1831: Second Fantasy

When I've had a free moment to sit down with the Vita, I've been continuing my Final Fantasy marathon with the second game, the imaginatively titled Final Fantasy II.

Final Fantasy II came to Western shores considerably after its original release; it wasn't until the PlayStation release of Final Fantasy Origins that we'd get to play it in English for the first time, but, like its predecessor, it's subsequently been enhanced and ported to a variety of different platforms. I've been playing the PSP version via the Vita, which, again like its predecessor, incorporates a bunch of extra content, though I'm yet to encounter any of it aside from the entrance to an ominous-sounding (and huge-looking) optional dungeon.

Final Fantasy II is thought of in somewhat mixed terms by many people, to put it politely. It's absolutely hated by others, and those who like it are in something of a minority. I'm one of them, though; it's an interesting game, and while its mechanics don't quite work as well as they could, it was a bold experiment whose systems we can still see at work today in games like The Elder Scrolls and its ilk.

Final Fantasy II's unique selling point was that it had no experience points and no levels. Instead, you levelled up individual skills and stats by making use of them. Want to get stronger? Hit things. Want to get better at casting spells? Cast more spells. Want to be able to take more damage? Take some damage. It's quite logical when you think about it, though it does tend to encourage a certain degree of gaming the system, and there's a number of glaring flaws in it, too, such as the fact that characters in the back row of your party (which one of them is in by default at the start of the game) will never take any damage except from things that affect the whole party, and thus their HP counts will be left trailing considerably behind the rest of the group. The game is also somewhat notorious for seemingly encouraging players to attack their own party members in the name of boosting their HP quickly.

The PSP version maintains this peculiar levelling system, but so far I haven't really encountered a major issue with it, and like the PSP version of Final Fantasy I, the pacing feels like it may have been tweaked slightly, though this is only my gut feeling rather than being based on any research. But it certainly feels like the game's been made to push you onwards rather than force you to grind; fight a number of battles, and your characters' HP totals will increase naturally, for example, even if they haven't taken any damage recently. You still need to make use of appropriate actions to build up your stats, but there's a certain degree of natural progression that comes from just playing the game.

The interesting thing about Final Fantasy II's system is that it essentially allows you to build your own characters — something that wasn't really possible in its predecessor aside from choosing which three of the four available spells for each magic level your White and Black Mages got to choose from — by naturally moulding them to fit your play style. Because of the flexibility of the system, this also means that you can create unstoppable, multi-talented characters who are strong, tough and capable of flinging devastating magic spells around when required. (In fact, the game's ultimate magic requires that your character has advanced in as many different areas as possible in order to power itself up.) In practice, though, you'll probably tend to find that the characters naturally evolve according to how you use them.

In my party, for example, I have protagonist Firion as a fighter/white mage type character, or probably a Paladin in Final Fantasy terms. He is good at fighting with swords and using shields, but is also able to cast White Magic spells such as Cure, Life and Protect. Several of these spells start off being next to useless — Protect often "misses", for example — so you need to get him to "practice" them in the field to make them worthwhile additions to your arsenal. Taking the time to do that is eminently worth it, however.

The other interesting thing about Final Fantasy II that is unrelated to its unusual progression system is the fact that it's so story-heavy compared to its predecessor. Final Fantasy I was essentially a case of "Bad shit is happening in the world! Go explore and stop it!" and little else; Final Fantasy II, meanwhile, has named characters, events, cutscenes and a genuinely interesting ongoing plot. It's not what you might expect from your typical NES-era game, in other words; and with its new coat of paint in its more recent PlayStation and PSP incarnations, it actually stands up pretty well as a modern RPG.

I'm enjoying it, in other words, but I still have a long way to go yet!

1827: Before Before the Fall

Well, here we go. The servers are down for maintenance, to come back up in 11 hours at the time of writing, and then the grand finale of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be officially underway. I'm excited.

Before the Fall is the official name for patch 2.5 for Final Fantasy XIV's wonderful reboot A Realm Reborn, and it brings the main story that launched back in August of 2013 to a close… almost. Actually, tomorrow's release is just the first of three parts to the finale which is going to unfold over the course of the next three months, ultimately leading into the official expansion pack Heavensward, which is estimated to arrive sometime around April. (Just in time for my birthday!)

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Why am I excited? Well, aside from the fact that Final Fantasy XIV's ongoing story has actually been very good, it's also the first time I've played a game like this through one of its transitional periods from "vanilla" to "expansion". I played a bunch of World of Warcraft back in the day, but it wasn't until Wrath of the Lich King was out that I actually made it to the level cap, and by then I already had two expansions worth of content to work through owing to the fact I had played it somewhat sporadically rather than with any great sense of commitment. Final Fantasy XIV, by contrast, is a game that I've been playing since its beta period back in 2013, and have been in love with ever since — partly due to the fact that it's simply a very good, very well-designed game (for the most part, anyway — everyone who plays has at least one thing they'd change if they had the choice!) but also due to the fact I've been lucky enough to have a regular group of people to play alongside, many of whom have been there since day one.

That sense of camaraderie, of having been through things together, of having "seen some shit", can't be understated. We may just be people scattered around the world playing a game together, but we've done a lot of different activities together. We've struggled from level 1 to level 50; we've put an end to Ultima Weapon's reign of terror; we've flattened the Primals of the land several times over; and we've started (or, in some cases, finished) to discover the truth behind elder Primal Bahamut and the fallen moon Dalamud. We've gathered legendary Relic weapons and powered them up through numerous lengthy and demanding quests; we've (well, I've) spent more time than strictly necessary putting together the perfect "look" to go adventuring with; we've crafted thousands upon thousands of metal ingots, meat pies, magic potions and deadly weapons. It hasn't always been easy, it hasn't always even been fun, but a core of us have stuck together through thick and thin and forged some close friendships as a result. And, of course, this happened.

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This is, I'm aware, the third Final Fantasy XIV post I've done in a row — and with the patch launching tomorrow I can pretty much guarantee there's at least a couple more still to come. What that should tell you is what an entertaining and fun part of my life it's become over the course of the last year and a half or so; at this stage, it's more than just a video game: it's an activity I can enjoy with friends, and one I hope I can continue to enjoy in this way for many years to come.

Twelve bless you, Yoshi-P; you've done the Final Fantasy name proud and created an experience pretty much unlike anything else I've ever enjoyed in all of gaming. Here's to many more years of adventuring.

1826: Nael Deus the Darnus Things

Sunday night is raid night!

Sunday nights are rapidly becoming a highlight of my gaming week. It's the first time I've had a dedicated static raiding group to play an MMO with, and Final Fantasy XIV's raids are one hell of a lot of fun if you're with the right people — people who know their stuff, but who aren't above having a bit of fun with the experience.

For those who are less up on the MMO lingo, a "raid" is differentiated from regular dungeons and other, more casual-friendly multiplayer content by virtue of its difficulty, which primarily comes from the need to be organised, communicate and take responsibility for the things you're supposed to be responsible for. There's little room to be "carried" in raids, particularly if you're playing content that's on the (relative) bleeding edge, though if you're playing older stuff that people have since outgeared (and, in Final Fantasy XIV's case, the raid itself has also been made easier over time, too) there's a certain amount of margin for error.

Tonight our regular group tackled the final two Turns in the Second Coil of Bahamut, the second of three hardcore raids that are currently in Final Fantasy XIV. These raids are multi-part challenges that task eight players with working together coherently, and get consistently more challenging as you go through. The final Turn in each Coil is the most difficult by far, taking in very complicated mechanics and demanding that everyone is playing at absolute peak potential. A big stumbling block for a lot of players is Turn 5, the last Turn in the first Binding Coil of Bahamut, in which you take on the very angry dragon Twintania, but we successfully cleared that a while back without too much difficulty. The Second Coil of Bahamut is significantly more difficult throughout for the most part, but we've gradually worked our way through each Turn in… well, turn, and now we've arrived at the next big wall to scale: Turn 9 (also known as The Second Coil of Bahamut, Turn 4).

Turn 9 is the most complicated fight I've attempted in Final Fantasy XIV to date. It's an incredibly daunting prospect, but it's a good example of what raiding is all about. It's not a fight you can just jump into and hope for the best; it's a fight where you need to know what you're doing, what you're responsible for and how to deal with the various situations the encounter presents you with.

Turn 9 is so complicated because, like most fights in the game, it unfolds over the course of several discrete "phases", but unlike many other fights in the game, each phase is completely different from the previous and would be mechanically complex enough to be a single conventional encounter in its own right. Tonight, we spent nearly an hour attempting it, and we managed to just about get our heads around the first phase after a bit of practice and a lot of initial bewilderment. There's a hell of a lot going on, and it's initially very difficult to work out what you might be doing wrong when everyone suddenly dies at a moment's notice. As you try again and again, though, you start to notice things; you start to recognise patterns in the boss's attacks, you start to be able to predict what's coming next and you figure out the best way for you to successfully handle your own responsibilities, until eventually you reach a stage where you can effectively run it on autopilot.

This is the way to handle Turn 9. Because it's so long and daunting, it's not an encounter you can just give people a simple explanation of and plough through without any difficulty. Rather, it takes time to learn each phase and to perfect the way your own unique group composition handles it. Getting things right is exciting and enjoyable, and successfully reaching a milestone in the fight — like the changeover between phases — is cause for celebration.

This evening, we successfully cleared the first phase, which involves everything from trying not to get meteors dropped on your head while ensuring that they are dropped in helpful positions for later to getting zapped with a rather unpleasant Thermionic Beam. Oh, and the main tank (which, for part of our run, was me) keeps exploding throughout the fight, too, which is nice for them. It's tense, and a lot of pressure on everyone, but it's a huge amount of fun to challenge with people you've come to know, enjoy the company of and trust.

I'm really looking forward to our next attempt, when we'll hopefully be able to survive for more than ten seconds when a bunch of nasty golems appear and try to kill us!

1825: The Happy Couple (or: How I Proposed For Real in #FFXIV)

It occurs to me that a Big Life Event happened during the period when I was doing creative writing on this blog, and thus those of you who only keep tabs on what I'm up to through this site won't be aware of it. So now seems like as good a time as any to share the happy news that Andie and I got engaged, and we're getting married in June of this year.

You probably want an engagement story, don't you? Well, all right, then. Settle down and I'll tell you one.

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As regular readers will know, Andie and I are both regular players of the massively multiplayer online RPG Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. In a recent patch, developer Square Enix added the facility to perform a "Ceremony of Eternal Bonding" with a partner in the game — getting married, in other words. Any character can marry any other character, no matter their gender or race, making it a wonderfully inclusive part of a game that was already extremely inclusive to begin with. I mention this latter fact because Andie and I both play female characters: mine is Amarysse the Hyur Midlander (essentially a relatively normal-looking — albeit "Final Fantasy attractive" — human-type female), while Andie's is W'khebica the Miqo'te (a race of people with cat ears and tails).

As soon as the Eternal Bond stuff launched, Andie and I knew that we wanted to indulge in it. It's ultimately a silly thing that doesn't have a huge amount of relevance to the game as a whole — your main benefits for getting married are that you get a ring that allows you to teleport to your spouse's side once every 30 minutes and, depending on which package you signed up for, some of which cost real money, a selection of goodies including wedding attire, a two-seater chocobo mount and a minion to give to all your guests when they attend your ceremony — but we still wanted to do it. I also think it's quite a nice way to acknowledge a real-world relationship in the game itself — though, of course, there are plenty of people who are getting married just for fun.

Anyway. Andie and I got up early on Boxing Day to book our ceremony. Yes, you actually have to book; ceremonies occur at specific times on specific dates, so we had to get in early in order to get a practical slot. Given that we play alongside a lot of Americans, we wanted to book it for an America-friendly time that was also not in the middle of the night for us, so we eventually settled on Saturday January 3 in the evening our time, since you have to book at least a week in advance.

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Now, since we'd been talking about getting in-game married ever since the possibility was launched, I'd been pondering secret plans in the run-up to this, and decided that yes, I wanted to put those plans into motion. I had not-particularly-subtly hinted to Andie that I might be interested in buying her a shiny ring, and invited her to indicate a selection of acceptable choices that would not cause me to be thrown out on the street or anything. I did some research, shopped around and eventually settled on one that she'd indicated she particularly liked. I finished work early on New Year's Eve and snuck into town to see if they had one in stock. They did, but not in the right size; I bought it anyway, as it was more that I wanted to have it as a symbol to go with the proposal than something I could put on her finger right away. (It transpired that she put it on anyway, got it stuck and we eventually had to go to A&E to get the damn thing off again! We now have one in the correct size.)

That was that; the plan was in motion, and there wasn't really any turning back now. Well, sure, I could bottle it and save the ring for another occasion, but really, honestly, our in-game ceremony felt like an ideal time to do it.

I set to work determining how I was going to do it, including worrying rather more than I probably needed to about whether I should actually ask the question in the game's text chat function, or just disappear from my keyboard for a few moments and ask her in person. (When we're both playing, she's on her computer upstairs while I'm downstairs in the living room, so it's not as if I could have just turned to her and asked her.) Eventually, I wrote a speech that I felt expressed what I was feeling adequately (albeit perhaps overdramatically) and resolved to deliver it during the twenty-minute period of the in-game ceremony where you are invited to exchange your vows with your partner. Most players who are doing the wedding thing for fun skip over this part or just allow their friends to set off some fireworks, cheer, whoop and holler, but it seemed like the ideal moment to me. So that was what I decided to do.

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The day came, and we both logged on to play as normal. While it was tempting to surprise everyone with what I was up to, I decided that it would be prudent to share my plans with at least a couple of people so that I could ensure we had a decent turnout to our ceremony, and that people knew they had to behave themselves appropriately. I sent a "whisper" (private message) to my friend Cyra (aka Phil; we actually met him in the real world a while back when he happened to be in London the same day we went down to see the Distant Worlds concert) and informed him of my plans. He squee'd a bit (well, in a sort of manly way) and then told me to leave it with him; he'd inform some of the other regulars in our Free Company (guild) and between them they'd make sure people were 1) at the ceremony and 2) behaving themselves.

The appointed hour came, and Andie and I rode to the Sanctum of the Twelve in the East Shroud. Our friends were already gathered outside, and one had been crafting multiple copies of a hat that Andie's character habitually wears, then handing them out to the guests, so we were confronted with a crowd of people all wearing flowery hats. Then it was time to go in; Andie and I were escorted to our separate rooms to get ready, while the guests were taken to their separate waiting room to wait for us both to indicate that we were ready. We both changed into our wedding dresses, rang our Eternity Bells to indicate that we were ready, and then the ceremony began.

Conveniently, Cyra/Phil recorded the whole thing. You can watch it on his Twitch page, because WordPress doesn't want to embed the video for some reason. 🙂

And, well, this happened.

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1824: First Fantasy

I finished Final Fantasy I last night, bringing the first chapter in my Final Fantasy marathon to a close. And you know what? I really, really enjoyed it.

This may have something to do with the fact that I was playing the PSP version, also known as Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition, which has been substantially tweaked and rebalanced from both the original NES release and the subsequent enhanced PSone Final Fantasy Origins version, which I played last time I beat this first installment.

While there's an argument that it's worth experiencing the game in its original, purest, grind-heavy and rather difficult form — complete with its Vancian Magic system, just one of many influences the game drew from Dungeons & Dragons — the PSP version proved to be a lot more enjoyable generally. The pacing was better, there was a lot less running around in circles grinding — the original required you to do this to even beat the first boss, which appeared before the game's title screen — and the more traditional Magic Points system made some of the more lengthy encounters and dungeons later in the game somewhat more feasible.

Those late-game dungeons — four of which were added in the Game Boy Advance Dawn of Souls release of the game and the last of which was added in the Anniversary Edition release — proved to be really great, if a little bizarre. Collectively dubbed the Soul of Chaos, the first four extra dungeons live up to their name by tasking you with exploring 5, 10, 20 and 40 floors that feature set layouts but randomised floor orders and available treasures. There's not really a coherent theme to the dungeon floors as such — although the less interesting floors tend to be of an appropriate element to the dungeon's name: fiery caverns in Hellfire Chasm, for example — but the chaotic, unpredictable nature of them is what makes them interesting. On one floor you might be exploring a cave; the next you might be paddling a canoe around a flooded village; on the next, you might be attempting to navigate a maze of bookshelves while scholars mumble about their research and get in your way.

The final new dungeon, known as the Labyrinth of Time, was the most interesting by far, however. The Labyrinth of Time creates a new dungeon each time by picking ten different "puzzle floors" out of a selection of 30, then challenging you to beat these puzzles against the clock and with one or more of your abilities sealed off. The more abilities you seal off — and the more useful they are — the more time you have available to complete a floor. Run out of time and a dark miasma descends, damaging you every second and increasing the number of monsters you encounter.

The puzzles vary from simple observation puzzles, in which you have to answer questions about something you've just seen, to challenging physical tasks such as marching in line with a group of NPC soldiers. Like the Soul of Chaos dungeons, they have little to do with the overall Final Fantasy story — what little story it has anyway — but they're immensely enjoyable and challenging to complete. And then at the end of it all you have Chronodia, one of the toughest bosses in the game, to fight for ultimate bragging rights… oh, and the best sword in the game, too.

The first time I played Final Fantasy I, with the Origins release, I did so in order to understand the series' roots, and sort of had a good time, but found it a bit of a chore after a while. The PSP version, meanwhile, I found genuinely enjoyable, even from a modern perspective, and was inspired to go on and complete the game's most challenging content. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it to anyone looking for a fun portable RPG experience — and those of you without a PSP can even play it on your phone.

Onwards to Final Fantasy II, then, which I remember enjoying quite a lot the first time I tried it (again, with Origins) but which is widely regarded to be one of the worst installments in the whole series thanks to its bafflingly bizarre mechanics. For Fynn! Wild Rose!

1803: Another Shot at a Final Fantasy Marathon

A couple of times, I've attempted a fairly large gaming feat: to play through all the Final Fantasy games in order (with the exception of MMO XI, whose time-consuming nature means that "completing" it is a multi-year project that even many of the most dedicated players haven't finished) and observe the series' evolution over time.

For one reason or another, I've never made it right through the series, and consequently there are a couple of installments right in the middle that I've never played to completion, these being Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, both of which are regarded as some of the series' finest work with regard to game mechanics (in the case of V) and story (in the case of VI). It's not that I've never wanted to play these games through to completion, it's simply that I've allowed myself to get distracted by various other things and ended up losing my rhythm partway through a playthrough.

I've decided that I'd like to give it another go. This time around, I want to do something slightly different, however: this time around, I'm going to whack all the possible installments I can on my Vita and play them as handheld games. This means that I can do stuff like play through them on my lunch break at work as well as in bed, on the toilet or when I'm away from home. Final Fantasy wherever I go — an appealing prospect, being something of a fan of the series as a whole.

I'm also not going to get too hung up on each one being the only game I play at any given time, too. I will try and get through them in a timely manner, yes, but I'm also conscious of the fact that Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 is out soon and I very much want to play that, and I'm also conscious of the fact that I have an astronomical backlog of games to play, many of which contain doe-eyed moe girls that I just can't resist the allure of for too long before giving in. So if I do feel the need to give in and play something like Akiba's Trip (which I own but haven't booted up yet) I'm not going to feel guilty about "betraying" my Final Fantasy mission.

I do, however, want to try my best to work my way through all the main Final Fantasy games (and possibly Tactics) too, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think it'll be an enjoyable, cool thing to do: a journey through the very long history of one of gaming's most recognisable series. Secondly, there are a number of installments in the series that carry a strong degree of personal significance to me — fond memories of my younger days, and the way I felt when I first played them. Thirdly, although there are a couple of installments I've played several times — most notably VII, which I think is the game I've played through the most times to completion in my entire gaming career over the years — there are also some that I've only ever played through once (such as IX, X and X-2) that I'm keen to revisit, in some cases many years after I've played them. And then, of course, there's the matter of V and VI and the fact I've never beaten them at all.

What's brought this on, then? Well, aside from Final Fantasy XIV's love of referencing old games through both subtle and very obvious means, I got a copy of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call for Christmas, and it's just reminded me that this is something I've wanted to do for quite some time now. And if I keep putting it off, I don't think I'll ever do it. So there's no time like the present, I guess; I've ordered a big-ass Vita memory card which should be here over the weekend, and then I'll be jumping right in with the first Final Fantasy very soon. I'll be chronicling my thoughts over at the Squadron of Shame forum as I progress through the various games; watch out for a link once I get underway.

1798: Starlight Vigil

Today I participated in something that I had only previously heard about: an entire online community coming together to pay its respects to someone.

That "someone" was a person whom I only knew as Codex Vahlda, a Final Fantasy XIV player on the Gilgamesh server whom I became aware of this morning after a casual browse of Twitter.

I didn't know Codex at all. I don't even play on his server, so it's unlikely I would have come into contact with him unless he randomly showed up in a Duty Finder group for running a dungeon, since those pull players from several servers to make complete groups.

Sadly, I'll never have the opportunity to know Codex, as he passed away recently due to complications from renal failure. Both he and his family and friends seemingly knew that he was going to pass on, and it was as he lay on what was to become his deathbed that Final Fantasy XIV players from around the world, and from several different servers, all gathered in the same place — the beach in Ward 1 of the player housing district Mist — and held their own vigil for our fallen adventuring comrade.

Normally, this sort of thing is an event that you tend to hear about after the fact, but I happened to be online just as someone on Twitter was posting about the vigil taking place on Ultros, the Final Fantasy XIV server which I call home. Largely out of curiosity, I logged in to take a look at what was happening, ran down to the beach and, sure enough, found a line of players facing out to sea, "wind-up sun" minions out, bathing the group in a soft light, contemplating whatever they chose to be contemplating as they paid their respects to Codex. I joined them.

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After a moment of quiet reflection, people spontaneously began letting off fireworks and balloons — these are items you can acquire in the game and are intended for use upon celebratory occasions such as seasonal events or the newly added "Eternal Bond" wedding system. It was a celebration not only of Codex's life, but also of how one stranger could bring all these disparate people from all over the world together in one place to do the same thing. It was a really, really beautiful moment, and extremely moving.

It's easy to think of the Internet at large, social media and online games in particular, as utterly "toxic" (that's a favourite word of critics at the moment) environments in which everyone is constantly at one another's throats. But every so often something happens that reminds you that an awful lot of human beings are fundamentally decent people, and that regardless of where you're from or what — if anything — you happen to believe in spiritually, the cycle of life and death is, pretty much without fail, something that will always bring us closer together with one another.

Rest in peace, Codex; I never knew you, but I hope wherever you are now, you feel the love of all the strangers who came together to celebrate your life today. May you forever walk in the light of the crystal.

1751: Speaking in Tongues

Page_1 My Final Fantasy XIV Free Company was afflicted with something that seems to come to all MMORPG guilds at one point or another recently: that which is colloquially referred to as "drama".

Ultimately, the drama itself wasn't particularly serious — no-one was hurt and no damage was done, though arguably an ill-thought-out prank by an outgoing member was not the best means of handling the situation — but what I found interesting was the discussions that followed it up.

Essentially, the conclusion that many of us came to is that communication is important. It may sound like a simple piece of advice — common sense, obvious, even — but it's so easy to forget, even in an inherently social situation like a massively multiplayer online game. In a Free Company the size of ours, it's inevitable that cliques form, friendships blossom and smaller subgroups start doing things together. That's the natural way of things, and it's not necessarily a bad thing at all. That is, until it starts having a negative impact on the group as a whole for whatever reason — perhaps some members see these smaller subgroups as somewhat exclusionary; perhaps the subgroups find it difficult to relate to other people; perhaps everyone could just stand to be a bit more open and honest with one another.

There were a number of contributing factors in this instance that I won't bore you with now, but suffice to say that a lack of communication was the root cause of the issues we suffered. And, positively, said lack of communication was correctly identified quickly as the root cause of these issues, and people have been making determined efforts to try and make things right. Although the initial "drama" wasn't particularly pleasant or fun to witness, it turns out it ultimately had a positive impact; people are talking more, cooperating more and doing more things together. Plans have been put in place for more organised cooperation on the more difficult things the game has to offer, and people are just generally being more helpful and pleasant towards one another.

It's testament to the overall quality of people we have in the Free Company as a whole that the active members — many of whom could be argued to be implicated in the whole exclusivity/lack of communication thing — have taken this stuff happening on the chin, haven't got angry and upset and have done something positive from it: they've learned from it, identified things that we can do better and differently for one another, and ultimately the Free Company will hopefully be a far more pleasant place overall as a result.

Me, I'm mostly just glad it all seems to be over and done with for now. I hate to see friends fighting with one another, or — in this case — just misunderstanding one another. It's a great pity that the situation led us to lose a few Free Company members who had been with us since the beginning — and people I enjoyed playing with, moreover — but these things happen, and ultimately we'll be a stronger group as a result.

Now let's all just enjoy the game!

1745: Dreams of Ice

Page_1 Andie and I journeyed all the way back from Aberdeen to Southampton today — a trip that took somewhere in the region of 11 hours altogether. I offered to drive some of the way, but Andie decided that she would be just as comfortable driving as she would be in the passenger seat, so I was relegated to the position of passenger and entertainment-chooser. (We have plumbed the very depths of everything the BBC Radio iPlayer catalogue has to offer.)

We were both quite keen to get back today due to the release of Final Fantasy XIV's fourth major patch, dubbed Dreams of Ice. This is the penultimate big patch in the series before the full-scale expansion drops next year, and as such the main storyline is starting to build to a climax. Alongside that, one of the principal "side stories" — that of the super-difficult endgame dungeons The Binding Coil of Bahamut — finally comes to an end in this patch, so the most dedicated of raiders can take on what is effectively the game's "true final boss" with their friends. Meanwhile, there is plenty of other stuff to keep slightly less hardcore players occupied.

I haven't done everything yet, not by a long shot, and I wasn't expecting to in the space of a few hours this evening. I have, however, had the opportunity to check out two of the new dungeons — Snowcloak and The Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard) — and play through roughly half of the new episode of the main storyline. I haven't yet taken on this patch's "big fight" against ice queen Shiva, but that's coming up, and since my friends and I are yet to clear the Second Coil of Bahamut, the Final Coil of Bahamut is probably some weeks or even months away yet.

There's plenty of new stuff to get stuck into, though, and once the initial excitement of brand-new content has worn off in a few days, there's a lot of gear to set my sights on. The addition of a new endgame currency (and the retirement of one) has led to a new "tier" of equipment being added to the game, and I'm looking forward to seeing the impact that has on the already spectacular amount of damage that my Black Mage puts out without breaking a sweat. I'm also intending on gearing up my Paladin a decent amount, too, because 1) it's already catching up with Black Mage and 2) I'm really enjoying the tanking I've been doing. With our regular group seemingly putting me in one of the tank roles for the Second Coil of Bahamut, it will probably pay to have some better gear, too, anyway.

But now it is 2:45am and I am very tired. Both Andie and I rallied a bit once we got home and started playing, but now I am abundantly ready to go to sleep and hopefully wake up rather late and reasonably refreshed tomorrow. I have the rest of the week off, so I intend to enjoy it fully by bumming around not doing very much at all except playing Final Fantasy XIV. No change there then, huh?

1678: Old Man of the Forest

Been a little while since a Final Fantasy XIV post, so here's one for your delectation: I was fortunate enough to be around for our Free Company's first clear of the Extreme difficulty version of the Ramuh boss fight this evening. I'm thrilled about this; I've never been present for a first kill before, and it's an enormously satisfying moment, knowing that 1) you've been part of the culmination of a group of people's efforts, and 2) your own skills and abilities are up to the task of taking on some of the game's most challenging content.

I'm glad. One issue with MMO endgame play is that after a while, you're so well-geared that a lot of the challenges you'd normally take on become quite easy, and progressing becomes a matter of doing things almost by rote: you know that in this dungeon, you can afford to pull this many enemies before having to stop and fight them; than in this boss fight you need to stand here at this moment in order to make sure you don't die. I don't mind this aspect of play at all, as it happens — I actually rather like the heavily "choreographed" nature of many of the endgame encounters, as it's really quite an awesome sight to see eight people moving as one to dodge incoming attacks and position themselves appropriately to deal as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. But the fact remains: a lot of stuff is quite easy.

Which is why I was keen to challenge myself with the Extreme difficulty boss fights — particularly those against Good King Moggle Mog XII, Leviathan and Ramuh, all of which I was yet to clear. I gave myself a double challenge for the first two by tanking them as a Paladin rather than going as my main class Black Mage; it was a lot of fun, and helped me gain some confidence in what goes on when you're tanking an eight-player encounter. For Ramuh, however, everyone needed to be on top of their game, and as such I was back in my lovely dark blue yukata — my current Black Mage outfit — to take on the old, somewhat electrifying presence of Ramuh.

I'd held off taking on the Extreme primal fights because the initial three against Garuda, Titan and Ifrit were all very difficult — unsurprising, given the Extreme moniker, of course, but I found them rather stressful rather than just challenging. Moogle, Leviathan and Ramuh were all a different matter, however; these were just plain fun fights in which yes, you needed to know and understand all the mechanics well in order to succeed, but they were enjoyable in that everyone had something interesting and useful to do; no-one was stuck just standing around flinging damage or "tanking and spanking".

It was also a great opportunity for bonding with the Free Company members. It's always nice to have the opportunity to do things together with other people, and as we've all been progressing at slightly different paces and discovering the things that we each enjoy doing, it can sometimes feel like those occasions are rare. Tonight was a great example of people pulling together for a common goal, though; we'd decided that we were going to beat Ramuh, and by gosh we sure did at that.

Now it is after 4:30 in the morning and I should probably get some sleep. I anticipate dreams filled with an old, bearded, lightning-flinging man.