Machinist – Stranger than a Plot-Twist

Chocobos have always been a fixture of the Final Fantasy series. They first appeared in Final Fantasy II and they’re adorable birds that help you out on your journey. I remember in Final Fantasy VI where they joined your party briefly and then in Final Fantasy VII you could actually keep them and raise it (you can also race them, breed them and get better chocobos out of it).

It was around Final Fantasy XII where things got a little extreme. With the plot being centered around war, we saw them in a different, more aggressive light. Gone was the cute little bird mascot that ‘kweh’d into our hearts.

As you all know, I recently started playing Final Fantasy XIV and the first real grind was getting the chocobo. I remember it took 30 in game hours to do so (I remember because that was the same amount of time it took to complete the Final Fantasy VII remake). WIth the chocobo, you could ride to your destination without getting attacked, and if you were attacked you could easily get away. Your chocobo also gets faster as you complete more quests.

Eventually it could join you in your fights as well.

Your chocobo can also die in battle, but it will automatically revive (kinda like how Pokemon faint). FFXIV isn’t that cruel to kill off your winged friend.

Or is it?

Continue reading “A Story About Chocobos” →

I guess you can say it began with a 30 day trial, but I was hooked by Day 14. I’ve always wanted to get into a game where I was overwhelmed, but I could still go at my own pace and I’ve always wanted to play an MMORPG.

You can say the fascination began with the .hack video games series. It’s a game about an MMORPG called The World. One day people who died in the game started falling into comas, but that’s besides the point. It was an MMORPG simulation game where your party members were other players. Super cool idea!

It was also around that time that Final Fantasy XI was coming out on the PS2, and I knew that I was not going to play it, at least for awhile (spoiler alert, I still haven’t played it to this day) but I wanted to get on the MMO train as soon as I could. We had a Compaq computer at the time that could barely run The Sims. I was also in Jr High at the time, with no income and I was only allowed to play video games on the weekends. It sucked.

I finally did get my first computer at the age of 18, and even then it was a base BASE model Dell laptop. It could play games at the lowest graphics setting. But I was able to play my first MMO a year later. It was called Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine. It was super fun, I played with a really good friend of mine for a little bit. My character had a shotgun as a weapon and I dabbled a little with micro transactions.

Continue reading “Final Fantasy XIV: Social distancing with MMOs and keeping sane during the quarantine” →