February 3rd, 2010: Final Fantasy Mentors

Well, not quite back again, but I did go pretty far for a guy rockin' level eight (although admittedly it was seven by the time I reached San Andreas - er, San d'Oria.

Yunami's friend Kurriel caught up to me, and supervised a bit of my early leveling, and we tooled around San Andreas for a little while.

Again solo, it was back to pounding the pavement. And by pavement, I mean the grass. I stopped to chill with another fallen friend, who quietly poofed without saying a word.

Shortly afterward, I found myself in over my head, and Spidergear came to my rescue. Despite my protests, he insisted on giving me a linkshell for the Final Fantasy Mentors. I was in a bit of a sullen mood as it was, and not ready to join a guild, but in the end I'm glad he hooked me up.

Nabbing a new robe, it was back to the grind - that's my FFM linkshell next to my name. I think I felt guilty after a while, or that he'd be angry with me for not being more gracious and wearing it, so I put it on. Too bad it's such a dull blue color.

Then it was back to Bastok. I don't know how I got there. I'm pretty sure it was an OP warp, but I'm not positive. Approximately twenty-four minutes passed between the last San Andreas screenshot and the first Bastok one, so running is out of the question, and finding a teleport to Konschtat Highlands and running seems unlikely too!

As it turned out Palborough Mines was a little above my level, at least for what I needed to do, and a quick death sent me back to Bastok!

February 2nd, 2010: To Jeuno and San Andreas and Back Again

Well, not quite back again, but I did go pretty far for a guy rockin' level eight (although admittedly it was seven by the time I reached San Andreas - er, San d'Oria.

This was the first airship I saw, and I was a little disappointed I couldn't just hop right on. But it was inspiring, so I decided to go exploring. There wasn't a whole lot to see in the Gustabergs on the surface of things, but shortly after I did stop long enough to chill with a fallen comrade (who thanked me for stopping after warping back to his Home Point).

The first notable thing I came across was this big ol' crag in the Konschtat Highlands. From there I glanced at my map, the last area I had a map for, and rolled into the Passhow Marshlands, because it sounded tasty and made me think of marshmellows. Turns out it was full of big, intimidating things that scared the crap outta me, but I kept on runnin'.

Yunami caught up to me around here via chocobo, but then fled the scene to join her cohorts elsewhere!

I finally made it through Rolanberry to Jeuno, and this was the first time I realized the game was a lot bigger than it let on! There were people everywhere, and it was pretty cool to see. Of course, everything was super expensive and the place was surrounded with monsters far beyond my level, so I just couldn't say.

After a brief and quick death at the hands of a Skink, I decided to go the other way and ended up in Jugner Forest. A few more deaths took place here, till I finally made it to La Theine Plateau. There was some gorgeous scenery!

After spotting another crag and realized there must be something to these things, I died again, and was graciously raised by a passing mage. From across the world Yunami advised me to head towards San d'Oria. This little taru was sitting off in the middle of nowhere, so I asked him how to get to the main road to San Andreas, and he graciously showed me the way - thanks Minute!

The place was far prettier than the Gustabergs, I'll say! Much more fantastic than the dusty area outside of Bastok. Here I met up with Yunami and her friend Agorako, and we made a new acquaintance, Dissonum. He's the kinda guy who has a way of treating a woman that makes me feel like a moron beside him, but he seems like a nice enough guy all things considered.

And so, after a little exploring and some brief killing, it was time to call it a night! Might be staying here a while, it's much easier on the eyes than Bastok!

February 1st, 2010: Day One

Day one, the very first shot of a Cinnaris not more than minutes old! I was still rockin' that cute little question mark.

Luckily, Yunami was there to meet and great me (after an annoying mandatory game-starting cutscene), and show me the lay of the land.

Xedash stopped by, and I led them on a trek from the Bastok Market entrance to the lighthouses, dodging mobs too dangerous for me along the way. Actually, I think they followed me just in case I got in over my head.

Then it was right into the grind, me swinging my lil' ankh thingy while Yunami acted as the Burgess Meredith to my Rocky.

Then it was down to the mines, where Yunami, rockin' a newer job to start us off closer (White Mage, Summoner? Can't recall!), and I both cleaned the place of bats! Not quite level ten, but I still managed to get a few under my belt, and even stayed up a little after she left to try and keep pace with her.