A reminder of how fun things used to be.....Follow

man, I just watched that, and I damn near /cry'd

here's hoping that we all find our way to adventure... not just "kill kill kill" but the adventure of finding new friends, finding new places, and finding new accomplishments

I hope everyone that has ever "flamed" about this game, or someone in it watches this and was moved the same way I was when I did.

if more people had this spirit within them(I typed it and knew that it was a corny use of a FF title) then FFXI would be a much better place

***edit***
btw, nam... you get a rate up for this one

Edited, Sun Oct 10 01:37:16 2004 by taliph

I remember reading the original story thread. It's just as touching now, as it was back then, and still as inspirational to me. That White Mage was the perfect example, of everything I love about this game.

Even though it's long gone now, I still have my PerfectEssence pearlsacks, both of the ones I was given.
And, long after they are passed, I can still sit around with my friends, IRL, and talk about (mis)adventures that we've had along the way. Some will argue that it's just a game, but it's a game with so much depth and emotion, and I've made a lot of REAL friends within it, all around this country. My linkshell's like a family to me. All the trials, and toils, and travels (to an old familiar city, or even a new unexplored zone), and mishaps, all the things we experience along the way (IRL or digital) are an adventure in themselves.

That is the spirit of the thing, or why would S/E have put so much time into such minute details of Vana'diel? I've still never seen the rainbow, or the tornado in the desert, and I'm not able to find my way to Tavnazia, a place I've tried to find since I started playing FFXI, for months, before I realized, at the time, it didn't exist in the game. I could die happy, if I lived in a place like Zi'Tah. I still quest and quest, trying to figure out just what happened in Gusgen, so long ago. What can you see from the Stellar Fulcrum? Just what is it like in Dynamis? Or how will it feel to finally put on my Warlock's Chapeau for the first time, when I finally get it?

Did you ever notice the oddities, here and there, like how the fish in the tank of the Fishing Guild in Port Windurst is swimming upside down. And it still amuses me everytime I get kicked off the drawbrige in Bastok Port.

I often wonder, when I go some places, just what would have lay in store for Michiro and I. We had a knack for getting into trouble, no matter where we went. He's gone from Bismarck now, but I will never forget the "first friend I ever made in this game". The Giddeus stories were hilarious.

Nam, gotta love that flash.

My first ever pt, and the first ever friend I really had there was Jachyra. Recently, since we both got CoP, we've found ourselves exploring the places together (getting mugged by Moblins, beating up Peelfins, etc...).

What's interesting is he's never really seen the beauty that already existed before the CoP areas, like the rainbow in La Theine, or the waterfalls of Jugner. So every so often, we'd go sightseeing on our way to finish a quest.

Me and Jachy met a long time ago. We lost track of each other over time, and over the course of a couple months, we had no contact with each other at all. Even though we were in a party, and I befriended him, we never really talked or spent time together. I remember him helping me with Subjob quest, but afterwards, it was a *Hugglez* here and there, and not much else. It's only been a month or so ago since we've started sending each other /tells again, and it's refreshing to explore together like good friends should.

Every new area and old is a great adventure waiting to be discovered, be it in the rise of the sun over the horizon, or the falling of water over a cliff.

(Which reminds me, I have a couple new pictures of new areas and old I'll be posting up soon. Screentography was the excuse I needed to slow down for once and stop to take screenies of sites I love ^.^)

I think it's great that CoP is bringing this sort of spirit of fun and true adventuring back into people's lives. We live by completing a checklist in this game: get to Rank 10, get to level 75, get AF, get max fame, do Gobbiebag, etc etc. And for what? So we can sit around in fancy gear all day in Jeuno telling people that their job combo is useless for HNMs and therefore they're unworthy of talking to as an equal? It's a game, about exploration, about making friends and comrades, about looking for new things to do together. The end game is a worthy goal, but not if we lose sight of exactly what made this game worthy of playing the first place.

Now I'll be the first to admit that my head was kind of hazy as to what was the point of this game, lately it's been "must complete this task, must complete that" and I haven't taken the time out to explore and appreciate the people I've met, or the environments I've seen. But that flash, and CoP, have inspired a lot of people to remember exactly why they started playing, and that makes me /very/ happy. Vana'diel as it turns out, has a lot of history and story, you just have to look for it. Greatest thing I found out today? The bones strewn across the land belong to Drogaroga, the Heavenly Dragon. Now maybe I'm slow for not knowing this after 6 months of play, but I think it's great that after all this time I can still go, "oh!".

I still hang out with the first friend I've ever made in Vana'diel, she's my set PT Ninja and also the person who gave me a Bismarck WP just so I could come here to what has to be, one of the best servers in FFXI (sod the gilfarmers). And she introduced me to a great group of people who are smart, fun, and into playing the game because they want to see what's next.

Thanks for reminding me Nam, rate up for you~

Since I have had CoP installed I haven't really gone into the new areas or done any of the new activities that there are to do. I'm waiting for the linkshell I started to have enough members so that I can go into these areas to explore....
Unless any of you who haven't been into the new areas wanna
make a date and go exploring =)

Time for some adventuring.....
/em runs into a glass wall and looks dazed..

No offence, guys.

It was touching the first 3 times I saw it.
There have been more than 90 posts all over killingifrit and here.


I just find it annoying.



sorry to say so,
-raz

The Picklebarrel still lives on through the mule accounts of the original members. I for one still have my Pearlsack neatly tucked away in my mog safe for the day the Original Creator comes back to the game. If and when he does...
As far as the original members of the Picklebarrel we split apart and went our seperate ways. However a new linkshell "Reivax" has come together bringing back the old and mixing with the new.... Daemos, Thanase, Jowie, Elypso, Zander, Bloodykisses, Spliffsix, Damiilla, Ciran, Arcticlynx (OM's). I am still trying to track down the remaining people still in game but thats taking some time....

Edited, Sun Oct 10 12:31:25 2004 by zandertheredmage

Holy hell, you were in Picklebarrel? :O I used to be there, too! Bloodykisses always used to pimp me on the corners of South San!

Ah, good times, good times. ^^

Awww. That makes me feel crappy. All i do is LvL, craft and farm. Maybe i need a adventure. I really dont have alot of friends in the game im usually alone. If anyone wants to have an adventure plz /tell me

Having fun in the game is subjective. I personally know that my friend like to exp more than questing. Its the same way most sucessful business people call laid back people lazy and the latter called them uptight who never stopped to smell the roses. If people aren't having fun in the game I doubt they would be playing.

So if people exp all the time they might get bored, or they might not. If people spend all their time looking at rainbows and fishes they might be happy with just that or they might feel like they're missing out on a huge chunk the game have to offer later on. Happiness is subjective. Everyone tell stories about their frustrations with hunting for papyrus yet none remembered to note the jubilation when one finally dropped.

This game is like drugs, hard or expensive to get to the high that is quite short. Some people choose to go work on other highs, like leveling high enough to complete the Zilart Missions, some go look at waterfalls. IN the end both will be happy and sad, its a journey and stopping to admired the scenery isn't for everyone, they're having fun their own ways.

This flash came out a few months back and yes it produced sentimental feelings amongst players, but sometime people came away assuming that high levels players doesn't have fun in this game because all they do is level. Since then almost every board have had a thread about it, sometime several. I have no problem with it, thinking about the past is fun. Sometime people turn it into a tirade against people prefer leveling over questing, and high levels. My point is, people do what they do to have fun, even if its leveling endlessly, or sitting around in Jeuno in uber gears looking at passerbys.

Edited, Sun Oct 10 15:33:19 2004 by Bowser

OKay, that struck a nerve, a chord... made me cry... I have my own story.

There are two people in FFXI that I feel like i have "always" known and will always know.. Namfoodle and Dchere. Dchere was in my first successful Dunes party, and still keeps in touch to this very day. He even helped me get NIN! Nam.... Nam was a part of that party.. the party with the three taru mages-BLM, BLM, WHM-and me, the RDM.... Before I had my subjob. Something about that party changed the way I look at other players... Everyone was helpful, supportive, and most of all, FUN! Namfoodle has kept in touch, we /tell each other whenever we hit another milestone! Of course.. he has his AF now and I'm just barely nearing the start of mine... But he will always be one of the BEST people in this game. Nam-Nick-YOU are one-of-a-kind. Thanks for reminding me what it's all about: FUN.

I don't know how everyone else is about their LS, but lately mine has been doing all the crazy stuff... ZM, AF, everything I can't do... and I've felt so much pressure to level that it's started becoming a chore to log on... I almost logged out when I found out that my boyfriend was helping several of my RDM buddies with their hats... It's just job class jealousy I suppose... But they had so much fun doing it. Getting my papyrus today was FUN. Organizing an AF battle that I couldn't even help with was FUN... Leveling is just another vehicle to more fun ^^ Yes, I DID spend an entire month questing.... for the stories. Why do you ask?

Love to all Vana'diel!

Sounds like our Kpp, we try to kill him regularly. That new shiny armor of his is making it harder though^^

I'll get to see him Tank that dude too, my AF3 will be coming up soon as well, I can't wait for it ^^

I didn't even know about the rainbow, but I got to see it with Decious, coming around an arm of the mountains near Lake Eph, on my way to Davoi to finish the Paladin Flag quest. It was an enrapturing moment, and I took it as a good omen for my pending run through Davoi.

- [THJ] Nata