Things have been a little hectic since my last post, so I’m only just now getting around to doing a write-up for another glamour I did around the same time—this one for Monk. I want to keep my options open going into Shadowbringers, as I’ve gotten a bit disillusioned with Ninja’s gameplay design, and I think there’s a real possibility I’ll need a new main for the expansion. In terms of how things stand now, Monk is probably the thing I’m most likely to play if I don’t like how Ninja turns out for 5.0. I’ve been slowly working on getting gear for it and getting used to how it plays again. Naturally, I’m also wondering just what I’m going to be taking into the next chapter of the Main Scenario glamour-wise.
Luckily, focusing on Monk as my next class to gear means I had an excuse to pick up the only piece of Scaevan gear I like: the Scaevan Jacket of Striking. While I’ve always been a fan of the sort of “sci-fi” look of Ironworks gear (and by extension, the Scaevan gear, which shares a lot in common with it thematically), the Scaevan gear doesn’t have the sleek look of the Ironworks sets from A Realm Reborn or Heavensward. But the Striking jacket is exactly the sort of thing I love, and I actually delayed my Ninja gear progression a bit to pick up the dyeable version.
Glamour Components (Required Level: MNK/SAM 70)
Weapon: (Replica) Kaiser Knuckles Zeta
Head: Reading Glasses (Dalamud Red)
Body: Augmented Scaevan Jacket of Striking (Dalamud Red)
Hands: Punching Gloves
Legs: Guardian Corps Skirt
Feet: Scion Healer's Highboots
At first glance, I assumed I’d be able to use the Scaevan Jacket without any dyes, of course, since red and black are two of my favorite colors to glamour with. As it turns out, though, the “black” parts of the Jacket are a bit of an off black, somewhere in between the shades of Soot Black Dye and Jet Black Dye. The closest color I could find in the game’s available dyes was actually Dark Purple, and for a little while, I tried to work with that, pretending it was black anyway. That proved to be unworkable, though: while I found a pair of shorts that matched the Jacket’s darker sections in Dark Purple (the Skallic Bottoms of Striking), I couldn’t find much else that actually matched the shade there.
Several rejected ideas later, I settled on using the Guardian Corps Skirt instead, which tends to be neutral enough to work with just about anything. I still liked the idea of going black and red, though, since the idea of going with “darker” glamours for Shadowbringers has stuck with me. While I’d been exploring looks with dark purples more readily, red has always worked much better for Alahra (and tends to open up more options, since it’s a common color scheme in FFXIV‘s gear). That, of course, led to the easy choice of the Scion Healer’s Highboots (though seriously, I’d like to get some new solid thighboots again sometime, Square!).
Beyond the color problems, though, I had a lot of trouble finding a good pair of gloves, too. The Scaevan Jacket is one of those rare pieces with decent sleeves, really dulling the need for long gloves I normally have. The go to options (either the Allagan Gauntlets or Molybdenum Armguards) didn’t jive well with the Jacket anyway, so I had a pretty strong incentive to find something smaller. I started out with the Makai Manhandler’s Fingerless Gloves, but they had the wrong sort of sheen and seemed to clash with everything else. I soon discovered that there aren’t as many options for fingerless gloves as I remembered, and I had to settle a bit for the Punching Gloves. They have a good profile for the Jacket, but the bronze plating does clash a bit with all the Jacket’s silver. They work well enough, though!
I’ve been pretty happy with the look since finishing it, but now that I see they’ve added Kirin’s Osode with Eureka Hydatos, it’s probably only going to last long enough for me to pick up both the Striking and Scouting versions of that instead. I’ve been clamoring for an FFXI-style gi for a long time, and while I would have preferred some new ones, the Osode is absolutely one of the best of its kind from FFXIV‘s predecessor. It’ll be awhile before I can get my hands on it, I’m sure, but I’ve already started figuring out glamour plans for it!
Fashion Ninjutsu 