Mog vs FFXI's UI Part 1

It's one of those boring nights where you can't really sleep so you decide to do something silly just for shits and giggles... And I decided to mock up a redesigned UI for FFXI. :3

First off, some rules:

1. The UI must still reflect the game's theme somehow. (Assuming no actual 3D area graphics on screen, you can still recognize it's FFXI).
2. This is ignoring PS2 limitations (lol)
3. This will assume that the "worst" system is the Xbox 360
4. The UI must still reflect the fact that it is meant to be played with controller, keyboard, and mouse.
5. The UI can display more data but cannot go beyond a certain reasonable limit
6. The UI is meant to be displayed on TVs and Monitors.

With all that in mind, lets look at the game itself with nothing on it.

So, we see a Taru (me :3) in Tahrongi Canyon and there's absolutely no overlay or anything. This is 800x600, which is bigger than your standard TV resolution (I think it's like 720x480?). Not counting the fact that it's all interlaced and whatnot, lets work with 800x600.

First thing's first, lets look at the current UI (note that this has FFXI Style's dat mods so text and stuff that you see right now may not reflect your current screen!)

This is the bare screen that you see without having any menus on.

Here it is without the overlay.

Lets analyze the overlay a bit (btw my mouse sucks right now)

Again, this is just the area that you can visually see without menu obstructions but I tossed in the things that are going to be on constantly. As more and more menu items appear though, your vision becomes more obstructed. Thankfully this isn't the resolution I normally play at so I can view more things even with all the menus open.

This original image was 1280x800 (downsized due to Photobucket). As you can see, the higher your resolution, the more open space you have. However, while this can be possible on the 360 version (it can go up to 740p for games, not sure about 1080i or p), this would still put a handicap for those playing on a standard TV or a underpowered machine. Our job is to remove this to the best of our ability~!

First, lets determine what we need that is currently being displayed:

1. Chatlog
2. Character/Party/Alliance HP/MP Status
3. Connection Status
4. Compass
5. Clock
6. Target Info
7. Menus

Next, lets see what we can add to the UI

1. Distance to current target
2. TP information
3. Timestamp for chatlog
4. Moonphase information
5. Various random stuff that we can add

Now, the most important thing we should add first are the menus.

1. Main Menu
2. Action Menu
3. Macros
4. Inventory Menu
5. Status Menu
6. Item List
7. Ability/Spell List

So, we got the main menu... which is split into two menus. In my opinion, that's too damn much. Here is what we have:

Status
Equipment
Magic
>White Magic
>Black Magic
>Songs
>Ninjutsu
>Summoning
>Blue Magic
Items
Abilities
>Job Traits
>Job Abilities
>Weapon Skills
>Ranged Attack
>Pet Command
Party
>Seek Party
>Find Member
>Autogroup
>Languages
Trade
Search (Not even gonna bother listing everything)
Linkshell
Friend List
>To List
>Messages
>Online Status
Region Info
>Conquest
>Besieged
>Campaign
Map

Missions
Quests
Key Items
View House
Bazaar
Macros
Config
Help Desk
Play Time
Current Time
Shut Down
Log Out

Okay... lets try to condense this a bit. There are 24 menu items, 12 each side.

First off, the status menu is used to see you main things: Your XP TNL and your skills, along with your title. Yes, it has your attributes there... but you're not gonna look at it there, it's already in the equipment menu! So, instead of just making a bunch of buttons to display stuff like like that, lets just have your Status Menu display everything. So, no more having to click through crap.

With this in mind, lets put in some other things along with it like the playtime option (which btw 908:22:21:12 as of this writing).

One button gone!

Next, equipment is just fine on its own, so we'll leave that be.

Magic... personally, I don't think magic or abilities should be cast from the main menu. Now, I know that there is the whole Ctrl+M thing to call up the magic menu. This is how I think it should work.

Ctrl+M: Opens the magic list with the magic that you are allowed to cast with your current job.
Action Menu: It functions as the same as Ctrl+M
Main Menu: Magic Sort usage only.

With the magic sorting, it would go straight to manual sort with the option of auto sort. If you auto sort, you can put some nice things like putting certain type of spells up first (Enhancing, Enfeebling, Elemental). But anyways, auto sort should prompt you if you want to auto sort everything. If you select this menu as a BLU, it should be like selecting equipment as a PUP where it'll ask if you want to Sort or Set Spells as a BLU. So, cleaned up the Magic Menu a bit!

Items/Key Items/View House should be combined.

Now, Ctrl+I and the Main Menu Item Function are the same, should be kept that way. The action menu brings up items that you can use at the moment, so that's fine. View House and View Key Items should be in the + Menu to the side. You're really not going to be accessing your Mog Safe or Key Items all that much so lets reduce it down to the Item Menu but not prioritize it so that you have to click extra buttons just to hit your normal item menu. So, that's 2 buttons merged.

Abilities... I want to go with the same mentality that is the magic menu... except what is there really to sort? Maybe give me a second to think about this.

Now, the party command is fine... Auto Group will probably be changed to Level Sync.

Trade is kinda like putting Check in the main menu.... it kinda doesn't belong there, so lets put that in the action menu only. Plus you usually see games like that anyways where trade only appears if you target someone.

Search is fine~ Linkshell is fine~ Friend's List is fine~ Map is fine, Conquest is fine~

So first menu we got...

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Linkshell
Friend List
Region Info
Map

I would move Friend List over to the next menu and Abilities I'm still thinking...

Next side!

Missions and Quests... just combine them, done!

Key Items and View House are gone.

Bazaar should be moved to the + Menu on Items, which makes much better sense.

Macros and Config are fine but lets fix up the Config Menu a bit (btw, PC and console are different, this is for PC)

Gameplay has

Auto Target
Volume
Gamma
Inventory Sort

Chat Filters are chat filters
Font colors are font colors

Windows are basically chatlog stuff. By the end of the UI mock up, we won't need this menu.

Misc. has

Damage Display
Character info
Shadows
weather effects
Character models displayed

Misc 2 has

Clipping Plane
Foot Steps
Animation Frame Rate
Keyboard Type
Aspect for Widescreen
Key assignments

Effects for effects

Mouse/Camera control

Global shit.

Okay...

We have a mess...

First off, lets sum it up more like this:

Gameplay
Audio/Video
Chatlog Options
Control Config

Gameplay will have

Auto Lock On (because that's what it really does)
Auto Target (which makes better sense, new but whatever)
Inventory Sort
Damage

Audio/Video will have

Sound Volumes
Gamma Control
Shadows
Weather
Models
Plane
Foot Steps
Frame Rate (this should be removed)
Aspect Ratio
Effects Sub Menu

Chatlog Options will combine everything in Filters and Font Colors along with Curse Language filter

Control Config will allow you to set keyboard stuff and combines the Mouse/Camera menu

No auto disconnect menu option either... seriously, who has that on and uses it?

Help Desk needs to stay there because yeah... gotta call a GM somehow.

Playtime would be merged into status
Current Time will be better implemented into the UI that this option will be useless

Shut Down and Log Off will be combined.

Lets see what's the final set of stuff we will have.

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Linkshell
Friend List
Region Info
Map
Missions/Quests
Macros
Config
Help Desk
Log Off

16 items... 8 per side... not bad I would say :3

Lets re-sort this!

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Map

Missions/Quests
Region Info
Linkshell
Macros
Config
Friend List
Help Desk
Log Off

Hmm... an unbalance there.. but I'll figure it out somehow!

So that's the main menu, condensed down and pretty much, all set to figure out what to do with this new mock UI. I typed in quite a bit of things so I'll be showing more graphical work and actually show something once I get to work on it. Until then: Photoshop is an awesome tool~ Toodles!

Oh, so that level sync thing

Actually, there's a crapton of topics of events that have occurred throughout the recent weeks. I might as well get down and dirty with them.

Absolute Bullshit and Pandemonium Whatthefuck

As we know by now, SE is planning on changing these monsters (and JoL, which many might scoff at but it is probably related to AV) to make them to be easier/shorter fights. Of course, until the update comes out and we see what is changed to make it an easier battle, kinda no point in talking about what they could do to make it so, especially since I, myself, have not fought any of the two.

On a side note: I've done JoL 5 times total in my entire FFXI career (believe it or not) and I haven't seen AV at all during those 5 times (believe that or not).

So, what we know about the AV we have now in the game, SE claims that it would take 16 some hours to beat it, 10 at the mnimum. Now, a lot of people have gone crazy about this and rightfully so. Me, on the other hand, didn't think too much about it. To me, AV was designed to be something that wasn't meant to be killed easily at all. Like, lets look at the items it can drop:

First, you have Ninurta's Sash, which aside from MNK's Black Belt, would be the best belt in the game. Imagine if AV was to be placed at a difficulty level that is significantly easier. No one is going to want to camp KA, no one would want to do Wyrm KS99, and pretty much, there goes two things that went obsolete there. Granted those options are still there for those that are not in any End Game LSes. Ninurta's Sash would become the benchmark item and dare I say it, it might be easier to obtain than a Swift Belt if AV was made too easy.

And then you have the Mar's Ring, which is the best melee ring in the game for the most part. Compare these two items to some of the stuff that is in the other ZNMs and HNMs and so on and you'd pretty much be saying that AV just has some really overpowered items.

Then you got Futsuno Mitama which, if I knew what activated the latent, could be better than Hagun.

And then there's that +8 Magic Accuracy ranged weapon.

For the most part, this NM has some nice things and to let these items loose would be pretty bad I would say. Like, what if some of the things in Salvage and some of the things in Dynamis Northlands just dropped to you just like that and everyone ended up getting those things? It would make quite a bit of items before it useless, you wouldn't even want to consider trying to get any older equipment. Now granted, yes, there are items out there right now that are pretty useless due to us knowing better or just signficantly better equipment out there.

Personally, if they make AV an easier fight, I would hope that it either has a horrible drop rate or something that makes the fight really difficult but wouldn't force the players to spend all day and night to kill. I want some of those items, that's a definite. I just don't want those items just handed to me on a silver platter because the fight was made easier.

And now we have PW. I totally respect everyone in BtL who gave it a shot and pretty much with their own drive and ambition, took the fight for as long as they could. Without their patience, we might just end up still with no changes on AV or PW. The press just jumped on this thing pretty bad. While I don't think the press forced any sort of pressure on SE, I'm sure SE was more concerned of the fact that the players themselves have made a strong reasoning as to why these two NMs needed to be changed.

It was kinda funny because even among my RL friends, we were joking about this whole PW business because heck, it's all over the news. It's also like a game of telephone where some information just doesn't get through. Personally, I welcome the changes that are going to happen, though I doubt that a finalized plan on how to kill these two things won't come about for awhile.

I will say this though: Vrtra has been ninja'd and I think most consider it as unkillable now. Granted he doesn't drop anything awesome but still...

So, how about that Talisman?

I like collecting stuff. I have all of the FF releases starting from PSone up to now (including GBA and DS), I still have that pendant from Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, and I have an 8-bit figurine of Simon Belmont, colored to his Simon's Quest colors (red/black/white).

Now SE has started a new thing where they sell in-game merchandise. The first item they have for sale is a Tidal Talisman. If one purchases one, one can pick up an in-game item which is kinda nifty. This wouldn't be the first time they've done it since they did release an harpsicord with the Piano Collections.

While I welcome this idea, I do have some problems with it.

1. wtf is a Tidal Talisman? It isn't in the game at all (yet). You couldn't even say it's an FFXI item or an item that represents FFXI. Like, if I bought one and wore it, people who lets say... never heard of this item before but plays FFXI... and they look at me, they're not gonna go "Oh, you play FFXI?! :D :D :D" Like, if you're going to make a collectable item, at least the first one, make it some sort of FFXI trademark item, not something you made up on the spot.

2. The in-game item is very nice... but it's on a 40 hour recast timer.

40 hours? ;_;

Sure, it's a bonus item that comes with the necklace and not the other way around but for what it does, why do we have to wait almost 2 days to reuse it? 24 hours would be nice and considering how long it takes to reach these areas (20 minutes at the very most), maybe even less than 24 hours.

3. I don't live in Europe and I don't live in Alaska or Hawaii but from what I understand:

- Europe doesn't get this deal.
- Alaska/Hawaii have to pay 20 dollars for S&H, the other 48 states + Canada pay around 8.

I mean, that's like half of what you're paying already.

But on another note: Full Resin Shadowlord for 230 USD. I doubt I'll get it but it does look very nice.

Oh and apparently, if you have this on, you teleport people and thus making their lives easier... you'll be "the best from now."

Campaign still not gonna be fixed

Yes, the whole /BRD singing stuff will be fixed... but that just means some of the jobs that actually DO have a hard time getting XP by themselves in Campaign will just simply not have Campaign as an option, thus eliminating whatever interest is left for the person that wants to get some of the things in Campaign but are unable to because they have to spend so much more effort to even equal up to what a melee or any other job that has an easy time in campaign.

Though I could have sworn they said something about fixing that aspect but I didn't see it in the notes. This doesn't really affect me all that much because I have SAM/WAR/PLD to do my campaigning work. However, those that are low level or those that just have a hard time getting those points in for campaign... basically screwed until they get to a higher level or level another job. Yeah, you can potentially build around campaign and I'll be looking for information about that for those jobs that have a hard time doing campaign... but I kinda hope for something that can benefit magic users and make their lives easier.

Oh, so that level sync thing

So yeah, I had a dream once. After doing a bunch of Salvage, I was thinking "Hey, if they ever make another expansion with missions like CoP that are level capped, what they should do is enforce a stat cap but let us keep our equipment and stuff on so it's not a pain in the ass."

Lo' and behold, that dream came true for the most part. Yeah, there's some bad things I can see from it (skill levels being hurt a bit, relentless invites for CoP missions) but there's a bunch of good things from it as well so... Hurrah for SE for making this decision.

And no, no Aegis/Excal PLD is going to party with you.

So how about that Mogknight?

Well, I came back after Vegas and started up fishing again. I'm currently fishing up Shall Shells, both for profit and to skill up on. Oddly enough, there are some good things you can fish up and simply NPC... which I'm sure all the RMT are on that. Unfortunately, they're still all over the place so what can one really do about it? I did have this funny idea where your HP decrease as you keep fishing and you would have to stop and heal yourself. This would also make fishing a bad idea at low levels because your HP would drain pretty fast. Like, this wouldn't kill you but if you were reduced down to 1 HP, you would automatically give up your line.

But, silly idea aside, fishing is probably all I'm gonna be doing for awhile before/after events. I do have a lot of merits and even items to get for BLM but I want a flow of gil going so this is gonna be devoted to that time.

Nothing really changed for my SAM or BLM. SAM is something I don't expect to get anything for the job any time soon. With the exception of Ace's Helm, Hachiryu Haidate, and maybe Askar Body, nothing else I want NM or event wise. BLM, on the other hand, I still have quite a bit of things I want but it will take time and really, I have all the time the world.

To be honest, I want a change of pace and fishing is doing that for me. I love my linkshell and all and as an officer, I make sure things are running smoothly. However, there are just times where I kinda want to just spend time with Lissy or whoever else and just kill random stuff, be it some pop NM or small man sea farming or whatever it may be. I still need those Mufflers or even A Hands so... lets not even start with the fact that I'm lacking stuff like RR Pumps, Uggy Pendant and a multitude of AF1+1s. Like, we have Limbus every Tuesday and optionally every Friday (though Tuesdays are optional, we tend to fill up and usually it ends up being a required limbus due to it being Proto or something). I kinda want to take a Limbus day off and solo an area as best as I can, even though I don't have Gaiters.

I wouldn't want to do it all the time... just once in every great while. I'm happy with the way things are so I wouldn't mind if I never get the chance to do this stuff. Plus, it would kinda help me clear my mind of any ill-thoughts I would have about anyone.

On that note: even though you're doing a bunch of end game stuff, remember that there's a lot to this game that can be seen as a escape to an escape. Sure, you play FFXI to escape from real life... but then you gotta escape from the in-game drama as well... what better way to do it with some fishing, crafting, or some chocobo digging? :3

Well, I tried!

Kinda late to the party~

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up with my blog (this goes with my other blog as well).

To be really honest, I don't have much to talk about because I'm usually on for events and off to do my own thing outside of the game after events. It's not that the game doesn't interest me or anything, it's just that I have stuff I need to do outside of FFXI. Therefore, my own solo adventures have been kinda blank as of late.

Another thing is that I have vacation plans and also I gotta get ready for the next school semester as well. There will be more blog posts and it'll start coming in more consistently once everything is settled. I'll be gone to Vegas this upcoming weekend and then I'll have a week to kinda chill and then classes start up again.

For the most part, this is just a quick filler post so... what can I fill it up with other than excuses? :3

Well... here's Mog from FF6.

Post filled! See you next week~

The MogCompy is back up!

Oi... after going through a bunch of weird stuffs, I managed to find a replacement mobo and pretty much, I'm up and running again. I decided to format both of my hard drives (I have a 150gb and a 300gb) after backing up most of the stuff and pretty much decided to start over new. Unfortunately, I get to reinstall FFXI and patch it all up again... nifty~ Thankfully I picked up a copy of Vana'diel Collection 2008 so I have all the expansions and stuff on one DVD.

I'm just happy I got my computer up... nothing really much to post so... history time! I mean, I could talk about Pandemonium Warden and how screwed up it is but I'm sure you guys have already heard about it eleswhere.

But uh... lets see... lets talk about how I started this game.

I guess the official date that I started was April 7th 2004, which was a few weeks after PS2 US release. At the time, I always wanted to play FFXI but my computer was pretty outdated (it was sporting a TNT Ultra 2 at the time) and when the PC release came out, I frankly did not have the money to pay for it at that time. When PS2 release came out, my PC was actually decent enough to run FFXI and I was playing on a friend's account for a short period of time. I was more convinced at that point to play FFXI so I bought the PS2 version after trading in some of my games... like Phantasy Star Online Episode 3, which was complete garbage because the system was broken in that game!

Once I got all that running, I was ready to play the game and ironically enough, I just played it on my PC, didn't really bother playing it on my PS2, especially since I had no USB keyboard for my PS2 at the time. I started the game as a BLM and I really wanted to just be an uber mage. I figured I like playing something that was pretty simple and didn't involve having to run in and beat up on stuff. For the next 10 levels, I was in heaven. I was ignorant of everything around me, I was just a simple Taru with a simple plan: nuke the shit out of things. And, while I often find myself refering back to the past on many things and often dwell too much on them, I often don't focus on the "good" parts of the past and I'm taking that time right now.

This would be the very first screenshot of many

It's interesting looking back at my old journey I had going on in FFShrine.org. Actually kinda feels like I was a totally different person... yet I'm kind of the same.... and some of these posts... @_@;

We did meet a cool WHM in there named "Aphrimi" who raised me and healed us a few times... but we couldn't handle the bats in the deeper regions. We both left the ruins and leveled up on our own outside.

Later I would realize that their name was "Aphrini" and later I would realize that this person would be some SMN that I would meet later on in my first Dynamis LS. Who to thunk it?

Wow... :3 I sound like a jackass~

One thing a party must need: A White Mage. It was surprisingly hard to find one in the Tah. Canyons and the Maze. Eventually I ran into a party which had one and.... well... the warrior just sucked nuts. While I was blasting on a Goblin in the Maze, the Goblin turned at me because I raised his hate. The Warrior saw him attacking me and said "Run!"...

...

...

...

Yeah, you heard me... he said run.

So, why did he tell me to run? Was it because his provoke was warming up? In fact no... while I was lying dead, I asked and he said "What does provoke do?"... I soon disbanded.

... I really don't remember me typing that.

... o_o;

After going to the Valkrum Dunes for awhile, I leveled up to 17. Upon hitting 17, I basically had only 600 EXP. Since I could not find a party in the Dunes, I set sail to Mhaura.

Upon returning however, I was told that I could handle Maze Makers as long as I had a WHM near me to recover me and back me up if I can't finish the job.

So into the Maze of Somecrap I go. I met a WHM Taru and I went from 600 EXP to the next level (4000). UPON hitting 4000 though, my Taru accidently cast Dia on a stink bat... and thus more stink bats came and we couldn't get out alive. LEVEL DOWN.

I was sent back to Mhaura (my HP) and left to the Maze again. This time I ran into one of the worst parties I've ever been in. For some odd reason, whenever I tell someone to not attack a bat, they end up attacking one and killing off most of the group (me included). This happened twice (I leveled up twice and I leveled down twice). After being fustrated, I just left the Maze and picked off my last 300 EXP with stray monsters outside. After hitting 18, I dashed towards Windurst and that's where I am right now.

:3 Jebus...

So anyways, uh... maybe... in the next four years, I'll look back on this blog and question myself again... or something. @_@;

God, is this even me?!

Campaign Shenanigans

In the great ole past of the golden Windurst days... *ahem* I mean, in the horrible beat up past in Windurst that just so happens to be influenced greatly by players of the future... we have tons and tons of mobs, beating on our fortifications. Of course, some of those mobs are stupid and heck, some of those mobs are "smart" for the wrong reasons.

Yeah, you see that Shadowhand Cuirassier? You see how it's lodged up in that wall? Guess what? You can't hit it, cast anything on it, and unless you find some other mob next to it to do an AoE spell, you can't do anything at all to it.

How did this situation happen? Well, I manage to get aggro on one of these things and pretty much, I was expecting NPCs to be in this area (and there are, NPCs can spawn here) and I was running around the area and lost aggro... and then I noticed it started to glitch through the wall and beat up on the fortification there. Even I explained it to Ennayram!

And really, I couldn't cast crap on him, even from above or to the sides. Eventually the NPCs showed up...

And yeah, that clusterbunch of Mithra there just went to town on those NPCs.

You figure this is just some rare random occurrence and it doesn't happen more than once... right...?

I was about to cast Thundaga 3 on the one siting out there but then someone ended up pulling that lone one before I got the spell off... again, had to wait for reenforcements.

Oh boy... Campaign... ftl.

In other news, we (the Salvage group) finally beat all 4 Salvage bosses and I feel pretty stoked about it... but at the same time, I also feel pretty sad as well. Except for a few 15 pieces in Zhaylom and like 1 or 2 more 35 NMs... I've pretty much almost seen everything in Salvage. It's sad because I've enjoyed it every since I started it and to have some of the excitement and challenges just "end" like that is kinda... kinda sad really. It's really no more amazements or shock value or anything (which Einherjar has so I have that to fall back on) but still, after seeing everything in Salvage and having such a great group to do them with, it's really all about optimization from this point on, much like trying to get the highest rank on Trauma Center for a certain operation or beating a time attack time in some racing game. I want to keep doing Salvage, even if I end up getting 5/5 Usukane. I mean, yeah I have BLM now and Morrigan's is nice but I'm not even thinking about them right now and I have so many other things to get before I even think about them. Really, to have a full set of Salvage gear is already accomplishing a lot so I'm in no rush... besides, I want to get myself a Mystic GKT. :3

... At least I think that's the term now... Relic for Dynamis based Weapons and Mystic for Nyzul based Weapons. Makes sense I suppose.

Even though people may get upset with the fact that you can keep grinding these areas and will probably not see a drop most of the time, I will still enjoy Salvage. I will admit, Salvage has some dry spots, mainly the early floors. I hope that WotG introduces something similiar to keep the game fresh.

Oh and.... fancy bling bling for your FFXI player? :3 Somehow, I don't think buying Lissy a "Tidal Talisman" would fit her fancy. Now if they sold a Duelist Chapeau, a real life one that also comes with a free in-game one... !!! She's bound to pelt me with hugs and kisses!

*prays*

Still without a Computer

I've been trying to make due with my 360 and my laptop for FFXI for the past week. So far I've been managing okay except for a few freeze ups that have been happening. Right now, I am doing Campaign/Soloing stuff strictly on my 360 while everything else on my laptop. The reason is that as much as I would like to play on my 360, I'm stuck with "PS2 Limitations." Pretty much, I'm really not all that excited to rewrite a bunch of BLM macros and having to readjust my playstyle accordingly to each of those systems (where I might have to hit 2+ some macros to prep up for a spell rather than hitting simply one.) My SAM is just as it would be on the PC since that really doesn't require too many equipment changes to switch from one set to another. My laptop is also not meant to be a gaming system either and it suffers from massive graphical lag issues even on lowest settings. Attempting to load up Firefox while playing FFXI will often freeze FFXI, so it is pretty hard to look up something unless I have a Firefox window open already.

Honestly, not even the 360 is doing well under laggy conditions as my laptop. Really, I froze like 2 times in campaign within the past 2 hours I've been campaigning and I properly vent my 360, both the PSU and the system itself. I will say though that on my flat screen monitor, the game looks very nice and crisp... but unfortunately, the frame rate just hits the drain when there's too many people and can often times freeze my Xbox.

I know I can play BLM on my 360... but even on my PC, I'm still trying to find ways to make the job work for me and not have to tumble around stuff too much (in terms of hitting buttons and finding the right spells). I've been trying to mimic Lissy's macro pallete setup and while it seems to be working "ok" for me right now, I still find it a bit off. There is really no way to fit everything you want onto 20 macros in one set (which if I was playing on the PS2 version like I was years ago, it would be HORRIBLE with the sudden lag that occurs when you change sets) so I'm going to try to limit it to at most 2 and reduce manual changing as much as possible.

Well, with that on my mind, time to make a wishlist of stuff that they should put in FFXI! T_T;

1. Premade Sets.

The premade sets idea is basically allowing you to create an equipment set and allow you to compact it into one line on your macros. For example: Lets say you want a WS set. It can be as simple as going to the equipment menu and on the Triangle/Y/+ menu to the side, have a "Edit Set" menu and have like... I dunno, 20 should be enough for one character. Then you simply build it together with the equipmenu menu UI. Another addition to that is if lets say you don't want to equip anything to a particular slot (like weapons for example), you can choose a (No Change) option that would be placed on top of the equipment list.

If I had photoshop, I'd draw out a mock example.

Once you save it, you can recall it in a macro like "/set 1" or "/set SAMWS" or something of that extent. You can also toss in more equipment stuff into your macro for specific cases like /set SAMWS and then /equip neck "Snow Gorget" for Tachi: Yuki/Gekko for example.

2. Finally show TP for christ sakes.

If SE wants an incentive for SC/MBs, they are obviously going to need more than simply what is given thus far This only really helps it. Only real question would be how to display it since having a small number in that corner would just look pretty icky

(side note: My 360 froze again...)

3. Show the distance between the player and the target.

Really not hard to implement. It really isn't a mystery any more and seriously, making this aspect easier for players isn't going to break anything. Things are hard enough as it is even for those using all these windower plugins anyways.

4. Make a brand new UI.

Lets admit, the one that is in the game sucks. You can barely see the HP/MP on a regular TV with the 360/PS2 versions unless you squint your eyes. In fact, the game just becomes hard to read in general off of a TV. What's even worse is that there is no room to add anything of further interest into the existing UI without having it slapped on and being a random number on screen. Granted, it would be hard to make a new UI with how the PS2 is limited (does that thing even have progressive scan for FFXI?) and really, the game is about to hit the end of it's life cycle (not to say it'll die but it is going to hit a point where interest will die out and the game will slowly progress further in terms of development).

How would I make it look like? No clue! I'll mock one up once I have a working PC!

5. Do something to reduce graphical hiccups.

FFXI will rape your processor. That's how it is on the PS2, that's how it is on the PC and that's how it is on the 360. While I can understand it is trying to load all of these different textures and models and stuff, it's rendering each of those frames of animation that is making your game lag like molasses. Like really, I don't understand why there's an Animation Frame Rate type of deal (you know, the one that makes the game look like it's Electric Football). That isn't gonna save you. I can understand that sometimes when a game is online, there's some sort of connection error and your game freezes or some weird bug or whatever.

But, to have the game freeze up on you when there's too many on screen and not have a limitation for it... Really, why does that happen? Take a note from old 8-bit or 16-bit games, they had sprite limitations. Like, that slider that reduces the amount of players on screen.... while it does something, it doesn't do enough. Like, seriously~ Lets do this~

If there's a shit ton of characters on screen:

Always render your character
Render mobs
Render NPCs
Render your party
Render your alliance
Render non-party characters

It shouldn't be flipping and flopping around where I can't see a Fafnir but I can see like half of the LS beating it and only one of my party mates. Like, a priority system would be nice and just having a hard limitation of how many models on screen at a time would be nice too, even having a custom limit that is reasonable for the game to not appear like it's a ghost town.

And for the love of god: the glowing effects on the avatars should have an option of being able to see it or not.

NEXT!

6. Make this damn Xbox 360 Messanger Pad work on FFXI

You see this item?

It's pretty nice when you just want to sit back and not have to tumble around with a keyboard and such. It's a nice chatpad too for messaging people. I think it's about 20 bucks and even comes with a nice headset for voice chatting (mainly because it uses the base and it needs a different plug).

Nice item for 360 and pretty nice for FFXI... right? Well, guess what? Shit doesn't work on FFXI. You can type stuff but special characters that involve hitting the Squareish button on the bottom left corner (which include a bunch of things like / and quotations and so on) is a total pain in the ass to do. See, whenever you hit that button, it removes the UI, much like hitting the back button. Stuff that you're supposed to tap and "holds" it for you don't work (like if you tap on Shift, it "holds" it for you until you hit a key).

It's such a nice thing for FFXI, especially when you just don't want to pull out a keyboard or anything and just want to play FFXI on the comfort of your own bed or something. Like, this works fine in Phantasy Star Universe... but not in FFXI. Sure, you might want a keyboard for stuff that you want to relay information fast but to type a simple macro with this without the problems it is would be very nice. Another thing to consider is having keyboard shortcuts on this chatpad. It would give me the funtionality of going to the menus really fast but just simply tapping a button on the chatpad, as if CTRL or ALT are constantly held down (which this chatpad lacks btw). Such a nice item, I've tossed a few suggestions to SE via Mail Form several times about this but it basically went ignored. It would be very nice if they added this but.... oh well, that's why we call it a wishlist I suppose!

7. Make a different icon for every single buff/debuff

You know, there's already a few UI mods out there that lets you change the icons to be unique... but why the hell do we have to rely on that for? They did it for Utsusemi (granted that thing looks like ass but hey, it's different), but what about other things like BRD songs, COR rolls, Hasso/Seigan, a crap ton of Debuffs. I guess this is starting to sound like a rant list now but hey, all I'm doing is Campaigning. Like, it isn't like you're pointing to one icon in the data. The icon is simply copy and pasted over and over so it's not like you're "hacking" the game to point to a custom made icon.

8. Make a new Raise spell

You know, I often don't care what raise I get any more, in fact, really don't unless I die going on the way to Einherjar or die to something retarded and time isn't pressed on us. EXP problems are now gone with the introduction of Campaign (though, given how my Xbox froze like 3 times, maybe it isn't the case) and really, it isn't going to hurt us much to get XP back again. So, how about make a spell (lets call it Arise, since that seems to be what Full-Life or whatever is called in the later FF revisions) and instead of raise with sickness, raise with full HP but give a penalty to the WHM casting it (the spell itself should cost quite a bit of MP and it should prevent the WHM from casting anything for a duration of time or give them a weakness of some sort) and restore no XP to the person being arised. The person that was hit with arise should either have all of their MP drained away or no MP gained from the spell. Hmm... though with all those restrictions, it might not even be a spell worth casting, would it? :3 BALANCING: It takes time!

9. Nerf Lissy

She's too over powered. :3

10. Make different music tracks for Campaign

do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo...

; ;

Yes, I can always turn on my Winamp or use the Xbox 360's Custom Soundtrack function or even use Vanatunes Plugin for Windower.

11. Please... pretty please... Do something about the

Make the either quieter or match with the sound volume. Yes, it's made to bring your attention... No, it isn't made to give you a damn headache over your headset when you're listening to people over TeamSpeak/Vent.

12. Call of Help? More like "Cause Some Drama"

Honestly, why use this? More often than not, unless you're in some place where high level players pass around like a newbie zone or something, this isn't going to save you. The only real thing this function is used for right now is for grief tactics. I mean, it's like giving the player a "Fuck People Over" button. Like, why is it even there? I mean, sure there are some people out there who are respectful enough to not do such a thing but why even give them the option in the first place? If you're going to die, you're most likely going to die anyways unless you have a PL with you or something. Even calling for help on adds from Kirin is not even seen any more.

13. Make Dynamis instanced

You know, I can see how doing the current system isn't going to work. For stuff to be instanced and to involves zoning, it seems like everyone has to be zoned all at the same time. Assault requires this, Salvage requires this. BCs can do this because this doesn't require zoning, and Einherjar isn't instanced from what I believe. So really, where does that leave us? Is it possible for Dynamis to be instanced and still do the whole Glass/Trade system? With what the Mog House visitor system showed us, maybe it is but that's juat a Mog House with very little information tossed in. It would require quite a bit of rewriting to make Dynamis instanced. With how some people finding people in their Mog House without their permission though... it would have to be one secure rewrite.

I think I got it all out of my system now ; ; I'll be a good Moggie now~

... oh wait one more

14. Give credit for people that d/c during Campaign

While I can understand why this wouldn't work in Besieged since it would be abuse of the system (though honestly, increase the cap of how much XP you can get in that to like 5k or 6k or something, it is a damn hour), this would be some sort of compensation in case you disconnect during campaign. I mean, it sucks having to do one for like 45 minutes and then have it all disappear when your system goes poots on you. Like when you zone or d/c, give the credit then remove their tags. At least they won't get screwed out of losing those XP points they earned.

OKAY, now I'm done!

... I want my computer back. ;_;

A New Month, A New Struggle

Well, things are rolled around nicely around here for my linkshell DownRightFierce and my own FFXI life. Unfortunately, due to a few problems involving my computer, I now have a dead motherboard and it was a fairly old mobo (about 3-4 years) and due to how we have transitioned to new technology really fast, I would have to buy a new processor and a new video card (it's AGP, not that new fancy PCI-E stuffs nowadays). This is gonna run me quite a bit of money so... yeah, being able to play FFXI on a reliable PC system is not a current option right now.

In the DownRightFierce side of things (and yeah, I have no screenshots of any of this on me), we managed to get quite a few things. We've been tackling a crap ton of HNMs and for the most part, none of them really dropped anything until recent. We managed to get ourselves a Seveneyes from Khimmycat (which went to Bobbyray) and Gaiters (which went to Zarion). We got two Algols from Cerberus (Fidelis and Iskara) and well, a bunch of Cerb Claws and Hides that went towards a bunch of things (Valk Breastplate and a few Hades Hands). I'm actually still sitting on a few of them that I intend on selling so if you're on Carbuncle and you want a Cerb Hide and I haven't sold it yet, bug me about it~ Claws maybe, we're thinking about what to do with them.

I haven't had the time to relaly sit down and play on my own leaisure, given the circumstances of my computer and losing all of my macros. I aim to hit all the elemental obis while getting my Uggy Pendant. I also need vicious mufflers... So many things I have to do on my BLM! So little time! ; ;

I should really look into how I can get those vicious muffler pop items... maybe that'll encourage me to work on it.

Ah well, FFXI on my laptop isn't so bad except for the inconsistant freezing that just seems to happen every other minute. :3 I'll get my computer up and running again... JUst need some spare money.