Lost in Girdania....my first two Final Fantasy Game Logs

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GAME LOG VII

Game:  Final Fantasy 14

Day:  November 1, 2015

Hours of Play:  8:50pm - 11:00pm (2.0  hours)

Progression:  Completed one quest..."Attained" Level I

Game Reflections: I created my character for the game a few days before.  I suppose I didn’t have much imagination because my character ended up to be much similar to my D&D character...an Elven Archer..  I actually didn’t do that on purpose at first, but somehow it ended up that way.  Therefore, I decided to give my character the same first name as my D&D character, Ambria.  As for the last name, however, I decided to shy away from that name because my husband thought that “Ambria Timberwood” sounded like the name of a porn star.  My character was said to be a cave dweller, and so I thought of Laurel Caverns in Western PA, where I had visited often when I was younger.  I took a form of that name and my Elf became Ambria Lura.  I thought it was a pretty good name and less adult-film actress-like.

I’ll admit that I had a lot of help just getting set up with the game.  My older son downloaded it for me and even made a file with little hints of how to access the game for when he wasn’t there. My other son, and class guru extraordinaire, helped me get the character created.  

Starting the game was exciting, the music and the graphics made it seem like I truly would be entering a different world.   I, well..Ambria, started out on a sort of flying wagon that was taking me to Gridania.  An old man, Bremondt, talked to me a little, giving me some of the background of the land I was heading towards. Gridania lies in the Black Shroud, in the Eorzea forest.

By this time, I had summoned a friendly Guru to help me out a bit.  I was provided with a headset by my older son, and he set me up to talk with Brad on “Curse”.  Brad was very patient and listened to my endless series of questions and comments:  “how do you do this?...why did it do that?...How do I find that?...”

My first task was to go to the Carline Canopy and register.  I had to speak with Mother Miounne and sign the book.  But since this was the simplest of tasks, I succeeded.

My next quest was the “Close to Home” quest which involved three tasks:  1)_ visit the aetheryle and touch the surface; 2) visit the Archers guild and 3) Visit the markets and Speak to Parsemontret.  

I was fortunate to have Floraline Adorim come and teleport to my location and she helped me get around a bit by letting me follow her.  But I couldn’t totally rely upon her because she could not see the quest that I was working on.  Still, it helped to have someone in game with me.  We played around with some of the “social” buttons, dancing, kneeling, cheering, and even hugging. (which was more like grasping thin air)             

   Me and Floraline

After over two hours, of which much was spent walking in circles and walking into walls or trees, I finally finished this very easy “Close to Home” quest!  Go me!

Things I learned today:

1. Taking on a new identity represented by your avatar is very easy in this game.  It is also easy to immerse yourself in the game and to forget that the avatars you are interacting with aren’t the real people.  When Floraline and I started using the social buttons and dancing etc, I considered her as Foraline….and I wanted to cheer for her, clap or give her the thumbs up, etc.  For a little while, I forgot who the real person was behind the character.  As Dr. Turkle points out, “When we step through the screen into virtual communities, we reconstruct our identities on the other side of the looking glass”.  In this way, I was able to shed my real world identity as “Mom” and project the personality of my character, and also I was able to visualize Floraline as Floraline, rather than my son.

2. I learned that both my sons are very patient.

GAME LOG VIII

Game:  Final Fantasy 14

Day:  November 3, 2015

Hours of Play:  11:00pm - 1:00am (2.0  hours )

Progression:  Completed two short quests:   A good Adventurer is Hard to Find and Coarse Correspondence (still level I)

Even though I played for two hours, the first hour was pretty much me just wandering around lost trying to do the Coarse Correspondence quest that I had accepted last session.  This game challenges some of my most lacking skills, mainly hand/eye coordination and map-reading!  So much of my time was spent walking in circles and walking into walls, trees, etc.

AMBRIA, Lost in the woods, walking into boulders

 I kept trying to use the maps to navigate, but it seemed the little blue arrow which represented me kept disappearing.  I was so frustrated because I just wanted to get to the place where I could complete the quest.  

Because I was frustrated, I decided to project my emotions onto my character in the game and see if maybe, just maybe someone in the general vicinity would respond and maybe help me out a bit.

First I tried out some emotes and I learned to sit.  I sat down, dejectedly in front of two girl characters and cried .  I thought maybe they’d ask me what was wrong, but they just stared at me.  I figured that their human counterparts, probably were not at the keyboard, but then, they crossed their arms and such.  But they never spoke.  They stared at me the entire time, while I tried the following emotes:  dissappointed, sulk, cry, change positions.  Finally I got up and one of the girls left. I went outside,walked into numerous walls and trees and then then came back in.  The other girl was still in the same position.  I went up to her and typed in “You still here?   She crossed her arms again, and just stared at me.  But then, she reached up with her hand and put her hair behind her ear in an almost flirting manner. This was getting weird!  

Another person entered near us.  He was wearing a skirt and some gloves.  I said "Nice outfit" But got no response.  I think that I need to learn the mechanics of speaking.  Or maybe people don't like to talk?  

I decided to go leave that gal, and go sit down where there was another person sitting.  I cried in front of her, no response. Another person came up and had a like a pet fairy.  The fairly flew near me and so I clapped for it and cheered.  The owner of the fairy thing "bowed courteously to me"  That was the first time I got a response from anyone and it was kind of fun!  

Somehow, I figured out how to navigate the map and found my way to the person who I was supposed to give the letter to.  Quest completed in the slowest time ever, I’m sure.

While I was hanging around the leatherworkers’ Guild,  a “guy” named Blair Morgan approached my general location.  He kneeled before me.  Hmmmm, what to do?  I quickly cycled through the emotes and chose “blush with embarrassment”.  Next thing I knew...friend request from him!  I actually decided to accept this friend request, but then he just ran off. Oh my!  Time to log off!

Things I learned today:

1. As I suspected from my time in Fable II, I much prefer playing games with real people rather than AI’s, so I think I’ll enjoy this game more than Fable.  Though I didn’t have much success with establishing any kind of relationships with any of the non-class member characters, it was fun to try.  I found myself wondering if there are game taboos that you should not do that I was doing.  For example, is it rude just to walk up to someone and stand or sit beside them?   Do experienced players avoid Noobs?