Dresspheres

"I dunno. I'm just a kid."

-- Shinra, inventor of the Garment Grid

Dresspheres and the Garment Grid

The advent of the Garment Grid allows memory Spheres to be used for a new purpose: to bring forth the memories of warriors within and bring their combat skills to life! The exact mechanisms are something of a mystery, but an Al Bhed youth named Shinra is responsible for the new technology.

While it was originally cleared for use only by some close allies, the tech spread quickly as copycats and enthusiasts began to make use of the knowledge. The point is that now there are many Garment Grids, and Sphere Hunters across Spira and beyond seek the Spheres that have recordings of skills ancient and modern.

Here is how they work: while equipped with a Garment Grid, one can cycle between a number of Dresspheres, which bestow the potential of a combatant class on the user. While it takes time to learn the skills of this potential, the basics are conferred immediately, making it a quick path to power for those willing to risk unknown technology and ancient memories. It also affords a customized costume for the user, adapting one's clothes to something suiting a member of the 'job' in question. Dresspheres only work with a Garment Grid, which is a physical object in which the actual Spheres are set. It need not be presented or shown, just carried on one's person.

Notably, this technology suppresses many of the user's natural skills while in use; there are ways to 'unlock' more of one's own abilities, but a great mage will for the most part have their magic rendered unavailable in favor of the new skills they acquire as long as they're drawing on the Dresssphere's power. Unequipping it takes only a thought and a few seconds, but absent special accessories that work with the Garment Grid's power, skills do not easily combine.

However, Dresspheres can be changed between easily, so long as they're on the same Garment Grid, and sometimes going through jobs sequentially unlocks even further abilities based on the necessary Grid.

There is a risk, though: wearing a Dressphere and Garment Grid for hours at a time can cause more than just memories of skills to bleed through to the user; emotions, personal experiences, and more can threaten to overwhelm them.. ...This almost never happens, though, under normal use. Even a couple of hours is usually safe. Note that each Sphere will have unique memories; two users of similar Dresspheres will not necessarily have the same person's skills. Think about where your Dressphere comes from, and which era of Spira's history it represents!

Mechanics

For characters who have only one Dressphere, they can be easily modeled with a simple form. For those with a full Garment Grid and multiple Dresspheres, however, it's best to model multiple Dresspheres on the same Form. One good way to do this is by assigning each coded attack a Dressphere to which it belongs. Then, you can ICly Spherechange at will and as often as you like, flowing from one Dressphere to the next without changing mechanical forms. In this way, you can also add abilities such as canonical Garment Grid bonuses, wherein by changing Dresspheres you unlock new and further abilities.

It is a policy that we encourage people to combine similar Dresspheres into a single Garment Grid in this way; while you can have multiple forms for your Dresspheres, we strongly suggest that players consolidate rather than spread out. Having more than 5 total forms becomes very unwieldy for players to manage and update, and thus we don't recommend it.

Further: while the Garment Grid is a physical object, our setting is a JRPG; you don't have to worry about where you put it in your costume. It's in your inventory. However, it being an object means that it could in theory be stolen! ...As happens as a plot point in the source game. A Garment Grid can typically hold between 3-5 Dresspheres at full capacity, and Spheres can be shared among a small group.

Note that while Dresspheres are a technology, attacks on Garment Grid forms can be ARM, Sorcery, or Technique. Similarly, while they mimic the appearance and effects of the Blessing in many cases, they do not actually draw upon Althena's power. Almost anyone can use Dresspheres and Garment Grids, though Hellions are a noted exception. In general, if your character has some incompatibility with pyreflies, they won't be able to use Dresspheres, but otherwise is good to go! However, note that Blessing magic, even when copied, obeys certain limitations: Sprain Dresspheres cannot contain both Black and White magic. There are no 'red mage' style jobs currently available, though this can change with IC effort.

Combining a person's natural powers and their Dresspheres is tricky. While advanced Garment Grids and accessories can allow a character to share abilities between their Dresspheres without Spherechange, it is best to assume that the character's normal abilities are unavailable. You don't forget how to swing a sword, but you can't access Demon Fang, for example.

As a final note: Special Dresspheres are available for application, but should only be requested for characters who make significant use of Dresspheres as a major element of their mechanical identity. They're special, after all. These include forms that could function as Gears, such as FFX-2's Floral Fallal, Full Throttle, and Machina Maw. Those belong to Yuna, Paine, and Rikku respectively, but make fine models for original Special Dresspheres.