Final Fantasy XI (again)
Posted by FatherJack at October 11th, 2004
Writing about web page http://ga.gloriousff.com/forums/
Got it at last, but it took 5 hours to install on Friday night.
7.5GB space needed to be freed on disk, 7 CDs to put in, 5 CD-keys to enter in the correct places, credit card details to be entered, handles, passwords, email addresses and secret codes. Then the updates – 2.5 hours of them!
Finally get to ‘Create Character’ – I spend about an hour in there, too – but that’s my own fault, then into the game and….the control method completely sucks. Using the keyboard my hand starts to ache after about 10 minutes and using the mouse is probably the worse control method I have experienced since that idiot Twinsen in LBA.
So, bought a new gamepad on Saturday – a PS2-a-like one with two analogue sticks and rumblyness and it’s now perfectly controllable – although it feels rather odd sitting at the desk, and I’ve yet to find the most comfortable position.
I don’t know if I can just install it on another machine (without all the credit card/codes nonsense again) but it could go on the laptop which connects to the TV, and be almost like the PS2 version I wanted in the first place.
Anyway the actual game I’ve only played a ‘mere’ 10 hours, and have just got rid of my newbie ‘?’ sign and haven’t really done much yet. Can’t go too far without the monsters getting too hard, and noone around seems to be looking to team up with a little Taru RDM. Plenty to do in the village though with quests that even puny level characters can do.
The link is from a group who gave me a linkshell, which means I can hear them whereever in the world they are – usually it seems to be just chat, but I anticipate it will be useful as I get into the game more and can call for backup.
People in the start town don’t seem to be that talkative, just running to the auctions or (boringly) fishing, and the ones that do talk seem to be trying to chat each other up – I don’t know about anyone else, but that just seems so wrong to me. I haven’t yet found the /emote command to ‘barf all over the fawners’.
I’m still learing stuff and am just trying to discover things for myself, rather than reading guides, hassling the mentors or running around shouting ‘any1 no were 2 get teh hero sheild???’ – fortunately, there’s not too much of that, which did surprise me – but then these are people who have managed that 5-hour install…
My heroic quest.
At the weekend I was mostly killin’ bees and baby cactuses, last night I killed some bunny rabbits and a bird.
Yay me. Those rabbits won’t be terrorising the countryside any more. Tonight I might kill a caterpillar.
Phil Brown
Why is Windows XP so crap? It breaks, and the only way to fix it is to blow it away and re-install. That is just crap. I bet you don’t have to do that with NetWare or Unix boxes.
Hugh Jarce
I didn’t write it, Hugh.
Phil Brown
I don’t understand what you mean Hugh, I think Windows XP is the ‘Bee’s Knees’ The programmer who designed ‘Clip-it’ should be knighted.
Ben Derr
Clippy ruled.
Linux sux!
Netwho?
Michael Hunt
Ttell me Ben, which one of you monkeys in a jumpsuite from IT wrote that Dr Watson utility. Every time I go to click on SEND from that most excellent email package, that utility is launched and I am unable to send any mail. It also seems to lauch every time I try to save or print something. This is really annoying.
Hugh Jarce
Frankly I feel its most unprofressional to abuse ones husband in such a manner. Whilst i do use him as a utility this is verging on offensive!.
Mrs Watson
Thanks, Michael it’s always nice to meet a fellow ‘Clippy’ Fan. I’m not sure what you mean Hugh ‘Monkeys in Jump Suits’ I don’t work in IT, I’ve met some of them, they didn’t show any Primate traits, as for the Jump suits you may have a point. What’s wrong with Dr Watson he always has a friendly face and looks ready to tackle anything, what with his Stethoscope. I think he gets a bum deal!
Ben Derr
I too am offended by the reference to persons and their relationship to me and my kind (other monkeynauts). This sort of malarky should really not be tolerated!
Gordo (monkeynaut)
I wrote the Mr Paperclip utiltity, and it rocks. Oh and I made a lot of money from it too. Don’t know who wrote that Watson util though, but I hear that there will soon be a port for Linux.
Gill Bates
I think you should stop it with the fake silly names now – I have a very silly name and am very offended. I shall be taking disciplinary action.
Bat Fastard
Sorry Gill, but Mr Paperclip is about as useful as Ask Jeeves.
Hugh Jarce
I’m not really sure what a blog is or why, but I’m damm sure the space cadets in IT could be doing a ruck of stuff other than wasing my time and money on this stubid blogbuilding stuff! Like putting in a premier email system such as Micro$oft Long Horn running on Exchange Server 2004 which has a proven track record for scalability reliability and security, not like this Groupie thing we have here. Some printing would be nice, as would some roaming profiles like what we had last year before IT “upgraded” us to these spanking XP boxes that are always broken so perhaps roaming profiles are academic. And perhaps a burger bar in the Learning Grid?
Mal (disgruntled from Liverpool)
Malcolm Archie
Well if I could just play devils advocate, the relevance or pedagogic usefulness of Blogging is not really the issue here, it’s the fact that with an unlimited resource and marketing budget, you can sell anything even if it’s crap and useless, so the fact that Warwick has the largest Blogging community in the world when many think students should be studying etc instead of wasting time telling of a drunken knight out should come as no surprise – the success is that Warwick is NUMBER ONE. This is essentially the Microsoft philosophy and Warwick should be praised for following that ideal.
As for Mal Archies comment that Microsoft Exchange is a superior email system, this again is emminently debatable as most of the world knows that Exchange is an unrelieable, insecure pile of dingos kidneys. The point is that when the rest of the world is using it, it’s not easy when you go down to the pub and you can’t talk about how the email systems been down for a week with the latest hack or virus because your institutions email system is much more secure and reliable, but if you are one of the crowd then everyone understands and you can drown your sorrows together. Bit like talking about Blogging really when you don’t have a blog…..
S
S Hedman
LINUX IS GOOD BECAUSE OF TUX THE PENGUIN AND MICROSOFT IS EVIL. the end
alex (CS MASTER)
Nice sentiments Alex, that’s the way I see things – the difference between a short-legged flightless bird and the corrupting $.
Still, as Emanuel Kant said, once might be a mistake, twice is careless and the third time is deliberate, but can we excuse the American population for voting in Bush again? Yes of course we can, because it’s the country of Microsoft. Anything goes, and it’s mostly bad.
Still, to coin a phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche, people get what they deserve! At most University’s students get an education, at Warwick they get a BLOG :-!
Trevor
T Hicks
UTS!
Phil Nieves
I unsubscribed from Final Fantasy XI Online this month. I never played it and it was costing me a tenner a month. Trouble is, if I ever want to play it again, I’ll have to actually buy a whole NEW COPY!
Well, I won’t be doing that. Square-Enix should be slapping their foreheads for such gross stupidity/greed. The game isn’t that good, particularly now there are muxh better examples of the genre around.
It was really the combat that let it down, that and the fact it wasn’t released here until 1 year after the US release – so it was 50–50 between elistist characters and people informing the game universe that their sister had purchased a new IROC.
Phil Brown
Finally got around to uninstalling it. Even that took 2 hours!
Phil Brown