FFXI goals

Posted on by maegamisama

FFXI goals

My first level 75 job (the max in the early days of FFXI) was WHM. I leveled WHM initially as a subjob for my plans to become a BLM, but I soon ditched BLM when I saw how easily I could get invites for exp parties and story mission content (the thing I was interested in the most) Upon reaching 75, I instantly threw myself into an endgame LS hoping to eventually acquire a Noble’s tunic (The big ticket WHM item of the day)

That didn’t turn out so good, and I wound up swearing off WHM. While there’s a chance in the future I might come back to it, it’s at the lowest right now.

After WHM, I leveled RDM, DRG, and WAR to 75. RDM was to be useful to another HNMLS I wanted to join (friends were in it after I quit and came back to the game), DRG was just because a lot of others in my LS were leveling it, and WAR was nostalgia for a character I had created before on a different server.

None of those really stuck for me though. I suppose I enjoyed the melee jobs, but being RDM felt too similar to being a WHM (trading healing for enfeebling and refreshing mostly) When Abyssea came around (along with the increase in level cap), I ended up not touching these jobs Instead I started leveling evasion based jobs like THF and NIN, and even started getting serious about BLU.

I loved all those jobs. I started working on relic for NIN and even had an 85 Almace for BLU at one point. I would eventually finish the relic, but I fell off with the Almace (I actually ended up throwing it away stupidly because I felt like there was no way I’d ever finish it)

When Adoulin came out, I leveled GEO. I liked the class, but it was mainly because everyone wanted them and I needed the content. While I didn’t hate it, it did leave this taste in my mouth of “I don’t always want to have to play this in order for me to participate” I also really didn’t want to focus on the gear grind just so I could do more content with it. That only became worse when job points and master levels were released.

Anyway my times quitting the game and coming back, I eventually leveled everything. Though for a vast majority, I just did naked with a delivery box full of echad rings. I mostly did it for the memes.

With that all said, what do I actually want to play and what am I focusing on.

Jobs I probably wont play: RDM,BLM,PLD,BST,BRD,RNG,SMN,PUP,SCH,RUN

It’s probably easiest to start with the jobs I wont play first. Not interested in tanking (though RUN seems more interesting than PLD to me) Not really sure if I can manage pet jobs (even if I want their ability to solo some stuff) Not really into the mage jobs much anymore.

Jobs that I might play: DRK, WHM, GEO,WAR, COR, DRG

DRK is technically built more than the others in this section (it has mastery and an apoc) but I built this back when I intended to multibox. Many of its job points came from leeching. I don’t really know how to use it effectively, and I also don’t really like how slow it is without a lot of buffs.. It’s on the maybe shelf until further notice

WHM I’ve talked about before. It all really revolves around whether I ever feel like taking a chance on it again.

Geo I also mentioned. I feel like I also need to learn how to play it right

WAR is something I loved before, but not a high priority

COR is something I’m interested in, but I’m not sure if I’d even be any good with it. Have to learn to play it.

DRG is like.. Something I wouldn’t be opposed to playing, but also something I’m not really thinking about either

Jobs that I’m focused on: NIN,THF,DNC,SAM,MNK,BLU

NIN I built relic for and have a lot of time put into. I don’t particularly love tanking, but I do like the survivability and some of the DD capabilities of it. I think it’d be nice if I could at least get my relic augmented for it. Though apart from that, I’m not really sure what it needs as I’ve been more focused on other jobs that might be more useful.

THF is my baby. It’s the car in the garage that you always work on but never take out and drive (not that I have any experience there either) Basically, I try to get it all the nice stuff but I barely ever get to use it because THF isn’t really great for much outside of the occasional TH annoyance. Still I’d love to get it Twashtar someday (Which I have all the Heavy Metal for but barely of the boss materials or boulders for right now)

DNC kind of goes along with thief for a lot of gear. It’s also the reason I want Twashtar. Though I also need to get it some JP in the future.. Apart from that… I’m, not sure what else

SAM was always interesting to me, but it shot up in my focus when I learned how of the DDs they seemed to be sitting pretty high in the usefulness. Wanting to have a more useful DD job, I leveled it up to mastery with MNK. Currently focused on getting Masamune for it (I have everything for it except the beginning magian trial NM kills now) I’m hoping with that plus a few more pieces of actual current gear it might become desirable for something?

MNK right now is probably my strongest until SAM manages to get empy. It’s the first time in the game I’ve seen my character pull off 5 digit damage. At the moment, I’ve started the Aeonic questline for Godhands but have none of the kills for it yet. Hoping that becomes something in the future. Even if I can’t use it for much endgame stuff, I’d love it for smashing things like ambu or whatever,

BLU is the side project now. I’m somewhat casually learning the spells I need (currently at 31 missing) Would like to get it to a point where I can do some more with it. Though it’s obviously long term. Speaking of long term, BLU is also the job I envision making a mythic for. The only other contender right now being WHM (which is still in the maybe zone)

I know that all might seem rather unspecific, and I do plan on doing some research/making some more concrete goals very soon. When I do, I plan on making a separate page for that I will link up at the top of my site

My Return to Vana’diel (FFXI)

Posted on by maegamisama

My Return to Vana’diel (FFXI)

I’ve been quiet recently due to a number of different things. Mostly it’s been my seasonal depression mixed with an inability to commit to anything media-wise right now. The sole exception being Final Fantasy XI, which I returned to this past December.

I’ve been reluctant to mention it outside of some new friends I’ve made because for a while, I was not sure if this was a healthy decision or not. My history with the game being what it was (something I might talk about more later if anyone is interested) I was a little concerned it might consume me like it had in the past.

That concern still exists, to be clear, but I’ve decided to handle things in a different way than usual. Rather than keeping it a secret from people or completely swearing off the game, I’ve decided it’s better to be open and honest. I’ve decided to try to learn to manage the addiction better. Is it folly? I hope not.

I do want to try though. Having spent so much of my life dedicated to this game, there’s naturally a few things that I feel were left undone on my character. I also really miss the days when I had a group of friends I could just talk to online about various things. If I could somehow do that while managing my time better, I feel like I’d be pretty happy.

I’ve given myself a bit of a time limit. Right now I’m playing pretty heavily to play a bit of catch-up on some stuff, but I’m hoping that by March I can settle into a healthier playstyle. One where I can do other things in addition to hopping on every day (or every other) and also develop my social skills more (Rather than being the hikikomori I’ve developed into)

If I can’t then I will hard quit. I will delete my character for good this time. That’ll be the end of that. Though I hope it doesn’t come to that.

I have been enjoying my time back more than I have the past couple times I’ve tried to play again. Having an actual linkshell with people you can talk to makes a huge difference. Previous times, I had resigned myself to playing alone multi-boxing to accomplish the goals I had, but that burns you out quick (Not to mention paying 3 monthly fees is a lot)

So far I’ve managed to still make time for what’s important. I still go out to see my friends and play Fortnite with them when they ask. I think when I get a few more things I want done and can adjust to the flow more, I can make it a routine that I can control

That’s what I’m aiming for at least.

Let me start talking about some of my goals in-game next post

Cyberpunk 2077

Posted on by maegamisama

Cyberpunk 2077

I was one of the initial people who bought and played Cyberpunk 2077 at release. I didn’t get far. Surprisingly not from the numerous game-breaking bugs people were experiencing, I was somehow lucky in that regard, but from it just not drawing me in enough and having other things I wanted to play more (though I couldn’t tell you what they were now)

I tried returning to it a number of times, particularly when I started hearing people say that CDProject had turned things around. I even went as far to buy the expansion when people were excited for that and the version 2.0 changes. Yet it still didn’t stick.

One might conclude that the game just wasn’t for me, but I couldn’t accept that. I loved the Edgerunners anime, and I always had a fascination with cyberpunk works. By all accounts, the desire was there, but I couldn’t translate it into investment for some reason. I continued to sit on it until this past week or so.


Recently, I had purchased both Metaphor and the Silent Hill 2 remake from the amount of buzz surrounding both. I played through Silent Hill 2 rather quickly, but I decided I would wait on Metaphor until a friend finished it. That made me look for another game I could focus on while I waited, and while I had plenty of options, I remembered Cyberpunk sitting collecting dust. Decided I would force myself through it for better or worse just to get it off the backlog.

A lot of what I have to say after finishing it is going to sound like complaints. So I’d like to preface this by saying that I didn’t dislike the game. I don’t regret playing it, at least for some of the days I did (More on that later) It had some good aspects that I will also try to mention. If you like it, then that’s all that matters.

Also my thoughts will contain some spoilerly things. Nothing direct (ie: Darth Vader is Luke’s father) but things like “The huge tonal shift at the end of Empire Strikes Back caught me offguard” (except expressed way less elegantly)

Okay so let’s get into it.

Let me start off talking about gameplay.

The lack of a third person mode feels like a huge miss. They give you all these systems to customize your look, but you only get to see V in mirrors or on the back of motorcycles. While I could have changed this with a mod, the mod itself didn’t seem seamless enough for my tastes. It really should have been something CDProject designed around.

I did end up using mods for a custom radio station and to be able to romance Panam as a female character. Not to really talk smack about the music on the radio, but I’m the type to stick to one station and none of them had the setlist that I could really stick with (The lack of ability to make your own playlist of songs was also disappointing) The romance being locked to certain sexualities though felt a bit bunk.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like in a game where you customize your character as much as you can in Cyberpunk, that you should be able to romance any of the romantic prospects. I know it’s more realistic and representative to not have it that way, but you’re essentially playing a character that you self insert into. I feel like it’s already meant to be a game that conforms around what you want to a degree.

That’s not to say that it should be like that in all games. I think games with set characters or characters that you have minimal influence over shouldn’t be dictated by the players preference. Leave that for the fan-fiction and shipping shit

Cyberpunk’s battle system/options felt a bit limited. At first I was pretty intimidated by the skill tree, but after I decided to go for a sandevistan katana build, it was actually fairly straightforward on what I should pick. The problem with that is that at a certain point, I had nothing to really spend perks points on anymore.

It might have been different had I picked a harder difficulty or tried something that wasn’t OP like using a sandy. Though nothing really made me want to try other builds. Nothing felt as fun. Which was discouraging about 70% through when nothing was proving a challenge to me anymore.

I think I would have liked to see more perks that weren’t tied specifically to weapons and allowed for a deeper customization experience. Something that might allow for a bit more playing around. Then again, maybe not. I don’t know.

Some other complaints I have can be applied to a lot of the open world games today

First, the city is too big with not enough points of interests to do interesting things at. Being forced to wait a certain amount of time for missions doesn’t add to the immersion but instead just makes it a nuisance. The number of NCPD and side missions are too numerous with little variation or meaning. etc etc

Another huge thing that tends to irritate me is the amount of reading they make you do in these games. I support the idea of lore being stuff you find in the world, but I really hate how everything has to be text. I would love more games to embrace the Bioshock method of audio recordings. Maybe future games could even offer an AI text to speech option for the notes

Lastly in the gameplay department I was disappointed there was no flying cars.

Moving onto story and characters.

For reference, I’ve always started as a corpo. I couldn’t really tell you why specifically. I haven’t ever looked at how the others start. Actually I take that back, I might have played a nomad once, but I don’t remember it very well.

The way Corpo goes is that you’re a fairly high level employee who gets assigned this task of “taking care of” a competing faction within the corporation. You go to your friend Jackie for help, but quickly find out that your company (Arasaka) is onto what you were ordered to do. You’re then fired and a montage of scenes go by showing Jackie help get your life back together.

I would have preferred this be part of the game. Yeah, it’s easy to put together later through conversations you have with NPCs (assuming you pick the right dialogue options) but it’s hard to feel connections to the characters since you’re not an active participant in the relationships your character formed.

It’s why a death later on doesn’t really come off as a shock or very emotional to me. I just thought “Yeah that sucks” and tried to play the role of a sympathetic friend instead of actually being able to be a sympathetic friend.

Really, the game of Cyberpunk has this problem with most of its characters. You’re introduced to a ton, but none of them really shine apart from Johnny (Keanu Reeves) Mostly due to the fact that either V already knows them and they fail to flesh them out (as is the case with most of the people Jackie introduces to you)

Phantom Liberty is somewhat better in the characters department. At least there you’re introduced to people at the same time as V and time is taken to really get to know a lot of them (Primarily because it’s meant to influence decisions later on) I felt a lot more towards those characters than I did toward most of the characters in the base game.

Overall, I think the base game could have used more of the experience Phantom Liberty gives. Characters you grow to know with V and Johnny, less fluff side stuff, and more things that draw you into the world (Many things in the base game are just stuff you could play in any grand theft auto game and don’t really leverage the setting)


This has been my media impressions of Cyberpunk 2077