Quote Originally Posted by SeverianLyonesse View Post
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I wasn't necessarily advocating so much as saying the elemental part of the damage has been rendered largely irrelevant.

Final fantasy does pretty good with this, as BLM for example has a "This is the main DPS line of abilities", "This is the downtime abilities that also recharges MP", and "This does DoT". It could have been fireballs, or turtle shells, or chucking hammers... but because obviously Black Mage, they went with the traditionally used Fire, Ice and Lightning famous in past FF games.

For me this is good, as the mechanics themselves are the focus, with the elemental bit being more about aesthetics and ease of use.

Samurai does something similar where the three Sen are based on the major traditional seasons in Japanese poetry (Winter, Fall, and Spring; or more literally Snow, Moon, and Flowers). They really just needed something to work into a 3-part rotation that was also Japanese and poetic to match the image of the Samurai. It's much easier to do this and then make it look like and ice-attack or flower petals than to actually have to tie to a specific element. (Like what would "Flower damage" even be..?)

Even for defensive purposes, while it could allow for horizontal progression and/or interesting choices, it just becomes confusing to someone who wants to "just play the game". It boils down to the game just being one you're meant to jump in and just play. Prepping can be fun, but then that's a different game. If I want to prep for 10-15 before getting into something, I'd play THAT game (like Monster Hunter).

This is coming from a person who played in old 2.0 days, who remembers having to get specific tank rings and use Vitality materia -on any job- just to survive Titan EX's limit break. It was tedious.