Red Mage Focus

I think it would be cool if in the glamour dresser we could put other rapiers in the offhand slot to change the look of the focus ... some of them look really goofy. I don't know how much work would be required to unlink them like that though.

Perhaps a way to hide them entirely would be nice too.

Ninjas have asked for something similar, like if they could glamor different knives in each hand.

I don't disagree that this would be nice, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a coding limitation that prevents this, not to mention clipping issues when you go to cast spells and the focus connects to the top of the sword (though in all fairness, this might not be a problem at all)

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Originally Posted by wereotter

Ninjas have asked for something similar, like if they could glamor different knives in each hand.

I don't disagree that this would be nice, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a coding limitation that prevents this,

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But on the other hand, if they could implement this, then they could also unify all the PLD swords and shields into sword+shield items, and we would no longer need to make special cases at the token vendors for PLD weapons just so PLDs can mix their swords and shields, because really glamour is the only reason swords and shields are still separate.

Such an addition to the system would benefit RDM, NIN, DNC, PLD, MNK, and any other future job that dual wields or has a two-part weapon. It might even potentially benefit WHMs and BLMs who want to glamour wands and scepters.

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Originally Posted by wereotter

not to mention clipping issues when you go to cast spells and the focus connects to the top of the sword (though in all fairness, this might not be a problem at all)

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This is probably not too big an issue, as the area around where they join is usually free of obstructions. There may be a few specific combinations that intersect but I'd prefer to be able to mix them with a few bad combinations than not to be able to mix them at all.

I feel that while the OP's suggestion is nice, is really unlikely to happen if the RDM weapon and "offhand" are actually the same item model. They would need to retroactive get back separating every weapon into 2 different items.

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Originally Posted by Raikai

I feel that while the OP's suggestion is nice, is really unlikely to happen if the RDM weapon and "offhand" are actually the same item model. They would need to retroactive get back separating every weapon into 2 different items.

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They are very clearly not the same model. The differences in character sizes and animation ranges would not work with a single model.

They're not the same model, it's feasible with the current technology they have.
Will they do it? Only when there's literally nothing else to do, it would be such a low priority you're like to not see it for years if ever unless there's an explosion of demand OR the devs initiate it on their own.

...I know you're right... but you don't have to kill a dream like that :(

This seems like a completely reasonable ask for glamour improvement, hence it must be technically impossible for reasons.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

They are very clearly not the same model. The differences in character sizes and animation ranges would not work with a single model.

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I'm not seeing the connection there. If "rapier and focus are a single model" for a single character to equip, that is unrelated to different characters needing different sizes of the rapier-and-focus model.

I don't know the technicalities myself, but with how rigid item categories are in this game, I would be surprised if a primary arm is able to be placed in the secondary arm slot at all. Otherwise it should have been an obvious thing for ninja, at least.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not seeing the connection there. If "rapier and focus are a single model" for a single character to equip, that is unrelated to different characters needing different sizes of the rapier-and-focus model.

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Not the scaling of the rapier, but the relative position of the rapier and focus in animations of characters whose arms, torsos, and hips are not the same proportions. Differences in relative ranges of motion due to character size differences can't easily be handled with a single rapier+focus model.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

Not the scaling of the rapier, but the relative position of the rapier and focus in animations of characters whose arms, torsos, and hips are not the same proportions. Differences in relative ranges of motion due to character size differences can't easily be handled with a single rapier+focus model.

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But still, for each single character, their rapier and focus is (apparently) a single weapon model and not two independent mix-and-matchable ones.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

But still, for each single character, their rapier and focus is (apparently) a single weapon model and not two independent mix-and-matchable ones.

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I don't know what else to say except, "That's just not how things are done."

The amount of freedom the focus has to move independently of the rapier in animations (see especially Contre Sixte and Manafication) would not be served by making the rapier and focus a single model because you would have to perform multiple transformations within the single weapon model itself, making sure the weapon transformations fit each individual character, as you animate the character action. Far simpler would be to make them two separate models so that you don't have to do any maths on the weapon models and you can just let the character animation handle all the movements.

Making a weapon a single animated model is really only something you do when you want the weapon not to care about the rest of the universe. It's animated only to care about itself and how the weapon's pieces move within that weapon's personal space. You don't animate a weapon and have it also care about how it needs to move about a character's personal space; that's what character animations are for.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not seeing the connection there. If "rapier and focus are a single model" for a single character to equip, that is unrelated to different characters needing different sizes of the rapier-and-focus model.

I don't know the technicalities myself, but with how rigid item categories are in this game, I would be surprised if a primary arm is able to be placed in the secondary arm slot at all. Otherwise it should have been an obvious thing for ninja, at least.

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Technically they could be the same model if you went to incredible lengths to 3D model in the most unnecessarily cumbersome way just to make a ton of extra work for yourself. Like why on earth would you force yourself to remodel everything for all the different character models when you can just have 2 separate objects and scale them?

You are thinking in terms of "it's a single item in the game logic, so obviously it must be a single 3D rendered object", but those are not intrinsically linked like that and it's just not a sensible way to do things behind the scene.

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Originally Posted by ThorneDynasty

You are thinking in terms of "it's a single item in the game logic, so obviously it must be a single 3D rendered object", but those are not intrinsically linked like that and it's just not a sensible way to do things behind the scene.

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I'm just going on what the other guy said. (See post #4 -> #5 -> #9.)

But yes, "single item in the game logic" sounds more likely and what the first post may have been meaning anyway.

I stand by my main point that you probably can't put a main hand weapon in the off-hand slot, or they probably could have done it at least for ninja where the two pieces have the same model.