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Warren Castille · **02-06-2015, 08:42 AM**

There's so little lore outside of the job quests themselves that it makes me wonder how much of that is gameplay/story segregation. The stones obviously exist. Does everyone learning a Job need one? If they don't have one, do they still learn skills? It's difficult to reason what's actually in/on them and it seems to be used mostly as a plot device.

(02-06-2015, 01:45 AM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote:
(02-06-2015, 01:43 AM)Kinono Wrote:
(02-06-2015, 01:40 AM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote: Or ancient cooking style, not sure it even has to be combat.

Prostitute Soulgem, here I come.

This soul gem was held by your grandmother, she doesn't look like it now, but she was once finest fucker to ever grace eorzea.

*drops soulstone, backs away horrified*

So... a soul diaphragm, then?

Kellach Woods · **02-06-2015, 08:54 AM**

My guess is no, it's not needed except by the WoL because he needs to learn the skills super fast. The soul crystals also double as a plot device for several jobs if not all of them.

The only ones I can clearly remember it doesn't is SMN/SCH.

V'aleera · **02-06-2015, 11:25 AM**

(02-06-2015, 02:08 AM)Loe Wrote: Now, for my next question, would it be possible for a stone to have a sentient soul in it? Â Like possessing it?

We actually know this is possible, as the questgiver for the CT weekly quest is an archmagus that put her soul into a vessel and then transferred her consciousness into the body of the woman that found her. But I believe that is an entirely separate magical function than the one soul crystals are used for.

Gegenji · **02-06-2015, 11:35 AM**

I find this thread intensely interesting because the little story I'm writing down in the Town Square section involves a character doing research into Soul Crystals.

How I'm viewing it is not so much that people gather blank stones and then just wander around embedding knowledge and know-how into it. I see it more like... converting gear into materia, oddly enough. Bear with me on this, I'll go into a bit more detail.

With your gear, you bind yourself to it and attune it before breaking it down into a crystal that carries some of the power that was once in it. Since the soul returns to the Aether to be borne anew later, I kind of see one's body as something like that too. As a person accrues skills and experiences, they have a chance to reach... well... "100% Soulbound" by the time of their death.

Then, along with their soul returning to the Aether, a bit of them is left behind in the form of a Soul Crystal. Life's materia. That's why all the Soul Crystals we come across allow us to piggyback and take shortcuts through training - just like socketing materia in your gear makes you able to hit harder or absorb more damage.

That would also explain why they're so rare and so special (for the most part) - a Soul Crystal is the remnants of someone who mastered their craft, whatever it is. I would even go so far to say that if Chachan's father passed away, he could very likely leave behind a Smith Soul Crystal.

... but that's just me, and I put a lot of weird thought into the oddest things.

Antain · **02-06-2015, 12:35 PM**

(02-06-2015, 01:45 AM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote:
(02-06-2015, 01:43 AM)Kinono Wrote:
(02-06-2015, 01:40 AM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote: Or ancient cooking style, not sure it even has to be combat.

Prostitute Soulgem, here I come.

This soul gem was held by your grandmother, she doesn't look like it now, but she was once finest fucker to ever grace eorzea.

*drops soulstone, backs away horrified*

Well, now I know what kind of soulgem Vaughn possesses...

IvikBlack · **02-06-2015, 12:55 PM**

When you die the aetherial energy that encompasses your lifeforce escapes and returns to Hydaelyn while your soul travels on to the afterlife.

It seems likely to me that soul crystals are filled with this aetherial energy (not literally souls) because of the precedence of crystals storing aetherial energy and the 'physical memory' of the final product. Who knows if their creation is a slow bleed off or some kind of ritual upon death. Either way, we know a fair amount about how they're utilized.

Soul crystals do not share their knowledge freely. They only reveal their secrets to a suitable host. It's safe to assume that you have to have characteristics in common with the stored energy, and in order to gain more power actions similar to the 'stored story' have to be undertaken. It's like jogging their memory to remember more (which is what you see in every job quest).

I feel this is vaguely relevant though. The words from the intro to FFT:

"A warrior takes sword in hand, clasping a gem to his heart.
Engraving vanishing memories into the sword.
He places finely honed skills into the stone.
Spoken from the sword, handed down from the stone.
Now the story can be told."

Gegenji · **02-06-2015, 01:04 PM**

(02-06-2015, 12:55 PM)Presidio Wrote: "A warrior takes sword in hand, clasping a gem to his heart.
Engraving vanishing memories into the sword.
He places finely honed skills into the stone.
Spoken from the sword, handed down from the stone.
Now the story can be told."

That opening quote always sets me to thinking: which stone are they referring to?

Is it the Zodiac Stones? That doesn't quite make sense, though, because it's not so much skill being put in as power being pulled out of it. Unless by carrying the stones you imbue it with some of your own power, to the point that they've passed hands enough to do the things they do.

Or is it referring to the crystallization mechanic that can happen when a character dies on the battlefield? In which case, taking the crystal allows you to get all the skills that the dead character had that you didn't (within reason). In effect, letting you piggyback off that character's hard work to further your own progression without having to have put in all the time and effort.

Hm... sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Warren Castille · **02-06-2015, 01:11 PM**

...now I just want to play FFT again.

Harmonixer · **02-07-2015, 01:04 PM**

I'm happy this thread exists, because I was really confused on the subject myself.

I like to think that it's similar to how Photon Arts in Phantasy Star (and some Artes in Tales series) are handled. At least, that's how I'm applying it to my brain to process it easier. You wouldn't exactly become a perfect expert at whatever it is you are doing, but you'd have a much better idea how to do it more successfully and effectively.

Our characters still get stronger with their own talents and experiences, but this is more of a tool than say- and end all be all solution to training and everything related to it.

And yes, FFT was many, many hours of my young life. Despite absolutely hating it when it first came out, I played it in spite of a friend that was obsessed with it. I thought if I had beat it for myself, I could tell him to stfu and it wouldn't even be that amazing, years later I still played it.

Tiergan · **02-07-2015, 02:43 PM**

Wait, wait, wait.

... the job stones are soul crystal things? ... I definitely did not pay very close attention to my paladin job quest. :V

Ashren Dotharl · **02-07-2015, 03:39 PM**

(02-06-2015, 08:54 AM)Kellach Woods Wrote: My guess is no, it's not needed except by the WoL because he needs to learn the skills super fast. The soul crystals also double as a plot device for several jobs if not all of them.

The only ones I can clearly remember it doesn't is SMN/SCH.

I can state at least one point where someone other than the Warrior of Light uses a Soul Crystal as well, that being Curious Gorge in the Warrior quest line. He makes reference to how his Soul Crystal no longer glows anymore until the end where his fighting spirit is rekindled. Whether this meas it is required or not isn't really clear. Ninjas also wield Soul Crystals, as you pick up the one you use off the dead body of a Ninja near Wineport and Oboro tells you that they all use them.

(02-06-2015, 11:25 AM)Intaki Wrote:
(02-06-2015, 02:08 AM)Loe Wrote: Now, for my next question, would it be possible for a stone to have a sentient soul in it? Â Like possessing it?
We actually know this is possible, as the questgiver for the CT weekly quest is an archmagus that put her soul into a vessel and then transferred her consciousness into the body of the woman that found her. But I believe that is an entirely separate magical function than the one soul crystals are used for.

This is a little nitpicky, but Noah was actually a heÂ when he was alive, not a her, and not it wasn't a Soul Crystal that he contained his consciousness inside of.

Soul Crystals as far as I have been able to tell are basically like Holocrons from Star Wars, they are a crystal that contains gathered information, knowledge, and experience and are capable of passing that onto the wielder as they become more and more attuned with it. Most Soul Crystals never have a designated previous wielder (some do however) and in some cases they are implied to contain the experiences of numerous people of that Job (like the Warrior one and Paladin ones). When you do the Materia questline that teaches you melding they state that Materia works pretty similar, that all of the experience and knowledge within your gear can be forged into a crystal form which creates Materia, so basically Soul Crystals are kind of like Super Materia.

(02-06-2015, 12:55 PM)Presidio Wrote: When you die the aetherial energy that encompasses your lifeforce escapes and returns to Hydaelyn while your soul travels on to the afterlife.

In FFXIV lore, Aether and Souls are one and the same, your Aether returning to the Lifestream Aether Flow is the same thing as your Soul passing on to the Afterlife.

IvikBlack · **02-07-2015, 05:29 PM**

That seems to conflict with this ingame dialogue:

"What is aether you ask? Why, only the source of all being! Though it cannot be seen, it is everywhere... or should I say, it isÂ everything.Aether flows around us and within us, and without it we would cease to exist. When we die, it is believed that the shock separates our spirits from our corporal forms. Our bodies are then broken down and are absorbed back into the aetherial river, while the soul is left to journey to its final destination in the afterlife. Some call this "returning to the Lifestream." However, our ancestors discovered ways in which, through meditation and focus of spiritual energies, one could reduce her body to aether without losing the grip on her soul, in turn allowing us to travel upon the Lifestream. These methods have been given the names Return and Teleport."

Source, the first bit of dialogue here :Â http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Nicia

Recoil · **02-07-2015, 05:35 PM**

I just assumed they were like the spheres in FF10.

They're harnessed essence of the job; with potential memories and specialized innate skills.

Ashren Dotharl · **02-08-2015, 09:46 AM**

(02-07-2015, 05:29 PM)Presidio Wrote: That seems to conflict with this ingame dialogue:

"What is aether you ask? Why, only the source of all being! Though it cannot be seen, it is everywhere... or should I say, it isÂ everything.Aether flows around us and within us, and without it we would cease to exist. When we die, it is believed that the shock separates our spirits from our corporal forms. Our bodies are then broken down and are absorbed back into the aetherial river, while the soul is left to journey to its final destination in the afterlife. Â Some call this "returning to the Lifestream." However, our ancestors discovered ways in which, through meditation and focus of spiritual energies, one could reduce her body to aether without losing the grip on her soul, in turn allowing us to travel upon the Lifestream. These methods have been given the names Return and Teleport."

Source, the first bit of dialogue here :Â http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Nicia

I think some of this may have been retconned however in the 2.3 and 2.4 storylines when they explain how Aether works, the Primals, and the Ascians. I think they just say that we return to the Flow of Aether when we die, though perhaps I'm wrong. I'll have to go rewatch the cutscenes again.

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