(05-15-2017, 12:10 PM)Lohba Tia Wrote:(05-15-2017, 12:00 PM)Sylentmana Wrote: I know monks and dark knights have some capacity for aetheric manipulation, but I'm curious to know if the other martial classes are also capable of such feats.
I'd imagine Dragoon jumps require some manipulation of aether, but I'm not sure if there's a hard confirmation on that.
There is, yeah. They draw aether from their "inner dragon" to enhance their combat - the Azure Dragoon doubly so, because they also draw from the Eye of Nidhogg. I mention the Azure Dragoon because although there are/were only 2 in the span of the game (Estinien and the WoL), that's... what the in-game abilities are based around: being the WoL Azure Dragoon.
Lancers are another matter, though. I will say that Life Surge is a LNC ability, and that must be aetheric - which opens the door for other LNC abilities being the same.
Regarding the example in OP - Samurai - I think it's extremely likely that the bulk of its in-game abilities will, like the Ninja abilities, focus on the storing and release of aether in order to enhance combat:
Frankfurt FanFest 2017 Keynote Wrote:The overall battle system will consist of multiple far eastern swordplay techniques from the realm of Hingashi, such as iai.
Those swordplay techniques consist of two main points.
The first is the art of "sen".
The SAM will chain together 3 sen forces - setsu, getsu, and ka - to unleash powerful attacks.
The second battle point circles around the SAM's ability to store energy in his katana.
Once the gauge is full, the SAM will be unable to unlock special attacks.
There are multiple of these special attacks, and figuring out the perfect timing to unleash them is one of the main things SAM will have to think about in battle.
So, did that give you a better idea of what's going to happen with the SAM job?
(crowd cheers)
So now you have that image in your mind, let's go back to the first video and see if it makes more sense.
(replays the SAM preview vid)
Thank you very much.
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HOWEVER. In terms of RP, I think you could definitely do a character who fights martially with no aether. You'd just describe it as such in your emotes - that there's no magic fancy sparkly flippies going on. I think it's good practice to describe exactly how you want your character's abilities to be working, anyway, even if it's the same as they appear in-game. And I think it would be interesting to see what shape a character who aspires to stand alongside aether-users without using it themself would take!
Just as you don't have to follow job archetypes to the letter (i.e. just because your character punches things doesn't mean they're [going to be] a Monk), you also don't have to follow class archetypes. Not everyone who wields knives is a Rogues' Guild veteran, and not everyone who picks up a spear is going to use it with aetheric enhancement - even if that turns out to be how the in-game abilities are.