2d elemental depiction flawed

[kaynide]

Astral and umbral are ultimately just fancy labels stuck on active and passive forces, and not actually part of the elemental wheel at all.

Also, "white magic" and "black magic" have never strictly been about using light-themed and dark-themed magic, but healing and harming. Fire and lightning are traditional black mage spells throughout the FF series but both are essentially bright lights, not darkness.

That's just more lore-wrapping imho. You can make up whatever lore you want to match what you want it to be sense-be-damned.

Like, Wind and Water are incredibly active forces. Thermal dynamics (Ice/Fire, essentially) are active. Lightning of course is active. Even the very earth is an active force with earthquakes and pressure.

Even going "Healing and Harming"- Sure, water is a basic healing/soothing material..but it is also incredibly dangerous, with disease and whatnot; if anything else, Pure Water would represent balance. Similarly, Fire can be both healing and harming (Cauterizes wounds, purifies water).

I know it is what it is, and "Their house their rules/their lore", I'm just critiquing it.

Even then, the spells have a long and weird history- Aero for example bounces regularly between Blue Mage, Black Mage and very rarely White Mage.

Me? I would have just said there are 6 elements that are harnessed for magic. Black Mages, for reasons unrelated to dark or light or labeling or whatever, is focused on using Fire, Ice and Lightning. Not because they are dark or light or forces of nature..but because the guy who founded Black Mage School back in the day decided those were the spells used. Or those were the magic forms they personally mastered and could pass on.

I probably would have reworked Aero/stone and Water to be some kind of black mage buff and simply had conjurer also using all 6 elements in different, curative ways…eventually becoming more pure “light” as they become WHM.

This difference in how to use the elements ties in nicely with the cause of their War of the Magi; perhaps Black Mages using all 6 in an “umbral” way, with White using in an “astral” way…

..but that’s just me, and I’m not an expert storyteller..so I trust the devs to do what they can, even if I don’t really like it.