Faluzure's Hi-Res Shots (NOT BANDWIDTH FRIENDLY)

[Jerseyprophet]

Faluzure, at the risk of being made fun of...I'll give you a confession as a way to hopefully make you realize how important this thread is to people.

I retired from FFXI for reasons I couldnt control, at level 55 (full AF except for the feet and all). I am very much still in love with this game, ...my heart is still in Vana'diel if you will.

All I have left is my endless collection of FFXI videos, pictures, screens, etc. I use the model editor to see my character come back to life, and I use your screenshots for backgrounds. It's the closest JP has ever been to standing in these new areas

Call me corny, it doesnt matter, I needed Fal to know that some of us are reliving the moment we wish we had so badly through his character's eyes.

[Vilurum]

Read it all the time (unless I'm on the bard forum, I'm mainly a lurker though), and I'm looking forward to seeing screenshots of the Promathia missions (suffice it to say that those of us with no HNM LS, have a harder time finding a large group of *competent* people for Promyvion), since I'm a huge story fan. Don't much care if I see it through my eyes or someone else's, I'm more interested in seeing it period.

By the by, are you sure about the Divine Might requirement of beating the AA's first? I also have the quest activated, and Yve'noile said much the same stuff to me at the beginning, except she left out the lines about the shards I already have - seeing as I don't have them.

Speaking of Divine Might, I think your miscellaneous high level readers who haven't completed it yet (and I know I can't be the only one) would appreciate any suggestions you have on alliance makeup and battle strategy. Of course, if you want to keep that a secret considering the number of times your group died to figure it out, that's totally reasonable too.

Some definitions for you:

Lurker: someone who reads topics but does not post in them. Topics with lots of juicy informative content in particular, such as this one.

Troll: someone who makes antagonizing posts with the sole intent of pissing people off. That can be something like posting something more substantially inflammatory like "melee-job-1 > melee-job-2" or same for mage jobs. DRK and DRG, for example. Although intended to be antagonizing, a troll can actually have a point and reasons to back up their statement(s).

Flamer: someone who just insults things for no real reason, like "insert-job-here sucks!" Generally easily ignored, unlike trolls' posts which tend to be the sort of thing you want to argue back against.

(As you can see, there's quite a bit of difference between a lurker and a troll.)

And a request: if you ever see a *player* wearing Sha'ir (BRD JSE), I'd like to see it. Playing around with the model viewer just doesn't compare to how stuff looks in the real game.

[Random]

Hey Fal, I would like some advice from you. I'm a BLM with whm sub up to date rdm level 2 and summoner level one. The other day I was talking to my bard friend about making a 5 blm/1 brd pt. I have had one of these groups before 5 blms and 1 brd. I dont know if you have ever had a pt like this but usually at the end of the fight at least one or two people have to recast blink and stoneskin. So do you think it would be a good idea for me to level smn up for the sole purpose of aerial armor for this staic? Thanks for the response in advance

[Random]

Hey Fal, I would like some advice from you. I'm a BLM with whm sub up to date rdm level 2 and summoner level one. The other day I was talking to my bard friend about making a 5 blm/1 brd pt. I have had one of these groups before 5 blms and 1 brd. I dont know if you have ever had a pt like this but usually at the end of the fight at least one or two people have to recast blink and stoneskin. So do you think it would be a good idea for me to level smn up for the sole purpose of aerial armor for this staic? Thanks for the response in advance

[Random]

Hey Fal, I would like some advice from you. I'm a BLM with whm sub up to date rdm level 2 and summoner level one. The other day I was talking to my bard friend about making a 5 blm/1 brd pt. I have had one of these groups before 5 blms and 1 brd. I dont know if you have ever had a pt like this but usually at the end of the fight at least one or two people have to recast blink and stoneskin. So do you think it would be a good idea for me to level smn up for the sole purpose of aerial armor for this staic? Thanks for the response in advance

[Random]

sorry triple post, I clicked on it and it wasent loading >.<

[Vilurum]

I'm not Faluzure, but I think that if anyone should level SMN to 37 (or at least 25 for Aerial Armor) for that group, it should be the BRD. Earthen Ward is not something you can get from subbed SMN regardless. It should also be mentioned that whoever subs SMN will not have Stoneskin themselves. And the BLMs are gonna need Stoneskin more than the (hate-free as ever) BRD will.

Honestly, you should be fine if you all sub WHM. There is a LOT to be said for being able to bust out a Divine Curaga II if need be. Try having the BRD sleep the enemy, then BLMs hit it with five nukes approximately all at once and BRD resleeps. (Just can't use Dia or Burn or anything that does damage over time.) Alternatively, spread out in a big pentagon and nuke in a pattern so it's running along the outside edge and not actually hitting people much. I like the first idea better though.

Alternatively, toss a BLM and bring in a tank, but most tanks have a hard time holding hate when four BLMs are chain-nuking.

[Faluzure]

To Marvul & Kearnsy: Thanks guys. I now know that just because I don't see comments doesn't mean people do not read. I have renewed faith! ^^


To Roulette: Ok! I'll keep an eye out for a Beastmaster in AF (since you already saw the Hauberk & Bison armor). I normally take a lot of pictures of people with some of the more rare armor. So I'll keep a general lookout for you.


To Jerseyprophet: Wow. That was deep man. There's nothing worse than being forced to quit out of something you love. I know viewing the screenshots isn't like experiencing the real thing, so I hope my screenshots are helping you fulfill your curiosity of what's going on in the FFXI world.


To Vilurum: I understand. I agree, it is really hard to get competent people for the Promathia missions. If you're not a part of the big name HNM LSes on our server, you pretty much have to rely on those who have no ties. I am fortunate enough to have help from my own LS but they aren't going to hold my hand all the way through. So I have to find help on my own.

I'm pretty sure about the Divine Might requirement. If you reread Yve'noile's dialogue, she says so herself. Anyone who has access to Tu'lia can gain the Divine Might quest. However, in order participate in Divine Might, you need to trade an Ark Pentasphere to a Shimmering Circle in La'Loff Amphitheater. To receive the Ark Pentasphere (Rare/EX), you must have the 5 shards (one from each AA), illuminink and parchment. Well... the only way to get those shards (if you never joined in a Divine Might alliance) is to kill the AAs individually. After you obtain the shards, you take the bottle of illuminink and parchment to the fountain in Ro'Maeve at a certain time.

As for the actual battle... I can only give you info on what my partner did. Here's the gist of it (and this tactic probably isn't the same as the others you seen/heard of). The order we killed them in was TT, MR, GK, EV, HM. We kited most of the AAs except TT and GK. All the mages, as well as rangers, busted TT with everything they had. At the same time, a tank paired up with a RDM would kite MR, EV, and HM. A ninja would solo GK and keep him busy. After TT is dead, mages + rangers would go and nuke MR. After MR is gone, you move to GK. If all goes well, only a few people would have died. Death is unavoidable and you should always take one for the team. You kill EV first and then HM last. HM is most dangerous because of Mijin Gakure. That's pretty much the gist of what we did. We knew it was over if any of the tanks happened to die before TT & MR were dead.

As for the Sha'ir, it is a rumor that this item uses the Shining Cloth in its craft recipe. Thus nobody has taken the time (or money) to experiment with it. This gives the Shining Cloth another use and it should cause the price to go down (or up). Again, this is just a rumor I heard. I think this is why we haven't seen it yet. Then again, we haven't seen that new DRG JSE either. The Sha'ir set is one of the most badass sets I have ever seen (as well as some of the Igqira pieces). It puts the Abjuration Zenith set to shame. The Zenith set was never really targeted to BLMs or Bards anyway. It's nice to finally see some good gear for these jobs. The only problem I have with it is that it is obtainable via crafting. Thus the so called "best armor" in the game isn't really hard to get.


To Random: Hmm. You're talking what many NAs call a "Cannon PT". I actually have been a part of various "Cannon" configurations. I think the configuration you spoke of would only work if all the BLMs could cast Blink/Stoneskin by themselves. Summoner subjob would be pointless because all you get is Blink (and blink's effectiveness has been changed). You really need Stoneskin to support the Blink because unlike Utsusemi, you can still get hit with Blink up. So as Vilurum said, maybe the Bard could go SMN subjob and each BLM would only be in charge of their own Stoneskin.

Another configuration is SMN, BLM, BLM, BLM, BLM, BLM. The Summoner is in charge of putting up Blink/Stoneskin for the PT as well as fishing for mobs. With SMN, you can prevent links using Carbuncle Pull. All the mages should cast the same type of spell here, as this evens out the hate and makes the mob only attack each BLM a few times (evenly soaking up the blinks). Battles do not last long in this config, but they aren't super fast either (in regards to XP Chains). Dark Staves is a must since there is no refresh.

A better configuration perhaps is what Vilurum said, replacing 1 BLM with a tank. The one I've seen work *best* is PLD, BRD, BLM, BLM, BLM, BLM. If the Paladin is *good*, he can hold hate by himself while all the damage is evenly distributed among the 4 blms. There will be times when the PLD loses hate do to the nature of BLMs. Thus keeping Blink/Stoneskin up on yourself is a must. The Bard is there obviously for threnody and ballads. All BLMs would share healing duties. That way just a few cure 2s/3s could fully heal the PLD.

Another configuration that is just as good is PLD, BRD, RDM, BLM, BLM, BLM. Here, you have double refresh as well as the RDM taking up the healing duty with BRD as backup. Thus the BLMs can just go all out with fast recovery.

Another one is PLD, melee job, RDM, BLM, BLM, BLM. The difference here is the ability to actually magic burst for slightly more damage.

[Faluzure]

Pre-Promyvion
As promised, I will start posting the Promathia missions' cutscenes with all dialogue intact. Since this set of screenshots is so big. I will spread these out over time in different posts to ease up on the load. You readers are encouraged to post a reply. Even if it is something as simple as "Cool shots Fal!". The point of you replying is this: I have over 200 pictures to post. I want to spread out these screenshots over a series of pages. I don't want all of them or a big chunk of them to be on one page. By default, I think each page holds 11 replies. By replying, you can help speed up the start of a new page. If you guys don't reply, that means everytime you load this page (which is what, page 84?) you will load all the screenshots on this page. Some of the sets have more screenshots than others, so more pictures will load per page. I'd like to spread these mission screenshots over a series of pages.

It just helps some of the users with slower computers load the screenshots more easily. I know this screenshot thread is for high-speed connections but high-speed connections won't do anything if your computer can't handle opening the webpage. I have a clunker computer at home as well as my primary one. The primary one views this thread just fine. The clunker one actually runs out of system resources anytime I try to view this forum thread. Anyway, please help out if you don't mind.

This first set is everything before Promyvion. It is 63 screenshots big. Now do you get why I ask you to post a reply? 63 screenshots on 1 page is quite large and I don't think it should be any larger. I would break it into smaller bits but then again, most of you have already seen these or are anxious to see the story. I just felt that everything before Promyvion is good to post all at once.

Oh and last thing...
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

[Faluzure]

Pre-Promyvion (Continued)

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

[Faluzure]

Pre-Promyvion (Continued)

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT



























































































To be continued...

[Vilurum]

Originally posted by Faluzure
I'm pretty sure about the Divine Might requirement. If you reread Yve'noile's dialogue, she says so herself. Anyone who has access to Tu'lia can gain the Divine Might quest. However, in order participate in Divine Might, you need to trade an Ark Pentasphere to a Shimmering Circle in La'Loff Amphitheater. To receive the Ark Pentasphere (Rare/EX), you must have the 5 shards (one from each AA), illuminink and parchment. Well... the only way to get those shards (if you never joined in a Divine Might alliance) is to kill the AAs individually. After you obtain the shards, you take the bottle of illuminink and parchment to the fountain in Ro'Maeve at a certain time.

Like I said, she gave me the same long spiel, except she left out:

"The shards thou now possess are the five children of the crystal returned to their original form. From a living creature's perspective, it is a state close to death."

"Left in this state, rather than regenerating, they will slowly lose their power and meet with true oblivion. Even now, the energy of the shards is evaporating."

"Immerse the shards in the waters of the spring, along with the bottle of illuminink and the parchment. The fading power of the shards will be revitalized, and the parchment will transform into an ark pentasphere."

(For this line, she says a different version of it which leaves out the bits about the shards, but still basically says "spring at full moon + parchment + illuminink = pentasphere".)

"The five warriors that guard the boundaries of Tu'Lia will be drawn to one place and returned to their primary forms for a short time. It also contains the power to circumvent the restrictions on the amphitheater."

(Again, the line changes slightly, basically removing the bit about returning to their primary forms.)

So basically, you get the same cutscene, minus all references to having actually beaten them in the first place, and she still instructs you on how to get an ark pentasphere. I think it just gives you slightly different dialogue based on whether you'd beaten the arkangels individually or not. Other quests in the game also have slightly varying dialogue based on other accomplishments (Ajido-Marujido appearances in particular - there's two versions of every non-mission cutscene that involves him, due to the plot of the late Windurst missions). But the meat of those quests always remains the same - the SMN quest is the same whether Ajido-Marujido gives it to you, or Joker cardian.

Unfortunately, I can't replay the cutscene and give you a line-by-line comparison, since you can't replay cutscenes for quests until you finish them. ; ;

Otherwise, thank you for your other suggestions. I also heard that rumor about the Shining Cloth, but considering that you don't lose a material if the synth is simply invalid (it just cancels), I can't really see the risk in experimenting for any 100 clothcrafter/60 others. (And there *has* to be someone with those stats on one or another server.) Aside, of course, from having to buy a Shining Cloth in the first place, but having done so you can still turn it into a Noble's Tunic if the Sha'ir Manteel can't be made.

The alternative, of course, is that the recipe is BS (it was only found in a blog after all, and was the only English text in the blog on top of that - other recipes in the blog are in Japanese). In which case, the continued reasons for Sha'ir and Barone not to have shown up, are either a. still unknown recipe, b. known recipe involving a vast number of rare but already existing items, c. known recipe involving at least one item that people don't know how to get (and because the CoP areas aren't yet all available - Al'taieu for example - that may possibly be because they *can't* get those items).

[Vilurum]

... Cool shots, Fal!

Heh. Granted, I know most everyone with the expansion has seen these already (since they don't require much effort to see). But they're still cool. I believe that beautiful blue area that the kid shows you, is the Al'taieu I mentioned in my last post. (Track down a screenshot of Al'taieu's map, pulled from the game data, to see why I think so.)

Anyway, thanks for posting those, and I'm looking forward eagerly to the cutscenes that I *haven't* seen yet.

[Faluzure]

Originally posted by Vilurum
... Cool shots, Fal!

Heh. Granted, I know most everyone with the expansion has seen these already (since they don't require much effort to see). But they're still cool. I believe that beautiful blue area that the kid shows you, is the Al'taieu I mentioned in my last post. (Track down a screenshot of Al'taieu's map, pulled from the game data, to see why I think so.)

Anyway, thanks for posting those, and I'm looking forward eagerly to the cutscenes that I *haven't* seen yet.

Yeah, I know most people have already seen these screenshots because they've been through it. However, the reason I posted this set is some people on this forum use the Japanese version explicitly even though their primary language is English. Since they aren't exactly fluent in Japanese, they asked if someone had the dialogue in English. So this is one reason why I'm posting them.

For those of you that have seen it before, post some replies so we can get to the next page of screenshots!

[neighbortaru]

oh wow! thanks so much for posting the CoP screens. Gives me something to look forward to when I get it.

there's something I've always been meaning to ask you (and forgive me if you've covered this aready), but do you mind telling me how you got the shaded specs. I heard you have to enter into some kind of contract with the GS guild and trade items to them, is that correct? How long and how much did it take to get them?

Thanks.
your eager reader.