What could DRK have learned from FFXI?

[TouchandFeel]

I wouldn't say there their are no dark connotations but most of those connotations are suppressed by the positive connotations of Method/Law (法).

Not exactly because the kanji and their individual meanings don't really translate perfectly over in the case of certain words like mahou (魔法) because it is intended to specifically express a Western idea of something. So two kanji were chosen that sort of convey the idea and were put together, supernatural+law/structure of (more contextually structure of in this case) and figured that was close to the idea of Western magic with its spells and whatnot. There really isn't more depth or intricacy to it than that. Mahou is just simply the idea of Western magic that they fit kanji to in order to create a word to use for it. This process isn't uncommon in Japanese when integrating foreign ideas or concepts into the language.

Also, hou (法) doesn't really carry the same positive connotations as the Western ideas of law, order, etc. It just is, neither positive or negative, in the sense that "the order of things" can be both good and bad depending on context and association.