*fanfare* Starcade has achieved level 40!

Oh... My... God...

I'm 40 today (the 22nd).

Now, the first thing a lot of you are going to say (other than maybe the occasional "Congratulations!" and "Happy Birthday!!") is how I don't act it.

You're right. There are times I feel like I'm 14, and times I literally feel like I'm 400. (This week, with a huge cold/sinus/flu/God knows what bug which has put my roommate into incommunacado status as well as what seems half this part of Riverside, CA, seems like one of the latter times.)

There are times I swear and cuss and bitch and all that kind of stuff. I'm sorry, but it's getting to the point that doing what is right is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. That is true on Final Fantasy XI and in real life as well. If the proposed spending cutbacks in California hit full force, then doing what is right will have become a thing of the past -- and most social order with it.

So I'll spend my 40th playing FFXI and having a rather normal day. My roommate got me my birthday present, and, as a result, Rockstar Games is being reported to the Better Business Bureau. But that's for a continuation of an earlier rant that I believe was removed from the Tarutaru Times Online for not having enough FFXI content. Fine, no problem there. You can find it as the "extortion" post on my blog here.

I'd be remiss, frankly, if I didn't thank some people for getting this far. I did not believe I would live to see 40. By all rights, other than the grace of God Himself, I probably should not have. But I do have some people to thank...

-- My roommate. She has put up with so much shit (see, cussing... ;) ) that it's not funny. She has lost all real hope, and I can't say I blame her. (After a lot of what I've read and seen outside of FFXI recently, I'm getting there quickly -- and maybe it's that and the bug which have me feeling my age.) I love my roommate as a friend, and, whatever is about to happen, I want her to know that I will help her to the best of my ability, even if that ability is eventually reduced in certain areas for reasons outside my control.

-- The people of FFXI. One of the things I tell my roommate is that I cannot, justly, criticize anyone for being semi-addicted to the likes of FFXI, WoW, Second Life, what have you for that addiction, because it often not only provides an escape from a reality that, frankly, probably is closing in on more than a few of us, but also a backdrop on which all of our other Internet actions take place in front of. Sometimes, I like to just solo my way through things, "grinding" out levels through Easy Prey monsters that I can sorta do in my half-sleep. This allows me to follow blogs, post to USENET, heck -- waiting for a doubleheader Besieged is what I'm doing while I'm writing this!! :)

(Whoa!! That was quick... Be right back -- the Undead are already here!!)

And the day begins with me running from the Undead as I'm healing everyone I can. As usual... :)

-- My family. I know I don't stay in contact with them, but they remain in my prayers -- and always available for a little guidance if needed.

-- The people I look up to -- the singers, voice talents, actors... I still even have some of the former ones in my mind, no matter the trouble I may have caused them. But even a few moments with the anime people today gives me at least something to smile about in a world where fewer and fewer of those things exist.

There are many other people, in great ways and small, who have helped. The list would be far too long.

Thank you. Thank you. I take a bow at my trumpet fanfare.

It's already January 17th???

Good grief, this month has gone fast.

(Well, two trips to see anime cons has helped...)

Basically, end of week update and blah blah blah... With apologies that I have not been updating the blog lately. Just kinda bleh and finally recovering from holiday burnout.

Got a new Rumblepad for my birthday that I'm using to kinda save the wear on my laptop keyboard. Works well. :)

Anyhoo, this week:

63 DNC, 63 DRG...

Wednesday Dynamis: Could not finish Bastok again -- need... more... BLM...

Dynamis-Bastok is interesting, in that the Quadav we run into actually significantly increase in defense and power as the event goes on. Real frustrating later on, especially if you're trying to accumulate TP to backup heal people as /DNC...

Now basically in Campaign to try to save my highest medal (interesting that way that eventually you have to get in Campaign every so often to do that, even at the highest medal)...

More later. :)

What is with all the extortion with respect to high-tech?

OK, an advisory first:

This isn't going to be a straight FFXI post.  I'm including it here because I do not have another blog at this time, and also because I do think there are some things which are somewhat relevant to FFXI in this, but not as bad as the experiences I will outline below.

All I will say is that my friend is not that happy to begin with (and, if she doesn't get the UPS shipment with the bulk of her computer upgrade within a few hours, she's really going to get pissed -- oh, by the way, to UPS:  She knows the package is in our hometown.  Get it to her.  NOW.  She knows some of the crap you guys pull too, and this is sensitive stuff.  Get it to her in pristine condition, or else...)

Anyway, with that computer upgrade, she decided to take me shopping (because she also wanted to get me my Christmas and birthday presents (more on that in a bit)).  She decided to take the plunge and purchase a monitor-capable HDTV (her eventual goal being to hook both her computer and her PS2 to the HDTV -- otherwise, she'd simply have gotten a monitor, but she needs something larger because of her eyesight).

So, off to Worst Buy we went.  After picking out my birthday and Christmas presents, we got to the HDTV section, and my friend was very meticulous in picking out a potential set.  She knows what she's doing (she does her own computer building, and knows far more on that end than I do), and is very picky that, especially if it's going to be that superior to a standard setup, she wants her blacks to be black, not a washed-out gray like her original choice of brand turned out to be presented as on display.

So, she picks one out, takes it home, and finds it to be an utter -- piece -- of -- crap.

No, seriously.  She tries to hook it up, and basically has conceded that her OLD monitor is so much better that she's going to get older models and have the one she has refurbished.

What I seriously think they're trying to do is extortion:  To get any kind of a quality picture, the HDTV is basically only a piece of hardware which absolutely must be professionally installed with professional wiring, cabling, etc. -- that the stuff provided with the set isn't even worth being provided, but is just false wiring between points A and B.

This is unacceptable because the store basically is known, for the price level of the HDTV's which she was looking at, to charge the entire price of the TV for professional installation.  Seriously.  I saw a $350 TV that, if you wanted the pro installation, would run you ANOTHER $350!!

Without that, it's clear that they are selling you (and knowingly so) a piece of crap that's worth, essentially, nothing.  At minimum, you'd have to fork over another $200 or so for the wiring, and that's if you didn't need the labor...

Extortion.  Freaking extortion.

I don't know precisely what the problem was (my motto when she has serious stuff to do is to get out of the way), but let's just say that is going back as soon as UPS decides to get off it's asses and get my friend's computer upgrade (or most of it) to her.  As in NOW, people...

Of course, there's one other bugaboo:  There may be a 14% restocking fee on the unit when she does.  She's about one more problem with this kind of stuff from contacting consumer groups about this crap.  It really looks as if there was material mis-representation as to the nature of how these things work (in my read, that several hundred more dollars would have to be outlaid to get anything of the quality vis-a-vis what they show in-store), and the fact that the restocking fee might not even apply to these particular things in the first place, at least according to the receipt.

So that's got my friend agitated even beyond all this UPS crap.

As if that was the only problem we ran into that night...

I had decided to get a copy of GTA IV for the PC for my Christmas present (and, after I realized that the Ouran High School Host Club DVD volume 2 would not be out until later in the week, decided to get a Rumblepad 2 for my birthday -- Ouran v. 2 will have to wait until about Feb. 1.), and found the last copy out in the Worst Buy (was on sale at $10 off).

Took it home, installed it on the computer, and got a nasty surprise:

The game will NOT run at all on anything below a video card which is recognized to run DirectX 9.

But wait:  That wasn't really the surprise.

You see, I ran the DirectX diagnostic, and found that I was running DirectX 10.  (It may even be a requirement for Vista...)

I understand that I don't have all the spec-outs which might be required to make these new-fangled games work, but it really sounds to me as if that:  If you don't have several hundred dollars every six months to upgrade your computer (or your television) to the stuff the game manufacturers demand for the titles you want, you're not good enough for them.

I mean, let's go back to the television for a second with respect to a PS3.  I can forget about ever doing Final Fantasy XIII or beyond now.  Because it's not enough to get just the PS3.  All indications are that getting the PS3 pretty much demands a new HDTV, and I already lined out what that demands.

Is it that we are all supposed to die if we can't make a freaking six-figure income for you bastards??

You're essentially making an entry-level PS3 a $1000 investment!!!

And, with this crap, it sounds like Rockstar, which has no hesitation on it's Social Club to advertise certain video card companies, is going to demand that, unless you get the video card and audio card and the like that they are all but advertising (read:  that they choose to recognize as sufficient), then you are f*cked with respect to GTA IV.

Here's a hint, Rockstar:  That's extortion.  I can handle having a little less performance (which see a Besieged on my laptop).

What I can't handle is that basically you're telling people on desktops to spend hundreds of dollars they probably never intended to spend (nor do they have) on new cards, and people like me on laptops to spend thousands on a new gaming laptop.

No.  F*cking -- no.  I'm not going to buy a Fata1ity laptop just to satisfy your sorry asses.  Patch it so that some of us who like our gear and don't have the money to upgrade at this time do so.

Otherwise, you'll be called out on the extortion the same way the HDTV bastards are.

Welcome to 2009, and some quick in-game stuff...

Sorry I haven't been around in a while.  Been helping the roommate out (and have some things to rant on (not quite FFXI related, but I'll put them here anyway because issues there might involve some FFXI stuff as well...) as a result), and things finally are calming down a bit after the holiday season is finally over.

Quick updates:

Dynamis-Jeuno partial run New Year's Eve -- that night, my friend wanted me to go with her to a party she makes tradition of -- partially to have someone to talk to, and partially to make sure she gets back in one piece.  Anyhow, before I left, bit of an adventurous run, but two pairs of the Dancer relic feet dropped.  Kiana was looking for one and got it (one of the reasons we've had so much difficulty getting into Dynamis-Jeuno since the update).  The second went free lot 65+...

Then, free lot 50+ -- Hello DNC relic feet!!

Basically been exhausting the Tactics Pearl in Fields of Valor-Xarcabard -- haven't really been on that much lately.  Trying to eventually get both DNC and Dragoon to 65 so that I can free lot 65+ on the relic stuff.

Dropped about 70K gil on lots of storage space for the Mog House.  Probably more to drop from there.  Also upgraded some EQ too.

As I said, though -- not really that much done this last 10 days or so, and I'm going out of town again this weekend, so I won't be on much from Thursday night to Monday afternoon.  Well, gonna go now...  Have some rants to write about, oh, shall we say -- extortion...

A late entry, it looks like...

And it was a real struggle too...

Not in the sense that it was necessarily hard, but our Dynamis shell was kinda struggling a bit -- and then I had to leave (scheduled -- my friend with her Internet broadcasts, and I have no problem with that)...

But there is a new entry in the top 10, sorta... (and it'll be added for the purposes of the list for those who read the list only)

10A. LATE ENTRY: First relic gear Just kinda one of those things which you just add to it, because it's another one of those things that kinda just takes you another step "up the ladder". I didn't even talk about my new Dynamis LS, Lengendary, and its tireless leader, Kiana.

So, I'm building up attendance points by attending a Dynamis-Bastok run that I know I'm not going to be able to finish because my friend and roommate is going to be broadcasting in the afternoon of the last Sunday of the year (as she has for most recent Sundays).

And, let's be frank: We're struggling a bit. Kiana is recruiting new members (and I'm not *that* far into the process myself), and I'm sucking the joint out for some odd reason. I Dynamis, for the time being, as a 75 BST/37 DNC, to secondary heal the party to allow the main healer to keep MP up.

Problem was, my pet wasn't in as much check as I should. It was basically causing trouble with the AoE effects forcing it into fights I wasn't wanting it in. So the LS was struggling. (They did eventually get the win, but I'll have to grab that some Wednesday night sometime when we do Bastok and I can finish it.)

I do get admonished about it, and I wasn't mad -- but there was a silver lining.

3 small currencies, another Infinity Core...

and a Monster Jackcoat. That BST relic gear was free lot (and the rule is that you can free lot without attendance point cost if no one else spends their attendance points to gain a preferred lot -- and you have to be 65+ in the job which the gear you're lotting for is in), and only one other player lotted (and was easily beaten, but I could've been too).

So, I have a Monster Jackcoat now to aid in Charming stuff when I solo big stuff. It's an achievement -- but I just wish I could be better than I was today.

My Top Ten for 2008

Well, I like the idea I saw on JP Button (which they've put to all the other Premiere Sites and some of us bloggers too... ;) )-- basically, having a lot of players put out their top 10 FFXI events for 2008. Kinda a "long weekend achievement thread", in a way -- as I heard one put it.

A second edit: Since I'm about to put this into the lurch for others to see it, Elmer the Pointy, the erstwhile head of JP Button, asks us all to put this explanation into what the idea actually is:

What is 「10大ニュース」？

10大ニュース (juu dai nyuusu), is literally a list of 10 big(大) bits of news(ニュース) or events that have happened to you over the past year.

In Japan, the end of the year is filled with parties and drinking, much more so than the beginning of a new one. As the next year fast approaches, people will hold a 忘年会 (bou-nen-kai) , or a gathering (会) to forget (忘) the current year (年). This is accomplished through copious amounts of alcohol, and often times, the telling of one’s 10大ニュース. It’s like a personal Top-10 list.

This list can contain any 10 events that you feel have affected you deeply, most often in a positive way. As we all close another year here on Earth, (and thus another 25 years in Vana’diel), I felt it would be fun to combine a little bit of Japanese culture with the community’s penchant for touting in-game accomplishments. Everyone likes sharing their success, so here’s a perfect chance!

Here’s an example of what a list might look like:

You can include equipment you’ve gotten:

10. Acquired Dancer AF Attire
9. Completed all Automaton attachments

You can include things that were special to you.

8. Got promoted to Sackholder in my LS
7. Convinced my friend to sign up for the game

Maybe you conquered some personal challenges, however big or small.

6. Beat all the Level-20 Avatar quests
5. Solo’d all my Scholar Artifact quests

Perhaps endgame is more your thing.

4. Completed Relic Weapon: Claustrum

Or e-peen.

3. SOLO tanked Cerb against ally of DD’s

The more creative of you out there could write from your character’s point of view.

2. Teamed up with Lilisette to catch Cait Sith

And game-related stuff is okay too

1. Opened a new website and received amazing support from the best MMO community in the world.

What’s your 10大ニュース？

End quote.

So I decided to do it. Kinda do the obvious top end first, and then head down from there:

1. My first 75. 14 months ago, I was easily getting burned out by FFXI, I changed from Monk to Beastmaster (partially because I don't trust a lot of partying, and still don't). Sometime in the summer of 2008, I finally "graduated" to 75 status. It was so thrilling to finally do it.

I remember last year's Fan Festival. And I got an idea, at least in my mind, as to how lame of a player I seemed to be because my highest level, at the time, was about 44. Now, I have 3 60+'s and a 57. Still gotta work on some of it, but, you know...

2. Defeating Maat for the first time. I love hyper-excitement in my Final Fantasy -- and that's why I really enjoy the 1-on-1 showdown with Maat for GK5. Took in my Beastmaster, and it took three attempts to best him. Got it done, though -- and very highly satisfied in so doing.

3. Gaining access to the past and Campaign. One of the real frustrations I had before doing Beastmaster to 75 was the inability to access most of the expansion content (based for higher-level players).

Once I actually was able (with my heart in my throat) to run about the first four areas to actually get to a city of past allegiance, then I could start opening maws, utilizing Fortification warps in the past, and actually gaining a nice shortcut to get from Present City A to Present City B (other than Jeuno and Aht Urhgan), a real upgrade to where I was...

Not to mention the storyline. Problem is that damn Adelheid mission.

4. My first Besieged. Kinda the same type of frustrations I had with Campaign, though I was looking forward to Besieged even more. Just a very exciting game dynamic which allows for many different players (and different types of players) to gain XP in an intense setting, which I like.

The only reason I rank gaining Campaign access higher than Besieged access is just some of the frustrations I've put in previous posts about Besieged players going into business for themselves.

5. Which leads to my move to Leviathan. Previously addressed in another blog post (Last Night Was My Last Night on Asura). There's still some chicanery (and, hence, a growing /blist) on Leviathan, but it's clear the players here give a darn about the greater good (to which the personal rewards will come). I heal and raise and enfeeble and DoT the bastards to help us win -- and, then, guess what?? I get XP, IS, and advance my Red Mage toward 60 and beyond. What a concept!!

6. Discovering the Promies as a source of fun and profit... Probably the most important one for me gear- and gil-wise... Almost found this out by accident -- was going through Promyvion-Mea once a week for my Tactics Pearl. All of a sudden, I synthesize the animas for small profit...

But the Radiant Memories at about 12-15K a stack and the Somber Memories at 60K??? WOO HOO!!! Hello to lots of new gear for my jobs. Hello to a decent bank account, finally...

7. Sharlene, my Adventuring Fellow Going through this process actually not only gives me a little boost in having something along which can bang opponents and heal me (and allow me to help where I was having a couple of ruts in my advancement (40s DNC and the like), but it also gives me a quest each week to get to the Promies, where I learned how to make lots of gil, and take my bank account from ~400K to ~1.4M.

8. Fields of Valor Only been out a couple weeks, but I like the concept, a lot!! It gives you the opportunity to take some jobs out of retirement (or augment the secondary ones you have to 61 or so before the last of them runs out), make up some of the difference for when you break out your Adventuring Fellow, or simply make tabs that will help you in various aspects of your adventuring, even when you do party.

8A/9. Treasure Caskets What do I say about these wondrous creations? Not only can they get you temporary items for in the field, but, on occasion, a nice little number mini-game to gain some actual stuff, including some decent gear. Just a nice little surprise to break up the monotony which can get into any Final Fantasy game (just go out there, kill a bunch of baddies, rinse, lather, repeat, repeat, repeat... and eventually you get to a decent level).

10. Opening up all 20 jobs and getting them to level 10. OK, maybe a small fry, but, still, they're all there to be raised up if needed. :)

10A. LATE ENTRY: First relic gear Just kinda one of those things which you just add to it, because it's another one of those things that kinda just takes you another step "up the ladder". I didn't even talk about my new Dynamis LS, Lengendary, and its tireless leader, Kiana.

So, I'm building up attendance points by attending a Dynamis-Bastok run that I know I'm not going to be able to finish because my friend and roommate is going to be broadcasting in the afternoon of the last Sunday of the year (as she has for most recent Sundays).

And, let's be frank: We're struggling a bit. Kiana is recruiting new members (and I'm not *that* far into the process myself), and I'm sucking the joint out for some odd reason. I Dynamis, for the time being, as a 75 BST/37 DNC, to secondary heal the party to allow the main healer to keep MP up.

My pet was being drawn into too many fights, and we were struggling a bit, but, when I left, this was the take:

3 small currencies, another Infinity Core...

and a Monster Jackcoat.

That BST relic gear was free lot (and the rule is that you can free lot without attendance point cost if no one else spends their attendance points to gain a preferred lot -- and you have to be 65+ in the job which the gear you're lotting for is in), and only one other player lotted (and was easily beaten, but I could've been too).

So, I have a Monster Jackcoat now to aid in Charming stuff when I solo big stuff. It's an achievement -- but I just wish I could be better than I was on that day.

So there's my Top 10 in-game. Might do another one FOR the game itself, IMODO. Let you know on that one.

Another rough week...

Started out with such promise too... And my friend got the most wonderful Christmas present I can think imagineable -- and then her glasses broke and I had to talk her off the ledge again. *dammit -- can't the world just lay the fuck off my friend for several millenia now??? PLEASE??*

Well, not much play this week:

Both Dynamis days didn't go off. They did Dynamis-Beaucedine on Sunday, and Wednesday, everyone was nestled with visions of sugarplums.

Then, I get in league with a couple of dicks in Moblin Maze Mongers, and then promptly get my Dynamis LS leader killed in another maze. *dammit again*

At that point, I took a couple days off FF11 and played some FF12.

Now, some promy runs and a double Besieged tonight, and hopefully a lot of rest for a weary friend.