Here are two illustrations of Bards. The first one was done pretty early in my illustration journey, and the second one is also pretty old. Looking at them now, I can definitely see a lot of things I would change or improve, but for now, I'm going to leave them as they are. When the time comes, I'd like to make a third rendition of a Bard and see how much I've improved since these two.
I really enjoyed playing Bard in FFXI, especially during the Abyssea days. I particularly loved being a Bard/White Mage. Funny enough, whenever I return to the game every once in a while, there are always people trying to tell me how to play it. They couldn't believe I would sometimes pull with sub White Mage, but back then you could actually pull with Dia—or at least you used to be able to. I'm not even sure if that's still possible nowadays.
i played bard during the 75 era and after.
What I really loved about Bard during the Abyssea era was how ridiculous the parties could become. My friends and I would always joke, "Give me the crack!" I'd run around buffing everyone, casting Haste, and using Marches to increase their attack speed. Once those songs were up, everyone would start moving and attacking so ridiculously fast. It was hilarious, especially during those crazy Worm parties.
i think there was a big one that would always spawn miga mikey or something like that.
Final Fantasy XIV Bard feels more like a Ranger-type job. That always bothered me a little because, in my opinion, a Bard is supposed to be a sort of lazy bum. He's supposed to stand around playing music and singing songs—not necessarily trying very hard to do anything himself. 😂
And that's exactly what I loved about the job.(sometimes you could get lucky with a no pull party)
People loved you, and you barely had to do any actual work. It was fucking amazing.
Of course, there were times when you actually had to pull, and believe it or not, there were even situations where I ended up essentially main-healing as a Bard. I know that sounds completely ridiculous, but that's part of what made FFXI so much fun. You could sometimes do things that weren't necessarily considered the "meta," but if you knew what you were doing and your party was having fun, it worked.
Nowadays, people can get so caught up in playing everything the "correct" way. They want the Bard to pull, they want you to do things a certain way, and they want everyone following the optimal strategy. But that's not really how I think Final Fantasy XI should be experienced. To me, the whole point is to live out the fantasy of whatever job you're playing and find your own way of having fun with it.
And honestly, that's important. The most important thing isn't always playing perfectly or following the meta. It's whether you're actually enjoying the game. Your mental health and having a good time should matter more than whether you're playing your job exactly the way someone else thinks you should.
I even managed to get the Bard hat(the banana hat thing) back then, along with that blue chest piece that made your songs cast faster. and that ring that -25 your songs. i was rocking, and rocking fast. I loved that gear. Bard was such a fun job.
There was also that harp that could play four songs, which I really wanted. Unfortunately, by the time i set my eyes on acquiring it, I was already starting to transition away from Final Fantasy XI, so I never really got to enjoy it the way I wanted to.
But looking back, Bard is still one of those jobs that brings back a lot of great memories for me. It was a weird, goofy, incredibly useful job that could make an entire party feel unstoppable—and somehow you could get away with being the laziest person in the party while everyone else did the actual work.
That's exactly why I loved it.
what do u think?