|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:30 pm
It took little more than a single moment of interest and curiosity for Nataniel Khellasati to find himself following the digital trail of quicklinks that led from one simple forum comment about “rl being forever pushed to the wayside to make way for a new life as a miqo’te bard” (which he had no idea what that even was, let alone why anyone would allow it to dominate their life. Hence, curiosity), all the way to the download of an online game for what was easily one of the most recognizable titles of his generation. Nataniel was familiar with the name of Final Fantasy, but little else. With the vast majority of their releases being on console, it was never something he’d had prior means or motivation to get into, and so had found its one previous entry into the online world ignorable.
He couldn’t even remember hearing positive mention of Final Fantasy XI in passing, but somehow a much larger crowd had grown remarkably, wildly attached to XIV. Nat wasn’t one for following trends just for the sake of following them, but an online RPG was right up his alley, and it would be a bit silly to ignore repeated praises of a game he might have otherwise overlooked.
So, why not? He had a few hours to kill and no pressing plans for the rest of the night.
The setup procedure was something not unlike any other RPG he might have downloaded. Pick a race, decide upon some attributes- Nataniel knew what he liked. He tended to pick characters that were a bit more lithe than he was naturally, with high intelligence and a definitive boon toward magic over brute strength.
But, since he was hardly committed to the game, Nat couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like if he just tried something not entirely within his norm. None of the race names meant anything to him, but something large, thick, serious, and mean-looking seemed far enough away from what he’d pick if he already knew he’d invest many hours on the server. He selected a Roegadyn and made him absurdly tall, absurdly chiseled, red-haired and great-axe wielding, because why the hell not?
To be honest, the character looked… Well, Nataniel’s tastes favored a man that could maintain a form that required so much workout.
Nat named him “Gudren” because it sounded like a combination of letters a dimwit might have as a name (which he assumed Roegadyn were supposed to be) and set off from there.
Admittedly, Nataniel didn’t see much different about this game than any other standard MMORPG. The intro, the quests, the combat all felt exactly that: standard. Since he already had ESO, there didn’t really seem to be any pressing reason to pick up another game that fell so neatly into the exact same category… Perhaps if he hadn’t gone to all the effort just to get it downloaded, Nat may have stopped there, but since he’d already committed this much, it could still be worth it to get through at very least the starting stages.
Besides, the only benefit to playing these types of things online was the ability to do so with others. Even if Nataniel didn’t make a habit out of going out of his way to interact with people in his day-to-day life, there was definitely something to be said for utilizing strong team-based mechanics and mutually progressing toward a goal as a group.
As fortune would have it, he’d no sooner enabled that chat function than a little orange message popped up in the window: “Destiny City Friends?” It wasn’t usually how he made in-game friends, sure, but neither were the people he met usually from his own city. In the moment, it felt too coincidental not to acknowledge it.
Not wanting to sound too committal, Nat typed, ‘From DC myself. Are there a lot of Destiny City players in-game?’
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:45 am
December had gone quite some time since playing any real videogames. With the barracks being quite minimal at times, and lack of long-time access to a computer at the library, he couldn’t find any place to really play anything at all.
Not that he often had the time to anyway, given the neediness of his general and all other times spent trying to find some sort of job or food.
But times were changing for dear, ol’ Dessy. While he didn’t have a home still, he did have a place he was welcomed to crash, and access to internet and a sturdy old Desktop, thanks to his brother June. With him working nights, and June working days, there were hours where he was left alone, bored, and a little sleepy. Wandering around the Destiny City Gaming Community draining one night made him come across an ad for a free 30-day trial for one of the biggest MMORPGs of the decade. And MMOs, to December, meant a perfect way to connect with people! Other players anyway, and who knows, maybe even another person in Destiny city!
The next time he was with June, he begged his brother to help him install the program, and then was left to his own devices while the older headed off for work.
First things first: Character creation! There was no real challenge as to what character he wanted, naturally gravitating towards that which was cutest, the Lalafell, with fluffy white hair, darkened skin, and bright lavender eyes just like his own, and of course, named December Bloom, just like he was! For giggles he made the avatar as tiny as possible, with the most kiddish of voices. Part of him imagined his character making a friend and being pulled out of danger with them every so often, buuuut he didn’t think emotes were that advanced just yet.
After a few hours of play, he finally managed to get to a point where he had a pretty decent arrangement and feel for the game, and finally found a good spot near the Aetheryte crystal to set his little character to dance while displaying a message in hopes to maybe find someone else who was from Destiny City.
Of course, the first hour or so being displayed lead to nothing but a few people pinging him to join a guild, which did sound fun but he wasn’t quiiiite ready to say he was gonna play the game forever. It wasn’t until he had stepped away to use the bathroom and get a snack that he got telling ‘ping’ sound he was waiting for! It surprised him, for sure, and he half stumbled back to his seat, full of smiles as he rapidly responded.
‘I dunno, really! I just started playing myself and was hoping to make some friends! I saw you just started too! Did you wanna try to play together? I think there’s a dungeon you can do at lvl 15 that I haven’t tried yet!’
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:52 am
-----------------
‘December Bloom,’ came the name in the message box.
It wasn’t the type of fantasy-driven name he expected most people might pick when designing their character, but neither had Nat known what to put for his when the initial prompt popped up, and look where that had wound him up, with an amalgamation of deep, dull, senseless sounds for a name. ‘December’ was at least a pronounceable word, so there wasn’t need to question it farther. From behind his glasses, dark eyes roved over his computer screen, looking for the same name over any of the player icons, and- Maybe he ought to have expected as much.
Even if he was new to the game and didn’t have the firmest grasp on the mechanics, characters, and map, Nataniel still might have guessed that anyone asking for friends was likely to have a character that looked like they were asking for friends: cute, fluffy-haired, small… Very small. Nat’s own avatar dwarfed it by at least three times as much, a fact that became absurdly obvious as he sent his character to approach.
The question remained, though. Did he want to team with this petite, dancing squirt?
Nataniel tapped his fingers against the smooth metal of his desktop. It didn’t usually suit him to form any party until he had a decent skill base to work with so that he might at least contribute something while playing. To even begin to consider himself ‘familiar’ with the game would be a huge overstatement. He didn’t know much, hadn’t been playing for long, and hadn’t even familiarized himself with the menus and ability actions.
Still, the benefit of doing MMOs online like this was camaraderie without the need for face-to-face interaction. They could be new together, and the opportunities to grasp a greater understanding of the mechanics would come with progression. ‘December’ sure did use a lot of exclamation points, though…
Nat glanced over his shoulder, across his small bedroom and toward a pen along the opposite wall, which held a great mound of steadily rising and falling shredded bedding, and somewhere beneath that, the love of his life. ‘Just until Dusk wakes up,’ Nataniel told himself firmly as he turned back toward his computer screen. Exclamation points or not, he could surely endure for that long.
‘That would be fine,’ he responded. ‘But I don’t have too much time, and I’m not level 15 yet. You must be a bit more familiar with this than I am.’
--------
The other player agreed, and December nearly leapt right out of his chair in excitement. Finally! Someone else to play with!
Then again, it might have been his own fault, given the fact that he didn’t exactly try to Make friends very easily, especially when his message was asking about people from Destiny City. Even more experienced Newbie-helpers probably knew better than to respond to someone basically asking for another person’s location. The thought didn’t even cross December’s mind once. Lots of things never crossed his mind, but it didn’t bother him none!
Another emote was sent, this time with his tiny lalafell jumping for joy, then bowing politely before he began to type again.
‘That’s not a problem! You’re an Axeman! A warrior! And I’m a healer! It took a long long time to get over here, but I’m glad I did! If you want to level grind some, I can follow behind you and make sure you don’t die. How’s that sound?’ Oh how deeply December hoped this player would agree to playing with him. The apartment was empty now, silent except for the soft music of the city that played through his speakers. June wouldn’t be back home, no one else wanted him for anything, even the General was leaving him be for a while… It really would be nice to have a friend online, even if they didn’t really speak outloud. A headset would need to be bought later.
‘I have lots of time, so I’m ready to go when you are!’
------
It wasn’t very often that Nataniel felt the need to tell someone to calm down over the internet. He couldn’t physically see or hear the other person, but even so, there still seemed to be a superfluous amount of emoting and those damn exclamation points. If December had been particularly terrible at spelling, Nat may have expected that he was an actual child- maybe he was? Adults who played RPGs surely didn’t do that much exclaiming? Nat never had, but it struck him as strange to think anyone on the other side of the screen might be under sixteen.
Unimportant. It wasn’t even worth thinking about. So long as Nat did something with his time in the game and didn’t spend it being annoyed, the encounter would still be worth it, and if December turned out to know what he was talking about, it should be fine.
It should be fine.
December had the benefit of levels, which meant he had to know something, especially if he’d traveled to get here? Was this not everyone’s spawn? How long had the other been playing? ‘I don’t know the lore,’ he admitted. ‘Or the caveats of each race. But you’ve been playing for a while, then? If you had to travel from somewhere? I haven’t even left the starting region, yet.’ Which was probably obvious, considering his own level. He’d really only just been granted the ability to use the chat function at all…
Nataniel sighed softly. He probably should’ve waited and practiced a bit before trying to talk to anyone. But he hadn’t. It would be faster now with December to heal him; there wasn’t any denying that.
‘Sounds good,’ Gudren decided after a moment. ‘I’ve still got a couple of these easy quests in my log to run through. That’s probably the fastest experience I can get. I’ll lead the way, and you can let me know if you spot any better options.’
-----
‘Hrm… Lore is pretty much one of those things you learn on the fly, so I don’t know much except I’m a new person to this continent, so we are just here to help the cause! Cause of… Reuniting the continent after basically a nuke in the form of a moon blew up the place. Annnnnnnd uh, well, the basic thoughts of the races is if you’re tiny, like me, you’re good off the main line, if you’re big and beefy like you, you’re a great tank! Works out well!’ While definitely being the kinda sort that would rush head in, in order to make friends here, in a world of potential elitists, even December knew that having a little knowledge would go a long way in making people want to stay with him. After typing out that blurb, his cute little avatar headed towards a gate, then jumped around a few more times, head tracking where Gudren went.
It made sense the quests were out of the city, right?
‘Out this way, right? I love this city! Mine was basically really Elven Forests! Pretty, but I love the sea alot more!’
----
‘I do understand basic race mechanics,’ Gudren asserted. ‘Small and quick and magicy vs large and heavy and tanky seem to be relatively static across most rpgs. It’s more the specific skills and exact stat distribution I haven’t had a chance to study yet.’ At the thought that December might even try to dive into explanations about such things, Nat added on a quick, ‘But don’t worry. I’ll look it up later.’ The game wasn’t exactly new, after all. Surely most every bit of information and knowledge he needed would be readily available online. If he decided to commit to this game, he could find it on his own, without the aid of a seemingly hyper, little… whatever these creatures were called. So the names of them were a bit foreign still too.
Nataniel resolved to figure it out later, if he still felt like it after playing with this kid.
For now, he couldn’t deny the benefits of having a healer on him out in the field, where there were presumably actual battles to be fought. Up to this point, he’d never even had to exit his starting city. Everything he’d done centered around locating shops and finding specific people. There were few fights to be had. Gudren trotted after the other avatar and overtook him to head outside of the city. From what Nat knew (which was admittedly minimal), this was a pretty open-world game. It made more sense to him to have areas restricted, but if December had traveled to a new ‘starting’ territory almost immediately.
After the loading screen turned back to display fields and greenery outside the city, Nat typed, ‘How long have you been playing? What made you decide to leave your starting zone so quickly?’
---
Good good good! It seemed like the other player didn’t need a good long explanation, and that worked out well because after a bit, December knew he wouldn’t be able to answer any more questions. He only had so much knowledge of the game, and really didn’t like the idea of lying about what he knew. Friendships shouldn’t be based on lies after all!
‘I don’t think too much about it. There’s too many classes here to think about! I simply thought “How can I help people the most right away?” and the answer was, be a healer!’ As they stepped through the gates and the screen loaded again, December sent out a flurry of emotes! Surprised, awed, cheering and clapping.
‘THIS is why i left my starting zone! Look how pretty this place is! I mean, it’s just a game, but it’s so so gorgeous for it! That, and my main story lead me here. I think Limsa Lominsa is the central location for the main story after a while. It wanted me to come here, so here I am, and this place has alot more people than Gradania where I came from, so… Good place to make friends, right? And I’ve been playing for maybe a few days? I got lost alot, and then broke my controller, so I needed a new one. How about you?”
---
“Hmm,” Natanial hummed softly, fingers clicking on his mouse as his dark eyes flicked over the screen. He hadn’t put much thought into his avatar for this game, outside of ‘something different.’ Maybe it was to December’s credit that he’d actually come in knowing a role he wanted to play, which was weirdly absurd, Nat thought, since that would’ve meant the other player had given it more consideration than Nat had himself. He passed it off as not knowing whether he intended to stick with it or not, which might’ve allowed him to be just a tiny bit careless.
‘I’ve mostly been playing Overwatch and Monster Hunter,’ he reasoned as much to himself as to December. ‘They aren’t even moderately intensive in terms of character building and race selecting, so I suppose I didn’t bother to consider it this time around.’
Maybe his usual game choices also explained why he was more of a creature-grinder than avid quest-completer. Gudren practically couldn’t ignore the small animal monster spawns along the path’s edge, regardless of how minimal the experience gains were. It seemed better to at least punch something, rather than spend any number of moments doing a senseless amount of emoting. ‘I do usually play main tank in OW, though. So many people insta-lock DPS that it’s almost a given that a Rein or Brig will be more beneficial than another hitscan.’
It was true, though. Nat hadn’t played many online RPGs recently, but he definitely didn’t remember RuneScape and AdventureQuest looking so good. It still didn’t quite stand up to ESO, as far as he was concerned, but it wasn’t entirely unappealing and the controls weren’t impossible and the world wasn’t wildly underdeveloped. ‘I just picked it up tonight, so I haven’t had very long to go pretty much anywhere.’
After successfully killing a defenseless lamb, Gudren turned back to December. ‘You didn’t break your controller by throwing it or something, did you?’
---
‘I’ve not played those games. This is my first online game, so I did a little more work with my character, cuz i wanted to make sure once I get in, I can be useful to other newbies.’ At this point, December had his little Lalafell on autopilot, following Gudren around and occasionally hitting ‘Cure’ when his health got a little too low. Back in Gridania, the main enemies were gross bugs or mean looking plants, but here everything was so cute and sweet looking, it seemed rather sad to see such a large man hack away at things called ‘lost lamb’ and gaining exp from it. That wasn’t something he’d say out loud though… After all, that’s just how the game worked.
‘When I was looking up things about this game, that seemed to be the case here too. Queues for DPS are hecka long when new content hits. Everyone wants to be the Samurai, or the Mechanist or a Black mage. If you’re a tank, or a healer, you pretty much insta-pop your queue. So I think we made great choices. It seemed like the monsters were starting to swarm a little bit, and his partner’s health started to drop rapidly, so before he realized it, he started mowing down the beasts quickly whenever too many gathered. He really hoped that didn’t discourage the Roe. After all, they still both got exp from it.
‘No, no, promise! It was an old controller, so I dropped it and the little wire broke. And, you know, even if you don’t wanna keep going with this character, and maybe decide to make a new one, I’m happy to keep playing with you! Since we’re both in DC, our timezones match up pretty well.’
---
This was his first online game. Nataniel sat back in his chair, crossing his arms as he did. Gudren was on auto-attack, and December was keeping him healed, so now seemed as good a moment as any to spend a second wondering how a kid, playing his first online game, who didn’t seem to be particularly thoughtful, had actually had the wherewithal to look up information on anything he was about to play. More than Nat had had, anyway…
He sighed softly and nudged his glasses up with his knuckles to smear his fingers against his eye. It was just time management, he reminded himself. Nataniel didn’t need to invest that kind of time into anything unless he knew he was going to really enjoy it. Of course that meant if he did end up getting into it and really wanting to succeed at it, it probably would be beneficial to start with a character with abilities that really matched the role Nat wanted to perform well in…
Gudren seemed okay, though, as far as Nataniel could currently tell. If nothing else, the avatar was something Nat didn’t mind looking at for hours at a time. That seemed like a positive thing.
He started typing, ‘If you ever want to try out one of those-’ Even before he sent it, though, Nat wondered if he really ought to even bother saying what he was thinking of saying. He still didn’t know December, and as far as ‘time management’ went, he wasn’t prepared to invest any in another person almost ever. Too much work, too much commitment… And he wasn’t very good at it, besides.
But there probably wasn’t any harm in saying it as a pleasantry. If Nataniel didn’t like the game or December after a day or two, it’s not like he’d _have_ to come back. He kept typing. ‘You should let me know. I’ve a bit more knowledge about things I’m invested in, so I should be able to help you out there, if you wanted it.’
---
The entire time they had gone around, murdin’ sheep, December was sitting in his computer chair, fidgeting. After a bit, he began to feel anxious. What if this was a one time meeting? What if he had already been deemed as annoying? The other didn’t use emotes or anything, was that a bad thing?
A thought about internet culture he had read about crossed his mind, about how some players would emote constantly back and forth, and that was often a good sign that they would get along.
Maybe Gudren wouldn’t want to play with him after this…?
No, December shook his head on the other side of the computer screen, scolding himself already for the lack of confidence that came over him barely 15 minutes into getting to know another player. Not everyone was so mean, to entertain the thought of a friend, only to vanish on them later! He needed a little faith, is all.
‘I will! When we hit level 30, we end up taking another class, for you I think it’s… Gladiator? I mean, you don’t have to, but from what I read, the best skills and cross class abilities for a Warrior, which is what your class is going to grow into, is from Gladiator. Mine are from Arcanist, so if we want, once we get that far, we can switch! I think I’d really like that!”
Was he being too smart about all of this? People liked it when you were prepped, right? So knowing what he was talking about couldn’t be a bad thing… Unless he sounded like a know it all. Gods, he hope he didn’t.
‘I think we’ll have a grand time if you wanna work together!’
---
‘We’ll see,’ Gudren said noncommittally. It was hard to imagine what he’d be doing thirty levels from now, and FFXIV was still pretty low on his priorities list. Particularly since if he did end up liking it, he’d have to start paying for it at some point, a far cry from the one-time purchase of his preferred RPG, ESO. It did mean there was something of an endpoint to look forward to, though? If he made it to capping out with the free portion of the game, it would make reasonable sense to pull out and dedicate his time elsewhere, so it wouldn’t be a waste to have stuck with it to the ‘end.’
December was probably the type to grow bored anyway with something after a bit, anyway. Just from their brief interaction, Nataniel felt as though the other player surely had some ADHD running in the family. He was alright for now, though, and it was probably worth it to have a healer on standby.
Nataniel rolled his shoulders. He’d probably done enough for one day. Just the download has sapped more of his time than he really cared to admit to, and someone was barking impatiently behind him as though she knew what time it was.
She probably did. So smart, so beautiful, precious Lady Dusk.
‘I have class in the morning,’ Gudren said. ‘So I don’t make an all-day habit out of playing games, as much as I’d like to. I have a team I play other games with in the afternoon and a lady who requires attention in the evening. I won’t be on all the time or likely for very long periods of time.’
It felt awkward even saying that much. He shouldn’t have to explain himself to someone he’d just met online, but it still seemed decent to let the other player know, since December seemed pretty eager to play together at another time, that Nat did not feel the same commitment toward this as he felt toward other aspects of his life. It was just common courtesy.
‘But I can message you when I get on tomorrow, if you want.’
-----
‘That’s okay! That’s fine! I have lots to do too on my side, but I’ll try to be around this time of day! Maybe, when we get more used to the way this game runs, we can set up times in which we play. My schedule is a little unpredictable at times, but I’m hoping this would work for you.
Even a few minutes a day with someone else who gave him a little bit of that attention he wanted was plenty. It was too much to ask a stranger for anything more than a chance… And it looked like Gudren was extending that hand, just a little bit.
He wasn’t going to do anything to risk that going sour.
‘If you have class in the morning, I think it might be best to call it a night soon. Don’t worry though. I’ll be here tomorrow to support you as best I can!’ Maybe, just a few more kills and they’d be done. They’d say their ‘laters’, and log off, but it didn’t feel sad. No, not at all, in fact December couldn’t be happier! Tomorrow would be just as good as today was, he just knew it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
