MATERIA: HOW DOES IT WORK?

[Goldenboko]

Because of this

Shinra Power Company
>ALL Files
>> SOLDIER FILES
>>> Combat
>>>>Materia

I assumed you ripped it from one of the spinoffs I hadn't played.

My point is very simple HC, even trying to explain it, you gave someone that in its core, is still magic. Magic replaced with the word materia. To make an explanation truly be an explanation you'd need to be highly detailed, even then the explanation wouldn't work in real life, but that's ok. That's what makes it fantasy. But vague explanations are nothing more than saying the process in which the magic is transported. When I have more time, I'd write up something that if included would've been a hell of a lot closer to an "explanation" then Square gave us.

Overall though, Square took the word magic and replaced it with materia, because it sounded cooler.

[Mirage]

Command materia only stores knowledge, like any other materia. It stores the knowledge necessary to perform techniques that allow you to attack several enemies at once, or one enemy several times in rapid succession.

[Hollycat]

Because of this

Shinra Power Company
>ALL Files
>> SOLDIER FILES
>>> Combat
>>>>Materia

I assumed you ripped it from one of the spinoffs I hadn't played.

My point is very simple HC, even trying to explain it, you gave someone that in its core, is still magic. Magic replaced with the word materia. To make an explanation truly be an explanation you'd need to be highly detailed, even then the explanation wouldn't work in real life, but that's ok. That's what makes it fantasy. But vague explanations are nothing more than saying the process in which the magic is transported. When I have more time, I'd write up something that if included would've been a hell of a lot closer to an "explanation" then Square gave us.

Overall though, Square took the word magic and replaced it with materia, because it sounded cooler.

Hahahaha no.

[Jiro]

Oh GoBo if you're talking from a meatspace perspective, it's obviously magic. I mean, these things are not possible in our world, so it falls under the supernatural/paranormal/magical. But in universe, it's defined as not being magic, but rather some kind of alternative magic-like thing to do with spirits and crystallised knowledge and trout.

[Jinx]

They eat the materia. What does materia taste like? Lime, blue raspberry, cherry, lemon, and grape.

Then they belch it out, and it makes crazy stuff happen.

[Alpha2099]

They eat the materia. What does materia taste like? Lime, blue raspberry, cherry, lemon, and grape.

Then they belch it out, and it makes crazy stuff happen.

I think this is the best explanation so far.

[Mercen-X]

Overall though, Square took the word magic and replaced it with materia, because it sounded cooler.

I felt the word was stupid. They might as well have called it "matter", it wouldn't have made it sound more or less cool.

Clearly, one does not have to be a magic-user to utilize materia with magic in it. Obviously, then it is not as much the materia alone but the link humans have to the Ancients that allows them to access the knowledge of the Lifestream crystallized in the materia.

[Jinx]

I like the word materia. Matter makes me think of poop.

[Tigmafuzz]

Magnets.

[Mercen-X]

I like the word materia. Matter makes me think of poop.

I've never heard of poop being referred to as "matter."

"I got to matter." "Matter-chute." "Matter on a stick." "I matter you not." "Flaming bag of matter."

By the way, the Lifestream could very well be a toilet flush with the materia being the poop of the Ancients. just fyi

[Jinx]

, Fecal matter.

Also, I think materia is a brilliant name for it. It sounds like "material" but by dropping the L, it gives it a mystical sort of sound. It really fits in well with the world. That is, mysticsm, mythology, and magic in a highly realized technological world. They take the word "material" and give it an enigmatic edge. Since most people don't even know what materia really is, it's fitting in that sense as well.

All of this goes back to Sephiroth's explanation of materia in the Mt. Nibel flashback. It let's you cast magic, but in such a scientific world, using a wod like magic would be scoffed at. The word materia itself can mimic the passing of the Ancients from the world, but more importantly from common knowledge. In a technological world, everything can be explained by science. Magic, spiritualism, and cosmology are things people no longer have respect for, or believe in.

[Tigmafuzz]

Magic, spiritualism, and cosmology are things people no longer have respect for, or believe in.

...What.

(SPOILER)[q]Physical cosmology is the scholarly and academic study that seeks to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order.^[1] The subject matter of this field is studied using scholarly methodology, including the scientific method and reason. It is studied by scientists, such as astronomers, and theoretical physicists; and academic philosophers, such as metaphysicians, philosophers of physics, and philosophers of space and time. Modern cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which attempts to bring together observational astronomy and particle physics.^[2][/q]

Were you referring to, like, "end of the world" theories and such? Because even in religious cosmology, that's obvious crap that people don't actually care about. Cosmology is a legitimate field of study, not a ridiculous pseudo-science like homeopathy or astrology.

[Mercen-X]

what's homepathy?

also, materia is the original latin for "material, matter"