Tag Archives: ffxiv

Changes to the blog

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In the coming weeks, I’m planning some changes to the blog. I am still debating between splitting my game and personal blog, but I know that if I do decide to blog more ffxiv I am sure my boyfriend will stare and wonder why I am not posting it on zantetsuken.net…

To be honest, sometimes I get an anxiety attack when I think of blogging ffxiv related things. I think of my early experiences with ffxiv (in-game and out) and with choice people I am very glad to have out of my life, and I can feel my entire body tense up and feel like shit. I know that sounds dramatic, but those choice four – five people were really too much for me to deal with and make me particularly reluctant to join some linkshells. It also makes me incredibly happy to be where I am and with mostly chill people who don’t have sticks up their asses or aren’t fucking insane (in a bad way). All the better if they decide to never come back to ffxiv, but eh… I’m on a different server now, so whatever.

But back to the blog. I am also planning to do it more in the style of a microblog. I know this sounds crazy when taking into consideration I am active on twitter, but I also have times when I wish to blog more than 140 characters can allow me. Tumblr is currently an alternative, but I am wanting to give WP another chance. There is also the level of control on WP vs. Tumblr that I am reluctant to give up.

So, expect to see more of my ill written blog entries. I hope. We know how well I’ve been keeping to my word of blogging more so far! <_<;

E3 Not Good Enough?

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Like many people who currently play FFXIV or are remotely interested in the game, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of E3 2012. E3 is usually something I look forward to since we get to see what new games or expansions to current MMOs are coming out for the next year. It is the BIGGEST event for a gamer and seemed even bigger for FFXIV’ers because they would finally reveal the 2.0 preview video. Then the Letter from the Producer XXVIII dropped. Yoshida mentions he is on his way to E3, they plan to kick off the promotion video, unveil the promotion site for 2.0 after E3 ends, and I can tell you that my excitement is building as I read these words because it is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating for a long time; not just as a player but also as a person trying to do something in the community by doing the Sequence Break XIV podcast and Zantetsuken site. However, in one fell swoop this excitement that has been cultivated for months? The giddyness that FFXIV was going to be the most awesome come back kid is now flushed down the toilet. Why? Because they wanted 2.0 to come out with a bang. Not a trickle of information. A huge flood of information that would just awe and amaze us outside of E3.

…. Right. The biggest event for any gamer, publisher, or news media person, and would most likely garner the MOST attention from the gaming community on what FFXIV has done to become a better game is not a good platform to showcase the finished 2.0 promotion video. Because who the hell wants just a trickle of information when you can have a flood? Who wants a video when you can have a website AFTER e3? Appealing to new players? And possibly PS3 players? What better way to do that than not to do this at (excuse my language) fucking E3.

I’m dumbfounded. I’m also very hurt and angry. As someone who has done what she can to promote FFXIV to her friends and listeners of SBXIV, I have really tried to amp up 2.0 and told many people to wait until E3 if they are interested in FFXIV. I’ve managed to bring my friend, brother, and possibly my sister into FFXIV. I have also talked to other players and tried to convince them to play FFXIV now and to see what exciting news would come out with the promotional video being released at E3. Now? I feel like a fool. The rug has been pulled from underneath me. I told many people that Yoshida is awesome, because he is awesome and the things he has done for FFXIV so far have been really great. The past year I’ve also renewed my faith in SE after the initial failure of FFXIV and (in my eyes) FFXIII. Then this happens and I’m left with shit in my mouth and questioning what the hell I’ve been doing for almost a year with SBXIV (formerly Go Team Derp!), Zantetsuken, and on twitter.

I know that sounds dramatic, but I’m trying to wrap my head around this and I can’t. I understand that they want to do what is best for 2.0, because I also wish for the same thing. But not showing a video at E3 is probably missing the biggest opportunity to reach to new and former players who just brushed FFXIV under the radar even with the Welcome Back Campaign. I’d understand if they said that the video wasn’t finished. I’d be cool with that. Knowing it is finished and not being revealed is what is really mind boggling to me. The interviews that are to come are going to be exciting, but nothing would have beat actually seeing visuals of 2.0 — even if it were just all CG. Garnering interest would have at least put more seeds in people’s minds for something to look forward to. It would be a seed that hopefully will grow to, “Hrm. Maybe I should check out this website!” when the site launches and to hopefully go to, “Oh, I remember that trailer at E3! Maybe I should check this game out!” At the very least, it would have solidified the reason for people to continue to sub after returning to the game. Legacy status is a big enough reason in and of itself, but it means nothing if there is no visuals to help tease the players into wanting to stay for what will come.

So what now? I’m hoping that the release of the promotional video in August will mean they will have a larger presence at PAX Prime where players can actually look and (hopefully, but I am no longer holding my breath) test the demo. It would get directly to the players themselves or at least 70-odd thousand of them. Its not as media heavy as E3, but it is at least a mini one. Orophen and I plan to be there, as well as FusionX from Gamerescape. I’m going to try to convince myself that someone from SE is reading my tweets (well, I know ONE of them sort of is) and is holding off this whole thing just for the sake of us. I know that is crazy and full of shit, but it is the only sense of comfort I can give myself right now after such a huge blow of disappointment.

One step at a time…

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There has been a lot on my mind lately, and when I get around to writing my thoughts down I often feel that they are disjointed and incomprehensible because of how jumbled they are. They don’t connect or mesh well with other thoughts, and I often become frustrated because then I will end up writing what amounts to gibberish. Not that I don’t do so already. It almost makes me wonder if doing a vlog would help, but then I’d have to worry about getting the images or props ready to show vs. my ugly mug on the screen. I’ll try to narrow my field of focus today to XIV, since that is the topic that has been popping up a lot as of late.

Currently in our little group we have myself, Orophen, Reiokyu, Frei, and Shouri. Two people have either recently left or have been kicked out because a.) they just stopped coming and have refused to engage in conversation with anyone from the LS when they do pop on Skype or b.) were only around to get power leveled and then proceeded to ignore us and only help our their other LS. I had a lot of choice words for the later and many more for the former, but none of that will be shared here. Then there is another guy, but he’s usually busy and hardly ever on. I’ve asked to team up with the Nightblades since, at the moment, they are also down a few of their members due to server lockout and to tag along with Jeff’s group if they will let me. It is a nice setup, I think, and it allows me to get to know the people who have been on my twitter list for awhile. I’ve already met Jeff in real life when he and Mai visited Seattle for a few hours. I often get worried, however, worrying if I am a decent enough player to be able to play with them. Even if I don’t have a lot of time to play like a hardcore player or have the achievements of one, I still worry a great deal about my abilities and skills as a player. I’m even making an attempt at leveling Weaving just so I can try to make my own triple meld gear for my BLM and WHM! Crazy considering that I am not much into crafting in the first place…

What is sort of driving me crazy right now, however, isn’t just the lack of people in our group to do end game content with, but the disparity of level between certain members and the core members. It reminds me of CoP and when we were starting the CoP group up with Reiokyu, Hiroshiko, and my brother. It was really different then, with half of us playing in a way that we could read each other and go into a fight without a huge exchange of words going on and then worrying about the other half and if they would be able to do what was needed of them. I still remember getting incredibly pissed off when people weren’t listening to directions on the Diabolos fight and causing a wipe that could have been prevented. Eventually two of the three became really solid players and I don’t think any of us felt the need to worry as much if our backs were being covered as much as we did the first half of our CoP run.

I find myself somewhat in the same place now as I did then, but not as ornery at the moment. There are several reasons for this: 1.) I am a lot more mellow then than I used to be. Anyone who knew me then knows I have a nasty temper. It is very explosive and volatile to the point I am heard outside and I’ve actually used weapons to hit people. ^^; 2.) I am a little more busier. Back then I was a full time student and was often too busy to play very often. I am back in school again but I have other commitments to take care of, too. Often they are on my mind while I am running other things at the same time. Which, to be frank, is probably for the best considering #1. 3.) I am a little more patient. I am trying to see where things are going at the moment. I’m concerned, yes, but I’m also willing to give the benefit of the doubt and look to see if there are improvements. If not, then… well… I guess I’ll cross that bridge when it gets there.

Perceived Difficulties

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I should be studying for my midterm, but whatever. I am here writing out my thoughts because the official Final Fantasy XIV forums simply likes to incite some anger in me that just doesn’t want to go away.

Last night I had checked out the forums before going to bed and was dismayed but the large amount of Final Fantasy XI 2.0 sort of threads that have been making itself popular as of late. Whether it is from people wishing to troll, trying to be sincere, or whatever… I am starting to want to smack them all.

First thing is first: this perceived leveling difficulty in XI has to stop. The first job may take 3+ or it may not. But the leveling therein after actually takes far less if you: a.) know what you are doing and/or b.) have a group that is either carefully put together to get you through levels quickly or you just have a set of friends interested in blasting through the levels quickly. And, no, this not by even exploiting level sync camps, but through using lesser known camps that actually rake in a good amount of EXP.

Yes, leveling is fast in XIV without even knowledge of so called “exploits” of differing camps or a power leveler. But one of the biggest factors in extending the time people were able to cap out their jobs in XI was the fact that people would sometimes wait for DAYS for a party and get no invite. Either people would turn down invites if they came from particular jobs or would gloss over the DRG sitting there for several hours with his flag up.

That doesn’t make the game hard. It makes the game frustrating! People have quit the game because they honestly couldn’t level jobs they wanted to because the majority felt that so and so job weren’t good enough. Remember when DRG was lolDRG? And many people either switched to another job or quit altogether? I know I do. I remember when it happened for SAM, too. That isn’t a way to bring back or retain players! It is sure to drive them away to the point of insanity!

Another thing is EXP penalty for death. This one has me shaking my head because this is also as frustrating and affects the game very differently than it does for shelling out gil to repair gear. First of all, losing out on EXP did mean that people were forced to try things to not die. And, well, that is pretty much it. Because once you get people into the mindset that they can’t or shouldn’t die because they would lose a lot of EXP from doing so, then you have people who are pigeon holed into a particular set up or strategy and are afraid to go outside of that paradigm to try something different.

Yes, you can argue that it would be the same either way and I wholeheartedly agree. However, there is a subset of people who actually LIKE to attempt things in unconventional ways. Strange as it may seem, I am also one of them. I had remembered a time when BLU wasn’t used very much for CoP and then that changed somewhere along the way after I had written about using a trio of BLU to pretty much annihilate a portion of CoP content. I get high off of the success of doing something that a lot of people who have grown to accept isn’t possible to BE possible. But trying those things out is hard to talk people into if they are constantly worried about losing chunks of EXP, and deleveling a level or two or maybe even three (I have seen the later happen). Coupling this with the aforementioned topic of length of time to put together a mandatory party or getting invited to a mandatory party, and you will find that of course people would be resistant to the idea because then the game becomes more like a job than an actual game. The only bonus of loss of EXP by death is that it allows the players to be able to be added to the pool of people to EXP party with for the remaining few levels, but only for those later levels and not for the earlier levels where people often struggle to find groups for.

EXP loss by death and longer duration of leveling a job don’t make the game any more difficult unless you wish to define difficulty under the idea that you are struggling to find a party, get EXP, or even to be able to successfully pull off a battle without death. But if the definition of a struggle falls under trying to think of new or interesting ways of tackling an enemy or group of enemies, then I think we are working more about the actual game difficulty versus player induced or mentally perceived game difficulty.

Either way, I just want FFXIV. I want the spirit of XI, sure. The sense of adventure and immersion of being in a expansive world with engaging story that grips you and begs more of your precious time away from real life. I may not have the time, but I would love to have a game like that. And to be honest, XIV is slowly becoming that. It may not be an identical twin of XI but I am ok with that. I love what XIV is doing and how well it is doing it so far. Why change it to something archaic and that is out of touch with a growing population of aging gamers?

To Play or Not to Play FFXIV

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I have a bit of time (ten minutes, really), and I am going to try to type out as much as I can to cover something I am asked every once in awhile by former players or players who have never touched the game with a yard stick: Is it worth playing FFXIV right now?

The answer to that question is complex, because ultimately the answer is up to the player themselves. What I can and will do is to provide a guideline as to what the pros are of returning now and why you might want to come back, reconsider, hold off, or find an altogether different game. Again, I am typing this with a ten minute limit so I might exclude some things or my wording might be off. Feel free to leave questions and I will address them as soon as I can.

Pros
1. You can experience content before it goes extinct with the arrival of version 2.0. I can’t remember off the top of my head if this includes two particular Primal battles, but if it does then you might want to get on if you are interested in those particular fights or weapons.

2. Leveling is VERY fast right now. Yoshi-P has mentioned that the rate of leveling will be culled back upon the arrival of 2.0. At the moment there are people who are wearing achievement crowns (actual equipment pieces) for completing level 50 on both Disciple of War and Magic classes. You can use a PL’er but its NOT that necessary unless you are struggling with finding a full party of 8. Find that full party and you can seriously go to town with the rate of exp you will be raking in.

3. See what the game looks like before its huge graphical overhaul. Again, it goes hand in hand with #1 and 2.0.

4. There have been GREAT patches coming out. Traditional jobs have been implemented and add a lot more variety and interesting play to the current system. Classes are by no means obsolete and it is up to the player to decide if the use of a job or class will best suit their needs in their solo, light, or full party make up. Two more patches are also being released that will include more content, wide scale PvE called Hamlet Defense, and then the tweaking of previously mentioned jobs.

5. It is CHEAP. Just get a six month subscription and you’ll be paying for the equivalent of a DS/PSP/3DS/Vita game!

Cons
1. The client is still buggy as hell. Be prepared to test your patience.

2. There is still no mailbox or “real” AH. There is a makeshift one, but it still might drive people crazy with the archaic way of having to put things on sale.

3. 2.0 client is coming in six to seven months. You’ll get a preview of it at E3, but before then we have no idea what the client looks like or anything! We have hints here and there, but that’s all we have.

4. There might not be a lot for the super hardcore to sink their teeth into. There is content, but the breadth isn’t as wide as some other games out there. Sure they have been out there longer, but its something to take note of when considering what you want to do. Though most likely getting the Ifrit and Moogle weapons for ALL classes is something many strive to achieve for before they are potentially gone (again, I am not 100% certain).

And there you have it. My quick and nitty guide to the pros and cons of returning. If you do return, hit me up on Gungnir. I don’t play often (curse you studying and work!), but I do try to lend a helping hand when I can if you just give me a poke on Skype or twitter. :)

Counting Down to v2.0

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There is no secret that sometimes I am frustrated with FFXIV. Often my frustrations are directed at the player-base, once in awhile the dev team, and then there is the wait for 2.0 to arrive. Though it is about 6 months (give or take) before the 2.0 client lands, I sometimes feel as though I am going to hyperventilate with anticipation of what the client will bring. Unlike another well known MMO, there is currently no idea of what the client looks like, plays like, or if anyone outside of the Square Enix offices is beta testing it. All we know is that it simply EXISTS and in some ways that is scarier than remembering how Final Fantasy XIV originally launched over a year ago.

In no particular order, here is what I am hoping the promise of 2.0 brings:

1.) A less buggy and more responsive client.
There are instances when I am literally sitting on the edge of my seat: when the system takes too long to recognize something in intense situations, spells and/or abilities not executing properly, easily cancelled skills from moving when I hadn’t intended to move, and when I need to quickly get an item and the client doesn’t want to detect that I am indeed standing in front of the invisible wall to buy items from inside the Market Wards.

2.) Better music.
I talked about this on the latest Sequence Break XIV episode – Black Mages Don’t Wear Pants, and they did promise a mish-mash of new and old music and even music to distinguish day and night. Awesome! But I am still holding my breath that people such Naoshi Mizuta, Masashi Hamauzu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, or even Yoko Shimomura from Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve, and *gasp* Super Mario RPG! The first three genetlemen have worked on previous Final Fantasy titles, and Shimomura is rumored to be working on music for Versus. Don’t get me wrong, Uematsu is great! I love the guy! But there are also FANTASTIC composers that work at Square Enix that don’t get as much recognition as he does and do just as a good a job.

3.) More content (quests, missions, HNMs, instances, etc).
I don’t think this needs much explanation. It IS being added with each patch, but I am hoping we can see a greater increase of this and not just the cleanup of the client we currently have.

4.) Linkshell Administration
I am not making it a secret that I wanted to get rid of someone from my LS to the point of first creating a bounty on his head to have him kicked and then dissolving the LS when the first plan didn’t work out (thankfully we are small enough for this to work out just fine). The thing is… I don’t think I should have to wait for: a.) the person to be online or b.) to be standing directly next to him in order to boot him. In most cases, yes, the leader should be able to talk to the member before booting them. But then you have some vermin who just won’t go or will fight being booted out no matter what. LS Leaders need to have the option to boot people like this and save themselves the headache of having to hunt people down who no longer deserve to be in their LS.

5.) More epic fights.
I know this ties in with #3, but it also deserves its own spot. Because I miss having fights that are a real struggle against and that need more than a bunch of archers, black mages, or what have you thrown at it. Plus, being able to team up with others in greater numbers also has its place and is rather fun at times, too. Yes, I am fond of and am a huge supporter of smaller parties but I also like banding together as an alliance to get things done. Something about that is just satisfying, since it is often many people working together as a team to get something incredible done.

There is probably more, but there is one thing I am hoping won’t change:

The Graphics.
Yeah, let me take a moment to duck and hide from the stones being cast. I understand that the graphics, as beautiful as they are, is also a huge part of the problem for people wanting to play the game. They simply cannot play the game because the system specs are too high for their PC to be able to handle, and some will have to drastically reduce their graphics to Commodore 64 levels in order to play. For those of us who are able to handle the game in all (or most of) its glory: the game looks simply breathtakingly awesome. I find that the way my Lalafell looks is so beautiful compared to graphics in most Western MMOs out there. Part of it has to do with the different sets of styles for Eastern and Western studios, but the intricacies of my armor, the environment, and the general look and feel of my character is something I love dearly. I sat for FIVE MINUTES just noticing all the intricate detailing of my WHM AF. Its kinda insane how much work they put in that!

At the end of the day, however, I am still very excited for the arrival of 2.0. It honestly can’t come soon enough…

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

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After pushing this back further and further, I now bring to you my Year-in-Review 2011 edition! More specifically, the video game/online edition since this is my gaming blog and all that ish. I’ve debated how I wanted to format this review, and I think the best way to go about it is to break it down one MMO/online game at a time.

Final Fantasy XI
I’m starting with this one because at the start of 2011, we (as in me and my LS) had made a comeback to the game after a few months of waning interest in FFXIV and feeling nostalgia over our lives in Vana’diel. We found that Rubicon was already on our server (Ragnarok) and Frei was cool with the idea of transferring if it meant he would get a chance to finish our favorite expansion storyline: CoP.

It was a rather tumultuous journey in here… I ended up gaming with Chakura more often during our stint in FFXI, losing a friend, playing with the person that brings nightmares to the server, greeting Kimiko onto Ragnarok, and getting having our group nicknamed Derp Squad/Team Derp because of stupid things said/done on Skype during event runs. Not that they usually ended in fail (on rare occasion, I believe), but it was the kinda actions that either brought upon a ton of laughs or a few facepalming actions on our resident Monk.

Things fell apart as they usually do for me when my cousin came over for the month of August. No matter what I try, things just get shaky and weird. It was around this time things went into decline for longer than intended and for different reasons that started off with that month. Which may have been a blessing in disguise since FFXI overall seemed to be going into a direction that was more of a chore rather than fun. Which seemed to make all the more sense when we saw that Tanaka was back on the helm for FFXI, and appeared to be steering it towards more of a senseless grind with no hope for a future expansion. Here is hoping I’m wrong and the new year brings about news of one…

Final Fantasy XIV
This MMO has been interesting to say the least. I’m honestly at a love/hate relationship with the game, and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon. Yoshi-P is certainly an interesting character to say the least, and I look forward to his letters from the producer and translated thoughts from him. If things were different, he is the guy I would have loved to see make a MMO from the scratch vs. cleaning up someone else’s mess. But this isn’t about Yoshi-P as it is more about the game itself. Final Fantasy XIV was spurned by some of us before, taken in with open arms, and then spurned again at times with a tug o’war type of fashion. There is no denying that we are eagerly awaiting 2.0. While I have some doubts of what 2.0 will change and fix, I am still in the belief that it will at least change many things some of us have been suffering through over the course of a year and a half and will continue to suffer through until the release of 2.0.

The Market Ward changes are welcome but still unpolished, the graphics are gorgeous but buggy with its terrain issues, and I’m hoping to the man above that Yoshi-P and the Dev team aren’t listening to the rubbish of including that stupid wyvern pet and other useless additions that don’t really need to be added onto the game. However, since that voice almost seems to be in the majority because of how vocal they are, I am actually starting to believe they might be dumb enough to include something stupid like that damn wyvern. Yes, I hate it and I hate every single moron that firmly believes it would be a good addition to the game. Just listen to the podcast if you wanna hear me spew hate and venom, because I can and still will spew hate and venom for that retarded vocal minority that wants to ruin the future of Dragoon with a silly pet.

Am I paying in a few days? Yes. Despite playing SWTOR and enjoying it a bit, I find myself drawn to FFXIV and wanting to at least be prepared to tackle on content pre and post 2.0. I’m still a little hesitant and I still have my gripes, but I honestly want to see this through and hope that things end up falling into place for FFXIV. There are many GOOD things Yoshi-P and his dev team have done for the game, and I’m in the belief that as long as they don’t give into the demands of the vocal retards (aka the people wanting wyverns) then they will be fine through the year of 2012. Lets just hope I don’t look back on this and regret everything I say…

World of Warcraft
I came back to this game during the tail end of 2011 (October – December), after feeling nostalgic from reading and responding to tweets from players currently playing WoW. My feelings are mixed on this venture. The game has many good points, and I would be a fool to disregard them. I am choosing not to return to Azeroth for a time because of a few reasons:

1.) Its not fun playing without Orophen. I am happiest when I get to play with him. Yes, I play other games without him but its harder for me to stay interested in them when he isn’t around to share that interest with me.

2.) Someone I am trying to avoid started to pick it up again. I think in the future I may try to talk to this person, but I’m not so sure… Things were left in a lurch and I was blamed for things that I felt I shouldn’t have been blamed for when constant invitations were sent and consistently declined. Its a situation that leaves an awful taste in my mouth, and almost makes me want to regurgitate my food just thinking about it. I could pay for my character to be transferred, but its not like I have the money to waste for something that could be used on bills, books, and tuition. Meh.

3.) I don’t have the time. I could do x, y, or z in WoW but I’m focusing on several things at once and I’m not sure raiding can fit into the picture of what I have without sacrificing something I am currently doing (XIV, the podcast, other games, school, work, etc– school and work being the #1 priority here). I honestly don’t like half assing things I am serious about; it leaves a really awful taste in my mouth and raiding would take up focus I could and should spend elsewhere.

So while I really like WoW, its going to probably take a back burner here for me until I can foresee myself being able to commit more time or go to another server without having to level characters from scratch again.

League of Legends
Playing this probably led to me breaking my mouse after so much clicking. I am looking forward to going back to play after I get a new mouse (been holding off on it because I am still on the fence as to which to get), but its a great way to kill a bit of time. Especially against bots. Bots. Bots forever. I still wanna go back in and do try Dominion out again. I’ve only done it a few times, but it wasn’t enough to whet my appetite for it. I’m still needing to perfect how I play with Akali; it would probably do be a butt load of good if I actually remembered what I would make my builds out when I found one that worked. orz

Star Wars: the Old Republic
I had actually a much longer entry for this, but it was gone after the iPad WordPress app ate it. I have my issues with the game I haven’t been vocal about as others thus far; the lack of data log on damage taken and dealt, the lack of brackets in PvP, certain class issues (so far I’m not seeing many abilities that utilize the Stealth ability as an Assassin and that bugs the SHIT out of me), etc etc etc. However, despite my gripes with the game, there are reasons why I play and may continue to do so for a time:

1.) My sister is playing. My sister is NOT an MMO player. She is very much a casual gamer in many ways, but I still love and cherish her. To have her play this game tickles my fancy and I stick around to help guide her into hopefully cultivating interest in other games. Though I have my reservations that will happen since SWTOR appeals to her for the fully voiced cut scenes and because it is easy enough for her to pick up and enjoy without worrying about number crunching and so on.

2.) Because I have a handful of friends who are playing at the moment. I have found that no matter how frustrated I can be with a game (XI, XIV, SWTOR), I can find myself enjoying the game when I am in the company of good friends. I didn’t have that same kind of backing in WoW. Not to say I couldn’t have made the attempt, and in retrospect I could and possibly should have. But then it would go back to the time issue and me feeling guilty that I wasn’t spending enough time in said game. I’m also a person who is rather loyal, and the guilt of abandoning friends who have dealt with my whims for over a year or more seems insane to me at best.

3.) The storyline. I’m sure certain things would have ended up the same despite my choices, but I’ve delighted in some of the choices that have ended up changing things altogether: the Black Talon flashpoint, the Marauder quest line, either sleeping with or killing targets as an Agent have all surprised and delighted me at the same time. There are also interesting ways that crew skills have been utilized in the game, and have I mentioned that I’m in love with my companion? Khem? He may not be the best, but he entertains me and doesn’t judge my being evil unlike Vette. Even though Khem things I am too big for my britches, I still love him like the big flesh eating thug he is.

The previous entry I had written went over in detail my gripes and things I’ve thought about games launching post WoW. I may or may not write this again, but in the end things boil down to this: enjoying the game you are playing and the people you are gaming with. The bigger determining factor for me is and always will be who I am gaming with. It may not be for other people, but no gamer is alike as is proof in the titles we have given ourselves and others: casual gamer, mid-core gamer, normal gamer, hardcore gamer, etc. 2012 will probably change my gaming habits to back to my college days when I was trying to transfer from a junior college to a University. Maybe more so since I am trying to get into a competitive market/field of study. This probably means less gaming overall vs. the surge I had in 2011, but something has to give since I’m going back to school out of my own pocket this time around. Or maybe I’ll win and won’t have to change anything. We’ll see!

So, there you have it. A four page document in Word pasted smack dab in my blog. Expect my next entry in four months or so, hah!

A Hodgepodge of Thoughts

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I don’t know exactly where to start since my thoughts seem jumbled at the moment, so I plan to just separate it into different topics:

Final Fantasy XIV

I know I was pessimistic about the game last week. I feel a tad guilty about it, but in some ways… I don’t. It sort of felt good to get those thoughts out, but then also be taken aside after a small altercation on Twitter and be told a different side of the story that I hadn’t thought of. I felt I needed that, and it puts a lot of things into perspective concerning the game and its current status. Other than that, I’m happy to be going somewhere with Team Derp. We netted quite a bit of EXP and gil last Friday by just spamming Rank 30 three star leves. The best part? I didn’t feel like dozing off to sleep while doing the leves!

I hope to drag the guys to do NMs and such later this week. It will be good to at least try it, even if we aren’t properly set up for it. I’m kinda not worried about it anyway since things will be changing by the time next year rolls around, but who knows if it will stay or go or morph into something altogether different?

Star Wars: the Old Republic

Despite the quirks things going on with this game, I am charmed by it. Maybe because there is a greater conflict between good and evil, and I actually get to do things like torture and kill people for the hell of it. I think that is what it boils down to, really. Plus, I gotta give a game props if it is able to dissuade my boyfriend from creating a female character because he thinks that the male models are actually DECENT for once.

Sequence Break XIV

So, we renamed the podcast but are still the same kinda podcast, with the same kind of people, and the same kind of -ish going on. We have had bumps here and there, but I’m honestly super happy with the podcast we are doing. Its fun because we record it with the mindset of just having fun. The hits, the comments, and all the other jazz that come with it seem to be icing on the already delicious cake. What really gets to me though? The comments! I’m surprised that we are getting a comment or two from different people. Sure its not a bucket load of comments that some other podcasts get, but it getting that comment or two that really makes me feel warm and gushy inside. I think just getting a comment from a different person is amazing in and of itself. Not that I dislike the people who do comment regularly; but knowing just one other person is listening in is simply electrifying!

Razer Nostromo

Ok, so I bought this because of my wrist issues using my Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard while playing MMOs. The whole WASD and action hot keys mess was really hurting my wrists and making it increasingly harder to play for longer periods of time while on my keyboard. I also wanted more fluid movement while doing WASD and particular actions. I’ve dabbled with the Nostromo in WoW for a little bit on some old characters, and the result is fantastic! I had no problems whatsoever with movement and having abilities at my fingertips made gameplay easier than it was previously. I plan to dabble with it more in SWTOR, LoL, and maybe WoW. I would try it on FFXIV but that seems a little silly since it is far easier to play XIV with my old PS1 controller that it is to bother using the keyboard or keypad. Though I wonder if that will change when 2.0 is released….

Paranoid Thoughts

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Last week the guys from the podcast and I talked about FFXIV’s 2.0. A reboot of sorts for the game and all that shiny jazz, but I couldn’t help but be troubled somewhat. I’ve been very pessimistic and paranoid lately, so I know this isn’t helping matters at all. My main concern was and also is my greatest fear: what if 2.0 doesn’t really change the entire scope of the game. We know what is being revised and what is going to come since it is on paper. However, what is on paper doesn’t always translate well when actually executed. I am even further worried by the upcoming changes to the classes and what the battle system will look and play like when the dust settles after the updates.

The changes made to the mage classes aren’t that exciting to me. Hell, as of now the mage classes in general aren’t that exciting to play. Yes, I can do a large amount of damage. Yes, I can do AoEs and stuff. But honestly speaking? The job is frustrating and a bore. With bugs on recast timers, I end up mashing buttons to get abilities and spells to execute properly. Because I can no longer queue abilities and spells, I have to wait for one to completely finish before I am able to attempt a different spell or ability. Trying to get magic up before a DoW can mow down the mob is incredibly frustrating and slow. Mage jobs in general is slow, but the idea of having it be slower AND getting little to no graphical change of spells? Can I have a pillow? And a blanket? Cause I’ll be snoring here in just a moment.

I know other games have such a feature where the spells and abilities get incremental upgrades and have no changes to their graphical look, but… for me the best part of being a mage was seeing those graphical changes as you gained each higher tier of magic.

I am probably crazy. No, I am crazy. I just can’t help but fret and worry. I blame SWToR and other games that have grabbed my interest more firmly at the moment.

Yoshi-P, things will get better– right? I’m already anxious 1.20 is coming out around the same time as early access to SWToR. My plaguing pessimism at the moment will hopefully go away in the near future, but right now I’m troubled and am in dire need of reassurance I know I won’t get.

Opinion: Dragoon Pets Can GTFO

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This was originally posted on Zantetsuken.net, but I’m reposting it here since it was originally intended to be posted here anyway. <.<;

I love Dragoons. Final Fantasy IX is one of my favorite games and I really adored Freya Crescent both on the battlefield and in the story. I’ll even admit to having a childhood crush on Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV, and thinking how awesome he was with his Jump abilities. So when I say I don’t want to see a wyvern as a damn pet for Final Fantasy XIV’s Dragoon, it’s for a damn good reason.

The aforementioned Dragoons are especially strong characters, and even the current LNC abilities in XIV is powerful enough to warrant some players to employ tactics that include a party largely made up of Lancers. Their Jump abilities is where they especially shine, allowing them to leap up into the air to great heights, avoiding their enemy’s attacks, and come crushing down on their opponent with great damage. In these games prior to XI, none of these Dragoons or Dragoon-like equivalents (more akin to being just a LNC or hybrid) had a pet. They didn’t need it! So then now comes the question regarding XI: But why did DRG in XI have a wyvern!? I’ll be frank; I have no damn clue and I won’t try to play it off like I do. I do, however, remember the time early in a DRG’s career when they were nerfed in the world of Vana’diel. The Dragoons had suffered in its reputation due to the fact their Wyvern easily fell in battle and could not be summoned again until after the two hour ability timer had refreshed. It had gone from awesome to lol to awesome again, but a lot of that took time for SE to fix the reputation that it had given DRG during its dark era. Time that I’m not very confident SE should devote to using for a pet job at this time.

Now some will bring up the argument for the Dragoon in FFXIII and that Fang herself is a Dragoon and has a “pet” and thus creating the argument that Dragoons for any game hereinafter Final Fantasy XI should have a pet. Why? Because Fang is apparently able to summon and use her Eidolon Bahamut in battle! First, let’s look at a few things here:

Eidolons. Typically in the Final Fantasy universe they are magical beings summoned by practitioners of the Summoning class. Its etymology is listed being a Greek word for a phantom image and Latin uses the word Idolum from which Idol is taken and is defined as a image or representation of something typically used in areas of worship. Both definitions seem to largely make up what we know about Eidolons/Summons/Avatars/Aeons/Espers/Guardian Forces. In many cases these creatures are typically summoned in times of great need; it’s not often you get to summon them nilly willy like it is in Final Fantasy XI.

The lore in Final Fantasy XIII regarding them is that they appear to I’Cie who are in deep despair to give the person hope and test their willpower and determination as evident of their ability to push them in a crisis situation with Doom. It is not to be confused with a pet that is a tamed creature that is kept as a companion and cared for. Beastmasters care for their pets and keep them as companions, and DRG in FFXI keep the wyvern as a companion that they care for and have are cared for in return. Summoners, on the other hand, do not keep their Eidolon as a “pet” and may only summon them for assistance. Even at that point, the Eidolons are not capable of always being with you and have to return to the astral plane at one point or another. And if you still want to argue that Bahamut is a pet, try imagining yourself telling that to Bahamut’s face and tell me if you honestly think you will walk out of that conversation unscathed.

That all said and done, I don’t believe that Dragoon can’t walk away with at least something here; I just firmly don’t believe that it has to come in the form of a pet. As Yoshida has mentioned, if they give the Dragoon a pet then something will have to give since they are now trying to balance two forms of damage into one without making it either too weak or too strong. However, if FFXIV dev team decided to take upon the route that they did for FFXIII with PSICOM Dragoon’s, then that is an altogether different story.

The PSICOM Dragoon ascribes to the original definition of what a Dragoon is; a mounted infantryman. They don’t use pole arms and instead use guns, but they are mounted fighters and work on perfecting their mounted fighting abilities. This is typically hard to implement in a game, and I can imagine why Final Fantasy XI took the idea and instead made it into a pet. Does that mean XIV should have a pet? Heaven’s no! Pet jobs are a mess. Final Fantasy XIV is still in a state that it has to prove itself to a largely skeptical community; adding in a pet job that could very well not be properly implemented the first time around like it was in FFXI could be disastrous for the game’s environment. Getting the job right the first time around and not turning it to another scenario of loldrg is what needs to be focused on. The inclusion of a pet and more specifically the wyvern is a superficial add-on that doesn’t necessarily add much to the game and adds more complexities where none need to be added.

As of right now, there is no good reason to allow Dragoons to have a pet that could potentially do more harm than good in the overall scheme of things. Arguments for its inclusion are non-existent to weak at best, with one primary one being, “Final Fantasy XI had it, so why can’t XIV?” Final Fantasy XI and XIV are two separate games now being directed at two entirely different people. Each Final Fantasy itself is different and right now XIV is hurting the most. If inclusion of the pet means that either: a.) DRG is pushed back or b.) DRG’s more deadly and more characteristic move Jump is nerfed then the addition of a wyvern is for naught. I’d rather see DRG kept to how it is at this time (without the inclusion of a wyvern or a pet of sorts) and see more focus placed on game mechanics and balancing of other current jobs in the game vs. implementing a pet system that is troublesome to begin with.