Completed FFXIII

I just finished off the end-boss in Final Fantasy 13. I feel like I’ve accomplished something. It may be about time that I get back into the groove of working with Second Life in my spare time again.

As far as the game play went, most of the game was spent waiting to start walking about in the world. The majority of the game is strait forward. You know which way to go, and you don’t have any other options really until it’s really late in the game. Grinding isn’t really needed until you start walking about in the world as well. When you do need to start grinding, there are times when all you do for days is just grind. I tried to go through all of the missions, but it appears that some of the monsters are too tough until after you beat the game. That’s pretty much the worst of it.

The game itself is stunning with it’s animated scenes, game play, and storyline. In fact, I had to hold back from tearing up in the end. Each character has been developed pretty deeply and they all intertwine with each other. Each enemy has some pretty tricky AI to figure out. The battle system is setup in such a way that you sometimes need to approach the battle in different configurations and strategies until you are successful. It’s pretty interesting, but at times can have you running to Google or YouTube to figure out what other people suggest to bring down certain foe. It’s mainly the bosses that you’ll need to run off and find information regarding a proper strategy. The last fight of the game was shockingly the easiest. I didn’t need to lookup information to win as my first attempt was over in no time at all.

I also tried to return to FFXI. I had it running on the PS3 and found it difficult to use the game. I finally got the hang of it, but it is pretty limited. I then tried to play it on the computer and found that it was even harder to work with. It’s definitely meant to be a console game. The graphics from FFXI look like they are done through software rendering. The textures on each face are not smooth and the lighting in each environment keeps making me think that there needs to be more contrast. I’m looking forward to FFXIV, as it will probably be developed with the PS3 in mind. Many changes have come through since it first debuted 2003.

Speaking of graphics, there was one thing that kept nagging at me when playing FFXIII. Textures with bits that seemed to glow would sort of pulsate as you walked. When you stopped walking, the glowing was static. It seemed to be more of a rendering fluke to me.

A return to Final Fantasy XI

In Final Fantasy XI, I came up with the name of “Dedric” for my character. From that point on, I had used it for many other games such as Star Wars Galaxies, The Sims Online, Project Entropia, and then eventually for Second Life.

While taking a breather from Final Fantasy XIII, I started looking into Final Fantasy XI. My PS2 was stolen a few years back. I discovered that my PS3 was able to recognize that the disc needed a hard drive. The PS3 prompted me to create a HDD and needed me to clear 13 GB of space. Too bad I couldn’t put my original PS2 hard drive in it, as everything is already installed there. After I made enough room, it took a while to create and format a hard drive for the PS2. I’m assuming it’s a virtual hard drive of some kind.

I went through and installed the PlayOnline client. I was pleasantly surprised that it recognized the wireless connection on the PS3 as sort of a wired LAN connection. I didn’t have to setup any wireless information (password, type, SSID, etc.) or add a new MAC address to the list of permitted PC’s to access the network. The whole experience felt like I was working with a Virtual PC – but for a gaming system. When I tried to connect to Square-Enix’s PlayOnline service, it said the credentials were not valid. I had all the information written down, so I knew for a fact that it was correct.

I went to the website and found that the same problem occurred there as well. Their password retrieval process has got to be the worst I have seen. First, there is no “forgot password” link. There are no links to anything. I had to google for information before I found the support site. Apparently password retrieval is not a common question listed on the FAQ. I had to go through and search to find out how to reset your Final Fantasy XI password. The article stated that my information should be submitted on the site, such as the last four digits of my credit card, address, date of birth, phone number, email on account, contact email, first/last name, date registered, registration code, etc. It was pretty detailed with everything that they wanted. I got an email Friday afternoon that I needed to contact support by email or phone during business hours – pacific time. It felt pretty pointless to ask me for all of that information if they were just going to send me a basic form letter to call support (with even less information).

After a long weekend wait, I was able to call into the support desk. After a 25 minute wait time (and a constant repeating message of what information to have on hand every 30 seconds), I got to speak to a person. It turns out that my account doesn’t exist any longer. After three months to one year, the account is deleted. I can’t register for another account with my registration codes as they are a one-time use only. There were two options that he gave me. The first was to buy a new copy of the software, or to wait until they have a program start back up (once a year) for old people to come back. From the looks of it, I would not meet the requirements to do the “return Home to Vana’diel” campaign.

I really wasn’t happy with either choice. I had already purchased the program for the PC in 2003, and then again once it was available for the PS2. I didn’t see why I should have to pay again. In the past, I handed the registration code for the PS2 to my wife to try out on her computer. The program to grab old accounts was new to me. I had never seen an email about it – and I’ve searched just to verify. The last communications from them was back in January of 2006 with a news letter around the time my PS2 was stolen. The gentlemen stated that I would need to check the website for when the next promotional period would start.

In general, I was just looking to see if I could get it working again to see what has changed. I’m not really up for spending 150.0 US$ to get the game and four expansion packs (The Vana’diel Collection) for the PS2. Getting Final Fantasy XI without expansion packs for PS2 alone is $60 and comes with a hard drive that would collect dust with the other one that I have. With Final Fantasy XIV around the corner, I can wait. On the other hand, the PC version is $1.99. The registration codes for the PC game should also work for the PS2.

After digging around some more, I found that I could try out a free 14 day trial of the latest expansions and game for the PC. I was able to download FFXI on FilePlanet. During the registration process, I was asked for a registration code. I was stuck again as a code was not emailed to me, and the Key on FilePlanet for the final fantasy XI trial download was too long for what they were asking for. I searched the internet and found a page to request a free trial key. The PlayOnline viewer looks the same as ever, but FFXI is something I have yet to see. It’s downloading updates and claims that I need to wait ten hours before it downloads them all.

It’s a little unsettling in how information is scattered about, and that you need to use Google (or another search engine) to find information that should be listed on the companies website.

Life Updates

I haven’t been blogging much. For one, I have been “away” playing Final Fantasy XIII. My laptop was also paying a visit to the Geek Squad again at BestBuy. Today, I received a new laptop because it met the “Bad Lemon” clause (turned in old laptop with same problem four times). I’ve also been working with SL at my day job, so comming into SL during the evenings isn’t something I was looking forward to. I can see why some Lindens may choose not to log in during their off ours, as they too need a place other than “work” to relax. Still playing Final Fantasy XIII, so I may not be posting as much over the next few days.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

Copy/Trans business attire needed #inSL. Email lmoten@csc.com with image/price

I have a need for some outfits that are business friendly for male and female. This is for a corporate environment. I am looking for fashion designers that already have clothing available – nothing custom made. Clothing needs to be copyable and transferable. Must not be business in a box (BIB). Please send images of outfits and price.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

A good avatar

I’m debating if I should submit photos of myself and my avatar for the advertising campaign with Linden Lab. I’ve been seeing quite a few of these around the internet and now the Lab is asking residents to submit their own pictures. I have an avatar, but I don’t have a suitable background.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

There.com is closing down

When I first joined second life, folks often mentioned There.com. I checked it out for myself every now and then, but today I received an email stating that it is closing down Tuesday.

Some people have welcome areas setup for people migrating from There. Just searching the groups in Second Life search returns the following:

• there.com Survivors
• We Were THERE
• Forever There
• From There to here
• Thereians of SL
• Blue Flame Mafia
• CLUB 420

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

FilterCam Contest Results

I got a notice from Flickr today that someone added my FilterCam contest entry to a gallery. I took a look and it led me to FilterCam Contest – Judges Selections. I didn’t rank in the top, but I did get an honerable mention for the desert scene.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

Video to DVD

I have a little project that I’ve been tasked with. The general need is to create a few videos, string them together, and create a movie that will loop repeatedly for a presentation. I usually go with making a full windows media file for videos using Windows Movie Maker, but tonight I looked into how to make DVD’s, and if this could be done. It turns out that Windows DVD Maker allows you to automatically start playing movies, and run on a continuous loop. It’s nice to see that there is a free tool included with Windows that can do something like this.

The hardest part is being patient while the DVD is encoding.

Artist Jam Session

I decided to have a little jam session between a few people to work on creating a picture together. Unfortunately, I jumped the gun with poor planning. A couple people showed up, but were not there for the event.

A couple people looked, and one other dabbled other than myself. So here is the drawing.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous

Colorillo Magic

I did more experimenting with Colorillo and found a way to line up the canvas to cover a full prims face (1260×635, 0.39×0.488, -0.24x-0.162). With this, I was able to then change the prim into a sphere. Unfortunately, I couldn’t change the color of the brush since the palette was not in view. I colored the whole texture blue, and then I was able to start writing directly on the sphere. The 2D version of the texture made it appear that my text was warped and curved as I wrote letters around the object. There were a few problems when the text wrapped to the other side of the texture that resulted in some horizontal lines in the image, or rings on the sphere. I saved the final image and uploaded it in-world. What a fun little experiment.

Posted via email from dedricmauriac’s posterous