Version Update Notice (02/27/2009)

[Corrderio]

You're half right, you also need to complete each storyline for every nation in the past to enter Walk of Echos!

[Spira]

technically you already need to complete 1 branch..

anyway.. regarding Walk of Echoes.. i think its 1 full zone more than instanced.. its broken into 4 quadrants due to 4 atomos being present, but i personally attribute that possibly to the fact that the games drawdistance wouldnt be able to handle 1 giant atomos looming over the entire area..

when i was exploring it (actually mortama told me first) theres also a battlefield/throneroom/arena looking place there... could be used for CS or battles perhaps... It could be instanced, they put instance copies of the zone in further reaches of the dat and I didnt bother to take a look far out

see it here... YouTube - FFXI Walk of Echoes : arena

and some JP people also mapped out walk of echoes... the 4 quadrants are distinct... could be like salvage's 4 paths.. but its relatively alot smaller too so i doubt so.
heres the pic

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9057/19537pt2.jpg

the hydra in the pic is for size reference btw

[Thistle]

You're half right, you also need to complete each storyline for every nation in the past to enter Walk of Echos!

Ha ha, if it's every national questline, then /wrist.

[Darte]

Either I'm the only storyline nut around who laps up any Missionesque type of storyline, or no one is bothering to do more than 1 nation quest line <.<

I'm also fairly sure that at some point you WILL need to do the quest lines for the other nations as well because the story *SHOULD* intersect with the main part. Think Zilartian storyline combined with the CoP storyline producing Apocalypse Nigh, so I really don't understand why people don't want to bother with new quests. They put em in there for a reason!

[Septimus]

Ha ha, if it's every national questline, then /wrist.

There are 6 national quests added in each update. It's not like there are a whole lot of them.

[Melios]

There are 6 national quests added in each update. It's not like there are a whole lot of them.

I've already completed all of them so far.

[Tankjr]

I bet SE will make this update shit bricking awesome. It'll be some random thing that makes the game a lot better.

The opposite of this.

[Cog]

is that a pic of NPC fellow in the update notice ?

WotG sea/sky tier NM system should be something totally different.
the ZNM system is a nice departure, i imagine they will continue to move away from straight up NM ladder climbing through spawn item drops.

and does anyone else think these 3 mini expansions are going to segue into Rapture ?

[ronin sparthos]

Either I'm the only storyline nut around who laps up any Missionesque type of storyline, or no one is bothering to do more than 1 nation quest line <.<

I'm also fairly sure that at some point you WILL need to do the quest lines for the other nations as well because the story *SHOULD* intersect with the main part. Think Zilartian storyline combined with the CoP storyline producing Apocalypse Nigh, so I really don't understand why people don't want to bother with new quests. They put em in there for a reason!

I do em but i cant help but feel that whoever does the Bastok script purposely makes it as boring and uninteresting as possible.

The main storyline is interesting but i really dont know why they decided to break it up into "Nation -> Main -> Nation -> Main". It fragments the story when you are getting main storyline content once per six months.

[Darte]

I do em but i cant help but feel that whoever does the Bastok script purposely makes it as boring and uninteresting as possible.

The main storyline is interesting but i really dont know why they decided to break it up into "Nation -> Main -> Nation -> Main". It fragments the story when you are getting main storyline content once per six months.

I'll give you that point, I have to force myself to stay awake during the bastok cut scenes D;
But windurst and sandys questlines are pretty interesting by themselves and I can't wait to see what's next.

[[Cookies]]

Please let there be serious blm/whm/rdm updates and not stupid frontline shit that no one will use...

If this happens I will probably reactivate my characters.

[Gwynplaine]

Either I'm the only storyline nut around who laps up any Missionesque type of storyline, or no one is bothering to do more than 1 nation quest line <.<

I'm also fairly sure that at some point you WILL need to do the quest lines for the other nations as well because the story *SHOULD* intersect with the main part. Think Zilartian storyline combined with the CoP storyline producing Apocalypse Nigh, so I really don't understand why people don't want to bother with new quests. They put em in there for a reason!

Like always, a lot of people will put it off until the day they're required to do them for a reward they want. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that. It's just, you'd think they'd learn by now how these things go. So it was for Apacolypse Nigh, and Captain rank, so it will be for Wings as well.

It's like they have a phobia of anything resembling a "quest". Nevermind that they share the exact same qualities as the "missions", if it falls under the official quest log it's surely some kind of untouchable garbage.

[Xno Kappa]

It's really more because some people like myself actually like to wait til the story is complete to do them. If I'm going to enjoy a story I'll be damned if I have to wait literally two years, at the current rate of release, to see the end of it all. Playing through the whole story-line of CoP in one weekend are some of the fondest memories I have of this game. Where as when I did the ToAU missions update by update it really fragmented the story to where all I remember was a pirate and a cool CS of Odin vs. Alexander.

[Silenka]

I bet SE will make this update shit bricking awesome. It'll be some random thing that makes the game a lot better. Hopefully I didn't jinx it D:

I'm leaning towards this as well. There better be SMN stuff D:

[Araelus]

It's really more because some people like myself actually like to wait til the story is complete to do them. If I'm going to enjoy a story I'll be damned if I have to wait literally two years, at the current rate of release, to see the end of it all. Playing through the whole story-line of CoP in one weekend are some of the fondest memories I have of this game. Where as when I did the ToAU missions update by update it really fragmented the story to where all I remember was a pirate and a cool CS of Odin vs. Alexander.

I agree about the memory retention problems for the most part. I compulsively re-watch CS though (not to mention the whole movie thing, haha). I was talking to someone the other day who thought Werei was the Shadow Lord, since they couldn't remember who was who from Bastok. Ugh.

So I waited until this latest update to start WotG's plot, and playing through all the storylines in parallel was the first time in a long time FFXI felt like a proper RPG. The latest translation team has included more and more cultural reference jokes (not just the obvious Zero Wing lines) and the animators have included much better action scenes than ever before. The NPCs really seem to react to your character and you get to play more than just a boring observational role.

But then I hit the brick wall after grabbing my Jeunoan flag and I realized it was an MMO again.

I have to force myself to stay awake during the bastok cut scenes D;
But windurst and sandys questlines are pretty interesting by themselves and I can't wait to see what's next.

The Bastok story is also a clear case of Violence Is The Only Option. This makes the perspective of the silent main character (you) really aggravating.

For example, the following cutscene:

Spoiler: show

(Five Moons) Violence is bad! Violence only leads to death. And more violence!
(PC, if you could talk huh) But we just used violence to save Adelheid!
(Five Moons) Violence is EVIL!
(PC) But what about using violence to kill the Tonberry assas-
(Five Moons) EVILLLLL!! EEEEEEVILLLL!! /slap /slap /slap
(Zeid) Wow, you're an idiot.
(Volker) War Cloud is right.
(Zeid) ...
(Volker) What?
(Zeid) ...
(Volker) What? What did I do? Did I sneeze in the wrong direction again? Did I wear the wrong brand of pants? What?
(Zeid) ... I TOLD you NOT to call me that.
(Volker) It's your name!
(Zeid) /sulk
(PC) I quit. You can all die in a fire.
(Five Moons) FIRE IS EVIL!!

That aside, if you talk to the guard (EDIT: Radford) outside the Metalworks after Zazarg gives a motivational speech, he claims the Galka would make a great.... suicide bomber. What!?

[Corrderio]

There are 6 national quests added in each update. It's not like there are a whole lot of them.

And if no one is interested.... you're screwed. I tried to do the Bastok/Windy quests BCNMs w/ no luck.

[Gtype954]

originally thought the Walk of echos would be an untimed event like sky, but seeing the different areas reminds me of salvage or limbus. It definently has teleports to get from one area to the other like promies,limbus,salvage do.
Seems like it will be like limbus, but i am hoping it is an un-timed non-battlefield event. Messing around with IX DRG has teleporters next to it too so hoping you can freely roam the area and not be on some time limit.
It will most likely go by tiers but I also notice it has the same flooring as the Castle Z. Wonder if you enter walk of echos from inside the castle.

I want this area to be opened, I want to explore the game again!

[Araelus]

And if no one is interested.... you're screwed. I tried to do the Bastok/Windy quests BCNMs w/ no luck.

That's always true of this game. Sandy line was the easiest to blaze through in my experience, too. But with your jobs (judging from signature) you should be able to solo a lot of the content. Not the trio-at-least battles though.

It's like they have a phobia of anything resembling a "quest". Nevermind that they share the exact same qualities as the "missions", if it falls under the official quest log it's surely some kind of untouchable garbage.

If I do any more of the archival game/movie projects (and don't worry, it'll have a no-voices-all-subtitle option, except SE still won't give me distribution rights) I'm wondering if some of the plot-heavy quests would be a good idea. As you said, some of the quests before WotG have tons of backstory attached. "A Timely Visit" for example. Junky VIT+2 collar means most people skip it, but they miss a wonderful (time travel! in the original game release) story in the process.

By the same token, the WotG storyline (missions, quests, other quests, NPCs talking whatever) is much more enjoyable to the people who have remembered all the one-liners SE dropped in the other stories they've told in FFXI. A lot of that depth goes to waste because of the time delays between when people complete cutscenes.

For that matter, thank you to Gwynplaine for archiving most of the game's cutscenes way back when. I think Bartholamus(?) does that now-a-days.

[Corrderio]

That's always true of this game. Sandy line was the easiest to blaze through in my experience, too. But with your jobs (judging from signature) you should be able to solo a lot of the content. Not the trio-at-least battles though

I duoed sandy line BLU and SMN and BLU and RDM before. However the other BCs are impossible to find ppl for. And I know with my struggle w/ Nyzul what results I'll be expecting doing /shouts for A Feast for Gnats/Fire in the Hole

[Darte]

That's why you should always get it done within the first 3 days when there *are* people looking around for groups heh