rhalgr. And I agree that basic tactics can still function in a fantastic setting. Even in my case, my assertion has always been "there's no ultimate technique," and never use a tecnhnique that has no purpose when a simpler one does. I don't care about hard realism, though, even with what I know, and were I playing an unpowered character, I'd expect to have to fight dirty to stand even a ghost of a chance. I completely agree being the "badass normal" is cool, but for some reason, a lot of people forget why. They are innately weaker and must use guile or determination to triumph over those with abilities, which, assuming most of us are Job level adventurers, is quite a few people in the rp context, even if not in the larger population.(08-12-2015, 06:41 PM)Caspar Wrote: But I thought the argument was that techniques which seem flashy to us are in fact brutally efficient in a fantastical setting.Â
I think you're conflating your own suspension of disbelief with the aesthetics of the game, and not neccressarily how rp is usually carried out. In addition, you say that the flashy way is fine but call it painful to look at. I'm not sure what your point is.Â
Making Martials low power and gritty in a SoIaF way is arbitrary in a heavy magic setting, and a strangely commonly trod path of discussion here. I see it as an old habit borne of traditions in western fantasy, that came out of certain unbalanced pen and paper systems. It is the role of the martial to be gritty but weak, the role of the caster to do everything with their bag of tricks. Never mind the fact that martial traditions would change in such a setting to remain relevant.
I've got a chip on my shoulder from those days as you can probably tell, but here in game there's a lot less room for interpretation, as we clearly see both mundane and superhuman Martials.
If you just prefer this aesthetic and wanted to declare such, that's great; as youve seen, you've got a lot of company. Here's how I see it though. Martials are pretty damn magical in this setting. It's canon. If you want to be mundane, cool. Don't be too surprised though if some back flipping ninja shows you up though because there's plenty of examples of that in Eorzea too.
On another note, I don't like the suggestion that fanciful coreography stifles character interaction and dramatic tension. An entire genre of film was built off unrealistic, highly choreographed gunfights and flocks of doves.
Hence the subjective disclaimers slathered on the OP. Â This whole rant is entirely subjective. Â BUT AMAZING. Â Proportionality is an important part of the point I was trying to make. Â We see a very narrow, fantastic conception of Eorzea through the MSQ. Â It certainly exists and there is nothing wrong with it. Â But I'll be bold and make the guess that the vast majority of Eorzean soliders and citizens, aren't casting advanced spells, performing back flips in combat, or mowing down folks by the dozens.Â
You can't really blame people who want to play powerful, fanciful characters that are consistent with the vast majority of the MSQ quest lore we digest. Â The problem is that such characters exist among PC's in proportions that are not found in NPCs. Â For every one badass back-flipping ninja, there should be some arbitrary number of "gritty martials" to lend to a sense of proportion (10, perhaps)? Â Yet we see no such proportions. Â Some love this. Â Others yawn at it, including me.Â
And I don't really see a dichotomy or inherent weakness in a "gritty martial." Â The Ninja is flipping around too much? Â That's fine - hold an axe overhead and let him skewer himself on the blade. A caster chain-casting fire magic? Â Sure. Â Hide behind a large rock, peak out, and throw a dagger at her squishy face. Â Heavily armored plate knight got you down? Â Drop a rock on his head. Â The "gritty martial" high-powered possibilities are practically endless! Â And highly effective.Â
...Annnd... subjectively amazing, <3!
