(10-22-2015, 09:59 PM)Caspar Wrote:(10-22-2015, 09:13 PM)Nero Wrote:Admittedly, I think some soulstones might function slightly differently.(10-21-2015, 06:06 PM)Caspar Wrote: Yeah that's a good perspective, and it's changing my mind a bit on the soul gem. I prefer it that way. Perhaps the soul stone is like a Fate mage seal. It has the entire body of work a family has worked on in their many generations of occult resrarch, but it is up to the inheritor to learn how to utilize it, unless they're properly tutored.
This is pretty much how I view soulstones. They're sort of like personalized bicycles. Using someone else's soulstone requires relearning how to ride the bicycle from the ground up, even if you already know how to ride your own bicycle.
This..bicycle metaphor isn't really working, but you know.
The description suggests that they are sources of proficiency in some manner due to the presence of information and experiences from previous owners, but how that information is accessed might depend on the stone. In addition, they already mentioned the BLM stone acts as a safety device that protects you from self-immolation during really strong spells like Flare. So I bet that the stones, like the Mage Seal, work differently depending upon the tradition that created it. It could be a focus the user actually needs to handle to survive their new power like BLM or essentially a clean-slate database like the MCH one, which presumably, you are the originator this time and the knowledge will be passed down to later MCH who inherit it from WoL.
I guess then it's not impossible for the soulstone to do what Leanne mentioned and actually have its locked power somehow facilitate learning speed for the owner to "grease the gears" as it were.
But I don't know enough about the actual mechanics of every Job's soulstone to really say for sure.
If we go further with Nero's bike example, maybe it's something like this.
I know how to ride a bike!
*gets a soul crystal*
I can ride a bike with one hand now!
*practices some more*
NO HANDS!
