ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN!!!!

Who remembers that video? Anyone? That video was awesome. That SONG was awesome. Don't know what I'm talking about? USE THE FUCKING INTERNET!!!

Anyway. Today was the day we took down Proto-Ultima.

"As if that's hard now"

Shut the hell up. Especially you Romyro... wiseass. An accomplishment is an accomplishment... no matter how small. I read that in a very advanced book on meditation. I'm deep like that.

"You took that from Dr Seuss"

You say Potato I say shut up. Moving on. Here's a shot of  us as we got within range of the nasty little bugger.

Look, I'm not sure if that's Rook's Garuda or mine... but if you could see her eyes right now you'd see that sparkle that says "I'M ABOUT TO MESS YOU UP!". Also: Mil... stop poking the goddamn chests...

After this serene moment of looking on in awe of such a wondrous creature from another dimension... we went to town beating on it's ass.

And in the end... we prevailed! Netting ourselves a lovely purse of prizes that included.... ULTIMA'S MOTHAFUGGIN CLAW!!! The one and only item I ever gave a crap about that dropped from either of the 2 Limbus Bosses and the one piece I've been itching to get my hands on since I turned 75 SMN back when Nashira's Gages weren't OBSOLETE.

Well I suppose that isn't entirely true.... they're still useful... just significantly less these days. That being said, I'm absolutely going to upgrade them into the SUPER NASHIRAS GAGES as soon as humanly possible. Those things are bitchin...

And lastly... I leave you with a shot of me obtaining the gages... and a little food for thought.

Because really...

Also: Grats Rook on your Nashira... legs... whatever they do.

Who wants a backrub?

If you don't understand the title, you've never looked into Mercenary Rank missions. Do yourself a favor and read up a little, why don't ya?

Since I've been back (less than a week now), I've been doing little things here and there... mostly old and out-dated content that everyone else these days forgets exists. To start, I joined up with Romyro and his LS to head into Limbus to take on Proto-Omega. We got the win with ease and I even walked out with Omega's Tail. Homam feet are junk, btw.

"Not if you have a DRG"

Fuck you and the wyvern you rode in on. Those feet suck. I'm only keeping them to inevitably trade in towards the Limbus V2 gear later. Again... do yourself a favor and look shit up every once in a while.

Anywho... on top of the feet, this was my first time winning against Omega, so I cashed in for his Atma... also junk.

Later, we helped out Squiggs in Nyzul Isle (NQ) and climbed from 25-35 in 2 runs. Afterwords, we ran through 2 assault Missions for me (SP ranked). Today I logged in and kocked out 2 more and flagged my Mercenary Promotion to LC.

In short... progress feels nice.

Like a bad case of herpes

I'm back! And I'm playing on Cerberus again. As of 10:52 this morning I resubscribed to FFXI to eagerly await the release of Seekers and bide my time until FFXIV: ARR re-launches. What do I plan to do first, you might be asking?

"We're not asking you anything... shut up already..."

I have no idea what to do first! That's the best part! I left off while I was in the middle of doing a ton of different things and now I can't quite decide what to do with myself. When I left, things were getting boring and stale and bordering on the repetitive.

"Welcome to FFXI... not to mention EVERY OTHER MMO EVER MADE"

Right. Noted. Anywho... now that I'm back I have so many options that it's sickening. My newly revived level of patience affords me the opportunity to take on a new job ...

... finish gearing the old ones I keep neglecting ...

... work on my kiss-ass skillz and earn Assault Ranks towards Mercenary Captain ...

... continue my progress in Limbus ...

 Salvage ...

... Einherjar ...

or just about anything else!

"You're just going to sit around in P. Jeuno and troll people most of the time and you know it."

Is there really any better way to spend an afternoon?

"Well yeah, you could go outside and get some fresh air ..."

I didn't think so.

Meet the Munsters!

And I'm back!

"In a few days"... "tomorrow"... "in a few hours"... whats the difference? I saved some pictures and I want to share them.

First of all, I'd like to thank the DEVs for not recycling old monsters and just reskinning them like they've done in the past. I really appreciate that. But then again this is a full fledged expansion and not just some cut and dry mini-crapolla.

So far I have some mixed reviews and a lot of unanswered questions. On one hand, I like the way they look and the originality that went into them all. On the other hand...

... thanks SE! I always wanted a game where I could play as a monster, level up as a monster and evolve as a monster while battling other monsters. I shall name this one Bulbaripoff. It seems fitting. Guess who's getting diabetes from eating to much rare candy? THIS GUY!

It's not all bad though... some of the monsters I'm seeing are recycled from older games... but on steroids. I seem to recall fighting something like this guy in Balamb Garden's training center...

That being said, I like it and I cant wait to fight it. Don't deny it... when you get there and I'm already kicking its ass... you're going to be all kinds of royal jelly.

"That was so lame..."

SHUT UP!!! I'M FUNNY AS SHIT!!!

"You're shit alright"

Bulbaripoff, I choose you! Use Blade of Grass! *Bulbaripoff hurts itself in the confusion*. Goddamn it Bulbaripoff. I'm never going to get any badges if you keep this up. 

Regardless, let's get back on track talking about stuff that isn't going to get me tied up in copyright laws...

We got a glimpse of the new Beastmen-type mobs. These ones are called the Velkk... and although they look strangely similar in design as the Orcs we already have... these ones have HORNS! Horns were my selling point. The immature jokes practically write themselves!

Honestly, they look like what would happen in a Mamool Ja got it on with an Orc and had hideous adorable mutant babies. Over-all, I approve. I'm just waiting for the sex tape to come out on VHS.

"They don't make VHS anymore"

Nice try, LIAR! I'm way smarter than that. You're better off trying to feed me some kind of bull about how we have electric cars and phones that don't need to be plugged into the wall. As if that would ever happen.

" Uhh... Yyg... I hate to tell you this but..."

Oh wait! hold that thought, I just remembered I have to make a phone call. BRB. Now what if they could figure out some way to be on the interbewbs and use your home phone at the same time? Wouldn't that be awesome? That's where the future's at! Someone call Bob Dole! 

I do love the dial-up sounds though... BoopWRrrrgGRRrrrrrEoooEooooWeedlieWeedliewoooo... so soothing. 

"Never mind"

But wait! Theres more! Check out all this stuff too! Because what Final Fantasy game is complete without a series of augmented RL creatures that have been redesigned to be bloodthirsty killing machines?

Matamata

Chapuli

Craklaw

And lets not forget the absolutely necessary "Amorphous Blob" ccategory of creatures we have all come to know and love. Not to be confused of course with the "The hell is that supposed to be?" category. Fear not! We got at least one of each!

Umbril (Amorphous)

This one looks as though it's water-based, judging by the cutoff at it's midsection(?). I'm curious to see how this one aggros and what exactly it does. Based on past experience... it's undoubtedly going to be a disappointment... but then... speculation is half the fun, right?

"No."

You gotta give me points for trying to keep a positive mindset about this though, right?

"No."

Oh come on! Nothing?

"No."

Do you want all the money in my wallet?

"Nooooooyes"

HAHA! No dice! You said no first! This crisp 2 dollar bill is all mine.

Acuex (The hell is that supposed to be?)

Spoiler alert on this one! They're sentient silicone breast implants.

"That's not true at all"

Listen, you. I watch Dr. Oz. I know what a boob implant looks like... and THAT is a boob implant. In fact that's 3 boob implants. You ever seen 3 at once? I did. That was the best carnival ever.

Last but not least, there's one more category of creature that SE has to put into their games to make us go "Dawwwwww". Yep... the "omgitssofreakingadorable" category. Enter:

Twitherym

Heartwing

Yep, purple butterflies and smiling golden hearts are this years "Mandragora". According to the Seekers Official site, the butterflies are deadly and the heart supposedly behaves similar to how Pixies from WotG and Fishies in Sea behave right now. They just follow you around... and maybe cast stuff on you? Maybe? The site also suggests that attacking them is a bad idea (you think?) as it will likely end in disaster.

I for one can't wait to try my hand at killing both of them.

"Didn't you just say it was a bad idea to try and kill the Heartwing?"

I don't take kindly to commands.

"It sounded more like a suggestion. Maybe even a warning"

A WARNING?! NOBODY THREATENS YYG! Those Heartwings are as good as extinct. Lets see them try to follow me then!

In conclusion, suffice to say I'm pleased with the monsters that we've been shown so far and eagerly await spoilers about other ones. Additionally, I wonder if any of the older (classic) mobs will resurface... reskinned in this new world. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see! 

Hide and Seeker

Hey guys! (all... what... 7 of you?)

As some of you may well know by now, or at least figured it out on your own (you're so smart!), I took a break from the game shortly after my move to Cerberus. I promise I didn't forget the blog was here... I just didn't have anything worth posting about until I knew for sure that I was coming back. Now that I'm out of hiding, I suppose I owe you an explanation. At the time I merged onto Cerberus, I was going through a job change IRL that took up a lot of my attention. As a regrettable result, I decided to eliminate any and all distractions that were not vital to the success of my new job. Sadly, that meant unsubscribing from FFXI for a little while.

To be honest, I think I needed a break from the game for a while anyway. There wasn't much to capture my attention and I was beginning to seriously consider working on a Mythic Weapon (Nirvana <3) again... and that's not good for anybody's mental health.

My time away has given me a chance to take up some more casual games in my limited spare time, but I'm soon to return to glorious Vana'diel once more! After all... no other game I've ever played has been as entertaining for as long as FFXI has been.

"Why now, Yyg?"

That's a very good question. Go get a cookie. When you get back, I shall weigh in on the newest Expansion, "Seekers of Adoulin" and the recent flood of information that we've received on it.

*omnomnom* "We're ready! Tell us what you think!"

Ok first... chew with your mouth closed. You're being gross. You're gross.

"Sorry?"

Thank you. Was that so hard? 

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More Info

So we finally have a set release date! That was what got my blood flowing, my heart racing and my gamer hands shaking. March 26th 2013. Now I know that's still almost 3 whole months away... but it's still something to look forward to that's more than an arbitrary and ever-changing "Roadmap".

Speaking of the roadmap... where's my Cait Sith, SE? I WANT MY CAT!!!

*ahem*

Anywho, on top of the release date, we got a little more info regarding the new areas to the West including a little about how to get there (super important) and what we might expect to see (just cool). Here are some of my favorite highlights from the past couple of weeks:

   Proposed Adoulin warp locations

I like that there are more than 2 entrances (Here's lookin' at you, Swirling Vortexs... vortexi? Vortie? *insert correct pluralization of Vortex here*) but less than 1,000 (WotG...).

"You're exaggerating. There aren't 1,000 entrances. That's just stupid."

Well there might as well have been. The whole "Activate each one by traveling from the past to the present through it" crap made it sure feel like there were 1,000. There were few things as frustrating as trying to use a WotG maw to meet up with a friend quickly... only to find out it's one of the last ones you still haven't unlocked yet.  

"You wana talk frustrated? There's no goddamn entrance near Windurst!"

It's a new land TO THE WEST. You don't like it, take it up with Tenzen.  

Before (Concept)

After (Application)

Conceptual designs made actual are some of my favorite things to follow along with when it comes to games. Obviously the city is still in the development stages, but it keeps looking better every day. If I can find some better quality images (that I can access from the PC at work) I'll replace these tiny ones. In the meantime, just get really really close to the screen.

"My eyes!"

Suck it up, pansy.

Tree!!!

I call dibs! This will be my thinking spot. Think. Think. Think. Get it? Anyone?

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Damn youngins...

Yoshitaka Amano Art

I always have been and always will be a huge fan of Yoshitaka Amano's Art style. I especially enjoy the sprawling landscape pieces he does for FFXI for each of the expansions... and this is no exception. What's even more fun is going back and looking for all the small details and spoilers that he inserts into his art. It's like a game of Where's Waldo without Waldo... which is awesome... because I hate that guy. He thinks hes so good at hide and seek. I once hid in under the stairs for most of my childhood. Then I went to this magical school where I learned to become a wizard...

"That's Harry Potter, Yyg. Now we know you're just making shit up."

Oh yeah? Well then how to you explain this lightning bolt shaped scar?

"That's sharpie... we can still smell it"

*Huff* Quiet! Me being a way cooler wizard than you has nothing to do with my option on Seekers of Adoulin. Now let me finish my thoughts before I make you levio-shityourpants. Didn't know about that one, did you? 

"That's because it doesn't..."

WIZAHD!!!! 

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As a final note, among all the things that are announced for the expansion, I can't wait to play and level up as a monster. There's just something about the potential hilarity that something like this brings to the table that I just can't stop giggling about. Will it be worth the wait? Knowing the current team working on the game... probably not. Will it still be fun? Probably in limited capacity. Will I still rampage through the jungle beating the hell out of other players as a giant frog if possible? You bet your soon to be wart-covered corpse I will! Speaking of frogs... how was your cookie? *grin*

"What the hell is wrong with..."

WIZAHD!!!! 

 

I'll post again in the next few days with some more updates, opinions and hopefully better images.