So today, Final Fantasy XI. I've been a regular player since the US launch in October 2003, technically November since with delays in shipping and stuff I only got it installed by the 31st and started on November 1st.
At first I had a random server and city, not really knowing anything. My computer also had a rather craptacular framerate. The Official Benchmark could barely get 1500 points, a minimum of 1000 was almost required to play at the expense of just everything. It prompted me to get a new computer, which I didn't regret doing either.
From a P3 866mhz I went to a Athlon XP 2500+ (1.8 ghz or so), which was pretty good at the time as the chips were stretching past the 2.5 mhz mark and no Dual Cores yet. That increased my benchmark score to over 3000 right there. That computer lasted me over 3 yars before I got my latest gaming computer, which is a Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 (x2) ghz.
Anyway, at the time, the webcomic Real Life had a grouping planned that weekend on the Phonix server, in the starting town of Sand'oria. Using a little trick to re-randomize what server you end up on (took me a good 25 tries too), I got there a whole day late, and then the group was so big that they had to make a subgroup, so I never managed to get a hold of any of them, and trudged my way with random groups (called Linkshells), until I met up with Madsen from LittleGamers, a Linkshell that lasted over 3 years before drama just broke it apart.
From the start I wanted to be a Paladin, but getting there takes some patience on its own. My personal goal was to gain some notoriety, some fame, which for an online game is not always easy with thousands of players around. Not necessarily being a legend, just the kind you spot the same and go 'I know that guy'.
I had a break of over a year along the way, but it took me almost 3 years after I joined to get my Paladin to level 75, the maximum attainable. The feeling of being there is quite unique, and dramatically changes your outlook of the game from there on. You look back at all the work you did and you can only keep going back for more on other jobs.
Yes, this game allows a single character to have more than one job, so I also have White Mage, Red Mage and Bard all at 75. I'm nowadays more often a Red Mage due to needs in the groups. Even if Paladin will remain my favorite job, I always enjoy being able to offer what jobs I have available for the greater good.
So here it is, a picture of my character made with a modelviewer that allows you to play with the poses a bit. This was used in my sigblock that I'll link right after.I'm currently wearing the entire relic set of armors for Paladin, the Valor set. These are time and gil consuming to acquire due to their relative rarity and difficulty to get. I might talk about that in more details later.
And there's the sigblock, which I try to keep updated with my current levels and progress in the game. I created the basic model of it, but Ayasu of Phoenix made it look even sweeter with his superior Photoshop skills, hehe. It represents nicely my 4 jobs, and a bit of humor from a Phoenix Wright fan.
If you wonder, the 3 letters are the abbreviations for the jobs in the game, currently 20 existing : Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Thief, Red Mage, Bard, Beastmaster, Dragoon, Paladin, Dark Knight, Ranger, Samurai, Summoner, Ninja, Blue Mage, Corsair, Puppermaster, Scholar and Dancer.
More details on the game some other day perhaps :)
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