Rikitiki

Personally, I'm just Besaid myself with joy that we've a home. :mrgreen:

The envelope, please!

Where the heck do you get this stuff, Ren?

Wow! Very nicely done! :approve: Looking forward to the first issue.

And now a word from our sponsor. :cheer: :bounce: :cheer: RAWRCastielRAWR :cheer: :bounce: :cheer: We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

... you've gotta be kidding. Non-caster classes can go wherever they want whenever they want. Casters are on a leash. What are we supposed to do in a dungeon? Are there going to be aetheryte crystals sitting around in the kobold version of Castle Oztroja? I can see the logic in not granting MP regen in passive mode... but at least give us some kind of option for regaining MP in the field that does not involve a 30-minute timer. ::grumble::

Well, I will probably end up leveling Gladiator *grumblemumble* because I really want to see if the wand + shield route is viable (vs. staff) for Conjurers, and it will probably be really hard to skill up shield when somebody else is tanking.

APM and UG made it to Zam! And the front page of the wiki, no less.

Well, it does happen after the events of the first game, but that's all I really know. Well, that and you play as a guy who escaped the Blight by way of being somewhere else when it happened.

You're kidding. Zantetsuoken (sp?) actually *works*? That completely defies FF tradition! You're supposed to die a hundred times to instant-death spells, and when you finally can cast them yourself, they never ever work except on rarabs!

Rikitiki = Rikkitikki Tavvy

You invite a friend over to your house for the afternoon. Describe what your friend would see upon entering your home. Well, you see, I don't actually *have* a home at the moment... During the casual small-talk that ensues, your friend asks you if you have read any good books lately. How do you respond? "Oh, have you read Irving's Circles within Circles? He postulates that there's actually a reverse flow among the primary elements that causes an equal and opposite amount of thaum-- your eyes are glazing over, aren't they?" Your friend eventually leaves, and you're still bored. Restless, you leave the house and set out for a walk. Describe the neighborhood you live in. Being homeless, I live in the worst part of town, with the rest of the people who have nowhere else to go. Big shipping crates have been crammed into back alleys and turned into "houses". Occasionally you'll see the city guard, but they're not there to protect anyone but themselves... usually just dragging a few corpses out of the area to be burned before they draw a plague. Oh no! An orphan is in trouble! Down the street from where you stand, a small street urchin is being bullied by three larger youths. What do you do about it? "Leave him alone, or you'll regret it." "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, you little -- AAAAHH!! Ow ow ow! You set my foot on fire!!" "I warned you. Now get outta here, cretins." "Gee, thanks, mister! I--" "Listen, kid... I won't always be here to defend you. You need to find a way to defend yourself. Even if it's just being able to run faster than everybody else. Give it some thought, okay?" "Okay..." "Good. Now run along, and be careful." Adventure time! The next day, still restless, you decide that what you need is a good change of pace. How do you pack for your four-day road trip to Ishgard? Hmmm, four days... first I'd have to scrounge up enough food and water for the trip, and there probably wouldn't be much room for anything else. Also, I'd bring everything else I usually carry, including my wand, my alchemy kit, and a sturdy knife. Along your journey, you spot some bandits waiting at a bridge across a wide but slow moving river up ahead of you. They haven't seen you yet. You need to cross the bridge to get to where you're going. How do you handle the situation? Hide and wait. It's the road to Ishgard. Somebody's bound to come along that will either a) have enough guards to defend themselves and appreciate a timely warning, or b) cause a distraction big enough for me to sneak across. Who knows? I might get to ride with a big merchant caravan and get real food the rest of the way. You have just arrived for the first time in a new big city. Where do you go first? A bookstore! I'll bet they've got a copy of Minerva's Canticles of Conjury... what do you mean, it's the original?! For being the 1,000th tourist to the city, you have been given a 6,000 gil voucher to spend as you like at the Ishgard Department Store (think FFXIV version of Macy's). What do you spend it on? I'm sorely tempted to buy a big stack of books, but I'd have to bring them back, and... I haven't got anywhere to put them, so they'd just get stolen and burnt for warmth. I'd buy a few changes of clothes, a couple of hats, and for goodness' sake a new pair of shoes. And a nice big backpack. This scrounged-up knapsack I got here with is falling apart at the seams. And of course, when I'm down to my last 1,000 gil, I buy the thing in the front window that's advertised for 1,000 gil, then come back two hours later and return it to a different person who doesn't know I paid with a voucher, and gives me gil instead. Hey, I need to get back home somehow.... All of that shopping has made you deliriously hungry. What sort of food establishment do you seek out for lunch? Fish! I'll bet they have fish here. I've only ever had fish once, and it wasn't even good fish, but it was delicious! What? They have seven different kinds of fish?! Okay, that's it, I'm booking passage back home and then I'm coming back to eat... Five months later and safely back at home, you realize the Winter Festival is approaching! What sort of present do you pick out for your mother (or nearest living relative, or closest friend)? Well, if my lot doesn't improve, I'll be standing out in the market with the rest of the urchins, trying to get handouts from rich people who feel guilty just letting us sit there and rot. Presents are for people who have money. Here's hoping things start looking up...

I suppose it might be interesting to bring out The Scoville Scale of Spicy Hotness. Also, I looked at the list and the fourth-place item jumped out at me. Bhut Jolokia / Naga Jolokia. Aren't those the names of mithra in Vana'diel somewhere? (Also also, on topic, I love hot wings, although the concept of "ass-burner" wings is rather frightening )

Although I'm pretty sure it wasn't canon, sometimes my FFXI character (Ruro-Kuro) would discuss obscure points of magical theory, in which a "thaum" was a unit of measurement of magical power. I'm pretty sure I appropriated that from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, though.

"We've been watching you for some time now, Mr. Anderson. It seems you've been leading.... two lives." :afro:

Thanks everyone! I got everything hooked up. My Toshiba has this thing called "game mode" which speeds up the display speed, as well as "native display" mode that fixes the overscan, so it's all good. Looking forward to some time in Beta!

I have a silly question. My monitor-to-be is a 32" 720p LCD HDTV. I'll be connecting it via HDMI, so it'll be just like hooking up a Playstation in that regard. What I don't know is how HDTVs work as monitors. I know that LCD monitors have a "native resolution" (like 1280x1024 for my current screen). Since 720p is 1280x720, would I be best served running in 1280x720 regardless of what higher-resolution video modes might be available? Would my TV try to "help" by down-scaling any higher resolution that I tried to send it into 720p?

While I agree with the "why don't you, y'know, *play the game*?" crowd, I suspect that S-E will add /attack at some point. Personally I like auto-attack because you can focus on the other buttons you're supposed to be hitting and your default punch-punch takes care of itself.

And French-derivative .

The sun blazed relentlessly down upon the sands of Thanalan. Dunes indolently stretched and rolled as far as the eye could see. Nothing stirred upon the desolate landscape... except for one small dune, which wasn't a dune at all. A copper-skinned Roegadyn burst forth from the sand, coughing. It was some time before he was able to catch his breath. He brushed small piles of sand off the shoulders of his leather armor and roared, "Kaltan!" "Tower!" came the distant response. A highland Hyur in dark leather armor staggered over the crest of a nearby dune. "How many did we lose?" yelled Tower. "Three!" shouted Kaltan, before taking a bad step and nearly rolling down the face of the dune. Tower cursed vehemently as he strode over to help Kaltan to his feet. "What happened?" "What do you think happened? I've never seen a sandstorm like that! They managed to pull the chain free and ran off into the storm. Manacles and all. They're dead." "Thal's teeth!" Tower spat. Kaltan grunted. "And I was looking forward to the extra -- wait a minute. You hear something?" The two men paused, listening carefully. After a few moments, Kaltan pointed east. Tower nodded, and the two men stalked cautiously in that direction. ---------- "Unca Dom? Wake up, Unca Dom! It's blown over..." A young lalafell of perhaps ten cycles poked and prodded his prone adult companion. Both were dressed in simple green robes. The adult wore a green cloth cap, with a yellow scarf tied around the forehead, the tail of the scarf hanging off to one side. A pair of glasses lay next to him, as if fallen off his head. He did not stir. "Unca Dom..?" Realization began to dawn on the child as his uncle failed to respond. Tears flowed freely down his face as he gently shook his uncle. "Please wake up, Unca Dom... please wake up..." At last, he rested his head on his uncle's chest and sobbed uncontrollably. He was completely unaware of the large shadow that had suddenly covered them both. "Kid? Kid!" Tower gently picked up the young lalafell as Kaltan examined the older one for signs of life. "You okay?" "Unca Dom..." he managed through his tears, hanging limp in the roegadyn's hands. Kaltan looked up and shook his head. "He's gone." The child wailed in grief. Tower rocked him back and forth gently in a vain attempt to comfort him. "Eh, leave the kid, Tower. He's not gonna fetch--" Tower turned on Kaltan. "Are you -- I am not leaving a child alone out here!" "What, you're going for sainthood now? There's no gil in --" "NO!" The very force of Tower's voice kicked up sand. The child immediately grew silent and gazed fearfully at Tower, who didn't seem to notice. His voice softened to a near-whisper. "My mother left me in the desert to die. I won't let it happen to him." "Okay, okay, relax, big guy." Kalten waved his hands before himself in a gesture of surrender. "You gonna adopt him, then?" Tower shook his head. "This is no life for kids, Kaltan. We'll just have to find somebody to take him in." He turned his gaze back to the child, who lay trembling in his hands. "Sorry, little guy. I didn't mean to scare you. Got a name?" "R--r--Rikitiki," the child managed brokenly. "Have you got any other family?" "Mama and Papa..." "Back on the islands?" Rikitiki nodded slowly. "Well, I'll tell you what, little fella. We're going to Ul'dah, and I'll bet we can send a message to your folks and find somebody to look after you until they can come for you." "But... Unca Dom..." "Sorry, kiddo." Kalten shook his head. "We can't bring him with us. We're leaving stuff behind as it is, with three gone." Tower frowned for a moment, then sighed. Rikitiki sniffled and began to cry again. "Awww... here, kid." Kalten untied the yellow scarf around the fallen lalafell's head and handed it to Rikitiki, who immediately rolled it up around his arms and hugged it to himself. "Least you'll have something to remember him." Tower nodded. "Kalten... I'll go start getting ready to move again. You should --" He stopped short, his gaze returning to the child in his hands. "Go ahead and do what you have to do, won't you?" "Gotcha," muttered Kalten as Tower trudged up the face of the dune toward what remained of the camp. Soon the small column of manacled men moved on, led by Tower with Rikitiki perched on his shoulder, still hugging the yellow scarf. A small column of smoke rose over the dunes behind them.