“I can tell you value manual Arts quite highly, Veteram. I suppose as a Guild Master it’s only natural to be excited by the possibilities of such a promising new technique. Now I’d like to hear your thoughts as a currently active adventurer, Radd.”
Radd: “O-Okay!”
“No need to be so nervous. Since you’re an active adventurer I imagine you’re using manual Arts daily while out questing. Would you be willing to tell us how they feel to you, compared to automatic Arts? How they’re better, how they’re worse, if there’s any problems with them, and so on.”
Radd: “Well, the biggest problem with manual Arts activation is definitely how hard it is I think.”
“Fascinating! Do tell me more! In as much detail as possible!”
Radd: “O-Okay... I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this but to break it down, as long as you know the skill and meet the activation conditions for an Art you can activate it automatically without any effort. But manual activation is different. You have to memorize the Art’s movement and reproduce it pretty accurately or the Art just won’t come out.”
“That sounds like a pretty harsh restriction! Does that mean if you mess up in the middle of a battle...”
Radd: “Y-Yeah you’ll be in a tough spot. Oh but even if you mess up your attack is still a normal attack. It’s not like you end up just standing there.”
“Even so, it clearly puts you at a disadvantage, correct?!”
Radd: “Well...yeah I guess. But if you practice enough and actually learn the motions you’ll pretty much never mess up.”
“I see. But if I’m not mistaken you mentioned that learning manual Arts activation is quite difficult.”
Radd: “Th-That’s right. It’s hard. I can still only use a few Arts manually, and I still can’t do the more advanced techniques with them like changing the trajectory of my attack by adjusting the starting angle and stuff.”
“Ah you’re referring to what the Guild’s guidebook calls Flexing* and Sweeping, correct?”
Radd: “Y-Yeah, that! Also you can chain Arts one after another or redirect them mid-Art if you know the right skills...”
“Double Arts and Switch Turn, if I’m not mistaken.”
Radd: “I’ve been practicing those skills as well but I still can’t get them quite right...”
“It sounds like manual Arts take quite a bit of time to master! In that case I imagine adventurers who haven’t learned how to use them yet should—”
Radd: “Yeah, they should start practicing ASAP!”
“Huh?”
Radd: “Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh no, my apologies. I just thought you might say manual Arts are too difficult so people shouldn’t waste their time on them.”
Radd: “Aha ha ha of course not! Once you see how much better manual Arts are there’s no way you can ever go back to using automatic Arts!”
“I see...”
Radd: “That’s why I recommend checking out the guidebook now, while people still don’t realize how amazing manual Arts are. There’s already a huge waiting list for it, but it’s only going to get bigger as time passes!”
“Err, well I’d heard that adventurers were a studious lot, but I didn’t realize you were all this enthusiastic about picking up new skills. Thank you very much for your input, Radd.”
*Editor’s note: Flexing is when you adjust the trajectory of your sword swing to activate the Art from a different direction than usual. Sweeping is when you outstretch your arms during an Art just enough that it lengthens the reach of your swing during an Art without going so far that it breaks the motion of the Art entirely, canceling it. Double Arts is when you use the Arts Plus skill to let you chain two Arts together. Switch Turn is when you use Arts Plus in the middle of an Art to give yourself a small window to adjust the direction of your currently active Art. For those of you who wish to learn more, please reference the guidebook in the Guild library titled Manual Arts for Dummies written by Rex Tauren.
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“I’ve heard a lot about the merits of manual Arts from both of you, but I want to change gears now and discuss the drawbacks and potential issues that might arise with the discovery of manual Arts.”
Radd: “Hmm... I’m not sure there are any, really. Manual Arts are basically just a better version of automatic Arts.”
“Does nothing come to mind? Nothing at all?”
Radd: “U-Umm, well...”
Veteram: “Well there’s the fact that they’re harder to learn, but as a Guild Master I’ve noticed a much worse problem with them.”
“Oh, do tell!”
Veteram: “If you ask me, the biggest problem with manual Arts is that they’re just too good.”
“Huh? Umm sorry but what do you mean by that?”
Veteram: “Exactly what I said. Manual Arts are way too strong. They’ve basically overturned the combat strategies people devised over the years.”
“What’s so bad about that?”
Veteram: “For example, frontline attackers used to need to have high offensive and defensive capabilities or they wouldn’t be able to do their job. After all, they had to stand still whenever they were using Arts.”
“And you think because people can move around using manual Arts that they won’t need as much defense?”
Veteram: “I’m absolutely sure of it. Lighter, nimbler fighters used to be less valued, but they’re about to get their time in the spotlight. Mid-range classes like Thieves and Monks are going to see a huge upsurge in popularity too. The scariest thing though is it’s not just classes that use Arts themselves that are going to be affected by the discovery of manual Arts.”
“How so?”
Veteram: “Most adventurer parties strike a good balance between offense and defense. But once everyone starts learning manual Arts, melee classes are going to get way stronger offensively. As a result, a lot of other physical classes are going to start falling out of favor. Archers and other ranged classes are going to suffer the most I think.”
“Why do you think that is?”
Veteram: “Archers and people who use throwing weapons fight with skills, not Arts. In the past they used to do about as much damage as close-range physical fighters, but now that manual Arts are here melee classes are going to start outclassing them. Of course, I doubt ranged attackers are going to die out completely, but I guarantee you a bunch of archers will start reclassing into melee or rogue classes pretty soon.”
“I see, so you’re saying the popularity of some classes is going to be hurt by this discovery.”
Veteram: “Hell it might not even be limited to physical ranged classes. Right now Mages fill a very different niche than close-range fighters, but if all adventurers are able to learn elemental and AoE attacks regardless of their level and class just by mastering the motions for those Arts, mages might start seeing less demand too.”
“The ramifications of this are far greater than I imagined then.”
Veteram: “I did say this was a historic discovery after all. Heh, seeing how panicked some of my fellow veteran adventurers are about these changes, I’m starting to think it’s a good thing I retired when I did. A new age of adventuring is about to start. If you can’t adapt to it, you’re going to get left behind.”