Last week was a bit of an emotional week for me. I said goodbye to my Playstation 2 version of Final Fantasy XI (as well as the XBox 360 version, though that was not quite as emotional). The last few months have been building up to it. Now it's finally over and done with.
The weekend before the end of the month, I decided that, with my full set of Artifact Equipment, and the impending end of console play, it was a good time to try tackling an Orb Battle. Orb Battles were the first kind of specialized battle content aside from several randomly spawning Notorious Monsters on the world map. They're also the only kind of specialized battle content I currently qualify to do. I have tried a few before on my own, and once a few months ago with a member of my linkshell, but I have failed considerably each time. In each battlefield I've tried, I have not had enough manpower to deal with the monsters inside.
In the morning, I asked in my linkshell if anyone would be interested in doing a three-person fight. I suggested one called Royal Jelly, chosen because it uses the lower-level of the two types of orbs that were first available in the game, at the battlefield closest to my home city. There was some initial level of interest, but only one person was ready to commit to it. Since we couldn't get three, I told her I'd ask around later that day and if she and someone else were available, we could try it.
After a break with my family decorating Easter eggs, I returned to the game in the evening and was able to get a party with the same person and one other who had expressed disinterest earlier in the day, but had apparently changed his mind. We decided on a party setup, and once everyone was ready, we went in.
It was fun. There was a ring of jelly-type monsters, each of which appeared to be standing still. One of my allies went in as either a Dancer/Blue Mage or a Blue Mage/Dancer, and went opposite us to fight on her own. The other was a Dragoon, and I had gone in as Warrior, and we worked on jellies together one at a time. It didn't take too long to beat one, and we whittled the group down one at a time. We met our ally in the middle and finished off the fight before any of us was in particularly grave danger. We got quite a bit more loot than I was expecting, including a few scrolls I obtained that I will hold until I get the appropriate jobs to that level. It was quite a nice experience.
Apparently, our Blue Mage Dancer's computer overheated just before the end of the fight, so she didn't get any of the loot. But either her or the other guy had brought along another Star Orb, so we did the fight again. It was a little closer the second time (presumably because some or all of us had used our special 1-hr abilities in the first fight) but we still beat it without any problems. I let my formerly disconnected ally have all the loot the second time, as I had scored all the loot the first time and the other guy had passed on all of it both times. The other guy also sent me his used Dragoon gear, which he decided he did not want anymore.
I learned online later that the Jellies actually were gradually moving to the center, and would have turned into a stronger monster had they reached it, with strength proportional to how many were left.
It was a positive experience for me, and overall a good note to spend my last weekend. I was glad of it. I think I'll try a few more of those down the road, maybe after I level some other jobs.
On Wednesday I logged in for a bit on my PS2. I didn't have any time Monday or Tuesday, and not much even on Wednesday. I had been planning on spending Wednesday and Thursday evening, but on Wednesday evening I realized that it was actually closing according to Japanese time, one hour before midnight, which corresponded to 8:00 AM local time. And Wednesday was a little busier at home than ideal, so I didn't really get to do much besides reminisce with some of my linkshell members about earlier days.
I remembered how excited I was when I brought my new PS2 hard drive with Final Fantasy XI home from the store and started installing and then playing it, all those years ago. It was the most I ever spent for a game, topping my previous record of Final Fantasy II(IV) for the Super NES when I was young (for some reason, I couldn't find that game for less than $70 when I purchased it brand new at retail). I bought Final Fantasy XI at the end of a high point in my life, just a few months before things really began to go south for me. I really enjoyed the game for a few months, but life got in the way, and every attempt I made later to get back into it just highlighted how much I had missed, and how much harder it would be to "catch up" to the mainstream population. Despite numerous times that I did get back into it for a few months, I never really did get the experience I invested in when I first purchased the game. Last week I cried a few tears over it. But overall I was glad that I had learned several months ahead of the upcoming closing, and I was glad I had decided to spend the money to restart my subscription and experience these last few months.
I logged in Thursday morning just long enough to travel to Jeuno and use a /yell command to say goodbye to my console versions. For full closure, I also booted up PlayOnline in the evening, and downloaded the PlayOnline update that officially closed access to the game from the system.
As I left the room feeling sad, I passed by my daughter excitedly jumping on her trampoline and smiled. Life hasn't always turned out how I wanted it, but it has nevertheless turned out good. I was grateful for the last few months, and very grateful for how the rest of my life has turned out in recent years.
A few days before the consoles shut down, I got my hands on a generic knockoff XBox 360 Wireless Controller Adapter for my PC and successfully installed it. I found to my delight that, unlike my PS3 controller with custom drivers I had downloaded, my Xbox 360 controller worked like a dream on the PC version of Final Fantasy XI, indistinguishable to me from the XBox 360 version of the game. I also verified that it looks great if I attach my laptop to our TV with an HDMI cable, also just like the XBox 360 version. I paid for the next month's subscription, so I'll play it on my PC at least until then, and probably longer unless we decide we need the money to fund my wife's home business that she is currently working on getting off the ground.
