what i had hoped for VS what we got.

[SpankWustler]

Congratulations, you've built an awesome Rube Goldberg machine!

actually in the current Version of FF3, which has more depth than NIN NIN SAG SAG for its party dynamics, Geomancer is the go to Physical DPS class for a Humongous portion of the game, due to the available bells are almost always double the damage or signifigantly higher damage than any other weapons that are available. not to mention they have the lowest weight modifier of any weapon besides daggers, which makes their attack multipliers signifigantly higher at lower Jlevels than other classes.

I just assumed FFIII bells were the same as the FFV bells, since all I could remember is that Geomancer basically had the same stats and equipment selection as the mage troop in both games. Apparently not! In Final Fantasy III, bells are inexplicably terrifying melee weapons and Geomancer uses them to bash things with gusto, like a particularly dedicated Salvation Army volunteer in a bad part of town.

That is either awesome or ridiculous; I have no idea which.

[Merton9999]

I support spell acquisition and use mechanics that differ from normal mage jobs for GEO. The last thing I want to see is rare/ex scroll drops for millions of gil on AH ever again. Based on the implementation of BLU, COR and SCH, I just assume SE will go the route of acquisition and use that differs from WHM/BLM/RDM/BRD.

They could use the easy boring method of NPC purchases like SCH, which wouldn't be terrible to me, but I'd like something more applicable to the geographic concept - acquisition through some sort of "attunement" like the geomantic founts, for example.

So instead of fighting mob families like BLU, the GEO spell acquisition would involve more travel/terrain/weather requirements. I wouldn't even mind the magian weather/day trial concept, but that's been done. Something along those lines but with some more variety and fewer repititions, and that could be done solo, or duo at least. Also, for my taste I'd remove any sort of randomness a la BLUE spells and stick with progression or travel based. Maybe there's no way SE could implement the sort of terrain based GEO spell use found in Tactics, but perhaps it would make sense to acquire spells that way? Fight around lava to obtain the attack power Geocolure?

As far as your suggestion for charges, Hideka, it sounds interesting to me, except for anything that involves Alchemy or crafting of any sort. I abhor the crafting system in FFXI, and I'd absolutely skip the job, and probably the entire expansion, if it were required for GEO spells.

Although! I know nothing of the new guilds in Adoulin. If those are interesting and GEO spells somehow involve those, I'd have to reconsider.

[Merton9999]

Congratulations, you've built an awesome Rube Goldberg machine!



I just assumed FFIII bells were the same as the FFV bells, since all I could remember is that Geomancer basically had the same stats and equipment selection as the mage troop in both games. Apparently not! In Final Fantasy III, bells are inexplicably terrifying melee weapons and Geomancer uses them to bash things with gusto, like a particularly dedicated Salvation Army volunteer in a bad part of town.

That is either awesome or ridiculous; I have no idea which.

I'll help. It's ridiculous. I wish they'd remove the bell thing. I always avoided BST because I don't feel like fighting with Pokemon. Bells are along the same lines of cuteness that doesn't appeal to me as I'm killing evil monsters. There's just something about beating Azdaja with a bell that would ruin the moment for me.

I guess I have to live with it though, unless they give me my wish and bells are never actually visible on my character

[Yrusama]

The only game in which hitting stuff is a strong element of Geomancer is Final Fantasy Tactics. In both III and V, Geomancer has mage-like statistics in spite of not using MP and rings bells from the back-line. The most recent incarnation of Geomancer from Tactics A2 is the closest thing to a mage that the Gria have; this version even uses MP.

That's not to say that Geomancer should or shouldn't hit things in Final Fantasy XI, but just to say that your vision of the job comes from your imagination just as the Development Bros vision comes from their imagination. I'm not sure how either vision is better or worse than the other. Ultimately, the value of Geomancer is going to come from how well it does stuff rather than how much of a mage it is and whether it uses MP or not.

Great examples. The exact functions of GEO have never been clearly defined. First it casts magic randomly, then it learns magic based on area, then it uses abilities based on terrain... it clearly has some connection to the environment, but how it controls it is completely subject to each game's programming and interface. We should embrace whatever this new version brings to the table.

The artifact could use some work, though. I just hope the Relic and Empyrean sets look better. The Cirque gear looks totally different from the Puppetry/Pantin gear, so let's hope they follow that example and give us a simpler design for Empy.

[ManaKing]

No one ever mentions Mog from FF3 US (FF6 JP), which did dances based on areas.

Yeah if they made Geomancers Mog, I wouldn't care what they did. Dancing Moogle that brings down caves on people.

Also, yes im going to be displeased with Geomancer, regardless of what they do because my Geomancer in FFT is my strongest non-story unit. Female Geomancer/Samurai with Blade Grasp and Magic AttackUP. Rune Blade, Aegis, Flash Hat, Wizards Robe, Setiemson. Is so nice and has so much utility. Is also very hard to kill.

[Trumpy]

and if i remember correctly mog had to learn the area dances from venturing to different terrains. Im kinda hoping for something like that but i dont see it happening. I also was pretty bummed when i saw it would have elemental magic. unless its spells are its own like not water spells but a sea spell that acted differently somehow.

PS im glad someone noticed my lil post there lol.

[hideka]

oh i noticed your post... just i have beef with FF6 mog..... he was a little underwhelming due to the overbroken swordweapons and espermagic for all.

[Quetzacoatl]

Smells like a bunch of mad in here.

From my understanding, GEO has had a few tweaks in its design throughout the series as it is, just like BLU did (see: Strago, enemy skill materia, Quina Quen, etc), while maintaining their core functions. And let's not forget about SE's tendency for experimentation with each game.

For example, BLUs could only use whips, but with the theme of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, they turned them into what are practically supersoldiers in a middle-eastern wardrobe. Since SE wasn't able to add Whips as a weapon, they gave BLU swords instead. It was the best way to incorporate the overall design of the job within the theme of the expansion.

Ubulka has the theme of Uncharted territories with lush, exotic landscapes, where the will of nature flourishes about. It seemed that SE sought it fit to turn GEO into a Taoist that can harness the elemental energies that Ulbuka can offer. I honestly can't complain, since Geomancy is linked to Feng Shui. In fact, it sold me on the job. They can still use Bells as part of their core job as well. Using the terrain in this game toward your will would have been highly limited due to your surroundings not always benefiting your spells...so what i'm seeing is, they must have tooled around with the sphere effect as the foundation for designing GEO.

I personally wouldn't have seen the whole, and I quote OP, "Pretty much a berderss swinging axes and bells and tossing arround moderate damage NON-MP abilities that debuffed the targets or enhanced your allies" idea work with this expansion, not to mention an MP-less buffer with Axes would probably be a little over-the-top (HEY MOG YOU'RE THE MOST OP MOTHERTRUCKER IN FF6) and would put it in some fierce competition with...uh, what was the job that could buff and deal damage agai- OH RIGHT CORSAIR!

There are about 10 DD jobs (including BLU) as it is vs 6 mages, with 2 tanks and 2 buffers. There has always been room for more Mages, so a mage would have been the best place for a GEO to be in this game.

[Quetzacoatl]

edited the link in my post btw.