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?

So the first thing I thought of when I read the OP was "This would be excellent to spectate and place bets IC!". But then I read this... I take it our characters could still place bets between other willing spectators, but it isn't officially supported by the Boss? There's no way Logan would be in the ring, but turning up to watch, place bets and scout for potential hired hands, definitely.

I'm all for gritty, mature experiences and I think something like this could really help me back into the flow of RP. So saying that I'd like to possibly join you guys on odd occasions, both IC because of the nature of Logan's activities and OOC because I enjoy other aspects of the game.

Triple Triad!

Oh man, I'm dying... can't breathe, can't... cope... burrito. I lost it at Rancor.

Would need details about hardware your computer has. Also if you use any overclocking and boost programs for your graphics card. For what it's worth i've noticed a couple of crashes related to certain elements. Might be that some stuff needs updating to work with the engine will do some research on that. It appears to be definitely more on their end though as far as a programming error. Maybe they'll solve it soon. System details: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit (6.1, build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533) Intel® Core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz 16366.664MB RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690(VRAM 4014 MB) 9.18.0013.2049 I use Noctua NF-A15 with an extra fan for cooling (from what I could gather, this was the best possible cooler for my system). I use a Samsung SSD 140 PRO for my games, and it's pretty new, but used enough to know that it works like it should (Skyrim, even with cells upped to 7 instead of 5, and with a bunch of HD mods and heavy ENBs loads in a split second, and runs stable and with good temps). Also, it was checked by some computer professionals after the fan installation (the latest one) and stress-tested a lot, and came out stable. Only FFXIV causes any problems (and I have a lot of stuff that can cause problems if there's a hole in the system somewhere). No overclocking since I don't want to risk any overheating or undue stress on the components (but if it fixes these issues, I could overclock CPU to 4GHz), maybe in the future, but right now, it can handle all the games on maximum settings, even with Extra Ultimate Extreme HD MODS . I've heard that both Nvidia and AMD systems have problems, so it's probably a problem from S-E's side. Alternatively, I've heard that it might be fixed with Directx 11. Also, I had a BSoD crash that indicated FFXIV yesterday (but none since then). And flickering seems to definitely appear if I let the log in screen be on for a while (like one or two times through the intro movie), while if I log in almost directly it constrains itself to shimmers of the in-game graphics (the slivers of random textures hovering in midair seems to be gone). I hope the 12 September maintenance can fix some of these issues. I wouldn't overclock, your system should be running at 60+ pretty much all of the time with those specs. I've actually researched into this, because I feel like my game is also running quite poorly compared to other games I can run on high no problem, and it seems there's a few threads of people who have noticed a sudden performance drop on their clients. Unfortunately I didn't see any solutions for this problem. The fact though that your game was working flawlessly is proof that your computer can handle it, and from what you described it sounds like there's a glitch that's severely impacting your performance (possibly a memory leak). Also rereading your initial post, I've just realised that I get the same weird glitches too! My game has crashed a few times due to a system error now. I've had the same client since phase 4 and I've been meaning to do a reinstall to see if it fixes anything (although I'm tempted to just reinstall win7 for that ultra clean feeling). So, sorry but I don't have a solution. Although you're definitely not the only one and it's not something that's wrong with your machine.

Also it's worth joining the "Balmung's Finest" linkshell, lots of good people from these forums on there who will help you form a party.

I put on my robe and wizard hat~ Eheheh couldn't resist. Those links are a really good read and although a lot of it is common sense, it's always nice to have it all laid out like that. I still remember this one incident in WoW, with this one character who kept harassing me via PMs with pretty indecent messages, just out of the blue, I didn't even know them! Really distracting when you're trying to hunt dinosaurs, seriously. Anyway I'm all for romance in RP, relationships are the bread and butter of any good RP, whether that be two friends fighting monsters in a dungeon or two lovers chilling out on the beach. There's a lot of aspects you can explore when it comes to how characters act, and I think whatever you do, just give it the care and attention it deserves. As the first link showed beautifully, there's a lot of difference between just emoting a kiss and actually setting up the scene and I think that lesson applies with more than just romantic situations. It's all about giving your creations that little flair of care and sending them on their merry ways to make the world a little more rich. Umm. I kind of lost my train of thought. But yes, follow those simple guidelines in the OP, respect others above all else and put some damn effort into it! :lol: Seriously though, I think the general advice linked by the OP is applicable to a lot of situations, friendships and conflict to name a couple. Just keep in mind that romance, lust and sex are all very different things that can have different consequences~

I feel your pain, I like that dungeons are a part of the main story (because I'd probably skip them all until I got to 50) but not when the queues are 40 minutes+ Although on Thursday there is a patch that touches up on the duty finder, hopefully making it faster.

No problem! I quite like the idea of masked bounty hunters (and there's some pretty good in game masks to RP that). I came to the same conclusion a while a go when I read the Summoner's description, I mean if the Garlean command found a soldier within their ranks attempting to perform such magic, I'm sure it would be a show trial and charges of treason. I wouldn't be surprised if that soldier was betrayed by his comrades out of sheer fear of anything even remotely affiliated to the Primals, no matter the circumstances (tempering is a scary enough prospect as it is). Anyway I should really emphasize that whole section I wrote about White Mages was a complete ramble and mostly my opinion on the subject, so take it with a grain of salt.

It's interesting that you mention Necromancy, because you're right I haven't seen it mentioned any where either, but you only have to go to the Deepcroft to see the undead shambling about. Restless spirits, trapped in a corporeal form maybe, but it seems likely they were raised by Cthulhu's son and his cultists, which makes me wonder if corrupted white magic was used to raise these dead. After all, healers can use the raise spell on the almost dead, so what happens if a particularly powerful mage forces it on the long dead? Is it possible that white magic becomes corrupted when used for unnatural purposes? I could easily see the corrupted white mages of old drawing on the aether to extend their physical life, or to bring loved ones back from the dead, like you say. (Torture is also a good suggestion! Fling a man with Aero, break his bones every time he's smashed against the wall while slinging cures at him. Gruesome) I didn't realize that there were undead about! I haven't gotten far enough in. So yes, very likely, that could be connected too! Interesting... They gave a dark side to those chubby little Lalafell with their white robes on. (I can see you and I are going to get along.) Oh yes, you can find them in Thanalan too! Where you go to face a certain Primal for the first time. Probably a few other places, but I need to level up also so I can go exploring. After all, Logan is the sort to seek out ancient ruins and recover long forgotten trea-archaeological relics, so he'll probably encounter these kinds of things fairly often. Also Lalafell are always sinister. Always. (A friendship forged by the abuse of arcane arts, necromancy and torture. Awesome :moogle: ) This is a very interesting point, and reminds me of an FF staple that I completely forgot about. White magic is super effective on the undead, in previous games, cure would do a decent amount of damage and a phoenix down (a potion that revives party members) would in most cases kill them outright. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that this staple is in FFXIV, but it's a pretty consistent theme throughout the game, along with the magic which you can read about here. There's not really much lore for it though, they're just another form of monster, although in FFVII you encounter a group of vengeful spirits who didn't merge back into the lifestream when they died, which is more or less how a lot of general fantasy zombies and ghosts are created. But this does make me think in regards to what LiadansWhisper said above, it makes me think that Conjurers and White Mages have to maintain a balancing act of receiving and giving back to the aether, which doesn't take much speculation to see why white magic would be so powerful against the undead, because the undead seem to be in direct conflict with maintaining the aether (all take, take, take and no giving back). Of course that's assuming the undead are inhabited by souls from the aether and not just a kind of puppet. Also there's nothing in FFXIV to support any of this, including game mechanics... but I find this whole concept pretty interesting to think about. However it throws the whole necromancy thing out of the window, which begs more questions such as which field of magic could be responsible for that, unless it's a naturally occurring event. But hey the torture is still valid! I also think LiadansWhisper hit the nail on the head with the whole 'too many White Mages drawing on the aether would create a barren landscape' in regards to what harm white magic could do. It's easy to see a cataclysmic event arising from a whole nation of people constantly rejuvenated by white magicks only for the earth beneath them to die. Which again, leads back to the whole "Can white magic prolong someone's life unnaturally?". If not, then that's the limitation of White Mages today, if yes, then we're going back into necromancy territory. The reason I say today, is because I think it's important to take a history lesson here. Current White Mages from Gridania are not the same as the White Mages from 3000 years a go, during the Fifth Astral Era. This is my theory. Current White Mages trained by the Padjal are given their power through the Elementals, it's the Elementals that keep them in check so a White Mage can't abuse their power. What kind of powers? No one actually knows, except beings that have been around for thousands of years (such as the Elementals and other ancient beings). I'm thinking though, that before white magic was regulated, back 3000 years a go, when White Mages would just draw their power recklessly from the aether, things such as necromancy, prolonging life, preventing souls from going back to the aether etc were possible. The spells and the knowledge of this however have been lost to time, except to a few. This is why White Mages don't have this kind of power now (e.g Raise only working on the still living), the Elementals would never allow it, even hint of it's existence because they full well know the devastation it causes. However, ancient and dark beings (such as the summoned Cthulhu faced cultist) know of these powers and actively use them, which gets us his undead guards. It's the same as the difference between modern Scholars and the Scholars from Nym, the modern day examples are similar, but different from their origins. (Sorry for the convoluted wall of text, but I've been reading up on this as I was writing this post and this is pretty much my thought process. And yeah, reading it now I feel like conspiracy theorist - Those Elementals, hiding dem truths!) Anyway, to go back on topic (sorry OP) I think Scholar is a good choice! You've got a book to write down all of those bounty contracts and a fairy, which will put people off guard. As for being a Garlean, I think you shouldn't have any trouble there. It's not unreasonable for Garlemalde to have families that emigrated there long before the Empire and hell, it's only most pure blooded Garleans that have an ineptitude for magic, so even if you had a little Garlean blood in you, it doesn't completely rule out magic. Also I'm pretty certain it's only conscripts from conquered lands that have a sort of brainwashing happen to them (although I don't know what kind of brainwashing, or even if that's the right word, it could just be an onslaught of patriotic propaganda) and I believe it was only Nael van Darnus that introduced his men of the VIIth Legion to slaughtering an animal each day (because to be totally honest, 75000ish animals being slaughtered each day seems a bit ridiculous, and it was probably just Nael's front line troops). I know you didn't mention the above, but they get thrown out a lot when Garlean lore comes up and personally, I think of Garlemalde being made up by your average none evil citizens. I mean just imagine, you live in a backwards country that suddenly is boosted by all of these technological advancements, lives become less of a hardship, there's industry, growth, a sense of purpose. Of course they'd elect the man who made it all happen and of course they'd rally behind him if he said Primals were evil (big scary monsters, of course he's right!) and that other nations are holding Garlemalde back, or that we need the space or need to enlighten them (we have magitek, we're the best!). My only advice for RPing a Garlean is maybe to be subtle about it, even a Garlean citizen with no military background would probably be a target for a lynch mob in some parts of Eorzea and I'm certain they'd know it.