Been a busy couple weeks irl. Been so busy that I think I've only logged into FFXI a couple times at most. I don't see my rl schedule opening up too much in the next month, so I've decided to once again take a break from FFXI. For a while? For good? I don't know yet.
As of October 15th, 2009 I am now a proud new homeowner. I am now in the biggest debt of my life! Yay! {money} {Can I have it?} Not to mention all the gil I have to fork out to buy appliances, furniture, new flooring, paint, etc, etc, etc... X_x;
So I've taken two weeks off from work, and just about half way through that. Spent mon-fri of this week painting, and I'm still not done yet. I'd say probably about 50% done overall. I so hate painting at this point. Once that's done, I wanna put in some new flooring, then get furniture, then move in! I totally underestimated painting. I figured it'd be a one week adventure, then another week to do the rest of the work. I think I need to burn the rest of my PTO, and take another 4 weeks off D: It's kinda weird, I've spent more time working on my house than I do at my job... it's definitely doesn't feel like a vacation... which I guess why in my case it's PTO...
I've been looking forward to this phase of my life though. Finally moving out of my parents' house, and into a place all to myself :D Let the gaming begin! I have a nice queue of games I need to get around to, not to mention CoD: Modern Warfare 2 coming out soon. But my gaming time has been limited to a couple hours late at night before bed, definitely not enough time to do anything meaningful in FFXI, so I don't even bother. Most of the time I end up eating dinner at 9:30-10:00, shower, sneak in some gaming time then crash.
After three playthroughs of Uncharted 2, I have gotten my platinum trophy! It's a really good game, single player and multiplayer. Though I don't recommend playing single player three times like I did. I was just set on getting all trophies, and made the mistake of playing on normal difficulty first. If I had started on hard, it would have only taken two playthroughs. What's really fun though is that I've been playing multiplayer with some AP'ers (though they don't play FFXI anymore). Foosh, Deb, Cala, and Eldo have been playing UC2 also and invite me to play some co-op mode every now and then. Unfortunately, co-op is limited to three players :( It works out most of the time though, I haven't seen everyone on at the same time since beta multiplayer.
Guess that's it for now. It may be a while for any FFXI related stuff. I'll "miss out" on the Nov update, and the next mini-expansion (item). Sorry Maat's Cap and Leathercraft 100, maybe you were never really a reality for me anyways.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Stuff
Been slacking a lot since the last post. Guess there just hasn't been much stuff happening.
As far as FFXI goes, I'm close to finishing up my 9th job to 75. My FoV thief is about 1/3 of the way to 73. I think FoV works for me for a couple of reasons. On average, I can get about 3000 exp in about 15 min if timed right, i.e. if I start FoV near the end of the game day, I can finish it for 1300 exp (plus exp I get from actually killing mobs) then start another FoV when the day changes. I usually then either log off and do other stuff, or do my crafting or other misc tasks until the next game day. There's never any downtime (as apposed to seeking endlessly) which is great. And I don't get stuck in long exp sessions and get burnt out. Alternatively, instead of timing my FoV sessions, I just start a training regime then log. Come back about one hour later or whenever, do the training regime, then immediately start another regime. Easy.
I should have it finished in a couple of weeks, then maybe see what kind of things I can 2box. Couple things I've been considering getting are Sirroco Kukri, Ungur Boomerang, and of course Joytoy. But we'll see how that goes... last time I tried camping Joytoy, I gave up after 6 or so hours due to Chary not popping and not wanting to compete for it. Other NMs are on similar pop conditions :(
Been considering Maat's cap too... most of the remaining Maat jobs are already 37, with SMN at 10. I just need them to 66 and just slack after that. DRK, DRG, RDM, BST, RNG, SMN. BST and SMN might be a pain to get parties with... but then again there's always FoV!
I've also started to craft again, this time leveling leathercraft. I've leveled cooking up to 93, and my leathercraft is now 63. I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to bring leather up with my cooking already so high, considering you only get 40 levels to distribute to crafts that are above level 60. I'll keep leveling it and see what happens. It hasn't been to bad to get leather up to 63. I've probably spent a few hundred thousand to get it this far, which is pretty good. Most crafts were break even/small loss synths, with the exception of the raptor skin levels (50s). Couple thousand loss per synth, and for some reason I barely got any skillups, maybe like 1/10 got me 0.1 skill D:
Non-FFXI, let's see. Started to play Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta after reserving a copy at Gamestop. Deathmatch is fun... sorta. I feel it's just kind of a novelty thing right now, and I'll probably get bored with it soon-ish. I'm not really used to over the shoulder type games, but as long as it tides me over till Modern Warfare 2, I'll be happy. On the horizon, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed II, Super Mario Bros Wii, Uncharted 2. Fun times.
And, rl-wise, I am in escrow for a home purchase. Should close next month. Maybe all my plans for FFXI will get put on the backburner, for a long time, with house and upcoming PS3 games coming up. We'll see. Definitely won't be doing any hardcore anything in FFXI.
And Wu, if you still check up on this, sorry to see you go like that. I always thought you'd still be playing long after I was done with FFXI. You were the more dedicated and model FFXI player. My inconsistency with helping out on stuff is pretty well documented I'm sure, but you've always helped out whenever! Thanks for that. You came through big time for some of my CoP! GL in whatever you do!
Tune of the Moment: Richard Durand - Into Something
As far as FFXI goes, I'm close to finishing up my 9th job to 75. My FoV thief is about 1/3 of the way to 73. I think FoV works for me for a couple of reasons. On average, I can get about 3000 exp in about 15 min if timed right, i.e. if I start FoV near the end of the game day, I can finish it for 1300 exp (plus exp I get from actually killing mobs) then start another FoV when the day changes. I usually then either log off and do other stuff, or do my crafting or other misc tasks until the next game day. There's never any downtime (as apposed to seeking endlessly) which is great. And I don't get stuck in long exp sessions and get burnt out. Alternatively, instead of timing my FoV sessions, I just start a training regime then log. Come back about one hour later or whenever, do the training regime, then immediately start another regime. Easy.
I should have it finished in a couple of weeks, then maybe see what kind of things I can 2box. Couple things I've been considering getting are Sirroco Kukri, Ungur Boomerang, and of course Joytoy. But we'll see how that goes... last time I tried camping Joytoy, I gave up after 6 or so hours due to Chary not popping and not wanting to compete for it. Other NMs are on similar pop conditions :(
Been considering Maat's cap too... most of the remaining Maat jobs are already 37, with SMN at 10. I just need them to 66 and just slack after that. DRK, DRG, RDM, BST, RNG, SMN. BST and SMN might be a pain to get parties with... but then again there's always FoV!
I've also started to craft again, this time leveling leathercraft. I've leveled cooking up to 93, and my leathercraft is now 63. I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to bring leather up with my cooking already so high, considering you only get 40 levels to distribute to crafts that are above level 60. I'll keep leveling it and see what happens. It hasn't been to bad to get leather up to 63. I've probably spent a few hundred thousand to get it this far, which is pretty good. Most crafts were break even/small loss synths, with the exception of the raptor skin levels (50s). Couple thousand loss per synth, and for some reason I barely got any skillups, maybe like 1/10 got me 0.1 skill D:
Non-FFXI, let's see. Started to play Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta after reserving a copy at Gamestop. Deathmatch is fun... sorta. I feel it's just kind of a novelty thing right now, and I'll probably get bored with it soon-ish. I'm not really used to over the shoulder type games, but as long as it tides me over till Modern Warfare 2, I'll be happy. On the horizon, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed II, Super Mario Bros Wii, Uncharted 2. Fun times.
And, rl-wise, I am in escrow for a home purchase. Should close next month. Maybe all my plans for FFXI will get put on the backburner, for a long time, with house and upcoming PS3 games coming up. We'll see. Definitely won't be doing any hardcore anything in FFXI.
And Wu, if you still check up on this, sorry to see you go like that. I always thought you'd still be playing long after I was done with FFXI. You were the more dedicated and model FFXI player. My inconsistency with helping out on stuff is pretty well documented I'm sure, but you've always helped out whenever! Thanks for that. You came through big time for some of my CoP! GL in whatever you do!
Tune of the Moment: Richard Durand - Into Something
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Another month of FFXI, and another Job to 75
I was on the fence on whether to keep my subscription going, but decided to keep it going. I've finished up my 7th job to 75, SAM, and have gotten a relatively insane amount of merits on it in the past few days. So far I've put 21 merits into SAM, i.e. 210,000 extra xp, i.e. enough xp to get a new job to 46 X.x It's not the most by any means, considering ppl have jobs capped out on merits, but it's a lot for me. I usually don't do that much meriting, but when you get amazing xp/hr (unfortunately I don't run any parsers or anything so exact numbers are hard to come by) it's hard to turn your back on meriting. I've had a bunch of 100+ chain parties.
This here is my new all time high, previous was in somewhere below 150.
Well, taking a somewhat conservative estimate, with birds giving 193-217 xp each... I'll say avg 205 xp per mob. To maintain a chain beyond chain 5, a mob must die within 1 minute of the last one, so in this case we have 275 mobs killed to establish this chain, with 1 dying per minute. In 60 minutes we have (205x60) 12300 xp/hour. Not too shabby. Again that's a somewhat conservative approach, due to lack of a parser. I know I wasn't meriting for over 4 hours, though over 3 sounds reasonable, but still a decent amount of xp and beats FoV or Campaign.
When it comes to merit parties, I don't bother seeking on anything other than BRD. From the past few days, it seems the parties that do the best consists of RDM, BRD, 3x DD, and either a 4th DD or another BRD. I should note that DD doesn't mean any DD, but rather either SAM or DRG. Those two jobs just tear through birds like there's no tomorrow. Drg obviously have polearm to help them, 1.25 the damage to birds, and their mythic ws Drakesbane does awesome dmg to birds. SAM can use polearms too, though their cap is 36 points lower, but they shine because of their tp gaining abilities, which help them overcome TP reset moves of birds. WAR and DRK do ok, but every single highly sucessful party I've been in has had the majority of DDs eithing being SAM or DRG. Chains seem to fall apart with other setups. I don't have DRG, and my SAM would probably one of the gimper ones w/o Haidate and/or Ace's Helm, not to mention lack of meditate merits and overwhelm merits.
So I started to do some FoV lately to buffer my other jobs. New zones were given FoV training manuals and now Cape Teriggan is always busy with ppl. It used to be my hangout spot to skill up, break latent, and level npcs and now I gotta fight for mobs ; ; The thing I like about Teriggan is that I can OP to it and start working on ws points right away with my npc. No other travel time needed. And with it being an outdoor area, mobs respawn pretty quickly. With page 1 of the training regiment, you get 1300 xp for completing the task which consists of killing 4x bunnies, and 4x lizards. It's like an added bonus for stuff I'd be doing anyways in Teriggan.
And now I've also started to experiment with augments earned via FoV. There are now new 'elite training' you can do which are fights against NMs. I've been playing around with the highest level one available, which is in Behemoth's Domain. It spawns an NM behemoth and augments up to a level 50 item. This is the result of my 2nd augment:
My first one was of the same item, but with worse stats. It had +2 INT, -1 MND, -1 AGI. I ended up npcing it and buying a new one. Augmented items cant be resold on the AH. This one was a little more bearable but still nothing to write home about. It's still fun to see what kind of random augments I might be getting.
So next up, I'm looking at finishing up either THF (61) or MNK (65) as my 8th job. I want THF mainly so I can go out farming and have TH support. And if I can get it to 75 and cap out evasion, I'll go attempt to 2box myself a Joytoy. I've wanted one of those since back on my old char as a RDM, but at the time I was in an HNM shell, and only PLDs got to have one. Well now I have PLD, and I still want it! MNK I just want because it's another type of specialized DD, and I have gear that I share with my SAM. Costwise, it'd be be pretty cheap to level.
Tune of the Moment: Steve Porter - Rap Chop (You'd have to youtube this to get an appreciation for it >.> or maybe not! lol)
This here is my new all time high, previous was in somewhere below 150.
Well, taking a somewhat conservative estimate, with birds giving 193-217 xp each... I'll say avg 205 xp per mob. To maintain a chain beyond chain 5, a mob must die within 1 minute of the last one, so in this case we have 275 mobs killed to establish this chain, with 1 dying per minute. In 60 minutes we have (205x60) 12300 xp/hour. Not too shabby. Again that's a somewhat conservative approach, due to lack of a parser. I know I wasn't meriting for over 4 hours, though over 3 sounds reasonable, but still a decent amount of xp and beats FoV or Campaign.
When it comes to merit parties, I don't bother seeking on anything other than BRD. From the past few days, it seems the parties that do the best consists of RDM, BRD, 3x DD, and either a 4th DD or another BRD. I should note that DD doesn't mean any DD, but rather either SAM or DRG. Those two jobs just tear through birds like there's no tomorrow. Drg obviously have polearm to help them, 1.25 the damage to birds, and their mythic ws Drakesbane does awesome dmg to birds. SAM can use polearms too, though their cap is 36 points lower, but they shine because of their tp gaining abilities, which help them overcome TP reset moves of birds. WAR and DRK do ok, but every single highly sucessful party I've been in has had the majority of DDs eithing being SAM or DRG. Chains seem to fall apart with other setups. I don't have DRG, and my SAM would probably one of the gimper ones w/o Haidate and/or Ace's Helm, not to mention lack of meditate merits and overwhelm merits.
So I started to do some FoV lately to buffer my other jobs. New zones were given FoV training manuals and now Cape Teriggan is always busy with ppl. It used to be my hangout spot to skill up, break latent, and level npcs and now I gotta fight for mobs ; ; The thing I like about Teriggan is that I can OP to it and start working on ws points right away with my npc. No other travel time needed. And with it being an outdoor area, mobs respawn pretty quickly. With page 1 of the training regiment, you get 1300 xp for completing the task which consists of killing 4x bunnies, and 4x lizards. It's like an added bonus for stuff I'd be doing anyways in Teriggan.
And now I've also started to experiment with augments earned via FoV. There are now new 'elite training' you can do which are fights against NMs. I've been playing around with the highest level one available, which is in Behemoth's Domain. It spawns an NM behemoth and augments up to a level 50 item. This is the result of my 2nd augment:
My first one was of the same item, but with worse stats. It had +2 INT, -1 MND, -1 AGI. I ended up npcing it and buying a new one. Augmented items cant be resold on the AH. This one was a little more bearable but still nothing to write home about. It's still fun to see what kind of random augments I might be getting.
So next up, I'm looking at finishing up either THF (61) or MNK (65) as my 8th job. I want THF mainly so I can go out farming and have TH support. And if I can get it to 75 and cap out evasion, I'll go attempt to 2box myself a Joytoy. I've wanted one of those since back on my old char as a RDM, but at the time I was in an HNM shell, and only PLDs got to have one. Well now I have PLD, and I still want it! MNK I just want because it's another type of specialized DD, and I have gear that I share with my SAM. Costwise, it'd be be pretty cheap to level.
Tune of the Moment: Steve Porter - Rap Chop (You'd have to youtube this to get an appreciation for it >.> or maybe not! lol)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
What to do about FFXI...
I'm not sure what to do about FFXI again...
It's been fun being back in FFXI and I still wanna keep playing... at least until the next update. But as far as I can tell it's gonna be released at the end of July, so doing the new content will most likely be in August. Two more months.
Yesterday I got my pre-approval letter for a home mortgage, which means no more slacking on looking for a place. My months of slacking has hurt my goal of buying a place this year, since the supply of available houses around here have gone down considerably, and as economics dictates price goes up accordingly. I hate California prices. San Diego county may not be the most expensive of areas, it's still ranks pretty high.
So with that in mind, I wanna devote my time more toward my search, than spend it in FFXI. I know as long as I have my account active, I'll want to log-in and play =/ I dunno, maybe another break is needed. Little less than half a month to decide.
On a happier note.
It's been fun being back in FFXI and I still wanna keep playing... at least until the next update. But as far as I can tell it's gonna be released at the end of July, so doing the new content will most likely be in August. Two more months.
Yesterday I got my pre-approval letter for a home mortgage, which means no more slacking on looking for a place. My months of slacking has hurt my goal of buying a place this year, since the supply of available houses around here have gone down considerably, and as economics dictates price goes up accordingly. I hate California prices. San Diego county may not be the most expensive of areas, it's still ranks pretty high.
So with that in mind, I wanna devote my time more toward my search, than spend it in FFXI. I know as long as I have my account active, I'll want to log-in and play =/ I dunno, maybe another break is needed. Little less than half a month to decide.
On a happier note.
Publish Post
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Random thoughts
Wow, a real life Final Destination.
First post since coming back... and I'm bored while waiting for a party. I made the decision to come back to FFXI because there wasn't much else going on in my life. I'm catching up on my queue of TV shows and small selection of anime. Not much PS3 action except SF4 online. No new games to play. Played some CoD:WaW zombies with a friend and got to an all time high of level 45. That got pretty repetitive at level 35, and we easily could've gone further, but it was getting late and 5 mins a level didnt seem too appealing. So we've retired with zombies until the next map pack comes out, which should be today!
As far as FFXI goes, doesn't seem much has changed since leaving. Few new faces here and there, but overall still the same. Not much goes on in AP, Dynamis still same old Dynamis, Limbus attendance still slacking. I'm not really complaining about anything, just observations.
SAM is now 66, and the main reason I log in now. Xp'ing to 75 and hopefully I can get that by the end of the month. I've been doing a lot of level 54-57 sync parties, mainly because it's the only invites I get, so been fighting lots of Lesser Colibris. Easy exp, though skillups are non-existant ; ; But on the upside, I get to use Penta with polearm and totally destroy birds, but I'm not sure it's better than use Soboro.
Even though Soboro is weak and doesnt put out the best dmg per hit and per ws, it does great DoT. I can throw out 2-3 Enpis compared to 1 Penta when using polearm, and although combined the Enpis don't do more damage than 1 Penta, it works out better for hate management. With one Penta, I can do about 300-600+ dmg and generate a pretty big spike of hate with that. I end up having to tank a good portion of the fight and have to put up Seigan + Third Eye. With Soboro, my ws do about 100-250+ dmg. Less dmg, less hate but spread out more over time. Seems to work better for me since I end up tanking less this way -_-; It also allows me to keep Hasso up longer, which translates to more accuracy and just more awesomeness.
I also tried to hold off ws with Penta until the tank gets about 2 vokes in on the mob. Problem with that is that generally doesn't seem to work out too well and I end up stealing hate, and I don't get to do my full potential as a DD. With Soboro, I can ws much more often and not worry too much about taking hate. Even if I somehow do get hate, a voke should be following soon and take it back. With a big Penta, it takes more than just a simple voke to get hate back. Seeing big damage is always nice to see as a DD, but I think Soboro ends up being a safer route to take.
And that's all for now. Update patch next month... wonder just how much more WotG content is gonna be added. Knowing SE, not much >.>;
Tune of the Moment: Linkin Park - New Divide
First post since coming back... and I'm bored while waiting for a party. I made the decision to come back to FFXI because there wasn't much else going on in my life. I'm catching up on my queue of TV shows and small selection of anime. Not much PS3 action except SF4 online. No new games to play. Played some CoD:WaW zombies with a friend and got to an all time high of level 45. That got pretty repetitive at level 35, and we easily could've gone further, but it was getting late and 5 mins a level didnt seem too appealing. So we've retired with zombies until the next map pack comes out, which should be today!
As far as FFXI goes, doesn't seem much has changed since leaving. Few new faces here and there, but overall still the same. Not much goes on in AP, Dynamis still same old Dynamis, Limbus attendance still slacking. I'm not really complaining about anything, just observations.
SAM is now 66, and the main reason I log in now. Xp'ing to 75 and hopefully I can get that by the end of the month. I've been doing a lot of level 54-57 sync parties, mainly because it's the only invites I get, so been fighting lots of Lesser Colibris. Easy exp, though skillups are non-existant ; ; But on the upside, I get to use Penta with polearm and totally destroy birds, but I'm not sure it's better than use Soboro.
Even though Soboro is weak and doesnt put out the best dmg per hit and per ws, it does great DoT. I can throw out 2-3 Enpis compared to 1 Penta when using polearm, and although combined the Enpis don't do more damage than 1 Penta, it works out better for hate management. With one Penta, I can do about 300-600+ dmg and generate a pretty big spike of hate with that. I end up having to tank a good portion of the fight and have to put up Seigan + Third Eye. With Soboro, my ws do about 100-250+ dmg. Less dmg, less hate but spread out more over time. Seems to work better for me since I end up tanking less this way -_-; It also allows me to keep Hasso up longer, which translates to more accuracy and just more awesomeness.
I also tried to hold off ws with Penta until the tank gets about 2 vokes in on the mob. Problem with that is that generally doesn't seem to work out too well and I end up stealing hate, and I don't get to do my full potential as a DD. With Soboro, I can ws much more often and not worry too much about taking hate. Even if I somehow do get hate, a voke should be following soon and take it back. With a big Penta, it takes more than just a simple voke to get hate back. Seeing big damage is always nice to see as a DD, but I think Soboro ends up being a safer route to take.
And that's all for now. Update patch next month... wonder just how much more WotG content is gonna be added. Knowing SE, not much >.>;
Tune of the Moment: Linkin Park - New Divide
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Non FFXI News
Got my order of joystick parts today! Which means... SE fightstick mod time! Been waiting for this, because I didn't care for the stock Madcatz SE fightstick much. Joystick felt too loose, and buttons didnt feel right.
So, I replaced the stick, added an extra spring to stiffen it up, and swapped out the buttons.
So, I replaced the stick, added an extra spring to stiffen it up, and swapped out the buttons.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Meh
I'm so bummed. So I've spent the last few hours playing SF4, and losing a bunch. I started playing a new mode that was implemented last update patch, called championship mode. It's a new ranking system that is based on 'grade points' as apposed the the old system of 'battle points'. The difference? You earn grade points by competing in 'mini-tournaments' which consist of fighting 3 round: a 1st round, a semi-final round, and final. The further you get, the more points to get. Once you win the final round, you're the champion of that 'tourney' and you start all over again.
What originally impressed me about this system was that there was no penalty for losing. If you lose, you gain less grade points, but you still gained! In the ranked matches with battle points, you'd lose points for every loss you had... I hated that. With championship mode, no more losing points, they're yours to keep! Whoohoo! Another way of looking at it, for those of us that are rpg fanatics, is that you get xp for playing. The more you play, the more xp you get, and then rank up.
Now the ranking system goes like this. There's 4 (maybe 5) tiers, and in each tier there are ranks A-E, E being lowest and where everyone starts out. All was well when I started, winning some, losing some, but it was fun. I've since ranked up enough to move onto tier 2, and now getting raped :/ Each 'tourney' now consists of 4 rounds, and the quality of players have gone up exponentially. The farthest I've gotten is to the 3rd round, then I lose. More often than not, I lose on the 1st round... and you get no points for that... sadness. At least in tier 1, you get 1 point for losing in the first round :( Maybe I'll blame my losing streak on the dualshock 3 and not having a joystick :(
Hmm, in other news... I've played through Valkyria Chronicles twice (once with the New Game+ option) and A ranked all missions but the Hard mode skirmishes. Bought 2/3 of the dlc, and beat those. Selvaria's missions was way better than Edy's story, way better. Played Godfather 2 and beat it. Though not the greatest game, it had some fun moments and I was able to get the game for cheap since a friend works at EA, and actually worked on the game.
Still no itch to play FFXI, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever come back to it. I've been enjoying my time away from it. The freedom that comes with that is priceless. I don't have to worry about logging in at any given time, then committing to hours on end to doing some event. I get to be freeeeeeeee (and slack) =D. It gives me a little more freedom to be spontaneous on how I spend my day. If my friend calls me up asking to hang out, I don't have to think twice about it due to some event scheduling. If I feel like watching a movie, tv show, playing PS3 with a friend, same deal. I do miss hanging out with AP'ers though, and miss doing this
I hope someone else has kept the /dance going in my absence. If this pic is any indication, maybe Con has! I'll keep my grubby little fingers crossed. Another thing I missed is that I don't listen to as much music as I used to while playing FFXI. I always had my winamp going and my game music off, and now not so much. I still somewhat keep up with trance, but I haven't been listening to much else in term of different genres.
Tune of the Moment: Gareth Emery - Exposure
What originally impressed me about this system was that there was no penalty for losing. If you lose, you gain less grade points, but you still gained! In the ranked matches with battle points, you'd lose points for every loss you had... I hated that. With championship mode, no more losing points, they're yours to keep! Whoohoo! Another way of looking at it, for those of us that are rpg fanatics, is that you get xp for playing. The more you play, the more xp you get, and then rank up.
Now the ranking system goes like this. There's 4 (maybe 5) tiers, and in each tier there are ranks A-E, E being lowest and where everyone starts out. All was well when I started, winning some, losing some, but it was fun. I've since ranked up enough to move onto tier 2, and now getting raped :/ Each 'tourney' now consists of 4 rounds, and the quality of players have gone up exponentially. The farthest I've gotten is to the 3rd round, then I lose. More often than not, I lose on the 1st round... and you get no points for that... sadness. At least in tier 1, you get 1 point for losing in the first round :( Maybe I'll blame my losing streak on the dualshock 3 and not having a joystick :(
Hmm, in other news... I've played through Valkyria Chronicles twice (once with the New Game+ option) and A ranked all missions but the Hard mode skirmishes. Bought 2/3 of the dlc, and beat those. Selvaria's missions was way better than Edy's story, way better. Played Godfather 2 and beat it. Though not the greatest game, it had some fun moments and I was able to get the game for cheap since a friend works at EA, and actually worked on the game.
Still no itch to play FFXI, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever come back to it. I've been enjoying my time away from it. The freedom that comes with that is priceless. I don't have to worry about logging in at any given time, then committing to hours on end to doing some event. I get to be freeeeeeeee (and slack) =D. It gives me a little more freedom to be spontaneous on how I spend my day. If my friend calls me up asking to hang out, I don't have to think twice about it due to some event scheduling. If I feel like watching a movie, tv show, playing PS3 with a friend, same deal. I do miss hanging out with AP'ers though, and miss doing this
I hope someone else has kept the /dance going in my absence. If this pic is any indication, maybe Con has! I'll keep my grubby little fingers crossed. Another thing I missed is that I don't listen to as much music as I used to while playing FFXI. I always had my winamp going and my game music off, and now not so much. I still somewhat keep up with trance, but I haven't been listening to much else in term of different genres.
Tune of the Moment: Gareth Emery - Exposure
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Life without FFXI so far
These post are pretty few and far between... /slacks.
From the sound of things I'm not missing much in FFXI, and so far I'm not missing playing it much either. It's been a little over a half a month since deactivating and I'm getting by just fine without it. I've been keeping myself busy with other stuff~
I'm mainly playing PS3, and still trying to keep up with TV shows. PS3-wise, it's been a transition from Killzone2 > Street Fighter 4 > Valkyria Chronicles, with some CoD5 Nazi Zombie mode thrown in there randomly when my friend wants to play. Been a while since I've focused on console gaming, but I find it more relaxing now since I don't have to worry about keeping my hardware up to date. Games will continue to run no matter what on PS3, whereas I used to routinely upgrade my vid card in my PC >.>
Street Fighter 4 has been pretty fun and had a lot more replay value than I thought. I'm semi-obsessed with collecting trophies on the PS3, and there's plenty for SF4. They made me want to play through arcade repeatedly with each character and unlock them all. Then there's Time Attack and Survival mode where I just had to keep playing to unlock all additional 8 colors for each char, which also awards trophies~ =D And lastly there's online play, which for any game adds a ton of replay value. I started to try my luck with ranked matches, which use a point system to track how well you do. For the most part, it's fun trying to get my rank increased... though it sucks losing since you lose points too! At one point I got up to 2300 battle points, then went on a big losing streak due to changing characters from Guile to Rufus. As much as I like winning (with Guile), it was getting a little boring and it was nice trying someone new... even if it cost me a bunch of points D=
But lately I haven't played much of SF4 due to picking up Valkyria Chronicles at GameStop for $29.99. It's a steal at that price, but the downside I ended up supporting GameStop which I've grown to dislike in recent years. One of the reasons is due to this one of it's policies that sometimes sells used games as new. I've known that practice existed a while ago, when EBGames was around, when I knew someone that worked there. He used to barrow games from them and then reshrink wrap them and sell as new. I've suspected this practice has carried over to GameStop after the two companies merged, and now seems like it's kinda public knowledge now. Shady GameStop. I also hate how everytime I go into the store I get harassed about trading in my used games or how I should pre-order a game with them. If I wanted to be hassled about buying something, I'd go walk onto a car lot! I just want a game, leave me alone! And I find it strangely suspicious that everytime I go in there to buy a game, and this happens to my friends too, that they always seem just to have 'one last copy'. Are they trained to say that!? I can recall that at least the past times I've asked if they had a game (FFXI WotG, ToA, FFT for PSP) they said it was the last copy.
But anyways, Valk Chronicles was a good buy and turned out to be more fun than I expected. Although I'm still working on it, I do hope that they do make a sequal to it. It has a very anime feel to it (no surprise they eventally made a series out of it), and put a new spin on strategy RPG. Guess I'm a little more open to shooter RPGs after playing Fallout 3. One complaint I have against the game is that I think it's pretty easy. On most levels you can get buy without very much strategy. Most of my losses were my own fault trying to get the level done in as little turns as possible. But if you take your time and not worry about beating it fast, it's near impossible to lose a map.
I've been slacking on TV. I've been keeping up to date only on a handful of shows right now, although I've downloaded others so I can catch up later. I've lost interested in Terminator and Dollhouse and at least 5+ episodes behind on both. For me, a needs to either be story driven or character driven to keep me interested enough to keep watching and both of these shows in my opinion are lacking both aspects. Story driven meaning that there needs to be a central underlying storyline across the episodes. Self contained episodes are fine, but a shows also needs a main storyline. If they don't have that, at least make the character(s) interesting, like House.
Terminator I'm just downright annoyed by John Connor's character. He's just so whinny! Storywise, I lost all interest. There doesn't seem to be any focus and nothing that I would care to keep watching for. I heard that the series does pick up so I'm building my queue so I can get around to it later. I do hope it gets better. Dollhouse also was a bit of a letdown. I've like past Joss Whedon stuff, Buffy and Angel namely, and am a fan of Eliza Dushku, anyone heard of Tru Calling? Didn't think so, it didn't last too long >.> I'm only 3 episodes in, but I don't care enough about either the story or the characters at this point. But I'm still downloading those too.
That's enough rambling for now, until next time <.<;
Tune of the Moment: Nadia Ali - Love Story
From the sound of things I'm not missing much in FFXI, and so far I'm not missing playing it much either. It's been a little over a half a month since deactivating and I'm getting by just fine without it. I've been keeping myself busy with other stuff~
I'm mainly playing PS3, and still trying to keep up with TV shows. PS3-wise, it's been a transition from Killzone2 > Street Fighter 4 > Valkyria Chronicles, with some CoD5 Nazi Zombie mode thrown in there randomly when my friend wants to play. Been a while since I've focused on console gaming, but I find it more relaxing now since I don't have to worry about keeping my hardware up to date. Games will continue to run no matter what on PS3, whereas I used to routinely upgrade my vid card in my PC >.>
Street Fighter 4 has been pretty fun and had a lot more replay value than I thought. I'm semi-obsessed with collecting trophies on the PS3, and there's plenty for SF4. They made me want to play through arcade repeatedly with each character and unlock them all. Then there's Time Attack and Survival mode where I just had to keep playing to unlock all additional 8 colors for each char, which also awards trophies~ =D And lastly there's online play, which for any game adds a ton of replay value. I started to try my luck with ranked matches, which use a point system to track how well you do. For the most part, it's fun trying to get my rank increased... though it sucks losing since you lose points too! At one point I got up to 2300 battle points, then went on a big losing streak due to changing characters from Guile to Rufus. As much as I like winning (with Guile), it was getting a little boring and it was nice trying someone new... even if it cost me a bunch of points D=
But lately I haven't played much of SF4 due to picking up Valkyria Chronicles at GameStop for $29.99. It's a steal at that price, but the downside I ended up supporting GameStop which I've grown to dislike in recent years. One of the reasons is due to this one of it's policies that sometimes sells used games as new. I've known that practice existed a while ago, when EBGames was around, when I knew someone that worked there. He used to barrow games from them and then reshrink wrap them and sell as new. I've suspected this practice has carried over to GameStop after the two companies merged, and now seems like it's kinda public knowledge now. Shady GameStop. I also hate how everytime I go into the store I get harassed about trading in my used games or how I should pre-order a game with them. If I wanted to be hassled about buying something, I'd go walk onto a car lot! I just want a game, leave me alone! And I find it strangely suspicious that everytime I go in there to buy a game, and this happens to my friends too, that they always seem just to have 'one last copy'. Are they trained to say that!? I can recall that at least the past times I've asked if they had a game (FFXI WotG, ToA, FFT for PSP) they said it was the last copy.
But anyways, Valk Chronicles was a good buy and turned out to be more fun than I expected. Although I'm still working on it, I do hope that they do make a sequal to it. It has a very anime feel to it (no surprise they eventally made a series out of it), and put a new spin on strategy RPG. Guess I'm a little more open to shooter RPGs after playing Fallout 3. One complaint I have against the game is that I think it's pretty easy. On most levels you can get buy without very much strategy. Most of my losses were my own fault trying to get the level done in as little turns as possible. But if you take your time and not worry about beating it fast, it's near impossible to lose a map.
I've been slacking on TV. I've been keeping up to date only on a handful of shows right now, although I've downloaded others so I can catch up later. I've lost interested in Terminator and Dollhouse and at least 5+ episodes behind on both. For me, a needs to either be story driven or character driven to keep me interested enough to keep watching and both of these shows in my opinion are lacking both aspects. Story driven meaning that there needs to be a central underlying storyline across the episodes. Self contained episodes are fine, but a shows also needs a main storyline. If they don't have that, at least make the character(s) interesting, like House.
Terminator I'm just downright annoyed by John Connor's character. He's just so whinny! Storywise, I lost all interest. There doesn't seem to be any focus and nothing that I would care to keep watching for. I heard that the series does pick up so I'm building my queue so I can get around to it later. I do hope it gets better. Dollhouse also was a bit of a letdown. I've like past Joss Whedon stuff, Buffy and Angel namely, and am a fan of Eliza Dushku, anyone heard of Tru Calling? Didn't think so, it didn't last too long >.> I'm only 3 episodes in, but I don't care enough about either the story or the characters at this point. But I'm still downloading those too.
That's enough rambling for now, until next time <.<;
Tune of the Moment: Nadia Ali - Love Story
Saturday, March 28, 2009
It's Time ...
After another month of re-evaluating where I stood with FFXI, I've decided to deactivate my account for a bit. It's been a month since my last post and, if anything, my feelings about FFXI got worse. I was less inclined to do stuff this month than last month. I've only really logged in to do Limbus. I think I really decided half way through March, but wasn't 100% sure about it until now.
The thing is, I don't have anything against the game, it's just that I don't have the urge to play as I used to. There used to be a time when I would think about FFXI alot... an almost unhealthy amount. I'd be at work looking things up on wiki, thinking about what I would do as soon as I get home and get online. I'd have FFXI on the brain most of the time... and now, nothing. No motivation to play whatsoever.
One reason that might be to blame for the lack of motivation is increased PS3 time. From previous posts, I mentioned games I was playing, then early this month was Killzone 2. I played it alot for the first two weeks, even to the point where I got a game medal for being in the top 3% of players that week X.x (recognition goes to the top 1, 3, 6, and 10 percent weekly). But I've gotten to the point where my play time has significantly been reduced, but still no urge to play FFXI any more.
The other part of my time is split with TV now. I'm pretty far behind in shows and I find myself just watching random shows and random episodes here and there of whatever is on. I find that more appealing that FFXI still =/ Sadness. I'm hoping that will change as summer rolls around and TV shows are on break.
At the moment, I'm thinking 1-2 month break would be nice... gives me time to possibly start missing the game, and maybe enough to draw me back to it. That should be around the May/June time frame. When that time rolls around, I'll re-evaluate things once again. Though the timing might be bad, as my goal for this summer is to move out and buy my own place... and I forsee the search process taking some time... we'll see.
As always I'll be on AIM still... and probably PS3 =P
The thing is, I don't have anything against the game, it's just that I don't have the urge to play as I used to. There used to be a time when I would think about FFXI alot... an almost unhealthy amount. I'd be at work looking things up on wiki, thinking about what I would do as soon as I get home and get online. I'd have FFXI on the brain most of the time... and now, nothing. No motivation to play whatsoever.
One reason that might be to blame for the lack of motivation is increased PS3 time. From previous posts, I mentioned games I was playing, then early this month was Killzone 2. I played it alot for the first two weeks, even to the point where I got a game medal for being in the top 3% of players that week X.x (recognition goes to the top 1, 3, 6, and 10 percent weekly). But I've gotten to the point where my play time has significantly been reduced, but still no urge to play FFXI any more.
The other part of my time is split with TV now. I'm pretty far behind in shows and I find myself just watching random shows and random episodes here and there of whatever is on. I find that more appealing that FFXI still =/ Sadness. I'm hoping that will change as summer rolls around and TV shows are on break.
At the moment, I'm thinking 1-2 month break would be nice... gives me time to possibly start missing the game, and maybe enough to draw me back to it. That should be around the May/June time frame. When that time rolls around, I'll re-evaluate things once again. Though the timing might be bad, as my goal for this summer is to move out and buy my own place... and I forsee the search process taking some time... we'll see.
As always I'll be on AIM still... and probably PS3 =P
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Not to Deactivate
So for the time being I've decided not to deactivate. Being a short month and all, there's only a few more days before March begins. Since I haven't convinced myself to deactivate, I'll just let things go on the way they have been going. On the grand scheme of things, it's not an issue of affordability, but whether it makes sense to pay for something I don't use... much... Another way I've thought about it though, is that for every 3 months I keep both chars activated, I could have a new PS3 game instead!
For now, this episode is to be continued...
Tune of the Moment: Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive
For now, this episode is to be continued...
Tune of the Moment: Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive
Sunday, February 22, 2009
To Deactivate or Not to Deactivate
Been a while since my last post. I started to post about work recently, just to rant about how much I hate it right now but during the process of writing I felt like I had vented enough and didn't really need to finish my thoughts on the subject. I did what I needed to do and cleared my head and so I scrapped the post.
I've been spending less and less time playing FFXI and have been considering deactivating my account. At first this was due to me playing PS3 more with Fallout3 and CoD5. Then came the massive SE bannings which has left AP in pieces. There was less and less reasons for me to be playing FFXI. I would log in for Limbus, occasional dynamis, thursday assault/SNM, and xp SPT. Little by little most of those started to fall apart. Limbus turnout was abysmal, to the point where we started to cancel runs. Thursday meetings kept getting called off due Fuu and Cronus moving to a new place and being MIA. Last but not least, I had lost some interested in xp and Fuu was MIA for that as well. So there hasn't been all that much reason for me to log in.
Now is logging in 10-12 hours all week really worth keeping an account activate? Or even two accounts (with Ark)? D: I don't know... I'm not sure.
There are some things to consider that may influence my decision. First off, my PS3 has been fixed since my last posting. So far my PS3 has been performing like a champ and haven't had it freeze on me yet! And it better stay that way! I've started playing that again, with Fallout3, CoD5, Rock Band2, and Mirror's Edge on my current list of games.
On the horizon, Street Fighter 4. I know it just came out and although I don't own it yet, it is a matter of time before I do. I've been a fan of Street Fighter since part 2 in the glory days of arcades. Nowadays arcades are nearly nonexistant here. The closest thing that comes to mind is Dave and Buster's, but it's not the same. There's no competitiveness in a place like that and most of the games are geared toward co-op play. I just found out that SF4 has online support (I don't keep up with gaming news much) so that has made me want to get it more now... I'm just holding out for the price to drop.
And then there's Killzone 2. I haven't heard too much about this game except what my friends tell me. They keep up with gaming news a lot more than I do and say it's been getting rave reviews. I've put in my pre-order at Amazon (which came at a discounted price!) and I will be looking foward to that. I'm sure I'll be playing that alot, especially since my rl friends will be as well. Too bad they don't play MMO's and FFXI, because I'm sure I'd be playing it a lot more if they did... oh well, I'm fine with FPS games too!
Then there's TV. I was caught up watching TV until my PS3 got fixed. Now I've fallen behind again D: My lineup includes: 24, Heroes, Chuck, House, Fringe, Lost, Lie to Me, Life, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Friday Night Lights, Terminator, Dollhouse, Simpson, and Family Guy. So much TV @.@ I wish I had more time! Hmm, a 'vacation' maybe? =D
So yeah, lots of things that are stealing time away from FFXI. There are some things I would still like to do in FFXI. I want to finish off (to 75) MNK, SAM, and THF. I want to get rid of my KSNM seals, get some Destroyers for my MNK and other looties (Gil is good, can never have too much). I want to get a KC! (not likely but I keep trying every time I get 60 beast seals). I possibly want to get a Joy toy but I hate NM camping =/
My options right now that I'm considering are: A) Deactivate both myself and Ark starting next month and see how that affects me. Sadly that may affect other ppl and the events I'm involved in. B) Deactivate Ark only. But he's such a time saver though for xp'ing, campaigning, questing, and whatever else. C) Carry on what I'm doing and balance my leisure activities. I was kinda hoping I would clear my head like I did about my work dilema with all this posting but I'm still as undecided as before D:
Tune of the Moment: Modest Mouse - Float On
I've been spending less and less time playing FFXI and have been considering deactivating my account. At first this was due to me playing PS3 more with Fallout3 and CoD5. Then came the massive SE bannings which has left AP in pieces. There was less and less reasons for me to be playing FFXI. I would log in for Limbus, occasional dynamis, thursday assault/SNM, and xp SPT. Little by little most of those started to fall apart. Limbus turnout was abysmal, to the point where we started to cancel runs. Thursday meetings kept getting called off due Fuu and Cronus moving to a new place and being MIA. Last but not least, I had lost some interested in xp and Fuu was MIA for that as well. So there hasn't been all that much reason for me to log in.
Now is logging in 10-12 hours all week really worth keeping an account activate? Or even two accounts (with Ark)? D: I don't know... I'm not sure.
There are some things to consider that may influence my decision. First off, my PS3 has been fixed since my last posting. So far my PS3 has been performing like a champ and haven't had it freeze on me yet! And it better stay that way! I've started playing that again, with Fallout3, CoD5, Rock Band2, and Mirror's Edge on my current list of games.
On the horizon, Street Fighter 4. I know it just came out and although I don't own it yet, it is a matter of time before I do. I've been a fan of Street Fighter since part 2 in the glory days of arcades. Nowadays arcades are nearly nonexistant here. The closest thing that comes to mind is Dave and Buster's, but it's not the same. There's no competitiveness in a place like that and most of the games are geared toward co-op play. I just found out that SF4 has online support (I don't keep up with gaming news much) so that has made me want to get it more now... I'm just holding out for the price to drop.
And then there's Killzone 2. I haven't heard too much about this game except what my friends tell me. They keep up with gaming news a lot more than I do and say it's been getting rave reviews. I've put in my pre-order at Amazon (which came at a discounted price!) and I will be looking foward to that. I'm sure I'll be playing that alot, especially since my rl friends will be as well. Too bad they don't play MMO's and FFXI, because I'm sure I'd be playing it a lot more if they did... oh well, I'm fine with FPS games too!
Then there's TV. I was caught up watching TV until my PS3 got fixed. Now I've fallen behind again D: My lineup includes: 24, Heroes, Chuck, House, Fringe, Lost, Lie to Me, Life, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Friday Night Lights, Terminator, Dollhouse, Simpson, and Family Guy. So much TV @.@ I wish I had more time! Hmm, a 'vacation' maybe? =D
So yeah, lots of things that are stealing time away from FFXI. There are some things I would still like to do in FFXI. I want to finish off (to 75) MNK, SAM, and THF. I want to get rid of my KSNM seals, get some Destroyers for my MNK and other looties (Gil is good, can never have too much). I want to get a KC! (not likely but I keep trying every time I get 60 beast seals). I possibly want to get a Joy toy but I hate NM camping =/
My options right now that I'm considering are: A) Deactivate both myself and Ark starting next month and see how that affects me. Sadly that may affect other ppl and the events I'm involved in. B) Deactivate Ark only. But he's such a time saver though for xp'ing, campaigning, questing, and whatever else. C) Carry on what I'm doing and balance my leisure activities. I was kinda hoping I would clear my head like I did about my work dilema with all this posting but I'm still as undecided as before D:
Tune of the Moment: Modest Mouse - Float On
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Some FFXI Stuff
With my PS3 out of commission I've started to play a bit more FFXI again D: I was bored enough to start leveling PUP... >.> ... of all things.... PUP...
So I got PUP to 20 a couple days ago, and got my 2nd automaton upgrade. I went with Sharpshot frame first at level 10, then Stormwaker at 20. I haven't had any time to play around with Stormwaker yet, so I'll probably get around to that later this week. PUP does do some decent damage at lower levels when you factor in the automaton. My Sharpshot was at times outdamaging me, and frequently got itself killed D: I don't plan on taking PUP too high though, but it's a nice change of pace.
Soloing some fields of valor and getting some beastseals is not too shabby either. I was able to make get another BC60 orb and went to 2box it with Ark. Once again, no Kraken Club :( I'm starting to think if they really drop from the BCNM. I must be something in the range of 0/10 2boxing this thing. I've probably done another 6+ runs with Fuuji and Nuyu (with their orbs) and still no drop! Looking at wiki, it says "0 to 1 of:" Walkure's Mask, Kraken club. I've gotten a Walkure's mask drop before... and if that's true that they are in the same category of drops... I'm sad. That means I've gotten close :( Now to save another 60 orbs for another run. At the least, I make a somewhat quick 60k from npcing the items I get.
Sunday xp... it's been a while, but today was the first time in about 3 weeks? Still no Fuu, that slacker. I got 2 levels on MNK and stopped it at 63. Another AP onry party and we ending up doing some Puks, and then some Colibris. Pretty decent xp.
So I wanted to try out some KS99 action, so I went along Wu's KS99 run. Turtle run in Palborough. Grats to Wu on his adamantoise egg. I forgot to take some screens of the actual fight, but I did manage these...
Here's another taru perspective shot... to accompany the one I took a few weeks earlier ^^;
So I got PUP to 20 a couple days ago, and got my 2nd automaton upgrade. I went with Sharpshot frame first at level 10, then Stormwaker at 20. I haven't had any time to play around with Stormwaker yet, so I'll probably get around to that later this week. PUP does do some decent damage at lower levels when you factor in the automaton. My Sharpshot was at times outdamaging me, and frequently got itself killed D: I don't plan on taking PUP too high though, but it's a nice change of pace.
Soloing some fields of valor and getting some beastseals is not too shabby either. I was able to make get another BC60 orb and went to 2box it with Ark. Once again, no Kraken Club :( I'm starting to think if they really drop from the BCNM. I must be something in the range of 0/10 2boxing this thing. I've probably done another 6+ runs with Fuuji and Nuyu (with their orbs) and still no drop! Looking at wiki, it says "0 to 1 of:" Walkure's Mask, Kraken club. I've gotten a Walkure's mask drop before... and if that's true that they are in the same category of drops... I'm sad. That means I've gotten close :( Now to save another 60 orbs for another run. At the least, I make a somewhat quick 60k from npcing the items I get.
Sunday xp... it's been a while, but today was the first time in about 3 weeks? Still no Fuu, that slacker. I got 2 levels on MNK and stopped it at 63. Another AP onry party and we ending up doing some Puks, and then some Colibris. Pretty decent xp.
So I wanted to try out some KS99 action, so I went along Wu's KS99 run. Turtle run in Palborough. Grats to Wu on his adamantoise egg. I forgot to take some screens of the actual fight, but I did manage these...
Here's another taru perspective shot... to accompany the one I took a few weeks earlier ^^;
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sadness...GG Sony
Happy New Year to those that celebrate Chinese New Years!
I haven't been on FFXI much in the past week. Skipped Dynamis on Sat since I had dinner with a friend, skipped SPT on Sun since Fuuji and Ascii were MIA, skipped Dynamis Wed since I got out of work late that day, and no Nyzul/SNM Thursdays as no one was on (Fuu and his bro probably still moving or don't have internet yet). I only made it to Limbus, which surprisingly still happend despite the low attendance. That's pretty much it since last blog entry...
I might be on FFXI more starting today though... Lately I've been preoccupied with PS3, but last night while I was playing Fallout 3 it froze on me. It happens, and I'm used to it by now. Unfortunately when I tried to power it down, it didn't shut off. I had waited 5+ mins since holding down the power button (an usually long time), so I had to do a hard shut down and cut power to the system. This is where my nightmare began...
I turned it back on, and at first the disc didn't autoload like it normally does. In fact, the PS3 didn't even detect a disc was in there. I had to eject, soft power down, cut power, turn on power, then power up and insert the disc to finally get the disc to work (lots of trial and error to finally get a method to detect the disc). Skipping any of those steps and it would not work. Game booted up, and I reloaded my save. Everything seemed fine, but then I was greeted by another system freeze. I continued to repeat the above steps and finally I thought that my saved games were corrupted, and game data. So I went ahead and deleted them from my PS3. Game froze after I tried to start a new game... nope, not bad game data... must be something else...
So I restarted the system and put in other games, CoD5, then CoD4 and now I was greeted by a system error, similar to the one pictured here. Error code 80010514. A quick Google search will reveal that this code is basically not something you ever want to see. From what I've read, it can range from corrupted hard drive data to faulty blu-ray drive. Reading through some other ppl's experience, some suggested a system restore... so I went ahead and tried that, which essentially formats your system. I did a quick format, takes like 20 sec and it wiped all my saved games and game data... sadness. But if my PS3 came back working, it's worth it. Sadly it did not. After spending hours on it, I was tired and went to bed. I shut it all down, disconnect power and figured I'd let it cool down overnight.
Friday morning, my off friday, I connect everything back up and booted up to CoD5. Game boots up, I start a new game and I play 10 minutes worth with no problems before deciding to turn it off. Not a graceful power down... as it gets stuck doing a soft shutdown. I can hear the disc spinning and trying to read, like I've been noticing all of the night before. I've had many CD/DVD-Rom drives fail on me before in my PC, and the sounds I was hearing was very familiar... Good morning to you too busted PS3, I was hoping it was a late night fling and we would part ways after last night, but here you are back in my life.
I've since decided to do a full system format, which is estimated to take 4-5 hours. its been about 45 min and 12% as of now. I want to exhaust all my options before I call Sony about it... as from what I've read, fixing it will cost 160 or so since it is no longer under warranty. Red Ring of Death, Sony Style. How wonderful.
With that, I think I'll need something to keep me entertained. I have my TV shows to catch up on, but only gaming option is FFXI. Must be a conspiracy to get me back on FFXI again, how clever of you SE to team up with Sony on this one. As far as shows go, I have Fringe, House, Grey's Anatomy, and The Office to catch up on. For Anime, a few episodes of Bleach to catch up on and a couple Naruto. Naruto has stopped being subbed by Dattybayo group, so I may have to find an alternative group for it now :( (or give up on the series completely).
Oh well, time to head to the movies. Going to watch Taken now and hope the rest of the day turns out ok.
Tune of the Moment: Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na)
(I'm such a sucker for catchy hooks/beats).
I haven't been on FFXI much in the past week. Skipped Dynamis on Sat since I had dinner with a friend, skipped SPT on Sun since Fuuji and Ascii were MIA, skipped Dynamis Wed since I got out of work late that day, and no Nyzul/SNM Thursdays as no one was on (Fuu and his bro probably still moving or don't have internet yet). I only made it to Limbus, which surprisingly still happend despite the low attendance. That's pretty much it since last blog entry...
I might be on FFXI more starting today though... Lately I've been preoccupied with PS3, but last night while I was playing Fallout 3 it froze on me. It happens, and I'm used to it by now. Unfortunately when I tried to power it down, it didn't shut off. I had waited 5+ mins since holding down the power button (an usually long time), so I had to do a hard shut down and cut power to the system. This is where my nightmare began...
I turned it back on, and at first the disc didn't autoload like it normally does. In fact, the PS3 didn't even detect a disc was in there. I had to eject, soft power down, cut power, turn on power, then power up and insert the disc to finally get the disc to work (lots of trial and error to finally get a method to detect the disc). Skipping any of those steps and it would not work. Game booted up, and I reloaded my save. Everything seemed fine, but then I was greeted by another system freeze. I continued to repeat the above steps and finally I thought that my saved games were corrupted, and game data. So I went ahead and deleted them from my PS3. Game froze after I tried to start a new game... nope, not bad game data... must be something else...
So I restarted the system and put in other games, CoD5, then CoD4 and now I was greeted by a system error, similar to the one pictured here. Error code 80010514. A quick Google search will reveal that this code is basically not something you ever want to see. From what I've read, it can range from corrupted hard drive data to faulty blu-ray drive. Reading through some other ppl's experience, some suggested a system restore... so I went ahead and tried that, which essentially formats your system. I did a quick format, takes like 20 sec and it wiped all my saved games and game data... sadness. But if my PS3 came back working, it's worth it. Sadly it did not. After spending hours on it, I was tired and went to bed. I shut it all down, disconnect power and figured I'd let it cool down overnight.Friday morning, my off friday, I connect everything back up and booted up to CoD5. Game boots up, I start a new game and I play 10 minutes worth with no problems before deciding to turn it off. Not a graceful power down... as it gets stuck doing a soft shutdown. I can hear the disc spinning and trying to read, like I've been noticing all of the night before. I've had many CD/DVD-Rom drives fail on me before in my PC, and the sounds I was hearing was very familiar... Good morning to you too busted PS3, I was hoping it was a late night fling and we would part ways after last night, but here you are back in my life.
I've since decided to do a full system format, which is estimated to take 4-5 hours. its been about 45 min and 12% as of now. I want to exhaust all my options before I call Sony about it... as from what I've read, fixing it will cost 160 or so since it is no longer under warranty. Red Ring of Death, Sony Style. How wonderful.
With that, I think I'll need something to keep me entertained. I have my TV shows to catch up on, but only gaming option is FFXI. Must be a conspiracy to get me back on FFXI again, how clever of you SE to team up with Sony on this one. As far as shows go, I have Fringe, House, Grey's Anatomy, and The Office to catch up on. For Anime, a few episodes of Bleach to catch up on and a couple Naruto. Naruto has stopped being subbed by Dattybayo group, so I may have to find an alternative group for it now :( (or give up on the series completely).
Oh well, time to head to the movies. Going to watch Taken now and hope the rest of the day turns out ok.
Tune of the Moment: Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na)
(I'm such a sucker for catchy hooks/beats).
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Random update
Been away from FFXI a lot lately...still mostly due to Fallout 3, but also had a fun snowboarding trip to Mammoth over MLK holiday weekend that went from Friday-Sunday. Drove up Friday, and boarded Sat-Sun, with a small group of guys from work. It might be the only trip I make this year... :( unless I get my passport and hope someone follows through planning a Whistler trip. I'm too lazy to organize a trip myself so meh, if no one does oh well.
So today we started to do a new event instead of the usual Nyzul since most of my crew got what they wanted out of it, and more importantly we all have our Runic Keys! =D At Wu's suggestion we decided to check out SNMs (Stronghold NMs). Basically this seems to be another version of ZNMs... but instead of collecting Zenis to pop the NMs, you camp the NMs as they are on 2-6 hr timers. These are NMs that appear in the beastmen strongholds in WoG areas and drop some lootz as well as some Rare/Ex items eventually used to get access to SCNMs (Seal Container NM) which is a BC fight up to 18 ppl. At first I wasn't too happy to hear this would be NM hunting with stupid pop timers, but we decided that we'd check out the zones, and if NMs were up, we'd kill them and if not we'd move zones to another beastmen stronghold and see what's there.
We haded off to Beadeaux [S] and with Dexi on RNG, were able to locate some NMs right away. First up was a gob Blifnix Oilycheeks. He seemed like a pretty standard Gob NM, doing regular gobs stuff... until he started to spam mines similar to Cheesehoarder ZNM mob. Unlike Cheesehoarder, he didn't run away after setting a mine, but he did set ~4-5 mines at a time. The mines would blow up in succession and did about 100-200 to each person with Shell V and barfira up. Ended up killing him without much problems with the exception of Wu going down near the end. He dropped this:
We went on and spotted quadav NM Di'Zho Spongeshell... and was it an annoying fight. Every so often he would do a 2hr animation and switch between 2 modes. In one mode, he would absorb all physical attack and be vulnerable to magic and in the other mode be vulnerable to physical and absorb magic. Fight ended taking over 20 mins and he wasn't terribly hard, just had a nasty AoE move a la NM quads in dynamis. The switching of the modes was the annoying part. No gear drop from this guy :(
That's all the time we had before it got too late for some. We'll see how this event keeps up in the weeks to follow...
Tune of the Moment: Morgan Page feat Lissie - The Longest Road (Deadmau5 Remix)
So today we started to do a new event instead of the usual Nyzul since most of my crew got what they wanted out of it, and more importantly we all have our Runic Keys! =D At Wu's suggestion we decided to check out SNMs (Stronghold NMs). Basically this seems to be another version of ZNMs... but instead of collecting Zenis to pop the NMs, you camp the NMs as they are on 2-6 hr timers. These are NMs that appear in the beastmen strongholds in WoG areas and drop some lootz as well as some Rare/Ex items eventually used to get access to SCNMs (Seal Container NM) which is a BC fight up to 18 ppl. At first I wasn't too happy to hear this would be NM hunting with stupid pop timers, but we decided that we'd check out the zones, and if NMs were up, we'd kill them and if not we'd move zones to another beastmen stronghold and see what's there.
We haded off to Beadeaux [S] and with Dexi on RNG, were able to locate some NMs right away. First up was a gob Blifnix Oilycheeks. He seemed like a pretty standard Gob NM, doing regular gobs stuff... until he started to spam mines similar to Cheesehoarder ZNM mob. Unlike Cheesehoarder, he didn't run away after setting a mine, but he did set ~4-5 mines at a time. The mines would blow up in succession and did about 100-200 to each person with Shell V and barfira up. Ended up killing him without much problems with the exception of Wu going down near the end. He dropped this:
We went on and spotted quadav NM Di'Zho Spongeshell... and was it an annoying fight. Every so often he would do a 2hr animation and switch between 2 modes. In one mode, he would absorb all physical attack and be vulnerable to magic and in the other mode be vulnerable to physical and absorb magic. Fight ended taking over 20 mins and he wasn't terribly hard, just had a nasty AoE move a la NM quads in dynamis. The switching of the modes was the annoying part. No gear drop from this guy :(
That's all the time we had before it got too late for some. We'll see how this event keeps up in the weeks to follow...
Tune of the Moment: Morgan Page feat Lissie - The Longest Road (Deadmau5 Remix)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Update...
So it's been a few weeks since my update... but nothing terribly interesting to say. Just SPT on MNK which is now 61. I think I'll take this to 75 next, but at the moment I'm not that motivated to do so. The once a week SPT seems sufficient to get me my exp fix for the week.
I really haven't been around that much in FFXI. I've shown up for 1 Dynamis, 2 Limbus, 1 cancelled Nyzul, and 1 SPT in the past week. No random doing anything besides those events... no farming, no questing, no anything!
I have Fallout 3 to blame for that... that game is just as big a time sink as FFXI, and fun in it's own right. It's my first Fallout experience, but I've been hooked... playing it every night after work. Not to go to much into it, but the character building is very much like D&D based games for the PC, i.e. Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, but the combat system is FPS based. Pretty unique mix and it works surprisingly well. Until I finish it, I'll probably be pretty scarce in FFXI... and I may even play through Fallout 3 a 2nd time... D:
One last thought on FFXI... taru perspective is pretty nice sometimes... ^^;
I mean, look at that subligar on me! You wouldn't be able to see those from a Galka's or girraffe-necked Elvaan's POV! I bet you were thinking something else! tsk tsk.
I really haven't been around that much in FFXI. I've shown up for 1 Dynamis, 2 Limbus, 1 cancelled Nyzul, and 1 SPT in the past week. No random doing anything besides those events... no farming, no questing, no anything!
I have Fallout 3 to blame for that... that game is just as big a time sink as FFXI, and fun in it's own right. It's my first Fallout experience, but I've been hooked... playing it every night after work. Not to go to much into it, but the character building is very much like D&D based games for the PC, i.e. Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, but the combat system is FPS based. Pretty unique mix and it works surprisingly well. Until I finish it, I'll probably be pretty scarce in FFXI... and I may even play through Fallout 3 a 2nd time... D:
One last thought on FFXI... taru perspective is pretty nice sometimes... ^^;
I mean, look at that subligar on me! You wouldn't be able to see those from a Galka's or girraffe-necked Elvaan's POV! I bet you were thinking something else! tsk tsk.
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