A full day of healing, so to speak

I spend almost all of today playing Final Fantasy XI. I went from level 12 to level 16 (and most of the way to 17) in nine hours. That’s amazing speed. I was in a party that just worked. Unfortunately, as party members left and were replaced, the “magic” or something was lost and we started dying. Yes, for four or five hours, no one died. Eventually, I was pulled away by Hank and Albert to go to dinner.

Now, I’m high enough in level that I can wander between the three major cities, but now I need to work my way to Jeuno to get my Chocobo license… but before that, I’m hanging out at Bastok trying to get the grass I need for that quest, although I might just break down and buy it…

9 Replies to “A full day of healing, so to speak”

  1. Let me guess, did you partake in some of the “Pernicious Presents” madness as well? (I’m calling it a night, maintenance on that event should be over as of this post, and I need sleep.)

    I could believe that you played 9 straight hours in FFXI.. I don’t know if I could, but it sucks when I get into party questing an hour or so before I want to sleep, but yes, it does take work to get everyone working as a team. I still have a way to go in getting my routines down in keeping the casters safe, and still trying to inflict damage on an enemy, while keeping myself alive long enough to Skillchain. I think it’s indicative of how I work with others in real life (cons and otherwise.) I guess I really need to work on the team aspect of things.

    Anyway, I’m raising a Hume Warrior to Level 18, I have another one that’s Level 14 and probably will be boosted high enough to travel across cities. I even made it back from Windurst to San d’Oria by sheer luck, but it sucks when you’re in a group on Valkurm Dunes, and you can only manage inflicting 0-5 HP damage on a Very Tough Snipper on the beach outside Mhaura. Brass Xiphos swords suck for Level 17 warriors. I can’t wait till I get to 18 and get a longsword. ^_^;

    And yes, FFXI is a timesuck. I fear I may not get any other projects done unless I resolve NOT to play for at least a couple nights out of the week, and I do have other things I’d like to do. Good luck, and fight the good flight, and if you see a Twinkling Treant between now and Tuesday morning, join in on the grand multiplayer ass-kicking frenzy. I’ll be the one shooting arrows at it from a distance and getting knocked back for 70 HP damage every once in a while.^_^;

  2. I just got FFXI for a xmas present.

    After registering (which I’m still not sure I did correctly….a content ID?), it made me update my comp with 7000+ files, WTF?

    Am I doing the right thing?

    1. Yes, you have to get the most recent updates that have been published since the cds were printed. It does that for everyone and it always takes forever.

      Don’t forget to register both the game and the expansion.

    2. Yes, FFXI is a monthly subscription-based game. You should have a one month free trial in effect upon your registration, then the membership fees for PlayOnline and your first FFXI Content ID (Plus any additional FFXI Content IDs or Tetra Master Content IDs if choses) will kick in at an amount pro-rated for however many days remain in the month after the end of the 30-day trial.

      $12.95 per month covers the initial PlayOnline and first FFXI Content ID. Additional Content IDs for FFXI or Tetra Master are about $1.00 per month, I believe. Only one Content ID is required to play FFXI and use PlayOnline services, any additional Content IDs are option, such as if you want to use more than one character on FFXI.

      Check the instruction manual, and the in-game documentation on the PlayOnline Viewer for the most recent info. Billing to the credit card you have on file with PlayOnline takes place around the first of the month, I believe. As long as your card is valid and the information is accurate, your gameplay should go without interruptions.

      And, yes, unfortunately, the installation is a rather large undertaking, consisting of thousands of files, resulting in a total size of around 6 gigabytes. There were at least two major updates since October 28th, so the initial update patch download takes a considerable amount of time, even with a high speed connection, but after that, you should be good to go.

      FFXI is a total 3-D graphical experience, requiring a fairly recent PC, so if your machine was built within the last year or two, and is at least a Pentium-3 or comparable CPU, running at least 800mhz (The faster, the better!), you should be alright. The two major 3D graphics cards supported are Nvidia’s GeForce series (32MB video memory minimum) and ATI’s Radeon 9000 series video cards.

      Buried somewhere within Square Enix USA’s PlayOnline FFXI site is a benchmark program called Vana’Diel Bench 2, which tests out your system (as well as provide an interesting game demo), providing results that should be a pretty good guideline as to whether your PC is up to spec to handle FFXI. If you had the opportunity to run it before installing FFXI and it gave you acceptable results, they should be helpful in configuring FFXI accordingly to run on your machine without any problems.

      Finally, once you create a character, the “World”, or server you are assigned to is chosen at random upon character creation, unless you are provided a “Worldpass” code from another player. A Worldpass allows you to create a character on the world from which the Worldpass was obtained. If you don’t have a Worldpass, and you want to be on the same world as some of your friends who play, the only alternative I know of is to delete your current character and recreate it until it’s on the appropriate world. I don’t know how exactly it works, as I have two characters, one was randomly assigned to Valefor, and my second one was created on Phoenix with a Worldpass I was given from a friend.

      It may be a bit complicated and confusing at first, once you get online, but there are people out there who should be willing to help out newcomers. I know I’ll always assist any lower-level players who are being chased by monsters. (Part of my job, since I have Hume Warriors as my main characters. ^_^;)

      I’m online on Valefor as “Ragnel”, currently a Level 14 Hume Warrior based in Bastok, and also on Phoenix as “Sorek”, currently a Level 17 Hume Warrior based in San d’Oria.

      Good luck, and welcome to the world of Final Fantasy XI!

        1. Well, like I said, unfortunately, FFXI requires a fairly recent computer to run properly. If you get a lower score rating from the benchmark or the game itself, you may have to configure FFXI to run in lower graphic detail or a lower screen/3D resolution in order to get it going.

          From the bottom of the box…
          Minimum System Requirements:
          OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R)98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
          CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) III/800 Mhz or faster processor
          System Memory: 128MB RAM
          Graphics Card: Nvidia(R) GeForce(TM) series graphics processing unit with 32 MB or ATI(R) RADEON(TM) 9000 series graphics card (AGP)
          Sound Card: DirectX(R) 8.1 compatible sound card
          Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
          CD-ROM Speed: 4x CD-ROM drive (Required only at installation)
          Internet Connection: 56kbps modem or better (yeah, right…)
          Other: Keyboard, Mouse

          Recommended System (As of 9-03)
          OS: Microsoft Windows XP
          CPU: Intel Pentium 4 processor
          System Memory: 256 MB RAM
          Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce FX Series graphics processing unit (AGP) with 64 MB of VRAM
          Sound Card: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
          Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
          CD-ROM Speed: 32x CD-ROM drive or faster (Required only at installation)
          Internet Connection: Always-on internet connection
          Other: Keyboard with numeric pad, mouse with scroll wheel

          And, my current system – A Dell Dimension 4500
          OS: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1, Dell OEM version
          CPU: Intel Pentium 4 processor, 2.4 Ghz
          System Memory: 256 MB RAM (DDR SDRAM @ 333 Mhz)
          Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 64 MB Video RAM, drivers updated to 4.0.7.2
          Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 (OEM version) (DirectX 8.1 installed)
          Hard Drive Space: 11 GB free after FFXI installation
          CD-ROM Speed: 40x (Negligible after installation)
          Internet Connection: ADSL 1.5 mbps coming in, 384 kbps going out, always on.
          Other: Keyboard, 3-button scroll wheel trackball mouse, Radio Shack PSX to USB adapter, Sony PlayStation 2 Dual Shock 2 analog controller.

          It runs very well in 1024 x 768 video resolution, 512 x 512 3D resolution for me.

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