The Color of Magic

[kaynide]

Yeah, I couldn’t help the Prachett reference

Color seems kinda wild, because if we go by the crafting crystals and/or elemental sprites, we get:

Red=fire
Yellow=earth
Blue=water
Green=wind
Purple=lightning, but it’s a bright neon purple
Cyan=ice
White=light
Black=dark, but dark purples are also used

This color scheme carries over from FFXI.

I thought about Japan’s culture a little, and I am inclined to think the blue of the Crystal tower, the aetherytes and even Hydalaen aren’t necessarily water, but rather pure (maybe balanced?) aether. If we look at classic FFs, that light blue seems to be the default “Crystal” color.

Why? Well…
This is of note, perhaps… in English, blue is quite a “big” word, and light blue or navy blue or whatnot are considered to be a “blue”. In Japanese, light blue (mizuiro, which oddly means “water color”) is considered its own color, independent from blue (think like pink and red).

So, I’m inclined to believe:

Blue (as in royal blue) = water (like found in the pixie dungeon)
Cyan = ice
Light Blue = pure aether?

This makes me think that the Allagan machines used “pure-ish” or as pure as we can get, rather than, say, ice aether.

…but like Cleretic said it could just be aesthetics.