...and without its light that brings warmth forth, I feel chills of emptiness on my skin.
Last night I had a dream.
I were still having my works at home, while in the middle of chaos, I felt someone holding my hand. Surprised, I turned in that direction, and it was a person, a really dear person to me. One of those persons you keep close to your heart and you can wait years to meet. She came from far away, it was her first time in this country, yet it looked like it was a natural frame for her. Just that touch, just discovering her face, filled my chest of joy. I felt suavely overwhelmed by a feeling of sweet incredulity mixed to rampaging happiness. That kind of fulfillment that makes you forget about all your troubles and all your bitterness.
I'll skip on some of the details of said dream, but I can say it made me realize once more, how much I'd wish to share a smile face to face with that person.
Anyway the second week of training ended.
During the first day I still had some minor pain at the quadriceps, but that eventually went away the day after.
The other days have been quiet, during which I improved my efforts to train.
The last day, friday, was different. I felt reaaaaaaaaaaally lazy and not in the mood for it, but went to the park anyway. Jointly with my lack of enthusiasm the park was strangely filled with people, at least 10x the usual amount. So even attempting to run through, it ended as a dodge / slalom circuit. Quite different, but not the best for the purpose I had.
So all considered, it seems I survived to the first weekend break, which I was afraid would be my biggest threat. The all-day-training is proving useful for my lazy mind.
Beside this, I took part to FFXIV Beta Phase 2 (which ended a few days ago, I am now waiting for Phase 3 which will start mid-August).
I have to say the game is nice. At first we had terribly low speed to download the client, since it's a sort of p2p torrent downloader, ETA was... a few months. Some days after, evidently having more seeds, I managed to complete the download in 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The pc I tried the beta with barely met the min reqs. Even so, adjustic the graphic settings the game was playable. After a few days I realized the game was running in a more fluid way. It seems SE is working effectively on optimizing the game for the launch.
I'll skip over the details and mechanics everyone probably know already like Active / Passive mode, Armory system etc.
Overall the game mechanics worked fine, it felt different from the usual button smashing mmorpg, it had a more strategical feeling. Even with effects to min, the graphics were really astounishing, and the outskirts of Limsa Lominsa, the first city I've visited, looked really bucolic. Limsa Lominsa was really really big, its architecture develooped on several islands, connected by bridges and passages, with structures that had different plans. At first I got lost (for those who played Aion, L.L. is about 3-4 times bigger than Sanctum, and way less linear), but then got the hang of it. Mobs had an AI that you rarely find in a MMORPG, other than fighting on the spot, they tend to run away when low on health, to circle around you to attack you from the back, to call reinforcements, or to get advantage of terrain, especially if they have ranged attacks. If mobs are together they'll usually act as a party, buffing each other, healing among them, timing their attacks, even do the Tank & Spank like players would.
Other than the cookies I found anyway some minor issues that, standing to their notes (SE is seriousely listening to the testers, and fixing the game accordingly), should be corrected by the release time. Among those I thought to point to:
- Somehow clunky camera, it rotates too fast at times and there is no option to reassign keys or set the mouse sensibility.
- Lack of Jump / Sit actions (not really a biggie, but some people may be used to jump like rabbits and have fun from it).
- I felt the need of an hot-button for the interactions, without having to go through the main menu (accessible through the HOME key)
- Aswell as it was annoying to have to repositionate all your skills on your bar when you switch between classes.
Now I am eager to see the result of our testing into Phase 3.
If, like me, you guys want to try it too, and haven't been chosen so far, boost your chances applying to the contests for Beta Keys at:
Good Luck! :)
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