Does Eorzea deserve an artist in her Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn
As an artist myself I've often wondered why Eorzea lacks in such a department. I was speaking with a friend and we came up with some general ideas on what this new crafter class could do in terms of impacting the world of Eorzea for the better!
Crafter: Final Fantasy XIV Artist
Concept Final Fantasy XIV idea: To be Eorzea's sculptor, painter, aesthetician, dye-monger, and anything else 'art' related.
So let's break down each part of the concept.
Sculptor items of interest should be related to stone primarily as a goldsmith, armorer or blacksmith doesn't really fit into this type of media (stone). It could range from basic sculptures of the twelve, to primals, or anything that Square-Enix could imagine. The best part is that it would be easy to implement because the models for those kinds of things already exist in the game, they would just have to apply a stone 'skin' over the model and bam! stone sculpture. Some more specific examples of what I'd find cool to see:
(Remember all these are in stone based material)
Ifrit
Garuda
Bismark
Ravana (the other new one, I think that is its name)
Shiva
Ramuh
Leviathan
Magitek (all types)
Hydaelyn (The crystal)
Minfillia
Cid Garlond
Final Fantasy XIV Godbert Manderville
Mini-Limsa Lominsa
Mini-Gridania
Mini-Ul'dah
Nanamo
Cloud of Darkness
Bahamut
Alexander
Odin
Phoenix
Kan-E-senna
Raubahn
Merlwyb
Louisoix
Dalamud
Crystal Tower
Side note on sculpting: The artist should also be able to craft mannequins wherein a player can equip and show off gear sets they have collected. Mannequins already exist in the game if you have done crafting story quests you've probably seen them sporting your gear you crafted so should be able to be implemented easily.
So as you can see there are lots of possibilities they could run with for the sculpting part of the artist. Moving along we run into paintings, something that I feel is a bit under appreciated in housing Final Fantasy XIV Items. Currently we only have a few different painting we can put on the wall (around 7-9 iirc) however there are so many beautiful places in the game that can be painted!
Ul'dah (in game already)
Limsa (in game already)
Gridania (in game already)
The Footfalls -Silent King (Western Thanalan)
Vesper Bay (Western Thanalan)
The Silver Bazaar (Western Thanalan)
Church of St. Adama Landama (Eastern Thanalan)
The Burning Wall (Eastern Thanalan)
The Gold Bazaar (Eastern Thanalan)
Highbridge (Eastern Thanalan)
Sultan Tree (Central Thanalan)
The Unholy Heir (Central Thanalan)
The Bonfire (Central Thanalan)
The Gold Saucer (Southern Thanalan)
Byregot's Strike (Southern Thanalan)
Castrum Meridianum (Northern Thanalan)
Dalamud's Talons (Northern Thanalan)
Ceruleum Field (Northern Thanalan)
Summerford Farms (Middle Noscea)
Oschon's Embrace (Lower Noscea)
Red Rooster Stead (Lower Noscea)
The Salt Strand (Lower Noscea)
Pharos Sirius (Western Noscea)
Tide Gates (Western Noscea)
Castrum Occidens (Eastern Noscea)
Bloodshore (Eastern Noscea)
Thalaos (Upper Noscea)
U'Ghamaro (Outer Noscea)
Floating City of Nym (Outer Noscea)
Spirithold (Central Shroud)
The Guardian Tree (Central Shroud)
Haukke Manor (Central Shroud)
Mirror Plank Docks (Central Shroud)
Lifemend Stump (Central Shroud)
Hopeseed Pond (Central Shroud)
Sanctum of the Twelve (East Shroud)
Little Solace (East Shroud)
Castrum Oriens (East Shroud)
Urth's Gift (South Shroud)
Rootslake (South Shroud)
Lost City of Amdapor (South Shroud)
Finder's Bluff (North Shroud)
Hyrstmill (North Shroud)
Proud Creek (North Shroud)
There are more places in which can be painted and would look neat but I just did the three main city-state areas for sake of examples. Moving along to the next portion we have aesthetician, HOWEVER, this is not dealing with hairstyles as that is something already in the game and no sense in stepping on another NPCs toes. Instead this would deal with tattoos, something that is possible in the game (see Legacy Tattoo) however is not utilized, which is a same because I so badly want to tat' up my character! Since this crafter class so far has no option really of utilizing materia like the others the use of tattoos would become their way of "materia melding". It would work like this:
1) Player who wants tattoo would select a portion of their body (Left Arm Upper, Left Arm Lower, Right Arm Upper, Right Arm Lower, Back Upper, Back Lower, Right Chest, Left Chest, Torso, Left Leg Upper, Left Leg Lower, Right Leg Upper, Right Leg Lower, Neck Front, Neck Back) and select a materia.
2) Depending on the materia asked will depend on what the tattoo looks like (its not random and a preview of what the tattoo would look like in that spot should be given BEFORE the tattoo is applied) For example: If I ask for a Strength IV materia on Back Upper it would show me a tribal dragon design, if I ask for a Mind IV materia on Back Upper it would be a tree of some (or nature-like design)
3) Artist will apply tattoo using dye and catalyst. All materials are used up upon tattoo application (100% success always)
4) If player gets tired of tattoo they can issue a removal from an artist or for a fee (ffxiv gil) speak with a special NPC to remove the tattoo that way (offers new a gil sink)
Finally artists also have an in depth knowledge of color, so why not allow them to make all the current colors (minus the item shop/retainer obtained ones) including new colors, like other shades of metallic and pastel, and new shades of Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, etc etc, for a greater variety of options.
but what do you think? Does Eorzea deserve an artist in her realm? I personally think we are long overdue for one!

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