So, on Sunday my Final Fantasy XI static group finally completed the Chains of Promathia expansion (a mere three or so years after I started), and Monday night after work was to be the victory lap of Vana'Diel. I admit that I spent most of the day at work itching with anticipation, and the first thing I did when I came home was to log in.
Actually, I logged in and my connection crashed because I had torrents running, and then I got distracted by The Escapist. But the THIRD thing I did was to log in into FFXI to begin, mug of tea in one hand, the list of places I needed to go for the cutscenes in the other.
I suppose that's where we begin.
I began by off-loading all the unused meds (not many of them left) from the night before, sending money to Sylf and returning a reciprocal Hi-Elixir to Cydori. Then, with space in my inventory, I went and picked up my artefact armor.
I'm not entirely sure why this seemed so important for me to do straight off. I suppose because I was WHM all the way through CoP and it seemed somehow right to don the iconic red triangles. Plus, I prefer the way the trousers actually reach the ground, rather being annoyingly short (seriously, most trousers look like I had a growth spurt and didn't adjust the cuffs).
And also I suppose that I associate my AF with being significant. I think the first time that I donned the full WHM AF was the first time that I got that weird sense of accomplishment. It's been something that has been deeply lacking from the game for some time for me. I spend so much time regretting that there's so much in the game I don't do (like Assaults, Dynamis, Limbus, Salvage, ENMs, etc.), and tend to seethe with envy when people blithely chat about doing it all, that I forgot that there can be a sense of accomplishment. The end of the battle CS was truly epic, and felt like a terrific way to mark the end of a long hard struggle. When we won, I literally took my hands off my keyboard and covered my mouth, absolutely shocked and delighted. It's been a very long time that I've felt that.
Although I have no idea whether it was my Holy or Sylf's Freeze II that got the killshot. Stupid game not saying who got it. :E
So anyway, then I turned of /names, disabled /say, /emote and set myself away to avoid /tells. I turned off my linkshell, and headed for the Metalworks to begin.
At which point the game crashed, which rather spoiled the mood. For some reason I can't run around in the Metalworks on my Vista desktop, so for this scene I had to switch to my other computer, and then switch back after I left.
I said my farewells to Tenzen, then to Movalpolos to speak with the Moblins, then dragged myself to San d'Oria. At which point I actually remembered there was a subplot involving Louverance, which I'd completely forgotten about, and realised that I couldn't remember which one I'd been fighting alongside all this time.
I was always confused by the whole Louverance plot, and I'm still not sure what happened (it doesn't help that I went massively long times between cutscenes, so I've forgotten most of what happened at certain points), but it was an awesome end to the storyline. But it wasn't until I hit Mhaura that things started to kick in.
I was saying goodbye. I was saying goodbye to all of the characters, and I suddenly, and bizarrely, felt an actual pang of loss. I've been working on Chains of Promathia since I started the game (CoP was released simultaneously with the EU release, so the game was first available here with the two first expansions included), and suddenly here I am, having saved the cheerleader and saved the world, saying goodbye to these characters, and I was suddenly disappointed that there wasn't going to be any more.
Our static may have been infrequent, and while I don't know about the others, I know that I wound up developing a sort of zen calm regarding the time taken. So what if we have a month, two months between missions? It'll get done in the end, right? So why worry?
So it was with melancholy that I headed for Bibiki Bay, and even though I still want to introduce those three TaruTaru monsters to the weighted end of my hammer, it was nice to see the end of the storyline.
Then to Jeuno, using my first charge on my Ducal ring, since I felt it was appropriate, and sought out what people have referred to as the best ring in the game for a melee.
Yes, I chose Rajas. How could I not?
Then, lastly, Tavnazia. The first of the two cutscenes warmed my heart, with the positive view of the future of the Safehold, the aspirations, and the feeling that the place which had so saddened me with its utterly tragic quests might actually be somewhere better now.
The second of them broke my heart.
I've been here before, though, of course, it's different now.
When I first completed Promyvion, I was dragged along with everyone else in my group over to Blueblade Fell to had a look at the view. So it was weird coming full circle and returning. I still don't quite understand how "my character" fits into the whole storyline to a certain degree, given that there do seem to be things that aren't explained, but it really didn't matter. The day that a Final Fantasy game is utterly and immediately understandable is the day that Chocobos start tapdancing.
And then the final cutscene...
For a minute I thought my game broke when the screen went black. Yeah, it happens to me a lot. It's a genuine concern.
I so wish this had been a full FMV. I really do. I wound up patching my XBox so I could watch it without judder (and it turns out what I thought was bad synchronisation... wasn't...).
I do, however, now have the five minute version of Distant Worlds on a loop on my MP3 player.
I've been sitting here, trying to decide if this accomplishment is worthy of the bizarre sense of awe which has apparently been bestowed upon it. I was always jealous of other groups who seemed to get through things with astonishing regularity, who remain together for other stuff when our group struggled to find the time to get together for a couple of hours to have an attempt at a mission (more than once it would take us weeks to clear a single mission if we didn't win on the first run). It took so long that I forgot part of the storyline. Am I relieved that it's finally over?
I don't know about relieved, but I feel a certian... pride. It was tough. We had to somehow find a slot in all our schedules when we could meet, and it wasn't like we had the 'ideal' party lineup most of the time. Most people would never say that three dragoons in a CoP group could work, no Red Mage or Summoner or Ranger... but we adapted. Say, for 6.4 we might not had a RDM to dispel, so we'll give our DRGs Dispel Couses.
And I'm sorry that it's over. It makes me want to do it all again. In time maybe. For now, I just feel like basking.
I've not had a static the whole way through. I was part of a group, then was split off, joined shuffled together parties, stumbled through NMs with people sadly no longer around (that f&!*ing antlion for one!). So I suppose my full 'thanks' list would consist of (in alphabetical order) Anko, Ashn, Aurian, Avenmore, Avien, Beanie, Chipoka, Desant, Draque, Eadwyn, Makoholic, Merlee, Niala, Nif, Valamir, Yosari, Zubis, and quite probably a few people I've forgotten about.
And of course, I can't forget the wonderful Team Impossibly Flappy: Barahir, Cydori, Sylf and Yunchang, (also Hien, Nanaja and Eisen). Slow and steady wins the race, eh guys? ;)