Help needed! :)

[Goldhawk]

The main problem with starting crafting early (and you noting that you're having some concerns with funds already) is that it can get expensive. There's also the fact that any gear you may craft....you'll outgrow quickly enough. Dungeon drops are better in terms armor and stat bonuses over those of crafted or vendor items.

Honestly, the biggest benefit to crafted items is the fact that you can attach materia to them later but even then later in the game, the benefit isn't that good...

But the guy above said crafting is essentially like doing dungeons but you get to customize stats... so if you're correct then how would crafting give you any money?

[Failia]

But the guy above said crafting is essentially like doing dungeons but you get to customize stats... so if you're correct then how would crafting give you any money?

That's not quite true. The only stats that you get to customize are the pieces of gear that you can add materia to. If there's no materia slots, you can't customize the equipment.

Also, you can't meld materia to equipment until your crafting level is the same level as the gear you want to craft. So, if you're level 25 and looking to meld a piece of materia to a level 25 piece of equipment, for example, you have to be a crafting level 25 in order to be able to meld materia to that peice of equipment. There's also a failure chance for melding as well, where you will lose the materia you want to use and materia itself can be expensive depending on what you want to use (if you don't have any from spiritbonding).

I also forgot to mention that not all gear comes from the same craft. You said you were a mage, and a lot of the gear from that may come from weaving but there are other items that are required to be made that come from other craftskills (for example carpentry or goldsmith).

[Mizore_Canaan]

Would like to quickly note that melding materia to gear that has an empty materia slot on it (green empty circle) the chance is always 100% (provided you have the correct craft and lvl to do so), its overmelding (adding more materia then there are slots) that has a chance a failure.
^___^

[Goldhawk]

You said you were a mage, and a lot of the gear from that may come from weaving but there are other items that are required to be made that come from other craftskills (for example carpentry or goldsmith).

Ah, looks like I should hop on crafting! Got weaving to level 10. I would really like to make gear of my own, and then enchant the crap out of it so I can have a little more of an edge in battle.

Since I am a mage (and will probably stick to mage style attacks/healing) should I invest in a majority of the guilds or just a select few? Going to try to get weaving up as much as I can.

Also, unrelated to crafting:

I was wondering about the style of robes that cover your head so you can't wear a helmet. Is there any way to actually equip any form of headpiece while wearing one of these? (like the evil mages with the masks) Seems odd that they would make a robe like that...though the one I found was pretty spectacular at the time.

[Antonio_Xul]

Also, unrelated to crafting:

I was wondering about the style of robes that cover your head so you can't wear a helmet. Is there any way to actually equip any form of headpiece while wearing one of these? (like the evil mages with the masks) Seems odd that they would make a robe like that...though the one I found was pretty spectacular at the time.

The only Robe I see that has a mask is the Seer's Cowl which is level 38 & item level 40.