Saturday, May 06, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Noobs
As some of you may have guessed, I haven't been on in awhile because...
My daughter Scout Amelie Bauman was born on April 27th at 8:08 AM. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and has regained most of that weight now (they lose a bit after birth), and she measured 20 inches (she's probably already a bit taller now). She's an amazing little person, and Hunter is being a terrific big brother. I'll post a pic soon.
And yes, my wife and I are fans of To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee). The middle name is there in case our daughter wants a 'girlier' name when she gets older. Hunter's name was inspired by an awesome little actor in the film Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders).
In FFXI news I met a couple of bonafide noobs a couple of days ago while I was perusing the Bastok AH. They were green enough to not completely understand the UI (couldn't reply to my tells at first), nor had they sold anything on the AH yet, or bought any maps to Gustaberg... yes, that new. I befriended them, gave the Warrior an Axe (the other guy is a BLM for now), gave them tips on how to get started, and answered lots and lots and LOTS of questions. It's been a bit overwhelming, so I try to only tell them as much as they need to know & focus them on their immediate goals, but it's a fine balance between helping them out and hand-holding them. I expect another round of questions tonight... so far they haven't begged for anything, which is a good sign.
My sessions -- for obvioius reasons -- have been pretty limited, so I've been focusing on earning Guild Points in order to purchase the Concoction key item (20,000 GP). This will open up another crafting option for me: Hi-Potion Drops. They sell for around 60k per stack of 12, a market that is a bit less crowded than the flood of 5k Hi-Potions. It's not a fabulous option, but the more products available to me, the better. I'm not sure whether I want to pursue Iatrochemistry yet, at least not until the Puppetmaster market stabilizes a bit. I'm working on diversifying my sales because, once again, the Silent Oil market bubble has burst, and stacks are back down to 30k. Yes, the Alchemy party's over.
Since I'm on a 4-week paternity leave, I've been signing on at random hours and buying up tons of Cobalt Jellyfish in Bibiki Bay. I'm swimming in Mercury now (hmmm, that can't be healthy huh?). I'll probably keep 2-3 stacks for personal use and sell the rest as Poison Potion (40k/stack). Next on the list will be Firesand, and eventually Hi-Po drops.
During one of my random afternoon sessions (while Hunter and Scout were sleeping), some LS members formed a skillup party in Boyhada Tree and I joined up for a short while ... long enough to cap out my Great Axe at 203. What a relief!
My daughter Scout Amelie Bauman was born on April 27th at 8:08 AM. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and has regained most of that weight now (they lose a bit after birth), and she measured 20 inches (she's probably already a bit taller now). She's an amazing little person, and Hunter is being a terrific big brother. I'll post a pic soon.
And yes, my wife and I are fans of To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee). The middle name is there in case our daughter wants a 'girlier' name when she gets older. Hunter's name was inspired by an awesome little actor in the film Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders).
In FFXI news I met a couple of bonafide noobs a couple of days ago while I was perusing the Bastok AH. They were green enough to not completely understand the UI (couldn't reply to my tells at first), nor had they sold anything on the AH yet, or bought any maps to Gustaberg... yes, that new. I befriended them, gave the Warrior an Axe (the other guy is a BLM for now), gave them tips on how to get started, and answered lots and lots and LOTS of questions. It's been a bit overwhelming, so I try to only tell them as much as they need to know & focus them on their immediate goals, but it's a fine balance between helping them out and hand-holding them. I expect another round of questions tonight... so far they haven't begged for anything, which is a good sign.
My sessions -- for obvioius reasons -- have been pretty limited, so I've been focusing on earning Guild Points in order to purchase the Concoction key item (20,000 GP). This will open up another crafting option for me: Hi-Potion Drops. They sell for around 60k per stack of 12, a market that is a bit less crowded than the flood of 5k Hi-Potions. It's not a fabulous option, but the more products available to me, the better. I'm not sure whether I want to pursue Iatrochemistry yet, at least not until the Puppetmaster market stabilizes a bit. I'm working on diversifying my sales because, once again, the Silent Oil market bubble has burst, and stacks are back down to 30k. Yes, the Alchemy party's over.
Since I'm on a 4-week paternity leave, I've been signing on at random hours and buying up tons of Cobalt Jellyfish in Bibiki Bay. I'm swimming in Mercury now (hmmm, that can't be healthy huh?). I'll probably keep 2-3 stacks for personal use and sell the rest as Poison Potion (40k/stack). Next on the list will be Firesand, and eventually Hi-Po drops.
During one of my random afternoon sessions (while Hunter and Scout were sleeping), some LS members formed a skillup party in Boyhada Tree and I joined up for a short while ... long enough to cap out my Great Axe at 203. What a relief!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Blue Mage & Puppetmaster flagged
Apparently all the talk about true sight mobs only applies to the Corsaire flag quest, since I encountered no such enemies in either the PUP or BLU run, both of which were completed last night without too much fuss. The only thing I really hated about the PUP quest was that infernal boat to Nashmau. Good lord, so much time wasted! I seriously hope they have outpost quests for these places.
I'm tempted to try the COR flag soon, since the new zones are still crowded with high-level EXP experimenters and people still flagging the jobs. Some of these zones might become more or less deserted later on, depending on the EXP setup and how many parties will be supported, making it more difficult to trounce through the area in search of the ??? point.
I'm really mostly interested in BLU, since it seems to have high survivability as a solo job. It might be interesting to level this job for a little variety when I'm tired of BST every once in awhile (or maybe try combining the two?). If I had the time, I would start looking into PUP, since the alchemical tools just seem ideal for me, but it doesn't seem to be a highly solo-able job. So it will probably get placed on the back burner, behind WAR, BST, BLU (and of course WHM/BLM which I need to level for BST). Who am I kidding...I'll probably never touch it. But the puppet is so damned cute, I just had to unlock the job. I'm a sucker for cute stuff that you can upgrade/collect; still recovering from Animal Crossing, if you have to know.
In the middle of the questing (literally while I was running semi-lost in Caedarva Mire), I get an invitiation to EXP in Uleguerand Range. Figures, doesn't it? It was 11PM so, um, {Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass}. Dammit, I hate passing up EXP.
I have an early hand rehab appointment tomorrow, but I'm still going to try to get some EXP on my Ninja tonight, once I rebuild my macros... While we're on the subject, this 'rebuild' process from the 360 migration is going to take longer than I'd thought. The macros are OK; nothing too complex there. But my maps! My precious, precisely marked maps! *Sob*... Those will take awhile to restore.
I'm tempted to try the COR flag soon, since the new zones are still crowded with high-level EXP experimenters and people still flagging the jobs. Some of these zones might become more or less deserted later on, depending on the EXP setup and how many parties will be supported, making it more difficult to trounce through the area in search of the ??? point.
I'm really mostly interested in BLU, since it seems to have high survivability as a solo job. It might be interesting to level this job for a little variety when I'm tired of BST every once in awhile (or maybe try combining the two?). If I had the time, I would start looking into PUP, since the alchemical tools just seem ideal for me, but it doesn't seem to be a highly solo-able job. So it will probably get placed on the back burner, behind WAR, BST, BLU (and of course WHM/BLM which I need to level for BST). Who am I kidding...I'll probably never touch it. But the puppet is so damned cute, I just had to unlock the job. I'm a sucker for cute stuff that you can upgrade/collect; still recovering from Animal Crossing, if you have to know.
In the middle of the questing (literally while I was running semi-lost in Caedarva Mire), I get an invitiation to EXP in Uleguerand Range. Figures, doesn't it? It was 11PM so, um, {Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass}. Dammit, I hate passing up EXP.
I have an early hand rehab appointment tomorrow, but I'm still going to try to get some EXP on my Ninja tonight, once I rebuild my macros... While we're on the subject, this 'rebuild' process from the 360 migration is going to take longer than I'd thought. The macros are OK; nothing too complex there. But my maps! My precious, precisely marked maps! *Sob*... Those will take awhile to restore.
Monday, April 24, 2006
New jobs, zones... and markets
Bad port gripes aside, I'm happy about the new jobs and areas since they've given the Silent Oil market a boost, as well as left other markets and guild camps open.
Rampant undercutting had dropped oils down to 30k or less per stack for weeks back in March, which made it more lucrative to either sell the ingredients on their own, or craft random batches of other alchemical items that sold at a fair profit (Mercury, Poison Potion, Hi-Potion, Firesand, Sleeping Potion) and salvo the AH.
The second night I logged in I noticed Silent Oil stacks were going for 60k. $_$ I had no hope of actually crafting any new batches since Giddeus had been overrun by Blue Mages, so I quickly sold the 3 of the 4 stacks I had for personal use. Before I'd noticed or even thought about the Silent Oil rush, though, I had camped the Bibiki Bay fishing guild (completely deserted in the new job rush) and cooked up 7 stacks of Poison Potion, which go for a steady 40k. Then I noticed there were only 4 people in Korroloka Tunnel, so I farmed up a few stacks of Slime Oil, which go for around 40-50k.
I like this expansion...
The reason for the gil-drive though -- other than opportunism -- was to make the final stretch to the Utsusemi:Ni price (between 720-760k; about 100k higher than when I'd left). I got the scroll yesterday, with about 200k left over. So that's done... on to my other checklist items: cap Great Axe, get last pieces of AF, get to 61 for LB4 quest. I tried to form a Kuftal skillup party to no avail. There were about 100 people in Jeuno, in contrast to 500+ players in the Alzhabi/Whitegate zones. Then I tried to form a level 60-61 EXP party with similar results, since everyone is level 10-20 now. I think I'll wait until the 30's get more crowded and try to exp my NIN to 37 (possibly tomorrow night).
Some friends of mine hopped on and decided to do the BLU quest, so I tagged along for the fun of it (I'm actually aiming to unlock and level PUP once I get more information about it). I'd already aquired a boarding pass by turning in a random BST testimony that I'd kept (for no apparent reason; here's to being a pack-rat). We bought the Sunsand on the AH for 2000 gil, got the Siren's Tear (had to unequip our weapons for this, not sure why), and skipped the Bloodstone (again not sure why; I was tired and didn't really care if I had to make a trip to Dangruf Wadi later).
Once I finally made it to the NPC in Whitesands who 'divines' fortunes, I had to waste a few minutes after my first attempt at answering his questions only resulted in a 1000 gil fee and a vague dismissal to 'go harvest' in the new zones. One of my friends, Les, was asked for the Bloodstone (doh!), and the other, Lee, got the same 1000 gil fee and no hint. On the second attempt, I checked Allakhazam and used the answers some players provided, but got the same results (and another 1000 gil fee ><), while Lee got a request for Sunsand (which he didn't have ... double-doh). Les Mog-warped to Jeuno to go hunt for the ??? in Dangruf Wadi, and Lee logged off since he was fallling asleep. While waiting for a Vanadiel day to pass, I read further and noticed people were getting different results with the same answers... So I decided it was either random, job-based, or day-based. I tried the exact same answers as the previous day and got a request for something blue from the banks a river (i.e. the Siren's Tear). Joy!
Traded it to the NPC. Nothing... Talked to the NPC, and he would say something along the lines of 'I can't charge you for my services'. It was late, I was dozing off, and there were no BLU on the LS to help me out, so I logged, assuming I'd probably have to wait another Vanadiel day & trade again.
I tried it this morning with no results when it dawned on me that I hadn't zoned after getting the request (duh). After this, the NPC still did nothing but stare blankly when I traded the item. So I spoke to him, and he started telling me to 'forget about what he said'. I almost hit the ceiling when I saw this until he gave me a response option to follow through on the quest. Once the CS ended, I spoke to him again and he instructed me to deliver the item to another NPC in Bhaflau Thickets.
Guess I'll be exploring that zone tonight, which I'm assuming will require Sneak and Invis in some areas until I find the NPC (and a careful avoidance of the True Sight imps I've been told about).
Rampant undercutting had dropped oils down to 30k or less per stack for weeks back in March, which made it more lucrative to either sell the ingredients on their own, or craft random batches of other alchemical items that sold at a fair profit (Mercury, Poison Potion, Hi-Potion, Firesand, Sleeping Potion) and salvo the AH.
The second night I logged in I noticed Silent Oil stacks were going for 60k. $_$ I had no hope of actually crafting any new batches since Giddeus had been overrun by Blue Mages, so I quickly sold the 3 of the 4 stacks I had for personal use. Before I'd noticed or even thought about the Silent Oil rush, though, I had camped the Bibiki Bay fishing guild (completely deserted in the new job rush) and cooked up 7 stacks of Poison Potion, which go for a steady 40k. Then I noticed there were only 4 people in Korroloka Tunnel, so I farmed up a few stacks of Slime Oil, which go for around 40-50k.
I like this expansion...
The reason for the gil-drive though -- other than opportunism -- was to make the final stretch to the Utsusemi:Ni price (between 720-760k; about 100k higher than when I'd left). I got the scroll yesterday, with about 200k left over. So that's done... on to my other checklist items: cap Great Axe, get last pieces of AF, get to 61 for LB4 quest. I tried to form a Kuftal skillup party to no avail. There were about 100 people in Jeuno, in contrast to 500+ players in the Alzhabi/Whitegate zones. Then I tried to form a level 60-61 EXP party with similar results, since everyone is level 10-20 now. I think I'll wait until the 30's get more crowded and try to exp my NIN to 37 (possibly tomorrow night).
Some friends of mine hopped on and decided to do the BLU quest, so I tagged along for the fun of it (I'm actually aiming to unlock and level PUP once I get more information about it). I'd already aquired a boarding pass by turning in a random BST testimony that I'd kept (for no apparent reason; here's to being a pack-rat). We bought the Sunsand on the AH for 2000 gil, got the Siren's Tear (had to unequip our weapons for this, not sure why), and skipped the Bloodstone (again not sure why; I was tired and didn't really care if I had to make a trip to Dangruf Wadi later).
Once I finally made it to the NPC in Whitesands who 'divines' fortunes, I had to waste a few minutes after my first attempt at answering his questions only resulted in a 1000 gil fee and a vague dismissal to 'go harvest' in the new zones. One of my friends, Les, was asked for the Bloodstone (doh!), and the other, Lee, got the same 1000 gil fee and no hint. On the second attempt, I checked Allakhazam and used the answers some players provided, but got the same results (and another 1000 gil fee ><), while Lee got a request for Sunsand (which he didn't have ... double-doh). Les Mog-warped to Jeuno to go hunt for the ??? in Dangruf Wadi, and Lee logged off since he was fallling asleep. While waiting for a Vanadiel day to pass, I read further and noticed people were getting different results with the same answers... So I decided it was either random, job-based, or day-based. I tried the exact same answers as the previous day and got a request for something blue from the banks a river (i.e. the Siren's Tear). Joy!
Traded it to the NPC. Nothing... Talked to the NPC, and he would say something along the lines of 'I can't charge you for my services'. It was late, I was dozing off, and there were no BLU on the LS to help me out, so I logged, assuming I'd probably have to wait another Vanadiel day & trade again.
I tried it this morning with no results when it dawned on me that I hadn't zoned after getting the request (duh). After this, the NPC still did nothing but stare blankly when I traded the item. So I spoke to him, and he started telling me to 'forget about what he said'. I almost hit the ceiling when I saw this until he gave me a response option to follow through on the quest. Once the CS ended, I spoke to him again and he instructed me to deliver the item to another NPC in Bhaflau Thickets.
Guess I'll be exploring that zone tonight, which I'm assuming will require Sneak and Invis in some areas until I find the NPC (and a careful avoidance of the True Sight imps I've been told about).
Friday, April 21, 2006
The 360 version
This Xbox360 should be dubbed the Frustration Machine of Death. I know there's an awesome hardware configuration in that box, but the platform is 0 for 2 so far in providing me with games that don't have glaring bugs which should have been caught with rudimentary beta testing. It's like having a car with an amazing engine, but finicky transmission or poor brake response... and the worst part is that I can't get in under the hood to mess with it.
To anyone with the PC version thinking about getting this version to play on your couch, don't bother unless you have a recent HDTV. It looks comparatively terrible in 4:3 in normal interlaced mode. The gamma has been made incompatible with these televisions (way too high), and the color saturation is much too low. Gamma too high + Saturation too low = a washed out, bland looking, mess. You can adjust RGB gamma manually in the game and turn it down, but this tends to make it too dark, without the appropriate black level, and the saturation is still a problem. And to make things worse there's a screen refresh glitch causing the image to 'stagger' when you turn or move quickly (called 'screen tearing'), making it look like you're playing FFXI through a junky emulator. If you have a nice HDTV, then go for it, and I envy you... it seems to run fine on those.
To anyone with the PS2 version, if you have the expendable $560-$570 and no PC that can play the game without sinking $700+ into it, then the resolution boost on this version is worth it (no more flickering artifacting 10 feet beyond your character), but with some major caveats:
If you have a recent HDTV, by all means get this version. HDTV users seem to be very happy with it. Colors and gamma seem to be OK, and the screen real estate you save by running this in 720p is considerable (you can actually see what you're doing during an EXP party without the chat log taking up 1/3 of the screen).
If you don't have a recent HDTV and plan to play on a monitor, hold on there bucky.
It doesn't matter whether your monitor has been able to handle higher res games before, even other 360 games. SE has not made this game completely compatible with the VGA cable. What's frustrating is that beta testers were able to run things like 1280 x 1024, or 1024 x 768, through their VGA cables with no problems... until the release went live, and for whatever reason SE changed something without testing it (hello...what's the point of beta?). All the other problems that I mentioned about the interlaced TV mode are here: the gamma, the saturation, and the screen tearing (which actually seems worse, but is probably just more noticeable when not interlaced). Mind you the machine you're using is far above spec for this game. It runs circles around most of the machines that have been playing this software for the past 2 years. Yet it ends up looking like you're gaming on a rig that can barely handle it. As Gilbert Gottfried would say in those "I love the 80's" shows: SquareEnix. W...T...F?!
Edit (4/26/2006): I've tested other resolutions, and there are tolerable alternatives that seem to ameliorate the tearing, but still don't fix the framerate. The key is to stick to the 'intended' HDTV resolutions of 480p and 720p (latter recommended). The 720p equivalent in VGA res is 1280 x 720. This results in letterboxing on a 4:3 and the pixel density isn't exactly spectacular, but the tearing is nowhere near as noticeable. I can see this looking much nicer on a 16:9 or 16:10 monitor or an HDTV with adjusted saturation & black levels.
If you only play PS2 on a normal 4:3 interlaced TV, and just want the resolution upgrade on the same TV... it depends upon whether getting rid of the jaggies and distance compression are worth $560 to you (as well as the trade-off for the screen tearing). You won't gain much real-estate (the fonts and text boxes are still huge in 480i), and will have to deal with the color and refresh problems I mentioned above, but the image will be much more crisp and the environments do look a lot nicer when you're not peering through flickering PS2 compression artifacts.
OK, now I'm off to file a bug with SE and be thoroughly ignored. Hopefully they'll fix the problem in some distant patch months from now.
I'll put up another post later about my first actual day back. I just had to unload this one... after taking 2 hours to install this thing and getting this kind of performance, I was fit to be tied.
To anyone with the PC version thinking about getting this version to play on your couch, don't bother unless you have a recent HDTV. It looks comparatively terrible in 4:3 in normal interlaced mode. The gamma has been made incompatible with these televisions (way too high), and the color saturation is much too low. Gamma too high + Saturation too low = a washed out, bland looking, mess. You can adjust RGB gamma manually in the game and turn it down, but this tends to make it too dark, without the appropriate black level, and the saturation is still a problem. And to make things worse there's a screen refresh glitch causing the image to 'stagger' when you turn or move quickly (called 'screen tearing'), making it look like you're playing FFXI through a junky emulator. If you have a nice HDTV, then go for it, and I envy you... it seems to run fine on those.
To anyone with the PS2 version, if you have the expendable $560-$570 and no PC that can play the game without sinking $700+ into it, then the resolution boost on this version is worth it (no more flickering artifacting 10 feet beyond your character), but with some major caveats:
If you have a recent HDTV, by all means get this version. HDTV users seem to be very happy with it. Colors and gamma seem to be OK, and the screen real estate you save by running this in 720p is considerable (you can actually see what you're doing during an EXP party without the chat log taking up 1/3 of the screen).
If you don't have a recent HDTV and plan to play on a monitor, hold on there bucky.
It doesn't matter whether your monitor has been able to handle higher res games before, even other 360 games. SE has not made this game completely compatible with the VGA cable. What's frustrating is that beta testers were able to run things like 1280 x 1024, or 1024 x 768, through their VGA cables with no problems... until the release went live, and for whatever reason SE changed something without testing it (hello...what's the point of beta?). All the other problems that I mentioned about the interlaced TV mode are here: the gamma, the saturation, and the screen tearing (which actually seems worse, but is probably just more noticeable when not interlaced). Mind you the machine you're using is far above spec for this game. It runs circles around most of the machines that have been playing this software for the past 2 years. Yet it ends up looking like you're gaming on a rig that can barely handle it. As Gilbert Gottfried would say in those "I love the 80's" shows: SquareEnix. W...T...F?!
Edit (4/26/2006): I've tested other resolutions, and there are tolerable alternatives that seem to ameliorate the tearing, but still don't fix the framerate. The key is to stick to the 'intended' HDTV resolutions of 480p and 720p (latter recommended). The 720p equivalent in VGA res is 1280 x 720. This results in letterboxing on a 4:3 and the pixel density isn't exactly spectacular, but the tearing is nowhere near as noticeable. I can see this looking much nicer on a 16:9 or 16:10 monitor or an HDTV with adjusted saturation & black levels.
If you only play PS2 on a normal 4:3 interlaced TV, and just want the resolution upgrade on the same TV... it depends upon whether getting rid of the jaggies and distance compression are worth $560 to you (as well as the trade-off for the screen tearing). You won't gain much real-estate (the fonts and text boxes are still huge in 480i), and will have to deal with the color and refresh problems I mentioned above, but the image will be much more crisp and the environments do look a lot nicer when you're not peering through flickering PS2 compression artifacts.
OK, now I'm off to file a bug with SE and be thoroughly ignored. Hopefully they'll fix the problem in some distant patch months from now.
I'll put up another post later about my first actual day back. I just had to unload this one... after taking 2 hours to install this thing and getting this kind of performance, I was fit to be tied.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
FFXI ETA: April 18 ... Baby ETA: any time
I'm still refraining from typing after work until my physical therapy is done, which should be around the release of the expansion. However... my next child is due around that time (actually s/he could be born any day now), so my gaming will be quite sporadic for awhile. Given my RL situation, I'm thinking of switching jobs to something more solo-able, and leveling Warrior when opportunities arise and I have the time. I'll probably slowly become a Beastmaster, with the heart and cojones of a Warrior (not that BST doesn't already require balls of steel), which I think is a great combination personally. It's funny... in RL my machismo is next to non-existant. I'm a soft & quiet & sensitive Dad. But my alter egos in games always evolve into something else, though I'm still pretty quiet in MMOs too.
Anyway, my updates will probably become less frequent, given the amount of time I have to play the game, much less log it. But I will make an effort to update at least once a week.
Terry, feel free to put me in your 'Not So Much' category of blog updates. ^^
And thanks to all the people that have been checking my blog with freakish regularity.
For anyone who cares, I will post a picture of the new little one when s/he finally arrives as well.
Hope you're all having fun out there.
Oh and for anyone who thinks I'm just farting around with Oblivion instead of playing FFXI... meh. It's not the cat's meow, unfortunately. In terms of scope & depth of content, it doesn't hold a candle to Morrowind. It is a very nicely realized gorgeous hack-&-slash set in a rather boring (but pretty) area in the world of Elder Scrolls, with AI that is extremely fun to mess with since it is capable of the funniest and dumbest moments ever witnessed in a game. For RPG newbies, this game is the second coming. For people who've followed the series, it's a prettier, smaller, and more restrictive sandbox than any of the prior iterations. It's still fun to pick up and mess around with for a couple of hours at a time but, they've lost me as a hardcore fan.
Random P.S. For laughs, check out A Smithy's Life if you haven't already. Brilliant.
Anyway, my updates will probably become less frequent, given the amount of time I have to play the game, much less log it. But I will make an effort to update at least once a week.
Terry, feel free to put me in your 'Not So Much' category of blog updates. ^^
And thanks to all the people that have been checking my blog with freakish regularity.
For anyone who cares, I will post a picture of the new little one when s/he finally arrives as well.
Hope you're all having fun out there.
Oh and for anyone who thinks I'm just farting around with Oblivion instead of playing FFXI... meh. It's not the cat's meow, unfortunately. In terms of scope & depth of content, it doesn't hold a candle to Morrowind. It is a very nicely realized gorgeous hack-&-slash set in a rather boring (but pretty) area in the world of Elder Scrolls, with AI that is extremely fun to mess with since it is capable of the funniest and dumbest moments ever witnessed in a game. For RPG newbies, this game is the second coming. For people who've followed the series, it's a prettier, smaller, and more restrictive sandbox than any of the prior iterations. It's still fun to pick up and mess around with for a couple of hours at a time but, they've lost me as a hardcore fan.
Random P.S. For laughs, check out A Smithy's Life if you haven't already. Brilliant.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Need a little more time (OT)
Sensation has returned to my ring finger and most of my little finger, so I've returned to work and changed my keyboarding habits, etc.
I think I still need about a week's worth of FFXI-less nights to make sure this nerve is functional before putting in more keyboarding overtime at night.
On a happy note, holding a controller and supporting my elbows with a pillow enables me to play Oblivion, so I haven't been completely inactive after-hours. That game is amazing, and surprisingly deep for a single-player RPG.
The only thing I don't appreciate about it are the bugs:
So far, the HDD cache and DRE have solutions, so I'm not too pissed. But come on...when I put a console game into a console, I don't expect these types of issues. It's the whole reason for a closed console; I won't even describe people's problems trying to get their PC rigs to play this thing.
Part of the problem is Microsoft, who basically chose to crap on the idea of a closed box by tweaking hardware with each series of 360's runs. We already know of 2 different HDD manufacturers being used, and people suspect the DVD drive is also changing... The other problem is Bethesda's decision to let the game go gold when it still wasn't quite ready for this. There was probably a lot of pressure to get it out the door, but some half-decent QA would have caught some of the quest problems if only given maybe an additional 2 weeks to play it.
Anyway, I hope to return to FFXI soon. I want to get that Utsu:Ni scroll and then level my WAR to 61 to complete the next Genkai, which will be a breeze. What I do from there is wide open, though I suspect I'll keep plowing forward as WAR/NIN, leveling THF on slow nights once I get my gil pool back up for some decent thieving gear.
I think I still need about a week's worth of FFXI-less nights to make sure this nerve is functional before putting in more keyboarding overtime at night.
On a happy note, holding a controller and supporting my elbows with a pillow enables me to play Oblivion, so I haven't been completely inactive after-hours. That game is amazing, and surprisingly deep for a single-player RPG.
The only thing I don't appreciate about it are the bugs:
- game freezes occasionally (hard freeze, requiring manual reset)
- some quest bugs (making them incompletable if done in the wrong sequence)
- HDD caching problem requiring a silly ritual at every startup
- Disc Read Errors (on pristine discs)
So far, the HDD cache and DRE have solutions, so I'm not too pissed. But come on...when I put a console game into a console, I don't expect these types of issues. It's the whole reason for a closed console; I won't even describe people's problems trying to get their PC rigs to play this thing.
Part of the problem is Microsoft, who basically chose to crap on the idea of a closed box by tweaking hardware with each series of 360's runs. We already know of 2 different HDD manufacturers being used, and people suspect the DVD drive is also changing... The other problem is Bethesda's decision to let the game go gold when it still wasn't quite ready for this. There was probably a lot of pressure to get it out the door, but some half-decent QA would have caught some of the quest problems if only given maybe an additional 2 weeks to play it.
Anyway, I hope to return to FFXI soon. I want to get that Utsu:Ni scroll and then level my WAR to 61 to complete the next Genkai, which will be a breeze. What I do from there is wide open, though I suspect I'll keep plowing forward as WAR/NIN, leveling THF on slow nights once I get my gil pool back up for some decent thieving gear.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Resting
I've been a bit dormant in Vanadiel lately due to an Ulnar nerve problem in my left arm/wrist. I've logged in a couple of times to get some quick & painless Poison Potion profits (200k in a 1.5 hour session isn't all that bad), and to help a BLM get his AF2 (with a high-level PLD, this didn't require much keyboarding at all). But I'm sorry to say I haven't done much else since then (except lots of reading). I want to give my arm a few more days to rest and reduce the inflamation that's causing the problem. And no, it's not the FFXI that caused this, but a bad keyboarding habit at work. Don't type with your elbows resting on stuff, and keep your wrists up or you'll be sorry.... trust me >.>
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Genkai 3 Complete!
And I did it solo... as WAR/THF. This is probably my proudest moment in the game so far, just short of what I felt when I hit 60. I know it might seem like, meh, no biggie to a mage with Powder Boots for {Flee}, but I did it the hard way, and won. Garrrrr!
It didn't go without some mishaps, but overall ... ah who cares, I did LB3! Woohoo!
Anyway, here's how it went if you're curious. I loaded up on Prism Powders, equipped a Warp Cudgel, brought my Scroll of Instant Reraise, and headed out.
First I decided to map out the path to each code statue, checking mobs along the way to see where I would start to need powders (the walkthroughs and ffxi-atlas maps don't show you where things start to get messy). I'm glad I did this, because after checking all 3 code statue paths, the path for code #2 seemed to not be worth the time and effort if I was indeed going to solo this within the 24-hour time limit. Too many EP mobs on the way there and around the outside of the door and the statue itself. Secondly, I decided I would indeed need the switch combination, unlike what the Alla walkthrough indicated. You can't just stand there flipping switches until you get it right, because there are two EP mobs right there just waiting to rip you a new one... stupid walkthrough. Anyway, getting the combo would be easy since I wouldn't need to drop invis. Good.
So I had my plan - starting at 0:00 Get code #1, Flee as much as possible, run to code #3, run to the gate combo, run to the brass gate, throw switches, run through 'leech area', go to whichever torch in the 4-torch room (all equidistant), {Flee} to trap door.
It mostly went as planned. But there were glitches... Number 1: I had a stroke of bad luck and hit the wrong switch on the first door out of the first zone and got dropped into that little dungeon. So that took 4 hours off of the counter. Got the gate combo without any problems. The code #3 statue, by some stroke of luck, had just been hit by a party or something, because no mobs were guarding it (a little yin, a little yang). That's two less prism powders to eat, good. Ran to the gate and fortunately the combination was only off by a couple of switches. This is where I acted weird (hey... stress) and made a mistake that cost me a bit of EXP later. I decided I might need to take on the 2 EP mobs hanging by the switches and I called Khuma... then I changed my mind and decided I would only engage them if I were spotted. I successfully threw the switches and got Invis back up in time. But I noticed, as we made our way to the 'leech area' that Khuma's buffs, namely Haste, interfered with my powder timer (causing a misfire). I brushed it off as a fluke.
We made it to the 4-torch room and I arbitrarily chose the Southeast torch, loosely guarded by a couple of mobs. I managed to hit the torch without agro and hit my Invis macro, and Flee macro a second after that... not realizing that Khuma had cast Haste on me right before I used the powder. So, unbeknownst to me, I was {Flee}ing like a lunatic in plain sight of all mobs in the room... who of course caught up to me at the trap door and wiped me out pretty quickly. I waited for the despawn and used Reraise (hooray for planning!), and there I was in a nice empty room with the code entry statue in front of me.
Clock was at 15:00 or 16:00 so I had some time to guess the 2nd password and dropped to the final stretch. I took a picture of what was in my perception, as my heart thudded in my throat, the longest passage I had ever seen, with the Yagudo High Priest at the very end of it, just waiting for me to screw up. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
He wasn't wandering too far away from the ???, so I stayed back until he was at least turned away, and not moving... and ran up that pesky sideways ramp, dropped invis, hit the crest, and warped the hell out. I got aggro a couple of seconds after getting the crest, but the HP lost was only around 300 before the warp took.
Looking back, I know I'll never use the NPC in cases where using a consumable quickly is important, and targeting stuff quickly is equally important (since she sorta gets in the way... no offense, Khuma). And I'll also know that nothing is absolutely unfeasible if I'm stubborn enough to form a plan , follow through, and keep trying when things get ugly. Of course EXP has to be a little expendable in these cases, but... there's lots of EXP out there waiting. I can get it back.
Addendum: Special thanks to Tsakiki for her advice and forewarnings about the difficulties in the quest (ones not described very well in any of the walkthroughs). I would have gone into this much too brashly if she hadn't offered her helpful comment. Thanks again.
It didn't go without some mishaps, but overall ... ah who cares, I did LB3! Woohoo!
Anyway, here's how it went if you're curious. I loaded up on Prism Powders, equipped a Warp Cudgel, brought my Scroll of Instant Reraise, and headed out.
First I decided to map out the path to each code statue, checking mobs along the way to see where I would start to need powders (the walkthroughs and ffxi-atlas maps don't show you where things start to get messy). I'm glad I did this, because after checking all 3 code statue paths, the path for code #2 seemed to not be worth the time and effort if I was indeed going to solo this within the 24-hour time limit. Too many EP mobs on the way there and around the outside of the door and the statue itself. Secondly, I decided I would indeed need the switch combination, unlike what the Alla walkthrough indicated. You can't just stand there flipping switches until you get it right, because there are two EP mobs right there just waiting to rip you a new one... stupid walkthrough. Anyway, getting the combo would be easy since I wouldn't need to drop invis. Good.
So I had my plan - starting at 0:00 Get code #1, Flee as much as possible, run to code #3, run to the gate combo, run to the brass gate, throw switches, run through 'leech area', go to whichever torch in the 4-torch room (all equidistant), {Flee} to trap door.
It mostly went as planned. But there were glitches... Number 1: I had a stroke of bad luck and hit the wrong switch on the first door out of the first zone and got dropped into that little dungeon. So that took 4 hours off of the counter. Got the gate combo without any problems. The code #3 statue, by some stroke of luck, had just been hit by a party or something, because no mobs were guarding it (a little yin, a little yang). That's two less prism powders to eat, good. Ran to the gate and fortunately the combination was only off by a couple of switches. This is where I acted weird (hey... stress) and made a mistake that cost me a bit of EXP later. I decided I might need to take on the 2 EP mobs hanging by the switches and I called Khuma... then I changed my mind and decided I would only engage them if I were spotted. I successfully threw the switches and got Invis back up in time. But I noticed, as we made our way to the 'leech area' that Khuma's buffs, namely Haste, interfered with my powder timer (causing a misfire). I brushed it off as a fluke.
We made it to the 4-torch room and I arbitrarily chose the Southeast torch, loosely guarded by a couple of mobs. I managed to hit the torch without agro and hit my Invis macro, and Flee macro a second after that... not realizing that Khuma had cast Haste on me right before I used the powder. So, unbeknownst to me, I was {Flee}ing like a lunatic in plain sight of all mobs in the room... who of course caught up to me at the trap door and wiped me out pretty quickly. I waited for the despawn and used Reraise (hooray for planning!), and there I was in a nice empty room with the code entry statue in front of me.
Clock was at 15:00 or 16:00 so I had some time to guess the 2nd password and dropped to the final stretch. I took a picture of what was in my perception, as my heart thudded in my throat, the longest passage I had ever seen, with the Yagudo High Priest at the very end of it, just waiting for me to screw up. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
He wasn't wandering too far away from the ???, so I stayed back until he was at least turned away, and not moving... and ran up that pesky sideways ramp, dropped invis, hit the crest, and warped the hell out. I got aggro a couple of seconds after getting the crest, but the HP lost was only around 300 before the warp took.
Looking back, I know I'll never use the NPC in cases where using a consumable quickly is important, and targeting stuff quickly is equally important (since she sorta gets in the way... no offense, Khuma). And I'll also know that nothing is absolutely unfeasible if I'm stubborn enough to form a plan , follow through, and keep trying when things get ugly. Of course EXP has to be a little expendable in these cases, but... there's lots of EXP out there waiting. I can get it back.
Addendum: Special thanks to Tsakiki for her advice and forewarnings about the difficulties in the quest (ones not described very well in any of the walkthroughs). I would have gone into this much too brashly if she hadn't offered her helpful comment. Thanks again.
The fog has lifted
After Hunter was tucked in and Zak was in bed, I was sitting in the living room, wondering what to do with my solitude. I glanced at the Morrowind guide, perused a chapter of the Dark Elf trilogy, and found myself craving the social interaction in FFXI...what little of it I actually participate in. There's a definite lure, for me, in virtual worlds that are continuous beyond my act of reading or playing in them. Worlds that are a bit out of my control.
So I decided to log back in & see what people were up to.
And that's when I ran into Ovidius's wife Melissa, who recently had a baby and has rarely been online. We chatted for quite awhile about baby stuff... I'd already forgotten some of the little details about infants, but they started coming back as Melissa & I compared notes. It was good to talk to her again and share our experiences. She was running a tele-taxi so our conversation became sporadic as the night wore on, but she hit me with a surprise at the end of the night and asked if Zak & I would be willing to be godparents to their son Sean. I of course accepted... can't wait to see pictures of the little guy.
Anyway tonight reminded me of the main reason I log into this synthetic world every night: the real people I've befriended here. Sure I'm also obsessed with being the best damned Warrior on the server, but that drive amounts to nothing if I lose the real reason to play. I lose sight of that sometimes.
So I'm not going anywhere... Yes, Oblivion comes out in 5 days, and yes I'm going crazy waiting for it. But I'm certain I'll still put it down after a few hours on the first night and log into FFXI, if only to gush about it with other people who will be picking it up too.
In mundane FFXI news, I started looking into other venues for earning profits with Alchemy. This craft, especially during the current deflation, requires quite a bit of AH monitoring to find the markets that are flooded and ones that will give better profits, or faster sales. This is the case during stable economies as well, but it's quite accelerated at the moment. Other Alchemists keep changing their favored gil items, so what's a big seller one day will be an undercut, 100+ on AH, low-profit nightmare the next. Silent Oils, for now, are a time-sink and nothing more. I'll make faster profits if I just sell the Slime Oil (should I decide to farm)... and screw the Beeswax. Tired of killing bees and the raw chips sell faster anyway. Mercury has skyrocketed again, so most of my night consisted of checking the Jeuno mule and camping the Fishing Guild outpost in Bibiki Bay for cheap Cobalt Jellyfish (32 gil). I think I'll hold onto the Mercury though and make Poison Potions, which have also skyrocketed for some reason.
Anyway, enough Alchemy talk. I'm back & I'm busy. Might get some help with the Yagudo Crest tonight, so I may even be able to hang onto most of my crafting profits. Fingers crossed.
So I decided to log back in & see what people were up to.
And that's when I ran into Ovidius's wife Melissa, who recently had a baby and has rarely been online. We chatted for quite awhile about baby stuff... I'd already forgotten some of the little details about infants, but they started coming back as Melissa & I compared notes. It was good to talk to her again and share our experiences. She was running a tele-taxi so our conversation became sporadic as the night wore on, but she hit me with a surprise at the end of the night and asked if Zak & I would be willing to be godparents to their son Sean. I of course accepted... can't wait to see pictures of the little guy.
Anyway tonight reminded me of the main reason I log into this synthetic world every night: the real people I've befriended here. Sure I'm also obsessed with being the best damned Warrior on the server, but that drive amounts to nothing if I lose the real reason to play. I lose sight of that sometimes.
So I'm not going anywhere... Yes, Oblivion comes out in 5 days, and yes I'm going crazy waiting for it. But I'm certain I'll still put it down after a few hours on the first night and log into FFXI, if only to gush about it with other people who will be picking it up too.
In mundane FFXI news, I started looking into other venues for earning profits with Alchemy. This craft, especially during the current deflation, requires quite a bit of AH monitoring to find the markets that are flooded and ones that will give better profits, or faster sales. This is the case during stable economies as well, but it's quite accelerated at the moment. Other Alchemists keep changing their favored gil items, so what's a big seller one day will be an undercut, 100+ on AH, low-profit nightmare the next. Silent Oils, for now, are a time-sink and nothing more. I'll make faster profits if I just sell the Slime Oil (should I decide to farm)... and screw the Beeswax. Tired of killing bees and the raw chips sell faster anyway. Mercury has skyrocketed again, so most of my night consisted of checking the Jeuno mule and camping the Fishing Guild outpost in Bibiki Bay for cheap Cobalt Jellyfish (32 gil). I think I'll hold onto the Mercury though and make Poison Potions, which have also skyrocketed for some reason.
Anyway, enough Alchemy talk. I'm back & I'm busy. Might get some help with the Yagudo Crest tonight, so I may even be able to hang onto most of my crafting profits. Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Oops, deflation.
Came back after a 2-day hiatus to find 3 unsold stacks of Silent Oil on my Sandy mule, and a few filled gil slots on my Jeuno mule for Carbon Fiber at 15k per stack. I can't quite gauge the deflation in Alchemy items lately, but I'm assuming/hoping consumables across the board are dropping as well. I have noticed that Firesand is still holding strong in the 20k range, so I've crafted up a few stacks of that (since the ingredients are all NPC and fairly cheap). Silent Oil plumetted from 40k a few weeks ago in Sandy, to roughly 23k, but I still farmed up a couple of stacks of Slime Oil for good measure. I'll do the math tomorrow night (and check other cities, though Sandy was consistently the highest for quite awhile) to determine whether I'll profit more from just selling the raw Slime Oil or crafting Silent Oil from it. I may need to check out Ninja tools again & diversify my sales a bit, since Silent Oil isn't quite the cash cow it once was.
My friend Ovidius reached level 70 on his Red Mage tonight, partying with two other friends of mine, Les and Lee. Les was leveling his Dragoon, and Lee his Black Mage (his White Mage is already level 75). Just to give you the full scope of my inferiority complex... these folks started on the same day I did, and Ovidius already took a one-month hiatus, while Les has been busy leveling other jobs to 50+ since Dragoon invites have been slow.
I suck.
I don't know what it is, but I just get a really negative feeling when I log in, and I can't shake it. Even after a couple of days off. I'll give it another try tomorrow, but if I still don't feel comfortable, I think I'll take my leave for awhile, possibly until the expansion arrives and renews my interest, or whatever cloud that's hanging over my Vanadiel life decides to dissipate.
My apologies to anyone who'se been reading this, drumming their fingers & waiting for me to break 60 already. It'll happen; I'm just too damn weary to make it happen right now.
/salute
My friend Ovidius reached level 70 on his Red Mage tonight, partying with two other friends of mine, Les and Lee. Les was leveling his Dragoon, and Lee his Black Mage (his White Mage is already level 75). Just to give you the full scope of my inferiority complex... these folks started on the same day I did, and Ovidius already took a one-month hiatus, while Les has been busy leveling other jobs to 50+ since Dragoon invites have been slow.
I suck.
I don't know what it is, but I just get a really negative feeling when I log in, and I can't shake it. Even after a couple of days off. I'll give it another try tomorrow, but if I still don't feel comfortable, I think I'll take my leave for awhile, possibly until the expansion arrives and renews my interest, or whatever cloud that's hanging over my Vanadiel life decides to dissipate.
My apologies to anyone who'se been reading this, drumming their fingers & waiting for me to break 60 already. It'll happen; I'm just too damn weary to make it happen right now.
/salute
Monday, March 13, 2006
Procrastagaming
No, I haven't tried the last leg of Genkai 3 yet.
It's getting difficult to motivate myself to log on, in order to farm, in order to craft, in order to make gil, in order to do an extremely unpleasant solo excursion in Castle Oztroja.
So I've been occupying my time with more entertaining activities, like playing other games that aren't such a pain in the ass and actually give me a feeling of accomplishment.
/shrug. I'll log on tonight to get some stuff done, but after this LB3 business is done, I'm taking a few days vacation from the game. I do this every couple of months or so, and it always feels better once I return after a short breather.
It's getting difficult to motivate myself to log on, in order to farm, in order to craft, in order to make gil, in order to do an extremely unpleasant solo excursion in Castle Oztroja.
So I've been occupying my time with more entertaining activities, like playing other games that aren't such a pain in the ass and actually give me a feeling of accomplishment.
/shrug. I'll log on tonight to get some stuff done, but after this LB3 business is done, I'm taking a few days vacation from the game. I do this every couple of months or so, and it always feels better once I return after a short breather.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Saving the best for last
Last night was pretty uneventful. I was nearly broke so I needed to farm a bit of slime oil and make a few batches of Silent Oil before heading to Beadeaux.
Getting the crest in this place was a breeze, mainly because someone was killing the Ruby Quadav/s in the first room outside of the crest room, so there were literally no obstacles. Walked in, the NM's were miles away and facing away from me, grabbed the crest and warped. 2 down, 1 to go.
I'm not sure if I'll be ready to try the Yagudo crest tonight, since I'm very low on Prism Powders and cash. Hopefully some of my Silent Oil will have sold today, otherwise it might be another farming session tonight, followed by a Yag crest run on Sunday night. I'll be going as WAR/THF and fleeing from the nearest torch to the Brass door. Hope I can do this... if not, I'll nag the LS.
Getting the crest in this place was a breeze, mainly because someone was killing the Ruby Quadav/s in the first room outside of the crest room, so there were literally no obstacles. Walked in, the NM's were miles away and facing away from me, grabbed the crest and warped. 2 down, 1 to go.
I'm not sure if I'll be ready to try the Yagudo crest tonight, since I'm very low on Prism Powders and cash. Hopefully some of my Silent Oil will have sold today, otherwise it might be another farming session tonight, followed by a Yag crest run on Sunday night. I'll be going as WAR/THF and fleeing from the nearest torch to the Brass door. Hope I can do this... if not, I'll nag the LS.
Friday, March 10, 2006
1 Crest Down, 2 to go
I logged in around 10 PM, only to notice that my Warp Cudgels wouldn't be active until 11:30 PM, so I ran to Davoi and through the Monastic Cavern and logged out for a bit. I noodled around with some old incomplete Morrowind quests while I was waiting.
Once 11:30 arrived, I made my way back to the Davoi platform to receive my White Orb, which I proceeded to dip into 4 pools around the zone, starting with the ones guarded by aggro-ish (EP) mobs on the West and South points of the map. I got some more practice at waiting for mobs to turn before dropping invis, and all went well. I even brought a homebrew stack of Holy Water, so the Curse on the last dip wasn't an issue, besides it was in a {Too weak} area anyway, so I was covered.
Brought the Cursed Orb back to the Taru on the platform, who turned it into a Crimson Orb, and was I ready to call it a night, but figured the Banishing Gate and Crest were sooo close, I just had to try. Again, I had problems with a mob turning at the last moment when I hit the gate, but the zone was so close that it didn't matter.
Now at this point I was a bit nervous because people had complained about True Sight mobs in this area of the Monastic Caverns... but I must have lucked out because all I could see within range were Dragoons, Protectors, Champions, and Dreadnoughts. I'd caught site, briefly, of a NM but he was in the center/right of the room and nowhere near sight/sound detection range. So I made my way to the thankfully unguarded ??? and claimed my Crest.
I noticed Khuma is wearing some really swanky red outfit now, which I suspect is the non-HQ version of the Baron's gear? I took some screenshots, since I can't freeze her gear configuration yet, but it was quite stylish. I think if I ever want to dress her up again, I'll come out here and let her get some EXP.
Once 11:30 arrived, I made my way back to the Davoi platform to receive my White Orb, which I proceeded to dip into 4 pools around the zone, starting with the ones guarded by aggro-ish (EP) mobs on the West and South points of the map. I got some more practice at waiting for mobs to turn before dropping invis, and all went well. I even brought a homebrew stack of Holy Water, so the Curse on the last dip wasn't an issue, besides it was in a {Too weak} area anyway, so I was covered.
Brought the Cursed Orb back to the Taru on the platform, who turned it into a Crimson Orb, and was I ready to call it a night, but figured the Banishing Gate and Crest were sooo close, I just had to try. Again, I had problems with a mob turning at the last moment when I hit the gate, but the zone was so close that it didn't matter.
Now at this point I was a bit nervous because people had complained about True Sight mobs in this area of the Monastic Caverns... but I must have lucked out because all I could see within range were Dragoons, Protectors, Champions, and Dreadnoughts. I'd caught site, briefly, of a NM but he was in the center/right of the room and nowhere near sight/sound detection range. So I made my way to the thankfully unguarded ??? and claimed my Crest.
I noticed Khuma is wearing some really swanky red outfit now, which I suspect is the non-HQ version of the Baron's gear? I took some screenshots, since I can't freeze her gear configuration yet, but it was quite stylish. I think if I ever want to dress her up again, I'll come out here and let her get some EXP.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Distractions Distractions ... I need Silencega
Since I was all decked out as WAR/NIN from the night before, I figured I'd give the Davoi Crest a go for Genkai 3. If anything I could just go for the Crimson Orb and do the last part on another night (had to be up early the next day since Zak & I trade days on getting up with Hunter...who wakes at 5:45AM sharp >.<).
Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often get delayed by too much LS chatter and helping random people... Or something like that.
The LS chatter on CatastrophyCrafters slowed me down a bit as I muled around sending Silent Oils this way & that, and sending my stack of Dhalmel hides (from Khuma's EXP session) to a Leathercrafter in the shell who was close to the Dhalmel Leather stage. The LS was in a bit of a tizzy over some Allakhazam forum flack a couple of members got over RMT-friendly behavior they displayed a few nights ago, teleporting a group of RMT despite warnings from a known RMT-cop (apparently they didn't know him, but... um they could have checked with the LS instead of ignoring him -_-). They were placed on the Ifrit RMT list as helpers, and all hell broke loose. I'm still ambivalent about it, so I'll end the topic here.
Anyhow, I grabbed a couple of Warp Cudgels, a Scroll of Reraise and my three stacks of Shinobi-Tabi (yeah, I know, overkill), and headed to Davoi. Since I was doing this as WAR/NIN, I was agroless until I got to the entrance of the Monastic Cavern that leads to the central platform. Invised up and ran through the cavern, gawking at the DC orcs in what can only be a nasty hellhole if you ever get agro in that main room. Once I zoned back to Davoi, I headed to the Banishing Gate to touch it and spawn the mini-quest.
Whelp... I was having Splinter Cell flashbacks and looking for shadows to lurk in because this gate was camped by about 4 VT orcs, all alternately staring in different directions, including the damn gate.
I decided I'd bring my NPC Khuma out, in case things got nasty and I needed to buy some time to Warp. I double-checked my warp and invis macros. I also decided that using Reraise here wouldn't be all that helpful since I would probably die in a crowded spot if something went wrong. I took a deep breath, got Invis up, and went to the gate, watching for an opening.
No luck. And I had to run quite an uncomfortable distance to refresh my Invis when it started wearing (instant increase in heart-rate when you see those red warning letters, let me tell ya). Went back, and again, at least one Orc was staring in my direction the whole time. But just as the Invis started to wear off, I saw an opening. Huzzah! ... Cancelled invis, touched the gate, and watched in horror as all of my shadows simultaneously dropped while Khuma cast Stun and Flash on whatever agroed me. Damn it...
It's times like these that Chainspell would come in handy, but the Warp Cudgel did its thing, leaving me in Jeuno with about 200 HP to spare. Sorry about that Khuma! {Good job!}
Well at least I touched the gate, so I could head to the NPC on the central platform now and start the quest. I waited for my heartrate to lower, equipped the other Cudgel, and headed out again, only to be interrupted by a random {Hello!}, and questions about the Fellow NPC quest. After it started getting pretty involved I sent him a URL, hoping he'd use that as a resource, but his computer was monopolized and on another floor. Thankfully, he was a returning player, so he remembered most of the steps and was just hazy on parts here & there. But it meant a delay in getting out of Jeuno, sporadic interruptions during my trek to Davoi, and while running through the caverns.
Once I zoned to the platform area, I told him I'd be AFK for awhile and switched to /away status, just to block incoming tells. Since it was getting late, I planned to just talk to the NPC, get the White Orb, head back to the Monastic Cavern zone and log out.
I must have been more tired than I thought... I got my shadows up, but neglected to trigger my Invis macro and traipsed out to the platform in plain sight. Since I was doing this in first-person view, I didn't notice I was visible at first. And oddly enough, neither did the orcs (?!). They must have been stunned at actually seeing someone pop their stupid head out in this place(?! orc double-take). They did eventually agro however... after I'd noticed I was visible and was trying to get Tonko going. Kinda funny really. I panicked and used the other Warp Cudgel, although judging from the damage I was taking I estimated I could make it to the zone and actually tried to run for it & interrupt the Warp. Then I was in Jeuno >.<
Hey, at least I didn't die, and I'll have a fresh charge on both Cudgels tomorrow when I go orb-dipping.
Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often get delayed by too much LS chatter and helping random people... Or something like that.
The LS chatter on CatastrophyCrafters slowed me down a bit as I muled around sending Silent Oils this way & that, and sending my stack of Dhalmel hides (from Khuma's EXP session) to a Leathercrafter in the shell who was close to the Dhalmel Leather stage. The LS was in a bit of a tizzy over some Allakhazam forum flack a couple of members got over RMT-friendly behavior they displayed a few nights ago, teleporting a group of RMT despite warnings from a known RMT-cop (apparently they didn't know him, but... um they could have checked with the LS instead of ignoring him -_-). They were placed on the Ifrit RMT list as helpers, and all hell broke loose. I'm still ambivalent about it, so I'll end the topic here.
Anyhow, I grabbed a couple of Warp Cudgels, a Scroll of Reraise and my three stacks of Shinobi-Tabi (yeah, I know, overkill), and headed to Davoi. Since I was doing this as WAR/NIN, I was agroless until I got to the entrance of the Monastic Cavern that leads to the central platform. Invised up and ran through the cavern, gawking at the DC orcs in what can only be a nasty hellhole if you ever get agro in that main room. Once I zoned back to Davoi, I headed to the Banishing Gate to touch it and spawn the mini-quest.
Whelp... I was having Splinter Cell flashbacks and looking for shadows to lurk in because this gate was camped by about 4 VT orcs, all alternately staring in different directions, including the damn gate.
I decided I'd bring my NPC Khuma out, in case things got nasty and I needed to buy some time to Warp. I double-checked my warp and invis macros. I also decided that using Reraise here wouldn't be all that helpful since I would probably die in a crowded spot if something went wrong. I took a deep breath, got Invis up, and went to the gate, watching for an opening.
No luck. And I had to run quite an uncomfortable distance to refresh my Invis when it started wearing (instant increase in heart-rate when you see those red warning letters, let me tell ya). Went back, and again, at least one Orc was staring in my direction the whole time. But just as the Invis started to wear off, I saw an opening. Huzzah! ... Cancelled invis, touched the gate, and watched in horror as all of my shadows simultaneously dropped while Khuma cast Stun and Flash on whatever agroed me. Damn it...
It's times like these that Chainspell would come in handy, but the Warp Cudgel did its thing, leaving me in Jeuno with about 200 HP to spare. Sorry about that Khuma! {Good job!}
Well at least I touched the gate, so I could head to the NPC on the central platform now and start the quest. I waited for my heartrate to lower, equipped the other Cudgel, and headed out again, only to be interrupted by a random {Hello!}, and questions about the Fellow NPC quest. After it started getting pretty involved I sent him a URL, hoping he'd use that as a resource, but his computer was monopolized and on another floor. Thankfully, he was a returning player, so he remembered most of the steps and was just hazy on parts here & there. But it meant a delay in getting out of Jeuno, sporadic interruptions during my trek to Davoi, and while running through the caverns.
Once I zoned to the platform area, I told him I'd be AFK for awhile and switched to /away status, just to block incoming tells. Since it was getting late, I planned to just talk to the NPC, get the White Orb, head back to the Monastic Cavern zone and log out.
I must have been more tired than I thought... I got my shadows up, but neglected to trigger my Invis macro and traipsed out to the platform in plain sight. Since I was doing this in first-person view, I didn't notice I was visible at first. And oddly enough, neither did the orcs (?!). They must have been stunned at actually seeing someone pop their stupid head out in this place(?! orc double-take). They did eventually agro however... after I'd noticed I was visible and was trying to get Tonko going. Kinda funny really. I panicked and used the other Warp Cudgel, although judging from the damage I was taking I estimated I could make it to the zone and actually tried to run for it & interrupt the Warp. Then I was in Jeuno >.<
Hey, at least I didn't die, and I'll have a fresh charge on both Cudgels tomorrow when I go orb-dipping.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Helping a Samurai get his wings
One of the career Samurai in the Wisdom LS needed assistance with the Burning Circle fight for the final piece of their AF set: the Myochin Kabuto. I know what it's like to covet those last few pieces, especially the very last one, so I figured I'd help out (plus I have a bit of a soft spot for Samurai since I saw at least one other good friend struggle through invite-less periods back in the 50's). Unlike the final BCNM for the Fighter's Lorica, this fight involved next to no strategy since the 3 Demon mobs could be neither slept nor silenced. We had a group of 60's & 70's players, so we basically buffed up, ran in guns-a-blazin' and took them down one at a time. In my usual fashion, I ran in first and got pounded pretty hard, but the WHM was on it, and once the 70 NIN came in, the Demons mostly ignored me (except when the WS kicked in...heh).
After the fight was over, I went AFK for a bit to tuck Zak (my wife) in and say goodnight. She was headed to bed right when we entered the BCNM, and when I came upstairs a few minutes later she laughed & asked me what the hell had been going on in the game, since all she could hear were the ridiculous combat sounds. I must admit the sound of a bunch of melee's chaotically smacking mobs around and weapon-skilling all over the place, and grunting, was sorta comical (I always have the soundtrack turned down to zero, which admittedly takes some of the drama out of occasions, but I'm not a fan of mediocre classical tracks).
When I came back I was standing at the Altep crystal (no BLM for D2, I guess, so this was fine). I figured I'd level my NPC while I was out here, and got her to 40 killing Dhalmels. As soon as she leveled, Khuma started Hasting me on a regular basis. Woot! For a WAR/NIN, this is quite nice...we love Haste.
{Good job!} Khuma! I think she deserves the completion of Past Reflections and a new Great Katana. Once I get some gil, that is... Back to crafting. Yawn.
After the fight was over, I went AFK for a bit to tuck Zak (my wife) in and say goodnight. She was headed to bed right when we entered the BCNM, and when I came upstairs a few minutes later she laughed & asked me what the hell had been going on in the game, since all she could hear were the ridiculous combat sounds. I must admit the sound of a bunch of melee's chaotically smacking mobs around and weapon-skilling all over the place, and grunting, was sorta comical (I always have the soundtrack turned down to zero, which admittedly takes some of the drama out of occasions, but I'm not a fan of mediocre classical tracks).
When I came back I was standing at the Altep crystal (no BLM for D2, I guess, so this was fine). I figured I'd level my NPC while I was out here, and got her to 40 killing Dhalmels. As soon as she leveled, Khuma started Hasting me on a regular basis. Woot! For a WAR/NIN, this is quite nice...we love Haste.
{Good job!} Khuma! I think she deserves the completion of Past Reflections and a new Great Katana. Once I get some gil, that is... Back to crafting. Yawn.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Ni Scrolls and Elder Scrolls
I realized two nights ago that I had forgotten to save up for Utsusemi: Ni, and I don't really want to reach level 37 and not have this scroll, since I doubt I'll drop out of the party as soon as I level (although I've seen this done, I think it's bad form), and I'd feel badly for the party if we were headed to level 38 or 39 and I didn't have the beefed up Utsu available.
It's around 800k on Ifrit, so I switched to "farming mode", sending all of my Ninja gear back to my gear-mule. By the time I'd cleared out all of my slots and tidied everything up, I wasn't in the mood to farm anymore, and it was late. I generally need to be upbeat, nonchalant, and in social mode (LS chat) if I want to go to Giddeus again without losing my mind... and I wasn't really in that mental 'space.'
Since there's nothing quite as oddly depressing as being grumpy in Giddeus and killing bees (and the same goes for Jellies in Korrolaka) I decided to bring my NPC to Sanctuary of Zitah and get her close to 40. It's refreshing to just kill things without worrying about drops, my own EXP, or other people in general, and just listen to tunes while my NPC hacks away at things with her Great Katana. I logged off when she met her quota and played some good old-fashioned Splinter Cell before hitting the sack.
In other news, I've picked up an Xbox 360 in preparation for the version of FFXI arriving in April, and ... almost more importantly (don't shoot me) ... for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. When that game comes out around the end of this month, I may not make it back to Vanadiel until the next big update in mid-April. I was a serious Morrowind junky in my early FFXI days, and I suspect this newest release will reel me right back in again.
And for the 360-haters out there who think I should get the PC versions of FFXI and Oblivion (there are a few in my social LS) ... um ... find me a $400 PC that plays both of those with the graphical quality of the 360 and we'll talk. As it stands, I have a 6 year old iMac so, yes, I would need a new machine to play them and, no, I don't have the budget for such a machine. Somehow I'm thinking if all I want to do is game with said machine, a next-gen console is a better investment of my meager dollars. End rant.
It's around 800k on Ifrit, so I switched to "farming mode", sending all of my Ninja gear back to my gear-mule. By the time I'd cleared out all of my slots and tidied everything up, I wasn't in the mood to farm anymore, and it was late. I generally need to be upbeat, nonchalant, and in social mode (LS chat) if I want to go to Giddeus again without losing my mind... and I wasn't really in that mental 'space.'
Since there's nothing quite as oddly depressing as being grumpy in Giddeus and killing bees (and the same goes for Jellies in Korrolaka) I decided to bring my NPC to Sanctuary of Zitah and get her close to 40. It's refreshing to just kill things without worrying about drops, my own EXP, or other people in general, and just listen to tunes while my NPC hacks away at things with her Great Katana. I logged off when she met her quota and played some good old-fashioned Splinter Cell before hitting the sack.
In other news, I've picked up an Xbox 360 in preparation for the version of FFXI arriving in April, and ... almost more importantly (don't shoot me) ... for Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. When that game comes out around the end of this month, I may not make it back to Vanadiel until the next big update in mid-April. I was a serious Morrowind junky in my early FFXI days, and I suspect this newest release will reel me right back in again.
And for the 360-haters out there who think I should get the PC versions of FFXI and Oblivion (there are a few in my social LS) ... um ... find me a $400 PC that plays both of those with the graphical quality of the 360 and we'll talk. As it stands, I have a 6 year old iMac so, yes, I would need a new machine to play them and, no, I don't have the budget for such a machine. Somehow I'm thinking if all I want to do is game with said machine, a next-gen console is a better investment of my meager dollars. End rant.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Big fish in small ponds
Over the course of the past couple of sessions, I've leveled Ninja from 32 to 36. Almost all parties have been in Garlaige Citadel, with the exception of an all-Japanese party at the Norg zone...(crabs and Ghasts). That was my first party as a returning NIN too, so it was an odd way to get back into the groove, but it went fine.
Garlaige Citadel is nothing like the pit I remember, mostly due to the MPK patch. Links don't raise much alarm anymore, due to despawning. This, combined with the Empress Band, makes for some pretty painless experience points at this level.
I found myself having quite a bit of fun, especially with the beetles, since I could usually Slow/Paralyse/Blind the things before my 6th shadow wore off, making it easier to get the shadows back up when the Utsusemi timer was ready. We killed the bats too quickly to make Ninjutsu worthwhile.
Another thing I've noticed about Garlaige Citadel, though, is the big-fish-in-a-small-pond syndrome. I remember this happening in my early Warrior days too. It's not so much the zone as the level proximity to 37. The people leveling their subjobs, often ones they don't really care for, are at the breaking point and just want to get back to their main jobs...so they seek solace in establishing their superiority, and this leads to a lot of
"well my main job is level xxx...on this character"
"I just spent xxx amount of gil on [uber-equipment]"
"here's how you should play your job correctly [long rambling explanation to us newbies]"
"man does WAR suck or what at this level, lolz [usually subbing NIN and wielding axes]"
"god this place is such a pit, get me out!"
This in combination with actual newer players who are still figuring out hate control, SATA, mob placement & AOE, skillchains, etc., really tempted me to open my mouth and just unleash hell, but I stayed quiet and focussed on my job, since mouthing off would have made me no better than the Big Fish with the Big Mouth already making the party uncomfortable.
But all in all, leveling Ninja wasn't terribly unpleasant, with the exception of the cost...guh. For example, there were no un-bundled stacks nor individual toolbags of Shihei on the Auction House. O_O; So I bit the bullet and got a stack of toolbags (something I've never done). These will last me for awhile, but it still hurt to spend so much on consumables.
I'll need to do more crafting soon, since I'm nearly broke now (again) and nead to gear up to bring my Thief up to par. I really look forward to leveling that job, since it truly looks like fun when I party with other Thieves and the SATA + Viper Bite + [other WS for SC] flows smoothly. And I've got more pulling experience under my belt too, so hopefully that will have cured the old phobia I had of pulling trains and killing the party (I think that one started in the Dunes).
Garlaige Citadel is nothing like the pit I remember, mostly due to the MPK patch. Links don't raise much alarm anymore, due to despawning. This, combined with the Empress Band, makes for some pretty painless experience points at this level.
I found myself having quite a bit of fun, especially with the beetles, since I could usually Slow/Paralyse/Blind the things before my 6th shadow wore off, making it easier to get the shadows back up when the Utsusemi timer was ready. We killed the bats too quickly to make Ninjutsu worthwhile.
Another thing I've noticed about Garlaige Citadel, though, is the big-fish-in-a-small-pond syndrome. I remember this happening in my early Warrior days too. It's not so much the zone as the level proximity to 37. The people leveling their subjobs, often ones they don't really care for, are at the breaking point and just want to get back to their main jobs...so they seek solace in establishing their superiority, and this leads to a lot of
"well my main job is level xxx...on this character"
"I just spent xxx amount of gil on [uber-equipment]"
"here's how you should play your job correctly [long rambling explanation to us newbies]"
"man does WAR suck or what at this level, lolz [usually subbing NIN and wielding axes]"
"god this place is such a pit, get me out!"
This in combination with actual newer players who are still figuring out hate control, SATA, mob placement & AOE, skillchains, etc., really tempted me to open my mouth and just unleash hell, but I stayed quiet and focussed on my job, since mouthing off would have made me no better than the Big Fish with the Big Mouth already making the party uncomfortable.
But all in all, leveling Ninja wasn't terribly unpleasant, with the exception of the cost...guh. For example, there were no un-bundled stacks nor individual toolbags of Shihei on the Auction House. O_O; So I bit the bullet and got a stack of toolbags (something I've never done). These will last me for awhile, but it still hurt to spend so much on consumables.
I'll need to do more crafting soon, since I'm nearly broke now (again) and nead to gear up to bring my Thief up to par. I really look forward to leveling that job, since it truly looks like fun when I party with other Thieves and the SATA + Viper Bite + [other WS for SC] flows smoothly. And I've got more pulling experience under my belt too, so hopefully that will have cured the old phobia I had of pulling trains and killing the party (I think that one started in the Dunes).
Friday, March 03, 2006
Or maybe not... skillup instead. {Full attack!}
After trying to form a party with my flag up for about 45 minutes with no success and no invites, I decided to chat up the LS and it turned out some folks were headed out to the Boyhada Tree to do some skilling up. I forgot that my Great Axe was at 194 not 196, so... it was a bit brutal for awhile. People were generally there to skillup 200+
We camped at the big waterfall at the back near the Cloister zone, where the Elder Goobbues hang out. I'd never seen that place before and it was quite beautiful. I couldn't help but take pictures between battles. The mob of choice of course was crab... at first my accuracy was aweful, but I managed to slowly & steadily connect for .3, .4, .5 skillups and eventually the accuracy took a back seat to my need for higher ATK (Scissor Guard anyone?), which I hadn't prepared for (I really could have used the Spike Earrings that were sitting on my mule back in Bastok ><), but I made it through the ordeal without permanent trauma.
My Great Axe skill is now 200.5, and I got to inaugurate the Raging Rush on our skillup mob for a whopping...drum roll please... 14 dmg. Nope, didn't leave out any zero's there.
Only 2.5 levels away from cap!
Anyway, I hope to get on sooner tomorrow, when hopefully more people are available for a Garlaige Citadel party with my Ninja, all rearing to go...
We camped at the big waterfall at the back near the Cloister zone, where the Elder Goobbues hang out. I'd never seen that place before and it was quite beautiful. I couldn't help but take pictures between battles. The mob of choice of course was crab... at first my accuracy was aweful, but I managed to slowly & steadily connect for .3, .4, .5 skillups and eventually the accuracy took a back seat to my need for higher ATK (Scissor Guard anyone?), which I hadn't prepared for (I really could have used the Spike Earrings that were sitting on my mule back in Bastok ><), but I made it through the ordeal without permanent trauma.
My Great Axe skill is now 200.5, and I got to inaugurate the Raging Rush on our skillup mob for a whopping...drum roll please... 14 dmg. Nope, didn't leave out any zero's there.
Only 2.5 levels away from cap!
Anyway, I hope to get on sooner tomorrow, when hopefully more people are available for a Garlaige Citadel party with my Ninja, all rearing to go...
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
{Ninja} {Full attack!}
This feels like sort of a tier 2 Haubergeon: I've actually purchased an Emperor Hairpin for 2.9 million gil and I still can't quite believe I have one... I feel the same sort of bewildered pride I felt when I equipped that Hauby for the first time, having gone for so long without knowing whether I would ever actually own one.
I'm also glad I did my RSE coffers back when I was taking a breather from farming for the Hauby fund, since I'm now also wearing the Elvaan Male footgear and gloves for the AGI/DEX bonuses. The full set actually took awhile to get together since I played the same time window every night, so I had to meticulously track the RSE windows and choose the ones that would work for me. I ended up actually putting the RSE windows on my Palm Pilot calendar >.> The funny thing is, my schedule gets uploaded to a server to enable me to schedule work meetings and invite others etc. A co-worker of mine noticed some VERY wierd time blocks (but couldn't see the descriptions) and sheepishly asked me what I was doing for 8 hours from 11:30 PM until the wee morning hours. She got to know more than I think she cared to about FFXI.
My only questionable gear at this point are the Mythril + 1 on both ears, since I really should have Dodge Earrings, but I don't think I have the gil to purchase those now... and the Drone Earrings (which I already have) are only a few (hopefully short) levels away.
I think + 25 eva and +12 AGI is plenty for now.
I'm amused at how 'dandy' the NIN gear looks at this level, like I should be heading to a ball, not combat.
I spent most of the night moving gear & gil around and getting distracted by LS Chuck Norris chatter (you don't wanna know). I logged out in Khazam, although I may need to head back to Jeuno and just put my flag up there, since I'm in that Yhoat/GC grey area at level 32. We'll see what happens tomorrow night; I'm anxious to try out Ninja again after such a long hiatus.
Mental note: bring Hojo:Ichi tools (forgot to load up on those tonight).
I'm also glad I did my RSE coffers back when I was taking a breather from farming for the Hauby fund, since I'm now also wearing the Elvaan Male footgear and gloves for the AGI/DEX bonuses. The full set actually took awhile to get together since I played the same time window every night, so I had to meticulously track the RSE windows and choose the ones that would work for me. I ended up actually putting the RSE windows on my Palm Pilot calendar >.> The funny thing is, my schedule gets uploaded to a server to enable me to schedule work meetings and invite others etc. A co-worker of mine noticed some VERY wierd time blocks (but couldn't see the descriptions) and sheepishly asked me what I was doing for 8 hours from 11:30 PM until the wee morning hours. She got to know more than I think she cared to about FFXI.
My only questionable gear at this point are the Mythril + 1 on both ears, since I really should have Dodge Earrings, but I don't think I have the gil to purchase those now... and the Drone Earrings (which I already have) are only a few (hopefully short) levels away.
I think + 25 eva and +12 AGI is plenty for now.
I'm amused at how 'dandy' the NIN gear looks at this level, like I should be heading to a ball, not combat.
I spent most of the night moving gear & gil around and getting distracted by LS Chuck Norris chatter (you don't wanna know). I logged out in Khazam, although I may need to head back to Jeuno and just put my flag up there, since I'm in that Yhoat/GC grey area at level 32. We'll see what happens tomorrow night; I'm anxious to try out Ninja again after such a long hiatus.
Mental note: bring Hojo:Ichi tools (forgot to load up on those tonight).
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