Steam Games

24.8 hours to finish Final Fantasy III. I spent so much time preparing so much for the World of Darkness… and those preparations worked out really well. Here’s how we defeated the Cloud of Darkness and their feckless minion, Xande. Last time I played, I leveled all my warriors up to level 50 by running around the first floor in the Ancient Maze. The Invincible, parked just outside the entrance, was a perfect place to return to for resting, so I could use full power in all encounters without any regard for safety. ...

City of Heroes cast a long shadow over the superhero MMO landscape. There’s easily a half dozen efforts to resurrect the game in some form, either by recreating the original game, or building a clear sequel. As of now, though, there’s only two MMOs that can carry COH’s torch – superhero MMOs where you can build your own hero your own way. And those are Cryptic’s Champions Online, and Daybreak’s DC Universe Online. ...

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. ...

Just one crystal to restore – the Earth crystal. We’ve already restored three of them. How hard could the last one be? Harder than all the rest, combined. You see, it was shattered into a million pieces… and we have to find them all. With our trusty airship, the Enterprise, chained in the harbor “for our own protection”, we were forced to stay in the village we found ourselves in against our will. Seems our crazy stories about the world being drowned beneath the sea and everyone being stone statues caused more than a little concern. BUT IT’S TRUE! we shouted, and then they tried to keep us away from sharp things. ...

I can stop eating Gysahl Greens any time I want. Not like mister “dude, can I like crash on your couch just for tonight? Won’t even know I’m there” there. That was A WEEK AGO, CHOCO-BRO. Our adventures in FF3 continue… Dislike: Mini Final Fantasy III seems to take some kind of obscene pleasure in making the party take on odd conditions to proceed. There’s a couple, but the one I hate most is MINI. This spell, which has to be cast on everyone to make them smaller, and again to make them bigger, turns your party into useless clods. Sure, magic still works, but guess what, I only have one party member with black magic skills. So mostly I am just running away. I did find that I could just un-MINI everyone once they were past the MINI check, but that just takes more spell slots, or liberal use of mallets. Ouch. We were almost killed BY A RAT. ...

Final Fantasy I was a lot of fun. I really struggled which of the old NES Final Fantasy games to play next. FF2 added Cid and Chocobos – two elements that appeared in every Final Fantasy game afterwards. FF3, though, adds the jobs system, and I really wanted to try that. Excited to try out the new and wonderful jobs, I started up FF3 and, after the short intro, chose the jobs for my crew: Red Mage, Monk, White Mage and Black Mage. Yup, the same jobs as in FF1. But then things got a little more interesting… ...

So, I listened to the DCUO livestream the other day, where they showed a preview of the House of Legends episode, packed to the rafters with quality-of-life changes and new content. I was listening, fascinated, until they mentioned that House of Legends was currently LIVE ON THE TEST SERVER. So, I, um, quit the livestream and installed the test version of DCUO and went to have a look for myself. Allies screen ...

Having made our way to the town of Melmond, we were shocked to find a ruin. A vampire was draining all of their Earthpower? The High Lord’s Council is nowhere to be seen? Even Thomas Covenant has gone missing? Well, I guess maybe a few Warriors of Light could get the job done… As is often the case, even with the hints the townscritters give, I’m never quite sure where to go. I spent awhile sailing around the area, looking for a sage at a southern tip or anywhere to dock before I eventually had the bright idea to just walk down to the area, from Melmond. ...

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. ...