New Final Fantasy games :o

Ok, first off, Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 for the DS just came out... this caught me totally by surprise as I had no idea there was a new FFTA game coming out xD I'll have to pick this up this weekend and add it to the pile of games that are "to be played"

Next... this is something new... a Final Fantasy... fighting game?! Dissidia Final Fantasy...
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dissidia/

Looks like so far we have FF I, II, VIII & IX so far... o.o; Who knows if they'll add more characters... that would be something, wouldn't it? Prishe vs. Sephiroth? xD

PS3, MGS4, WoG, ToAU... lol?

Wow, seems like I'm the only person blogging lately... where are the rest of you all! /stare Aqqy, Zuzu...

Alright, after a little few days break, I think I'm a little more re-energized to get back into FFXI... I've been feeling pretty down lately with the multiple failures in Alex, getting our asses handed to use multiple times in FL Assaults. Plus the regular grind to get merits, Limbus, etc. was really getting to me, so having some time off was very much needed...

... plus that new PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 was pulling me away :D Snaaaaaaaaaake! I won't spoil anything, but if anyone has played any of these games before... you owe it to yourself to play the final game in the series! The cinematics are totally worth it! That, and FFXIII will be coming out soon!

*WARNING: WoG spoilers ahead*

Alright, a little on WoG missions now... Out of the blue, I decided to get on and just... go do WoG content! I've been slacking on this and haven't actually done any new content since the initial missions waaaaaaaaaay back when WoG was first released. Grabbing Fuupup and Ghi at random, we went to go do the new WoG missions, starting with killing the War Lynx for Fuuji, then farming the 108-knot thingie for all of us and a ton of new cutscenes... some fun stories ensure!

During the farming of the 108-knot thingie, I was doing surprisingly well pulling only the Yags that we needed. Their patrol route was a pain since they'd patrol around the area where we were fighting, and once in a while, some yags that we didn't want would come over. However, using a mixture of throwing and animated flourish, I was able to pull them pretty cleanly... until one annoying yag BLM decided to stand and cast while his buddies popped and happened to walk over... Thanks Fuuji for getting the attention of what must have been 5+ Yags! He went down soooooooooo fast that I didn't even have a chance to cure... then thankfully they all depopped so it wasn't a total wipe ^^;;;

On Saturday, Fuuji & I went to do the fun "kill-all-yags" assault-type mission in Fort K-N. I nearly managed to do it solo as BLU using my many AoE spells, but I got overconfident near the end and didn't notice the NM beating on me until it was too late. A BLU & BLM make short work of this little fight, and it's quite fun, especially since random yags actually restore TP or MP. We did this again on Sunday for Ghiren, then later in the day for Ashle.

On Sunday though, the real fun begins... the main WoG storyline! One note though... I don't think I've ever been this annoyed at Campaign Battle before! We kept on getting stuck in the main cities, mainly Windy waiting for CB to end so that we could use the C.A. to teleport out. I got two merits from just doing campaign while trying to get from place to place -.-;;; Eventually, we made it to Sandy and got to meet the brand new lolipedo Lion/Prishe/Aphmau underage FFXI character of WoG, Lilisette! Some pics from the various cutscenes follow!

Flirty Lilisette!

DNC/NIN! I think those are Jambiyas... time to change from my Behemoth +1 to these? :D

Dancers can be bullies too ; ; That's me on the floor being bullied by my DNC sisters!

These cutscenes are a lot of fun... As Aqqy pointed out, it seems that SE has really done some work on the character expressions as Lilisette has a ton more expressions and movements compared to all the previous characters before. They've really improved on things now, to the point where you can see the characters having looks of sadness, anger, confusion, especially in Lilisette. The scene with all the Dancers ganging up looks really funny when I'm also dressed exactly like them... well, the other Dancers at least, Lilisette has a slightly different outfit with shorter gloves and boots, as well as a single earring on her right ear.

After a bunch of cutscenes in and around Sandy, Fuuji, Ghiren & I snuck around La Vaule [S] for a little BC fight with a dragon... pretty straightforward fight, tons more cutscenes, and a LOT of backstory on Lilisette. Seems that SE is going cutscene heavy in WoG, which I totally love :D Of course, the three of us were the only people in the whole zone... It's a pity nobody seems to want to go exploring these new zones :(

The WoG storyline is finally getting somewhere with the latest update. It seems like we're in for a "Back to the Future" type storyline. I managed to get some really good shots of... let's just say possible futures. Too spoilerific if I put it up here, so I won't xD

Alright, that's all I have for WoG content for now... We're caught up on all the released WoG missions until the next update. Can't wait for it now. I need to go /whip some people into catching up... at least Ashle is trying to now! Who else do we need to go whip?

ToAU content

So, I've been getting beaten up by Alexander... I've lost count on the number of times that I've failed at this mission. The closest I've gotten is when we got it down to 8% last night before timing out >.<

FL Assaults are surprisingly hard... we're taking a break from Assault for now. After months at grinding away at this, it was pretty disheartening to get beaten down so easily. However, I still want to win this... I want to get people together starting the 2nd week of July and work out a plan to defeat Assault!

For ZNMs... well, I haven't really paid much attention to this yet. I've gone out with Varg & Aqqy for a few fights, but I haven't done much on my own. Ironically, this got me to go out and get myself a fishie pankration monster (Oboro-type, ugly fish named "The Flayer"). I've watched it do a few fights and won more than enough "Jettrons" to last me for a while. Taking a quick look at FFXICyclopedia, I think the main thing I actually want from the ZNMs is a Blood Ring for the Accuracy +5 on my DNC. The Enkidu's Armor set also looks quite interesting for both BLU & DNC, though of the whole set, I think the leggings would be the most useful as a replacement for Dusk Boots. Maybe after I finish Alex and get some time I'll look into doing ZNMs xD

Other

Other random stuff... mmm... I'm currently looking for, actually interviewing for a new primary job... I mean RL job xD I've also got a 2nd job that is actually starting to ramp up, and school is starting again for the summer today @.@ Busy busy busy... but still I'm finding time to game xD
Meanwhile, I guess in game I'm down to only Limbus and the Friday SPT as a regular schedule... I skipped Limbus all of last week, but I guess it's time to get back in. I'm really finding myself having a lot more fun on DNC though, so I'd rather stay on that whenever I can. Now that Nain is back though, hopefully we can start up that SPT again!

and finally... if anyone sees a Jambiya for sale on AH... let me know! I want that dagger now! :D

Frustrated with ToAU - On to WoG

I've been getting my ass handed to me these last couple of weeks. As most of you know, I've been doing ToAU missions & Assault on a fairly regular basis for the past few months. We're finally progressing to the end of things... or so we thought.

Two weeks ago we finally got to the final ToAU battle against Alex... Since Nain had to sleep, Ashle & I got a pickup group and we tried to take on the big boss and prompt got slapped around a few times... no big deal, we'll get it the next week... or so we thought. We got slapped around hard again the following week. This isn't just a matter of getting killed by that stupid Blue Mage (who cheats... I've never done that much damage on Eyes On Me), it's that Alex cheats as well by spamming so much healing spells...

Assault, we reached First Lieutenant at long last... so we try one of the missions and promptly get killed... no big deal, we got him down to... what... 97%? riiiiiiiiight... and the other missions at this level are just as hard as this, if not harder? ToAU content has been nice compared to CoP... CoP you start hard, then it builds up gradually until you feel like you're fighting an epic battle that you have to go all out to win. However, you know that it only gets harder as it goes on, and you're being built up towards that goal. ToAU on the other hand, has been so stupidly easy that it's a cake walk... right until you're about to finish, then they beat you down for, as far as I can tell, no reason at all, with no explaination as to why the mission(s) before this level were so much easier.

So I'm sick of ToAU. Completely. -.-

Instead, I'll be going off to go do WoG content instead. I've been lazy and haven't caught up with the latest missions since before the previous patch, so it's time to go farm some knots, get some cutscenes, and catch up on the other countries storylines! I haven't done any of Bastok's mission-quests, and I've only done the first Young Griffon storyline for Sandy!

However, it looks like everyone is busy this weekend... Next weekend I'd like to gather some people together and get us all caught up on the WoG missions. If you're interested, send me an in-game /tell! I'll be working on Bastok mission-quests from the start, as well as farming an 108-knot thingie for Windurst and who knows what for Sandy!

(meanwhile, this weekend it's MGS4 time!)

6/9/08 Update!

Yeah! Finally the update that everyone has been waiting for has come at long last! We've been waiting for this for ages, months even! Are you excited? What do you want the most?

How about that new 3G iPhone! GPS, high speed, lighter, thinner... what? You don't like the iPhone?

Oh, right... I'm supposed to be blogging about FFXI... well... yeah, I guess there's a new update >.>

Ok, so it IS exciting! New DNC NPC... looks like an elvaan... new missions, NMs, NPC updates... I'm disappointed that there is no announcement of DNC or SCH-specific merits... I guess I'll throw the merits I've stored up onto BLU xD New campaign ranks at long last, and lots, lots of new equipment!
Especially equipment that is usable by DNC & BLU *_*

I've been looking through the dat-mining posts to see the new equipment, trying to see what might be worth going after... so far, this is what I've found:

Cobra Leggings & Subligar
- Accuracy++, Store TP++, Enmity--, and the set has Counter
- Usable by both BLU & DNC
- I already have and use the Cobra mittens... I'll probably pick up these two pieces since I have the AN for it (450k -.-) and can either rank up quickly, or already have the right rank to get them ^^ The Subligar would go on full-time on my DNC, replacing my Dancer's tights since they have a higher accuracy. I might end up grabbing the cap just to go for the full set! Pity they haven't released the body armor yet... I'm guessing that'll come with a future update with more ranks

Roundel Earring Lv. 73 - DEF:1 "Cure" potency +5% "Waltz" potency +5%
- This is interesting... a healer's macro piece for sure. +5% is an extra 30 HP with Healing Waltz IV

Custom Top +1 Cannot Equip Handgear DEF:2 Enchantment: Teleport-Purgonorgo Isle Lv. 1 All Jobs
- Swimsuit! Yay! At long last I can get this! Let's see what kind of hoops we have to jump through for this obviously event-related item... plus getting to that isle without having to teleport, chocobo, then wait for the stupid ship would be nice... I kinda like that island!

Airy Buckler DEF:17 CHR+2 Accuracy+2 "Store TP"+2 Haste+1% Lv. 71 RDM/PUP/DNC
- This is weird... I think it would be the first shield that a DNC can use that's not one of the latent "all jobs" shields
- All the stats are good for DNC, but I'm not sure if it'll be worth giving up /NIN to use this... maybe if I had SAM leveled up to sub I'd take it more seriously

Ancient Torque DEX+4 Accuracy+9 Lv. 74 All Jobs
- Peacock Charm replacement >.>
- I think the high price for the PCC will be falling in the near future

Ixion Cloak Cannot Equip Headgear DEF:43 INT+13 MND+13 CHR+13 Magic Accuracy+5 Adds "Regen" and "Refresh" effect Lv. 74 THF/WHM/BLM/BRD/SMN/BLU/PUP/SCH
- I've been trying to save up for a Vermy... This would be a much nicer alternative compared to the Vermy :D
- Still, I'm guessing that it's either a drop from Ixion, or craftable from something it drops?
- There is a "Dark Ixion Tail" item that was found in the dats too... maybe that's what is needed to craft this item? A super-rare HNM drop?

Enkidu's Harness Set - Lvl 72
- Set of 5 items, usable by both BLU & DNC
- Harness: DEF:50 STR+5 AGI+5 Accuracy+10 Attack+10 Evasion+5 "Subtle Blow"+5
- Leggings: DEF:23 DEX+3 AGI+3 Attack+4 Ranged Attack+4 "Subtle Blow"+2 Haste+2%
- Mittens: DEF:24 STR+4 DEX+4 Accuracy+5 Ranged Accuracy+5 "Subtle Blow"+2
- Cap: DEF:23 DEX+3 AGI+3 Accuracy+8 Ranged Accuracy+8 "Subtle Blow"+2
- Subligar: DEF:40 STR+4 DEX+4 "Store TP"+5 "Subtle Blow"+5
So, total of:
- Defense: 160
- STR: +13
- AGI: +11
- Dex: +8
- Accuracy +23
- Attack: +10
- Ranged Attack +4
- Ranged Accuracy +8
- Subtle Blow +15
- Haste +2%
Seems to be overall better than the Pahluwan Khazagand set due to the higher strength, dex, defense and attack, but accuracy suffers slightly (+23 vs +29)
Compared to the Homam Corazza set, well, it's not as much haste, but the Str+ and Dex+ actually puts it head and shoulders above the Homam set for casting BLU spells. Blue Magic is pretty accurate by itself, and the major modifiers for the big three BLU spells is Str & Dex.
Since this set is usable by both DNC & BLU, and seems quite well designed for both jobs, I'll probably aim to get this set... assuming that it doesn't take an arm and a leg to get :)

Which... we all know... it probably will...
And you first born...
... and a sacrifice of a 75 SAM... >.>
... mmm... I can live with that sacrifice ^^