(10-07-2013, 06:59 PM)Ildur Wrote: There's an interesting problem with soulstones and Job skills. It is never stated (as far as I've seen) what exactly they are used for besides being a repository of knowledge.
I think soulstone lore is just a fancy way to justify the class/job mechanics, and so I'm unsure on how to approach it IC. They clearly exist, as you are physically given the thing during the quests. But how exactly do they work? It is never explained if they give your character a Matrix-style insta-knowledge dump or if they are like books.
You could interpret them as instant knowledge dumps based on the game mechanics: since unequiping the soulstone results in the loss of the skills, it means the character literally forgets or becomes incapable to use those skills once the soulstone is not in his power.
You could also interpret them as some kind of instict-based book: you get access to the knowledge and the skills held inside, but you can eventually learn to use them yourself without using the soulstone.
In the first Paladin quest, a rogue paladin gives you a soulstone. Because he's a paladin fugitive, he couldn't get access to more soulstones than his. So it seems to be implied that people can become <insert Job here> without the soulstones, eventually. The means to achieve that are not clear, though, but it's probably just training. After all, all the knowledge contained within the soulstones must have come to be from a time when those soulstones didn't yet exist.
I guess the best bet is to marry the two explanations into one: unless you have been trained for very, very long, you will need a soulstone to aid you into using the Job's skills.
Pretty much what I was thinking of. Because, you see...
