Vareal

Not exactly understanding the question?

Nice! I forgot to mention that my load times were basically non-existent, which makes me happy. Also, currently running the benchmark on my laptop. It crashes when I try to run it on max settings, and high is running rather poorly. Hopefully medium will be better.

I'm a fan of stress testing :3

So I decided to run the benchmark with every setting at every resolution on my machine and tell you what I've found. Lets start from the top. My system Specs: 1080p Maximum: While the game looked absolutely beautiful at the maximum settings at this resolution, I did run into some really boggy area's around the third segment of the benchmark. While on any setting at any resolution, my score reached at least 4,500 on the first segment (on other resolutions it was much higher), after that is where the real test begins. While my computer is perfectly capable of handling the game on maximum at this res., I'm not too fond of an average 45.153 FPS. Max test report: High: My computer found this one a little better, it ran smoother with less lagging, though there was still some, mostly in the more graphically intense sections. This is probably the setting I will use when I get into the actual game, but we'll see; a 59.373 FPS average isn't all that bad. High test report: Medium: The smoothest running of them all. Not really much I can say other than who can argue with an average of 85.140 FPS? ;p Medium test report: 720p And now onto 720p. The game itself ran much better at this resolution (again I know that's just my PC in general) but there was a little quirk I noticed that I'll get to in a second that would make 720p the best resolution to run in, despite your machine. Lets take a look. Maximum: This setting ran just about as well as the High @1080p, little lag and mostly smooth sailing @63.330 FPS. Max test report: High: This setting ran EXTREMELY well with almost no lag that I could see. This, if I have to run @720p, will be my setting for the game. @77.009 FPS High test report: Medium: As to be expected, this ran phenomenally. 97.431 FPS average, a score of over 10k... what's not to like? The game still looked beautiful. Medium test report: Custom So, like I said, there was an interesting quirk I found. I decided to run the game on all low settings at two different resolutions: 1024x768 and 720p. Interestingly enough, the game ran better in 720, but what's even more interesting is that, even though the settings were all on their lowest, the game still ran better on medium settings @720. Not what I was expecting, but 720 seems to be the ideal resolution. -even though the game still ran amazingly- 720 Custom 1024x768 Custom So that about sums up my experience with the benchmark. I know this is only specific to my system and yours may function differently. I just wanted to share. Will post the results from my 2011 13" Macbook Pro once windows is done installing.

You'll be able to rock 2.0 even herder with that stuff. What graphics card do you have or are you looking to buy?

Oh man. Did you guys see Camp Tranquil? This game looks so beautiful! And I'm loving the PS3 coverage of it too! Anyway, time to install latest graphics card drivers then benchmark!

I found that the Seven of Swords is best suited to Isaac. If that one's already taken than *EDIT* Oh, major arcana... alright. Hmm. Let me get back to you on that one.

This is the coolest sounding thing ever! Looking forward to seeing some of these.

Welcome to the RPC! Always delighted to see new people! Not to mention their faces! Anyway, please don't be shy on asking questions! Most of us, if not all, would be more than happy to answer them to the best of our ability. For a brief overview of what's happened leading up to the launch of ARR, check this little tid-bit out: http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/misc.php?page=story Also, keep an eye on this thread here: http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1504 Our very own Merri is working on compiling all the cut scenes from the previous version of the game into one, long movie. So keep that in mind. For more information about the game and it's lore right now, check this out: http://www.eorzeapedia.com/wiki/Lore Again, welcome and hope to see you in game!

Very nice work! I really like that last one. Keep up the awesome!!

You know, I'm excited for the video as well. The last part of it, anyway. I got all the way up to the final quest for my character but I wasn't able to complete it because, even though I was lvl 50, I wasn't strong enough to continue and out of the two non RP linkshells I'm in, up near the end of v1.xx, no one was playing, so no help for me. T^T

Thanks! Once ARR gets into full swing, I'll be doing more once I'm able to publish screen shots without the risk of having my account suspended, but I will be practicing with my own beta screen shots. Like I said, I can't really draw so this is my only avenue. Until I get some footage and throw it into Premiere. @Ellie And thanks for letting me know the link was broken and providing another.

I used to have the same problem with photoshop, combining pictures and making something new with them. I thought, seeing as I hadn't used it in forever, that I would have the same problem but I was able to do it with little troubles. To be honest, I only used 1 filter and I only used it twice. I used the artistic brush stroke on both images. For the picture of the Miqo'te, the only color I actually added was the gold. The rest was just using blacks and grays to darken certain parts. These are the layers I used to get what you see: And thank you for all the compliments. :3

Well of course I ran it through some photoshop filters, that was the point. And excuse me if I can't draw, doesn't mean I can't share what I do.

...after not using photoshop for several months, I was surprised that I hadn't forgot how to do things. In light of the new RPC forums and AAR launch on the near horizon -not to mention the beta test next week- I decided to make a new avatar and banner. So here's what I did: I took this picture: And did this to it: I then downloaded both the fan site kits from The Lodestone and the Eorzea font and put this together: Then, using a slightly different background, I made this avatar: Again, I'm proud of myself for this one because I haven't even touched photoshop in several months. Tell me what you guys think. :3

This looked like fun and I immediately knew which three songs I would choose for Isaac. Theme song w/ lyrics: 1EWcqrYV77U The Instrumental side: qeWTsbkw57E ...and a song to sing: IiESgYr35gA

Lol no worries, seems we had the same idea at the same time. I've been away for a few weeks and I usually post newsy stuff from the lodestone and the dev. blog. Good to see people keeping up without me.

Touche Mr. Molotove... -.-

I dunno about you guys, but between the USB card's and these USB drives...they should make them available for purchase because I want one! Also, not sure if anyone has been talking about this anywhere, but seeing as it pertains to news of the game, I got my Beta key this morning at 1:28am. So if you haven't already looked, check your inbox.

This is the briefest of summaries I can write on this expedition, and only risk the bare minimum of facts, lest I be discovered. Time is short and even though my retelling of events is shorter, it has taken me several weeks to piece all this together from some rather shady sources. As I dip my quill into my slowly depleting ink well, I hope not for the last time, and scratch these final few words into this entry, it is my sincere hope that when you read this, whom ever you are, that you take away from these words a more than fundamental understanding of the struggles and suffering the mortal mind can be put through and the strength required to carry on, despite how bleak the future may seem. Learn from this story. Take from it courage, learn from it hope. But above all else, take from it the knowledge that even though times are at their worst and tomorrow seems so very far off in the distance, know that there is a tomorrow, and it is there just beyond the horizon. It all started with a tiny, glass vial. The eight-sided vial, cut at all angles to resemble a gnarled cyrstal, contained a black substance that even through its magical prison, seethed evil. As a member of the former order of the Twilight Guardians, a group of people dedicated to the eradication of vile magicks, Isaac and his partner Elria were tasked with the disposal of the vial’s contents. For fear of opening it and not knowing exactly what the black substance truly was, the pair decided it best to take it far out into the Indigo Deep and sink the vial to the bottom of the sea. Their plan, however, would never come to fruition. With the rising approach of Dalamud, the black substance began to react, as if some how calling out to the heavenly monstrosity. Elria was the first to fall to the substance’s vile magick. With her newly found dark powers, Elria took the Roegadyn Gaiuus, also a member of the Twilight Guardians, and turned him against Isaac. After a bloody and gruesome battle, in which Isaac had received a rather nasty wound to the chest, he was able to fell Gaiuus but not before being touched by the dark magick. Because he had not received a direct blow from Elria’s power, Isaac was not fully infected by the magick, but was instead left to live with it festering within his body, leaving a black, festering gnarled scar that wound up his left arm to his shoulder, where one day it would fully consume him. After three weeks of recovery in Gridania, Isaac set out to find Elria and destroy her and her dark powers. Because he was infected with her magick, Isaac could feel Elria through that link and was thus able to seek her out, finding her in Mor Dhona. As he drew closer to Elria, and Dalamud grew larger in the sky day by day, Isaac began to rapidly succumb to the dark taint within him. When he reached Elria, he was all but gone, lost within his own mind. For the briefest of moments, clarity thundered through Isaac’s mind and he was able to kill Elria and the darkness that was bound to her, yet the taint within him was still there. Before she died, Elria confided in Isaac telling him that Melfina Windsor, better known as the Night Mage and the founder of the Twilight Guardians, was actually a member of the Lambs of Dalamud and had been gathering all the dark and evil magick she had tasked the order to eliminate, and what had happened with the vial was part of a larger scheme, that the black taint was the combined essence of all the black magick Melfina had gathered over the years. Lying near to death in the waste land of Mor Dhona, a lone airship appeared out of the purple haze, landing near by. A Hyur woman with night-blue hair and bluish-white eyes appeared before Isaac, looking nothing more like a specter in his failing state of mind. The woman, named Aaralyn, reached out with her magic to try to save Isaac. In the process, Isaac’s own innate magic touched the very core of her soul, causing a radical change within her. She was able to quell, though not completely banish, the taint spreading through Isaac’s body and contain it to where it started in his arm. Later, when Isaac awoke, Aaralyn explained to him who she was, that she was a member of the Garlean army, and that when she tried to heal him, something had happened to her. Her mind had been freed from the brainwashing the Empire had done, allowing her to think for herself and to see clearly. Isaac thanked her for her assistance, but made to leave, saying only that there was one final task he had to accomplish before he could be at peace, a grievous wrong he had to make right. Aaralyn said that she was going with him, that she had no where else to go, no family or friends, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Isaac was hesitant at first, but in the following days, Aaralyn’s magic proved invaluable at keeping the festering taint within his body from spreading any further. After a week’s travel to Coerthas, Isaac and Aaralyn met up with Isaac’s sister, Ailith. Isaac told his maternal twin sister all that had happened since they last saw each other. At his behest, Ailith summoned a meeting of the Twilight Guardians. After several hours of waiting, the only member to show up was Melfina and thus Isaac’s final battle began. Melfina was powerful. She was able to dispatch Aaralyn, nullifying her abilities, and disabling Isaac. Ailith was able to knock Melfina back long enough to try to help Isaac, but before she could do anything to help him, Melfina ran a dagger into Ailith’s armpit, tossing her aside to bleed out. In a final act of desperation, as Melfina was upon him, Isaac summoned forth all the strength left he had in his body, reaching out and gripped Melfina by the throat and transferred the taint within his body into the Night Mage. So sudden was the impact, Melfina was thrown off into the distance by the surge of the magick. Isaac watched as the force tore an arm and a leg off of her body, sure that she was now dead. With Melfina’s magic banished, Aaralyn was once again in control of her own powers. She rushed to Isaac’s side to heal him, but he told her to worry about Ailith first. Aaralyn was just barely able to save Ailith, but the process had made her weak and she had nothing left to give Isaac save a comforting spell that would put him to sleep and quell his pain. After a few days, the trio were back on their feat, if only a little weary, and made their way west. Ailith had stated, with firm finality, that she was done with Eorzea, and was leaving the continent. A week after Ailith had left, Dalamud descended upon Eorzea. Isaac and Aaralyn were at the edge of the Twelves Wood when the red monstrosity unleashed itself upon the land, and though they were far enough away from the initial impact, they watched on with dread as the monstrosity known as Bahamut was released and ravaged the land. ~From the journal of Pimlin Alcaeus, traveling historian extraordinaire.~

The “view source” icon fixed the issue. Thanks for the speedy reply. (this was copy and pasted from word to test it)

I'm having an issue with the editor when I copy and paste text from a word document. Rather than try to explain what happens, not even sure I could, take a gander at this: this is what happens when I copy and past into the editor. I always preview my posts when I write a story or RP before I post it, so I can catch any typos or code errors. Not sure what this is. I've checked, I am using the default text editor.

Wooo! Look's awesome! Very spiff. Superb job Kylin!

She's my favorite! 'nuff said, check out more at the developers blog: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/blog

Most interesting, Tadir. Most interesting indeed.