Jove

So this thread is to highlight some interesting pieces of lore I've come across and to possibly dispel some common misconceptions I've seen in game and on forums. I'll try and keep this as spoiler free as possible with ARR, though I do deal with the story of 1.0. So without further delay, I present to ye wall of texts (in bullet points!). Summoners (the job) Primal Slayers? Not exactly. Summoners need only to perform a ritual to summon a Primals' egi, and then defeat that egi to bind it to them (yep, all they have to defeat is that mini Ifrit, Garuda or Titan you see floating behind them). It's made very clear that in the lore, the actual Primals themselves are not summoned and do not need to be defeated to obtain their egi. Origins Summoners as we know them today actually practice arcane arts developed by Allagan mages. The term "egi" is an Allagan word meaning "pure" or the "essence of", so for example "Ifrit-egi" literally translates as "the essence of Ifrit". Allagan summoners basically found a way to siphon the essence of Primals and manifest this essence as an egi, which is bound to do their bidding. Garlean Empire Eikon A derogatory word for Primals used by the Garleans but also said by some Eorzeans. To call a Primal an Eikon is essentially to call them a false god, which the beast tribes really hate to hear. Brainwashing It's revealed throughout the 1.0 story that it was actually Nael van Darnus who introduced conscription of Ala Mhigo citizens to bolster his VIIth legion. You have to remember that Ala Mhigo was conquered 15 years prior to the events of 1.0 (20 years now) and that many of its young adults had grew up under Garlean control and propaganda from a very young age. Naturally, most Garlemald citizens are in full support of the Empire's actions because of the extreme shift in power and prosperity the Emperor has seized for them, and there's no doubt the Empire employs heavy propaganda, especially in conquered realms, however I don't see any evidence for actual "make you a zombie to the system" type brainwashing e.g tempering. After all, Cid is a defector and the Empire is unable to keep spies out of it's ranks which infers that even Garlean soldiers retain the ability to freely think. Just like the soldiers of the three Grand Companies, the soldiers of the Garlean Empire seem to carry out their duties out of patriotism, loyalty and pride for the Empire, because they believe their cause is just, that they're saving Hydaelyn (and they probably know that failing to perform their duty has harsh consequences). Forced to kill daily Again, another one of Nael van Darnus' ideas. Basically this Legatus is known for his brutal methods, and was assigned control of the western front with orders for Gaius van Baelsar and his XIVth legion to support him: "The tone within the legions shifted radically towards Nael’s brutal standards. Spies within the Garlean ranks reported that troops were forced to kill daily in an attempt to harden their hearts and make slaughter mere reflex". So essentially this practice was only introduced during 1.0 and only for the VIIth and XIVth legion. It's stated nowhere that this is practised by any other Garlean legion. Unable to use magic? Just to clarify, only pure blooded Garleans have an ineptitude of magic, so the majority of Garlean mages you come across are probably Garlean immigrants or conscripts, however even a half blood or full blood Garlean mage isn't impossible, just very, very, very unlikely. The nature of Magitek So this is completely an opinion! In fact it doesn't belong here, but I didn't want to make a whole new thread for it. Regardless, this article makes a great argument that "Magitek isn't technology; magitek is technology that should not work" and I highly recommend reading it. Personally I agree with the conclusion and you do see a lot of evidence for it in game, such as the airships and various machina. Still, it's just an opinion, so don't take it as fact! Here's the whole thing if you don't want to click on the link: The Void A reality beyond The Void is a netherworld strife with shadows and monstrosity that if strong enough, can just breach our reality via a "Voidgate". Creatures from the void are called "Voidsent" and include those creatures that are "unnatural", such as the spirits of the undead, unholy manifestations, Ahrimans, the Mindflayer, Voidoriga... basically anything you'd expect from a Lovecraftian tale, there's even a book called the Necrologis that is able to summon these Voidsent.

System Shock 2 is a good choice! I can has mabe Hard Reset pls? :moogle:

My birthday is also the 10th of November! I like how people pick their characters' birthdays. I also enjoy the fact they -have- a birthday, though I'm not really sure how it helps. Is it a stat thing? Hey we're birthday buds! :moogle: Did you also use your birthday? I think the birthday thing is fluff, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I believe it's just God choice which slightly alters your elemental resistance, but like race stats, it doesn't matter much.

I use a 360 controller on the PC, but it should be the same. Press Select to highlight the chat window with a cursor, press Up on the D-Pad to highlight people's names in chat and then press Square (I think) to enter the subcommands for the highlighted name. There's three options and one of them is "reply".

Heh, I was actually wondering earlier if anyone else used their own birthday for their main. But yes, with the information above, my birthday is 10th November, so in game I put the 10th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon for my nameday (Sun = Day, Moon = Month and nameday = birthday, pretty simple).

Hrnnngh -Switches to Red Chakra- I CAN DO THIS. But yeah, chucking rocks at things even with Cleric stance is horribly tedious and takes ages. And Dots might actually be perfect if I can just insta cast all over like 5 things and watch them die. Considering I'm looking for this purely to farm mobs, as I don't have any intention of using it in raids unless, of course they need me to. (Who am I kidding I'll be RPing.) SO I think Summoner might be perfect... Minus the tacky outfit. -Huffs- To be honest that's petty much level 24 Arcanist for me so far, I almost get a sadistic pleasure out of it. Send in the pet to tank, mob attacks pet, apply DoTs, just watch as the mob's health falls all the way down, usually dying before any of the DoTs finish. But with pet control and pet healing, emnity management, you can easily take on a few mobs at a time, cast the DoTs and sit back. It's pretty damn relaxed, even if a mob takes you by surprise, you've got a mini tank there to distract them. I can't imagine Summoner being that different, just meaner pets and deadlier DoTs. I believe also at around level 40, there's a spell that spreads your DoTs from a target to surrounding enemies?

*Rattles Gil pouch* By the way, if you're still trying to find a place, there's always that area in Middle La Noscea, just along from the huge scaffolding that you go up and down to cross the gorge. It's where you face the masked man for the first time. I mean it pretty much is a dead end area, a rocky outcrop by a river that has a few docile water sprites. I think you only go there once for a quest, and that's basically waiting outside the tunnel entrance during the battle instance. From what I remember though, it's a pretty empty natural arena. (Woad Whisper Canyon) There's also the outcropping of Agelyss River, for more dramatic scenery.

1) Female Roe are badass, they may be huge and butch but they have such an awesome warrior woman vibe to them and a certain exotic look. Miqo'te can either be kitten cute or pull off a pretty cool savage feel, and I do like them a lot, but I am a cat person. 2) I don't have a problem with it, I mean romance or relationships doesn't necessarily equal sex, it can be innocent. Or not, but each to their own, if I get uncomfortable with it I could always walk away :cactuar: 3) I try not to, because it's important to keep IC and OOC separate, but of course they're still your creation, and every creation has a hint of their owner. I think it's just important to think about these things and to be consistent. A) Logan is a bit of a loner, he doesn't seek anyone as he's just so focused on his work. Though when it does come to interacting with other races, Logan does prefer a fellow Hyur or Miqo'te, though he's attracted to people he respects and admires, so it wouldn't be impossible for him to fall for a particularly fine Roe or Elezen. Not Lalafell though, he finds them creepy (totally not an OOC reason <_<; ) B) I doubt he even notices. Logan is not a peoples person.

I think this one may be my favourite...

Linkshells? Depends if they're OOC or IC really, I mean I have three OOC linkshells but I guess technically, Logan is a bit of a forever aloner. :c Plumbing? I think it depends on how rich the area is, if it's a city or just an outpost. However, I think it's definitely plausible, I mean even the Romans had some type of plumbing and Eorzea is of a much higher technology in some parts (At least steam level judging by some of the contraptions around, at least from the Goblins). As for bathrooms? Well I've noticed a lot of buildings have inaccessible doors... occupied? Travelling? I think to the common people, you've got Chocobos, carts, boats and possibly in the future, steam trains (which I think Yoshi-P mentioned in an interview), low cost but arduous means of travel. For the rich, I'd say Airships and the Aethernet, both of which are apparently quite expensive (and in the case of the Aethernet, put some serious temporary stress on the body). But I'd reckon next to walking, chocobo porters are most popular, after all they're everywhere so business must be good! (At least, that's what I'd say IC). Electricity I think it exists, it's just not available to everyone and in some cases (I'm looking at you Gridania), might not be wanted. I kind of envision it similar to FFVI, steam technology is starting to be taken advantage of overall, but there's some cases of electricity being generated by either steam or magitek. I mean really, electricity is generated by moving magnets around wires, it's quite simple and all you need is something to generate that motion, be it the wind, water or steam power. For example, nuclear reactors are basically just furnaces that heat up water to create steam to push turbines to make electricity. So although it's not widespread and there's no infrastructure for it, at least in Eorzea, I definitely think it exists and is probably mostly seen in Garlemalde, I mean from little I've seen of their architecture, you have electric lights and an electronic sounding speaker for public announcements. As for those Lightning cores? They're actually really hot and are used in furnaces, along with Bombs, according to the Lominsa quests. But again, a lot of electricity generation starts with heat + water, and even if that's not your aim, you've still got steam power.

Heh, I'm actually going to level up Gladiator just to have a sword on Logan's belt, I want his combat skills ambiguous and a sword is something most people would probably have on them in their travels. No special armour, or barely any at all, just a wanderer with an unremarkable sword. Kind of like a younger (and less sweatier) Ser Jorah Mormont (Pretend the horse is a Chocobo)

What kind of PS3 is your wife running? A slim or the older models? I too don't think I'd have much trouble multi tasking the controller and typing, that isn't so much of a concern. Besides, don't we all just sit around inns and drink anyway? Kidding But yeah, thanks for your response friend. I play the PC version but I've been toying around with the controller and to be honest I think I might prefer it. You just really need to set it up and tweak it (but these options are available on the PS3 too) because things such as targeting, attacking etc are a pain on the controller with default settings, but if you spend an hour or so setting up your HUD, controller settings, it's a real pleasure. Pretty much most USB mouse and keyboards will work on the PS3 and the PS3 version of FFXIV, you can even control it like you would on PC, however these seems to be a small problem were you currently can't use the PC action bars, but only the controller action bar. Worth noting with a controller is that 'direct chat' is viable, basically instead of having to press enter to type, you can just start typing away on your keyboard and it will go straight to chat. There's also the option with a controller to make the chat screen fullscreen, which is really nice if you're just standing there chatting. Other perks with a controller is analogue sticks, meaning your character runs and walks in a more realistic way (also pressing autorun on the controller automatically keeps your character walking at whatever pace you were moving them, so no need to toggle Run/Walk) Although I haven't tried it because I lost mine, you can get addon keyboards for controllers, basically mini keyboards that sit between the two grips, which are quite usable with a bit of practice. As for PS3 players not talking? Most console users now are used to voice chat by default, very few games support text chat so I imagine it's a bit of a strange concept to some players and yeah, without some kind of keyboard I doubt anyone would attempt it. There's also a neat option were you can set up which action bars display during combat and which ones display out of combat. So you could have all eight action bars filled up with macros, emotes, commands etc during the RP, but only have two show up with your spells and attacks which only appear when you're killing monsters.

Maybe it's because I started in Limsa Lominsa, but I really didn't get this impression about Miqo'te females (I can't actually think of any Miqo'te males represented in Lominsa). I mean the very first cutscene while you're on the boat features two respectful looking Miqo'te females sitting there, chatting away and then of course you're attacked by pirates (easy to see how slaves are obtained). But once I was in Lominsa, all I saw were female Miqo'te guards, the chief armorsmith, those working at the Bismark, some more very capable guards at the Coral Tower, fisherwomen, traders and this one girl that a very nervous Hyur male was meekishly trying to ask out... all female Miqo'te, none of them selling their bodies or being slaved. All strong characters. You see the exact same thing outside of Lominsa, and it's also represented in the Arcanist story quests. I'm not saying all female Miqo'te in Limsa Lominsa are decent citizens with respectable jobs, I mean it is a home of pirates after all, but the overall impression I got was not the same as in the OP. So is it a regional thing? I can't say, I've not really explored Thanalan. It's the same with the Roegadyn though, a lot of quests and dealings around Lominsa would have me believe that most Roes are or were pirates, but you see an equal number of them as guards, merchants, builders and basically white knights. I don't know, it just seems like a lot of facets of every culture is represented, depending on the location.

I can't say I've noticed the above, but the Arcanist guild quests definitely seems to touch on this subject, which without spoiling things, deals with the slave trade and paints a female Miqo'te in a positive light (intelligent, leader of a team, respected). There's also Y'shtola, the most badass Scion. Two out... of a represented population ain't bad, right? Right?