Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.5 (Part 1)

Originally Posted by Theodric

Regarding Magitek:

I've long since given up trying to work out the limitations and perks of magitek at this point. There isn't much rhyme or reason to it beyond 'rule of cool' being put into play. It used to be that all magitek had a certain style to it clearly influenced by FFVI in particular - with some additional elements weaved in from time to time from FFXII.

It was specifically Allagan technology that happened to be super advanced and Garlean technology was initially portrayed as being powerful but not quite as powerful or as advanced as what the Allagans brought to the table.

Yet over time, they effectively became one and the same. Werylt gave us artifical Eikons and super advanced robots. Regula was able to use his trusty blade to summon forth a ceruleum familiar in the form of a proud tiger. There's many other specific examples I could draw upon, but basically...magitek is very, very different now to how it happened to be during the days of ARR.

Although I totally agree with you Theo (you know the world is ending when I find myself agreeing with you more and more! ), however I put that down to being a necessary weasel for adding other FF games machina into FFXIV - 1.0 Garlean technology all seemed to be fairly consistant in that it always utilized the standard 'cereleum engine' which was that catherine-wheel jet thing that stuck out the back of all Garlean technologies, from juggernauts to the Agrius. But starting with the introduction of FFVI magitek armour (both Amano's art design and the 'FFVI sprite' version), that started to change, and the cereleum tech seemed to get... far more advanced, to the point the actual engine became barely seen, lost among a mass of pipes or decorations. And once they added FFXII Ifrit-class airships into the game with their silly 'glossair rings', all bets were off.

So yeah, I guess there has definetely been a drift in the meaning of 'magitek' itself - no longer a fancy word for 'cereleum powered', it basically just means "Garlean high-tech" now, encompassing any kind of weird yet advanced technology.