Final Fantasy 14: a Realm Reborn

So the much anticipated newest title of the Final Fantasy series arrived at my house yesterday. I already had the chance to play the last beta but you weren't allowed to let information about the game slip.

I played the prior version of this game about 4 years ago but it had a lot of problems and complaints and was revised/rebooted in this new version hence the name "A Realm Reborn".

I was really excited to be finally able to play a male cat instead of the female Mithra I played for 7 years in FFXI.

So let me introduce you to Thane. He is from the Miqo'te race.

You can choose from 5 different races, either male or female. The character creation itself is beautiful already and they let you customise your character more then the prior FF title. So Square Enix follows the trend with the older MMO's like GuildWars 2.

Now it comes to leveling your character.

You can start with either the Disciples of War or Magic that give you a range of starter jobs. I started my Mithra as a monk in FFXI so I thought it would be fun for old times sake to do the same with my new char. Pugilist it is. In order to become a Monk you need Pugilist 30 and Lancer 15 to unlock the job. I did my research before I picked a job ;).

There are storylines to follow that help you understand why Eorzea is in trouble and needs your help. Each job comes with their seperate storyline, making it more easier to level and ofcourse more fun then the grinding of experience in FFXI. You can grind if that is your forte but it's faster just doing duties.

The only thing they didn't change in the series is the amount of traveling around you have to do XD, either by foot, airship or mount. Yes, we still have our trusty old chocobo.

I do not want to spoil the storyline too much so I'll just put in some Pugilist screenshots so you can see the quality of the game, which in my honest opinion improved a lot.

Big improvement for me is that you don't have to run all the way back to your moghouse to change jobs. Now they have these nifty gear lists that let's you change in the respective jobs you need anywhere you want. And you have a seperate Armory box that keeps your gear (big plus too because I always ran out of space on FFXI). If you want to be a crafter or gatherer you can also create a gear set for that.

New for FF is the Duty Finder. This little tool teams you up with other seeking players to do a dungeon raid. It beats shouting for a group and waiting for hours in one spot hoping to be picked as a damage dealer because of the few healers and tanks. It doesn't matter where you are in Eorzea, as soon as your party is ready, you will be teleported to the respective dungeon.

Last night I had a great group for the Coppermines dungeon and I died only once because I didn't realise the bomb was going to selfdestruct xD.

Mean looking Gigas Boss

For anyone who know the FF series, the wellknown tune is played here ;).

Another cute feature to the game is that you can have minions following you around like in Guild Wars 2. As a present for the Early Preorder you get this adorable Cait Sith doll. The Collectors edition gave you a Baby Behemoth (sadly I couldn't get one :/ ) and I've seen several Baby Raptors, Bats and even Automatons running around. They do absolutely nothing but follow you :P. Still it's cute to collect these.

The old linkshell is still there to chat with your friends/co-players. But they also have Free Companies. It is kind of like the Guilds on Guild Wars in which with each rank up new goodies get unlocked. Your Free Company gets rankpoints for each participants finished levequest or fates.

Fates are timed open events that usually last for 15 minutes and lets you get a fair amount of free experience if you finish it. This can be either an escort, gathering quest or boss fight. The system will inform you if you are either too low or too high to participate. When you are too high, you can levelsync to the needed level ;).

So far I love the game. It is a total change from FFXI with a lot of new fun stuff to do and discover. Square Enix didn't expect the servers to be massflooded so they put a restriction on character creation. The coming days they are putting up extra hardware to compensate for the login problems. 

It's now a month free-to-play but changes to a monthly fee like World of Warcraft and FFXI.

I'll update my blog with my adventures occasionally.

But for now ;)

See you in Eorzea!

Depression Diary part 4

It has been a while. I thought it would be best to over look a longer period for me to see some results. Also my therapist had a five week holiday.

Today was another revelation for me. Which is good :).

I used to hate that people would touch me. It's custom that when your colleague has his/her birthday you'd give them a kiss on the cheek. (It's common here in the Netherlands). It was my least favorite time of the year or when I had to work when my birthday was or even after New Years.

The reason why I was like this even with family or friends is because someone stepped over my boundaries of what was okay with personal contact in my childhood. But it happened and as much as I would love to erase it or bury it, it will always be part of me. So I accepted this. But I need to live in the here and now, and cope with my feelings.

I came to accept myself. I came to love myself again. You know how wonderful the feeling is when you wake up the next morning and you think to yourself: 'Yes, it's good to be alive'. For me that is a BIG victory in life. The headaches are less and I finally have the feeling I can breathe without much pain. Yes, depression brings a lot of strain on your body. Your muscles are under constant strain.

So in the five week absence of my therapist, my life has been going very well. She joked that she should take a longer break lol.

Part of the therapy-session was that you would pat eachother on the back with cupped hands, giving a gentle massage. Normally I would be very uncomfortable but today her touch made me feel really relaxed. I felt I could really trust her to touch me and I didn't want to flee. Because this isn't a touch of intimacy but of comfort. She is not out to hurt me.

She told me my muscles are very cold and held her hand on my back and I felt the warmth seeping in my body. The warmth stayed with me for at least 30 minutes.

All in all today was another succes at therapy. I confirmed the feelings and actions I did right the past 2 month and felt recharged with good feelings about myself again.

Like I said before it's good to be alive :).

Happy Mail Day: Licca-chan

I always order my Licca's on the Bay because they show up rarely on HobbyLink Japan. Unfortunatly for them they get decapitated and their bodies used for my Blythes :(.

No customfees on this girl ^^

Bubblewrap mummy

The seller chose to send her without her box which I don't mind at all because she gets taken apart anyway. It's always fun unwrapping mummies ;).

I chose for the Pizza LA girl because of the cute shoes you get with her but I was surprised at the cute face this Licca has. The sellers photo's didn't do her justice. When I removed the plastic protection around her arms and legs I noticed red smudges on her body :( but they wiped off pretty easily without leaving any stains. 

There was a red residue in her hair under the plastic so I think she came dirty from the factory. I managed to get the most out of her hair but I will give her a good wash later on because Licca's hair has always been greasy right out of the box for me.

She is much cuter in real life then I expected. I favor Licca's over Barbie's because of their cute bodies and faces. Barbie is just to supermodel to my taste. Pity I didn't have Licca when I was a young girl.

Close up.

I'm thinking of keeping this girl in her form which means I need another Licca body for Cookie xD. For now Cookie will borrow her body but this Licca is just to cute to be ending up just a head in a box. 

I'm afraid I will start with a new collection XD.

Review: DVD Kids on the Slope

Wow, it has been a few months since I last posted on this blog. I have been really busy with irl stuff and the weather was too hot to be sitting behind the pc.

New series from the creators of Cowboy Bebop. So I had high expectations from this studio and they didn't dissapoint me.

The story is about a boy, Kaoru, that has to move houses again because his dad is a sailor. This time he moves to a seaside town in Kyushu. The often relocation turned into a painful experience for Kaoru and he has trouble adjusting to his new environment and classmates. When he rushes to the schoolroof to escape the chaos he meet a boy who asks him if he is an angel. This is the beginning of their friendship and mutual love for jazz music.

Their friendship will be tested when it comes to the matters of love and hardships but as is said in the anime itself: "Friendship lasts a lifetime".

The songs they use in the anime might be wellknown to jazzlovers and one I even knew as a non-jazz fan. You will hear these songs when watching: "Bag's Groove" by Milt Jackson, "Lullabys of Birdland" by Chris Connor, "But not for Me" by Chet Baker and "Four" by Miles Davis. They also turn "My Favorite Things" of the musical The Sound of Music in a swinging jazznumber, I particularly liked that.

The art is true to the manga written by Yuki Kodama and follows the story pretty well as in the books.

I still giggle at the pronunciation of the Japanese when it comes to English but us Europeans make the Japanese frown too when we try to speak their language, our sounds are totally different then theirs. I still praise Junichi Suwabe for still making "But Not for Me" so awsome.

This series will leave you with a feel-good mood. Sometimes it is frustrating that the main character takes such a long time to confess his love but that is just the difference of culture. The Dutch are too much of a blabbermouth in my opinion :P.

Animation: 5/5

Music: 4/5

Story: 5/5

Overall: 4,7/5. I recommend this for non-jazz-lovers. It makes you appreciate the genre.