YesGood

We have so much in common! Well... half of so much. Okay SO, the 'pirate' accent as we know it supposedly... "Stereotypical pirate accents tend to resemble accents either from Cornwall, South Devon or Bristol in South West England--" So, there's that. And there's a 'southern'-American accent going on somewhere else? Gridania? Has anyone got any idea if there's a difference between Ul'dah people like Momodi and Limsa-folk?

I dunno... I mean, I don't see what can be done about it. I think games like WoW and from what I've heard (mind you, I've only heard about this) FFXI has instilled in many minds this 'you must be this tall to ride this ride' mentality. You gotta be this good because we need to get this blah on grind status. I've healed for one raiding guild in the extent of my (rather small) gaming career. The stress levels were way too high. I hated being in vent, I hated the fighting and the screaming and the finger pointing. I don't find that I play games for end game or raid content because I just don't enjoy it. Even the good runs feel kind of bland to me because I don't get to sit there and enjoy things-- everyone's too busy listening to orders and stuff. I never enjoyed groups of people who refused to take lesser geared or lower level people with them through anything. I understand not wanting to carry someone who is just going to drag the whole group down and yet will need on every single thing they can wear but it doesn't seem fair to treat every new end-level individual that way. Again, like Faye, I'm kinda lost on what can be done about it and more, I'm not sure I would want to infringe on raiders' rights to do whatever they want with their sub time by telling them they need to be more charitable and helpful to others.

Oh? Are we differing on the old school generation of Japanese (that STILL live in Japan. Those that do not are exempt from this rule) being xenophobic (also Tokyo is exempt from this!). Or that my heritage holds the title of having the best sex change operations? The second, unless you are Thai. Because Thais are recognized for their kathoey.

LOL, that is HIRRRARIOUS since when I was younger (many many moons ago ) my old generation of a family also had "old school/traditional" racism towards certain other Asians. Now it is just mainly the older Japanese generation being HUGELY xenophobic. And my people performing the best sex changes the world literally has to offer My heritage begs to diffah, good sir.

Does it make me a horrible person whenever I tell my friends who talk about Asian culture and the like, "ARR RROOK/SOUND SAME!"? Now I'm not saying I'm racist...but I am saying I'm racist I discovered at a young age that the side of my family is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar more racist (particularly against other Asians) than the caucasian side. I find it... shall we say... hirarious? I swear the Limsa and Ul'dah accents -do- sound a touch similar but the Limsa does sound a bit more 'pirate-y' and the Ul'dah sounds... I... er... uh... I 'unno. Feels like so long since I did a cutscene in Ul'dah that I have no idea. And then there's the Sultana's tiny voice with the uber proper sound to it. *flails* My issue thus far is that Sio makes it a point to speak as 'properly' as she can. Very few to no contractions which gives her a somewhat impersonal feel (as is the intent). Once in a while when she gets super angry she dissolves into an accent that's a bit pirate-y. Even when speaking 'normally' she uses a lot of 'ye' 'aye' 'nay' 'naught' 'ought' etc.

Alright so I've had a little trouble with them accents. In WoW it was pretty straight forward... There weren't really a ton of accents, really. In FFXIV I'm having some difficulty. I -know- there's an accent in Ul'dah, and I think there's one for Limsa Lominsa and honestly I'm having trouble telling between the two. I also know the Scions/Circle have their own British thing going on. Anyway, if you guys can identify the regional accents (I really don't think we should discuss whether -every- character in a region has an accent) and give an example of a sentence, I would greatly appreciate it.

....Yeah, Thancred's voice just didn't fit the model at all to me. Every time he spoke, it threw me off. I was too busy squealing over him to notice what he sounded like. I was all "HEY I KNOW YOOOU! YOU SAVED ME LAST TIME!" Mmmm.... Thancred.... I would -love- his voice, actually, if it belonged to a different, maybe older looking character. Pretty sure Minfilia's voice makes my pants fall off though, so it's all okay.

Spears in history usually were pretty straight forward so far as I know. A lot of thrusting and such. There's the naginata but that's a halberd. I think one way to approach spear use in a non-European fashion is going the bo staff route and mingling thrusts with the attacks. Wushu bo staff usage. Spinning a spear would take a little more adaptation depending on the size of the spear head but it would supplement some of that defense that's necessary and help give a spear-wielder more space should their opponent get into their danger zone of close quarters range. Two of our Grindstone members use the spear in different ways, both of which I enjoy.

I was! My name was Vrind Ojaal, I worked with Fynres and his IC wife whose name escapes me for some reason. It was mostly OOC drama stemming from... romantic endeavors, I guess. No need to go into it but I know waaaay more about it than I should. *sigh* Alpha Company... e.e;

The Grindstone FC is on Balmung. We're primarily dedicated to combat RPers and teaching new RPers to combat-- if you're familiar with D&D it's far simpler than that. Of course, we also accept healers in our LS. The Free Company version is more for RP and developing storylines. The people with me so far, though few, are remarkably kind and helpful. If your characters can help either with diplomacy, healing, crafting, financing, or fighting, we'd welcome you to come hang out with us. ^.^

UPDATED: Attached a new website for the Free Company as well as a page including our services that can be paid for ICly and/or OOCly by non-members, link shells, free companies. http://thegrindstone.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=488042&TabID=4204123

*snuggles her Lost River pillow to All of My Love* Longest... five... days.... EVAR.... D:

TT_TT *curls up in a ball* Baaaaaw~! Well, I understand other things must come first!

Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~! BB comes back! Q_Q

Basically, part of being "old" normally comes with a gradual decline in your physical capabilities. An older person is going to, in general, have more difficulty with physical activities as compared to a younger person in the same sort of physical shape. In extremely long-lived races, I'm not even sure calling someone who has lived for 100 years "old" would be accurate if their race lives, to say, 300 years. They might just be hitting middle-age, or their prime. Do we even have concrete lifespans for each race? I'm not sure. Last I saw we were still making some vague guesses at what races might live longer than other races. I mean, in the case of Elves many times they mature gods-know-when but they are still in pretty peak physical shape until they are nearly on their death bed. The usual explanation? Magic. That might apply to some races in Eorzea as well. The thing, and I'll accept senior citizen superhero types regardless, but if the general mentality is going to be 'No, we will not accept your outstanding teenagers with their l33t skillz and some such' then should that mentality -not- apply to Eorzea's old folk? If our excuses are based off of our perception of teenagers, that they're too young and immature or what not to have worldly knowledge and elite combat prowess, isn't it safe to assume that there are likely as many if not more older individuals who suffer that same problem; taking the world as we know it as our example in both cases? I don't want to see a bunch of people jumping on a bandwagon because they think that the people here will think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread only to find out in a week or two that suddenly all of those advocates despise the idea because 'too many people are doing it'. It's an epidemic, so I think it's fair to bring attention to the chances and considerations put into playing older characters rather than having people do them because they feel they'll be filling a niche that they -might- regret later.

I would be careful here, because old(er) certainly does not necessitate grumpy, or even wise. That's true. And age really doesn't equate to much except that with age, there are usually some inescapable physical changes. Slower or faster for some than others. So you two are right, I concede that point, but I still stand by my statement that older people usually have a highly developed personality, view, and history compared to their younger counterparts. It's not only how a player chooses to portray their character but also how other characters view that character. If you're going the route of Gandalf or Saurfang, your mentality is fairly set from everything you've seen and your knowledge, compared to the younger characters, is usually considerably more advanced for a reason. Those two also happen to be unique in their worlds, as I'm sure more 'senior' Eorzean characters would have to be if they're still running around swinging battle axes and getting involved in the drama and rivalries of younger folk, no? If young 'teenage' adventurers who are highly skilled have an issue with perhaps seeming a little too prevalent then wouldn't advanced-aged characters who know a lot and can still manage extraordinary feats of strength, courage, and/or magic also sour somewhat if there are too many of them? But who says that ICly the older characters have to/are running around with axes in the thick of battle? There may be a some like that, even in the real world my old dance teacher who was in her late 60s was far more nimble and athletic than a vast majority of the populace because she has done it all her life and taken good care of her body. That aside though, simply because their body/minds/power may not be at prime, doesn't mean that they don't still have new challenges and change in their life to make RPing with interesting and fun. And even if the character is set in their ways, all the change in the Eorzea over the past years is more than to fuel RP of their being confronted with such and their being forced to adapt or break. One of my primary RP characters is an ex-sailor in his 50s, who has recently had to come to terms with his body no longer being able to take the toils of constant seafaring due to his age, and having to semi-'retire' onto the land. He has very few connections there but for his son, with whom has never been around for long. And yet he is a pretty gregarious personality. There is plenty of room for development, in all pretty much all areas. Just because someone isn't young and spry, doesn't meant they stop living. They don't need to act as an fountain of information, i.e. an NPC. In fact, relegating them to that singular role seems rather disrespectful to them as characters. I was directing most of that combat business to the comments about Saurfang, Gandalf, etc. and where they might be. Namely, who knows? Gandalf was a wizard in the LotR universe but he also pretty much when toe to toe with the Balrog and Saurfang was an Orc. ...I mean... Broxxigar was an Orc, and Saurfang and Brox are about on par in my eyes. I mean to say that if there are a lot of senior citizens doing back flips and punching beasts in the face it might not go over that well. I wish, primarily, that we had something like an average lifespan for races at the very least. Except for Hyur we can really only guess at lifespans which in turn means guessing at maturity and seniority. I won't argue that they all have to be old and wise, they could be as immature, xenophobic, and unworldly as they might be in any other fantasy setting-- But I will say that it seems unlikely that too many of them are still active soldiers or pit fighters-- I guess mage-related things -seems- like it would fit better simply because I've been conditioned by NPCs and characters of other worlds that magic, like firearms and death, are the great equalizer.

I'm not sure which Roegadyn voice I picked... I want to say either 6 or 7. Either way, my /doze is -legendary- in my LS.

After the first minute of that video, pretty much everything made me laugh. It kind of hurt a little... trying to hold in the amusement. Also, I'm not an expert on these things... but I don't think traditional cat girls are considered furry by most...furries. Everything makes me want to punch Jon Bernthal in the face. Everything. But I'm surprised you find that Highlander tacky and not THIS MUSTACHE. Kidding.

I would be careful here, because old(er) certainly does not necessitate grumpy, or even wise. That's true. And age really doesn't equate to much except that with age, there are usually some inescapable physical changes. Slower or faster for some than others. So you two are right, I concede that point, but I still stand by my statement that older people usually have a highly developed personality, view, and history compared to their younger counterparts. It's not only how a player chooses to portray their character but also how other characters view that character. If you're going the route of Gandalf or Saurfang, your mentality is fairly set from everything you've seen and your knowledge, compared to the younger characters, is usually considerably more advanced for a reason. Those two also happen to be unique in their worlds, as I'm sure more 'senior' Eorzean characters would have to be if they're still running around swinging battle axes and getting involved in the drama and rivalries of younger folk, no? If young 'teenage' adventurers who are highly skilled have an issue with perhaps seeming a little too prevalent then wouldn't advanced-aged characters who know a lot and can still manage extraordinary feats of strength, courage, and/or magic also sour somewhat if there are too many of them?

I agree, a big chunk of Eorzea's soldier population - veteran or no - would've died 5 years ago. Young soldiers would also have died, so it's likely the majority of fighters currently active weren't soldiers 5 years ago. It is reasonable to have so many green fighters around, if war claimed that many lives recently. But I also think it's reasonable to assume that most older, seasoned warriors would be in positions of leadership, and while soldiers are disposable, leaders generally aren't. Of course, some leaders will take a Raubahn-like approach to it (Raubahn would have joined the fighting if he had been allowed to; the Echo shows that pretty clearly), but some would be away from the front lines, commanding. They could have survived. Likewise, some veterans would have survived along with some young soldiers. We know it's possible for people to have survived the battle, given Merlwyb&company are still alive. As for why they wouldn't be there - any number of reasons, I think. Some people just aren't the war type. Some may have tried to get there, but Bahamut showed up before they could. Some could have been taken prisoner. Some could have the "let them handle it, we'll die anyway" mentality. There didn't seem to be any Ishgardian leadership at the battle, so anyone from Ishgard has an excuse by default. So there are ways to explain seasoned veterans, if you want to make one! I just think people tend to gravitate toward characters that are closer to themselves in age. I do agree that people like Gandalf, Louisoix and the Padjal would be a little too rare regardless. Mortality rates and retirement would place most soldiers aged 40+ out of the battlefield. 40 isn't old, but chances are you'll be dead, traumatized, or just tired of war and fighting by then. That said, I have exactly one teenager (and I have all 8 alt slots filled, because I'm a loser). I am too old and cranky to think teens are cool. ): I think you've made pretty good points there. I mean, a life of war isn't easy. Those old seasoned veterans probably won't be seeing war into their fifties and sixties because this is melee and magic, predominantly, not fire arms. Either way, if you're actually on the field, you have to be in fit physical shape and age tends to wear away at things. Muscle mass decreases. Your body's ability to heal wears down. Your senses tend to dull over time, especially if you're used to taking concussive blows or your primary skill was far-range archery. You have the mind for it, the reasoning, the understanding of facing an opponent with the mentality of a chess-player-- strategy is a key factor in winning a fight but throughout our history as well as in many lore-situations with different games there are rather few individuals who were great old strategists who took to the battlefield themselves. Heck, even young, brilliant minds for tactics rarely took to the field themselves. Put that senior citizen into the fight and problems begin to arise. Now, if we're talking about seniors in general who are just wise individuals, that's a whole different can of worms there. Basically, one of the down points of it for a player is that playing an older individual sort of denotes that they are set in their ways. It's not really character development for the player anymore so much as helping others develop -their- characters. Romance, which isn't all that important, is probably no longer a viable option or interest. Conflict, being evil, rivalries all seem like they would be beneath a wiser, older individual. Your history is longer than others, and there's just less room for you to change your mind on certain things. It can -easily- but not always, fall back onto that 'Q&A' style of roleplaying where all you're doing is saying 'How would my grumpy old Lalafell respond to this impetuous adolescent'? I could really understand why many people don't want to take that route. Maybe we shouldn't all be teenagers (Siobhain just hit 28 so she's nearing the 30 year old mark) but I wouldn't go so far as to berate anyone for -not- playing an older individual.

Well that sort exists in all realms of reality and at all ages, sadly. The people who want attention, all of the attention and don't want to share any of it are often the same people who instigate issues where there just aren't any. There's really no reasoning with people like that as with that sort of mentality an individual is constantly waiting for any little tidbit of issue to arise that they can use as a catalyst towards their own personal campaign. It's hard to know when someone is that way or when someone is just having a hard day or a hard week. You seem to have done the best you can with the budget allowed. So just keep truckin'.

Also on Balmung. Le sigh. Q_Q Roe x Hyur friendships are second only to Roe x Lala friendships. Your artwork is awesome though.

Wouldn't Eorzea have lost a healthy chunk of their older, more seasoned fighters during the battle at Carteneau? I mean, any situation like that seems to leave the age gap of fighters-- you have the even older ones who still have something to teach and might have to take up their weapons again and you have the ones who were too young or too rebellious to get involved. What were all our seasoned 30-40 fighters -doing- that prevented them from wanting or trying to get involved in protecting everyone from the Garlean Empire? Or was everyone that age affected by the 5 year jump? Saurfangs and Gandalfs and so on were special cases to begin with-- People beyond a certain age, trailing on upwards towards their fifty-equivalents are probably focusing more on spreading their wisdom around now rather than risking losing it before they have a chance to pass it on. There'll be exceptions but in any game or story or even in history, people like Saurfang, at least, are excessively rare... And let's face it, people like Gandalf are pretty rare too. Louisoix is pretty much on par and then there are the Padjal who we can assume are quite old -but don't show it- but otherwise how many old warriors have we seen so far? Papashan? They seem vastly outnumbered in the story itself and I think there's a decent reason behind it.