Completion Part 3 (OOC)

So a friend reads my Part 2 post and says "We all need to find a new game to play, hopefully one that doesnt suck the life outta you." I know he meant well, but he's also one of the players who left FFXI to play PSU. Of course, he also comes back to FFXI a lot too (11 days straight so far), but won't admit that "he's back." :P

So yeah, about that... That's an interesting topic. Eponine and I have sworn off other MMOs. We love playing FFXI and I have no doubt that her and I would enjoy PSU or maybe even WoW (the game to which half of Bob's LS [our co workers] moved) or whatever... However, once we're done with FF11, we're done with MMOs--permanently. I don't want to join another MMO only to see all the friends I make eventually leave that one too. I could then go join that new MMO and probably end up leaving the previous one behind (again) without feeling like I finished it (again). Then I'd have to learn yet another game (again), only to leave that game in a few years too (again), etc... It's an ugly cycle in which we don't wish to participate. MMOs have such a vast amount of content, that I could probably never feel like I have "completed" them. That's important to me. I like getting to the end of an RPG and watching it say "The End." I feel like I've completed something. I might not ever see that with FFXI--especially if we were to quit now after all our hard work. It's funny, I didn't want to play FF11 when I first heard about it and learned it had a monthly fee. Believe it or not, I was also (originally) turned off by the fact that EXP Parties seemed to be a large majority of the game. I actually rated leveling much lower than everything else in previous RPGs. I liked fighting the bosses and fighting each of the normal mobs two or three times each, but I hated the random battles. I liked the mini games and the storyline and the music much more. I might (big maybe) have still bought most of the games if they were just long 40-60 hour movies with boss fights and mini games strewn in between and what not... (That's probably pushing it a bit far, but you get the idea). Nowadays I love joining the set party every week (or so) to level up my PLD with them. It's great fun. I don't think I enjoy the "pickup parties" in my other jobs quite as much, but I do enjoy them. Maybe when I get them closer to 60 I will enjoy them more, but probably not. I think it's just the social aspect of getting to party with my friends (all of which in that set party I know from real life) that I enjoy :)

So, yeah. This MMO (like others, in general) is sucking the life out of us. It's not that I neccessarily mind this problem, and it's not happening so fast that we can't recover or that our real life is ruined somehow. In fact, I've voluntarily played FF for something crazy like 152 Earth days so far (since March 2005), and I still want to play more. But there are simply so many other things that we used to do BEFORE we played FF11, that we don't want to be involved in another MMO after this. Sure, we'll probably just fill our time with other video games, movies, tv, board games, or whatever, but we won't feel rushed like we sort of do with FFXI. And I'll probably enjoy talking to my coworkers about the events in the MMOs they play, and watching videos on YouTube about it (i.e. living vicariously through them, haha).

There's soo much to do in this game that I wonder if I'll even be able to finish the main storylines (missions) before the player base fades. I hate to admit it, but I can see the effects of this too. Apukohai mentioned to me that a few nights ago during a peak play time, there was only 100 people seeking to level up a job.

I wouldn't say FFXI has become a grind for us or anything. I still tend to play during a large majority of my free time, but I enjoy it and I do it of my free will. I don't do it because I feel I need to do it. Eponine generally only plays when I play, but that's normal for her. I enjoy it a bit more and she needs a bit of a break from it when I'm at work (i.e., she's not an addict like I am :P). (Oh and FYI--we're not total geeks. (lol) We still have a wonderful social life! We go out on a date (outside!) every two weeks, goto church every Sunday, and do other various things that aren't related to the game.)

Also, because there is just SOO much to do, I haven't taken the time to enjoy many of the other offline games I've bought. I have the following sitting on my shelves (in Chronological purchase order, to the best my memory serves me): LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete (PSX Version), LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue Complete (Also for PSX), FF1 - FF6 (Spanning several re-release CDs for PSX), Enter The Matrix (PS2 Version), Wild Arms 3, Star Ocean 3: TtEoT, FF7:DoC, FF12, XenoSaga 3, Matrix: Path of Neo. Yes, that's 15 games. I probably am missing some, but that list will prove my point well enough. Most of those games listed have been played for 5 hours or less. FF12 (40+ hrs so, purchased on release date 3 months ago) and FF7:DoC (only 10 hours or so, purchased even longer ago) are the only exceptions. Several of those titles have not even been opened yet!! It's not that I can't stop playing FF11 to play those games, it's that I simply don't. I played most of them when I first bought them, and others were purchased as much as a year prior to when I started playing FF11. (Those games I just hadn't had a chance to get to, as I was enjoying other games that I had purchased... And because I started FF11, I haven't yet taken the time to play them.) I could easily put down FF11 and play the other games at anytime. During exteneded maintenance or when I am geared up and waiting to do some event (and don't feel like doing anything else while I wait to exp with someone or do a mission, or whatever), I do play them--but those times are rare. There is simply SOO much to do in FF11, that I have allowed it to consume a large majority of my time. It is like crack, I will readily admit my addiction, and I like it. If I join another MMO, I have no doubt that I'll do the same thing again. Everyone who has left tells me that their new MMO can put "picked up and put down in an hour" or what not. They say that WoW or PSU (or whatever) doesn't take as much time as FF11 does. Maybe that's true, but it wouldn't be for me. I'm sure I'd voluntarily let it suck me in and I'd enjoy it like the drug that is FF11.

So... in reply, I must say {No thanks.} You guys will always be a close group of friends with a special place in my heart, even if you all leave Vana'diel one day. I will never forget all the great adventures we have had and the many more we will hopefully continue to have in the future. But here in Vana'diel is where I must finish my days. When the last of us has left, I will cherish the memories we all had together, but where you go I simply cannot follow.

Completion Part 2 (OOC)

{Please forgive me.}, {friend}. It has been almost a month since I last wrote to you, my precious reader. I tried to write this one in character, but I didn't think I could convey my thoughts as well from Boswen's perspective. Too many referances to things that just aren't in FFXI.

So, I come to you again with a bit of a heavy heart. I promise I will have more good news and happy reading (as in the last five posts before this) very soon. But for now, this is what I needed to write. Forgive me if I have become too emotional in this letter. That is how it originally flowed out of my fingers. It is my {True Strike} from the heart, dear reader. I cannot attempt to change my words to be acceptable by a larger audience, and I believe you will appreciate it this way.

Let's start with some background. I am in a set party with Malkier, Apukohai, Diablobob, Kamiru, and Eponine. We're all around level 61, so based on the data from this site, we have about 451,000 exp left until we all hit 75 (+ a 1 death buffer). At approximately 20k per set party, that equals 23 set parties. If we can mangage two per week, that equals 12 weeks. At one per week (we're lucky if we can get that sometimes -.-), that equals 23 weeks...

12 weeks (2 per week) = ~3 months = end of April
23 weeks (1 per week) = ~6 months = middle of July

{/sigh}... I guess I can settle for that, but my Ninja will probably get upto 75 well before that as it has zero scheduling conflicts to consider. Oh well, we'll see what happens...

A dear friend of mine named Apukohai has made comments that he doesn't forsee himself playing FFXI much after the set party hits 75. I believe his words (he discussed this with me and Mal at work tonight) were something to the extent that "It would be a transition point for me." I asked him if he meant transitioning to another MMO, and he said no. He just doesn't see much for him in the game after we hit 75. Some of the old guys from Bob's LS (Knights of Omega Plan) and the old set party (before Eponine and I joined it) have left FF for WoW, but Apu said he dreads the thought of WoW's grind.... So he probably won't be leaving FF for WoW (and probably not PSU for that matter). Whether or not we can (or even if we should) convince him to stay past April or July will be another question entirely.

Anyways, we'll see what happens, but don't worry--I'm not leaving anytime soon. It's Apu that I wonder about. Malkier wasn't sure how long he'd stay either, but it didn't sound like he wanted to leave so soon after we all hit 75. He openly admitted that he doesn't play much more except for the set party. That's fine, that's his perrogative too. But he also said he didn't even think our set would LAST to 75, actually -.- {/sigh}. That was the reason I figured out those calculations actually. I needed to reassure myself that everything would be ok, similar to how a cat will purr when it is distressed (or something).

Bob on the other hand seems to be set on staying well past 75. He loves telling us about the gear he plans to get for his end game SAM. One piece of which, btw, is Enkelado's Bracelets (drops from the highest NM in Delkfutt's Tower), a pair of level 70 STR+11 bracelets. Hopefully we can all help him get those once he reaches 69/70ish.

And so, I am torn. PLD is my "first love," if you will, and I really want to see it get to 75. I love being the tank. I'm disappointed that we've been partying since September 2005 and we've only gained 21 levels. That's pathetic, honestly. I had fun and enjoyed their company each and every time we were together, but I also wish that we had partied more faithfully and had attained level 75 by now. But now the closer I get my PLD to 75, the more I'll be reminded that some of my friends may be leaving shortly thereafter. It's like a really good movie or most any RPG I've ever played. At the end of the game I'm torn for a few hours. On the one had I'm glad to have finally completed it. But on the other, I'm sad that my adventures in that land are over. Sometimes I'll go to the trouble of reloading my saved game just before the final boss and exploring stuff once more to see if there was anything else I could do in the game. I played through FFX-2 twice just so I could get that 100% completion and see both sides of the story + the little extra cutscene at the very end (the one in Zanarkand that was disappointingly not CGd, but just real time quality instead).

I am now on ZM14 (AA or DM fight) and I, for one, plan to finish ZM (once I reach a 75 Job) before finally qutting. I also wanna finish CoP and ToAU... Maybe complete my Goldsmithing to 100. I wrote a whole post about it at the begining of this blog, so I won't repeat myself.

Well, that's all for now. I think I've talked your ears off (wrote your eyes out?) enough for one night. I'll have more for you later.