New Player Guide

[Lionna]

Ok this is a guide for mostly people just starting the game, PC Version, and in some ways those playing it now at low levels. I will try to be as explainatory as possible. Nothing is meant to be offensive, it is as constructive as I can make it considering this took me about 4.5 hours to write. Also, plz forgive me if I missed any typos. :sweat:

Section 1: Overview.

I: Learning Curve.
- Levels 1-10 are generally your learning curve. Depending on where you start at (the town you start in whether its Windurst, San 'D Oria, or Bastok, the learning curve will be slightly different because of the monsters there, yet its pretty much the same. I will start you off in my favourite town, Windurst for the sake of this guide.

II. Your first 10-15 minutes.
- At logging in, you will notice your character has spawned in the city of Windurst (chosen town) and that there is alot going on to some degree. The first thing you want to do is set up your configuration. For me, its starting at the bottom and working my way up. (hit your "-" key to open your Menu, hit it 2 times to get on the correct Menu)

- Mouse/Cam: This is how you control your camera (to some degree, it leaves something to be desired for sure) You can choose whether to have it Chase Cam, which is basically it follows your character, or normal, which means you use the arrow keys to move the camera.

- Misc2: Misc2 is basically Keyboard setup, Command setup, and other items. You can choose between Full or Compact keyboard (use Compact its SO much easier) and choosing other functions such as Footstep Effects.

-Misc1:
~Damage Display: ("Both" is recommended).
~Character Info: hiding (/anon command) this basically hides your level and job info, but most people can tell your relative level by your clothes and how you fight (spells used, weapons, gear).
~Shadows: Choose what you want for shadow intensity wheter Full, Light, or Off.
~Weather Effects: Basically controls whether you see the weather animation. (Recommended off for low end computers, unless your character is doing the Summoner Quest wheras you need to see the weather)

-Windows:
~Reactive Window Sizing: Whether the window scales up or down dependant on the number of "lines of text" you choose to be shown.
~Max Lines: Choose the number of Maximum lines to be shown on your chat bar.
~Minimum Lines: Same as Max except for the minimum shown.
~Window Type: This allows you to choose what window background you want to be displayed. Personally, I want a Black background (light sensitivity) but they dont have that you GIMME MY BLACK BACKGROUND SE!! What I would like to see is a black background that is scalabe in opaquity. Meaning that it can be Black as space or scalable to almost transparent. Choose what number you want as the background color.

- Font Colours: This is VERY important. Choose your colours wisely, for this can either save your character or kill it (basically because mostly all text is default white). You get a choice of the 3 main colours: Red, Green, and Blue. With these colours you can, of course, make others since all colours are a derivitive of R.G.B. Personally, I choose My damage as Full Red, Beneficial Spells are Light Blue, Healing Spells Full Freen, Detrimintal Effects, and Purple, and Evades as Yellow, System messages Yellow, Calls for Help Full Red, Damage Others Take are Deep Pink. There are a few sets of Font colour schemes to set, but its important to do them all.

- Chat Filters: This is also important, especially if you are a mage class. The Chat Filter defaults to all messages are viewable, so you must turn certain

ones "Off" to stop them from being displayed. Personally, as a mage, I cut out everyones (including mine):
~Spells cast by others
~Check Notices
~Countdowns
~Others Synthesis Results
~Others Attacks, Evades, Misses, Spells cast on others by others, Damage
~Party Attacks, Evades, Misses, Spells cast on party from others
~Allies Attacks, Evades, Misses, Spells cast on Allies

This way only Your damage caused, Damage taken by Allies, Party members, and yourself is shown, so you can keep a better handle on whos hurt, poisoned, or dead.

- Gameplay: Gameplay allows you to choose if you want the cursor to "

Auto-Target" a monster. Sound Volume, Music Volume, and Gamma (brightness, Intensity, etc)

~After you have all your Config set, type in /logout to save all your commands, if you dont they will not be saved if you get dropped or accidentially crash yourself, so plz type in /logout (to type hit the space bar or the "/" key)

- Bazaar: The Bazaar is your way to sell your personal items on the go. You can use this if you do not wish to use the Auction House (AH for short). To many it is used as a personal touch, others it is just to bypass the AH and charge what they want for the item. To use your Bazaar:

1. Click your Mouse Wheel 2 times.

2. Click "Bazaar" Button from the menu presented.

3. Click "Set Prices".

4. Choose an item to sell in your Bazaar and click on it.

5. Set the price of your item with your arrow keys or use your mouse using the arrow icons on the Set Prices Window.

6. After you are satisfied with your price that you set, click the price or hit Enter on your keyboard.

7. Choose either "Sell" or "Cancel".

8. You will get a little bag by your name to show that your Bazaar is ready to be viewed by others and purchased from. Thats it. To cancel the Bazaar, just do the same as you did to make it, in reverse.

[Lionna]

=============================================

Section 2:

I. Tasks at Hand.

I. Assuming you logged out and everything is saved, you are now logged back in and are most likely at the same place you originally spawned. Your next task is to Equip your items and give a "Jack of XXXX" your Adventurer's Coupon. Hit your mouse wheel or the "-" key to open the Menu, click it only once. You will see "Equipment" click on it, and apply your weapon, whatever it is, and your country "Windurstian Ring" if you are a Mithra or a TaruTaru. Humes and Galka and Elvaan do not get a country ring in Windurst since it is not their Races' town. Hume and Galka are Bastok, Elvaan are Sandoria, and Mithra and Taru are Windurst, each gets a ring if they are created in their own respective races town, if not they dont get one.

II. Adventurer's Coupon

- Adventurer's Coupon: Ok. You got your weapon and your ring equipped (assuming the aforementioned race critera are met) and its time to find "Jack of XXXX" (the xxxx being the last name of the jack eg, Spades) You need to goto the "Residential Area" to give the Adventurer's coupon to him.

1. Click your "-" key or mouse wheel

2. Choose "Map" the map will most likely be defaulted to maximim scale, press and hold the number 3 on your keypad to scale it to minimum.

3. Click on "Markers" in the top right corner.

4. Use your Arrow Key on your keyboard to move the markers left ot right until you see a dot on your map that says "Jack". That is where you need to go to Trade him the Adventurer's Coupon. It should be noted that you may be in a different area of Windurst when you spawn, since there are a few different spawn points for your first entry into the world. Most areas that you spawn in will still have a "Jack of xxxx" on the map, follow the map to reach him.

5. When you reach him, you need to face him, either use your mouse to click on him or use your Enter key to Auto-Target.

6. Click on him 2 times. This will open a Mini Menu onto your Left.

7. Choose "Trade" with either your Mouse or Arrow Keys.

8. This will open a "Trade Menu" wheras you must select an Empty slot in the Trade Squares. (choose the first one, its coloured Light Red, there are

8 total slots)

9. Next choose an item from your Inventory to place into that Trade Square (The Adventurer's Coupon) and click "OK" on the right panel. When you hit "OK" the Jack will give you a thank you dialogue and you will receive 50 gil as a "Reward". After you finish there, head on up into hole that has the 2 guards, go all the way in. This is where you Mog House is.

III. Mog House.

- Your Mog House is your home, your place of perpetual storage and furnishment. Essentially, its where you store your items and furniture. Your own Apartment in Windurst, and the best thing is It's FREE. When you go inside you need to speak to the Mog that is there, he will tell you how to work your Mog House and his role in it. Some of the good things about the Mog House is that while in it you are essentailly able to: chat, store inventory, take inventory, move around and place furniture and log out fast (no 30 second countdown). This is a good time to talk about Macros.

IV. Macros.

- Macros are your best good friend. Since there is no "Hotkeys" in this game, I would suggest to all new people to free yourself of the burden of accidentially crashing yourself by ripping your Windows Keys out of your keyboard. (I'm no sure if they patched the Windows Keys so if they did disregard the ripping of them out) Basically, Macros use ALT and CTRL and their main way of activation, or use. For instance if I am a White Mage, I need to Macro most all my main curatives and status magics. (Curatives being cure spells, and Status Magics being poisoned, blinded etc removers)

To create a Macro:

1. Click your Mouse Wheel, or hit your "-" key 2 times. You will see a Menu item for "Macros", click it.

2. You will have a default set of Macros already made for you by the game, click your down Arrow Key to move to Macro Set #2.

3. You will notice on this Macro Set there are 2 rows. Personally, I use the top row (assuming i'm a White Mage) for curatives and status magics, and the bottom row for attack spells.

4. Choose the first box, on the Macro Set, Left to Right.

5. You will see a heading box to name your Macro, and 4 other boxes under it to imput your Macro Information. Now it should be noted that macros are commands that you set up to automate things like spell casting, phrases, actions and the like. For example, if I want to make a "Cure" spell Macro, I would make it as such. Things in () are to tell you my style of shorthand.

C1Me (Cure1Me)

/p Healing <me> with Cure.
/ma "Cure" <me>
/wait 6
/t <me> Cure Ready.

Ok, this is what all that means:

/p is for "Party Only chat" meaning if your in a Party they will see them message and noone else will, except you.

<me> means the spell will be cast upon only you when the Macro is activated.

/ma means it is being taken from your Magic Command List
"Cure" is the name of the spell, it must be written exactly as I have it for it to cast.

/wait 6 - this means the system will wait 6 seconds before it will do something (something being the next line of text to activate)

/t - is a chat comman to whisper or "Tell" you, wheras only you can see it or the person you are "Telling" (ie /t Lionna Hi)

There are others who beileve the /echo command is just as effective as /t when telling yourself something such as when the spell is ready for recast as I made in the last line. When this last line of text is generated, you will get 2 lines of text in your chat saying the spell is ready for recast in the colour you chose for Tells. Personally, I like saw this mentioned by another poster and chose to adopt this method because sometimes in the roll of damage character chat message you tend to miss one lineer of text, its moreso a redundancey precaution than anything. Now mind you there are many different Macros and Macro setups. There is help online that shows what macros to use and how.

- As a general rule in this game, you want a Status Macro that is easily accessible for all professions. The Status Macro is set up like this:

Status
/p <me> HP=<hp> MP=<mp> <mpp> TP=<tp> <call1>

Breaking that down we have:

/p - (aforementioned party chat specification)

<me> - (in this instance the <me> will print out your name)

<hp> - (the hitpoint (health) ratio you have) (example: 100/100)

<mp> - (the magic point (magic) ratio you have) (example: 3/3)

<mpp> / <hpp> - (the percentage of hp/mp you have left or each) (example: 100% / 100%)

<call1> - (Call means an attention sound will be played to "Alert" others of something, very important ot have this because in the heat of battle there is alot going on, and certain things need to be noticed before others, like if your Mage is "OOM" (Out Of Magic, ie, no magic points left). There are 20 call sounds to choose from, please choose the least annoying sound and *only* use your Status Macro in these situations:

1. You are giving the MP status if you are a mage, and plz only do this every 15-30 seconds, not every 3, it can become quite irritating if you do it too much.

2. If you are asked by the Party Leader to participate in a "Skillchain", it will be necessary to know your TP Status. (Technical Points are used to unleash attacks in "Chains") ("Chains" being a sequence of timed TP "Weapon Skill Attacks" that exact a certain heavy damage aftershock to the monster you are fighting) (/ws or "Weapon Skill Attacks" being those that you are awarded from reaching level 10 in any weapon expertise).

- It is also necessary to spell out a few common Macros so that they may be imput for better understand of their usage.

/ws "Fast Blade" <t>
<t> Means something is being cast upon, or targeted, used in a Weapon Skill Macro.


V. Chat.
- These are the common chat commands, imputted in the chat bar by hitting

either the Space Bar, or by hitting the "/" key. Learn them well.

/sh (example: /sh what are you talking about?)
Used to "Shout" to the Area you are in (also used in chat).

/t (Example: /t Lionna Hey grrrl whats up?)
Used to "Tell" someone through private chat whisper.

/p (Example: /p Where are we going?)
Used to chat with yout Party that you are currently in, this chat is private and can only be heard by the other members in your party

/l (Example: /l Hello Linkshell!)
Used to speak to the people who are in the LinkShell you belong to. You must get a "LinkPearl" from a person who owns a "LinkShell" and have it Equipped to hear the "LS" chat.

/s (Example: /s Hi)
Used to speak to everyone around you, everyone in a local area can see what you "said".

- It is also possible to change to a chat "channel" to talk in without the use of commands. To do this you need to hit "Enter" and the Mini Menu will come up on the Left side, choose with your Arrow Key the "Chat" Menu Item, then use the right Arrow Key to choose your defualt Chat Channel, you can choose from Say, Tell, Party, and LinkShell. Hitting enter on any one f these will activate it as the default channel you can type in for that game session. When you log out the "default" channel you selected will be automatically reset to Say.

[Lionna]

Section 3: Towns, Quests, Monsters, XP, Missions, Reputation Points, Synthesizing, Signet, and the Auction House (AH).

I. Quests:
- Quests are those you choose to accept from the NPC (Non Playing Characters) that you talk to. Completing the quest they give you can give you rewards, such as money (gil), Reputation Points, and or items. Some quests are repeatable, while others are not.

II. Monsters.
- Monsters or (MOBS) are what you kill for XP (Experience Points) and items. Money is only dropped off certain monsters, items are dropped of most all monsters. Monsters range form lowest: "Too Weak to be Worthwhile" to highest: "Insanely Tough". The general rule for your first 10 levels is to fight "Even Matches" or lower. (ie "Even Match", "Decent Challenge", "Easy Prey"). "Too Weak to be Worthwhile" are generally mobs you are way above in skill level for the first 10-15 levels, avoid them since they dont give any Experience from being killed.

III. Experience.
- Experience is what you collect when you kill a monster. Dependant on your "con" to them ("con" being the aforementioned lowest to highest scale of general toughness of the monster) they will give you a crtain amount of EXP or XP (EXP means the same as XP). Ehen you get enough XP, you will raise a level. This grants you boosted Stats that are Aautomatically given to you upon gaining the level. If you die you will lose a portion of the XP needed to gain your next level, so death, in this game, has heavy penaltys. Too many deaths and you will actually LOSE a level. Not fun.

IV. Missions.
- Missions are done for King and Country. They give your character a "Status" or "Rank" in the Country's hierarchy. Each character that is newly created starts off at Rank:1. To increase your rank you need to talk to the gate guards that guard the exits to town. They will ask you if you want to participate in a "Mission": and you can either accept it, or decline the Mission without penalty. Completing Missions gain you Rank Points, and when you complete all the Missions for that Rank, your Rank increases to the next incremented number up. (Example: Rank:2) After rank 2, you may Trade the gate guards stacks of crystals to increase your Rank Points. Ultimately, you must complete the Missions to gain the next Rank Level.

V. Reputation Points.
- Rep Points are those awarded after successful completion of a Quest. Gain enough Rep Points and new quests will be opened to you since you are generally a nobody when you first spawn into your chosen country. Each town has their own "Rep Checker".

- The "Rep Checker" is a person in town that will acknowledge you based upon your Rep Points. The more Rep Points you get the better your popularity in the town is and the better the quests you receive, hence the better loot you get from them.

VI. Synthesizing.
Synthesizing or "Synthin" is how Trade Skills come into play. Trade Skills are things that are done for fun and moreso the creation of items to sell at the AH for gil, Bazaar sale, or personal use. There are many types of Trade Skills, and some of them have their Schools in different towns. To Synth something you need Crystals. Crystals are obtained from monsters when "Signet" is cast upon you. To Synth you must open your Inventory, click on the crystal that correspons to the "Recipe" you want to create something out of, and then choose your ingredients.

- Recipe being those given to you after you speak to your fellow guild members when you join a Trade Skill Guild. (Example: Alchemy) To join the Trade Skill Guild of your choice, head to their school, then speak to the Guild Master/Mistress, and say you will join.

VII. Signet.
Signet is a Spell cast upon you by the gate guards in town or at outposts that your country controls. Signet is used to obtain crystals from monsters you kill. Certain monsters adhere to a certain element, and that element that they adhere to is the crystal you will receive. (Example: Crab gives a Water Crystal) Collect enough Crystals (total of 12 in a stack) and you can either sell them at the AH or use them to Synth with other ingredients to better items depending on the Guild you belong to and the Recipe you are using.

VIII. AH - Auction House.
The AH is where everyone on that server sells their items. Each major town has an AH. And only that town's people can see what their towns' AH sells. (Example: you cannot see what the AH in Bastok sells if you are looking at the AH in Windurst)

[Lionna]

Section 4: Levels 15 and above Advice.

I. This game has a few "Inconsistencies" that must be addressed for those passing into their lvl 12 or higher levels.

- The "con" system.
This is somewhat broken in solo play after level 20. Monsters that are "Too Weak to be Worthwhile" will kill you dead with ease. This is unfortunately set so the ideology of "Forced Grouping" comes into play. The only Soloable class is the BeastMaster, and even that cant "really" solo past 50.

- Partying.
This is essentially the only way you can level up. This game requires that you party to level up with any noticable progression. If you cant find a party or noone is "LFG" (Looking For Party) you are essentailly doomed to soloing Easy Prey (EM) for XP or farming. Farming being killing low level monsters for crystals and items, or Nototious Monsters for their Rare items to sell at the AH. Notorious Monsters are like Mini Boss Monsters, alot stronger than normal monsters and they always "con" to you as "Unable to Calculate", for obvious reasons.

- Pathing is Etheral. (Pathing is how a monster finds you on the battlefield)
In this game monsters can run up the side of a cliff, run through rocks and trees to get to you. It is unfortunate that SE (Square-Enix) was so lazy to go the easy route and make the terrain etheral to them. Unfortunately, you still need to run around the terrain obsticals to ge to them... ><

- Equipment and Rank.
This determines your standing on the Server. You will be invited to parties by strangers based upon Rank and Equipment and Rep. While this is considered "elitist", it is the truth, and in that, reality. The higher your Rank, and always having the best equipment money can buy, the better the chance of being invited to a party where people who *do* know what they are doing, will be happy to have you as a member. The old addidge: "I would never be a member of a club that would have someone like me as a member" is in effect here.

- Culture.
When you party with people, use maturity, Nobody likes a beggar and nobody wants to deal with someone who thinks they are more entitled than anyone else. We all have a role to play in the party, Tanks soak up damage, Mages either Heal or Nuke or Enfeeble, everyone plays and works as a team toward the common goal. In a real party, NOBODY is left behind.

- The Japanese Equation.
I am Japanese/Chinese. This game is based in Asian servers. Japanese have a certain mindset/culture/temperment, as do NA people. I dont have a problem with playing with what is considered "NA People" (NA being North American gamers). Yet there are those who think Japanese gamers are elitist, and other unbefitting terms. An understanding that people are people, they all act a certain way, irregardless of race must be constantly remembered. If you are searching for a party and see a player with a comment to their name saying "JP Only" Please take the time to remember what I said. Ignoring popular belief not all Japanese/Asians can speak fluent American. So when its said "JP Only" it is in most cases not saying "I hate Americans dont bother me" It *is* however saying either: "I dont feel that my language set is adequate enough to party with NA People effectively" or "I just like to play with Japanese people because we have had a year + into the game and have more experience at what works. Please do not think that it is against NA People, its just a choice.

- Translator.
There is a "Translator" that is embeded in the chat program that is used to translate certain phrases and words into American/English/Japanese by hitting the Tab key and scrolling through the various translations. I would Recommend you learning it, for no other reason but to better get along with those around you.

~Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who decided to read this guide, it does not have advanced information in it, that is basically where the "Experience" of doing comes in. Try to get along with the people on the server, be a good party member, or leader. Be mature, and learn from your mistakes, only through struggle is where triumph is achieved. Everyone screws up, thats life - how many time you repeat your mistakes, is entirely up, to you.

Thanks.

- Lionna

[Lionna]

"A Paladin's job is never done...":p

[Pai Pai Master]

Good work! This is perfect for all the new players that'll be joining us later in the month.

Consider it sticky-fied.

[ruffrydasean]

One small eensy weensie thing to correct. Melee's get weapons in the beginning, Mages get a scroll to use that's in their inventory. I think MNKs get a white belt and no weapon.


That is all...good work

[Lionna]

Originally posted by ruffrydasean
One small eensy weensie thing to correct. Melee's get weapons in the beginning, Mages get a scroll to use that's in their inventory. I think MNKs get a white belt and no weapon.


That is all...good work

Yea, I believe I mentioned that melees get a weapon, and mages get a weapon. I did, however, forget to mention that the mages get their first spell by default.

- When you login for the first time (ie just created your character) you get a weapon (except monk, monk gets a +1 strength white belt since monks use their fists as weapons) Equip your Sword or Rod, or Staff and also if your a mage you get your first spell in your inventory. RDM gets Dia, WHM gets Cure, and BLM gets Stone. To learn the spell you need to:

1. Open your inventory using either the "-" key or your mouse wheel.

2. Click the Inventory Menu button.

3. You will see your chosen job's respective spell. Click on it and select "Use". The spell will do a small countdown and you will get a notification that you just "used a scroll of Cure" and that you have "Learned a new spell".

4. From there you can go to the Magic Menu and choose your respective Magic jobs' button and you will see that spell now is learned and ready to use.

[Jotan]

Good job Lionna.

This definitely would have been helpful for me several months ago. Nice to see everything consolidated on one thread.

[epac2000]

Thanks for the help

[Faxe]

Regarding trading the Adv. Coupon... If you click twice on a NPC, you initiate dialogue with them. So what you would do instead is press "-" on the numpad once, click "Trade", and press Tab (switch target) until "Jack of XXXX" is targeted. Then press enter.

[Maffuu]

That's quite a read, but It'll help me when the game comes out(For the PS2).. Thanks for taking the time.

[Tukka]

Regarding macros, I would recommend that most new players use <bt> (battle target) instead of <t> in most offensive macros. <bt> represents the first enemy your party engaged that is still engaged... using <bt> over <t> ensures that you will not accidentally attack a different enemy from the one your party is currently fighting (unless it's with an area effect spell like Bansihga or Stonega). If your party doesn't have an enemy currently engaged, <bt> will work just like <t>, so you can still use it for pulling, ect.

[BladianSlash]

^^

yup this is some GOOD stuff for new players like me, i'm getting it for PS2. TY for taking time to do this!

[Angelhelix]

Excellent job Lionna!