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.