Dev[1033]Class names

[toshimoog]

So here's my spiel on the job names... (edit: sorry if this has been done already; it looks like it might have judging on the above posts)

I play the game in Japanese, and while I enjoy the game while waiting for new updates, the job names are SO bland. Let me spell it out for you:
These are the literal translations of the Japanese job names.

Pugilist - 格闘士 - Hand-to-hand fighter
Gladiator - 剣術士 - Sword fighter
Marauder - 斧術士 - Axe fighter
Lancer - 槍術士 - Spear fighter
Archer - 弓術士 - Bow fighter
Conjurer - 幻術士 - Illusion Fighter (Illusionist sounds nice here)
Thaumaturge - 呪術士 - Curse Fighter (Curse Mage? idk sounds pretty good I guess)

The bottom two kinda worked, but using the same kanji attachment for just about every single job got boring.
Here's a few from FFXI (need I remind you that these job names were used since the BEGINNING periods of FF) that were much catchier in Japanese (and in English too I must say):

Warrior - 戦士 - Warrior
Monk - モンク - Monk
Thief - シーフ - Thief
White Mage - 白魔道士 - White Mage
Black Mage - 黒魔道士 - Black Mage
Red Mage - 赤魔道士 - Red Mage
Paladin - ナイト - Knight
Dragoon - 竜騎士 - Dragon Knight

etc. etc. etc.
They kept catchy names in both languages, and the translations were pretty direct. The thing that bugs me about FFXIV is that job names were originally thought up in Japanese (of course) and they are so boring. The English names are kinda catchy, but where do these words come from?? Certainly not Final Fantasy lore.

Now I've been reading some threads that maybe the staff's plan is to release traditional job names as titles for combining certain TYPES of class abilities together, in which case would make sense for the basic-as-can-be class names, being just categories for fighting styles. We'll just have to wait and see what they do. I personally would have rather just had regular jobs like in every other traditional Final Fantasy game.

And honestly, wanting the same jobs that have been around in Final Fantasy for 25 years is NOT asking for FFXI-2. We can still have a new storyline, a new world, new characters, and still use the same jobs. They did that for at least 8 or 9 different titles and they all worked.

[insaneshadow]

People, peole; let's not fight. Instead, why don't we look at the weird pictures on the right side of the page. Oh look, goblin thing says he has a cake, but that's no cake lol =D.

[Zelito]

There has been a lot of interesting discussion in this post. Certainly quite a number of intelligent posts (and as usual, a fair amount of useless attacking and some responses that are not at all thought out and clearly the result of not actually reading other posts).

Personally, I see two things here. I really liked Beatle's post about the adaptation of the class names based on the lore and the environment. I think that is a great point and I also think it supports what they are doing here. To me, thaumaturge is a great class name given the lore so far. I'm still pretty new here, but I've progressed far enough in the Ul'dah storyline to see the Thaumaturge guild at work. With the miracle worker line of translation (it seems the earth line is based on entirely different mythology) it certainly seems like a great class choice. I don't necessarily know if the skills of the class match the lore, but I don't really play one.

Now, I also understand these are just the weapons in the armory system. Maybe it will all change when jobs are released.

My final thought is that I do agree in general that FF names are a good thing. Maybe not all, or even the majority. I really don't care if we have archers instead of rangers (again, this is a hypothetical, I get that we are talking class v job) but I do see the value in bringing back FF staples. This may be an entirely new game, but I do believe that it still is a final fantasy and just like we all want to see moogles and chocobos, classic FF classes are really on par.

For those who say it is a new game and BLM's and WHM's should be abandoned, Chocobos and Moogles would be just as easily abandoned under the same reasoning. But this is FF and much of the history and lore of the FF games should not be so easily thrown out.