Final Fantasy XIV October 2023

So here we are October 2023, and progress since July has actually been huge. My primary goal at the moment is to start laying groundwork to be prepared for the Expansion next year. This requires me to grab the high tome gear and ensure I’m geared up correctly for the expansion, usually Tome gear will allow for at least progress through around a third of the expansion unhindered. Added of course to the Manderville Weapon whose final piece will arrive with 6.55.

But as you can see, in terms of current progress all my healers are now 90! As are all my Range DPS, and Magical Ranged DPS. So the next task is to level the Melee DPS and Tanks. It has not proved easy and Dragoon was a very painful experience. I find I’m much more comfortable if I have a decent set of AoE attacks. It takes about 2 weeks to level a class the way I’m currently playing, I suspect it would be faster if I sank more time in. But if I had to class is disliked then I’d definitely have to say Dragoon is my least favourite.

Also at 90 are every Disciple of Hand and Disciple of Land class, though the DoL have been 90 for a while now. And of course I continue to try to make progress toward the Platinum trophy on the PS5. With everything done that matters even into the new 6.5 patch we simple wait until January for the final part of Endwalker and the prequel to Dawntrail.

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  Farm Girl

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  Aerian in Wonderland

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  Scholars in Session

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  A Little Japanese Flair

It is oddly amusing how somehow this game has become a bit of a fashion game for me, as I craft outfits to amuse myself, I’m most proud of my Sailor Moon and Alice in Wonderland ones. While some can prove costly it’s all in good fun.

Of course I try to keep Aerian within her original narrative as the cocky girl with a big heart. The rebellious natured side comes out during playing healer, trust me folks never make a healer work harder than they have to! But mostly I stick with Summoner and which ever class I’m levelling. At the moment those are Samurai for general Duties and Gunbreaker for PvP.

Horror Games

2023 certainly seems to be the year for survival horror. Some fantastic remakes in play.

Dead Space has finally returned! Honestly this was an absolute blast to revisit this game. And the things Motive added made it feel alive than ever before, they did a hell of job and yet CRUCIALLY protected the story from the original game! Mess with graphics, mechanics, environments but leave alone what made the game great and Dead Spaces story was immense.

I still need to clean up a few things but I did my customary play it my way first! And it felt good, it felt like the old survival we all know and love, so EA if you read this as a fan and decided to redo Dead Space 2 then take it back to this, let Motive do this to Dead Space 2, keep it away from the action based and bring it back it back to just this, simple survival horror that keeps you on edge.

The just throw away Dead Space 3 make a whole new better game! I hated 3 so much so I’ve only ever played it once, I put it down and never looked back.

Callisto Protocol, yes I know it came out in December 2022, but I think it might find its footing. It is clearly based off Dead Space, after all its the original co – creator Glen Schofield who did this. It was nice to find a game that felt like an old school survival horror.

It was nice to play through and they broke the usual hold of the games side kick, I was genuinely surprised by that particular twist, it is also impressive to see a studio like Striking Distance shell out big money to bring in Josh Duhamel as the lead. Callisto almost plays like a movie at points. But keeps you wanting to see it through, though admittedly the ending is frustrating because it’s clearly set up that it isn’t finished yet, I will definitely look forward to DLC.

Dead Island 2 which of course I had an absolute blast through, and Riptide was a worthy addition. It’ll be interesting to see if they can match the hype and expectation of a decade of development.

Dead Island was one of those games that was just pure fun, hack up the undead in as creative and violent a way as possible, relied less on guns and more hand to hand. I truly do love this game. Always have and likely always will.

Resident Evil 4 truthfully still trying to wrap my head around this one, because even today RE4 still stands up as an incredible game and graphically isn’t too bad.

And you know they’re going to change certain elements and that’s OK, if they do what they did with Resident Evil 2, which for me is still the absolute standard for a remake (and I’m a Final Fantasy VII fanboy, but FF7R just isn’t a path on RE2), so long as they leave the story intact, update where it’s needed to include all the lore that’s come since. Honestly I’d love to get a look at the RE Game Bible that thing has gotta be magic by now!

Though personally they should have remade Code Veronica first!

Still probably one of the few that just wanted to shoot the presidents daughter for the sheer force of will it takes to not keep her alive!

Lollipop Chainsaw was just an absolute riot, like seriously I adored this game! It didn’t take zombie killing serious and that made it fun, Juliet Starling is among the most fun of heroes to play with.

Definitely looking forward to this one again.

Add to all of the above DLC for Callisto Protocol, Dying Light 2 and this year shapes up to be the very best in survival horror. There’s also the Silent Hill 2 Remake underway which it’d be nice to see the only real competition to Resident Evil back on the PlayStation find its footing again.

So if I could have 1 wish for a game to be remade sorry folks but its gotta be Dino Crisis, a what if the zombies were dinos and a hell of great game. So yes this is my want.

Halo 2

So I’m through the second game in the series and thoroughly enjoyed, though the same gripes with the original, the lack of a map can be frustrating, though the mini map helped locate enemies, I chose to run through big sections of this one in order to get through some sections inside 20 minutes, when I realised I don’t have to fight everything. There are no direct spoilers in this just a few notes to pay attention to.

Again playing the anniversary edition of Halo 2, and the graphical difference is absolutely amazing. A lot of care was put into bringing this game upto a more modern standards. Again I find myself in awe of the games AI and how they don’t just fire blindly or run into danger but instead will do what’s needed to help you through

The lighting effects alone are a massive improvement and the shadowing makes the game feel ever more alive, and the world seem that little bit more real. All the textures were rebuilt, the entire game feels very different but the story remains the same, which ultimately is what I want as I play for the story. The enemies felt at least a little more of a threat, and the new sword was fun to play with, as well as playing both as Master Chief and the Arbiter. Seeing the story from two sides definitely felt different.

And a boss fight at the end of the game was welcomed, took a couple of attempts as it seems he has the ability to take you out in a single hit, alas, plasma grenades stuck to him and a few shotgun blasts finally put him down. Truth was a pain but not super difficult, a boss fight for the end of the game was definitely welcomed.

The world is definitely feeling more and more as I play through this sage. So of course onto Halo 3 we go.

Finally Halo

So way back in November of 2001 a game released called Halo Combat Evolved, an FPS game for the Xbox. Now being young, and recently discovering my girlfriend was pregnant I could never afford and Xbox, much less Halo. Plus I was a bit of a Sony fan boy back in the day and so over the years via various means I have attempted to play Halo. Just never quite getting into the swing.

Now in the here and now, having Game Pass Ultimate is a wonderful thing and totally worth £10.99 per month I might add. I finally installed The Master Chief Collection, and a couple of days ago sat down to finally begin my Halo play through. I played through the Anniversary edition, which features updated graphics, music and sound effects but the core game is the same as it was 20 years ago. Seeing as I’m playing for the story as always there was no harm in playing an updated version so far as I’m concerned.

So I found the enemies to be a little comical, almost silly in some ways, hard to find the covenant threatening. The flood on the other hand those guys are nasty at times. Having said that, the game is largely a lot of fun, most of the game I played with the start weapon and a shotgun, which makes light work of just about everything thrown your way. I tell you this though playing a game 20 years back is confusing to say the least, wandering around it made me wonder how we ever got along without in game maps, some portions of the game are massive and it rarely gives you a directional marker. The Warthog vehicle is a nightmare and seemingly has a mind of its, physics wise a lot of this game is pre-motion capture. But the game itself is fun and the story while simple was enough to keep me engaged and entertained.

The ragdoll graphics as ever are amusing and it does lead several times to areas of frustration as I was stuck with my shield and 1 bar of health, I like to play dangerously but little by little and with a little dumb luck I was able to push through. Definitely a fun game. Of course I shall continue next up will be Halo 2, lets see how much has changed since the original and of course how the story unfolds next.

Back Can Be Forward

Considering the total collapse of my life over the last year, I decided to look back. OK no I didn’t but I have way too much time on my hands and as such, I needed a distraction. My laptop is up and running, doesn’t have the firepower of my PC which is out of commission at the minute.

So, I went back to Unity, and over the last few weeks I’ve been working on a simple project. An old-fashioned turn-based combat RPG. Of course, with the start of an RPG comes a story, which as a writer I find easy enough. However, I decided to go to with what I know best, so it will be set in The Everlands. I may base it around the original Vampire Legends, the whole crew to stop Ceremon destroying the world. It’s simple and at its core is easy to write.

And so over the last few weeks, I’ve built the transition system, and entry and exit point in areas, I’ve built the Menu system, which I’m currently working on fleshing out and making more useful. I figure an old turn-based system will be easier, and as I get more to grips with Unity 2019; I can build on the game. I think it’ll be easy enough to add players in and switch them out. For the moment I’m limited in how much I can do, as I have a hard job getting Unity to work the way I would want.

So that’s the basic idea, as ever I’ll keep somewhere that will have track of the development cycle. I’ve made a couple of bug fixes; one took a week and turns out I’d attached a script to the wrong object.  Which then prevented the games dialogue system from working correctly. Thankfully, that’s been corrected. It was a head scratch moment, especially as the mistake wasn’t at code level.

If nothing else in all this pandemic, I have a project that is further along than just about everything I’ve ever managed to build. Aside of course from the pinball game. Which I can’t complete until I get my main rig back up and running. But all in that is a problem for another day. Next on the agenda is finishing up the status screen system, as well as the rest of the menu systems. A save system needs implementing, further story elements, the games quest system.

The game has a few more basic systems that require building but once they are done it will be about building the game itself. A forest, a cave plenty of other bits and pieces, but getting the games systems built has been the priority at this point. Hopefully in a week or two I can add an update on this project.

Listed below is the development log, for Project RPG2019-01. Once I have something playable, I intend to drop the game to a private website I plan to set up. With RPG universe also falling victim to my circumstances I’m in need of a new web presence. But another problem for another day.

 

Version 0.0.1

Basic Setup of Unity 2018, the reason being for some reason 2019 won’t run on my laptop.

Added

• Sprite Sheets for character
• Basic Character Movement
• Basic control systems
• Small background area
• Map physics
• Animation to player
• Basic Character Animations

 

Version 0.0.1a

Added

• Scene Transition System
• Custom Camera

Fixed

• Issue with animations not working at run time

 

Version 0.0.2

Added

• New Maps
• Fading between areas

Updated

• Camera Controller to prevent camera leaving screen area
• Character Controller to keep the player inside the maps
• Tile Map on Area 1
• Loading system that manages what loads between areas and game start up

Fixed

• Transition between scene. Had not set the area name correctly.

Version 0.0.3

Added

• Dialog System
• Levelling System
• Game Manager to help manage game systems
• Framework for the menu system

Updated

• Character Controller, to prevent movement while in dialog
• Dialog system, nameplate will not appear on signs
• Base EXP value, this will ensure a longer levelling and progression
• Essentials Loader prefab, this will now boot the Game Manager as well
• Menu layouts
• UI Prefab with new Menu layouts
• Menu now accepts data and displays stats correctly
• Status menu now displays character stats correctly

Fixed

• Bug that was preventing dialogue system displaying correctly. Had the script attached the wrong object.
• Typing error in NPC text
• Player no longer moves when menus, changing areas or dialogue is a factor

 

 

 

Need for Speed – My Review

I know this has been out a while but I can hand on heart say that Ghost Game have finally brought back Need for Speed.

I got kind of lucky and was able to get my hands on this game recently, and the Collectors Edition at that which gave me early access to the BMW M3, the ultimate car from Most Wanted. So I guess you can say I hit the ground running with it? Either way I cut through the game in around 2 weeks and feel fully happy at the experience.

But of course it wasn’t long before I had my eyes on the Skyline R34 [1999] the one car I am completely and utterly in love with! And this is the car I cut the game apart with, 1098hp when fully kitted up and makes less work of most races. Aside from Drift, but Ghost give and easy solution to this, push your settings toward Drift and equip Drift tyres and that pain in the backside drift becomes much easier.

The story is a strange one with Ghost opting to create live video FMV acted out by actual actors which for me only made it more fun.

While the story is far from perfect, the game and the ability to build a car your own way, glam it up to reflect your own personality and just let loose on the Streets of Ventura Bay as you set out to go from newbie on the streets to King of the Streets, taking on challenges set by your crew as well as some of the Venture Legends. I found a lot of the Outlaw challenges fun going head to head with Ventura PD proved to real entertaining at times. The funny thing is it wasn’t hard to work out which one of your crew is the Outlaw.

But yea this game is a barrel of laughs and for those Trophy Hunters like me it ain’t that hard to Plat, I can say I look forward to seeing what DLC comes next as for the moment EA and Ghost are giving us all DLC completely free! A strange move by EA admittedly but if this is their commitment to the fan base of the older titles then they have made a good step in my eyes, everyone is well aware of my opinion of EA’s ethics but I can say for this one they have done well, and Ghost have pulled Need for Speed into a really good position.

I have truly enjoyed ripping up the streets of Ventura and aim to clear up the rest of the DLC as well to ensure I get every ounce of enjoyment out of this game!

Tales of Dentarius : 1.3.1c Update

So as I continue to work on the TVL game it comes to my attention that I’ve been working on this for over two years. You can see from the comparison that the game has taken huge steps visually. But then I did start originally on Unity 4 with so much less power than I have right now. I also had to change plans on how I wanted to do the game.

This resulted in me scrapping the whole thing and starting with a much smaller idea. I plan to expand the world slowly, build each town separately and then couple it together that way.

This will allow me to build a world that is much more representative of the world I have so carefully built and protected over these last 16 years. And with me now writing more in this world it give me so much more to work with and hopefully keep the game evolving as the world itself evolves.

As for the story itself I’m not entirely sure, except that it will revolve around Aerian as was always the plan. As for the actual state not a lot of the in game stuff is in place, a lot of it is back end management to allow for the game implementation to be easier and faster. It will also help with that plan to keep the game evolving.

Of course between Dark Souls 3 and Final Fantasy XIV I haven’t been spending as much time on this as I would have like to, but by taking my time it makes sure every detail I include only seeks to further that relationship with me and the world I’ve created. I want this game to reflect and show the world no matter what it eventually ends up becoming. I could just become an explore and read for all I know but still will have the very essence of Dentarius and the Everlands.

Final Fantasy XIV – End of Year Update

So it’s been a unique year, and my actual one year anniversary playing Final Fantasy XIV got to say it’s been real fun and I’ve learnt a lot this year, settling much more into the MMO world and pay2play content.

So this year marked my move to the PS4, and me providing hours of Twitch footage for folk to learn from, we got the new Heavensward Expansion which has added even more content to the game, and killed some of the older content too. But I think for me the biggest change was back in august I restarted the game fresh on a new server with some good friends from Final Fantasy Forums. For me personally this was to refocus my play style and get better engaged in a group.

So that’s the recap done, what has I done, well the school holidays has allowed me a few later nights which means I’ve been able to join my FC friends in a few late night Primal hunts, the Extreme versions are far more punishing than their regular or Hard Mode versions.

As you can see I’ve continued to work on my Scholar and trying to learn been a halfway decent healer, which I am so long as I’m in nothing Qarn! As a consequence of course I also have Summoner at about the same level as a fall back if I can’t master Scholar. So at least I have a new class to play with.

My Scholar however is my second highest and most used class, so much so I am now chasing the original Relic weapon for her. I have just started ATMA farming for the second time, it’s not hard so it shouldn’t take long the drop rate has massively improved since the first time I ever did it. And of course it helps me toward that ever elusive 1000 FATEs and the Platinum trophy. So that’s Scholar I’m getting better with the ever awesome influence of Linnaete watching over my shoulder and guiding me, I couldn’t have made the switch without that help. I just need learn to pay attention and get a handle on Cleric Stance and learn the other dungeons a little more.

So for Bard I’ve also continued to work, starting the new Anima Weapon oh good that was fun those crystals are killer, the drop rate is probably lower that when I first did ATMA though for me I was able to farm all of them in around six to eight hours. But of course I’ve seen and heard horror stories of it taking far longer, and of course I had an issue with ATMA not dropping for 2 days!! So I’m grateful for the fact I was able to pull that off a little faster, my issue of course is the Bow is ugly as hell. Still I can glamour it when I get the Ice Bow!

Other than that as I mentioned above I have been helping or joining my FC with Extreme Primals which has been fun in some ways and I finally made it through Leviathan Extreme without falling off!! I’ve also been using these to level my old Relic Bow as well, it’s just a productive use and I would like to at least know I finished the Relic before I go handing it over to be destroyed!

So while I continue to work with my Bard I still hate the fact they took our mobility away just for that extra damage boost, which admittedly I simply tend not to use because I hate feeling so open and of course we have “cast time” per skill while under Wanderers Minuet. It’s useful but it sucks beyond belief at the lack of mobility.

My primary aim for January is to get through that last stint of Scholar to level 60 and finish Summoner as well, it will give me a little more choice in what I play end content as and if I’m not confident as a Scholar I can always break out my egis and go kick ass as a Summoner. I also want to finish levelling a couple more classes to 50. I’d like to get them to 60 but not sure my patience would ever run that high. I also want to finish matching my Phoenix and Lamia characters as a matter of principle.

Game Development Updates

So I have been working on my old How Long Tech Demo converting it from Unity 4 to Unity 5 and was surprised by the visual difference. I mean consider the fact Unity 4 was restricted and all the good stuff locked behind the Pro wall.

But this was supposed to be a technical demo of what we were aiming for with the original game, a zombie survival game with a more old school approach to its play style.

I wanted a game where by every decision could potentially have a disastrous result if you made the choice at the wrong time. For example we wanted to keep the game active while using the inventory, or auto save would be few and far between only used during critical events. Using a gun would always have bad results. Something to continually challenge the player at every turn.

So having hit a bit of a burnout playing Final Fantasy XIV and games in general I wanted to do something I enjoy which as you’re all aware of is creating new worlds and stories. So  tried to import the demo into Unity 5 but didn’t quite work the way I wanted so I simply scrapped it and started again using the knowledge I have since gained just by using Unity and exploring the systems.

Even at a quick glance you can see the visual differences, Unity 5 has a massive leap ahead of what Unity 4 had for us to work with. Simple things from the shadowing to the dynamic lighting.

I have also picked up a few bits with the Vampire Legends game, I’m also working on a couple of bits that will allow people to help me get that and running from a patreon campaign to donations. So for the moment that’s where I’m at updating the How Long Tech Demo and cramming the mansion full of all kinds of wonderful items and objects. I really hadn’t picked up on the leaps until I saw the differences in these two screens. Even particle effects like the fire look better now.

Progress Update November

So as you guys can see I’ve updated the site a little added a quick link to Elcarus Mansion on the side bar, this is where I do alot of roleplay writing with my writing partner, right now we have alot going on and the realm of The Everlands is truly experiencing change once again. As you guys know by now I have alot planned in the future for this universe so expanding it by the means it was created has been awesome for me.

All the stories we’ve created are available right now and for free, there’s alot too so happy reading.

So this leads to the Vampire Legends game right now I’m rebuilding the games framework and alot of under-the-hood work is in progress to build a better more robust and less laggy game. So keep your eyes peeled for future updates on that front.

So on to what I’m upto gaming wise I recently buckled and bought a 30 day pass for PS Now, I enjoyed the free trial but it left me with unfinished business so I set about sorting this and I’ve been diving my time between Final Fantasy XIV and Ratchet & Clank : A Crack In Time.

While A Crack in Time is going well I’m a little stumped with the mini game My Blaster Runs Hot, it’ll come eventually but it’s frustrating to say the least! It kinda bugs me that Sony don’t tie our PS+ accounts to PS Now in some form so we have access to our PS3 back catalogue I mean we pay for PS+ what more can they ask of us, we aren’t going to ignore years worth of games and then fork out an additional subscription on top that’s just nuts! Aso it’s bull crap they can’t do backwards compatible on the PS4 because PSNow is effectively a PS3 emulator!!!

Anyways now I’m done ranting, Final Fantasy XIV, oh my god I’ve made insane progress since last months update, I was at ilvl139 and after just a week of Duty Roulette and a few runs of Fractal Continuum and Neverreap I’m now at a tasty ilvl170, leaving me access to Alexander, which last night I made it through A1. Got to say it’s far less painful than it was getting through Binding the Coil. I have a full set of Law gear with my eyes now on the Law weapon, let’s face it I have nothing left to spend Law on right now. I’ve also a added a new Final Fantasy XIV playlist to my Youtube channel. And as ever I can be watched on Twitch most evenings.

Alot of the Youtube videos in the playlist are dungeon runs of Final Fantasy XIV, including Alexander A1, hopefully updating it as I move along.

So the last order of business is my game design, as ever Devils Inc Studios are busy working on a title, for the moment I wont be revealing too much except to say my role is a little different with this one as I’m pulling double duty as a level designer too!!