Which job seems the most 'relevant' to the main storyline?

[Enkidoh]

I agree, Summoner definitely is a strong candidate, because it's confirmed in the Job storyline that in order to summon a Primal Egi and bind it to your will, you have to have defeated the Primal itself first, and the scientist in the storyline actually called upon you to help with her research BECAUSE you had beaten Ifrit already.

The main problems with Summoner being canon:

1. I think you very likely would have to keep your practice hidden, in order to avoid being thrown out by your city state.

2. Since your first 30 levels are as an Arcanist, it would pretty much confirm that Limsa Lominsa is the only canon starting city - because it just happens to be the city you spend the least amount of time in during the Main Scenario.

As for Warriors and Paladins, my own personal issue: I'm sick of seeing fate grant melee classes the world on a silver platter, everything that we spell casters have been toiling our whole lives to achieve!

But I would say any of the Jobs would work, strictly speaking, depending on what city you started in. It's confirmed at many points that the PC is not the only Adventurer who is going around trying to help the world, so the way I see it is, just like in a single player Final Fantasy game, each Job storyline correlates with a specific Adventurer who canonically had a part in defeating the Primals.

Ironically, in regards to 'Derplander' and his party, in 1.0 at least, all indications were that he at least was Limsan Lominsan - the original 1.0 opening movie started in what the Drowning Wench was actually planned to originally look like (complete with aetheryte in the centre of the room - early on it was decided not to have the aetheryte inside the Adventurer's Guilds for obvious lag reasons), the guildleve card he holds clearly says 'Limsa Lominsa' on it, the 1.0 benchmark program featured the opening cutscene/event for a Limsa Lominsan player in 1.0, and even in ARR, the 'Crystal's Call' trailer showed him meeting with Merlwyb and also at the Maelstrom Command giving the Maelstrom salute!

Of course this is all circumstantial at best, but it's as good as proof as anything really.

[AspectOfWinter]

Um...what? You do know it takes just as much practice and experience to become an epic warrior (general term) as it does a caster...

Maybe I'm just biased and individualistic, but to me, Warriors are the bullies of high fantasy. There are more of them than anything else, they usually are the ones who start wars due to their bloodlust and pride, and they get to be the Tank and lead the charge into battle.

[zaviermhigo]

I always thought the CGI aren't really canon to the game lore, they are our lore, derplander and his party are adventurers, cgi, is more what us the player is doing. Since we all know FFXIV made, imo, a mistake in making most of the job lore "YOU ARE THE ONLY SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE WITH THIS JOB" *pops out of cutscene and see 50 players on said job*, so CGI is more us, no lore taken into account, we the players. Or else, there'd only be one of each job, according to the lore (i hate special snowflake lore, it doesn't make sense in an mmo).

[PArcher]

Maybe I'm just biased and individualistic, but to me, Warriors are the bullies of high fantasy. There are more of them than anything else, they usually are the ones who start wars due to their bloodlust and pride, and they get to be the Tank and lead the charge into battle.

War of the Magi

[Tenkuu]

I know, this is a really old thread, but it's also a really interesting one.

I think one thing of note with regards to the Summoner is that it is the only job where you are literally acknowledged as a Primal killer as part of the job description. From what I remember, no other job has this tie-in. Technically speaking, this makes Summoners the strongest dps because what could beat that? It also makes them the most relevant job to the MSQ because the story consists primarily of the threat that Primals pose as a result of Ascian manipulations. I mean sure, dragons are a bit of a bother, but Ishgardians have been killing them so it's not as unique. Also, dragons aren't an aether consuming threat to the entire world.

I thought about it being just a metaphor, but the problem is that the actual animation and it's representation seem to happen for real (unlike during 2.0's opening scene). That's why I mentioned that part and I said that I think that it might just be an oversight, being it designed by using a PLD first and not accounting/properly setting the animation for other classes/jobs.

Actually, the term used in the Japanese version is "buki", meaning "weapon", so in this case the English version's "blade" is very much meant metaphorically. And yup, the shape of the weapon of light changes depending on your job. I main Scholar and Summoner and cleared Praetorium as a Scholar, so my weapon was a book of light.

The main problems with Summoner being canon:

1. I think you very likely would have to keep your practice hidden, in order to avoid being thrown out by your city state.

2. Since your first 30 levels are as an Arcanist, it would pretty much confirm that Limsa Lominsa is the only canon starting city - because it just happens to be the city you spend the least amount of time in during the Main Scenario.

1. Your practice as a Summoner isn't a threat to the city-states: you're not actually using aether devouring primals, just their power. Also, if Arcanists are allowed in the city-states, there's no reason why Summoners should be considered particularly more dangerous.

2. There are many Arcanists, but few Summoners. Your character could start in any city-state and eventually end up in Limsa Lominsa, develop an interest in Arcanima, visit Gridania, meet Y'mhitra and decide that they were interested in pursuing Summoning. Either way, there is little relevance to the starting city-state itself.

Ironically, in regards to 'Derplander' and his party, in 1.0 at least, all indications were that he at least was Limsan Lominsan - the original 1.0 opening movie started in what the Drowning Wench was actually planned to originally look like[...]

Except that one's starting city-state has no bearing on where one actually comes from. If anything, it proves that this is *not* where he's from, for two reasons. First, he's in an inn, a place frequented by tourists more than locals in any city; second and most important, our opening cutscenes clearly show that we are arriving at the city-state as a visitor, and we are even asked whether this is our first visit or not. Not to mention the fact that the first few quests you get are introducing you to the city, something for which you would not find the need if you were a local, and all NPCs would also not be treating you as a new face. Also, Thancred is one of the best NPC examples we have of someone not being from they first appear to be.

War of the Magi

This. Also, melee fighters seem to start wars, but magic users seem to start (or be strongly involved in events leading up to) apocalypses, namely the Ascians.

[Theodric]

WAR followed by DRG if we take the cinematics into account. I suspect that 4.0 will have the guy in the cinematics switch to a third job, too, which makes much more sense than him miraculously being able to do everything already.

[Frederick22]

WAR followed by DRG if we take the cinematics into account. I suspect that 4.0 will have the guy in the cinematics switch to a third job, too, which makes much more sense than him miraculously being able to do everything already.

If im right, i think Yoshi said that we might see Derplander being a samurai this time, or was at least one of the posibilities.

[MagiusNecros]

War of the Magi

The White Mages had it coming to em.

[Cilia]

If im right, i think Yoshi said that we might see Derplander being a samurai this time, or was at least one of the posibilities.

I'd even go so far to say it's plausible. It was a tossup between SAM and DRK for 3.0, and seeing as NIN was just added in 2.4 they didn't want to include another Eastern flavored class so soon, so they went with DRK.

... and I'd be fine with SAM in 4.0, as long as it's combat aesthetic is similar to Vergil. (I'll keep to my idiom of running the story as a DRK in my iconic red Chaos suit, but y'know...)

[Theodric]

If im right, i think Yoshi said that we might see Derplander being a samurai this time, or was at least one of the posibilities.

That'd be neat. I'm hoping we only get one new class this time around and if so showcasing whatever it is makes the most sense to help build hype.