Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

The sad thing is the quests haven't gotten better. I was just suffering through ROV and for about four missions there the quest giver was an Apkallu in Arrapogo. Like, what? Why do you have a quest giver behind a locked door you have to farm a key for each time? No people, I'm not doing it. I'm clipping through. This is why Nashmau exists if you want an exotic location.

That's ok. XIV's are broken too. Just in a different way (mostly new age madness and caustic positivity).

I agree. I think XI could use some more direction than it gives now. The quest log could be a bit more helpful as well, and it should update with new information as you make progress through the quest. "I spoke with (NPC), who told me about (blank)". Maybe add more optional dialogue that give more hints to your next task by talking to other NPCs.

That's the kind of quality-of-life that would further enhance the feeling of adventure, without automating anything. At least then you can try to get by with as few hints as you can (to save time), or figure stuff out without having to read guides. And if the quest log updated, it would mean you could take a break in the middle of a quest without being lost as to which step you're on when you return to it.

As long as it isn't adjusted to: Talk to the giant glowing exclamation point, which adds a giant glowing marker to your GPS, which you follow to giant glowing arrows over a few enemies, then you click on them once, and quest completed! Here's +2 levels, 80,000 gold pieces, and the Sword of Destiny! Now quickly, go click on the next giant glowing exclamation point for your next (airquotes) "quest".

Ground Strike, My Love. How I have missed thee.

Oof, yes, this. On a similar note, I get why they didn't want to give us overly-detailed maps with every possible geological feature or obstruction noted, but a lot of the areas have very annoying features that just seem designed to punish anyone trying to find the shortest route from Point A to Point B and many maps are either unhelpful or flat-out deceptive.

With a few exceptions (Cough Yhoator, Cough Yorcia), I like most of the maps in XI, even the ones that straight up lie to you. It gives a sense of realism in that you have to learn what the present day area is really like.

Often the obstructions are like, oh hey, a pillar fell down and blocked this staircase.

Though sometimes the obstructions are insulting like, "Oh hey there's a crack in the floor that's slightly higher than a stair step. You'll have to go around(looking at you Fei Yin)." lmao

so tired, when can i retire lol

Just lasso Spicy Chan and make him to sole bread winner. Alternatively, win the lottery and invest a portion of it in bonds after you pay the monumental taxes.

So I got tired of meriting and seeing the bots at Mamool Ja Training Grounds.

So I went to sky to Ullikummi's room, but old reflexes took over and a few hours later I had a full Shijin pop set.

Though I did have to get two Curtanas because I forgot about stealing the Bucaneer's Knife.

I used to have Bartholomew's Knife on Vyre, hehe.

That's another one of those things I've seen people get genuinely angry about. "If XI only let you jump like in XIV, you could jump over this stupid low wall"

No, no. If XI let you jump over obstacles, they'd make that obstacle slightly higher so you couldn't jump over it. The point is they want you to not go through here. You got stuck on an ankle-high ridge in La Theine? Jumping wouldn't solve that because they'd make that into a tree or a waist-high ridge instead.

The lack of jumping in XI is technically a quality-of-life decision, as it's removing an aspect of gameplay to make traveling easier. Jumping would add a whole extra layer of verticality to the game, which would likely come in the form of those awful platforming puzzles and things like fall damage. Not to mention the broken immersion of people jumping around like idiots, which always bugged me in other MMORPGs.

I must have retired 6 or 8 times before it stuck.

Practice.

I have you know my lockstyle looks amazing.

Well at least newer places like Rakaznar have straight up alien-esque door thingies that I can't open/are a solid wall.

I really don't mind obstructions if they aren't insulting lol.

They've got that emote jump now, and it looks so goofy.

Grounded games without jumping are fine with me. Once they add a jump button though, it gets a little difficult to not have it inset in my brain that I can't jump. Most recently Fromsoftware did that with Sekiro and Elden Ring. Particularly Elden Ring have the Dark Souls aesthetic but allowing jumping... it was both a joyous occasion but also a sad one. Though in classic Souls style, dodging with a Jump is actually really difficult and more likely to get you knocked out of the air and onto your back lmao

Yeah... Honestly, if I ever made my own game, I'd probably use an action prompt system (a la Ocarina of Time) rather than jumps or something. Like, if you're at a knee-high ledge and you press the "action button" your character climbs up. If you're at a platform and press it, you jump across to the next one. If you're running and you approach a low fence or something, maybe you can vault over it, etc.

That way you can't just hop up and down, you can interact more appropriately with the world, you can still be slowed down by minor obstacles and stopped by major ones, and the developers don't have to worry about people cheesing the game by finding exploits like jumping over mountains or whatever.

Visual indication is important. XI has always been fine without jumping, and I don't think it would be better with it. That being said, there are a LOT of obstacles that aren't really believable even when playing taru.

It was mentioned that the terrain would just be made more extreme in response to a jumping mechanic, I tend to think the extreme terrain should have just been the default. If it looks too high to jump over, certainly I'd believe I couldn't walk over it.

Has anyone else been having issues with Trusts just not doing anything? Unless it's an AoE like Protectra, they rarely cast any spells on me. None of the Red Mage Trusts cast Refresh or Haste on me at all, and I'm lucky to get a Cure or status-removal spell. I've even tried Valaineral, and after he opens with Uriel Blade he just kinda sits at 100% MP, never Provokes or Cures or Flashes. I've noticed it for the last couple of days and have no idea what's going on. I am getting songs from Joachim and whatnot, but that's about the extent of it.

Trust AI in terms of buffing almost always follows a script that restarts upon engaging a mob. If you're fighting trash and killing things too fast, its quite possible that some RDM trusts never get to the Haste/Refresh aspect of their buff order script.

I'm fighting that big ole hydra NM in Ambuscade.

Wow. Actual big news in the shall not be mentioned category.

It's about damn time. I feel like that's the sentiment for the entire decade.

Just. ***, FINALLY. Things that have required addressing literally for 30, 50, 70 YEARS, finally, *** finally.

Now let's get this housing crash rolling cause this is some dogshit.

It's like a vague Facebook post. I don't know what's going on and am not going to check every primary news source online to try and figure it out.

Someone is pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, and reclassifying the "drug"

I will say a quick rundown of Politico's top stories of the day is usually sufficient, but I did have to send a DM to Eiryl to confirm :)

*Checks what month it is*

If it was so easy to do before, why now? (I know the answer)

Outlaw Pumpkin Spice. I've seen enough Star Wars to know that Spice is just a code word for a drug.

The answer that must not be mentioned....

I really hate that pot smells everywhere now, no offense to those that enjoy that but walking in NYC and smelling it every block is so annoying.

I skipped the NYCC this year, only can find tickets on aftermarket because I waited too long. Last year was still "pandemic" year, so it wasn't that great but I did want to see the Manifest panel this year. Oh well, have to look at youtube. They are forcing everyone to wear masks tho, which is dumb. They will prolly just take them off once inside.

It does smell pretty gross. What I find crazy is just how many official dealers we have here since it was legalized. At least one per block. There's 10 cannabis places for every fast food restaurant, it's so goofy.