Been so damn busy with work, racing against time and deadline. I feel a bit stressed out, and was looking for a way to temporarily escape relax, and thought I could upload some screenshots from my first week in “sea.”

The first creature to greet me once I was set free from an epic cutscene was Ul’hpemde, or the friendly “Goldfish.” I personally would call it a Pink Dolphin, LOL! But well, yeah it has soft, waving tail and fins that look more like a goldfish.

The monsters in Hpemde family are non-aggressive. You could even cast spells like Flash on it, and it won’t attack you, as long as you do no damage to its HP. So it is said to be a great target to skill up your non-damage spells.

I think the reason why adventurers gave nicknames to creatures in “sea” was because the Zilartian names are so hard to read, pronounce, remember, or even spell. So, yeah, it’s easier and faster to refer to them as some simpler names.

The next one was Ul’yovra, or the famous “UFO.” Monsters in Yovra family are aggressive, and they fly high over your head, and will be not target-able until it aggro someone and come down. Corn said they’re slow and easy to kite to lose aggro, especially if you have Gravity. So he made one pop and showed me….  Heh, yeah look safe and easy, but I was still scared. He told me to go near it while he was kiting (but but …. me scared!) Oh well, he said it’s ok and it will depop (go up) soon, so I got close and took this screenshot.

It went back after a few seconds after this screenshot was taken.

Then they pulled a pair of Ul’xzomit or the “Squid.” They came in pair, called mother squid and baby squid. They do not aggro, and of course, they look very similar to squid. This was making me hungry, nummm!!!

Then, I saw a “Shark” or Ul’phuabo. The sharks are fast and aggressive. They are usually the cause of death for adventurers because they swim very fast. For me they look more like sting ray than shark, but I guess the deadly nature of Phuabo made us name them shark instead. They’re blue and have long, beautiful tail. I did not take any screenshot because I was too scared to go near them. I think I’ll have some screenshots later, after I learn and get used to the safe distance of aggro range.

Then I just ran around. First I followed Corn and Ark to the palace. But the gate was locked and I could not access without completing the mission 8-1, Garden of Antiquity.

Oh…..and after a while, I just realized that I forgot to turn on the weather effect ; ; So yeah…. I was a bit mad at myself because I’ve taken a lot of screenshot without the clouds ><;; Guhhhh!

The view with weather effect was much, much more fantastic-looking.

I was there taking screenshots and meanwhile feeling scared and unsafe, because a shark could creep up behind or below me any time. LOL!

This screenshot above is the same angle as the previous one, but a bit further back.

This is the bridge of the Grand Palace, whose name is so hard to spell or remember.

The monster in this pic was one of the Aern family, non-aggressive. It has shape similar to human with wings.

Then I ran around alone looking for all 20 NPCs to talk to. This is the mini-quest to obtain map. I’m a map freak. I don’t feel safe without a map. So I usually try to get the keyitem map for every map I visit. This is one of the lucky places where I can obtain map solo since the first day of arrival.

I stayed because I like the scenery, and I wanted the map really badly. It was the combination of curiosity, fear, and excitement. Was my first day in sea after all, so I wanted to spend long time in the place.

The last NPC I found was far north, in the west corner of the crystalline field’s barrier.

That day I got my Al’Taieu map, and went to bed happily Hehehe.

Thank you, all the battle comrades that strained your sleep schedule to help me in my missions.

*Spoiler alert*
This entry contains some facts and trivial information that might give away the storyline or important secret.

Behold, the arrival of the last leg of my journey towards Sea, or Al’Taieu, is now before your eyes.

After a long struggle, a great effort, and an incredible help from friends on several occasions, today I finally beat CoP mission no. 7-5: The Warrior’s Path, or Tenzen Battle. Then the amazing, shocking truth was unfolded. We were shown a long and epic cutscene telling the long and winding storyline’s turn point.

First, I was so thrilled to actually see the Mothercrystal. It is so huge!! And seems powerful. No wonder why almost everyone was fighting for an access to it LOL. All our battle comrades were also there, Prishe, Ulmia, Louverance, Shikaree Z, and Jabbos….. We all were surprised to see the 5th Mothercrystal, while Ulmia sensed something different of this crystal to the other 4. She said other crystals emits energy of warmth and peace, while this one is chilly. Sounds evil, huh?

And suddenly Selh’teus made his appearance. *shudder*

He said this Mothercrystal does not belong to Vana’diel, but Al’Taieu since the submerge 10,000 years ago. He went on about the loss of energy that resulted in drawing the crystal and Al’Taieu back to Vana’diel. In short, if this Mothercrystal’s power fades, Al’Taieu as well as the Keeper of Apocalypse would return to Vana’diel and cause chaos or destruction.

Then Tenzen, and the 3 Tarutaru siblings (brats!) showed up. Tenzen also confirms that statement and added that Selh’teus has been to 4 Mothercrystals to absorb the energy, in order to pour that energy into this 5th crystal. His goal is to prevent the wake of Keeper of Apocalypse.

Then came the shocking news……..

Selh’teus said he could not carry the light, the crystal’s energy. So he’s been using me (or us…. every player) as the container. So now as I, who’s bearing the light, is before the 5th Mothercrystal, they plan to smash me into pieces, like a broken jar, to release the light into the crystal.

In short, they want me to die.

Oh….you bastards.

Even the mischievous Tarutaru kids were so shocked.

Then Selh’teus reached to me…. Saying I must return to the crystal.It is the only way to save Vana’diel from destruction.

Oh no you meanie ><;; Keep your hands off me!

Luckily Prishe does not agree (well, I guess others don’t agree too, but they were too shocked to react) so she stepped in to protect me. If you look clearly, you would notice me kneeling in weakened state behind her LOL.

So she said I don’t deserve to die, for there must be another resolution. She said we have the potential, we have the light, and our spirits are strong, so we should be able to defeat the Keeper of Apocalypse. So she’s all against the idea of killing us as a sacrifice to save the world. She also told Tenzen that Phoenix must have planned to resurrect us after killing us to release the power of light, too. However, she does not support the idea, she told Selh’teus he should pour the energy of the 5th crystal into us, and let us go to Al’Taieu to defeat the Keeper of Apocalypse.

Suddenly, Nag’molada made a grand appearance. I can’t remember precisely, but I think he knocked Prishe and Selh’teus over with some beam. He said, yes, open the gate to Al’Taieu!

I don’t know what he’s up to. He’s so hard to understand. I only know that I never liked him

Everyone else got into battle stance…. He is an enemy!

Nag’molada got the Amulet, and he talked to Selh’teus about the past, and something Selh’teus used to say long ago (wow, time to reminisce, eh?) about opening the way to Al’Taieu and opening the Gate of the Gods.

Then Nag’molada said it is unfair Selh’teus is making us take responsibility of the Zilartian’s sins, so he would take the burden off my shoulders (whoa, how generous!?) and also take the power…. (guh! bastard!)

Then he used the Amulet to absorb the light from us. Noooo! The light of Mothercrystal got stolen!

Then we (or actually, I) must have gone unconscious, because I saw a dream, or rather a flashback….

They talked about the original Mothercrystal that was in the eternal paradise or something, and how it got smashed into 5 separated pieces, causing the eternity to end and dwellers in the paradise to change form or something…..

Well, frankly I can’t really comprehend what they were saying ; ; The concept of Emptiness and the will of Altana vs. the will of Promathia is so complicated. I would have to read carefully to understand that. Reading from a long cutscene in the game, while a bunch of friends are waiting for me outside of the battlefield does not give me a relaxing enough time to try to understand everything in the story.

Anyway, Yve’noile or the Dawn Maiden said that the Crystal Warriors were supposed to keep destroying darkness or something, but they, too, cannot escape from the Emptiness that is creeping into everything. And she said something that sounded like….. Emptiness is the shadow that was born from the light. So, where there’s light, there’s shadow, and there’s Emptiness.

Then the dream of flashback ended, and I was spat out on the other end of the battlefield….. Into Sea, Al’Taieu.

Nag’molada, however, got here unharmed. (Why!!!???) And he walked passed the dead body me without even glancing. Man, I could of sworn that if I were in his path, he would even step on me and wouldn’t care.

Then he, who was overwhelmed with the joy from gaining access to the ancient capital, Al’Taieu, went kinda crazy like a mad scientist….or a brainwashed member of some cult LOL.

But then he got all mad and yelled at me because he couldn’t hear the whisper of the soul, accusing me of thinking too loud and thus interfering with his receptivity…. Bleh, what a jerk!

Then he realized that all other people in there were sent here as well. And he mentioned something about going to visit the grand palace, then left.

Phew, that moron finally left me alone. So now I can enjoy the new scenery of the new land, the lost capital of Al’Taieu.

(Click for larger image)

And then the next chapter of Chains of Promathia began….

I’m now still disappointed that I forgot to turn on weather effect before all that. So my screenshots got plain and boring sky instead of the real one ; ;

Anyway, after all the long conversation and vision, I found myself in a while new realm….

Arkades, Dragonkng, Cornelious, and me.

Everything looked so bizarre and creepily beautiful. I felt very excited seeing Sea the first time. The view, the floor, the sky, the buildings, and the enemies, were all weird, yet wondrous.

And I was greeted by the Goldfish-Dolphin. Creeps me out a little, but when it’s following someone else, it looks cute.

Thank you everyone, for helping me accomplish another step of CoP mission. ^_^

Bleh! So today I updated my Vista to Service Pack 2 and installed some of the optional updates that I’ve been ignoring for so long. One of them was NVIDIA update. And I did the Benchmark for FFXIV again and got a slightly better result.

The score is soooooooooooo low, except if FFXIV Benchmark is using different scale than of FFXI. Because my score on FFXI Benchmark 3 is 7403 (Impossible to Gauge) Well, if 1372 is really a low score (would be Easy Prey if we use FFXI Benchmark score scale) I will have to upgrade my PC big time. ><;; Booooo!!!

Digging into my screenshot folders…

Been busy with work and real life, so I didn’t have time to write what I wanted to write ; ;

I’ll come back to write about it later.

Hmm! So I just remembered I had already downloaded Benchmark file for FFXIV but never run it! Today I ran it, first it said error. For a few times I kept trying with frustration. But Dr. Google knows it all, so I searched what was going on with that error message, and found that I needed to update my DirectX9. So I did, and woot~ Benchmark could now run!

This is the score.

I have Vista service Pack 1 though….. Can’t even install FFXIV Beta. Bleh.

Maybe I’ll need a new PC, or some minor upgrades on my PC, since it’s already 3 years old and the LCD screen currently keep on blinking for like 5 mins everytime I start up my PC. But I am damn sure I’m not going to buy PS3. I’m more a PC person, so it’s gonna be a waste of money to buy a whole new console machine just for 1 game which I can also play on computer XD

So today I woke up…. And logged on FFXI for some quick FoV pages. When I changed from WHM to MNK, I thought to myself (and probably spoke out loud) “Why the hell am I lv 78? I was 79 last time I was on Monk!”

Then I tried to think if I had deleveled…

Negative!

Then I checked my EXP…hmmmp! Less than 4,000 TNL.

Then I tried to recall when was the last time I was on my Monk…. I went to Sacrarium on Wednesday noon to obtain the map.

Had to think for a long time to remember, because this past few days I got too much of a drama going on RL. And even when I was in the game, sometimes I still thought about it or had to deal with the matter, so my focus wasn’t on the game….therefore I kind of did FFXI stuff without remembering the most of it.

I’m getting mad now as I’m writing my blog entry…because something is wrong either with my server or my home internet and I can’t upload pics.

T.T

OK Here comes the pic… Uhhh I could upload the pics but can’t attach it in my blog. RAWR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, keep trying ; ;

Then what? Hmmmm….right, I changed to WHM and joined Corn and DK for a small adventure. Got my WHM to 76 from leeching their EXP (teeheehee!) Then logged out for BD dinner with family. After that, I haven’t logged on at all because I was tired.

So…

Before and after going to Sacrarium, I have been lv 78. But what was my level progress before Sacrarium?

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock….. Oh right, I logged off in Ro’Maeve after doing pages with Ark there. We id a lot of pages and I got so close to 79, but I was so tired, both physically and psychologically, so that night I logged out before I got to lv 79!

But then why did I have an impression that I was 79? =_=;;

Maybe I was dreaming it up from anticipation LOL!

Then I decided to just forget it and went to Cape Teriggan with Corn and Holy. After fighting a few mobs, while I was spamming Enter Key to select stuff in JA menu, I suddenly recalled that I used to felt like that before…. I then remembered that I was dreaming about me using new Job Ability…. The “Perfect Counter” which Monk obtains at lv 79! So yeah, I must have dreamt in my sleep that I got to lv 79, then the vague memory carried on when I was awake, and it blended with reality LOL!

Just shocks me to see how much I was anticipating about getting lv 79 and new ability on my Monk. Yeah I’m born Monk! Muwahahaha!

Anyway, today my dream came true, I got to level 79.

Well, while we were killing Rabbits, Corn ran over and pulled Tegmine. He could solo it on his NIN. So I and Holy kept fighting the linked Bunnies to do our page. Then the bunnies died, so we joined in, speeding up the kill on Tegmine.

I was thinking….I might level up on Tegmine, because I was so close after we finished the first page. So I opened my eyes widely and waited for the moment to hit the “print screenshot” button. Then….then…then it died…. But….so quiet. Nothing happened. Corn ran away looking for FoV targets. I stood there at Tegmine’s corpse and stared at my screen like dumb for a few seconds.

Oh…. Oh! You damn cheap bastard!!!

1 exp TNL! Uhhhhhhhh! I can’t believe this!

Just…..blarghedy blargh!!

1 more exp….just 1 more exp and it wouldn’t let me have it. Lame crab T^T.

So yeah…. Next pic explains it all. Enough said.

I’m still looking gleely forward to getting to lv 80 though.

Well, I was cleaning out my Mog House to make space for the Mog Bonanza Marbles, and I threw away a lot of stuff. Mamool Ja something Key, for example. Then I found this Mnk. Testimony that’s been sitting in my Mog Locker for ages. I was reluctant to throw it away, for some reason. LOL. So, yeah I thought I might as well go and pay respect to the elder!

Off I went, to Jeuno to challenge him! J/K, I went there to see if I’m lucky enough to get a free warp to the Battlefield entrance. But no, it seems he doesn’t give free warp anymore, since I’ve won against him once with my White Mage already. So, I had to use Moogle Warp Whore (Super Kupowers are awesome!) to warp to Windurst, then took a Chocobo to Giddeus.

I went in naked, like many people suggested in various strategies against Maat.
I ate a piece of Sole Sushi before engaging.
I charged my Boost to the maximum before I attacked with Chi Blast.

I, however, forgot to use Focus and Dodge before engage, so I didn’t have time to use them during the fight at all, in fear of losing time (by “time” I mean the time in attacking, because using 2 JA during fight will add some delay, resulting in me wasting a few seconds instead of just pummeling at Maat, which might result in me dying from his punches while I do so.)
I forgot to engage before pulling, so I wasted a few second hitting the “attack” button.
I didn’t use my Hundred Fists at start. I popped it after I saw that he was kicking my ass badly.

I did win.

I did, barely, win.

With 69 HP left…. After using Chakra!

I didn’t think I would win so when Maat finally let me go, I couldn’t believe it. I kept checking the chat log to see if I actually won the battle. LOL

(Maat : So, you decided to show up.)
(Maat : Now it’s time to see what you’re really made of, heh heh heh.)
(Maat : Ungh… That’ll hurt in the morning…)
Aleczan Chi Blast  Maat 585.
Maat hits Aleczan 89.
Maat hits Aleczan 87.
Maat hits Aleczan 34.
Aleczan hits Maat 66.
Maat misses.
Maat hits Aleczan 100.
(Maat : Ungh… That’ll hurt in the morning…)
Aleczan hits Maat 85.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 146.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 136.
Maat hits Aleczan 99.
Maat counters attack Aleczan 208.
Maat hits Aleczan 103.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 115.
Aleczan hits Maat 67.
Maat hits Aleczan 116.
Maat hits Aleczan 99.
Aleczan uses Chakra, recovering 298 HP.
Aleczan uses Hundred Fists.
Maat hits Aleczan 40.
Aleczan hits Maat 57.
Aleczan hits Maat 75.
Maat hits Aleczan 123.
Maat hits Aleczan 37.
Aleczan hits Maat 61.
Aleczan hits Maat 79.
Aleczan hits Maat 86.
(Maat : Now that I’m warmed up…)
Aleczan hits Maat 65.
Maat uses Hundred Fists.
Aleczan hits Maat 82.
Aleczan hits Maat 36.
Aleczan misses.
Aleczan hits Maat 71.
Aleczan hits Maat 19.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 154.
Aleczan hits Maat 63.
Aleczan hits Maat 60.
(Maat : Ungh… That’ll hurt in the morning…)
Maat hits Aleczan 100.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 158.
(Maat : Ungh… That’ll hurt in the morning…)
Maat hits Aleczan 129.
Aleczan scores a critical hit 138.
Aleczan hits Maat 66.
Aleczan hits Maat 95.
Maat hits Aleczan 132.
(Maat : Hm. That was a mighty fine display of skill there, Aleczan. You’ve come a long way…)
Aleczan hits Maat 56.
Aleczan hits Maat 59.
Maat hits Aleczan 110.
Aleczan hits Maat 79.
Battlefield clear time: 3 minutes, 49 seconds!
The current battlefield clear time record is 51 seconds.
Aleczan’s SJ Restriction effect wears off.
Aleczan’s Hundred Fists effect wears off.

Total damage dealt to Maat, by me : 2565. So it means he has slightly more than 2565 HP total because he stopped beating me up before his HP was 0.

Total damage I’ve taken from Maat : 1606, but I’ve use Chakra to recover 298 HP. So it was 1308. I had 69 HP left when he let me go.

Honestly I was nervous and though I was dead LOL. Didn’t expect to win after seeing my HP going down below 100 like that.

Why would I suddenly want to beat Maat as a Monk now?

Because I’ve always been regretting for not beating him the first time with my Monk. It’s not a biggies but it kinda hurts my pride as a self-proclaimed Monk. I was always bitter about my White Mage hitting 75 before Monk, and such…. So, at least for once in my adventuring life, I want to prove, to none other than myself, that I am a real Monk. And one thing that a real Monk can’t miss is to kick Maat’s ass as a Monk, right?

So….yeah, just for the hell of it, I went there and challenged the Monk Maat. 1/1 success! Wootga!

Oh and just for the record, my White Mage battle went 1/2. First attempt he completely beat the crap out of me, sending my squishy WHM flying across the arena. I was bummed out for a day, but next day I tried again with a newly farmed WHM Test.