(07-02-2013, 02:05 AM)Curtis West Wrote: As I was doing some browsing for a potential class to settle on with my character, I noticed a trend here. Maybe it's because of the traditional Final Fantasy job roles ("Hey I am the white mage!") but it seems people tend to pick one job to be their main to RP with, and level (or completely ignore) the other stuff OOC'ly.Â
Coming from a non-FF background I must ask... why?
It seems to me that a talented warrior (or mage) would be pretty good at nearly any weapon. It doesn't add up to me that a character would be good at archery but not any good at any other type of fighting... and this goes double for close range combat. The mentality of the player seems to be of that old FF mindset where a character is the job they play. In this context, where one can switch jobs so easily though that mindset feels outdated.
My analogy is sports related. Many of the NFL players are gifted athletes. In fact, in High School over 50% of all NFL players were playing Quarterback. They were simply great athletes, the best in their high school. Once they get to college, they specialize more, and once in the league they play the best suited position based on team needs and their best skills.
A gifted warrior (or simply a hard working one) is very similar in my opinion. She can wield most weapons above average, but when in a group with similarly skilled warriors, she must take up her absolute best weapon that suits the party.
To double up on the sports analogy, athletes that go into Mixed Martial Arts seem to outperform other martial art athletes that train only in one particular style. This relates to the common thought of "If one trains with one weapon, they are likely more skilled than someone who trains with multiple weapons." In theory, it sounds right, but in reality cross-training seems to beat out stand alone training.Â
What would make this sports analogy unbearable is this: Many NFL players train in MMA to gain an edge on the field. Meaning that combination of various sports (not just styles within a sport) seems to improve the performance of athletes.
Given this information, I am curious what other people think on the matter. Will your character play an overall good warrior/mage who kills things with just about anything, or a more classic FF role?
I still have no main class picked out for Curtis, but I will likely do whatever fits the group I am in, for the reasons I outlined; there is no need to pick just one.
You're not wrong.
It's kind of shaky ground. If I RP a warrior who is outstanding in combat with an axe and has been doing it his whole life, then I switch to black mage because I'd like to try it IC, a lot of people would cry "God-moding!"
However, fuck that. People should be able to play what they want. I personally like to keep a sense of realism in my class choice, though. Here's my example.
Uther Skystrider was raised in Ishgard. That alone points its finger at dragoon, which is what I'm planning on. I plan on being the quintessential dragoon. I plan on RPers thinking "Uther" when someone says "dragoon". However, that's not because I only want to play one class. It makes the most sense to me that he starts off that way. If I start him lancer, he will begin the game in Gridania, which is the closest city-state to Ishgard geographically. So it all kind of fits together.
After a time of 'gooning it up (that's what I'm calling "playing a dragoon" now), I do plan to start experiencing more options with Uther ICly. I already have set up roads for him to go Warrior and Paladin. Possibly even Monk or Archer. I don't think Uther will be dabbling in magic, though. He doesn't know anything about that shiz.
Anyways, that's rambling and I apologize. I agree that characters shouldn't be their classes, but the game is highly based in combat so it's a little understandable to RP a specialist style character.
Not sure if that post made any sense. It's 1 a.m. where I am. Whatever, man.
