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PurpleXVI posted:The soundtrack is really quite solid. It gets better as we go so look forward to it. Cooked Auto posted:Remarkably short for a Final Fantasy game I have to say. It really kinda is pretty short even for being just the base game. The expansions get longer and longer as we go on and most of the story is connected so buckle up folks we just laid some groundwork. zeroskippy posted:Man it weirds me right out seeing convert in the JA menu on a drk. You can rip invisible/sneak/deodorize from my cold dead hands while I'm doing these story quests.
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Feb 14, 2023 22:05
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Fat and Useless posted:It really kinda is pretty short even for being just the base game. The expansions get longer and longer as we go on and most of the story is connected so buckle up folks we just laid some groundwork. My understanding is that the first expansion was originally suppose to be part of the base game, but the second half got split off for reasons? Anyway, it's why both the base and RotZ are both so short. And yeah, the seam in the split gets obvious in retrospect. PurpleXVI posted:The soundtrack is really quite solid. We haven't even gotten to the majority of the good stuff yet. 
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Feb 15, 2023 04:29
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20k gil for saving the world seems like a bit of an underpayment.
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Feb 15, 2023 05:59
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Melomane Mallet posted:My understanding is that the first expansion was originally suppose to be part of the base game, but the second half got split off for reasons? Anyway, it's why both the base and RotZ are both so short. And yeah, the seam in the split gets obvious in retrospect. It would make sense based on how they are connected. Japan had to have base FF11 for a full year while non Japan had it for 6 months before Zilart came out for everyone. 8 months later the second expansion hit, if you've ever seen ff14 sold in a store it was probably in this triple pack. I THINK I still have the disks in a drawer behind me. So yeah by today's standards early FF11 was developed real fast. Keep this two year period in mind while we do Base, Zilart, and Chains. MarquiseMindfang posted:20k gil for saving the world seems like a bit of an underpayment. Our girl was too out of it to fight about it. In total she has earned 39,050 Gil from the San d'Oria government. She has roughly 12.2 million in her pocket and her net worth is double that at least. If you were to straight up buy one(of many) of the best weapons for your Job it would be 65-80 million Gil. A bed is 30-50k depending on the day. It would take 1300-1600 beds sold to new adventurers to buy a weapon (for one Job, for one hand). Wealth is fake. World is doomed because I can't afford food.
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Feb 15, 2023 15:10
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Fat and Useless posted:Our girl was too out of it to fight about it. In total she has earned 39,050 Gil from the San d'Oria government. She has roughly 12.2 million in her pocket and her net worth is double that at least. If you were to straight up buy one(of many) of the best weapons for your Job it would be 65-80 million Gil. A bed is 30-50k depending on the day. It would take 1300-1600 beds sold to new adventurers to buy a weapon (for one Job, for one hand). I'm old enough to remember when fighting the Shadow Lord was the preferred way to get the Airship Pass. 500k was an absurd amount of money in the CoP era.
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Feb 15, 2023 15:25
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Chapter 13: The Zilart ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Adventure So Far: Visaria is a former thief who decided to become an adventurer to try and have a decent life. She lives in a constant existence of mortal danger and world ending threats that are unaddressed due to bureaucracy and diplomatic handcuffs. It is her job to fix one thing at a time while breaking two things in the process. She sees this as creating job security, it's not like end of the world can get much worse when multiple world ending events are happening at once. Probably. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lion is waiting for me at Norg.  I... What are you talking... about?  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It all began with a stone, or so the legend says. In ages past, a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. It's many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods. Bathed in that light, the world entered an age of bliss, after a time, the gods fell into slumber. That world was called Vana'diel. The legend goes on to say... From the darkest depths of the earth the Warriors of the Crystal rose... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ♪Repression (Memoro de la S^tono)♪ We had just defeated the Shadow Lord... freed Raogrimm...      ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The great bane will devour the fair land of Vana'diel. The ancient seal will be broken, awakening nightmares of ages past. The blood of innocents will soak the earth, and the world will fall into fear and despair. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But as one bright star shines through the clouds at night... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That they will come, with the wisdom of ages and the strength of thousands, to deliver us from our plight. We await the awakening of the Warriors of the Crystal. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------          While Zeid gets tossed I don't see the second spell aimed at me.   The Hume crystal warrior charges forward to finish Zeid.   Lion briefly stuns the warrior and we retreat.  I remember now.   By time he transforms the crystal warriors are already around him.  They tear through him.  We flee.  I wake up. Next time: Tonberries Fat and Useless fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Feb 19, 2023 |
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Feb 17, 2023 02:27
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRrOLTHu-ew
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Feb 17, 2023 03:02
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Ark Angel TT is the only reason I can think of that Black Mages can use scythes.
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Feb 17, 2023 03:22
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I mean, they were predictably evil, but it's an interesting twist to see which TYPE of evil.
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Feb 17, 2023 12:14
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What did I tell you, he was a JRPG Villain.
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Feb 17, 2023 12:26
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The hume crystal warrior looked exactly like a cool darkside version of my character right down to the job selection so you better believe this scene got me hooting and hollering as a kid.
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Feb 18, 2023 02:30
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Chapter 14: I'm Awake ♪Norg♪ Okay I remember now. The brothers have decided to touch the end of the world stove and that is a bad thing.  We head over to Gilgamesh's office, I'm still a bit woozy but I'm better than before. Hey did you know I finally bought a bed Lion? See ol' Visaria is feeling fine.   Gilgamesh isn't going to just sit around waiting to see what happens and neither should we. So we are going to go on a field trip out in the middle of the jungle.  "Are the ancient spirits still in slumber? Come again when the minions awake."  No one is gonna believe me if I go running through Jeuno screaming the Archduke is gonna open the end of the world door. So no help from the nations on this predicament.  Uhhhh. Yeah. That one is my bad in several different ways I think. We'll get her back in one piece! (My constant dread intensifies...) Aldo reassures Lion that he is already on the situation gathering information around Jueno, knowing Kam'lanaut is involved is already a big help. If he finds anything out she'll be the first to know. Before I head to the temple I need to stop by Kazham and visit the Chieftainess, Jakoh Wahcondalo, who will give me a key I need. Time is a bit of a factor here so no time to rest or do side adventures for now.    ♪Kazham♪ So this here is Kazham, aka Kitty City. It is full of Mithra and in the middle of Yuhtunga Jungle. My allergies hate it.  Thanks... ♪Jungle♪ So lets take a second to talk about maps. Starting here whoever was designing the maps decided they weren't going to draw the whole map as a funny joke. Every area has hidden tunnels and places you need to go through OFF the map to progress. Puzzles also start popping up way more from here on. The temple and Yhoator Jungle are our first taste of things to come.  Well that doesn't look bad! If it was just flat, no it wouldn't be bad. No there are at least 3 layers, those connections are all underground. There are holes that take you underground. There are trees that block what look like open areas on the map. Those wide open spaces have pits you need to walk down into or up out of. The Temple of Uggalepih(now on referred to as Uggh) area itself has 3 upper levels and multiple entrances. This is not the rudest part of map design yet. We will get there. ♪Uggh♪ Uggh is full of Tonberries. Tonberries have a unique mechanic called Hate. As you kill them they deal more damage with the spell Everyone's Grudge until you do a quest to reset that Hate which makes farming them dangerous while being their level. Also it is a Blue magic spell so you can use it too, it just deals dark element damage in that case. Normally you would need to go in and out of Uggh while killing Tonberries for a key to get another key from a pile of books to get another key from a casket to open a hiden door in a painting. Visaria is a card carrying member of the adventurer's mutual aid network and can simply pay to zoop one way into the middle of where she needs to go. The Rancor Den. Now the fun starts we need to first murder a lil fellow for their lantern.  Wonderful, we have an unlit lantern. Why? Well we need to light four lamps to open a door. We do this one flame at a time.     There are NINE maps of the Rancor Den by the way. Hope you know where you are going. But Visaria is a coward with Invisibility I hear someone say. Well the flame and lanterns are both in areas surrounded by monsters, you can not use objects while invisible. The respawn is short enough that you have to kill the room each trip. The monsters have detect magic so if you TRY and be sneaky they see you recasting Invisibility and slap you out of it. Or you do it three times and a Tarutaru Dragoon walks out of the gate and you rush in before it closes. There is a zoop inside the gate so you never have to do this again. Well that was a blast, even cheating it took a while.  ♪Zilart Boss Time♪ This is where I use my key and of course there is a boss fight at the end of this...  Just three Tonberries, they are simple at my level.   ♪Grav'iton♪ Ah Gilgamesh wasn't drunk after all which means I don't have to keelhaul him for making me come down here.  Time to sit down for story time with Grandma'iton! Today's story is the end of the world.              Eight monuments with no direction. Are you sure about that?  Well... seven more to go... I am technically responsible for all of this, right? I have to do it, right? I owe Maat too... Alright. Next time: This took me 6 hours
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Feb 19, 2023 22:15
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At least the Mithra are having fun sending you into mortal danger.
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Feb 19, 2023 22:56
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This poor Galka just can't stop getting shanked by Humes, but at least he's got a shot at finally being at peace  RoZ is a great expansion, when considering content and story together I think it's my second favorite. Also the endgame (for level 75) stuff in those zones is how I spent most of my time back in the original release. Also liking the Sandy missions, my two characters were Bastok and Windy and I never went back and changed nations so it's all new to me.
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Feb 21, 2023 16:17
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Chapter 15: The Dawnmaidens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following contains the mad ramblings of a woman looking for a few needles in several haystacks. Please forgive her for her curtness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The only way we are getting this done is by listening to one of my favorite songs from Final Fantasy 11. You gotta click it or we won't finish. ♪The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah♪ 8 fragments, no direction. Our first one (Dark) was from Grandma. Our second one (Light) is in the Sanctuary of Zi'Tah. A giant forest, where we saw Escha with Iroha, Lion, and Zeid. This real one however still has color.   The headstone is of course in a hidden path that goes off the map past a couple forks, luckily Zi'Tah doesn't have multiple heights like the jungles do.   Guarded by a rotting frog of some sort. I make quick work of it and grab my fragment. Next Behemoth's Dominion on Qufim Isle. This one is simple. Past the open area where you can lure behemoths to fight lies a cave with a branching path that leads to the headstone.   Two cursed weapons guard it, I clear them out and take my third fragment (Lightning) Fourth lies in Cape Teriggan, hidden paths once again. After a few tunnels through the sand, hidden in a tunnel lies the fragment I seek (Wind). Guarded by an undead shadow.   So far not too bad. But what if we had to go through all of Ordelle's Cave and then walk through a ravine outside to find a nestled away fragment (Water)? Because we are doing that.  No fight this time. As far as I can tell it has been three days(three hours our time) since I started this quest to find the fragments. Our next fragment (Ice) is in Fei'Yin, no fight, next to a teleport crystal even.   Huh... wonder what that is? Carbuncle seems to be rumbling inside of me, must be hungry. Don't worry lil guy, we'll get you something to eat in a few days when we finish this hunt. What are we on? Number seven (Earth)? ♪Altepa♪  This one is in Western Altepa Desert... Altepa Desert is large and split by East and West. Lots of tunnels on the edges of the map that go off the map. the unique gimmick of the map is that there is a dungeon that runs under the desert with multiple entrances and exits weaving through the whole desert. To get through those dungeons you need to step on pressure plates to open doors. It takes 1 Galka, 2 Humes/Mithra/Elvaan, or 3 Tarutaru to open the doors.  Trusts don't work. So to open them alone you need to head over to a goblin hanging out in the desert and have them make a stone to weight you down, it isn't too bad to make but you do need to go hunt down some rare-ish monster drops. We will be back in the desert many many times and we'll see the hell that lies beneath soonish.  For now we take our fragment from the ruins and go to the last fragment (Fire)...   Hell. Literally. We need to go to a volcano called Ifrit's Cauldron. We can't teleport into it to cheat... It takes longer to get to the spot cheating than it does walking through the entire jungle maze and then walking through the volcano to the spot we need. Okay so the maze is bad yeah but what gimmick does the volcano have?    We need to pass 3 fire walls that fade for a few seconds every few minutes. You can lower the fire wall with an Ice Cluster(12 ice crystals) from ice elementals. If you don't have them (you probably don't) you wait. This is also a very long walk with a very maze like path that can lead to drops that screw everything up. Near the end a level 85 NM can be up, at night it has true hearing.  At the end we exit out to the jungle again, we walk a bit to a waterfall and go behind it to a cave.  Some monkeys attack me or something, who cares. This fragment took two goddess damned days. Anyway fragment gotten. Now what? Back to the Quicksand Caves under Altepa. Past a few weighted doors there is a giant hole I drop down. It isn't on the map of course so I wander through the cave maze until I arrive at a teleporter into a cermet chamber.  Heading in to it there are 3 beastmen looking for a fight, this is the wrong week to be doing that.  Violence happens and I head deeper in after the tussle.  I find some kind of Altar I think?  There are spots for the fragments, I insert each one and the lights start up.     *Insert snark here*   ♪Grav'iton♪ "We have long awaited your arrival, daughter of the five crystals. Just as the Crystal Warriors, your people, too, were born from the great force that dwells deep beneath the surface of Vana'diel." Yeah, fine, sure. I'm in over my head with this this ancients stuff. Zeid agrees with me.            A crystal starts forming  It's possible to break fragments off of it. Zeid and I both take one. Might be useful seeing as the Dawn Maidens probably left this for us. So lets get the story straight, some ancients wanted to restore the five mother crystals into one to open paradise. Some other ancients said nah don't do that and blew one up to stop them. Then a whole lot of ancients died and the remainder over time warped into the 5 enlightened races and beastmen such as the Kuluu becoming Tonberries. Now the last of the ancients want to tickle the paradise gates again and Zeid, Lion, Gilgamesh, Aldo, and myself have to tell them to knock it off. To carry out their plan the need to focus the crystals at Delkfutt's Tower. We need to get to the top of the tower immediately. Zeid starts out ahead of me. I need to speak with Maat. Next time: Breaking all the limits
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Feb 21, 2023 23:33
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lmao, I am immensely amused that they actually made it take more of the smaller races to weigh down pressure plates. It's that sort of absurd minor detail that tells you that, whatever issues this game might have had, some of the people worked on it really were doing their best.
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Feb 22, 2023 00:32
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PurpleXVI posted:lmao, I am immensely amused that they actually made it take more of the smaller races to weigh down pressure plates. It's that sort of absurd minor detail that tells you that, whatever issues this game might have had, some of the people worked on it really were doing their best. Much like so many things with the early development of this game, it's a feature that makes sense from a narrative or world-building sense, but is kind of a dick move to the players. A lot of these crucial landmarks are "off the map" for example and we haven't even gotten close to Adoulin yet  Seemed like bias against Tarus back when RoZ was released, but they always have lots of friends because Tarus are the best.
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Feb 22, 2023 04:29
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quote:Heh. They're grouped by skillchain. Cute.
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Feb 22, 2023 13:50
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MarquiseMindfang posted:Heh. They're grouped by skillchain. Cute. gently caress. I just checked. I hate that. Bregor posted:Much like so many things with the early development of this game, it's a feature that makes sense from a narrative or world-building sense, but is kind of a dick move to the players. A lot of these crucial landmarks are "off the map" for example and we haven't even gotten close to Adoulin yet PurpleXVI posted:lmao, I am immensely amused that they actually made it take more of the smaller races to weigh down pressure plates. It's that sort of absurd minor detail that tells you that, whatever issues this game might have had, some of the people worked on it really were doing their best. Taru(31%) were the most played followed by Hume(29%) as of the last census in 2014, the puzzle passing Galka was only 7%. Yesterday I was messing with unlocking a door with a friend and Visaria ran up a slope a Mithra had to walk around. So yeah race plays a funny role in getting around. Fat and Useless fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Feb 22, 2023 |
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Feb 22, 2023 19:05
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Fat and Useless posted:gently caress. I just checked. I hate that. The one on the left beats the one on the right, too. In fact the whole elemental wheel zigzags down there. MarquiseMindfang fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Feb 22, 2023 |
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Feb 22, 2023 19:36
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Chapter 16: Beyond The Stars I've said it countless times, I'm in over my head with this Zilart stuff. I need to fix that. ♪Ru'Lude Gardens♪ That is why I'm going to Maat. There is one problem though, he can't do anything more for me. He does have a friend though who might be able to help.  Do I have a choice?  I'm on a time crunch here.  The Merit system starts at level 75. You can either set your experience to go towards a new XP system earning you points for passive upgrades for all Jobs above level 74 or when your XP bar is capped you automatically turn experience into the Merit system. It takes far less XP for a Merit point than it does for a proper level so this is very fast as long as you have a XP boosting ring. We will need more Merit points for further uncaps so I take the time to gather them all at once. I return to the Nomad Moogle with everything I need shortly after.  The end of the world clock is ticking.  ♪Death♪  N.. next...   Maybe the Zilart paradise will be nice...  ...  ♪Death♪   What was that? Level 85? 90... 95... 99... Oh Goddess, three more to go... NEXT! Before I change my mind... Call in the next torturer...   I'm leaving.    I'm sure Zeid has things handled...  Randomized rock paper sissors... You need to win 5 before you lose 5. If you lose you only need to win 4 next time and so on. End me.    *Punch fists together and nod* ♪Death♪   *Cough* Next!  Nevermind!   Hey that's a Madoka reference. Oh no that's a Madoka reference...  No backing down now.  The Dangruf stone you get from an area with high level goblins, a little invisibility and it is a quick grab. We also already have the 10 merit points we need thanks to the earlier grind.    This is cute. This is gonna be a lot less cute when we are all dead.   You need to count to 10 without a timer, they give you the timing for the first 3 seconds.  What am I even doing here anymore?    Hrm....  One more to go.    They aren't lying, he will end your life in a flash if you do not specifically do some legwork and use a party or trusts.  We need to take a trip to Bastok quickly and trade three drops from high level monsters(or we can buy them off the daily login vendor) to our buddy Degenhard for some Pickled Rabarb. It's a useable item that freezes our small adversary in place for a couple minutes. We'll make 3 to be safe.  Why do we need to do that? He takes very little damage and will nearly one shot you if you don't. If the Rabarb effect drops off of him he will most likely have the TP to weaponskill you from your beating on him for the past couple minutes. That weaponskill WILL one-shot you. You have 10 minutes to beat him.   I know drat well after fighting a paralyzed shadow of him, a real fight with him would see me on my rear end. I'm not pushing my luck with the powering up, I've done enough.      "We must not ease up on them. For it is in their hands that the fate of our Vana'diel lies..." Next time: Visaria never got the zoop at the top of the tower
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Feb 25, 2023 00:45
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So, wait. You break your level limits by having a "brown mage" explode the weakness out of your "bowels"? This isn't beating the level cap, this is magical dysentery! Also what're the passive upgrades you can gain for your fully levelled jobs if you set your XP towards that instead? Are they useful or just marginal +1% to Crab Damage Under A Waxing Moon On Tuesdays stuff?
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Feb 25, 2023 01:01
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PurpleXVI posted:So, wait. That's a good question! Give me like 10 minutes to edit some stuff.
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Feb 25, 2023 01:04
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Miscellaneous Chapter 2: Leveling and Crab ♪Here we go again...♪ So you want to progress in the game? Good for you! Base level cap is 50, Maat breaks us to 75, the Nomad Moogle next to Maat gets us to 99. Most dungeons and fields have books that have little objectives like kill 3 crabs and 2 bats that give a tiny bit of bonus xp, a random buff, and some currency for buying buffs and teleporting to other books. These can be set to repeat so you pick an objective that matches with your level range. You have a variety of rings that are usable items. They boost xp earned for a duration of a certain amount of xp earned. These are earned from events, daily login points, or from gate guards. Some are permanent with a long cooldown and some have charges with a small cooldown. Some can be recharged. Other passive xp boosting gear also exists. Doing Rhapsodies of Vana'diel gives many passive xp boosts as you do it so it's recommended to stay up to date with it when you can. You have 3 options on how to level. 1. Summon trusts and go after things roughly 10 levels above you. Your gear doesn't matter the trusts scale off your level but need to be resummoned when you level up to reflect the new level. As long as you have the tank they give you in the tutorial quests you are mostly untouchable. Once you reach the level of the target you were going after, move to a new spot 10 levels above you and repeat. 2. Get a friend and level sync. If you are 65 you can sync down to your friend at level 45 and kill "easier" things for pretty good xp. Your gear scales down with you and you lose higher level spells and abilities when synced. What people would do for a time is if they couldn't get a group going for things at their high level you find a friend in valkrum crab range and sync down to just murder crabs. With trusts this is not really needed unless you want to play with a pal. 3. Get a party and make an old school camp. At max level you'll still see this. Below that you tend to roam a small area of the map killing things as they respawn rather than pulling things to you in one spot. Of course there are npc quests that give a little xp too, not enough to matter much though. In modern FF11 we can also set special quests from a menu, often times these are daily or weekly quests to do x or kill x. There are also one time menu quests that are basically tutorials and achievements. They are nice little boosts of experience for no work. There is usually a repeatable kill quest for every zone. More importantly they give sparks and accolades which I will go over in the Gear side update. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visaria's Training Program: 1-12 Kill whatever outside San dOria, by 10 you need to be on orcs or dipping into La Theine for a level or two. 12-21 Damselflys and sheep in Valkrum, there is a book for it. 21-31 Crabs, Giants, Leeches on Qufim. Leeches are fine until level 32 or 33. 31-43 Bats and Beetles in Garlaige Citadel, there's a book. 43-50 Other Bats deeper in Garlaige Citadel, if I feel lazy. 43-60 Bostaunieux Oubliette, start doing the book and as you near 60 just start killing the bigger bats and hounds. There are level 68 leeches but a mean NM can spawn with them and ruin you. 60-73 Labyrinth of Onzozo, this is rough to start. There is a book to kill torama(coeurls) and manticores. One of the manticores can respawn into a NM which you can't beat until 72ish. The goblins in the area are a little weaker so maybe start there, they do have magic though which can hit hard. Wyverns in the area are like 74 so you can move to those when you are sick of cats. 70-80 Zeruhn Mines, book exists. Usually another person is here. Kill worms, crabs, bats, leeches. 79-92 Dangruf Wadi, book exists. This is a bit rough compared to the other 80-90 choice, goblins can use their aoe bomb Blue magic which if it rolls high can one shot you or your trusts. Start with leeches in the area to be safe. 80-90 Crabs on Mount Zhayolm, requires starting Treasures to get to. 90ish-99 Mandrogas or crabs in Adoulin. Both are highly sought after xp sources. Fresh 99+ solo: Crabs in Adoulin Geared 99+ Party: AoE Dragons in Escha Geared 99+ Solo: Beetles and Mosquitos in >REDACTED< Now of course there are some other areas that are just as good or better but they require access to certain expansions and when you are doing what I am doing well... Poor choices have been made. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But what about CRAB? Okay so the joke originally was Valkrum was probably your first real party experience in this game and was probably where you quit if you didn't jive with the game ages ago. You still probably killed hundreds. Crabs are simple mobs. They don't hurt much, they have a reliable weakness of ice and lightning, they are easy to hit so you don't need lots of accuracy gear or buffs, and there tends to be a bunch of them close together. So can you level off just crab? Yeah I guess... *cracks knuckles* 1-10 Outside the main cities River Crab 10-20 Valkrum Dunes Snippers the OG 20-30 Qufim Clippers *Visaria Seal Of Approval* 30-40 Ironshell outside of Norg 40-46 Bigclaw also outside of Norg 46-55 Rock Crab ALSO outside of Norg 55-60 Robber Crab Kuftal Tunnel but also outside Norg maybe? 60-70 Wootzshell Mount Zhayolm 70-78 Soot Crab Zeruhn Mines *Visaria Seal Of Approval* 78-90 Orichalcumshell Mount Zhayolm *Visaria Seal Of Approval* 87-92 Trimmer Dangruf Wadi, there are also monkeys I guess... 91-99+ Depthswalker/Barnacle Crabs in Adoulin *Visaria Seal Of Approval* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Say what is this 99+ stuff? GLAD YOU ASKED DEAR READER! At level 75 we unlock Merit points, think AA's from Everquest if you've seen that. Instead of earning xp you can switch these on to earn a point every 10000 xp. You can do all sorts of things with these points! Permanent stats boosts of EVERY flavor(HP, STR, Enfeebling Magic Skill, Threat, Crit Rate, you name it and it is probably there). You can also unlock a weaponskill for every weapon type, some are good some are bad. You can only have a certain number of points in these weaponskills, you can't have them all. There are multiple levels of all these point spenders and the price goes up the higher the amount you buy. There is an eventual cap for everything. These points can also be used to buy abilities and passive upgrades to your Job itself. You can't buy them all so think of what is best for your situation. Merit points are also used to buy Hard Battlefield starters. It's Party or Raid combat against a story boss fight for strong gear and materials. Most of the time you either want very good trusts and good gear yourself or real party members. There are multiple difficulties, better drop rates the harder it is. Once you have no use for Merit anymore you can buy end game items with the points(in the thousands).  Job specific Merit point screen.  An example of one of the shared job Merit passives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 99 you start earning Capacity points... You earn them slower that Merit, but you can earn both at once. When you reach 30000 Capacity points you get 1 Job point. These are per Job and you spend them kinda like Merit passives but they are all Job specific things. As you spend points you gain passives every xxx amount spent. These can be normal stat boosts, new spells, or even the ability to wear stronger gear that is unwearable otherwise. To master a Job you need to spend 2100 Job points, you effectively have 2199 levels in FF11. The grind never left, it just moved to a point where you have your cool things. The problem is a bunch of Jobs(Like Blue and Pup) NEED certain passives from spending hundreds of Job points. Scholar is an extreme example, it needs 1200 for the second tier of it's damage over time spells. Red needs 1200 for Temper 2 which lets it transform into a solid frontline fighter. Black Mage needs 1200 for Death which is FF14 Flare. When you master a Job you get 3 stars over your head like FF5. Oh and your 1 hour abilities are 45 minutes now and you can put on the best gear in the game. Oh and you get more passives, magic, and abilities from your Sub Job. Yes you technically limit break your Sub Job, and this is still increasing as of this LP!  Dark Job point options.  These are the passives for dark as we put total Job points in.  Deeper in numbers get bigger in price and reward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let us wrap this up. Did you know when you die you lose xp? In the past it used to be alot. You could level down even. Oooooh very scary. As of 2011: A player who is Level 1-30 does not lose any EXP. A player who is Level 31-67 loses what would have been 8% of their max EXP for that level. A player who is Level 68 or higher loses 2400 EXP. That is one level 100 crab. I'd forgive you for thinking FF11 is some sort of hellscape if your first impression of the leveling system was FF14's Eureka. It hasn't been that for a decade. No, FF11 is approachable for new players until you hit the very end game. The unapproachable starts next time when we discuss gear.
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Feb 25, 2023 01:23
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Fat and Useless posted:2. Get a friend and level sync. If you are 65 you can sync down to your friend at level 45 and kill "easier" things for pretty good xp. Your gear scales down with you and you lose higher level spells and abilities when synced. What people would do for a time is if they couldn't get a group going for things at their high level you find a friend in valkrum crab range and sync down to just murder crabs. With trusts this is not really needed unless you want to play with a pal. So say, if I'm level 40, and level down to level 20 to grind crabs, working my way up to level 30, and then rubber-band back to normal levelling... am I then level 50? Or is it less linear? Also I'm glad I never played FFXI, I feel like all this character-building and ticking all the boxes would have utterly consumed my every waking moment.
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Feb 25, 2023 01:30
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PurpleXVI posted:So say, if I'm level 40, and level down to level 20 to grind crabs, working my way up to level 30, and then rubber-band back to normal levelling... am I then level 50? Or is it less linear? It's a little less linear and inefficient because the to next level never changes and higher level mobs tend to give better percentages of xp compared to low ones. You get like 5% of a level per kill at 50 killing a 50 mob, as you go higher you get like 6% of a level per kill at 60 killing a 60 mob. If you sync to 50 you are getting that 5% again if that makes sense. Higher level mobs just have a better xp multiplier and that's why you go after the stuff 10 levels over your level. With varying xp boosts I sometimes have a friend I sync with pass my original level(the sync just ends in that case). There are so many random xp boosts that you just can't measure anything for certain, but it isn't a waste of time to level sync with a friend, I can say that much.
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Feb 25, 2023 01:48
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So can you warn the princes about this horrible threataru? I think they might be less threatening.
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Feb 25, 2023 02:47
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   The fact that the end game grind is stuff you would really kill in low levels in most other games is hilarious to me.
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Feb 25, 2023 03:30
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Fat and Useless posted:Miscellaneous Chapter 2: Leveling and Crab ...Yeah, the leveling experience has changed a lot since I quit in 2013. And yet the old maxim, "there is a crab for every level" remains true.
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Feb 25, 2023 04:33
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It seems like the devs decided that, in fact, there would absolutely be a crab for each level. I get the feeling the current crab count is somewhat above 675.
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Feb 25, 2023 04:42
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Fat and Useless posted:Okay so the joke originally was Valkrum was probably your first real party experience in this game and was probably where you quit if you didn't jive with the game ages ago. You still probably killed hundreds. Crabs are simple mobs. They don't hurt much, they have a reliable weakness of ice and lightning, they are easy to hit so you don't need lots of accuracy gear or buffs, and there tends to be a bunch of them close together. Yeah, their set list of TP moves is pathetic, which is what made them (and crawlers, you'd kill a lot of crawlers too) such attractive levelling targets. From memory, the crab TP move list is; Scissor Guard: A defense up buff. Can be dispelled. Bubble Shower: A very low damage AoE water attack with STR down. The STR Down can be Erased. (Incidentally, the STR Down debuff is also water elemental, because the STR stat is aspected to Fire, and Water beats Fire) Bubble Curtain: Shell. Metallic Body: A laughably pathetic Stoneskin. You could dispel it but your damage dealers will likely have destroyed it by the time you finish casting. Big Scissors: The only real damaging TP move. Basic physical damage. Not a lot, though. So 3/5 of their moves don't even damage you, and one of the ones that does is so weak it might as well not. Basic crabs are all Paladins (with no spellcasting ability), so they have low STR, and this is why they can be Aspir'd for MP, another trait that made them desirable for exp parties containing mages. Compare this to trying to level off Goblins, with their three-hit Goblin Rush attack, and their AoE Bomb Throw (and the suicide bomb variant that does Breath-type damage calculated from current HP), or Scorpions with their huge damage Death Scissors and AoE Wild Rage, both backed up by a 50% Attack Boost off of Sharp Strike, and you see why Crabs were a popular target. Melomane Mallet posted:...Yeah, the leveling experience has changed a lot since I quit in 2013. And yet the old maxim, "there is a crab for every level" remains true. A crab for every level, and always a bunny that can murder you. MarquiseMindfang fucked around with this message at 14:13 on Feb 25, 2023 |
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Feb 25, 2023 11:48
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All this talk about fighting crabs regardless of levels reminds me of this meme that I always found funny.
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Feb 25, 2023 12:16
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I think the Merit/Job Point systems are where the FFXI UI really shows its age. It's... just a bunch of text. No icons, no tree, just somewhat obtuse descriptions that you'll have to go look up on a wiki to decide how to optimize your Job. And the triple stars over your head at 2100 Job Points are ugly as gently caress. But somehow it all fits with the vibe of XI, where shiny toys and enjoyable UX where secondary to intricate strategy, comically low drop rates, and so much grind I'm surprised Eric Nies isn't in the credits.Fat and Useless posted:Merit points are also used to buy Hard Battlefield starters. It's Party or Raid combat against a story boss fight for strong gear and materials. Most of the time you either want very good trusts and good gear yourself or real party members. There are multiple difficulties, better drop rates the harder it is. I want to highlight this, because when I came back to the game this was still the main avenue for getting some BiS gear for multiple Jobs I played. Most of the High-Tier Battlefields can be solo'd with Trusts on Easy or Normal, but some are a real pain in the dick, and guess which one I needed to do about 400 times on Very Easy just to get 5/5 of an armor set I needed...  PurpleXVI posted:Also I'm glad I never played FFXI, I feel like all this character-building and ticking all the boxes would have utterly consumed my every waking moment. I think the true mindfuck of XI is you can get to 99/2100/ML50 on twenty-two Jobs. Think of all the BiS gear, the macro books, the Job-specific quests, and the literal millions of crabs, crawlers, and frogs you'd murder to get there. By the end of my two-year return to Vana'diel I was mostly playing four or five Jobs on my main and two on my alt, and it still felt all-consuming to keep doing content for upgrades. Pyro Jack posted:All this talk about fighting crabs regardless of levels reminds me of this meme that I always found funny. Heh, I've never seen that before, that's awesome.
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Feb 27, 2023 15:58
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Chapter 17: The Will Of The Crystal ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile... ♪Hopelessness♪     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm running a wee bit late. The torture took a little longer than expected. Pants needed changing. Luckily I just need to get to the top of the tower and there is a zoop. Hold on my moogle is telling me something... I borrowed a key from a friend so I didn't need to go to floor 10 to get in the basement and the Dark quest only went to floor 8... So no zoop? Fear not we don't have to climb the whole thing, when you open the basement door with the real key you get a fake copy in your key items. In the basement there is a shortcut to floor 10.  Up these stairs, 10 floors.  This could be worse, I could have to do the whole dungeon again.  I have to be close... I make it to the top of the stairs, finally, and there is a solid wall. This is not the shortcut, just map flavor by some sick architect. *Visaria goes down 10 floors worth of stairs*  This unmarked spot on the ground... This is the shortcut.   I get the zoop... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile... ♪Honestly I can't find the exact song♪          ♪3v6?♪   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay I'm here!  Oh we are doing this right now?   Fancy.   For the most part Kam'lanaut isn't very hard. He has two big things: you will always have Slowga on you and he has a hate reset so your casters can be cut down unexpectedly. He also absorbs elements of a certain type and changes the type often, he does extra damage to you of that element on his auto attacks so you can at least notice what he is using. Last and not least he has a very strong weaponskill that will easily end a non tank under level 99.  He has more gimmicks in his hard mode fight, but so does everything. ♪Despair (Memoro de la S^tono)♪  It's over.  I pity him. He could have absolutely been saved by Eald'narche.  Tossed aside after 10,000 years by your own brother, the last of your kind. I really do pity him.        His growth halted the moment he came into contact with the crystal over 10,000 years ago. For 10,000 years he has been waiting for this payoff.  While he's explaining this I don't see how we are getting up there to shank him while he has the crystal warriors. Hrm...  ♪Repression (Memoro de la S^tono)♪  I'm actually mad now. I was doing this out of guilt or duty or something. But no. Now I'm angry.       Welp...   Aldo rushes to catch her...  But he doesn't...  What I want is to kill you.  Before leaving he says only those blessed by the light and who have been accepted by the crystal may pass through the gate. Travel to Ro'Maeve and prove ourselves. He'll be waiting on the other side...  ...  All of us could use a little break after this to gather ourselves. The prince wants us to watch him flip the switch, he'll wait. I'm going to go gather myself in some cups. Next time: Seeing red Fat and Useless fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Mar 12, 2023 |
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Feb 28, 2023 23:42
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I like the twist that in this case the "legendary warriors" are in fact legendary badguys, rather than the legendary badasses that show up to save the day whenever evil rears its head.
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Mar 1, 2023 00:33
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God I loving love this place. Third best place in the game. That low poly version is kinda funny, though.
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Mar 1, 2023 07:01
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...this reminds me very strongly of a certain scene in Heavensward in XIV, and I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that was a deliberate reference to this. (Both also remind me pretty strongly of Castle in the Sky, though.) Quantum Toast fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Mar 2, 2023 |
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Mar 2, 2023 23:33
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14 borrows a lot from 11 and I plan on going over it after the next expansion. 11 has pretty great cutscenes for it's time. With the nature of screenshots I can't capture everything that happens though and updates are already getting longer than I'd like. Aldo for example actually does take off at a sprint as Verena falls but it is too fast to get a good shot of. Also 11 loves motion blur, no the blurry screenshots are not me being trash, the blur is a choice the game makes. If I record the cutscenes then the UI is in the way half the time, screenshots take away most of the UI and quality is slightly better. The first update was recorded as a comparison to recent updates. I'm pretty happy with the system I have now. Everything up to the next expansion is recorded at the very least. We've got a few Job quests coming up. As you've probably noticed we don't really have a second to breathe as death is constantly at the door of the world so no breaks to do side stuff. Anyway new update tonight. Also crab count was updated in the title, Fedule is cool. It is already outdated by a thousand. Fat and Useless fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Mar 3, 2023 |
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Mar 3, 2023 22:01
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Red Mage Role: Jack of all trades, master of some? Red is first and foremost a debuffer. You have the strongest magic based debuffs in the game and in a group that is priority #1. After that you are very strong in melee with a lot of work. You can backup heal just fine but you lack White Mage's area healing though unless you sub it. You also have Phalanx II(damage reduction), Haste/Ranged Haste 2, Protect 5, Shell 5, Refresh 3(mp restore over time), and a buff that increases weapon chain damage. While not the party wide versions these are still the strongest level of these buffs. You have the strongest version of Phalanx and Refresh out of anyone. Everybody loves you. Main Weapons: Sword and Club Swords tend to be better for melee damage while clubs lean towards magic. Magic: Mainly Enfeebling and Enhancing, passable Healing and Elemental You get it all as long as it isn't area or unique to Black or White. Red has a unique gimmick I haven't talked about yet. You enchant your weapon with an element(aside from light and dark). It scales off your Enhancing magic level and at the highest levels it does more than your normal attacks. On top of that you have a unique spell called Temper(boosts double attack rate) and Temper 2(boosts triple attack rate). The catch is Temper 2 requires you to halfway master the Job(1200 extra levels after level 99). Your Dia 3(defense down) and Bio 3(attack down) are both the strongest versions of the spells and both give a debuff for 20%. You also can lower a foe's magic and physical evades which is an unique spell to Red Mage. Oddly enough only Red Mage and Scholar can use the Dispel spell, there are other ways to dispel though. Red Mage has unique "Gain" spells which increase a base stat like STR by up to 25 based on skill. That's like an extra pair of pants! You can just GIVE yourself more pants to make yourself stronger or smarter! Only one extra pair of pants at a time please. With the high tier spells listed above in Role you are core in any team. Notable Abilities: Chainspell: (One hour cooldown) You nearly instantly cast spells and spells have no recast time. Very powerful. *Convert: Swaps current HP with current MP. Dangerous but clutch if done correctly. 10 minute cooldown. Composure: Increases the duration of self targeted enhancing magic capped at 30 minutes. Increases the recast of all magic by 25%. Gives a good chunk of accuracy too. Always on if you want. Saboteur: Your magic is more accurate and the duration and power of your debuffs are stronger. Lasts 1 minute, 3 minute cooldown. Spontaneity: You or the party member you target gets one spell that gets casted like you they have Chainspell. 10 minute cooldown. Stymie: (One hour cooldown) Your next enfeeble magic is very very very very likely to hit. *Can be used on other Jobs when set as a Sub Job Notable Traits As A Sub Job: Fast Cast(you cast faster!), Magic Attack Bonus(more magic attack), Clear Mind (more MP gained while sitting) Once upon a time Red Mage was THE SUB JOB for casters, it still is honestly but others have uses for specific things a caster might want to do. Red Mage is the only Job that can get Fast Cast other than Blue Mage and Blue Mage can't get it in Sub Job level ranges. 15% cast speed and recast time is just so freaking strong. If you were wondering Main Job Red's max Fast Cast is 38% before equipment. Cool Weapon Skills: Death Blossom: Lowers target's magic evade. Sanguine Blade: Drains damage done Chant du Cygne: Hits like a truck Savage Blade: Hits like a slightly smaller truck but it is easier to get and gear than CDC Your good stuff is all one handed sword. Others might do it better but you still have them and that is what matters. Summary: Buff everyone including your self buffs and then debuff the enemy. From there you are either backline support or frontline damage if geared. Sometimes cheese a fight by putting on a level 1 weapon and enchanting an element. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What does a Visaria do on her day off? ♪♫♪SHE GOES TO THE BAR!♪♫♪ Ugggh... What a lovely day that was. Did I just accidentally make a pun? Who cares. I need to fail at forgetting everything. I go up to the bar, order a drink, and loiter.   As long as I can bring my beer. The orcs like to dig fake holes, so you gotta search all over the place for them. Also gotta beat up an orc holding a key for the hole. That is the easier part.  I finished my beer before I got to the zooper... The orc I need is near the Paladin well so I have to get a bit wet. Wait why did I agree to this?  Being a little tipsy I didn't summon trusts and bit off a little more than I could chew. I still won because I'm great and overleveled.  And here's the hole, I actually got pretty lucky that it didn't take long to spot. Back to the bar with the haul.  Mmmhmm. *beer sip*     *sip*   I fumble with the rapier he hands me. Curilla!? Does she know about this? Time to find out I guess?  Absolutely. She hands me an old watch. It was her father's. Maybe the spirit will recognize it she says. Before I'm allowed to pray the priest in the basement requests a square of velvet cloth... 20,000 gil... This is for Curilla...   I feel it... "Curilla? Is that you?"  I snap out of it.   Look man the ghost is handing out boots, I don't know what to tell you. Also my watch is gone.  And that is how I got excommunicated from the church of the Goddess!    The Papsque needs a wedgie... Anyway I'll go fix these boots for her. We'll solve this mystery, don't you worry! The nest is in a corner of Rolanberry Fields, there is a zoop near it. ♪Rolanberry Fields♪  So the Crawlers Nest is a high enough level area that I need to be hidden to get around effectively. More specifically the crawler blood is in an area with level 90+ monsters which, even with trusts, at my Red Mage level would be impossible.   I have to leave the nest and come back to this spot to get the boots back. Yep it's a pair of Red Mage boots alright. I take this time to get the chest and legs too as detailed in Dark Knight. The gloves can be gotten too after I start the next step.  Of course. You are my... friend? We have no leads though. I'll go see if the dork at the bar knows anything else.  Knew too much about what? Sharzalion goes quiet.    This ghost right next to the fountain has the coin I need.  That's my ghost! Back to the bar to figure this out.  Well that doesn't give me much direction. The bar patrons have nothing useful save for one who said something about a chest that needs a nail puller to open in Garlaige Citadel. No direction of the room it's in nor what it holds other than maybe treasure. Hell where do I even get the nail puller? The citadel has a number of small rooms that are in ruins. Some of them have boxes. There are also a number of gates you need a key for that's easy to get in one of the first rooms. Past the first key gate is the box I'm looking for.  Upon examining the crates a monster appears behind me.  And lucky me it drops the nail puller. Time to open a crate... It's bones... I don't know what I expected other than that honestly. Curilla's father manifests before me and starts to leave.  Hrmm... I rush back to San d'Oria behind the ghost. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ♪Repression (Memoro de la S^tono)♪              Hey everyone, I'm back! Oh.    He gives me a hat, I'm a real Red Mage now. (He was killed for knowing too much... The church is... Bad?)    Was it just dumb luck I made it in time or was it by the will of the Goddess?  I know one thing... I need a beer.
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Mar 4, 2023 07:23
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I still look forward to seeing a jRPG church that isn't bad.
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Mar 4, 2023 09:42
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