why do people play as a Job?

[E'irawen]

Not sure if this was covered, but what about jobs that are planned to be in the game, but aren't actually INCORPORATED yet? Such as NIN, SAM, DRK, RDM, etc. Surely they exist because they're part of Final Fantasy's lore in general, but is there anyone that actually roleplays these jobs that have yet to be added?

 

I, for one, play a character who's more like a THF than a PGL or MNK. However, THF (which will probably be a class, not a job) isn't available yet. Still, when you think of Ul'dah's streets, there's bound to be thieves and the like, yes? Just because there's no job, or class, to support them yet, should we not venture into what isn't yet in the game's mechanics?

 

A lot of people still play as things that aren't actually implemented into the game yet. An example being, one of my characters is good with firearms and, in combination with his history and such, actually owns a functioning gunblade. The gunner-type class isn't implemented yet (but will be soon, alongside THF), but it's still very obvious at several points in the game that guns such as pistols, rifles, and even gunblades (though these are limited to Garleans unless you've worked out a logical explanation) that a character could easily be something along these lines.

 

Same with Ophelia. She's a dancer/songstress, moreover in the literal terms of a performer and not an archer-type like the game function. I know dancer is a class in 11, but not here, and there's never really been mention if it'll be available or not as a game mechanic. But, you see a lot of dancers about Ul'dah, and [in 1.0] there was a main storyline NPC for Ul'dah that was a very popular songstress of sorts, without being a bard like the game defines it.

 

So really, it's all up to your imagination, so long as it fits reasonably in the realm of the world. Majority of people I know don't RP their playable class as their actual class. Sometimes they just happen to play the class that their character is in-character. Myself, and most others, usually go by "IG =/= IC"

 

I hope this helps.

[Suko'to]

From a roleplay perspective, the ammount of classes any given game has is effectively "as many as you want". Just as there are no scientist classes, there's no masonry, architects, businessmen or thieves in the mechanics of the game. But that doesn't mean that there is no actual in-universe people spending their lives doing those things. In fact, it's pretty unreal to think those don't exist, unless the lore states otherwise. Using that logic you can infer that there are likely masons, architects, businessmen and dagger wielding thieves in the world. The same way that not all people using swords and shields studied in the Gladiator's Guild, or that not all spear users come from Gridania, can be used to justify the existance of other 'classes'. It's just that the game doesn't represent them because it would be pretty inconvenient: the same reason cities aren't populated with tons of NPCs or why you can travel all across Eorzea by foot in a few in-game days instead. It's scaled down for convinience.

 

The problems come with classes/jobs that can't be properly infered from the current setting. For example, currently ARR (as far as I know, anyway) doesn't have a good way to justify samurais or ninjas. But there are ways to justify thieves and musketeers: we have daggers, there's no conceptual barrier stopping characters from stealing things or being stealthy; and there's gunpowder and firearms. The only thing you can't do is say that there are actual guilds for those, but you can create a semi-canonical lore by simply creating the backstory. After all, and as I said before, there's no reason to think that all swordmen studied in the Gladiator's Guild. So there's no reason to think that thieves, musketeers or whatever had to come from an actual guild. All you need is the proper weapon and thematic skills.

Actually, I disagree with the second part of what was said here. I think it's actually feasible to introduce the Ninja and Samurai classes after the event that was attempting to introduce horses as superior to Chocobos. The Heavensturn event, if I remember correctly. From this, the world now knows there's a continent with these sorts of characters, and said continent now knows that travel to Eorzea is possible. So, I wouldn't completely write off the possibility of ninja and samurai existing yet. It would just have to be well played, and very convincing.

[Ildur]

Oh, right. That forgetteable event! I...forgot about it.

 

So I guess it's possible. Though there are no katanas that I can think of, and I'm not sure if the background offered by the event was enough to come up with something usable that is not "fantasy Japan".

Or maybe that's exactly what it is. I forgot, as I said!

[Aduu Avagnar]

Oh, right. That forgetteable event! I...forgot about it.

 

So I guess it's possible. Though there are no katanas that I can think of, and I'm not sure if the background offered by the event was enough to come up with something usable that is not "fantasy Japan".

Or maybe that's exactly what it is. I forgot, as I said!

I believe the sword you can get for turning in 5 of the Odin tokens is a Katana, although given it is single handed, it could be a wakizashi, though someone may confirm or deny for me whether there is in fact a difference in the way they are used (hand grips ec).