Final Fantasy XIV

My heart aches for the loss of G’raha Tia, as I wonder what could have been between us.

I didn’t have big goals for tonight. Grind to 50 with the jobs I intend to take on the trip to the World of Darkness. And then… maybe jump into Final Fantasy XIV Online, and try the MMO version of FF3’s final boss. So that’s what I did. Three of the jobs are basically no-brainers. Ninja is the most capable physical attacker in the game. Devout is the best healer, and Sage is the best magical attacker, having access to all black magic, white magic, and summoner spells. ...

I only had time for a short session last night. Time to grasp Real Power in the dungeon of Eureka, and then, just for fun, see what’s at the top of the Crystal Tower… Time to step back and see what I’m going to need to do before I can finish the game. Like most Final Fantasy games – most RPGs of all types, really – there’s a point where you can just forge on to the end of the game, or just dally around working on other goals so much so that the end game isn’t really a challenge. I’m there with Final Fantasy III now. ...

I don’t play every MMO that comes out – not by a longshot. But, I follow a lot of gamers, streamers, and game developers, and between me and them, I see a lot of discussion about the new MMOs that come down the pike. Crowfall was released a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, everyone was talking about it. And then, suddenly everyone was not. What did it all mean? I asked Google Trends to help me analyze searches for a dozen or so MMOs to help understand what all was going on with MMOs today. ...

I was just going to play Final Fantasy XIV long enough to get a picture with a dwarf to illustrate how Final Fantasy themes crop up again and again… and I did that… but then I started working on the main story quest again… and… well, maybe later. Right now, we have to deal with a certain evil critter named Astos. A witch walks into a bar. One of her eyes is shut tight, and a trickle of blood leaks from it. The other is red with rage. A broomstick follows her closely, trying to help, but she snarls at it until it puts itself into a corner. “What happened???” asks the barmaid. “Astos happened,” spits the witch. “He took my crystal eye, and now I cannot see!” The barmaid quickly mixes up a strong drink; fumes pour from the mug. The witch drinks it in one gulp and falls silent. ...

Amazon’s new MMO, “New World”, comes out soon. Everyone is excited – but I don’t know if I’m ready for a new MMO commitment.

Yesterday, “Kingdoms of Amalur: The Re-Reckoning”, an update of 2012’s “Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning” was released. It’s a refresh of a game that seemed groundbreaking at the time, being a single-player experience that would familiarize its players with the world of the MMO at that time known as Project Copernicus. The story of Project Copernicus and its developers, 38 Studios, would fill books. Its failure left Kingdoms of Amalur in a weird spot: An MMO-ish single player RPG set in an MMO world that would never exist. While playing KoA, it’s easy to imagine other people crafting at the quest hubs, teaming up for the dungeons, and bringing the world to life. As a single player game, it plays like an MMO just after the servers come up. ...

I’m still so pumped from Wednesday’s game night. I just want to play more Mahjong. Luckily, FFXIV is always there to help with that need. I’m still a novice, an absolute beginner, so I sat down at the beginner board and the game gave me some AI opponents to play with. I have played on the intermediate board; I didn’t win any more, but it was nice to chat with people, and they would offer help when asked. But I think for now it’s enough to just play against the AI and try to build up some skill. ...

We have been preparing for this night for a very long time. Tom has always had an intense interest in Mahjong, especially in the Japanese variant, Riichi Mahjong. He’s got books and books about it. Lots of apps. A vast collection of Vita and Super Famicom versions. Once while I was visiting him when he still lived in Ohio, he pulled out this beautiful, heavy, set, and we sat down and he taught me how to play. It’s just like the card game Rummy, he said, and it is… except that the Japanese, bless their hearts, decided that would be too easy, and so they added a bunch of win conditions you needed to also keep in mind if you wanted to build a winning hand. ...

This is going to be a little Twitter-heavy, and I apologize for that. The @PantheonCrafter account, posted a survey today about crafting: Would you prefer the crafting mechanics for @PantheonMMO to be turn-based (like Vanguard or FFXIV), real-time (like EQ2), or Click-to-Craft (like WoW)? Feel free to reply and say more! #mmocrafting — Pantheon Crafters (@PantheonCrafter) August 18, 2020 I just had to question the whole idea of crafting. It’s become a checkbox item – does your MMO have… [x] crafting? [ ] fishing? [ ] dance emotes? ...