"Throw" Element?

[Evastio]

Does anyone else find the idea of the "throw" element in Final Fantasy IV really weird?

The only attacks that I know of that have the throw element to them are Kain's spears, Edge's thrown weapons, and Rosa's arrows. I think the Mage Arrow from using the Rod as an item is also throw elemental, but it didn't do any additional damage to desert moths from what I remember.

And when it comes to classifying an element to all of them, "aerial" sounds much better and fitting than "throw(n)."

What do you guys think?

[Roogle]

I can understand why it was coded as an element. The intention is to give arrows and other aerial attacks an advantage against flying creatures. I agree with you completely that this should have been called Aerial rather than Throw, but this isn't something that the ordinary gamer even sees or knows about, is it?

[Evastio]

They actually do identify throw as an element in the GBA and PSP bestiaries. Using Peep/Scan on aerial enemies (and certain others like ElecFishes) will also state that the enemy is "Weak against throw" in all versions of FFIV that I've played.

I don't really think it should've been coded as an element, since there's weapons that are effective against dragons and giants and those weapons don't get elements. That, and being resistant or being able to absorb dragon-slaying, giant-slaying, or aerial-slaying attacks is kind of weird.

[Roogle]

Oh, that is weird. I believe the susceptibility to certain weapons is coded as "Effective Against Enemy Type", meaning that there aren't specific attacks or spells with properties like that. Does that make more sense, then?

[Teek]

Are you saying that what you throw at the enemies doesn't matter elementally-wise? Does the "effective against throw" override all others?

[Evastio]

Oh, that is weird. I believe the susceptibility to certain weapons is coded as "Effective Against Enemy Type", meaning that there aren't specific attacks or spells with properties like that. Does that make more sense, then?

I guess it does. Though having throw/aerial as its own element is a bit weird since it's not like there's enemies that can heal from aerial attacks. Also, there's no wind elemental spells (Tornado brings HP to single digits and doesn't actually deal damage) so I don't see why it'd need to be classified as its own element. Sure, there's no dark elemental spells, but undead being resistant to dark attacks (and probably dark spells if they existed in FFIV) makes sense. Enemies can't really use wind to heal themselves.

Are you saying that what you throw at the enemies doesn't matter elementally-wise? Does the "effective against throw" override all others?

I don't think that's the case. Otherwise, Cecil and Kain's Ice weapons wouldn't be super effective against Rubicante when he's cloaked and absorbs ice spells (magic elemental absorb overrides magic elemental weakness but weapon element weakness overrides weapon element absorb). Rubicant is probably the best example at figuring out element absorbtion and weakness priority in FFIV.