The Seventh Umbral Era Looms! Let's Play FFXIV

During alpha/beta the tester forums were awash with theories like "They must be giving us 2-3 versions behind to test, because this *can't* be what they're releasing."

Then, of course, it turned out that it was.

That hat is faaaaaantastic.

That's actually the bonus for purchasing the special edition version of the game (which I got for $30 about a year and 1/2 after the game's launch...).



There's a less useful higher level red onion version as well.

That hat really is pretty....
Pretty Ugly

Combined with Kurow's smug look on his face means every screen shot he's in kinda makes me want to laugh at him.

Its kinda funny that the camera for over Kurow's shoulder results in the big giant axe he's so fond of obsuring 1/2 the screen. It feels like Kurow should just turn and tell the camera man to back up a step or two

Jesus Christ I had heard this game was unfinished but I had no idea.

Also JESUS CHRIST the UI in this game is shit. It's painful to look at. A good 1/4th of the screen on the left and the bottom 1/5th of the screen or so is cluttered with words. It's like playing in windowed mode.

Great music though!

Yeah, that's the old UI. It's been changed a LOT, and probably even more since I played XIV last.

Nope, hasn't been changed a damn bit yet. Not until 2.0.

Really? It seemed different from when I played it at launch.

only difference from launch was the 2 chat boxes used to be one w/ tabs to switch between them, other than that its pretty much the same

You can still stack them, but then you have to keep tabbing back and forth between chat and battle which I think is annoying.

Beta interface, for reference:



This was back when they still had that (terrible idea) no character levels what the hell ever thing.

thing i hated most about the beta chatbox was that it always told you what everyone else was doing... tells you whenever anyone killed anything, whenever anyone received an item, whenever anyone was harvesting/crafting etc.

Ha ha ha, see, this is why you should play Gladiator for a bit Still can't use it outside of quests, but the Gladiator quest series put me in there a couple times.

I'm a little surprised to see Uldah (and I assume Limsa) is pretty much doing all the things I did in Gridania. Like, I was tempted to provide the Gridania version of events, but the only real difference is in the NPCs and story. I mean, I had to fight three wolves instead of one huge Goobue, and my two requisite Mysterious NPCs are practically superglued together, always walking around with each other, but it's all there: Escort quest, emote tutorial, carrying an item from the opening around and selling it...

All this part of the story really is is the game telling you about the guilds and what to expect, I guess.

Although Gridania DOES send a false message I'm not seeing in Uldah... Every NPC ever told me not to leave the forest because of some greenwrath nonsense.

(Oh, and Yda and Papalymo, my two Mysterious NPCs, are FAR more interesting than Suave Bard and Generic Catgirl. I almost wonder if they spent their entire writing budget on just those two.)

... Back to lurking. I am incapable of entering a FF MMO LP without a wall of text it seems.

8/31/2012 - On The Path to Gridania



Tired of endlessly slaughtering hordes of dodos, I pack up my axe and decide to head east to the nearest neighboring city, Gridania.



On the way I grab one of the many aetherial nodes (smaller versions of the camp aetherites). For some reason there are ridiculously high level monsters roaming about, even though the level cap is currently set at 50 so there's no way anyone could have a chance versus things like these even with a full party.



I also spy my first cactuar!



And another crazy high level dragon (these will be a pattern in FFXIV's monster distribution...).



The Black Shroud Theme

Reaching the far east side of Thanlan, we find our first hard zone and enter The Black Shroud.



This place is the worst. At least you start with all the maps, though, or else you'd never find your way to the damn town.



Its full of more...foresty type animals, like the does here.



Also a bunch of goblins, which unlike FFXI are not aggressive.



Ahriman and Malboro living together, mass hysteria!



Also, giant salamander mudpuppy things.



And then I get eaten by a guivre. This place is thick with these things.

And thus I became a member of the 9999 damage club and got my gear broken, requiring a later trip to the repair shop.



The forest is also home to the lemur like opo-opos and the unassuming funguars.



And giant enemy crabs!



The Black Shroud battle theme

Funguars are a lot less creepy than the weird mushroom / grasshopper hybrids in XI too.



Even things as tiny as fireflies are a valid target here. Its amazing I can still hit them with my axe.



A ways further I find a covered bridge and the entrance to Gridania.



Gridania theme

It really is just Windurst all over again.



Some of the decorations in the adventurer's guild are neat, though, like the stained glass here.



Also grabbed the town aetherite so its easy to return here later.

Were you taking screenshots from the beginning or are you replaying all this stuff?

Yeah, I was taking shots from the beginning with the intentions of Let's Playing it.

I hope these stupid things vanish in 2.0. They're long, boring, and exclusively serve to mask the loading. It takes longer to traverse through them than just having a zoneline, too.

Thankfully they added Chocobos eventually... Can't use them on the bridge or anything, but grabbing one in the city warps you outside. One-way, but still a timesaver.

Windurst actually is fun and exciting, being a nation of mages. Gridania is a city-state eternally at the mercy of a rather malevolent forest, a forest with serious mood swings that will kick your ass if you dare to chop even one live tree down. (Well, in-story. Players can do whatever they want...)

I meant layout-wise. Covered in trees and ridiculously huge since little / nothing isn't on the ground level.

And players can't do whatever they want in the forest. Remember when those level 110 trees kicked our asses for having the audacity to move at more than a stroll?

Wasn't that just because it was the moogle holy land or whatever? I'm not sure if that should count - Moogles are assholes.

8/31/2012 - Tedious Mission Run-around Part 2



Continuing where we left off, time to visit the hospital.



The Phrontistery has a bunch of random NPCs mixing potions in it.



As well as a number escorting sick or injured adventurers to urgent care.



Of course we're immediately turned down for care with how busy they are, but his mood turns around when he hears that we're the one Momodi sent to help.



This guy is just a desk attendant, though, and I've got to go meet with Faustigeant, the chief of medicine.



We find the doctor totally in the dark about the current situation, despite there being enough injured people from those mines here at the moment to fill the place past capacity.



The most ridiculous looking lalafell assures the doctor that he's got his best guys looking into what the hell is going on at the mines.



Its also implied that a thaumaturge is to blame for the incident in the mines...



The doctor scoffs at our offer for help since we are not a master of the alchemical arts as he is.



We're put to work just surveying the sick rooms, since a lowly adventurer is incapable of anything more for the doctor.



It seems there's more going in with this mining incident than was first let on.



On our rounds, we happen upon Ascilia and Corguevais at her father's bedside.



He's dead Jim.

The body isn't even cold yet and Corguevais is already prodding Asicilia for information in regards to her father's intentions in Ul'dah.



It seems that all he had told his daughter was that "Ul'dah is dangerous" and nothing more.



"Don't mind me, where do you want this corpse dropped off? I kinda need this room."



Obviously this dude studied US healthcare in setting his prices.



Corguevais surprisingly stands up for her.



The doctor is a total asshole about everything.



It seems that in the world of Eorzea those not properly buried are stuck in some sort of purgatory.



Corguevais curses the fact that Warburton is dead, and proclaims that he must contact "the superiors." Whoever they are.



Even Momodi acknowledges that the doctor is an asshole. She asks us to meet her back at the adventurer's guild.



Nobody ever said Ul'dahns were humble.



And with that, 3 updates later, the first mission Court in the Sands is complete.

Next time: Ascilia, Queen of the Mines

You guys! Omg you guys!

http://andriasang.com/con2js/niinou_square_enix/

Kazuya Niinou of Etrian Odyssey and 7th Dragon fame is now working under Yoshida as the Assistant Director of XIV.

9/7/2012 - The Slow Boat to Limsa Lominsa



Unlike Gridania, you can't just walk to Limsa Lominsa. Instead you have to venture through western Thanlan, past the goats and cactuars, to a ferry dock.



There's an entirely unused lower section of Thanlan that houses monsters entirely too far out of depth than could ever be handled with a level cap of 50.



Oh random NPC, you're such a riot!



In one of the more thoughtful moves of FFXIV, the boat automatically forces you to board when you're in the dock area. I don't know how many times I paid for an (air)ship ticket in FFXI only to have it leave the dock before I could board and force me to wait 15+ minutes for the next departure.



Killing time waiting for the boat. It seems that there's some kind of outpost or something on an island offshore, though there's no way to get there.



Eventually the boat shows up and we're treated to a little cutscene of it leaving port.



Despite the totally clear skies at port its a raging storm upon the open sea.



Riding the boat is fucking boring. Unlike FFXI, there are no monster attacks on this 10+ minute journey, so hopefully you brought a (real life) book to keep you occupied during the absolutely nothing happening. Its so dark and stormy that you can't even tell if they implemented the appropriate regional land as you pass by (my guess is "not a chance").



Limsa Lominsa music

Finally we dock at one of the many ports in town.



I guess there was a sahagin problem at some point? They've yet to be implemented as actual beastmen, though.



Almost all of the quest NPCs are sailors of some sort. I was particularly aghast at this fellow's name that seemed like someone was just bashing on the keyboard during localization.



Doing quests gets you a slight exp bonus, but its so tiny in general that its rarely worth the effort unless you just really need whatever other rewards are granted.



Its always a good practice to make a beeline for the aetherite whenever you arrive in a new area. Grabbing this one means I never have to ride that damn ferry ever again.



The exit from town involves a long bridge of almost absolutely nothing. This is to hide the fact that the game is loading the next area.



Central La Nocsea music

La Noscea Battle music (one of my favorites)

Rather than being infested with hideous coblyns like Thanlan, La Noscea has a bunch of herds of sheep just outside of town.



And a bit of a rat problem.



La Noscea leve theme

The first camp is just a stone's throw away from town.

La Noscea is where I first try out a disciple of the land (in this case, mining). In order to gather materials you have to do a basic hot / cold type game. Each spot has a limited number of things you can harvest before you must move on to another.



The area also has a bunch of small dragons, Puks, roaming about. The name should be familiar to long-time FFXI players.



Each of the disciple of the land classes has a slightly different way to represent harvesting, though in the end they all work the same. This is (*yawn*) logging.



Western La Noscea music

The western areas of La Noscea are home to higher level (though mostly manageable eventually) monsters. These toads here are kind of unique in that if you aggro one of them they can use their long sticky tongues to grab you and keep you from escaping.



I'm able to sneak around everything to reach another camp, though.



For whatever reason there are a few pirate type enemies wandering around the fields as well.



And more giant enemy crabs.



I wander into a nearby mine and come across a rather strange looking creature.



While not aggressive, these slugs will randomly discharge and area of effect move that will catch lower level players off guard. It took me forever to figure out why I'd died.

Next time: More Story

Oh, good, you found some hempen kecks.

Catching up on this, couple of things: first of all, there's chinchillas as enemies? Second of all, the Onion Helm looks really goddamn ridiculous on a dude with a beard.

Also, on the subject of MMOs, I'd like to see a massively multiplayer adaptation of FF5. Ideally, it would keep the battle system and everything else from the original. I'd really like to see what sort of preferred ability sets develop from PvP in particular.

9/21/2012 - Ul'dah Missions Part 3



We return to the Adventurer's Guild only to get filled in on stuff we already knew. She's of course talking about Corguevais.



Once again Thancred interrupts our business to do some flirting.



It seems Niel has been looking for Thancred. It seems that he suspects that there is a Garlean spy somewhere in Ul'dah and has been holding clandestine meetings with the higher ups from the city.



Their meetings have been in the local casino*, which will be our next destination.

*Gambling not implemented



But not for anything involved with the story! It just so happens that they conveniently need an adventurer for some reason.



Like usual, talk to the guild worker, proceed to the instanced area in the back...



Almost immediately we're approached by the owner (?) and he tells us to not go into the high roller's area.



But he doesn't mind taking me in to meet some people. I just need "adult supervision."



Turns out its the same old 4 or 5 characters we run into everywhere! Thancred is currently in the process of taking everyone's money.



The owner is accused of fixing the decks via magic, but it seems there's some sort of a seal over the establishment.



Greinfarr is still a little...testy.



Thancred implies that the game was all for "charity" and then immediately proceeds to start spouting things about the empire and their razing of Ala Mihgo.



He accuses the Ul'dahn elite of fanning the flames of war in hopes of a quick profit or some glory in battle.



Thancred then turns the tables and accuses the spoiled guild heirs of orchestrating the goobbue incident for some glory.



He also makes them feel bad for Ascilia's father dying.



No longer standing for such slander, the group leaves. Thancred takes in the chips to put toward a proper burial for Ascilia's father.



He then entrusts Corguevais (the least trustworthy of them all!) with the money for the burial.



After everyone else has left I'm carted off by some random employee back to the entrance.



Next stop is the weaver's guild.



Deja vu.



This time its not in an in-town instance, though! Instead its way off to the north of town.



Arriving there, we find the two lalafell guards proposing their love to her. She's not having any part in it.



Still so formal after all the stuff we've done together? That's cold.



She's obsessing over the flowers and how the day in town still ended in tragedy despite the flower's supposed protective abilities.



God damn, everyone's got friggin amnesia. F'lhaminn has got her to work collecting stones for her for some reason.

Nope, that place was destroyed 15 years before the game launched kid.



Out of nowhere, Corguevais shows up to freak Ascilia out again. He starts spouting about he and her father were working on a mission, despite the girl never having me him previously.



She's not having any of it.



Not even the money for the funeral, apparently?



Sick burn.



F'lhaminn takes the money and offers to smooth things over with Ascilia.



It turns out that the girl's father was really carrying information about the Garlean Empires, something that could have potentially stopped or postponed the upcoming war if it had not died with him.



"I need you to go join the thaumaturge's guild in the hopes of raising the dead for me, pretty please?"



Next stop is the Ossuary in SW Ul'dah.



Deja vu.



The thaumaturge at the front desk is not amused with our inquiry.



In fact, she's quite distraught over it.



One of the higher ranking thaumaturges offers to hear my story. FINALLY some service around here.



He's kinda creepy, though...



Oh, just mind reading.



It seems F'lhaminn already knew the answers she sent us here for.



"Yes, please reiterate important plot points!"



But nope, no dice. At least he offers a consolatory autopsy.



Mumuepo is convinced the girl is the key to the answers we seek.



But she's unwilling to allow Ascilia to be probed.



Niel was vising the guild as well and is less than excited to see me.



I guess he's still pissed that I...eavesdropped on him being accused of orchestrating murder? Dude, keep that between you and Thancred.



We once again find Corguevais skulking around, this time explaining that he's also from Ala Mhigo and wishes to pay for Warburton's funeral.



"Once again we're black magic, not necromancy. Common mistake."



He leaves us with an open invitation to switch to the thaumaturge class. No thanks dude.

Even though we seemed to leave on decent terms, it looks like the guild is threatening exile from Ul'dah if I come asking about necromancy again? What dicks.



Never mind that, though, as it seems there's shit going down outside town.



Long-ass mission complete, with another pittance of experience points.



Time to go run those dudes down at the chocobo stables.



Chocobo stables guy claims there's a Garlean starting shit over at the mines.



F'lhaminn shows up in a tizzy, claiming that Corguevais has kidnapped her.



And off they go!



We're included as an afterthought.



We show up to what appears to be some sort of a showdown.



He claims that this kidnapping is for her own good.



After some idle threats from the other side, Corguevais turns the tables and spouts Thancred's accusations back on them.



This of course causes Ascilia to immediately turn on F'lhaminn.



Niel asks if the impending threat is from the Garleans, but Corguevais laughs it off and says its much worse.



Man, what a little bitch.



Corguevais breaks out a horn, supposedly the one used to drive the goobbue mad at the parade.



And he blows it with all his might.



This causes coblyns to flood the area, even going so far as to throw themselves off cliffs to attack.



To battle!



It seems that Ascilia suddenly has a change of heart after seeing the monsters.



F'lhaminn jumps in and attempts to save the girl.



Of course she gets injured.



This is followed by a fight against super weak enemies.



Afterwards, F'lhaminn is rushed to the hospital!

Next time: The Fate of F'lhaminn

You know, I suddenly remembered why I stopped attempting to play MMOs. They suck your life and soul away. Also, cat girls played by 50 yr old men. Anyway, loving the Lp so far! I wish I could not suck at it....

Thanks for the feedback! Was beginning to wonder if anyone was still following it with how overlong / tedious these mission updates have been.