Satisiun

So this is a question to all the crafters out there. As you probably well know, there is a wiiiiiiiiide (that probably could've used a bit more 'iiiiiii') level gap between the nublet secondary tools (all level 1), and the next level of secondary tools (all level 27). So I was curious, with the exception of the gathering secondary tools (which you very well need, no matter what), have you just been tossing your secondary tool when you get in to the better primary tools, a la levels 7 or 12? I ask because I don't want to feel like I am missing out on something by throwing away a whole 8 secondary tools for some desperately needed inventory space. Obviously SE stated in one of their FAQs about synthesizing that secondary tools have different effects depending on the crafting type (quality over quantity, for example), but with no comparable secondary tools in existence so far, it seems counterproductive to use these and risk blowing up a more difficult synth, all because the tool is below the recommended craft level.

An aaaaaaaafternoon delight, at that. ... :lol:

Oh, by the by. Did I mention how much I hate the boat? Because I really, really hate the boat. I hate it even more when I remember the enjoyment I received out of the boat in Final Fantasy XI. It's sort of a case of "You don't know what you had until it is gone", but that also added something to the atmosphere. -The monsters that could spawn on deck. They gave you something to do, or even run from. :lol: -The nice, relaxing 13 or so minutes of watching the sea, listening to the music (this new boat music is, pardon my french, fucking dildos), fishing. -The pirates that could potentially attack your boat ride. -Sea. Freaking. Horror. -Being able to actually just hang on the pier, instead of being forced to auto-board (auto-running against the dock did just fine 99.9% of the time to board when the boat arrived if you were afk, thank you). This boat? This is just a freaking barge with a lower deck. The music is so melodramatic for such a boring boat ride I want to heave, and not from being sea sick. So. Yeah. There's another case of atmosphere ruined between the two games. Just my opinion, of course.

I think something that has killed that sense of exploration for me is ... well, it's twofold. One of them is simply to be expected from a new game, but the other is a very important game mechanic. The World Size - Look, there's really no way of putting it nicely. Eorzea, or at least what we can explore of Eorzea, is woefully small when you get down to brass tacks. Part of it is because despite the fact that the each zone is effectively the size of 3-5 zones in Final Fantasy XI combined (or an FFXI region sans the load times), the lack of "zoning" seems to add to the smallness, surprising as that might sound. There's also the fact that when you do zone, you've already made it to the backyard of one of the other cities. When Ishgard becomes available, for example? You're literally not going to find a single zone that doesn't have a city to enter inside of, with the exception of Mor Dhona. But as this is a new game, like I said up at the top, to a degree this can be expected. Leves & Aetheryte - I may get a lot of flak for this, but let me just preface what I am about to say. I enjoy leves. I also enjoy being able to teleport. It saves so much time and energy when you compare it to the slow, plodding process of, say, running from Gridania all the way to Limsa Luminsa. And the leves are a great source of income, as well as a way to keep me going for a reason when it comes to building up my field, combat, and crafting jobs. But the simplicity of Aetheryte travel (for example, you don't need to link to one if you have a friend who already has access to an Aetheryte crystal), and the fact that you go to all the different cities well before you even hit level 10 (mostly because of the desire to find the best leves, or grab others when you run out in one city), has effectively killed the sense of exploration and adventure that you got as a nublet in Final Fantasy XI. Not only that, but in Final Fantasy XI, you had some more overarching purpose to go to the other cities outside of finding the best leves, or visiting one of the other craft/job guilds. The diplomat/emissary missions, for example. Or going to Jeuno the first time after being told you were being sent there to link up with the embassy there. People complain about how Final Fantasy XI didn't hold your hand compared to, like, World of Warcraft. But compared to what Final Fantasy XIV is, FFXI is almost like being buckled in and given a guided tour! (By the way, any other FFXI alumni notice how the newest Developer Q&A strictly outlines you can't change nations or see other nation stories? Remember how you could do that in FFXI, instead of having to blow more money on Character IDs? Yeah ...) Anyway. That's all I got. Speaking as an FFXI veteran of 6 years.

I guess I did! But, no, you're reading too much in to it. I made my post, realization set in upon proofreading that I could be mistaken for meaning something I hadn't meant in the first place, got too lazy to make myself more clear, left it as is, then simply got a chuckle when someone (you) walked in to what I didn't originally mean to allude to. Made a joke about it being a 'trap', or 'bait', and that's that.

I wasn't alluding to that, but thanks for taking the bait. I sort of had a hunch if I left my post ambiguous someone would. :lol: Not to mention I was more just making a comparable to my (bad) joke/reason for APB's makers going belly up, not Squaresoft to Square-Enix.

No, that is not true. APB was completely shut down because Realtime World (the company running it) went bankrupt. Right. And they went bankrupt because the "huge issue with the way the game was designed" was that it was designed to not sell well, thus leading to bankruptcy. :lol: That was an awful joke. I know. Though it reminds me, remember what happened after Squaresoft lost all that money from The Spirits Within? Yeah.

1) Hold down "Scroll Lock". 2) Click "Print Screen" (while still holding down "Scroll Lock"). 3) ??? 4) PROFIT!!!

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out actually, Frey (the 'all four cores' part). I forget that between when I got my own computer and present day, game designers finally caught up and started putting all of them to use in more and more games. :lol: Wasn't the case back around mid-2007. So even just a couple Mhz of difference between chip types (or even none at all as is Noelle's example) can be a big difference.

Might want to share your GPU specs, too? I mean, hell, I'm on a 32-bit OS with only 3 GB RAM, and I don't seem to be having as much an issue as you are. ... though in fairness, I have a Core 2 Quad @ 2.40 Ghz, but I don't think that's too huge a difference, really. (I also sport a GeForce GTS 250 for a GPU; which is amusingly not optimal compared to other GPUs out there either, but I run anywhere between 25-50 FPS at most all times when at a respectable 1440x900.)

(A few days after the first posters began appearing in Gridania ...) "Come one, come all! Take a poster, if you will! Support the finer arts of the continent by showing your interest in The Rosewood Company!" The booming, yet feminine voice of the Duskwight Elezen echoed across the street situated below her, as she paraded back and forth in front of The Quicksand's decorative, outdoor fountain. Vespaa Vaneslin had been busily proselytizing since some hours prior, and beside her was a still modestly sized stack of parchment yellow documents which she happily was handing out to any and every citizen, adventurer, and all persons who did not fit either of those two categories. Normally this was not her usual manner of doing things. But when she had heard that her friend Satisiun, whom she had known since childhood, was trying to help out a certain performing Miqo'te that had caught his fancy, she felt all but obligated to make sure that she helped her friend in any way possible. After all, just seeing Satisiun looking a bit more happier than he normally was (which is to say, always mellow and about average in demeanor) meant that this Miqo'te was doing something right. Just as Vespaa was handing yet another one of those parchments over to a passing citizen, she heard a guffaw come from near the doors of The Quicksand, her Elezen ears perking as her focus on her task was distracted just enough for her to avert light green gaze towards what appeared to be a rather gruff Roegadyn, who was amusedly responding to the poster alongside a Lalafel companion perched on his broad shoulder. At first it seemed like he was letting out a hearty, positive laugh, but Vespaa felt her ears droop and eyebrow twitch as she watched the Roegadyn not only let loose a rather hefty spit into the paper, but then crumpled it up and let it fall to the ground, much to the gleeful delight of her smaller, vagabond companion, who let out an amused giggle. "Bah! Ye think people are really going to show interest in such tripe?" The Roegadyn bellowed with a smug grin on his face once he spotted that Vespaa was watching him, the Duskwight Elezen crossing long, slender arms across her chest as he took heavy steps towards her. "Nothin' but wenches and men of questionable sanity dancin' around like fools, is all this is. If you want some 'entertainment', Ul'dah has plenty enough of it, if you get what I am referrin' to." Vespaa normally looked rather cold, and considering her pale skintone combined with hair as white as a Moogle's fur tuft, she was looking rather frigid as she regarded the boorish Roegadyn, all while his Lalafel companion continued to snicker at his every rude word. Careful, metered steps would bring her right up to the man, who towered over her a good foot or so. Eyes gazed north as she gave a disarmingly polite smile. "And I don't suppose you would know how to show me that very 'entertainment', would you?" The Elezen asked, her tone positively sweet as Syrphid Honey, with matching glittering green eyes to boot. "Oho, looks like you understand what I am sayin', little lady!" The Roegadyn said with a grin so wide he surely must have had more teeth than the norm. "How's about you ditch this silly little job of yours handin' out flyers an--" The Roegadyn would never finish what he was trying to say, as with an almost inhuman bit of speed, that same slender arm which looked as soft as a feather flew upward, and with the force of an iron ingot slammed right in to his chin. The impact, coupled with the unexpected nature of the attack and the male's underestimation of the more petite Elezen basically led to that single strike sending him wobbling, stumbling, and crashing with a heavy thud to the concrete street, head cracking back on the ground just hard enough to leave the man unconscious. The Lalafel, meanwhile, had fallen off his larger friend's shoulder during the original strike, hitting the ground with an 'oomph!' and almost nearly being crushed by his toppling titan of a companion. He yelped, and almost immediately scrambled to his feet just as Vespaa was turning towards him, a rather malicious glint in her eyes as knuckles were cracked. "When your big friend here wakes up," Vespaa started, as she slowly bent to one knee, that same sweet smile from before on her lips. "Tell him to be a little bit more respectful to the fine arts, will you, dear?" The Lalafel looked positively ready to scream in horror as one of her hands reached to him, but instead of punching him gave his sandy-haired mop of a head a gentle pat. At this point he simply let out a gasp, and fainted beside the Roegadyn. Doing her best not to smirk too much, Vespaa headed back to the pile of parchments, and continued with her helping to spread the word about The Rosewood Company, that little scene bringing with it some new eyes, not to mention more business and interest in taking a parchment to read as well. (Special thanks to Vespaa (real-life and FFXI friend) for letting me use her character for this bit of creative writing. Now no Ul'Dah-lian has an excuse not to know about this IC, either. )

Can always go the "jack of all trades" route. With the exception of Piety, damn near all my stats are within a 2-3 point margin of one another. Mainly because while I will indeed focus on Lancer, I know sooner or later I'll regret overemphasizing one thing over the other. There's also speculation about crafting jobs having focuses on certain attributes as well. Again, speculation for the moment, but it's worth keeping in mind as I am sure you'll be aiming to choose a craft for profit's sake, if not for gearing yourself.

Good job, Frey. Thanks for sharing. Sadly, this makes me actually pine for the days of XI. Back then they didn't save the macros server-side automatically, either. However there was a key combo you could input at the character selection which would actually let you save the highlighted character's in to a server-side slot, and then another key combo you used to load the same saved macros and settings to another copy.

Fine! You want cheerful? :twisted: I'll give you cheerful~

>Cheer up Thread >Cheer up ;_; But ... but touching can also make you happy! Thus, cheerful!

Does "touching" also count?

Ah? So are aggressive monsters no longer given any sort of pre-aggro grace period before they notice and attack someone who they spawned on top of or within their aggro zone, as was the case of XI? Shoddy bit of programming and unfairness, there.

You know, actually. Let me just toss in something after chewing on this, and also talking to a fellow RP friend on this. It should be noted that such description or narrative doesn't work in all settings or scenes. Group events, for example. Situations in which there may be a certain number of players at the same time. You can't waste time just droning on and on about how your character is thinking about kittens, while never adding anything to the scene itself that other people can respond to. It's rude, boorish, self-centric, and annoying. Also, it really depends on how you do it, too. Bleating out blunt things in the emotive/narrative parts of an entry such as "He is lying" or "He lied" before or after a character says something is just asking for trouble. Like many things, it involves a subtle touch. It involves adding something without making the other player feel as if they are obligated to respond to it, but still adds some depth to the scenario. Having said that. Having said that, when you are "trolling" for someone to play with (so long as you don't go and inundate the entire damn chat window). Or when you are with just one other person, or even two other people who you are able to bounce stuff off of with ease despite being a "group" per se, that is a different story. You're able to spend more time fleshing out the narrative, without having to worry about either being left behind while everyone else gets in two, three, four inserts in to what is happening, and in turn finding yourself interrupted over and over. And that's all I got.

Also keep in mind that SE probably seeks to gain from this more than any of you scrags (... I love that word. Damnit, Limsa Luminsa). Earlier on in development and prior to game release, it was made clear they intend to charge $1 per each additional retainer after the first. You can probably figure it out yourself who benefits best in this situation just from that bit of knowledge alone. Especially since the game effectively forces you to be buried to your neck in regents and materials due to the multiple crafts needed for a vast majority of items.

... so you're telling me that I should not have expressed any sort of hint at what he was thinking in this? That just seems silly, and cuts down on what I believe is good additional depth of description or narration ongoing in the scene. The posted example is out of context, I admit, but it should be enough of an example.

You can't blame the writer for what the other person decides to drag from writer narration or inner monologue to knowing and responding to verbally. That's just ten degrees of Cheet-o's Brand Cheesy. :? Then again, some people look at what they write more in the scope of writing a book (albeit as a team project, it being RP and all). And last I checked, books are chock full of writers narrating what a character is thinking, or adding flavor beyond just their physical actions and verbalized words.