And so it begins...

And so it begins I guess! I have thought about writing a blog of sorts for a long time, but just pushed the idea aside. I finally decided to give in and, well, this is the result.

My blog will consist mainly of ramblings about FFXI and other games, maybe a few mentions of real life stuff here and there. I have no idea how often I'll update the blog, or whether anyone will be unfortunate enough to stumble upon this and bored enough to read it, but meh.

May as well say a few things about myself since you all don't have the misfortune of knowing me!

I play Raenryong on the Bahamut server in FFXI, and have been doing so since October 2006. I actually owned the game for a much longer time than that, but I always put it aside because monthly fees scared me. Eventually I decided to give it a go and have never since looked back.

I chose Windurst because I liked the idea of a natural utopia of sorts (the hippie in me), and... well, err, because Mithra looked appealing! I decided to play as a Hume as an online persona of myself in a way, and chose the face model I use because it resembles me in a way (long hair etc) and in the most masculine way possible, I like the idea of a sense of grace and I feel that character has it.

That and the other face models either look like convicts or pre-pubescent boys.

At this time, my sister and I were playing using the same account and as such had to share, which was incredibly bad. She came under the name Sakurarules and eventually bought another account and now goes under the name Sakurawr, formerly Sakuraryong. Sakurarules is a mule of mine now!


I first began the game as a WAR and, like all noobs, had absolutely no idea what I was doing and probably died about 10-20 times on the way to level 7, which I was really excited about getting! A friend of mine, Masaeus, whom I met at Sarutabaruta's outpost sold me his leather equipment for cheap and I thought it looked so awesome and showed that I had come so far when I first wore it. Sadly, I am having trouble with finding pics like that so you'll have to look at me in subligar;

Hot I know. That picture there was from my very first proper Valkurm Dunes party for the record; not sure if the people above still play. I know I befriended Nyss after a very long party but she disappeared after that day and never reappeared...

Losia also there became a friend and disappeared for about a year and then reappeared!... then disappeared again. It's a shame really, when I think of how many people I have known and whom have disappeared. Such is life, I suppose. Carrying on this theme...

This is a screenshot showing another of my early friends, Koreana, who also disappeared not long after we met... we grouped up to hunt Spiny Spipi since we heard that it dropped this awesome 120k cape (we never found the worm).

One thing I really loved, and still continue to love about the game is the way it goes through different periods of days and night and just looks so visually good. I really loved the Sarutabaruta area and hoped it was much larger than it was; it was a whole world to me when I started playing and the gentle yet adventurous music I still adore today. It was just the embodiment of adventure: open plains, filled with both danger and enterprise and under a sky with different weathers and times of day and all of that. I'm a sucker for day/night systems in games, but I especially loved how it would seem more stormy on some days than others... the subtle effects really enthralled me.

Tell me this isn't awesome. A shame it doesn't actually rain and that... it would be even more amazing. Oh, and also...

... for the record, I did eventually find Spiny Spipi much later on and killed it -- very gratifying given how long I camped the damn thing. Never seen it drop to this day though...

My very first LS was DiveatFive which I got at level 26 (a stranger's generosity granted me my Magicked Skull for my subjob), and it was in this LS that I met a lot of people whom I would spend a lot of time with in future times, notably Seylie and Castille, who became long-term friends (though me and Seylie have since very regrettably fallen out, the friendship between me and Castille remains). A CoP static would eventually be formed from this linkshell; one which would endure up until the very end, when Neficus, one of the members, suddenly had to quit.

Had to finish CoP without Neficus sadly and he has not reappeared to this day. It was sort of because of this static that I got to know Miah so well, and would go on to form a long-term relationship with her that has endured to this day and hopefully will for a very long time still. She is really a wonderful person.

Another old screenshot...

We were trying to get Imani a Minstrel's Coat for his Bard but we ended up going 0/3 in the end... Imani still plays but takes month breaks at a time, really a shame. As you may have deduced from the above screenshots, my first job was Dark Knight due to a love for dealing damage, liking the utility of both magic and melee, and just because I thought it was cool. It was going to be between Paladin and Dark Knight, since I liked tanking and doing damage as my WAR (both roles were used in my first levelling experience). I did however come back for Paladin!

I really do and did love the look of Paladin! Thief was my third job and newest love and I have no idea what should be my fourth.

Well, hopefully this hasn't been too boring! It hasn't even touched on many aspects on my ingame life but it's not too bad of an introduction I hope. My Dark Knight guide is on ffxiclopedia so avoid at all costs! Feel free to critique it or anything. Also, my current jobs and their progress are listed alongside this blog so you can check at any time. Constructive criticism welcomed, though note that not all possible sets are shown.

The Dark Knight one will work as soon as Blogger realises it's not a spam blog, having to put it up for review now because it got locked...

But yeah. I will hopefully write more, look forward to it!

~Raen Ryong