Oli!

Special note: If you're up for some Day-One modding, someone has already released a slightly-modded visual preset that enhances some of the shadows and colors, and gets rid of some of the overlay haze. I don't know how they did it so early, but HEY WHO'S COMPLAINING. If that sounds like a good deal to you, then take a look at it here. There's a lot of neat comparison shots too, if you want to take a closer look at the changes.

Depending on what you're looking for in terms of personality types, chakra alignments, and so on, I might be able to recommend a few.

WE ARE LESS THAN 24 HOURS AWAY FROM THE PROMISED LAND HOME STRETCH BOYS HOME STRETCH

!!!!!!!!!! S0ximxe4XtU

Games have already started shipping for some people, a friend of mine in NYC and another in Florida have both gotten their tracking numbers today.

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Enemies with THM / BLM skills are seen in the Vault in the form of priests and deacons, so I would assume that they see it much like the rest of Eorzea sees the same sort of magic, a.k.a. A Kind of Magic That Is Used, albeit by a select few (in Ul'dah this would be those that the rather restrictive Thaumaturges' Guild decides to let in, while in the case of Ishgard, it would be Halone's clergy).

The question I have (which is the same question that I always have when it comes to this sort of thing) is that if it's so much easier to use, and simple enough that anyone can think of it, then why hasn't it been in practice for generations or more?

THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT THREE DAYS OUT

They mentioned invisible monk weapons. PATCH NOTES SHOW ME THE MONEY.

FOUR DAYS FAM BEST BUY SAYS THE ORDER'S BEING PREPARED OH MAN WE'RE SO CLOSE WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING

GET OUT

OKAY IT'S FIVE DAYS NOW FIVE-DAY HYPE START

PIP-BOY APP IS ON THE STORE CHECK YOUR CREDIT-CARDS, BEST BUY CHARGED THEM THIS MORNING IT'S HAPPENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

I actually found one of those leaks, but I couldn't bring myself to watch it when it was done downloading. I need the full experience. ALSO IT'S TECHNICALLY 6 DAYS.

HOLY SHHHHHIT I CAN'T WAIT

ONE WEEK OUT FAM ONE WEEK OUT CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH LONGER

I like that last one, what was your process for it?

HYPEITY HYPE HYPE HYPE PIP BOY EDITION INC, ETA 10 DAYS N E E D I T

The main problem that I have with currency systems is that some people only end up investing in the time to gain a little bit of said currency, others invest a moderate amount of time and get a moderate return, and some people invest a lot of time, and get a large return. And then there are people that invest so much more time and get so much more back than anyone else, that they become a major player that dwarfs all other characters. I mean the people that acquire so many things that they end up having The Most Powerful Sword, a ring that smites demons, a hundred Trinkets of Magical Power, and some Plot-Handwaves on the side, or something like that. Even if everyone in the group ends up on this level, if someone new joins, they'll be vastly beneath these other people. I understand that as far as things go in the context of this particular group, things will be traded for Plot Happenings, as opposed to actual character power. The question then becomes this: A new person, or someone with vastly less feather-power than everyone else wants in on some of these interactions and plot-hooks in order to encourage interaction or interest in their character, but unlike everyone else who is throwing feathers around to get all the interactions they want, this person only has so much; how are they going to get all the interactions and hooks that they want to have, and that the FC provides, without having to put in "work" which might eventually become rather tedious, such as making art for everyone, or posting tons of character journals? As much as people love doing these things, myself included, as soon as it starts to feel like something that you're just doing in order to get to an end result, people could start to lose interest rather quickly. There's also the question of what people are allowed to do with their character both with and without the need for feathers. Are there any particular additions to a character that someone cannot make without requiring a feather? If not, then what purpose does the feather system serve? If so, then how would people react to having their characters limited in such a way, and / or what sorts of confusion would arise from that? Either way, if you're looking for people to help set this up and brainstorm plot directions and group concepts with, I would be more than happy to be one of those people.

I'm interested in this, and I'm also FC-less at the moment, but what I want to know more about the group's IC concept. What's present on the site seems a little vague, and I understand that this is intentional, but it unfortunately doesn't make for a very convincing sales-pitch, at least to me. I'm also somewhat wary of the transaction system; it seems that those that don't have much time to do anything other than live life and play the game might find themselves at a bit of a loss as far as certain kinds of participation within the group goes. I might have a bit of a bias in this area, however, as I've always been rather wary of currency-transactions within RP groups. Additionally, I would also like to know how plots are supposed to work. Many groups that I've been in in the past seemed to have a problem with, or were otherwise inflexible regarding, story-heavy events run by people that aren't officers or people that have some sway over the direction of the guild story. As someone who likes to run events of all sorts, this was particularly stifling to me. How is this going to be handled within the context of this FC?

The idea of an Ishgardian ambassador wouldn't have been particularly frowned upon, because we already knew beforehand that they once held relations with the outside world, and certain houses still do under the practice of hiring foreigners on occasion to work with them. In fact, some people did roll with that concept. It's different for Garlemald, because it's made very clear that they wish to conquer for the sake of what they consider to be the Greater Good. Regardless, if we were to theorycraft about their internal government, it would be more plausible to assume that it is similar to the later days of Rome, than to make something up entirely from scratch, considering their naming conventions, military makeup, and general outlook towards the world at large. If we were to assume an absolute parallel with Rome (which it could be argued is unlikely in totality, but considering the way that other city-states are modeled, it is nonetheless likely to be close), then we would be able to assume that those that question the Emperor's judgement would be suspect to immediate persecution by his hand; the Garlean emperor would also be able to refuse any legislation allowing for diplomacy if they willed it, and would also have control over the entirety of Garlemald's standing army. The question then arises of, if this were true, how come there was such a large dispute between members of Garlemald during Project Meteor? There are several possibilities. 1.) Emperor Galvus's Health. It's implied during ARR that Galvus is ill, and losing grip on his power as a result. We're not entirely sure when this happens, so it's unclear whether his health was failing during the Project Meteor incident as well. Either way, as of HW, he is dead. 2.) Garlean Generals Doing Whatever The Hell They Want. Also possible, but seemingly unlikely, since you'd think that there would be some crackdown on that. At the same time, however, Nael van Darnus was pretty clearly loopy later on in the storyline (and was also seen among members of Garlemald as a little too extremist for anyone's tastes), and Gaius van Baelsar didn't seem to give much of a shit about the "official" abandonment of invasion plans either. This possibility, however strange, may also be granted further potential if one considers that the Garlean public at large was rather opposed to Project Meteor; that's a pretty clear indication of a higher-up somewhere just not giving a shit. 3.) Imperium maius. This is a special kind of commanding authority that was present later on in Roman history. Although some Emperors had greater control over Rome's armies than others, under later forms of Roman government, what made the Roman emperor special was that, despite having the ability to call and end senate meetings (despite having only a little more power than a normal senator, as well as absolute judicial ruling) was the ability to show up on the field of battle, and immediately assume command, so long as he stayed there. If he's not there, then the highest commanding officer that is not the Emperor (usually a general) would have command as they normally would. If Galvus wasn't able to make it out to Eorzea and issue command, it's likely that the Generals were free to do what they wanted by Garlean law of command, or just because no orders made it out to them. Personally, I would put my stock in imperium maius being the reason. This is because after killing Bismark in HW, we get a prime example of whatever the Garlean version of imperium maius is in action; the newly-appointed Garlean Emperor Varis zos Galvus swoops down, waves his command of his army in your face, shows off his cool airship, and leaves. Despite the presence of Regula van Hydrus, the legatus of the legion you see in that cutscene, it's very clear who the troops are listening to. If you combine Possibility 3 with Possibility 2, then you'd get the most likely scenario for why that happened, in my mind. The gist of what I'm trying to get at is that if we're going to theorycraft about Garlean government, the best thing we're likely to get is something that looks like the Roman Empire, which is clearly reflected in the names, army-ranks, etcetera, that Square Enix gives us. It's also possible that all of this is moot anyway; regardless of whether or not Garlemald is open to diplomacy, Ishgard most certainly isn't, considering that they have joined an Alliance whose sole purpose at the moment is telling Garlemald to F-off. So no matter how much we speculate on what's happening in Garlemald's government, the thing is, we know what's going on with Ishgard's government, and they're not open to negotiation.

It can get pretty dead for a few hours at like 5-6 in the morning EST, but other than that, it's usually fine. Kind-of both. Squeenix doesn't have very good servers it seems, and on top of that Balmung is severely overloaded. Things like mass-lag and shared disconnects are becoming frequent as of late. Though I would also chalk at least some of it up as being due to distance. Either-way, welcome!

Friendly reminder that we're at the perfect height for a crotch uppercut.

I think a big part of it is the common blurring of a Lack of Seriousness with Whimsy, which is something that I run into a lot, since I enjoy copious amounts of the latter in my roleplay. It's similar to the misconception that Serious things are necessarily "Dark." It's not something that can held up as an inexcusable fault of one's understanding, since they're very similar things, but it's very possible for Whimsy and Seriousness to exist simultaneously. Whimsy, by itself, is either a state of constant change, or a state of odd / extravagant / "larger than life" behavior or appearance. The co-existence of Whimsy and Seriousness is actually what makes certain stories so appealing to large audiences; this partnership is what makes us cry at bright and colorful stories like Up, Wall-E, and Toy Story, for instance. It's also what lets us latch onto the brighter parts of darker stories, such as just about everything related to the Shire in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or the Ewoks versus the Empire in Episode VI. Whimsy can be used as comic relief in a character (such as the bumbling, fussy nature of C-3PO), but it can just as easily be used to convey an oddity or peppiness that serves as a foil to a current mood, without seeming out of place or solely for the sake of comedic relief (such as Martin Freeman's portrayal of Bilbo Baggins, or really, Martin Freeman's portrayal of just about anything). The Joker, for example, is an extremely whimsical character. But you probably wouldn't consider him Funny or Insincere in most settings and under most circumstances. This combination also allows for some of the most unique aesthetics or styles in storytelling, such as Neil Gaiman's various works (Coraline being a particularly good example), and just about anything by Tim Burton. The often-forgotten movie "9" has both Whimsy and Seriousness simultaneously baked into its setting and style. Very rarely have I seen non-serious lalafell in roleplay. But I have seen plenty of Whimsical ones, and play one myself. If you look at the distinction between Unseriousness and Whimsy, you might find that most people play lalafell more seriously than you think.