Ok, so I have to say... Red Mage has been a really fun class to transition to at 50 (I played White Mage till then). I liked it so much in fact that I lost all desire to play any of the other classes I tried. It just clicked.
I love the combo of Melee and Magic (I always make spellblade characters in games that allow it because I like the aesthetic), I love that it feels like my character in game used their previous training and naturally evolved as a magic user (Lvled as a White to 50 but also dabbled in Black), I love that I get to keep my ability to heal, I love how smooth the gameplay feels (No rotation, just priority list and mana management), and I love the aesthetics of the spells.
All of this has been great... but it isn't why I made this post or why I have been having so much fun with it lately. I love it because it has made me feel like the hero of light in the story context.
The narrative places you as someone special that works with NPC allies to accomplish feats, and yet whenever there is a big thing happening it usually happens in a duty. There has always been a huge disconnect for me with that. You go out to do this thing, the narrative tells you that you are doing it alone, and then 3 other random people do it with you and then vanish afterwards. I get that it is for gameplay reasons and I do not think that this should be changed... but it is jarring all the same.
Loving RDM so much though, I played it through the whole interlude between ARR and HS and hit 60 VERY early into HS. This let me kit myself out in Ilvl 255 gear for very cheap from the market. Overworld mobs are meant to be easy anyways so this just made them faster to kill and made running around the map go faster without killing the gameplay for being too easy. Special story fights sync you down so you don't end up trivializing them either. But the duties... in ilvl255 RDM can solo all the HS duties. It isn't easy per say, a bad stun or going OOM (which happens when you have to Vercure a lot) can kill you and you definitely aren't a 1:1 replacement for a full party (re-doing some of the fights in roulette later was a lot easier) but it is very doable and only takes maybe a min or two longer than a normal party run (though the lack of need to que as DPS easily makes up for the time).
Since you can solo the duties, it actually feels like they fit into the narrative with no weirdness. You ARE this special person who took on Nidhogg alone with the Azure Dragoon and won. You DID storm the vault and take on the three commanders 1 on 1 and triumphed. And you had to work for it. You have to learn the mechanics well since you cant just brute force them. It is so much more satisfying. I am looking forward to continuing this trend with the other expansions.
Anyways, that is it. Just had to share cause of how happy this class has made me.
Continue reading...
I love the combo of Melee and Magic (I always make spellblade characters in games that allow it because I like the aesthetic), I love that it feels like my character in game used their previous training and naturally evolved as a magic user (Lvled as a White to 50 but also dabbled in Black), I love that I get to keep my ability to heal, I love how smooth the gameplay feels (No rotation, just priority list and mana management), and I love the aesthetics of the spells.
All of this has been great... but it isn't why I made this post or why I have been having so much fun with it lately. I love it because it has made me feel like the hero of light in the story context.
The narrative places you as someone special that works with NPC allies to accomplish feats, and yet whenever there is a big thing happening it usually happens in a duty. There has always been a huge disconnect for me with that. You go out to do this thing, the narrative tells you that you are doing it alone, and then 3 other random people do it with you and then vanish afterwards. I get that it is for gameplay reasons and I do not think that this should be changed... but it is jarring all the same.
Loving RDM so much though, I played it through the whole interlude between ARR and HS and hit 60 VERY early into HS. This let me kit myself out in Ilvl 255 gear for very cheap from the market. Overworld mobs are meant to be easy anyways so this just made them faster to kill and made running around the map go faster without killing the gameplay for being too easy. Special story fights sync you down so you don't end up trivializing them either. But the duties... in ilvl255 RDM can solo all the HS duties. It isn't easy per say, a bad stun or going OOM (which happens when you have to Vercure a lot) can kill you and you definitely aren't a 1:1 replacement for a full party (re-doing some of the fights in roulette later was a lot easier) but it is very doable and only takes maybe a min or two longer than a normal party run (though the lack of need to que as DPS easily makes up for the time).
Since you can solo the duties, it actually feels like they fit into the narrative with no weirdness. You ARE this special person who took on Nidhogg alone with the Azure Dragoon and won. You DID storm the vault and take on the three commanders 1 on 1 and triumphed. And you had to work for it. You have to learn the mechanics well since you cant just brute force them. It is so much more satisfying. I am looking forward to continuing this trend with the other expansions.
Anyways, that is it. Just had to share cause of how happy this class has made me.
Continue reading...