FFXI Update: September 25, 2012 Overview

Another FFXI update is ready to be downloaded and explored. This update introduces some well needed ingame fixes, some new endgame content that hopefully wont just be rehashed endgame, and some new things that have gotten some adventurers excited.

Event-related

• Meeble Burrows—all new dungeon content—has been added to the game.

  

  Meeble Burrows seems to be more about accomplishing goals instead of kill all monsters. Is this the new NNI?

  
  

  Meeble Burrows is all-new dungeon content in which intrepid players sneak into underground caves and participate in various research expeditions, delving ever farther until they best the dreadful beasts in the far recesses of the caverns.
  
  * The Wings of the Goddess expansion is required to venture into Meeble Burrows.

  Eligibility
  • Parties must be comprised of between three and six players.
  • There is no level restriction.
  • There is a time limit of fifteen minutes.
  
  

  See more info about Meeble Burrows continent here.

  Seems like it will be something slightly different then what is currently out for endgame. Hopefully it wont be as painful as VoidWatch started to become and perhaps be a little fun in the process. What's that Kaji? You want fun in your MMO after 10 years? Yes. Yes I do.

• The following adjustment has been made to the Grounds of Valor:
  • Objectives have been adjusted for the following individual training regime:
    • Toraimorai Canal: Page 4

• [dev1136] Certain existing super kupowers will be replaced by new ones.
  
  

  Thrifty Transit	Outpost teleport sites will operate free of charge!
  Martial Master	As an added Signet effect, battle skills will increase more rapidly!
  Blood of the Vampyr	The effect of Signet will be boosted with the abilities of Regeneration and Refresh!
  Treasure Hound	Signet will grant you the Gilfinder and Treasure Hunter abilities!
  Artisan's Advantage	The chances of losing ingredients due to failed synthesis will be significantly lowered!
  Swift Shoes	Adventurers who are fully rested and healed will temporarily be able to run with great speed!
  Ease of Exploration	A teleport service connecting the towns of Mhaura and Selbina to the three nations will appear!
  Myriad Mystery Boxes	Treasure Caskets will appear more frequently around the three nations!
  Dilatory Digestion	Food effects will last twice as long! (Need this in RL)
  Boundary Buster	The amount of Conquest Points received from defeating enemies will be doubled!
  Bountiful Bazaar	All regional merchants in each of the three nations will be open for business! (Awesome for crafters who don't want to travel!)

• The following change has been made to fellow bonds.
  • Actions that strengthen the bonds between you and your fellow will now do so at an even greater rate.

Now if I would ever get to that first limit break quest for Henrietta..

Battle-related

• Recast times for summoning magic have been reduced to five seconds.
  *Odin and Alexander will be unaffected by this change. (Nice for when ADL one-shots my Ramuh)

• Blood Pact: Ward abilities will no longer be interrupted if the monster you are targetting is defeated. (Years of Carby looking like he was about to explode are finally gone!)

• Enfeebling magic resistance for the following monsters has been adjusted:

  Nergal / Bata / Aeshma / Thalesek / Pyrrha / Arch-Omega / Arch-Ultema / Odin (Odin's Chamber II)

Item-related

• New items have been introduced. (I AM THE MONKEY KING!)
  

• New synthesis recipes have been added.

• Icons for the following items have been adjusted:

  Lungo-Nango Jadeshell / Rimilala Stripeshell / Montiont Silverpiece / Ranperre Goldpiece / 100 Byne Bill / 10,000 Byne Bill

• [dev1123] The following items are now storable with the Moogle Porter service:
  • Moogle Storage Slip 11:

    Marine Gear, Woodsy Gear, Creek Gear, Riber Gear, & Fune Gear can be stored with Moogle Storage Slip 11.
    
    System-related

• [dev1127] PC Collision Adjustments
  • PCs who have not moved for thirty seconds or more are no longer subject to unit collision.
  • PCs who have been healing or sitting for thirty seconds or more are no longer subject to unit collision. (No more running out of your Jeuno Moghouse as quick as possible!)

• The Seekers of Adoulin expansion logo has been added to the start screen.
  

Resolved Issues

• The following issues have been corrected:
• An issue with Trial of the Magians wherein skillchains performed with pets did not count towards trial objectives requiring one's pet to strike the final blow.
• An issue wherein the Paladin ability Fealty and the Blood Pact Perfect Defense would not block status ailments if the player's elemental resistance value dropped below zero.
• An issue wherein the Abyssea-Uleguerand monster Isgebind was completely resistant to paralysis effects.
• An issue in Promyvion wherein the items dropped by ice and water Empty-type monsters were reversed.
• An issue wherein player shadows would display improperly when using the Ark Scythe weapon's costume feature.

Not a lot of new stuff but I'm already a pretty busy person in game leveling and gearing THF, working on Amano, helping LS, ect. So I probably won't even get to Meeble Burrows for a couple of months unless someone in the LS wants to try it out. Hoping to start using THF with Yopo's RDM for Dynamis to score some more currency. Until then I will have to rely on my SAM/DNC soloing in Qufim. See you guys ingame!

Capcom/Sega/Namco Bandai's Project X Zone Opening

Check out this opening to Project X Zone (Pronounced Project Cross Zone.) It's a collaboration of Sega, Capcom, and Namco Bandai characters working together in this JRPG like Xover. Song by Yoko Takahashi.

Game comes out in Japan on Oct. 11th, my daughter's birthday. Game director Katsuhiro Harada has promised a legalization version to be released in the future. Time will tell. ^^

Trailer Attack!! One Piece Pirate Warriors & FFXIV's new Trailer

Here is a couple of new trailers for your viewing pleasure. First up is the newest One Piece: Pirate Warriors English Trailer. Check it out!

While the trailer basically is just the game's opening cinematic, it still is looking great. Hope all my friends in America plan to pick it up on September 25th!

Next on the list is the newest trailer from TGS of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, coming soon to a PC and hopefully a PS3 real soon!

Game is looking great so far, even though much like the One Piece trailer I think this is mostly cinematic. I really have high hopes for this game as the original XIV wasn't terrible, but when a game goes from Beta to release without listening to the people testing.. well, we saw what happened there. Come on, I wasn't the only one who got turned on when the Black Mage castes Comet at the end there. ^^ Hope to be bringing more One Piece: Pirate Warriors and FFXIV news in the coming weeks!

Review: Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (3D)

The game that bridged Final Fantasy with Disney movies celebrates it's 10th anniversary with the release of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Will this be the spiritual Kingdom Hearts 3 or will it be a spin-off in the wrong direction?

Micky Photo Bomb

The Story: Set up previous by the events of Birth By Sleep & De:coded, Sora & Riku are summoned by Yen-Sid to participate in the Mark of Mastery exam. Despite Sora feeling that he should be able to skip the exam using his battles against Ansem the Seeker of Darkness and the Organization XIII leader Xemnas, the two go into the dream worlds where they are given the task to awaken the worlds that fell into the darkness and remain sleeping. The main story line keeps you very interested if you've been following the games. If you haven't been, you may be very confused as enemies you once felled seem to be returning. Even a special fan favorite returns back in his original form to surprise players at a moment notice.

Unfortunately the Disney characters are less charming then they were in previous games. Even the Tron Legacy level left a little bit to be desired. It's not the characters, it's the way Sora and Riku just don't seem to belong in these worlds like Sora did in KH2. The secret endings are, sadly, predicable. A few of the events in the actual ending were more surprising then the original.  4/5

Can't see where I am with your hair cut blinding me!

The Look: Best looking game of the series hands down. The worlds are colorful and lush and the characters are an improvement from the KH2. Everything from game-play, heroes, enemies, and cut-scenes are some of the best on the 3DS currently. This is also the first 3DS game I've enjoyed in almost full 3D sense Mario 3D Land. An absolute 5/5.

Still waiting for Tron 3..

The Sound: New and old songs sound great coming from the speakers of the 3DS. Even though most of the songs are either remixed or rehashed from older games, the charming music of Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, and Tsuyoshi Sekito carries on in your heart for most of the game. Voice acting is top-notch with returning actors for the entire main cast. Even Aqua's voice actor sounds better then she did in BBS. 5/5

Mysterious Cloaked Chatacer Number 6

 The Feel: I'm always a little concerned with Kingdom Hearts being on portables as the PS2 controller seemed to be the best way to control Sora, but Square did great at implementing every button they could. Even the circle pad pro could be used if you have one, making the camera easier to control. The new "Flow-motion" system feels like you're breaking the game's boundaries by leaping higher then normal and kicking off walls. Flow-motion isn't just a way to get around but also lets you pull off some great damage on enemies. It's a little bit like the "HIT TRIANGLE NOW!" command from KH2 but with a little more depth. You can feel the difference in a game that was made ground up exclusively for a system. The difficulty seems a little amped up from the previous games. Another new feature is the fighting and befriending of Dream Eaters. The Dream Eaters not only help you in battle, but also help you grow as a character with each one representing a different skill tree for Sora & Riku to gain new powers. 5/5

"I wonder if Sora ever had to deal with this."

The Filling: The main story can be completed in about 20 hours depending on the difficulty. I played on Proud Mode myself, so I had to take some time and grind a few levels in before moving onto the storyline. The Gotta Catch 'Em All Dream Eater system can keep you busy for some time as well as a handful of minigames featuring Sora and Riku's new companions. There is also a Trophey System that rewards players who meet a certain criteria with ingame Throphies. If this isn't enough for you, try to take on the optional boss or the Critical difficulty mode you unlock once you complete the game. The game is still short, even for a spinoff game. 4.5/5

Game should of been called "Riku's Sleepy Fun Time World"

Overview:

I dumped about 30 hours into the game before I completed everything with the exception of collecting all the treasures and Dream Eaters. This wasn't enough for me though: I still felt the game could of been a little longer.. but perhaps that is because I was expecting a full KH game, and not a game created to set up Kingdom Hearts 3. Perhaps this will be our last spin-off until we see Sora team up with his friends to battle the upcoming darkness threatening the worlds. Hopefully KH3 will come out within the next couple years, perhaps intime for it's 15th anniversary. 4.7/5.0

Top 3: Best Dragon Ball Songs That Are Not Openings or Closing Theme

Throughout the last 28ish years there has been alot of various songs and music played during, before, and after episodes and movies. Dragon Ball has had some extremely memorable openings and some exciting theme songs, but I'd like to give some props to my Top 3 Dragon Ball Songs That Are Not Openings or Endings. Originally the list was a top 5, but I didn't want to have a post spammed with a bunch of YouTube videos. Let's do a quick countdown!

3. The Son Goku Song.

Anime lovers seem to enjoy their music, and anime creators enjoying making music for the fans. As the same with alot of anime series, there are soundtracks released with "Character Songs." These songs are usually about the character or at least voiced by the character's actor/actress. The first song on the list features everyone's favorite monkey - Son Goku! The song gives you a nice feel of a happy-go-lucky Son Goku years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

2. Hikari No Will Power

Every Dragon Ball Z fan should know this song. Hikari No Will power started as an instrumental song for Future Trunks that played DBZ fighting games for the SNES to PlayStation generations. Future Trunks as a character was insanely popular when he was first introduced in Japan. Popular enough for him to not only get his own song in game, but also got it's own vocalized version of the song later. (It also got him into the 3rd SFAM/SNES fighting game that took place in the Buu Saga.) There have been many variations of the song and tons of people covering the song on YouTube. Past, present, or future: This song is rocks. 

Now for my personal favorite and number 1:

Unmei no Hi ~Tamashii VS Tamashii~ 

It was roughly the year 1996. I was into anime but my sources were very limited. We had AOL Dial-Up and one computer in the entire house. It took a lot of time and effort but after a 14 hour download, I was able to download a small video file (I think it was a .mov or real player file) of a scene labeled "Gohan Turns SSJ2." It was worth every second - this scene alone established my love for Dragon Ball. You can watch this scene in any of the English dubs, sure - but all you're going to get is random gibberish and some bad guitar riffs. Yeah, you could go do that coulden't you? You could also walk out into traffic or stab your eye out with an eraseable pen. Just trust me on this and watch the video. 

This song is nothing short of awesome.

Thanks for reading and watching the videos. Hopefully I'll have some time coming up to finish my AX'12 review and a couple of other surprises. Thanks again!

Walking Dead Season 3 Poster

Here is the official poster for The Walking Dead Season 3. Hopefully this season will have more story and action then the previous. Hopefully it'll keep me on the edge of my seat. Hopefully they aren't still looking for Sophia.. oh wait.

Mini-Batman's Adventure Time Adventures

I don't often post about something I found on Tumblr, but when I do you know it's good.

Check out the rest over at: http://miniadventuretimebatman.tumblr.com/

Final Fantasy VII The Movie: Currently Still a Fantasy

Check out this fanmade trailer from Italian film maker Gionata Medeot. They have high hopes to see this become more then a trailer, and I think I could definitely support that. Check out the trailer below.