Final Fantasy XI Retirement (October 2003-December 2010)

After 782 days, 3 hours and 58 minutes of my character's existence (total play time), I'm retiring from Vana'diel!

There are lots of contributing factors to my leave, but the ones that stand out the most are the lack of story content to complete, and the new direction the game is going.

Not that Final Fantasy XI has a lack of storyline mind you, but in the last seven years I've completed everything that I could storyline wise.

-Led a successful social linkshell with 125+ people for four years.

-Led an independent Einherjar linkshell that almost got to Odin primarily of pickup people. One of the pioneer open linkshells to do Einherjar on Titan server and do the wings successfully.

-Being one of the first people to see Al'Taieu when it was released in 2005.

-Rank 10 Windurst
-Rank 10 San d'Oria
-Rank 10 Bastok
-Rise of the Zilart Beaten
-Chains of Promathia Beaten
-Treasures of Aht Urhgan Beaten
-Wings of the Goddess Beaten
-A Crystalline Prophecy Beaten
-A Moogle Kupo d'Etat Beaten
-A Shantotto Ascension Beaten
-Serpent General Quests beaten
-Was max Campaign rank for a time.
-Captain Wildcat Badge
-All Avatars beaten
-Level 82 Paladin and Level 75 Blue Mage.

I've done all of that in the course of the last seven years!

Character History:

-Started on Garuda Server (a fairly new server at the time)

-Picked Warrior as a starting job. (Gave me an Onion Sword, so I used a Sword instead of an Axe.)

-I was level 13 for two months because I spent so much time exploring. I had never seen a world in Final Fantasy that was so large.

-Around this time, I kept dying, which made me think that I needed Cure to do anything. So I told myself I would become a Warrior / Red Mage. (I kid you not.)

-At level 21 (that's right, 21) I got my support job and became a Warrior 21/Red Mage 10. Around this time, I think I started to get a bad reputation on the Garuda Server.

-When I was level 33, Chains of Promathia came out, I still felt like a newb, so I don't think I would ever get Promyvions done. I was still a WAR/RDM, but I was high enough to unlock Paladin. But I didn't feel like "starting" over, so I still levelled WAR/RDM. Around this time, my linkshell merged with another to form "RebelsOfPromathia".

-At level 46 WAR/23 RDM, a person I was partying with (albeit an asshole) had a good point. I needed to change my subjob, by this point, I wasn't really contributing much to parties. People considered me to be a joke within the server and I wasn't really taken seriously. So I levelled Paladin to 23 and became a Warrior/Paladin. I knew that in time, I was going to eventually be a Paladin main, but I wanted Warrior to Level 50 so I could do the first limit break quest.

-I got Warrior to 51 and Paladin to 25 around New Years of 2005. I finished Limit Break quest and retired Warrior after that. I started levelling Paladin (which was VERY easy because of the gimped way I levelled Warrior, all my skills (including sword and shield were capped)). I got Paladin to 51 within three weeks after taking two years to get Warrior to 51 with a gimped subjob. I really never played Warrior again after that, I kinda just let people forget I even had it past 37. In time people forgot about me and my WAR/RDM reputation. The server had someone famous come later called Anna who was a WHM/THF, that really stole the show. Even though I had a bad combination of jobs, I was still a good tank and a good person. Anna was rude, had a bad combination of jobs, and was a sucky healer, so I kind of faded into obscurity.

-Anyway, now that I had Paladin to level 50, I thought it was a good time to start beating Promyvions and catching up on CoP. It took about two weeks of dedication of getting a group together, but we did it. I got past the Promys, and it took another 6 months ish to get past Phomiuna Aqueducts and Riverne-Site A01. Around this time (I want to say June 2005), I met the people in my first static: Fox and Noelle. We staticed past A01 and up until Diabolos. I then beat Ouryu with a group that took about five hours to form (hardly anyone was up at CoP at this point). After that, I saw Fox/Noelle sneaking past the next mission with a new static, so I talked to the leader and got into that static. We used this static to eventually get to the end of CoP in November of 2005. By this time, because of my dedication to the static, my real life was really starting to suffer at this point. (See: Snippet at the bottom) Side note: The static was comprised of people in StealthVertigo which was the HNMLS that eventually became SapereAude, in which a lot of its members got banned for cheating about 4-5 years later.

-In November 2005, I completed CoP with the static and chose a Sattva Ring. For the longest period, people would check me and ask me where I got it. Some people who remembered me being a WAR/RDM thought I cheated/leeched to get past CoP based off my poor job choices a year before. Anyway, I think that static saved my reputation, because completing CoP so early helped me become a better player.

In any case, I started to join Limbus at the time (being one of the first, again, to do so) and I got a Gallant Body+1. (I should have chosen the feet, but I didn't know any better). The body was badass for what it was, and I wore that pretty much until the level cap increase of 2010.



-When I was on mission CoP 8-3, I was introduced to what would be my longtime adventuring partner for three years: Sorasha. We would static together for almost all of Treasures of Aht Urhgan and half of Wings of the Goddess where personal reasons caused her to switch servers. I helped her level Black Mage (and through a lot of the storyline I had gotten through) and we pretty much became a really good duo. I'd tank and do hardly any damage, and she would throw out the big nukes. Call it a FFXI iteration of a Steiner/Vivi combination if you will. It was a blast! (Pun intended). I think a combination of her leaving in February of 2009 and Chamber breaking up in August 2009 were contributing factors to me not playing as much since then.


-We also hunted down Lord of Onzozo with the linkshell around this time. We didn't get a drop though.

-In the months between beating Chains of Promathia being completed in November of 2005 and Treasures of Aht Urhgan's release in Spring of 2006, I took some time to go back and complete Rise of the Zilart with some of my LS mates (Landis, Aremuss, ... I can't remember the rest). I had my members get drunk in order to not give a damn about whether they lived or died and lost EXP. Kind of selfish, really, but it put me into the tanking mode, and I could throw them at the Ark Angels repeatedly until they died. I didn't do it the Divine Might way, we did it the 6 person vs 1 way. (It was quite a challenge for it's time. I did eventually beat Divine might, but not for years later). We then fought Ealdnarche for Zilart final, even though that took two tries.

I also helped various LS members get to Sky and to an extent a decent way through the CoP missions.









When Treasures of Aht Urhgan came out in 2006, that was the first giant change to how Final Fantasy XI worked. It was a whole new continent that opened up to the east. People in dozens flocked over by paying 500,000 gil (like I did), or waiting a day and then taking the ship over. In any case, I thought the new continent and storyline was going to be amazing! They introduced Blue Mages (from older games) and a lot of the FF summons we know and love. Odin and Alexander, both of which were heavily intertwined within the storyline. It was a fresh new perspective on the world, and I consider this to be my favorite time within XI.

I don't have any pictures of me initially going through some of the beginning missions in 2006, but I'll post the ones I redid with my LS afterward that came out at that time.



Around June of 2007, I began to really get fed up of Garuda Server. All of my linkshells were starting to fall apart, I had a distaste in my mouth with player mentality and the elitesm of its players. (Fox and Noelle stole a Valor Cape from me in our Dynamis LS and ended up stopped playing from the LS). My real life friend was on Titan server, so I convinced Sorasha to come with me to Titan as soon as server transferring became available.






It was then when we joined the Dynamis LS: TheGreatBelowII. Though they were kind of suspicious at first because we transferred servers out of nowhere, but Chster got her and I in because he's cool like that! I ended up getting a Valor Cape from the LS about a year later.




We beat Alexander and Treasures of Aht Urhgan in the second half of 2007.

Then Wings of the Goddess came out in November of 2007, I wasn't there on launch day since copies couldn't come to the Friday after Thanksgiving. Sorasha and I duoed up until Mission 15 when we had a huge argument that caused us to part ways where she went to another server.



Around this time, I also met a new friend, Laoiyah, and we teamed up to get Captain Wildcat Badge together, us two pretty much led the party and the strategies and that was one of the most fun times I've ever had in FFXI. Doing Assaults no one else cared to do. He ended up quitting sometime later, but I was very lucky to find him on Facebook and we keep in touch on there. Who knows, he may even join on Final Fantasy XIV!







I kind of just wandered here and there with missions until I formed a Wings of the Goddess static with Anza, Arngrim, and Ayrihl. The static eventually expanded to include Pfeffernuse, Lukeprime, and Darkpheonix (after the latter transferred over from Garuda!). We stuck together to beat Wings of the Goddess on December 10, 2010.

And now I have nothing else to complete. I've beaten everything to beat in FFXI. The stuff I've mentioned is only a nutshell of my accomplishments. This doesn't include the time I beat all the add-ons, my venture into Abyssea, the people I've met in every linkshell I've led and been in. VivaChocobo, WereStillWithYellow, TeamSuicide, etc... There are so many people to acknowledge.

Anza, Pfeffernuse, Ayrihl, Arngrim, Darkpheonix, Laoiyah, Takko, Sorasha, Alorra, Krys, Fayn, Aremuss, Landis, Ois, Whitesand, Stucky, Ironmonk, Renatus, Myloko, Chster, Warslaya, Armanta, Gauis, Kalipigeon, Ssjvegeta, Hazen, Zello, Lukeprime, Trega, Dayala, Rayanna, Xnera, Valdrake, ... (if I forget anyone, feel free to call me out on it)




Reflection:

Back in 2003, I was really looking forward to playing Final Fantasy XI as I've enjoyed the FF series a lot. However, like many other of my friends, they were all put off by the monthly fee and/or couldn't afford it.

At that time, online gaming wasn't very mainstream, either. By October 2003, the only online game I had played was Age of Mythology, and even that still has a very basic online functionality for a game. World of Warcraft wasn't released yet, either. (Came out in 2004.) So MMOs in general were this stereotypical nerdy cliche thing (even more so than now). The only main ones that were out at the time of Final Fantasy XI's release were Everquest (still surprisingly going strong) and Lineage, and I can't think of any others, but all of these MMOs were created with a pre-World of Warcraft construct. By this I mean, extremely large EXP to level up, hard monsters, forced grouping, lack of instancing, open world monsters, lack of raids, et cetera.

However, Final Fantasy XI has graphics that still exceed those of World of Warcraft's, and has a storyline on-par (or even exceeds?) some of the other Final Fantasy off-line titles. A clear story that can still be told for an MMORPG outside of little NPC quests was unprecedented.

Final Fantasy XI is (probably will be the only) game that emphasizes player interaction to such an extent where the people you adventure with, you see them more as just a face on the other side of a computer. You actually get to know people personally just from the adventures in the game, and develop friendships that extend from outside of the game. I know various people who have hooked up from playing XI together, I've seen people even have children and get married with/to others they've met through the game.

Unfortunately, I don't think there will ever be another game like Final Fantasy XI. No other game that heavily relies on knocking out content with a group of friends and/or party members that one gets to know so well. It really does feel like a single player RPG where you actually get to know the people you adventure with, I will probably never see that kind of cooperation between people in any future online MMO. Not in Final Fantasy XIV, not in World of Warcraft, not in any MMO. And that's what makes XI so unique and why I loved playing it for so long.


MMO Addiction Tangent:

I started playing FFXI around the same time I got bullied in school, so as I started getting more into the game, I started shutting out the crappy feelings I was having towards my real life. I was seriously happy playing the game. However, my real life had to pay for it as I began neglecting everything that I disliked in order to play the game, I eventually got distanced from a lot of my friends and became a recluse for about a five year period.

I started regularly scheduling my life around the game, and that (in turn) became very unhealthy. It's not something I'd ever do again. Obviously, I've gotten over this period, but I'd like to point out that while I used the game as my escape from what I hated about my real life at the time, never use the game as a full substitute, it becomes an unhealthy addiction.

I've learned to find a balance between my schoolwork, my personal life, and my gaming - I'm now really happy with where I am in life because I do so, but I wouldn't suggest to anyone to play games to replace bad feelings, it should be used to supplement good feelings or just cheer someone up. But all in all, the message with S-E rings true, and I guess their message applied to me. Never use the game to replace your family, friends, school, and work. I seriously laughed when I first saw it when logging on, but for five out of the seven years, I became the "person" they were talking about.


What am I doing next?:

I'm going to be focusing more on me playing Final Fantasy XIV (albeit in my spare time, this time) and leading a linkshell I formed with some friends in July of 2010 called Viva Eorzea Linkshell. I want to play through the game with a fresh perspective and I'm looking forward to what Square-Enix has in store for us players. I'm hoping to see some of my old FFXI friends to come and visit me on Figaro Server from time to time. :)

Shadow Kid Prototype Download / Indie Game Maker.

My teammate Jonathan and I demonstrated Shadow Kid today. While the prototype wasn't all that great, everyone seemed to really like the concept of me using Indie Game Maker. Both of the professors involved with game development at the school and the lead designer of Vector Force were impressed with my idea as well as the maker so I decided to post a link to that. (Above.)

Notes:

It's 60 dollars to use the license.

License enables use of all of Enterbrain's materials.

Program is fairly complicated to use, but easy enough for beginners in programming to understand if they just want to use the graphical aspects of the program to create a basic game.

The powerpoint I presented today to the class can be downloaded here.

The final (in documentation form) as well as the game prototype I used for my 440 final can all be downloaded here. (Controls: X to jump/confirm, arrow keys to move.)

It was a great quarter (in terms of this class, at least), and I'm looking forward to taking Game Programming in the Spring!

Finals

I'll keep this short, since I have a severe headache and I don't feel like typing much. Actually, I'm going on three days of 2 hours of sleep, and I don't think I'll get a good rest until Friday.

I'll start with the good and then the bad!

Good:

I got an A on the KINE205 final, good thing for open notes? The teacher was pretty interesting. Hyper, but interesting.

There is some progress on Shadow Kid. You can check out our tentative presentation for CSE440 later this morning here.

I wish I could show some prototypes of the game project, but it just doesn't look all that great. I'm going to redo the game in Unity and actually have that as a senior project. Maybe.

Bad:

I have no idea how the hell I did on my Digital Logic and Calculus finals. I'm kind of scared, really.

Gaming and Relationships.

(Inspired by this link. Note, this blog post primarily is attributed to MMORPGs (such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Age of Conan, Aion etc) but I guess it can be applied to other games as well that require a lot of player commitment.)

I was reading (lurking) through the Allakhazam forums earlier today and I came upon this thread. (See: Link above.) Olorinus talks about how her girlfriend is accepting and willing to put up with her gaming "addiction", so to say. And she was curious about how other people in the Final Fantasy XIV community are able to handle the commitment of an MMORPG as well as a real-life relationship. There was a variety of responses from ones that had girlfriends/boyfriends that found their gaming to be tolerable, to a guy whose girlfriend thinks video games make people stupid and he ends up admitting to the whole community that he only wants her for sex.

My response is: "I don't even consider having a relationship with someone who isn't a gamer. Well, personal preference anyway.". A handful of people seem to have agreed with me seeing that it got an "Excellent" rating. (Of course it's biased based on the people I was posting to. Preaching to the choir?) But my response rings true. I don't consider girls who do not play video games as dating/relationship material. Someone might come reading this and call me a shallow asshole, but I call it efficiency.

I find gaming to be fairly important in my life. Not only is it my dream career to be a video game designer, but I do gaming as my primary form of recreation. I don't spend my time going to parties, drinking, or gambling, I like experiencing a good game in my spare time, and if I am seeing someone who does not even like what is such an integral part of my life, why would I think to spend any of my personal time with them?

Now, I'm not saying this as an excuse to not do anything else with the person. But in the thread above, some relationships are seriously suffering from the fact that some of the men or women involved on the other end find games to be a nuisance or driving a large rift within the relationship. I agree with the fact that one can't ever completely ignore the other person in the relationship in the sense of just a game, but instead of games driving two people in a relationship apart, why not use games as means to bring two people in a relationship closer together? In a sense, it's a great way to spend some quality time.

There are lots of guys (as well as some girls) that would kill to have a significant other that plays the same game with them. For a while, I had a girlfriend that played the same MMO that I did and we had lots of enjoyable time as a duo, and I considered it to be one of the main aspects of bringing us closer together. I also have friends that have invited their girlfriends to their World of Warcraft game and level and do content with them (some even go the extra mile and pay for their account too). I actually find it to be quite a sweet gesture to see couples like that. They are willing to try new things and explore each others interests rather than shutting them off and "putting up with it".

Of course, this doesn't mean to cop out and be cheap and use gaming as an alternative to going out and actually doing stuff with your significant other. It's important to spend one-on-one time doing real life activities as well, I just wish games wouldn't be so streamlined and stereotyped towards just one person and driving wedges where they shouldn't be.

I also want to make it clear that I'm not being selfish and applying it to just the gamer. People in general should take time to explore what the other person in the relationship likes. Get to know their interests and try them out, don't treat it as a hassle, but rather as an opportunity to get to know the person better.


(I just realized I wrote this blog post on the release date of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Irony?)

20 Different Things I wish I could say to 20 Different People

A quite different (more serious) approach to a blog entry that I thought about posting from earlier today. I chose twenty people who are in my life right now (doesn't really matter the influence, or how long I've known them), and I've come up with twenty statements that I wish I could say to these twenty people that I have selected. Of course, their names aren't going to be listed here, but I guess (in my mind), it was supposed to be more reflective and meaningful, if anything.

I may release the name of the person that the said message is attributed to, but only if messaged in private, and it depends on who's asking me, of course.

Person #1: Thank you for being such a good friend. You're the only person who's stuck it with me since elementary school and I'm very honored (actually, "honored" doesn't do the word justice) to have you as one of my dearest friends.

Person #2: I'm not quite sure why you've been rude to me for the longest time, but in any case, losing to you consistently in various video games (heck, almost any video game) keeps me inspired to keep practicing my gaming skills. (Even though, I most likely will never beat you in anything!)

Person #3: If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be a fraction of the person I am now (or even exist?). I think my leadership role was probably inherited from you!

Person #4: Toontown!? TOONTOWN!? On a serious note, Geometry in Whitmer's class has to be the highlight of our high school time as friends. Also, I will never forget the time you danced to "Ring My Bell" in College Orientation. Actually, it's burned in my head, thank you for that disturbing visual! It was hilarious to watch though! Oh and by the way, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know not to trust the Red Cross. ...Or Pikachu for that matter.

Person #5: Thanks for being so incredibly awesome. Seriously. You come with me to game design meetings, you are a hilarious actor in our skits, and I don't think there's really anyone out there who , even remotely, hates your guts. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be half as interested in being a part of FFSEntertainment for the time I was a member, or be as motivated to write these skits for BETACinema! Thank you!

Person #6: I really miss our adventures in Vana'diel together. Ever since you left, I really haven't been motivated to play as much. I think a huge part of me not playing in Vana'diel anymore (Aside from version updates) was attributed to the lack of an adventuring buddy to explore with.

Person #7: If you were still alive, I would ask you: "What the hell were you thinking?"

Person #8: I don't really know you in person, probably never will. However, you helped me create an exceptional group for Final Fantasy XIV, and I'm largely indebted to you for your contributions and assistance to make the group a success.

Person #9: You know, if you just took a minute and stopped seeing people at random and just open your eyes and find someone who likes you for who you are rather than what you have, you would be a much happier person in the process.

Person #10: Thank you for effectively ruining my middle school experience. Thank you for framing me and getting me suspended for a fist fight. Thank you for stealing $50 from me in 7th grade. Thank you for making those years the worst three years of my life. Thank you for being the one that made me reclusive and solitary for six years.

Person #11: You sent me a message a while back telling me that any girl should be lucky to have me in the future if I ever changed my mind about marriage. Thanks for those very kind words, it was a great boost to my self-esteem!

Person #12: I'm glad you started playing the PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy X, and Kingdom Hearts. It really makes me happy that I've helped someone become a gamer. You wouldn't even know.

Person #13: Your right-wing policies and our political discussions greatly amuse me. We should play a game of Age of Empires III sometime!

Person #14: You can be egotistical at times (Always?) but it's part of your nature. Why/How the hell did we never meet in high school?

Person #15: I'm going to miss you in my classes in the future. I feel bad that you're changing majors, but you're following your new-found goals in life and I salute you for that! PS: Invite me to your class for career day in the future! Please?

Person #16: We teamed up to take over the world together! What happened? Why did you back out like that? I call it cowardice! Cowardice!

Person #17: I don't quite understand why you're such a ladies man. It would be more respectful to treat women as equal people and not call them such demeaning names. I find it to be brash and insulting, but that's my opinion.

Person #18: I'm not quite sure what your gripe is with the family, but it's a shame I never got to know you and you only call once every 25 years or so. Your loss, really.

Person #19: As a game designer that has Asperger's Syndrome, I really look up to you as one of my idols. You single-handedly created a multi-million dollar video game franchise that's known by many people worldwide and still are rarely known throughout the average gaming community. I would like to say that I highly appreciate and admire you, and what you've done. You're a very brilliant person.

Person #20: I met you not too long ago, but I think you're really cute [and beautiful. I really do not use that word often.] I would ask you out if I had more courage to do so, but I think I will play the wait-and-see approach to find out whether you like me back or not to risk any misunderstandings/awkwardness.

Viva Eorzea Linkshell

Pre-blog information/background:

Linkshell - A group of people in Final Fantasy XI and XIV that work with each other as a large group. Whether it be chatting to each other, or a group that helps one another out. I guess it would be equated to a guild in another MMORPG.

Entry:

Over the last week or so, I've been playing the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV (since it's been updated) and it's been taking up quite a bit of my free time (well, the free time that hasn't been studying for finals or doing related schoolwork, of course)

For those that know me in the game itself, in addition to working on building my character, I'm working with my friend and co-leader Ricocant Tribal to rebuild our linkshell, Viva Eorzea. The linkshell itself was built just after the launch of the official service back in September and had about 40-ish members with 10-15 on at any given time. As players started to realize more and more how sucky and crappy the launch version of the game was, people started to leave in droves (myself included, partially) and chose to wait until the game got updated or just quit then and there convinced that it would never improve. The social linkshell was reduced to 1-2 people on at a time and the linkshell itself got bare and empty.

Fast forward to the update, the UI interface got much better and I've started to play a lot more, Ricocant, Nekovivie and Bellock Uhlrahzi largely led the LS in my 3-week or so absence from the game, but the LS itself was largely empty upon mine (and many others) return to Eorzea.

However, a lot of people aren't willing to give Final Fantasy XIV a second chance after feeling burned/ripped off from the launch and put the game to rest for good, which left the LS, still, largely empty.

I'm not one to give up on the linkshell, and neither is Ricocant (we formed the LS in July, it's been about 5 months, why let it die over a month over a game with a crappy launch?) so we're currently rebuilding the linkshell back to it's former glory, even if it has to have an almost entirely fresh roster of people to replace those who have quit. Surprisingly, it's been fairly successful so far, we've recruited a lot of nice, optimistic Eorzeans that are (as well as we) hopeful that the game will improve. We're working with each other to try and beef up our ranks in order to team up and beat all of the content that's to come our way in 2011.

Of course, the older members who have left are always more than welcome to come back, I don't blame them in the slightest for giving up on a game that at launch that disappointed the vast majority of its players. Most of them probably won't come back, some of them are waiting until more patches come, some of them are waiting until PS3 release to see how that version fares.

Whatever the reason is, I'm hopeful that we will have a great linkshell on Figaro Server that people are open to join and advance their characters as well as the linkshell itself. Especially with the additions of linkshell/company owned ships, vessels, and buildings, I'm very hopeful for Viva Eorzea's future and I'm hoping we together can have some memorable in-game experiences in Eorzea that match or even surpass my eight years of adventuring in Vana'diel!

Catch our linkshell on Facebook!
Also: Check our our linkshell's website!


Grover Eyeveen
Viva Eorzea Linkshell Leader

A look back on 2010/December Goals and Updates!

A new month! The last month of 2010!

I've found this year in general to be much better than 2009. 2009 was a year filled with heartbreak, widespread political change, and a deep insightful look at what the hell was going on with my life. While I've found 2009 to be forced change upon myself (whether I wanted it or not), I've found this year to be one of personal change and a sense of advancement in my life. I've met a lot of new people and got to know some of my older friends a lot more, I experienced my first Anime Convention, I've become much more social around others (even though I'm still largely withdrawn/reclusive), I've started a new video group and met a lot of exciting and interesting people (and that video group implicitly hooked up three couples XD), I've learned how to both tweet and text people (thanks Fuego for the latter), and I've stopped using MySpace in favor of a better blog site (You're welcome, Blogspot). I've completed lots of video games that have been in completion limbo (like Final Fantasy I, and Legend of Dragoon for example).

In short (if you didn't want to read all of that mess), I've greatly enjoyed this year, I really couldn't be any happier of where I am now, and if I had a choice, I wouldn't have lived through 2010 in any other way.

Now on to December goals and updates!


Video Game Design Projects:

Shadow Kid:

My second game project, tentatively titled "Shadow Kid", is being worked on in both Unity 3D and Indie Game Maker, I'll have to present a prototype of the game sometime next week, so I'm working on it and I should be providing early screen-shots with placeholder graphics in a future blog post.

I'm looking for voice actors and level artists to help me out in the future. If you're reading this and may be interested, please message me on Facebook.

(See also: Shadow Kid Artwork/Designs)


Dojo Adventure:

I'm working on Dojo Adventure too, I've been getting messages and comments that the end of the game has a steep climb to it in terms of player vs monster level. I'm adding some areas in a couple of weeks that smooth-ens the leveling curve and makes it more enjoyable to level up between the 40's and the 60's. Expect an update to be posted around the 18th.

You can download the current version at the link below.

(See also: Dojo Adventure Download Page)

School:

Finals are coming up and I've been working my double to make sure I do well in all of my classes. I've pretty much singled out the one class that really needs work on (Digital Logic), and then I can try and hopefully pass that course and not have to worry about it.

I'm optimistic about it and hopeful that I should be in good shape. Next quarter I'm taking General Physics, Geology, Machine Organization, and Software Engineering. Fun!

(See also: Computer Science Class Flowchart)


MMOs:

Final Fantasy XIV:

I'm currently really enjoying my time in Eorzea. Since the update, I've been playing every chance I get (which, honestly, really isn't all that often due to school), but I'm aiming to play more during the Winter break. The game is at the point where I can start recommending to my friends (even though they'll most likely not listen and still not play, save for my XI friends) and I plan on having lots more adventures. I'm eagerly awaiting the December patch so Ricocant and I can continue shaping Viva Eorzea to be one of the best linkshells on the Figaro Server.

(See also: My current Final Fantasy XIV character status)

(See also: My views on Final Fantasy XIV Post-November 2010 Patch)


Final Fantasy XI:

I'm going to return to Final Fantasy XI this weekend to get level 85 Paladin and prepare for the update on December 6th that adds to the end of the Wings of the Goddess storyline. If this turns out to be the last patch they add with any sort of storyline content, I may retire from Vana'diel to continue working on FFXIV. As for the time being though, I'll be playing both FFXI and FFXIV and it makes it much easier that I get the two for $19 a month. Take that, World of Warcraft! Two addictions for $4 more than the price of one.

(See also: My current Final Fantasy XI status)


Relationship Thesis:

For people who have been keeping up with my blog posts, I've been working on a thesis of my personal view of [romantic] relationships. That can be viewed at the link below, and gets updated sparingly (as I see fit).

(See also: Relationship Thesis)


BETA Cinema:

I've outlined a detailed list for the plans for BETA Cinema this month and it is all listed in the link below.

(See also: BETA Updates)