FAQ - Maior

• Why are you called "Maior" shouldn't that be "Major"?

No, "Maior" is short for "Vis Maior". It's latin. See next question.

• What does "Vis Maior" mean?

Actually, it's latin. It roughly means "with power" or "higher force". It's also a legal term, but I really don't know how it's used there.

• How does one pronounce "Vis Maior"?

I'm pretty certain it's something akin to "vihz may-ohr", though I've also heard it pronounced "vihz may-hor". Either way works for me. I generally pronounce it with this stupid gaelic accent and a trill in the middle of "Maior" because I'm a geek.

• What's your deal with latin?

Actually, I don't know. My character's name is latin, my [old comic strip] had a latin name. I guess I just like latin. Makes me seem smarter than I really am.

• Why are you Galka?

Why not?

Seriously though, the race has the most range in facial, skin, and hair uniqueness, which I found appealing. Also, I'm a big guy myself (my business is called [Big Man Networks] for a reason, you know) so I felt I could relate to the character. It also coincides with my playing style quite nicely.

If I were to do another character, I'd probably be a Hume... except very large ;-)

• You have some BLM levels, don't you know Galka's should never be mages?

These sorts of queries really piss me off. If you ask me junk like this, or start harrassing me in-game about it, you'll be added to my blacklist pretty damned fast.

First of all, I don't need to defend my decisions to anyone. I am a firm believer in being true to myself and not following the crowd en masse like some freaking sheep. I don't shop at The Gap, I don't wear Nike's, I don't do things just to conform. Any time anyone in-game starts bugging someone else about the decisions they make with their characters, they are just conformist swine and aren't worth the bandwidth it takes to argue with.

Second of all, most of the people bugging others about these things are people who have been playing the PC version for like 6 months longer than the PS2 players in the states. PC gamers are generally elitist (I'm sorry, they are) and they tend to forget that the game originally came out for the PS2 in Japan some 2 years ago. Thus, there are older and wiser characters in the game than they are. The simple fact of the matter is I know several people with Galka's which have mage jobs or sub-jobs who have very high levels, and their characters work great. Sure, they may not be as powerful of a mage as a Tarutaru, but they can sure as hell take more damage. I met one character who had a Galka BLM crossed with a Dark Knight, and the guy was as intimidating as hell.

Now, one thing to bear in mind, a lot of people who go for Galka mages are trying for that "super character" that just doesn't exist. They are often times going for that spell-casting, summoning, paladin, monk sonuvabitch that could just trounce everything in the game. If you're trying to do that with a Galka, you'll be very disappointed. Not only can you not do that with a Galka, you can't do that with any character. FFXI is just designed to be more balanced than that. So, if you are a Galka mage, you should really be asking yourself why you are one. It's perfectly acceptable, it may make your journey a bit more difficult, but it can pay off, regardless of what some in-game jerks say.

• So are you a Galka BLM?

No, not really. Basically, I tried it out for a bit, so I have some BLM abilities. But I wouldn't call it my main job or sub-job. It was a nice way to bring up stats for things like evasion and staff attacks, but I didn't have the interest to pursue the Galka BLM to the point where it can really kick ass.

At the time of this writing (4/1/04) I'm a Galka monk primary job who is "exploring his options for a secondary job".

It's now been a couple months since I wrote the above, and I'd like to add that I've met some kick-ass Galkan mages. One, a Galkan SMN/WHM, was probably one of the coolest players I've ever had the pleasure to party with (of course, he cheated a bit and got most of the summons really early on, so he was more badass than another SMN at his level should have been ;-)

• I'm a Galka mage, should I switch?

Maybe. Idunno. It's really up to you.

If you're aware of the long road ahead to a kick ass character (especially once you start combining jobs) and are okay with that, then sure, stay a Galka mage. If you aren't aware of the long road ahead, seek out some higher level Galka mages (they are out there, mostly as Japanese players) and try and ask them questions (a lot of Japanese players know a little english, so don't be afraid to message them. In Japan, english is taught in schools from a very early age).

If you don't want to take that long road, then I'd recommend getting your mage job up to level 9 or 10 (it's not that hard) before making the switch. Why? Well, it will boost your evasion and staff or club skills which will transfer over when you switch and make levelling up your other job that much easier. Plus, it will build your bankroll and make financing your new job less difficult.

• I started with you, but now I'm like twice your level, what's the deal?

The deal is that I have a life outside of this game. Chances are, you do not ;-)

Seriously though, I am a very busy person and cannot play this game nearly as often as I would like. Plus, I play to have fun not to specifically level up to a monster player quickly. I take my time, I improve my tradeskills, and I love to explore. If you pass me, no biggie. Chances are we can still play again sometime as long as you're interested in levelling your subs and trying out other jobs and advanced jobs.