Scarce to be counted, filling the darkness...

gouda bye thaumaturge, for now...

Switching to Archer:

In my previous post I had mentioned that I wanted to make the switch to Archer. I have my eye on becoming a Bard for launch and part of the requirement is to level this class. So I began where I left off, just barely handing in my first class quest inside the Archer's guild. I have to admit, that the storyline for this is quite entertaining for me personally. It made me want to spite that dude (you'll know about him) and be very "Oh yeah? We'll see about that." about leveling Archery. I'm not sure if you get the same cutscene though if you roll Elezen, but this NPC would probably act the same anyway. 

Archer plays exactly like how one would think it would. It's obviously ranged, and the ideal goal is to kill it before it gets to you and kills you. Seems simple enough right? So, off I went, to go shooty shooty n' shit all over some ladybugs.

Archer's abilites are typical. I can't recall the name of the shots right now, I do know that you get a couple of initial strong shots (one instant, one cast timed), a DoT poison shot, a self accuracy buff, a binding ability, and a finishing shot that activates after a certain percentage. There's also a "Disengage" type ability (yea yea, I borrowed the name) that would propel you backwards, gaining instant distance between you and the mob. I hardly had to use that one to be honest. Things died before I took damage... mostly. Most of these abilities are fueled by TP, so I learned quickly when and how to use Sprint if I ever had to rely on it. Engaging a mob when in the middle of the TP dive valley I would learn would be a mistake, but of course I wasn't thinking that when I opened up and started wailing on a mob after reaching a new area to quest in.

totally cute bow tho, amirite?

Overall though, I do enjoy archer quite a bit. Though it doesn't really make sense right now why I need it to level Bard, but if it's a requirement, then I gots to.

Overworld Map:
Oy... the Map system in this game is... a bit getting used to. I think a lot of the initial problems could be solved on it if it centered the map from where you clicked on the next area. Looking at a map from a questing point of view is a hot mess, especially if it's a map to an area that you haven't been to yet. Trying to figure out where to go from a quest indicated on a map, to an area where you have actually been, to where you actually are takes way more effort than it should. When you click anywhere to get to a new area in the map interface, the map of the new area you clicked on automatically centers right on the new map, instead of the area where you clicked from. On the one hand it sort of forces you to memorize the layout and names of areas, but that should come from natural repeated play, not by an absolute (and somehow simultaneously confusing) display.

Otherwise though the actual look and UI of it is nice to look at.

Questing
I love questing in this game. The only foreseeable problem I can tell is leveling new classes after leveling through all three areas. I feel like grinding or through the Levequest is probably the solution, but at the time of beta phase 3 on the second weekend, there was a cap to how many could be completed. Last weekend that cap was increased and most of these quests could be repeated. Along with FATEs, I think that it would seem like enough. It just would make me miss regular questing though to be honest. Some of them were quite memorable!

story of my life tbqh

Names

I'm two ways about names. On the one hand, I can see why people would want a naming convention implemented, but seriously, that would just be ass to enforce. Besides, I have seen some names that had me giggling or laughing outright because of how RIDICULOUS some could brazenly be (Here's looking at you, Baron Vonhugendong.) . Of course though the references to other popular media got extremely tiring to see over and over again. How many Game of Thrones names did you spot last weekend? If you said zero, you've either never read/watched GoT (or have been a hermit), or you is a lyin' wanker. Same with names from animes.

That's it for now, the beta is about to go up for this weekend and I have to do some sleeping before getting down to brass tacks.... so here's some various pantyscreenshots!

graphics and textures are a topic I'll get into next post, but I wanted to point out that this game does wet and shiny a little toooooo well...

c u at the next lalafel orgy