Backlog 2022

[Kikki]

Just noticed today that Xmas trees and little snowmen have popped up all over the place in FFXIV. Two teeeeeeny snowmen are sitting on the steps up to the archery guild, and I came across two bigger ones and a pile of presents in a puddle in a stone alcove along a path. Now I'm in...Ul'dah? In the big round city-like place you first go to, I think, that I find very confusing...and the entire place is done up with trees and it's snowing a little and it looks like an Xmas shopping mall. Caught me by surprise. It's cute. I don't observe Xmas (or any other holiday) but I think the decorations are pretty

Apparently the main quest is now something I don't wanna do! These teensy people with sooty noses want me to wipe out some monsters that used to be enslaved by local people, but they got out of control, so the people collapsed thousands of tons of rock on them. The monsters stayed alive for 300 years and are now breaking out and wreaking havoc, I hear, and the people want me to beat them into control.

I don't wanna! I want the monsters to eat the people!

These ones may not be the ones that kept them as slaves, but they left them down there for 300 years...I assume knowingly. The game auto-accepted the quest for me and the guy says "Oh good, I was afraid you'd have some reservations!"

I do. I DO! I don't want to help you. Maybe I won't. It appears to be part of the main story so not sure I can get around it, but right now I'm thinking I wouldn't mind if the monsters just stomp you all.

I appear to be overleveled for where I am. Quests make you level up so fast and I'm a quest monster, so my fella's already level 34 and there doesn't seem to be a single quest available to me above level 15. So it's time to chase the story for a while, clearly. I also need to register more teleport spots in the two other starter regions.

My sister is now able to do a bunch of her work from home. This leads to us being together way too often for me. I love her, but...well, let's just leave it at that. My best life would be living ALONE, so the more I have to live with others, the less happy I am. How much I love the person in question doesn't really matter. (Well, of course it's much better than if I had to live with someone I can't stand, but that's not really what I mean.)

Hopefully we can work it so that I just avoid talking entirely to her while she's in her office (that we now have set up, though the rest of the house is in disarray for how much we had to move around to get that office in order) and that somehow smooths everything out, one way or another. Just not having that blissful peace of being A-L-O-N-E in the house, though...it makes my insides feel cramped and harrassed. Guess it's just another change to get used to.

Yeah, this must be what's up with the whole going-back-to-ACNH-even-though-I'm-bored-with-it thing.

[Kikki]

You know, upon reflection, I really should NOT have thought that ARC BRD in my items descriptions meant 'arc-bird', and that it was the name of my type of bow. In my defence, I thought 'arc-bird' was a pretty name for a bow. I quite liked it. Bows have an arc shape, and the arrows 'fly', so...sure, it's arc-bird!

Except it's not.

Spoiler:

Well, my fella is now a BRD, which turns out to be one letter off from bird, and it makes a pretty big difference for just having one different vowel. I didn't even know I could become a BRD already but the game alerted me that I could now do another class quest, so I went to check it out, because I made Silvi be my friend already, and I thought that was my last class quest as an archer. Turns out I could have done that particular quest ten levels ago, so I got to do three in a row. It doesn't seem to make any difference, except you get a new set of battle skills to add to the bunch you already have. I don't even have room for any more skills and I can't decide which ones to kick off the hotbar. Will have to spend some time sorting through that.

I need better gear. Up to around level 25, quests alone gave me PLENTY of good gear, but not any more. I don't have a single piece above level 30. Guess I gotta go buy stuff. Or see about becoming a botanist and a miner to gather some goods to make stuff with. That'd take a lot of time, though, since you've gotta level all that stuff up AND THEN level up your crafting skills. The trial caps at level 60. I guess you can get your gathering/crafting skills up a fair bit for free, if you wanna. Not sure if I do, might be really tedious. But it's not like I'm rich so I can't just go buying whatever I want, either, and grinding for money doesn't sound fun either. Grinding in general isn't all that big of a hoot.

I like it enough to have looked into pricing on buying the full game. It's $80 (CAD) to buy the expansions (so the rest of the story beyond the two large free chunks in the trial...no idea how much more there is beyond Heavensward and A Realm Reborn...not even sure if I have those names right!) and then it costs...well I don't know the CAD price. $13-15 USD, so...I guess somewhere around $15-20 CAD, per month, to maintain your online membership to the game. Apparently you can drop it and pick it back up whenever you want, so if you finish the content, you can just stop paying the monthly fee, and take it back up again later if they come up with new stuff. So I hear.

I guess I may as well finish all content available for free, first, then figure out how long I'd need to play to complete the story, and THEN I can figure out if it's worth it to me to pay more than a standard AAA game price for it. I'm still not super compelled by the story (I just rescued a...dang, I'm not doing well with names in this game. A little green elder floaty thing. I think 'sprite' is wrong. Sylph? Some kind of feminine-looking leafy fantasy critter.) I LIKE it, but I'm not attached to any of the characters; I don't think I can love a game until I fall for one of the characters.

I did get my stiff-necked archery senpai to bend his neck a bit, though. I knew we were gonna do it!

That's why I stuck with my overly stiff Wildwoods archer, Dax Beaulieu (even his name is starchy! It's properly faux-French, but...) rather than swapping over to my better-designed Duskwight arcanist, Cillien Ex, who looks like he might be juuuuust a bit of a prankster. Poor Dax. I gave him the wrong eyebrows and the wrong mouth, I think. Just those two things would probably make him look much friendlier.

Well, it's plenty fun. But I need a while longer to figure out if it's $80+ worth of fun. Mind you, I think you get 2 months of free membership with purchase of the $80 complete edition, if I was understanding the purchase description on the game right, which might be enough time to complete the story. I haven't figured that out yet!

I can't figure out if I'm going to be MORE busy in a month, or LESS busy. Non-game stuff:

Spoiler:

The greenhouse is officially sold, today...the phones will be answered with a different greeting from tomorrow on (though it is closed for transition for the rest of the month, now.) Has it even sunk in? My family no longer owns a greenhouse (well, ten greenhouses, to be literal...perhaps I should say we no longer own a nursery + retail greenhouse business.) We've been operating them in the family for 39 years, and been officially in business (to the public) for 35 years. I guess I don't really know what life is going to look or feel like in a month so I can't decide much of anything.

One part of my body seems to have gotten better. Other parts have gotten weirder, but probably not actually worse. Gabapentin still working great on pain, though apparently not on clenching/stiffness, and it's either causing tremors and muscle weakness, or I developed those on my own and it just doesn't do anything to help with that...I dunno! All round, it's better, because the pain has been the worst part.

And now that it's snowy and slippery out, I feel less ridiculous walking with poles, AKA: hiking sticks or trekking poles, which themselves feel much less awkward than a cane, let alone a PAIR of canes. Good exercise, good posture, and looks like a sensible safety precaution for even a perfectly healthy-looking woman to be walking around with. I need to grab winter as an excuse and get used to using those things so the 'this is ridiculous!' feeling has time to wear off.

I have my soil trays up on the window ledge and can seed some arugula and baby (Tom Thumb) lettuces tomorrow. I'm getting some mizuna seed, too.

[infel]

The Holidays will be here soon. I do hope everyone has a good time, even if you don't celebrate Christmas.

Anyway, gaming wise, things have been better than last time. I've played stuff a little more. I haven't made progress with Animal Crossing, Digimon, or SoS Mineral Town, but I've played more.

Right now, I've been dabbling in Pokemon Scarlet. Unlike most, I haven't finish it yet. I took a break for a while since I've been a tad burnt out by Pokemon games because I played a lot of Pokemon Arceus in November. Now though I'm playing again and I've managed to make good progress. Got my fifth gym badge, defeated the third Team Star leader, and completed Arvin's story mostly. With Arvin, I think there's a little more to do despite me getting all the needed plants for him. Honestly, his story line was very lovely. I really think they intentionally used a dog Pokemon because many people love dogs. Anyway, Arvin turned out to be great and his story was touching. Overall, I like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Not love, like I did Arceus, but it's better than Sword and Shield and the Let's Go games. The story/routes are nice, the characters good and I'm attached to my Pokemon. Unlike Arceus, I'm doing this game slower, but I'm having an okay time. Maybe I can finish by the end of the year, but I won't hold myself to that.

I've also played Dreamlight Valley. Honestly, I can't believe I brought this game. I'm not much into the free to play games (it'll be free next year), and I haven't been a fan of Disney for a long time, but with how depressed I've been feeling, I really needed a new and decent simulation game. I've played quite a bit of it, likely about 20 to 25 hours, and honestly it's okay. It reminds me a lot of Animal Crossing, but it does have some improvements like being able to always have something to do and the characters. The version I am playing is on the Switch and the game does have some problems on the system. It's laggy and sometimes my Switch does shut down the game. Still, the lag isn't too bad for me (I'm pretty tolerant of lag or graphic problems), and the glitches aren't much. If one gets Dreamlight Valley on Switch, I think they'll like it. (I also hear the glitches are one console and pc versions as well). Overall, the game is okay. I've liked it. I enjoy the gameplay, it's calming, and the characters have grown on me. I'm playing this game slowly, but it's nice to play. I still prefer Animal Crossing, but do enjoy Dreamlight Valley. However, as I've said before, this will change depending on how the handle the game once it's free.

Outside of these two games, I haven't played much else. I've been tired and anxious lately. I likely won't have much time to play games soon because my sister is coming up for another visit and I want to spend most of my time with her and my mom. I don't think I'll finish another game by the end of year, which is sad, but at least I finished a few this year (especially Pokemon Arceus.) I am hoping to play test a few games though on the switch and PS4, but it depends on my energy. I'm also hoping to buy some games before the season end, but it depends. Outside of that, I hope everyone is okay and have a good Holiday. It's been a long year for everyone.

[Bluie]

Just noticed today that Xmas trees and little snowmen have popped up all over the place in FFXIV. Two teeeeeeny snowmen are sitting on the steps up to the archery guild, and I came across two bigger ones and a pile of presents in a puddle in a stone alcove along a path. Now I'm in...Ul'dah? In the big round city-like place you first go to, I think, that I find very confusing...and the entire place is done up with trees and it's snowing a little and it looks like an Xmas shopping mall. Caught me by surprise. It's cute. I don't observe Xmas (or any other holiday) but I think the decorations are pretty

Yep, it's Starlight season in FFXIV! I get very nostalgic this time of year in game because I first started my playthrough in the middle of Starlight Celebration 2019. I love the snowfall in city states and all the itty-bity snowmen they stealthily hide everywhere! Since you're already beyond Level 15, the next time you're in Gridania, you can do the Starlight Event which will net you an adorable reindeer mount this year! It's held at Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre on your teleport list and it goes til December 31st, so don't miss out! :3

As for your gear questions; every market has outfitters with gear for up to level 40ish IIRC. Once you finish your Bard questline, you'll get a set of armor for your trouble that's pretty good for base ARR. You can also get gear from dungeons which you'll be using the NPCs to run so you could logically run the dungeon as much as you want to get a full set, but that's also really tedious. You should eventually be getting enough Gil to buy bare minimum though quest rewards, but you will eventually get Retainers you can sell excess items on for extra money too. Once you reach Heavensward, they start giving you armor pieces as quest rewards so you don't have to buy much at all in that regard.

----

More Genshin map completion while puppy sitting. I got another area to 100% yesterday before she started fussing and I had to take her outside. She doesn't do too much or go too far yet outside, so I ended up playing some NieR Reincarnation while she rolled around and ate grass lol. I'm finally getting around to building characters outside my main party so I can do their character quests and have good reserves for extra content. I did Dimos' story and almost teared up it was so sad. It was technically just a rehash of the game's first chapter, but from his perspective instead, annnd that made it hurt even more. Rion and Dimos' story are my favorite in the game (and Rion is one of my faves period) and I love having more content about them, but auuughhh, mah heart....

[Kikki]

Since you're already beyond Level 15, the next time you're in Gridania, you can do the Starlight Event which will net you an adorable reindeer mount this year! It's held at Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre on your teleport list and it goes til December 31st, so don't miss out! :3

Oh, we get a mount? I guess I'll do it, then, thanks, Bluie I saw the very fancy Christmassy area in New Gridania and figured that was an event hotspot but I didn't go grab the quest. Since I think these poor Chocobos are ugly, like yellow ostriches; I guess I should go participate, since a cuter mount would be nice. Sorry, Chocobo, I do appreciate you, you run fast even under my great big, long-legged self: I just don't think you're very cute.

I saw that I could get some good stuff from the Twin Adders, but I don't have nearly enough...er.

Dang, I really AM bad with names in this game. That's not usually the case, I'm generally good with names/words. Now I know what it feels like to be my sister, who can never remember names in ANYTHING and was always saying "I'm in that Kaka place" (Kakariko) or "I'm seeing a memory with that red fish girl" (Mipha, sister, it's MIPHA! ME. FAH. Is that so hard?) But I think with this game, I just got too many new names at once.

Anyway, I don't have enough of the money you get from the grand companies to buy any new gear. A little...I think about 2,000...medals or tickets or whatever they are. But not enough to buy the level 43 longbow I was looking at, let alone a full set of gear. By the time I have enough for that, I'll be overleveled for level 43 gear, lol. I looked for gear to just buy out right with gil, but the couple of places I've looked in haven't sold anything above about level 24...nothing as good as what I already have (though I need to look at accessories because my accessory levels are VERY low...my collar thing is level 5!) I guess I finish my bard questline I'll be level 50? Hmm...I could probably just wait until then and only replace my REALLY low level stuff, for now. Since I'm soloing anyway and nobody's relying on me to kill stuff for them.

I vaguely get the combat, now, but I'm still WAY too clumsy for multiplayer.

Spoiler:

I simply can't multitask, and no amount of practise makes me better at it. I don't know what my rotation is supposedta be (especially since all explanations I've looked up use in-game LINGO that I don't understand! WHAT THE DEVIL IS A PROC??? And why do people who know you don't know how things work use abbreviations and lingo without ever first saying what the full word is? As far as I'm concerned it's a either a proctor or a proctologist.) YOu're supposed to press the same buttons in the same order all the time? That sounds incredibly boring. I just mush all my buttons as soon as I have the option, and focus on heavy shot the most often if I have to choose, since it seems to be what gets straight shot to pop up, unless they have a longer cooldown, and then I might save them for a little if I see I'll need them more later. Straight shot seems to hit for greater damage so ideally I'd like to to pop up lots, so I do use heavy shot a lot. But other than that, I just mash whatever I can when it becomes available, unless I've already realized that they don't do a heck of a lot in battle (like peloton...that hardly ever seems to do anything and I don't really notice it increasing movement speed, either...headshot also isn't a damage-dealer so I don't use it that often.)

So, I don't actually know what 'my rotation' is, I just mash away at any attack that's ready to go so that I'm almost constantly firing off something, though I do intend to reorganize my hotbar next time I play to group certain attack types and clear out the ones that are rarely used. Also, people say things about what you have to do in a party, with noticing what your party members are doing, if health is low on the healer, or etc...I can BARELY keep track of what *I* am doing and what the *enemy* is doing, enough to keep firing and also stay out of the way of any AoE that's headed my way (I think I do okay at avoiding attacks since I almost never need healing? I'm not sure, maybe that means I'm just standing too far away, though I have to stay within moderate range to fire off that rapid volley attack as an occasional alternative to Heavy Shot.) I find battle so visually choatic that I had to fight Ifrit 4 times, because the first time I didn't even notice the new enemy, the nail, that I SHOULD have switched my attention to, to prevent his big attack from being strong enough to wipe the party. I like my AI party members well enough, they're fantastic at keeping everyone's health up, but they don't seem to do nearly as much damage as I do, so I'm responsible for whittling away at the enemy and I CONCENTRATE on my hotbar or I screw it up. I can actually forget what I'm doing in a battle and my mind'll wander and for a minute I just stand there, thinking about if I should have changed the hotbar, or etc, but now I can't cuz I'm stuck in this battle that repeats if I fail it. I cannot multitask. I can only think about/remember one thing at once. Try to do two things at once and I screw them BOTH up. This has been amply proven over decades...it's not going to improve with age.

I'm really, REALLY not meant to do anything but solo. I couldn't be relied on at all to know what to do at specific moments. I probably don't even know those specific moments exist. I should do these sprout quests for teaching battle, but I can't figure out where I go to do them. I started one in New Gridania from the sprout quest guy, but nothing happened except it announced I had failed it...and I didn't even see it begin. I'll have to try again on that one to figure out where I'm actually supposed to be to do those battle-teaching quests. I must have to be in a specific location to take part in them.

Anyway, I'm so stupid with this stuff, and apparently unable to learn/improve...I could really only infuriate party members there were actual, real people, rather than game AI. I have no desire to frustrate or inconvenience others. I want to just slip through the game quietly by myself without dragging anyone else into the endless blooper-reel that is me.

Anyway, I hardly ever have to do battles multiple times and I haven't been killed very often and almost never need healing, and my gear is about ten levels too low for me, but I think that means I'm doing well enough to at least keep myself ambling through the game at a decent pace.

There certainly is bags of content in this game for free, anyway. I think if you were playing a normal amount of hours, it'd potentially last you a couple months of using all your game time on it, especially if you're also doing gathering and crafting, or if you're doing more than one class/job. I will PROBABLY buy this...but having to eventually team up with real people has a very real change of stopping me from commiting to the purchase; I find that idea SO stressful it just about makes me ill, because I WILL screw it up enough to annoy everybody, and I just want to bumble through by myself.

~

Got a tray of greens planted and am running my grow-light for the morning! Please germinate, little seeds...

EDIT: FIgured out how to do the sprout ("Novice"!) quests! I didn't notice the bar I had to trackpad my way over to clicking... (This is why I need to be solo, you know. It took me up to level 30 before I figured out how to lock onto a target properly...I didn't know you had to press X after selecting them! Narf...)

[Bluie]

So, you're playing arguably the easiest class in the game, and I'm not saying that in a demeaning way! Bard is a great class for newbies and veterans alike because of it's accessibility. It basically boils down to this, if you push a button and then another lights up right after that, you should push it asap. That's your rotation. Your other skills that aren't part of your rotation have long cooldowns and are meant to be fired off between rotation presses and as they get off of cooldown. Bard is a buffer for the party and yourself (and they're they only class besides healers that can use Esuna! :0) so their damage is lower but utility is great overall. Like Dancer, the rotation is simple and the turnaround on cooldowns is relatively fast. For now, you don't need to be optimal, just play as you like. You're not gunning to join savage or anything, so be as casual as you like lol. Also, as long as you have that little sprout next to your name, absolutely no one is going to judge you and your actions - it's actually against the game's ToS to do so. 'Sprouts' in the community aren't expected to do anything a vet can, they're new and can take things at their own pace. So yeah, just have fun and don't worry too much! :3

[Mikodesu]

If Harvestella ends well...it might be my favorite JRPG story, barring nostalgia points. There are a couple questions I have a feeling they won't answer, but I got EVEN MORE questions answered today which was great. For my taste in stories I'm pretty darned satisfied with how the plot is progressing...

Chapter 7 ending spoilers

Spoiler:

Aside from the names (Cain and Abel - I want to call it trite but it was too hilarious of a reveal) the old humans vs new humans bit is just great. Reminds me of this EXCELLENT scifi manga I read years ago with a similar concept, except that there was no attempt to avoid war between the factions. Manga is called "Wombs", if you like space operas. It's great.

I think I'd need to play through the game again to decide if it builds up well or takes too long, but to my brain now I feel like it goes at a pretty good clip. There's just an INCREDIBLE amount of world building and story telling to dole out and they do it with a lot of characters and their stories thrown in to keep things from getting too stale. Which I also like (for the most part). There are things here and there I would change, but overall it's pretty solid.

Probably the biggest thing I would change is to have whatever character you're living with get 'daily dialogue'. Pretty please. Their little voice lines when you leave and come back are cute, but that gets as stale as their ONE line when you talk to them. Not as fast, but still. Oh. And let me save whenever I want, game. I got railroaded into a half hour of cutscenes after I wanted to go to bed because when I went to the save point it gave me a generic 'it's glowing at you' line. >:| Bad game. No.


I think either yesterday or the day before the abyss reset in Genshin. I'm surprised just how easily I can chew through floor 9 and most of 10 now. Did chamber 1 of 11 again, and gave up on floor 2 when my characters just kept dying. It's too time consuming to be 'for me', but I like the stress test aspect. If your characters hold up, you've raised them well.

Haven't started the archon quest or the event yet, but weeklies are done. So tomorrow will be big event fun.

[Kikki]

So, you're playing arguably the easiest class in the game, and I'm not saying that in a demeaning way! Bard is a great class for newbies and veterans alike because of it's accessibility. It basically boils down to this, if you push a button and then another lights up right after that, you should push it asap. That's your rotation. Your other skills that aren't part of your rotation have long cooldowns and are meant to be fired off between rotation presses and as they get off of cooldown. Bard is a buffer for the party and yourself (and they're they only class besides healers that can use Esuna! :0) so their damage is lower but utility is great overall. Like Dancer, the rotation is simple and the turnaround on cooldowns is relatively fast. For now, you don't need to be optimal, just play as you like. You're not gunning to join savage or anything, so be as casual as you like lol. Also, as long as you have that little sprout next to your name, absolutely no one is going to judge you and your actions - it's actually against the game's ToS to do so. 'Sprouts' in the community aren't expected to do anything a vet can, they're new and can take things at their own pace. So yeah, just have fun and don't worry too much! :3

How long've you been using that avatar? I just noticed it. It's really cute

I get what you mean...you're saying that as reassurance, not an insult, lol. (Man, you're playing the easiest class in the game and you're still THIS bad at it??) I looked classes up specifically when I was starting the game, to find out which one was the very easiest. THere were dissenting opinions, but DPS was agreed on almost unanimously, and beyond that, Archer seemed to be the class most suggested as easiest. So I went with it. Though I regretted it a bit when he suddenly had a glowing bycocket on his head for a minute during the cutscene, lol. In truth, bycockets are a flattering shape for almost everyone, but I find them unbearably cliche.

I always press Straight Shot the instant it pops up as it seems to do the biggest whack of damage (though now that I have 3 bard skills, one of them seems to do a fair load, too...I need to look at the descriptions and reorganize the hotbar next time I play...no getting distracted!) I did notice that Heavy Shot was what charged it up, since it's always right after Heavy Shot that Straight Shot sometimes becomes available. Why it took me so logn to realize that I wasn't locking on to my target and had trouble with Ifrit because the enemy selection didn't stay on that nail...I had to re-select it every time and it was VERY inefficient. I LOOKED IT UP. I didn't figure it out...I looked up the answer, lol.

That's definitely next on my list...reorganize my hotbar. I was only on just long enough this morning to do the reindeer quest, and buy some level 43 gear. It's notably better than the level 40 stuff I could have worn immediately. Didn't want to waste money, so will wait for two more levels and then I'll be nice and up-to-date in my gear! Then I can get back to chasing the main story again...after I do some more sprout quests, now that I know how to activate them properly, lol.

Thanks for all your help, Bluie

[Shan O 123]

My online subscription ends on the 21st, I’m hoping to cough up 20 bucks for another year. At the mean time I’m taking advantage of my switch.

[greensara]

Well, the free game thing is over and was mostly a bust. There were 2 or 3 puzzle style games that were somewhere between okay and meh and the rest of the games were not anything I even wanted to play. At least I am not out anything but a little time.

I think I am starting to wind down on my Pokemon kick and may move to another game/s soon. I know I want to finish Skyward Sword, though I don't know if I will get to it before the end of the year. I will certainly try the other potions that were suggested. I also was pretty close to finishing DQ 9 before I got to feeling burnt out on it.

I don't have a lot on my wishlist coming out next year so far, but there are a few things I am interested in, besides Zelda of course. Let's see:

Spoiler:

Tales of Symphonia
Ys 10 (can't remember time frame)
The Ys port they are doing also (Oath of something, I think it's either 6 or 7 if I remember correctly)
The new Natsume Harvest Moon game

Most of these there wouldn't be any big rush on though. Not necessarily a bad thing I don't really have any set gaming plans for the first few months of this coming year anyway. It's going to be crazy enough having my fourth child next month, lol. We will certainly be in for some even more fun multiplayer sessions in a couple years when the younger two can join their sisters, me, and their dad. Haven't done a ton multiplayer stuff since I was growing up with my siblings, so I am looking forward to revisiting multiplayer more often.

[ryume]

Kikki, I hope you're enjoying Eorzea! This year's seasonal mount is very cute.

Long time no post. I'm now officially done forever with school - all that's left is my certification exam. I am definitely NEVER going back unless they say I cannot work without getting a doctorate degree. Gaming hasn't been much for me beyond progressing in the latest tier of savage raids in FFXIV (we are on the 8th circle of Abyssos) and learning the savage criterion content. I did pick up Harvestella not too long ago however, and have been enjoying the absolute heck out of that.

I hope everyone is doing well!

[Kikki]

Kikki, I hope you're enjoying Eorzea! This year's seasonal mount is very cute.

Nice to see you, ryume...congrats on finishing your schooling! Hope it leads to some good career developments.

Yeah, the game is pretty good The story hasn't grabbed me yet...I'm at the level 28 MSQ stuff right now (my character is level 44, but the story quests are dragging on way behind me in level.) At the moment I'm dealing with some lunatic who mauls faces, though I'm not sure how this is part of the main story, at this point, since it seems to be a personal and thus small-scale thing, unhinged though they are. I'm guessing the bad guy of the moment (some cloaked masked person) misled and further deranged this lunatic? Dunno yet!

Quit before going into the dungeon. Kinda like the idea of this dungeon being a house, though. I'm sick of dank caves. I really do NOT enjoy dungeon crawling in the majority of games and I'm afraid FFXIV hasn't managed to make it fun for me, either. (Well, it is a tall order.)

I've managed to...

• Get my fella a nice-looking outfit, and gear appropriate to his level, with one glamour and some dyeing, and without grinding or breaking the bank.
• Find and pick up the first Botanist quest (I just wanted to locate it, for now...I'll go back and do the quests later if I stay interested in the game.)
• Figure out HUD reconfiguration and rearranged the screen much more to my liking. Exploring is more appealing with a less-cluttered screen.
• Sort through all my actions/attacks and redid the hotbar. It's more efficient, now. Also realized that it's very fast to swap to a second hotbar if you need the extra space, which I'm starting to, particularly if I want summon and return and emote skills available at a quick button-press. Not a big deal in theory, but in fact is a fairly big QoL improvement that makes things much smoother for me.
• Get two mounts and several movement speed upgrades.
• Completed the Novice quests to learn that I actually have been playing the game mostly right, as an ARC BRD (never gonna stop saying that; it's still funny to me that I took it literally) though I still fumble a bit with selecting the right...the one that is targeting the healer or the one that all the others are targeting...enemy fast enough. Failed another quest three times in a row by not targeting the right enemies in the right order, but eventually realized the squishiest character had to be protected like a little princess so anything that targeted him had to be killed first.

So FFXIV is going relatively smoothly. I'm never gonna be a pro but it's easy enough that my gamer flaws don't matter too much.

[ryume]

Thanks for the congratulations! I hope so too, but I won't lie- I'm mostly just glad to be done at this moment

Good stuff! I'm sure Bluie has said so, but if you hang in there past A Realm Reborn, the story gets INCREDIBLE! I primarily play healers, but I do have everything capped so feel free to ask any questions any time

[Mikodesu]

So many congratulations in order!

Most of these there wouldn't be any big rush on though. Not necessarily a bad thing I don't really have any set gaming plans for the first few months of this coming year anyway. It's going to be crazy enough having my fourth child next month, lol. We will certainly be in for some even more fun multiplayer sessions in a couple years when the younger two can join their sisters, me, and their dad. Haven't done a ton multiplayer stuff since I was growing up with my siblings, so I am looking forward to revisiting multiplayer more often.

A new baby! Hope the last month of your pregnancy goes smoothly, and congrats to you and your family!!

I have so much admiration for moms. Shuttling kids around while pregnant is a skill that cannot get enough appreciation.

Long time no post. I'm now officially done forever with school - all that's left is my certification exam. I am definitely NEVER going back unless they say I cannot work without getting a doctorate degree. Gaming hasn't been much for me beyond progressing in the latest tier of savage raids in FFXIV (we are on the 8th circle of Abyssos) and learning the savage criterion content. I did pick up Harvestella not too long ago however, and have been enjoying the absolute heck out of that.

Welcome back & congrats, ryume! You've been at this for at least the last couple years, iirc? Has to feel good to get your life back, finally.

And on a selfish note, can't wait to hear your thoughts when you've played more Harvestella. A few people here and there on the forum have played, but it's always nice to have one more. (Not quite done with the game, myself, but I'd bet I'm ahead of you if you just picked the game up.)


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Haven't played any more today, but if I get burnt out on art before the night's over I might. Too many projects to work on. I'm sick of my forum icon so I'd like to make a new one (honestly, I need a new 'artist' logo/icon...), art contest art (already halfway done so I may as well finish it) and a few other projects. Last night's Harvestella was from burn out, though I've learned my lesson starting a story section late at night...

[Bluie]

So FFXIV is going relatively smoothly. I'm never gonna be a pro but it's easy enough that my gamer flaws don't matter too much.

You're doing great and I'm so glad you're enjoying things despite the story's slow start! Just like ryume said, it can't be understated that the game's story is incredible. ARR is a set up that will have you saying once you hit Endwalker "They literally planned this, I remember this, those bastards knew this was going to happen for ten years (of development) and somehow managed to keep us all in the dark. I cannot believe they did this!" (in a good way lol). For now though, enjoy the journey! You level will cap at 60 for now because of the free trial. Let me know when you hit your first Trial and we can work out a time I can come nuke it for you. :3

P.S. Just changed my icon yesterday!

P.P.S. Congrats ryume!
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I was TWO PERCENT away from 100% all of Liyue last night and I CRASHED. Woke up in the middle of the night grumpy, but unable to keep playing lmao. I'm awake now because my brain requires me to get a fanfic out so I can be free from it invading my thoughts. I am gonna finish Liyue today then I'll just have the Chasm (inside and out) and Enkanomiya to 100% before going all in on Sumeru. I also need to get the last two music scrolls in FFXIV sooner than later, because I don't want the next update (in Jan) to dump a whole bunch more I need to grab and I still not have them. I also want to start some new games come new year, so no side activities to nag at me would be nice.