So anyway I've done the FFXI event a while back. So this character Iroha somehow crosses from Vana'diel to Eorzea and loses their memory or something.
Of course never having played XI I have no idea who the heck that Iroha character is but here we are looking all cool after beating up a few helpless crabs
I like how the "Quest Complete" thing changes for this event to something FFXI-styled. The shitty jingle that plays I assume is mostly likely straight from XI as well.
Most of these quests are FATEs (aka Full Active Time Events) which basically means I still occasionally run into them when I pass by those areas even though I cannot accept the actual quest anymore.
There were usually a bunch of randos present during those FATEs. That one time fighting this huge ass monster in the desert, one of them randomly invited me to a party (which was just the two of us). Not sure what the point was but they were a healer class and I assume this'll make things easier for them because they can see other peoples' health in the party list?
Of course, they didn't
need to heal anyone else for this in the first place since this is technically a solo quest but maybe they just wanted to, being a healer and all
The final quest in the XI crossover was a bit weird then because it was also technically a FATE but at the same time, I also needed to trigger it for myself?
Basically I got to the spot and people were already engaged in battle with this huge enemy. There was a glowy spot saying "destination" which was different from the other quests as they didn't have that, you just went to the spot and either the FATE was already underway or you needed to wait a while for it to trigger again.
Even though I tried to activate it, it just said "the battle has already begun" so I was like "cool, I just jump right into it then?" and so I did.
So the randos and I beat the boss and the FATE was over, Iroha monologued a bit and left again but...the quest info didn't update for me. The glowy "destination" was still there too. It seemed like it didn't count?
So I went to the spot and triggered it and yep, the boss battle event started all over again except now I was all alone since all the randos already left!
This was pretty awkward as I basically needed to interrupt the battle several times and walk away to recover whenever I drew too much heat from the boss as otherwise it would've killed me. =I
Then at some point some random healer came by and saw me struggle. They didn't join the battle but just threw a bunch of healing spells and buffs on me and rode off into the sunset again.
Me:
Didn't even get a chance to thank them, bless their kind soul.
So I finish the XI quest, Iroha remembers stuff, it shows a bunch of images from throughout the game and plays an instrumental of Distant Worlds. If I had played XI, this is where I would probably get emotional.
For some reason she stays stuck in Eorzea though. It's okay honey, your face has more polygons here, it's not all that bad.
The rewards are Iroha's outfit which doesn't really have great stats but I used bits of it for glamouring some of my equipment with better stats but shittier looks.
So I continue the main story and as you could tell from my post above I'm getting real tired of everyone's shit at this point as the story is like "yeah we
really gotta do something about Titan!" so we search for this guy who was part of the company of heroes that defeated him some time ago and of course he's like "well but you gotta buy groceries for me first or something"
Y'shtola's there and she just goes off on him
I'm thinking the game shows some self-awareness and acknowledges the errands have been getting a tad ridiculous and surely Y'shtola is gonna tell him to fuck off and get to the point but somehow she caves in and I'm stuck running errands for the dude anyway and those errands lead to running more errands for the other former company members and uggggghhhh
Me giving Y'shtola the side eye for giving in so easily:
So all this is about getting ingredients for some kind of stupid banquet or whatever?
After all this tedium I go back and he's like "yeah it's for some important Miqo'te and an adventurer..." and I'm just sitting there like
bitch did you just make me set up
my own fucking banquet?
yes, yes he did
well at least it was good I guess
So he finally tells me how to get to Titan. We use an Aetheryte to teleport straight into his living room
I say "we" but it was really just me canonically but for some reason it's still a 4-people party trial.
So I see Titan and it's basically this guy:
He gets his teeth kicked in and plot happens. The Ascians are working with the Empire it seems because of course they do.
I get a call to return to the Waking Sands and I am seething.
The amount of times you have to get back there is stupid.
At this point I wish somebody would just burn it to the ground. Just tear it all apart, kick the doors in and just smash the shit out of everyo-
....oh
Uh. I....uh.
I am ashamed of my words and deeds.
Even the little vegetable fairy is dead noooo
=(
But shit still needs to be done and the Ixals have summoned their primal, Garuda. So now I'm looking for Cid's airship. I have yet to find it.
Random other things:
I've been experimenting with the UI a bit. Since it allows you to have different presets I basically now have a UI for general questing and story stuff where most things are kind of out of the way and unobstructive/transparent and one for party stuff/dungeons with on-screen info and gauges being closer to the center of the screen and the hotbar being visible at all times and stuff.
Also been doing some of those optional dungeons that I had unlocked but didn't bother doing before.
No trouble in either of them although I find it funny how sometimes the game basically throws shit at you during a boss that is clearly meant for the DPS to take care of but on two or three occasions so far it seemed like it was better to just ignore it anyway? Like I had moments where I was like "oh shit, I better take these guys out" but then someone would just be like "just focus on the boss" so like, I'm trying to do it right but then doing it "right" turns out to be slower/less efficient
That's also another thing where as a newcomer, the dungeons just...don't seem interesting. There is no way to take anything in, no way to figure anything out. There is no true "first time" experience because people have done stuff a million times before so you just end up tagging along with more experienced people that know exactly where to go and what to do. It's a weird experience.
In my imagination I can see running a dungeon for the first time with a bunch of friends, figuring out where to go and how to beat the boss being kind of fun. But alas, I am several years to late for that, so basically everyone running dungeons is like this:
