Quote Originally Posted by Delmontyb View Post
What I'm saying is that there could be a curaga 2, and that the numbers system would still be there. But the name would also communicate if it's AOE or not AOE.

So Fire 1 = single target
Fire 2 single target

Firaga 1 = multiple target
Firaga 2 = multiple target

This way they can make stronger versions for the AOE spells as well.
Compromise:
-a AOE (Caster centered)
-aga Targeted centered AOE

Numbers for power increase.
In Japanese 'ga' is the topic marker in a sentence. In English there is no equivalent.

In the console games, you'd use the shoulder button to turn a single target cast into an AOE, so there was never a "aoe" version unless the default for that spell was AOE (eg holy, meteor, ultima)

The name confusion is probably worse for BLM than WHM, with only Cure III being the nonsensical. In other FF games "Cure 3" would be the third or fourth tier healing spell that is single-target, but can be toggled to multi target. Thus it's intended effect is in fact correct, but it's expected effect is what Medica does.

With the Black magic casts, same idea, the shoulder button in the games after the NES versions would make them AOE. Otherwise Fire, Fira(Fire II), Firaga (Fire III), Firaja (Fire IV) would still be single target spells.

And to be fair, Fire 1 2 3 4 for BLM are all different, unlike Cure I II III, which the first two are the same, and the AOE versions are different.

Even without stomping on the classical FF naming scheme, the best option would be to rename all the AOE casts since those don't exist in previous games other than FFXI. XI uses -ga and -ra and -ja for the AOE targetable spells. The single target spells are just Fire I-VI. As far as I can tell (because I've never touched FFXI other than the benchmark) there is no range limit to those spells, or they all have the same range.

The XIV Range limits is what makes Cure III and Medica different. Because if I use Medica I need to be near the party for maximum effect, where as Cure III would normally be casted on the tank and may or may not get the melee party members. Tetra and Benediction for all intents are Cure IV and Cure V. As they behave the same as Cure but are relegated to being actions, since the game doesn't necessarily need a "cure" 4,5,6 when the game scales all magic by level.