Character Action Skin Request: Diabolos (SMN)

[Freyt]

Is this a simple request? I think Diabolos would be a great option to replace base Bahamut. This would replace the actual summon, and all the associated actions, only in terms of animations.

Since Bahamut only deals damage and doesn't heal, there's no quirky effects behind the animations. The idea that gravity damage can match the devastation of Bahamut's Flare's... well, that isn't so farfetched, is it? It would also create an interesting contrast between Diabolos' dark aesthetic against Solar Bahamut's light aesthetic.

It would also just be really really cool...


We would probably see many summoners utilizing the Diabolos Wings fashion accessory at the same time.

[Nadda]

Sure that sounds like a fun idea. A whole voidsent action skin.

[Lilandria]

This is a great idea! If I remember correctly someone uses an onyx Carbuncle at some point early in the game. A glamour for that would go very well with a void theme.

[Awarewolf]

Love this idea.

[Nadda]

Something like this Three of the Four Fiends.

Rubicante = Ifirit
Scarmiglione = Titan
Barbariccia = Garuda
Diabolos = Bahamut
Enuo = Pheonix
Zeromus = Lunar Bahamut.

[Voidmage]

I may be the odd one out here but I am against it.

Action skills glamour should fit to the job fantasy to an extent.
Diabolos in FFxiv has no connection to them but to Mhach.
If anything BLM having Action skins with his attacks would be far more believable.

I am a huge fan of the Action skin that comes but it's should not just devolve into a wishlist with fan service but fit into the world of FFxiv.

Just my opinion.

Edit:
The fiends and such also actively clash with the FFxiv SMN lore to an extent.
We summon "primal" in which aether we stepped. Voidsendt are not primals, they are normal living beings.
Other summons like Ramuh sure but Voidsent completely clash with the job fantasy and the lore of the game.

[Nadda]

I may be the odd one out here but I am against it.

Action skills glamour should fit to the job fantasy to an extent.
Diabolos in FFxiv has no connection to them but to Mhach.
If anything BLM having Action skins with his attacks would be far more believable.

I am a huge fan of the Action skin that comes but it's should not just devolve into a wishlist with fan service but fit into the world of FFxiv.

Just my opinion.

Edit:
The fiends and such also actively clash with the FFxiv SMN lore to an extent.
We summon "primal" in which aether we stepped. Voidsendt are not primals, they are normal living beings.
Other summons like Ramuh sure but Voidsent completely clash with the job fantasy and the lore of the game.

I'd say that Action Skins are a perfect way to expand beyond the lore - letting people be some spooky void mage be great to add flavor to ones gameplay and even roleplaying itself.

[Voidmage]

I'd say that Action Skins are a perfect way to expand beyond the lore - letting people be some spooky void mage be great to add flavor to ones gameplay and even roleplaying itself.

There is a limit to that though imo.
Voidmages already exist. They aren't summoners and Voidsent don't work like the primal egis we summon, they aren't even "summoned" in the same way.
The only reason voidmages worked is because the Nullstone existed to put those things on a leash basically. Even the RPR Questline makes it clear that even one voidsent partner is not truly safe to have.

It's fine to build upon the lore like SMN having more summons but where do we stop?

I know this is just my opinion and I am probably in the minority but if there aren't lines drawn somewhere then we don't build upon lore but just end up with a mess and I care more about the lore than for this. The Action skins image we saw also was just a DRG getting an old animation back.
If we summon Zeromus then that's not lore expansion but it clashes with the entire story.

I don't forbid asking for it here and if they add it I will just ignore it but I just want to say that I see that whole thing as a damage to job identity and lore consistency just for the sake of fanservice.
I just wanted to voice my opinion on the topic.

[Nadda]

There is a limit to that though imo.
Voidmages already exist. They aren't summoners and Voidsent don't work like the primal egis we summon, they aren't even "summoned" in the same way.
The only reason voidmages worked is because the Nullstone existed to put those things on a leash basically. Even the RPR Questline makes it clear that even one voidsent partner is not truly safe to have.

It's fine to build upon the lore like SMN having more summons but where do we stop?

I know this is just my opinion and I am probably in the minority but if there aren't lines drawn somewhere then we don't build upon lore but just end up with a mess and I care more about the lore than for this. The Action skins image we saw also was just a DRG getting an old animation back.
If we summon Zeromus then that's not lore expansion but it clashes with the entire story.

I don't forbid asking for it here and if they add it I will just ignore it but I just want to say that I see that whole thing as a damage to job identity and lore consistency just for the sake of fanservice.
I just wanted to voice my opinion on the topic.

I can at least appreciate the concern.

[Freyt]

Appreciate the push back. Of course I disagree and I'll reason out why, but I'm not against the discussion at all.

I feel the distinction of Voidmage vs Summoner seems kind of a technicality, just like we've seen a book wielder recently with the classification of "Zoemancer," and a bunch of Scions with niche job classifications. There are all kinds of niche classifications for doing similar things. In the end, Diabolos was "summoned" into the source. We've also encountered him repeatedly throughout the game.

The Lost City of Amdapor - Level 50
HW Alliance Raids - Level 60
Zadnor - Level 71-80

We've dealt with Diabolos more than we have Phoenix, and possibly as much as Bahamut or maybe more. We also have Diabolos Wings as a fashion accessory.

Of course, this iteration of Diabolos in FFXIV is also by the same designer as the FF8 iteration of Diablos, and was a summoned creature in that game as well.

In the same vein as asking "where does it stop," I think a similar question should be asked of "where does it start?" Many people want Ramuh, but Ramuh was only relevant in ARR, and what would you replace with him? Once you start replacing the base Primal summons, then you have to start considering how to design the secondary actions and how reasonable it is for them to align. Would you give Ramuh Ifrit's gap closer?

There's also the question of story relevance among other Primals. Ramuh is complicated, since he's been friendly. Shiva... would feel like digging up a corpse. Leviathan is probably hard to create a reasonable set of attack animations for.