FFXI: Putting ghosts to bed

[thistlechaser]

A FFXI post! After all these years! While it's true I don't think about the game much anymore, IC Thistle from that world is never far from my mind (perhaps in part because his image is my default LJ icon *points!*).

The main reason he won't rest quietly is that his storyline got no end. Not only did it have no ending, it could have gone in two radically different ways. He could have had a "happily ever after" ending, taking care of the Corsair (pirate) children. Or he could have been tortured to death. Unfortunately the latter was a whole lot more likely, but that there was no ending keeps the storyline from fading off into the land of 'finished, can move out of active memory'.

Then achika_soladia told me about Abyssea. Suddenly, after years, an ending appeared! I suspect the few FFXI folks left on my flist already know the secret of what Abyssea really is, but I'll cut it just in case someone doesn't.


So it's an alternate world, right? In it "you" failed to beat CoP and thus the world ended. The Corsairs told Thistle to keep up his contacts with his adventurer friends, to keep doing jobs (missions) with them, so how perfect is this? In Thistle IC land, that alternate world was actually the real world. Thistle failed to beat CoP (and as much as I hated that expansion, that's fitting) and he never returned to the Corsairs. Oh, and the world ended. (How's that for a way to end the Immortal/Corsair war!)


So that's actually a worse ending than being tortured to death, but I like it.

Is there an Al Zahbi Abyssea zone? Or was all of Aht Urhgan left out of that?

Related: Besieged is still the very best idea I've ever run into in any game or MMO. I miss it so much. I remember staying up all night to help fight, skipping work, all that. WoW did similar things (the pre-WotLK in-city fights), but it wasn't even close to how epic Besieged was. (Is Besieged a joke now that the level cap is higher? Or did they adjust mob levels upwards for it? Or does no one care about it anymore?) Just remembering the Besieged music makes me get that excited feeling in my chest/stomach. :D FFXI may have had a whole lot of negative parts, but the ability to inspire emotions? It was the hands-down expert at that. :D

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

There are no Aht Urghan zones in Abyssea. There's original (Konschtat, La Theine, Tahrongi), Zilart (Altepa), CoP (Attohwa, Misaraux, Uleguerand), and WotG (Grauberg, Vunkerl). They could have done ToAU zones if they wanted given the whole maws in a zone do not necesarily link to their counterpart zones in Abyssea thing (only Konschat/La Theine/Tahrongi link to their corresponding zones; the rest are in original game areas but link to non-original game zones).

Also, the game states that your Abyssea counterpart is likely dead, having failed in the fight against Promathia.

I haven't done Beseiged in ages; it never seemed to fit very well into my schedule. They'd always start prepping right when I had to log off. We haven't lost the AC in a while, but I don't think it's nearly the effort it used to be.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Also, the game states that your Abyssea counterpart is likely dead, having failed in the fight against Promathia.

Yeah, that makes it work. Poor Thistle is dead! And died to my most annoying expansion. :P

Sorry you haven't been able to make Beseigeds! That sounds really familiar, it seems like they always started prepping right before bed/work.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

I stopped playing a while ago, but I did make it to a besieged on BLM with tier5 nukes and the badass thunder staff. Besieged was still fun, but it is kind of a joke. Especially with the pile of temp items you get now (every mob wave gets you a fresh set of items...so now you can 2hr every 10 min or so), dropping tier5 nukes for 3k+ damage. The mobs can still one-shot you though. While it isn't exactly trivial, it is truly embarrassing to lose besieged now.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the temp items! Those had been fun, when they were rare.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Which is sad when you think about it because the only undefeated server lost their record like 5 days before they got merged. We figure it's hard to defend the candy from Port Jeuno.

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

As I understand, your counterpart didn't just die, they got absorbed into Promathia along with Selh'teus and the rest of your party. And you supposedly act just like your counterpart.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Luckily dead is dead! Hopefully you're dead-dead, because I don't want to live on as part of Promathia!

...though at least I would have good company, party-wise.

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that Nag'molada is also in there, if the events transpired exactly the same as Vana'diel's version did.

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

One thing I've noticed from NPC conversations is that it sounds like only the Middlelands was impacted. That would be everything from Tavnazia to the west to Buburimu Peninsula to the east. At least I think I got the westmost and eastmost zones right.

Some NPCs mention how the watched as their cities fell (One of the quests in Uleguerand has you talk to people who came from each of the four nations.). I've only noticed two people that would've been involved in Aht Urhgan at all, and only one is referred to from there. An NPC says that Zazarg had left for Aht Urhgan after the Crystal War, but rushed back when he heard that the events of Abyssea happened. There's one more NPC that I looked up, he was a BLU guarding a door to Alzadaal in the normal areas, but he was wearing something that wasn't BLU outfit in Abyssea. He did mention that he wondered where his turban was, though.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

He did mention that he wondered where his turban was, though.

Awww, poor evil horrible guy!

Man, sometimes I miss FFXI so much! Like now! I'd like to see all that in person, all the pretty zones, all the great storylines!

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

That is honestly why I went back. The problem with MMOs is that it's like opening a book and never finishing, because there is always something to be added. Quit? You never finish the book.

SE is quite exceptional at writing stories. I honestly wish that Blizzard and SE could make a game together with the game designers of WoW and the story writers of FFXI.

Here's the NPC as you may have known him. (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Tyamah) Here's the NPC as he appears in Abyssea. (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Tyamah_%28A%29)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I remember Tyamah! Poor fellow, stationed in the Mire. Horrible place. Imps! Though imps aren't as bad as ending up in BRD pants! His outfit has gone downhill.

And I'm with you, Blizz and SE could make a rocking MMO, assuming they the Blizz designers didn't make the SE people all commit suicide. I bet the company cultures are seriously different.