Xenoposting 2.8.

[yvannairie]

This is broadly a continuation of this and this.

Taion does eventually develop the ability to act as a frontliner, and while I don’t think the choice to give Incursor and Seraph to him aren’t strictly narratively motivated, I am nonetheless against my will (lying) forced to contemplate the effect it has on his characterisation.

Specifically, it’s very interesting how Incursor is a very “mage-y” melee class that relies on never, ever getting hit in any form and dancing just on the edge of the enemy’s range to bait them, strictly aiming to out-damage them rather than rely on any kind of defense -- and that Seraph does basically the same thing, except with the strict opposite logic of “it doesn’t matter how much you get hit as much as you hit them back harder".

When not in the rear or the center, Taion’s attitude immediately shifts to have significantly less interest in defense altogether, trading it for the strongest offense he can muster, aiming to hit either precisely where he needs to or just hit overwhelmingly hard in general. The pace of combat for both classes is lightning-fast, they’re based on gaining and maintaining momentum against your opponents, and while Seraph definitely requires more support than Incursor, it’s still super duper forwardly-oriented combat class compared to all the others.

The overall effect, to me, creates the implication that if Taion can’t be in a position where he has purview over the whole engagement, he would rather put his all into ending the fight as quickly as he can, and only reluctantly relies on someone else acting as the support center. Alternatively, I could see it being a case of him being completely unwilling to give up the center... unless there’s someone around he can fully trust to take over as the support :)

Comments

[ebonwinged_nova]

Considering that you can't get incursor until after colony 4 (and thus Eunieboros), and that seraph is much later in the game, I like the idea that he wouldn't have felt comfortable with that style of combat before then and only feels he can go all out because he trusts Eunie and the others to have his back.

[yvannairie]

Yessss that is very much the subtext here >:) Taion is extremely high-strung and performance-oriented, I can't see him being comfortable giving up the mental high ground of being able to see the whole field easily. He's only able to do it once he knows someone else can handle watching over all of them -- who better to do it than Eunie, who learns through exposure and picks up on Taion's mental habits the longer they know each other.

(I mentioned this on Tumblr, but Taion getting Incursor and Seraph plays very well with Eunie getting Lost Vanguard and Lone Exile. It's more natural for her to be the one hollering insults at enemies to create opportunities for Taion to hit them hard in her stead. She can afford to hang back more when she's got someone reliable on her side)

[ebonwinged_nova]

Ha, you're right, Eunie does have a "tank personality" in that regard. Which gets me thinking about the FFXIV jobs I assigned to them; Eunie would be a fun gunbreaker but then there'd be nobody to fill the vacant healer slot...

Agreed on Taion being high-strung and performance-oriented, that's exactly the read I had on him as well.

[yvannairie]

I mean Taion would definitely prefer being the healer, lmao. He'd make a fine Sage.

[ebonwinged_nova]

I placed him on scholar because the fairy reminds me of his mondo. Eunie's the sage on my list because it's a medical laser gun for the medic gunner, lol.

I discussed this elsewhere with some people and for some reason we all instantly agreed that Isurd would be an astrologian. None of us had any idea why, but we were all rock-solid on that.

[yvannairie]

Oh damn I completely forgot about Scholar since I see almost nobody playing it usually. That is actually a much better pick for Taion for a healer class, yeah. The Sage connection was mostly b/c I like the interchangeable defence/offence aspect of that class, it would make sense for either Eunie or Taion, tbh.

For Isurd... IDK, it's partially b/c the class split in FF14 is a lot more DPS-heavy than XC3, but I would probably not even make him a healer -- just like it makes overwhelming sense to make Valdi a Machinist, I would probably make Isurd a Black Mage. It's extremely Isurd behaviour to play a game of Ley Lines chicken with the boss to see whose cast bar fills up first, either he gets blown up or he's already won by virtue of pacing his rotation well XD

[ebonwinged_nova]

/scandalised scholar fanatic noises (/s)

Yeah, sometimes it lines up better to put them on a different role, like Mio who'd definitely be a dancer. I'm stupidly attached to AST Isurd for reasons I can't discern, but you're right black mage would also be a fun one for him.

Otherwise... Sena is a warrior, Lanz is a gunbreaker, and while Noah's weapon puts him closest to samurai I actually really like him as a bard. He can have a little archery, as a treat.

[yvannairie]

Gunbreaker Lanz, not dark knight? Interesting. Also yeah, like, I think Bard and Dancer Noah and Mio makes a lot of sense.

I guess for me... what I like about Isurd is that he's a bit of a scheming bastard under the surface, and none of the healer classes' play experience have quite the emphasis on planning your rotation ahead as something like Black Mage. But, uh, having said that I do see a valid comparison being drawn between him and Urianger and, y'know, I am once again reminded that I do sure have a type :'D

[ebonwinged_nova]

Aesthetically the gun/technology focus of gnb just fits him a lot better than the dark magic knight vibe of drk in my opinion. He'd have an interesting Fray though (I think they all would) (frick, now I want to write about that)

Man, I didn't even SEE the comparison between Isurd and Urianger, lmao. You're so right. Maybe I picked up on it unconsciously and that's why I was so bent on ast Isurd.