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I wanted to bring up a few things in FFXI that I have always felt were simply wrong: the elemental wheel, and damage types.
At one point Jarre brought up how, as a firefighter, he was responsible for reducing the damage of water as well, to which I suggested he choose sides. While it may have been funny, it was an ignorant statement. There is no battle between fire and water, rather, one is simply "defeated", in a sense, by the other. Water defeats fire, but what defeats water? Earth; specifically, sandbags. Fire is weak to water, which, in turn, is weak to Earth. What is Earth weak to?
According to FFXI's elemental wheel, Earth is weak to wind. Now, wind and water are both known to erode and change the shape of Earth, but over millions of years. Persistant, yes, though weak. Taking a few steps back, according to the wheel, water is weak to lightning. Lighting? Putting an electrical current through water actually makes it more dangerous than water by itself. Sure, if you electrocute a pond full of fish you've just killed a whole bunch of fish, but fish aren't water, they're simply creatures that live in water.
Now, to follow my logic you might need to learn a few other associations I've made between elements and other aspects of the game. I've associated each element with a stat, with the exception of one stat that is associated with two elements. Fire to strength, water to mind, Earth to vtality, lightning to dexterity, intellegence to ice, and agility to wind. I feel charisma should be associated to both light and dark. I see charisma as a personality feature, and I feel that if you associate light and dark to good and evil, respectively, then light and dark could also be features of personality. Not only can you find yourself anywhere on a spectrum of being charismatic, but on a spectrum of being charismatically good or evil. Don't like it? Tell me about it.
I also associate weapons with elements, but to an incomplete degree. I've always likened polearms to lightning, daggers to wind, and bludgeoning weapons to Earth. I've realized lately that it wasn't so much the weapon itself to the type of damage the weapon does. Piercing likened to lightning, slashing to wind, and bludgeoning to Earth. This leaves out a lot of other elements, though, so it's an idea I'm developing on the side.
The associations I make are based on symbolic relations involving concept and application. Lightning is symbolic of precision and power, as well as accuracy and critical hit chance, which I believe are in line with its association with dexterity. Think that's crazy? Tell me about it.
According to the elemental wheel:
Fire<Water<Lightning<Earth<Wind<Ice
I find that this makes much more sense:
Fire<Water<Earth<Lightning<Ice<Wind
Fire is weak to water; water puts out fire, duh. Earth contains water, but is shattered by lightning. Wind can escape and redirect ice, while simply spreading fire. At this moment, I'm unsure of the relationship between lightning and ice, but I believe all the other connections are logical.
Now, if each element is a job that is characteristic of the element, it might go something like this: Fire is dealing damage, but is out-healed by Water, whose offensive abilities wouldn't be enough to defeat Earth. Earth would be defeated by Lightning, due to his accuracy and critical hits, while those same two strengths, among others, would be routed by Ice's ability to enfeeble. Wind can easily evade and overwhelm Ice, while it can do little or nothing to damage Fire.
This makes a lot of implications that may or may not be present in FFXI, but you'll notice similar patterns in FFXI and other games. In World of Warcraft, Warlocks (ice) are easily defeated by the overwhelming power of Rogues (wind), whose abilities really only enrage Warriors (fire), while the Priest (water) can restore or mitigate any damage dealth by the Warrior. The whole wheel can't be compared to either WoW or FFXI because the job systems are more expansive, include multiple elements, or include their very own elements such as nature. Only little things, here and there, could be related.
The FFXI experience wouldn't be the same without the elements. The days of the week are associated with particular elements, and on those days attacks and spells corresponding with that element deal more damage while, I believe, those corresponding to its weakness deal less damage. Avatars are associated with certain elements, and find more power on specific days of the week as well. Weather is in a similar vein; for example, on Earthsday, Earth-related enemies spawn slightly stronger. Enemies are classified by element, as well as enemy type, and I believe even the telepoints are associated to different elements; Yhoat to fire, Holla to water, Altep to Earth, Dem to lightning, Vahzl to ice, and Mea to wind. So much is related to or dependant on the elements, yet it seems as if little thought was put into the elements themselves.
Damage types are another concept I've thrown around in my head a lot. I'll be brief with my ideas this time...
For the most part, they make sense. Blunt weapons, better classified as impact, include hand-to-hand, clubs, and staves. Slashing and piercing is where I spend the most thought. Weapons in either of these categories display either animations of both, or none at all. Dagger animations both slash and pierece. I find one animation, of an Elvaan piercing with a sword, to be extremely memorable because of the curled position the arm is in while stabbing. Hand-to-hand, katanas, and great katans may also fall into two different categories. Clubs, staves, arrows, bullets, and polearms, excluding "poleaxes", fall into only one category. What about the others? Axes, greataxes, greatswords, and scythes don't easily fall into any of the three categories. Personally, I'd say they chop, which would be a combination of bludgeon, or impact, and piercing. I would even go so far as filing them under impact, rather than slashing, if no distinction were to be made. The whole point of these weapons is to really dig into your target, and niether blunt, slashing, or piercing really capture that. Single-handed axes could slash and chop, two-handed axes would only chop, and two-handed swords could pierce and chop. Scythes seem like they could pierce, slash, and chop, depending on how you used it.
I hate to end posts like this, but what do you guys think?
At one point Jarre brought up how, as a firefighter, he was responsible for reducing the damage of water as well, to which I suggested he choose sides. While it may have been funny, it was an ignorant statement. There is no battle between fire and water, rather, one is simply "defeated", in a sense, by the other. Water defeats fire, but what defeats water? Earth; specifically, sandbags. Fire is weak to water, which, in turn, is weak to Earth. What is Earth weak to?
According to FFXI's elemental wheel, Earth is weak to wind. Now, wind and water are both known to erode and change the shape of Earth, but over millions of years. Persistant, yes, though weak. Taking a few steps back, according to the wheel, water is weak to lightning. Lighting? Putting an electrical current through water actually makes it more dangerous than water by itself. Sure, if you electrocute a pond full of fish you've just killed a whole bunch of fish, but fish aren't water, they're simply creatures that live in water.
Now, to follow my logic you might need to learn a few other associations I've made between elements and other aspects of the game. I've associated each element with a stat, with the exception of one stat that is associated with two elements. Fire to strength, water to mind, Earth to vtality, lightning to dexterity, intellegence to ice, and agility to wind. I feel charisma should be associated to both light and dark. I see charisma as a personality feature, and I feel that if you associate light and dark to good and evil, respectively, then light and dark could also be features of personality. Not only can you find yourself anywhere on a spectrum of being charismatic, but on a spectrum of being charismatically good or evil. Don't like it? Tell me about it.
I also associate weapons with elements, but to an incomplete degree. I've always likened polearms to lightning, daggers to wind, and bludgeoning weapons to Earth. I've realized lately that it wasn't so much the weapon itself to the type of damage the weapon does. Piercing likened to lightning, slashing to wind, and bludgeoning to Earth. This leaves out a lot of other elements, though, so it's an idea I'm developing on the side.
The associations I make are based on symbolic relations involving concept and application. Lightning is symbolic of precision and power, as well as accuracy and critical hit chance, which I believe are in line with its association with dexterity. Think that's crazy? Tell me about it.
According to the elemental wheel:
Fire<Water<Lightning<Earth<Wind<Ice
I find that this makes much more sense:
Fire<Water<Earth<Lightning<Ice<Wind
Fire is weak to water; water puts out fire, duh. Earth contains water, but is shattered by lightning. Wind can escape and redirect ice, while simply spreading fire. At this moment, I'm unsure of the relationship between lightning and ice, but I believe all the other connections are logical.
Now, if each element is a job that is characteristic of the element, it might go something like this: Fire is dealing damage, but is out-healed by Water, whose offensive abilities wouldn't be enough to defeat Earth. Earth would be defeated by Lightning, due to his accuracy and critical hits, while those same two strengths, among others, would be routed by Ice's ability to enfeeble. Wind can easily evade and overwhelm Ice, while it can do little or nothing to damage Fire.
This makes a lot of implications that may or may not be present in FFXI, but you'll notice similar patterns in FFXI and other games. In World of Warcraft, Warlocks (ice) are easily defeated by the overwhelming power of Rogues (wind), whose abilities really only enrage Warriors (fire), while the Priest (water) can restore or mitigate any damage dealth by the Warrior. The whole wheel can't be compared to either WoW or FFXI because the job systems are more expansive, include multiple elements, or include their very own elements such as nature. Only little things, here and there, could be related.
The FFXI experience wouldn't be the same without the elements. The days of the week are associated with particular elements, and on those days attacks and spells corresponding with that element deal more damage while, I believe, those corresponding to its weakness deal less damage. Avatars are associated with certain elements, and find more power on specific days of the week as well. Weather is in a similar vein; for example, on Earthsday, Earth-related enemies spawn slightly stronger. Enemies are classified by element, as well as enemy type, and I believe even the telepoints are associated to different elements; Yhoat to fire, Holla to water, Altep to Earth, Dem to lightning, Vahzl to ice, and Mea to wind. So much is related to or dependant on the elements, yet it seems as if little thought was put into the elements themselves.
Damage types are another concept I've thrown around in my head a lot. I'll be brief with my ideas this time...
For the most part, they make sense. Blunt weapons, better classified as impact, include hand-to-hand, clubs, and staves. Slashing and piercing is where I spend the most thought. Weapons in either of these categories display either animations of both, or none at all. Dagger animations both slash and pierece. I find one animation, of an Elvaan piercing with a sword, to be extremely memorable because of the curled position the arm is in while stabbing. Hand-to-hand, katanas, and great katans may also fall into two different categories. Clubs, staves, arrows, bullets, and polearms, excluding "poleaxes", fall into only one category. What about the others? Axes, greataxes, greatswords, and scythes don't easily fall into any of the three categories. Personally, I'd say they chop, which would be a combination of bludgeon, or impact, and piercing. I would even go so far as filing them under impact, rather than slashing, if no distinction were to be made. The whole point of these weapons is to really dig into your target, and niether blunt, slashing, or piercing really capture that. Single-handed axes could slash and chop, two-handed axes would only chop, and two-handed swords could pierce and chop. Scythes seem like they could pierce, slash, and chop, depending on how you used it.
I hate to end posts like this, but what do you guys think?
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