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

[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.