Koninbeor

I'd definitely try this first.. that is, if you are actually using it to get your name more lore-friendly. If you go this route then the very best of luck to you. The forums are filled with people asking for name changes. Due to the abysmal success rate people seem to experience there, I've opted to just bite the bullet and pay for the stupid transfer off and back. Still, if spending $36 and wasting 3 full days isn't feasible then it sure wouldn't hurt to give the forums a try.

I always knew the PS3 version was nothing to brag about graphically as it was near the minimum graphical settings by necessity. Only so much could be done with 512MB of total system memory, only half of that being available to the GPU. That's probably the biggest reason for the low pixel limit. Cutting out the environment would have disastrous consequences, so all that was left were the mobile elements. I'm glad to hear that the PS4 version is visually on par with an actual gaming PC. If you think that the PS3 version looked bad then seeing the game on my laptop would likely cause you physical pain. It's just horrible. Anywho, I'm sure that the biggest reason that the PS4 is able to keep up graphically is because the resolution is limited to 1080p, which certainly knocks the socks off of the 720p of the PS3. Even so, truly impressive gaming rigs can output at even higher resolution, tipping the ultimate visual experience to PC over console as is almost always the case. I don't have a PS Vita but I'm more and more interested in getting one as time goes by, especially with the ability to play remotely. Convenience factor, I know, but it could come in handy in certain situations. I haven't really utilized the PS4 controller's track pad. I'm just not a fan of track pads in general. I find that using the control stick is quicker and easier. If I need the track pad then I'll just hook a mouse up instead. And I do agree that being able to use a keyboard and mouse with the PS4 version is freaking awesome. It's good to see others here taking a look at this version of the game. :moogle:

Does anyone else plan on attending this? Should be a blast. I have my TREKtacular tickets and everything. Even talked a couple of friends into coming along. Woot!

Planet Comicon 2014 Kansas City Convention Center - Bartle Hall 301 W. 13th St. Kansas City, MO 64105 Friday, March 14th Noon - 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 15th 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sunday, March 16th 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Is anyone else playing the PS4 beta? I enjoyed the PS3 version but found that if more than 20 characters, PC's or NPC's, were on the screen simultaneously, anything over 20 would simply not be displayed at all. This made RP and other group events very challenging. I promised my brother that he could have my PS3 when the PS4 came out, a decision I'd made without having FFXIV in mind. Giving up my PS3 forced me to play on my laptop. My crappy lappy gets 7-11 fps in capital cities on minimum settings. Fun times. As the PS3 is the finest viewing experience I'd had in this game, the PS4 version is jaw-droppingly stunning. Smooth gameplay, sharp graphics, no stutter... it's great. I'm sure it isn't as stellar as running the game on a sweet gaming PC with everything maxed out, but it's a huge improvement from my previous experiences. My only gripe is that it's still just a beta. I can't paly with anyone I currently game with and ultimately nothing I do matters. That and I won't get to play it for REAL until April 14. Still, just seeing the gaming experience ahead of me has me excited. It'll be nice to actually be able to start running end game content.

I used this method. And yes, it's a 3 day waiting period, which I can tell you is agonizing. This is what I'm doing at the moment. I get to move back to Balmung this evening. I really don't get why they don't have a paid name change service when you can completely bypass the restriction with a simple server switch.

Yeah, only three servers closed now. Almost there.

Hopefully either this is just a beta limitation, or they are slowly increasing the max in order to make sure the world servers can hold. Hope so. Playing on Hyperion is pretty dull. No friends.

"No, you are not fine. You did six pushups. Six. Go home." Mikael gives an exasperated sigh and rises to his feet, shaking his head slowly as he points to the door. "Leave now."

Oni-Con X I am headed to Oni-Con and have no one to go with. I am posting this to see if anyone else who is going would like a roommie at a hotel to help save some money. Let me know! :moogle:

Mikael does a couple more one-handed pushups and then hears Andrew hacking like an old man with a bad cough. He pushes himself up, straightening his arm completely, and moves the other arm from behind his back down to the ground. The large Highlander pulls his knees to the ground and rises up to a kneeling position, spreading his knees wide and pointing his feet inward so that the big to on each foot bare touches the other. "Enough. I cannot teach you, Andrew. You do not have even a tenth of the constitution of a half-starved orphan. If you ever want to be more than a punching bag then you are going to have to work. Here is what you will do. You will come here every day at dawn. Every day. Every day you will run one hundred laps around this facility. After you are finished, you will drop to the floor and do one hundred pushups. I care not if you have to do them from your knees like a weak little girl and I care not how long it takes you. You will do this EVERY day. And I will not show you a single technique until you can show me that you can run one hundred laps and immediately drop to do one hundred pushups without stopping. Once you have shown the dedication to do this, I will teach you. Now get out of here before I become cross enough to break your nose."

Mikael nods wordlessly to Abaigeal's questions, not offering her any kind of explanation. He seems satisfied when she puts the inquiry on hold. The large man does not respond immediately when he is asked to come, choosing instead to simply watch as the woman gets down onto the ground next to Andrew, encouraging him by doing pushups alongside the little man. The Gladiator takes a few steps over to the pair after she manages to get the run to do two full pushups. Mikael stands up tall, rising to his toes, and then leans forward. He falls forward to the ground, nearly falling onto his face. His hands reach out at the last possible moment to catch him and the Highlander's icy gaze moves to Andrew with a sly grin. "Are you going to let a girl beat you, Andrew? Maybe you should change your name to Anita." Mikael pushes himself up from the mat and holds his body steady. He pulls his left arm away from the ground, placing it behind his back, lowering his gaze to the floor. Carefully, steadily, he lowers himself on one arm and then exhales slowly as he pushes himself back up. He pumps out enough one-handed pushups to catch up with Andrew and Abaigeal. "Time to be a man. Get to it, Andrew. I am going to feed you to Abaigeal if she manages to beat you."

Mikael's theme song: [video=youtube]

I'm considering getting one of the royal passes. Get four free tickets that way. I'm not 100% sure, though. Depends on whether or not anyone else around here who says that they want to go actually plans on going.

"Abaigeal." Mikael turns his head slightly as she approaches, sighing softly as he hears Andrew struggling to make a pushup. "I asked you to stop by so that you could show the boy how to train properly. You have had some practice at that. I did not anticipate, however, that he would be unable to take off his own shoes without becoming winded. COME ON, Andrew. The object is to PUSH your body UP away from the floor." The Gladiator turns his body so that he is only watching Andrew out of the corner of his eye once Abaigeal stops her advance. "Cure? Raise?" Mikael's lips turn upward into a full grin and he shook his head, chuckling softly in response. "I spent some time in Gridania shortly after my..." He cuts himself short, eyes turning slightly as he carefully chooses better words. "I had some trouble in the Coliseum and decided to take an extended holiday in Gridania. I studied the arts of conjury there for some time before deciding to return to what I do best. If the boy needs healing then I can see to him, though I will likely not be as generous as you would be." He looks back to Andrew, shaking his head with a long, drawn out sigh.

"Andrew... The number of people you have been mugged by in the last two weeks actually exceeds the population of Ul'dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa combined. You have been beaten to a pulp so many times that I do not think the world's greatest scholars can keep them all on record. How is it even possible that you have not ran more than seven and a half times the circumference of this room? I... I honestly find that so unfathomable that I fear my brain may actually explode and begin to ooze out of my ear." Mikael's words actually do sound sincere. The look on his face is one of shock and awe. He is so dumbfounded by the scenario that he has difficulty even thinking of what to have Andrew try next. "Pushups. You can do pushups, right? Drop and give me... a lot. Just... just drop and start doing them. And please do not count. I do not desire for the disappointment of your performance to cause my heart to stop beating." Many rumors circulated about the broad-shouldered Highlander in Ul'dah but the rumors of Mikael’s stature were impossibly innacurate. They said that he was nearly 8 fulms and weighed around 400 ponzs. In truth, he was just under 6 fulms, 7 ilms and weighed 272 ponzs. Another rumor that was gaining prominence was that the Gladiator had broken a Roegadyn’s arm during a test of strength. Mikael’s sculpted form did little to discourage this rumor. His body was completely free of scarring save the small collection on his face. Each muscle was carefully defined by obsessive design, giving him the appearance of being chiseled from a single slab of solid stone. Claims that the young man was so heavily scarred that he was unrecognizable as a Hyur and that he did not even need armor to stop a deadly blade were clearly exaggerated. He had but three scars on his face, each with a tale to tell and a hard lesson learned; a vertical one over his right eye, a second diagonal scar on his right cheek, and the third another vertical mark on the left side of his mouth. The only other mark of note was a strange tattoo just below his neck on his back. The mark was a deep black and was a stark contrast to his fair skin tone. Icy blue orbs shift to the side cautiously as Mikael detects movement in the room. He kicks himself inwardly for his lack of attentiveness. No one should have entered the building without him knowing immediately. He lowers his arms to his sides, fingers curved slightly as he lowers his chin a bit. "Whoever that is, you had better have no ill intent. I am not in the mood to give quarter today."

Mikael shakes his head and sighs as Andrew becomes winded almost instantly. The man actually does a facepalm halfway into lap seven and then starts rubbing his temples absently. "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop..." The large Gladiator looks to the smaller man with utter disbelief, all the of the anger and rage completely gone. "Are you trying to deceive me? Is this some elaborate jest? Is there anything you can do besides drink yourself into the floor?"

You can't check it out this year?

"Oh, I see. So I you are saying that I, the instructor, am incorrect on my assessment of your punctuality? When I say be here by dawn, that means you show up fifteen minutes early. Minimum. You are late. Now you will run laps around this room until I grow weary of it. And I do not mean jog, boy. You had better run." Mikael takes a few steps forward, crossing his arms as his eyes narrow.

Mikael does not look as the question is asked of him. Instead, he gives an exasperated sigh, shaking his head slowly. "Anywhere but in here. You are late. Why do you even bother asking me such a question?" The Highlander's baritone voice is sharp and his jaw sets tightly. He places the palms of his hands onto the mat and straightens his arms, raising his legs up off the mat slightly. The broad-shouldered man holds this position for a few moments and then leans forward, bending his elbows slightly as he shifts his body weight, pulling his torso up and straightening his legs. He pushes with his arms until he is up in a handstand and then bends his elbows, only to give a final push and a grunt as he throws himself forward onto his feet. His icy blue eyes glare at Andrew.

Not far from the tavern known as Soliloquy rests an old building that has remained unoccupied for many months. The building has been purchased recently and equipment is moving in slowly but surely. Unlike most buildings in the area, this one contains nothing that a person can purchase. The former shop is one large square room with eight symmetrical windows a door in front and back. The ceiling is vaulted, high enough for a Roegadyn to clown around without causing structural damage. Wooden floor has been carefully swept, and actually seem to be the structure's cleanest feature. Each wall is filled with racks which remain mostly empty. The north wall holds a collection of wooden weapons, obviously meant for practice. The south wall supports some cheap plate armor suits of low quality. The east and west walls have nothing but empty racks. A large training mat takes up nearly half of the floor, placed in the room's exact center. The training mat has the symbol of Rhalgr carefully stitched in vibrant violet. Several combat dummies seem to be randomly placed along the east and west walls, and they have seen a great deal of use. Dawn is approaching soon, only fifteen minutes away. Mikael is in the center of the training mat waiting in Chinese style splits. He faces the eastern entrance, eyes closed and head bowed. He wears nothing but a pair of loose-fitting white breeches, chosen for comfort rather than style. Sweat pours freely down his carefully sculpted body, hands resting at both hips as he awaits his first arrival.

I've never been to one of these before and am planning on heading up that way this year. Anyone else interested? KC Renfest 2013

Something random underneath this.

"Actually, Abaigeal, there is something that you can do for me before you go." The large man looks down to the wine and plate of food, then returns his attention to the tall woman. "If the cuisine is good then I suspect the task will be enjoyable enough." He moves his gaze toward the girl who is interested in Gridania, measuring her silently.

"Clever girl. But I did say that my questions were largely unimportant, not completely unimportant. And I doubt that you would be satisfied with my answer once you heard it." His eyes leave hers for a moment when he notices Abaigeal putting her hands on her hips. "Ah, taking an authoritative stance. Nice touch." A bemused look crosses the man's face as Abaigeal proceeds to give her version of the story. Your explanation changes nothing. The simple fact of the matter is that you are either completely right or you are not. Even in your own examples, the men are not totally correct. Even if they were completely wrong it would be the very same. Completely wrong is not completely correct. My point stands." He gives a satisfied nod as she heads on back to the kitchen. "Much friendlier than I had expected."