#cryingaboutrobots

[maguneedsalife]

OK so I know it's been FOREVER since we talked BUT I have been watching a stream of someone playing FFXIV from the beginning and then I was also talking to a friend about the story of FFXIV and I thought of you.

I know if I get into FFXIV it will eat my life (and sometimes I consider it) but if I do, how should I start?

Also, what are the best parts of the story and/or gameplay?

(also Aoife is cool, I like her a lot, and I've just been casually following you long enough that she's like... my default WOL, just so you know)

aaa ty for the ask! (and it doesnt feel like forever somehow bc we reblog each other's posts all the time lmao)

anyway this ended up very long so im putting it under a readmore, but aaaaa im so happy you're interested in trying the game!!

ffxiv will absolutely eat your life, but! if you're interested in giving it a try to see if you like it, (deep breath) have you heard about the free trial of the award winning mmo final fantasy fourteen with no restrictions on playtime and content up to level 70 including the heavensward and stormblood expansio--

jokes aside, the free trial is my personal rec for where to start. you can play as most of the available races (viera and hrothgar are locked to shadowbringers unforch, but as part of the story you get an item that you can use to remake your character if you want, so if you decide to buy the game later you can use that to make the bunny or lion of ur dreams). there are some limits on things like buying items off the mb and how much gil/items you can have, but for the most part there's like 200+ hours of content that's just available for FREE. Idk if you have mmo experience, but if xiv would be your first foray into MMOs i would definitely try the trial first to see if you like it! and since stormblood is included in the trial now you can meet my favorite robot beetle without paying a CENT

the other thing to consider is that there is a big expansion coming at the end of June, which will also include a gigantic graphical update for the characters and world. right now the game is doing its best with ps3-early ps4 era graphics, but come june everything will look a lot prettier! (not that it isn't already pretty, but i won't miss the pixelated grass...). They'll also be adding furry lion ladies if that's your thing (though they won't be free to play as; you'll have to buy the full game to make a hot lion). the downside is the new expansion will be a tough time to start with everyone trying to get in for the new story, so I'd say if you want to start, either do it before dawntrail (easy to log in) or end of july (login queues have eased, and you get to see everything in the pretty graphics!)

normally here is where I'd put my "if you want to play around with the character creator, there's a free benchmark program you can download that includes it!" buuuut the dawntrail benchmark has uh, let's just say wip character models, and they're actually working on putting out an update to it sometime in the next couple weeks.... but when that update does come out, it'll be a great way to play around and see what kind of character you want your wol to be!

WHEW. Okay. that's the first part of your question.

Second part of your question - i wont discuss details of the story bc imo it's worth experiencing firsthand, but i think my favorite part about the story is that your little guy is at the center of it. a lot of the wol's narrative is left open to interpretation, and you are free to imagine how your character responds to the plot. every single person who plays this game has a different and valid experience with the same story, simply due to how they envision their character participating in it, and i think that's beautiful. i can't think of a lot else like it out there.

you'll see a lot of people online arguing that some expansions are "skippable" or base game is "skippable" but they're all lying to you. play all the main story. watch all the cutscenes. there's no need to zoom through it. the reason you are crying your eyes out at the end of endwalker is because you have watched your wol grow from the time they were killing level 1 ladybugs in the starting area. some parts might be stronger or weaker than others, but it all comes together to make one of my favorite stories videogames has ever told.

(also, no spoilers, but shadowbringers is still my favorite expansion for a reason. you've probably osmosized a fair bit of it from my posts about it but it's soooo good. it's worth seeing in person.)

also there are some surprisingly good storylines in the "side" content (raids, trials, etc), so it's definitely worth picking up those blue plus quests and seeing what adventures are to be had. not to be biased but the omega storyline is my favorite ("yes ren we KNOW you like the robot beetle"). some are serious (there's one about child soldiers) and some are goofy (in one questline you solve zany mysteries with the world's least competent detective) but all of them have heart, and a little final fantasy corniness.

as for gameplay, its probably obvious that i love the fashion aspect. Gear you obtain can be seen on your character (even jewelry!), and there's a whole system for saving outfits. people joke that glamour is the true endgame but i literally, like an hour ago, cleared a high difficulty raid because i wanted a specific shirt. So obviously the dressup aspect is a main draw for me gameplay wise.

but other than that, one of the game's strengths is there's something for everyone. if you want to be the sweatiest raider and optimize your rotation and get BiS and clear ultimates, you can, but it's not the only way to enjoy the game. i have friends who enjoy just dinking around in roulettes, friends who love to fish, friends who roleplay, friends who organize rare monster kill trains, and friends who spend a ton of time on minigames in the casino. that's just scratching the surface. there's so much to do!

anyway, whew, i think that maybe answered your question? or maybe you now have more of them?

i am always available here and on discord to answer questions and help you get started in eorzea :3 ty again for the ask!!!

and aaaaaaaaaa hearing that you like aoife makes me so happy 😭

[jvlianbashir]

Alright here's my Sasha cat

her little orange belly spot 🥺🥺 what a sweetie

[simplyirenic]

I'm so happy for you for this bayern win! I've been a casual bayern fan for like... 6 years, but I've been following you since the 2014 world cup, and I'm so happy that you got to see bayern win the treble again! so yeah, congrats to you specifically!

CRIES THANK YOU!!! I AM JUST. A LOT OF EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW BUT I’M SO GLAD YOU’VE BEEN HERE DURING THIS WHOLE TIME. GOSH!!

[cappurrccino]

cryingaboutrobots replied to your post “i wish america was a country where wearing face masks had always been...”

i will say, i have seen a lot of people out and about wearing facemasks and I'm in Kansas City, aka not a very... cosmopolitan place

yeah, my sister said tons of people have been wearing them to grocery stores & such (and that she’d go with and wear a mask too so it’s not just me, lol). i haven’t really left my apartment save for like. some walks and no one just out walking is wearing them, obvs, so it feels (to social anxiety brain) like no one anywhere is wearing them and i would be a Fool

[rukafais]

Penumbra

(huge thanks to @cryingaboutrobots​ for this idea because like, i saw it in tags and was like SHIT I HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR THIS. IT’S VERY GOOD)

Being tired is something she���s forced herself not to feel for a very long time. But with her task done, she thinks she’s earned it, if nothing else.

She sinks onto the bench, exhausted (allowing herself to feel exhausted) and in the pale fluttering of lumaflies, her shadow writhes like a living thing.

She starts in alarm. The old bug standing there asks is something wrong? with clear concern, and she looks over at him, and then down -

her shadow is her own once more, still and quiet.

Behaving, she thinks, and wonders why she thought it at all.

Darkness creeps along Greenpath’s ill-used roads. Now that the infection is gone, things are much quieter; the few living Mosskin that still remain are content to pay her no heed. Living creatures are creeping out of hiding; their cries are audible in the verdant dark, songs she has never known but listens to with a new sense of clarity.

She sees a shadow with small horns beside her on the path, glued to her own. It hides from her, at first, avoiding her gaze; when she catches a true glimpse of it, she understands why.

It truly is a shadow, with bright eyes and a bright crack marring its otherwise seamless appearance--

(No further, she says, and hardens her heart. She knows what she does is a monstrous thing. It saves them from the light, from the savagery of an enemy that hates them and will destroy them from the inside out -- at the hunter’s terrible cost. Killing the weak rather than let them struggle painfully, to come to an agonizing end.

She does not ask for forgiveness from their silent, tattered body, because she understands that there is no possible thing she could do to make it right.)

--and she has no words to say, at first.

She kneels and holds out her hands. They do not understand even that. But they do seem to understand the awkward softness of her voice, the way it cracks when she apologises for what she did to them.

She does not say I did what I must because that would be trying to explain away her terrible deed, and she is not her father and she will never be.

They don’t hide from her, after that. And she smiles, just a little, to see them flit among the greenery they seem to love, even though it was the place they died. They chase maskflies and slow-moving obbles.

(A knight bedecked in moss and green leaps from the foliage and darkness strangles it, begins to crush it like a tangle of roots, before she tells them to leave things be.)

She observes their shattered mask, and an idea begins to form, but it’s not quite there yet. She tidies their resting place and leaves it as it is.

She sits a while and watches the little shadow zip to and fro, for once clearly visible on the stone pillars crafted in some bygone age, and feels that this is perhaps what it means, not to be a lone guardian any more.

[lost-kinn]

I've been trying to beat Steel Soul mode and let me tell you, so far, I either die in the Crystal Peaks, the City of Tears, or Deepnest. My first playthrough I did Crystal Peaks with no Mantis Claw because I kept dying trying to wall jump from the Fungal Wastes to the City of Tears, so I found out that you can get the crystal boost and not have to wall jump, so I went and did that instead and that was a TIME

the fact that you’re doing steel soul mode in the first place is already wild, and now you’re hacking the metroidvania with its own abilities

that’s…………. actually genius, dude

[troubleincorporated]

cryingaboutrobots replied to your post “reblog if you’re happy that polygon came full circle by firing...”

jenna is powerful and i love her

that entire thread of tweets just EXUDES power

[pfaerie]

I am so sad that Stardew doesn't let me hug villagers because I just want to hug Shane a lot because he needs it ok. He's my sad depressed chicken man and is far too relatable. Also I just give him chili peppers all the time and he's thrilled. Just... 2 raw chili peppers a week and he's so happy.

SAME. SO MANY OF MY BEST PALS I JUST WANNA HUG ESP ALEX...

[gallusrostromegalus]

I actually know something about how cheese was first made (probably)! Animal stomachs were often used for liquid storage in ancient times, since they're water proof and worked fairly well. However, if not completely cleaned out, they have a lot of... stuff left inside them, some of which is rennet, an enzyme complex that we use to curdle milk to make cheese. Early humans probably stored milk inside a stomach pouch and left it a bit too long and voila!~ Cheese!

HUH.

well, that’s one mystery down! And i can see how somone would get desperate enough to try the spoiled milk at the bottom of the stomach-bag... but how did we get around to actively culturing cheese and various types?  I’m sure someone’s written books on the subject. Recc’s anyone?

[goblin-gardens]

@thecheshirecass replied to your post “Maybe this is just me, but I see a lot of AUs where Bull is a gym...”

I agree completely. I don't have a problem with blue collar bull because I think people underestimate the intelligence and training of blue collar workers. BUT I've also got an au where he's the VP of planning at a civil engineering firm.

yes!! blue collar =/= stupid at all! the pattern where bull’s always the carpenter to dorian’s librarian, or the mailman to lavellan’s lawyer is the issue

@cryingaboutrobots said: 

I like to headcanon him as an architect or archaeologist in modern aus, solely because of his comments in the hissing wastes.

right!? imagine what he could do with 5 years of focused study!

[femmefatalestudios]

Doing some work on a rad rpg final boss design. It’s like what if you had a non-sexy, evil Harrison Ford.

 @cryingaboutrobots  @winterdraws  @iammatticus

Zoë Polando, 2017

[spiraling-leaves]

She is extremely elegant.

@mojimoe @cryingaboutrobots

[carolinacarnation]

tagged by @humming-fly - thank you! I hope you’re doing well ^v^

I. How old?: 22-AH I’m old YIKES

II. Current job?: Just got done being a Personal Assistant and now I’m doing some pet sitting and tutoring and stuff because GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATIONS

III. Dream job?: Astronomer--or working at NASA or LASP or something like that. I love space and I love learning new things about space. Although I wouldn’t argue with novelist either =)

IV. What are you talented at?: Um? Doing lots of things okay. I’m not AMAZING at anything except balancing everything I guess

V. What is a big goal you are working towards/ have achieved already?: GRAD SCHOOL GRAD SCHOOL GRAD SCHOOL

VI. What’s your aesthetic?: Warm, clear nights when you can see the stars; forests while it’s raining or snowing; comfortable reading nooks; fuzzy sweaters

VII. Do you collect anything?: Kinda? I have a bunch of Porcelain dolls, pressed pennies, model horses--that sort of thing

VIII. What’s a topic you always bring up in conversations?: ...a certain fandom...Also stuff my friends have said

IX. What’s a pet peeve of yours?: People saying my name and “I have a question” and then taking 5 minutes to actually spit it out. I have other things to do than wait on your every word thank you.

X. Good advice to give?: Be nice! As much as you can, and there are situations where it’s inconvenient of course. Also don’t procrastinate on stuff--pick one thing to get done every day (I need to follow my own advice)

XI. Recommend three songs or more: Hmm lets see,

All Time Low by Jon Bellion is my current favorite

Heathens by 21 Pilots

Jour 1 by Louane - it’s french but I like the sound of it :P

And as for tags, I’ll tag @fantasiesofthesea, @cryingaboutrobots, @adakaia, @artygal12, @songbird813, @sweetredbeans, @mauralucky7, @pidgeling, @superzephyrbase and anyone else who wants to!

[cappurrccino]

don't mind me just liking all of your magnus archives posts, i've just gotten into the series and boy howdy i love all the content

i LOVE it when i see someone go through one of my tags! glad you’re enjoying the archives and the content!

[spiraling-leaves]

undefined

Trying to work, but Cricket has opinions about hair.

@cryingaboutrobots