#mandaplays

[awful-roffle-archive]

@mandaplays replied to your post “@mandaplays replied to your post:y r u so greattrust me u r not...”

shUSH

:/

[awful-roffle-archive]

y r u so great

trust me i’m not

[luxandarc]

While waiting for Bravely Default and Lightning Returns to come out in the coming February, I found myself getting back into playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft during this past winter break. The last time I played WoW was probably two to three years ago. This would mark the third time I stopped and picked up the game again (with brief intermissions of other MMORPGs such as Aion and Tera: Rising). But I easily found myself getting back into the groove of doing what I did before, which was sitting down for a good couple hours controlling my Blood Elf Paladin, killing stuff. Granted, I usually played by myself, grinding out levels, doing all the solo-able quests, full-on avoiding most group-oriented quests despite this game being a massively multiplayer online game. I started leveling my once level 80 Blood Elf Paladin to the level cap of 90 this way. Although I had no problem this way, a voice in the back of my head nagged me to interact with other people so I could get better equipment for my character to make playing easier. Instead, I found myself starting to read the quests given to me while exploring Pandaria to try and understand the lore of the new area that opened up with the most recent expansion set.

However, by the end of the first week, that urge to read the quests died out. The rest of the winter break turned into clicking the next button to continue or end the quest line, claiming the rewards for killing ‘x’ amount of things or collecting so much of an item that the NPC needs. I stopped bothering to read about the main storyline or the various sub-plots that were littered throughout the area. If you were to ask me what the story was about, I wouldn’t be able to tell you a very detailed storyline. As my paladin neared the level cap, I started to slow down and my time on WoW dwindled until I hit 90. From then, I gained my level 90 Riding Skill, flew around Pandaria for a while and then stopped playing once more, not bothering to complete the many quests left in my quest log. My character became the “cash cow” to my brother’s other characters, making their time in WoW easier.

I suppose this seems like a waste of time to spend so much time on a game without trying to get the optimum equipment for my character but I have done this in other games. But they were single-player RPGs. But why not do the same of WoW? Because there was no “true” endgame for me. I like having a definite “end” to game stories and I find myself gravitating towards single player RPGs for them. This brings me to the two games that we’re playing for this blog. It seems weird to talk about an “endgame” since Bravely Default has a sequel in the making and Lightning Returns is the end of the FFXIII trilogy. I realized that I have an affinity to storylines that make me care for the characters that WoW didn’t fulfill. Which is strange saying since my Paladin was my avatar in that world. I controlled his every move and yet I still didn’t feel a deep connection with him. I haven’t beaten Bravely Default but up to the point where I played it, I want to know more about the storyline. I want to get the best gear at any given point of the game because I know it will help me in the long run. I want to root for these characters that are placed in a horrible situation and prevail. I want the game to end with a satisfying end. Before FFXIII was announced to have a sequel (and later a third game), it did take me a while to accept the bittersweet ending as canon but I accepted it nonetheless. The ending of FFXIII-2 took a surprising turn but I look forward the ending to Lightning Returns, hoping that everything will be wrapped up nicely since the developers stated that there would be no extra novellas or DLC to extend the story like the previous installments had. I want to see the end of these stories even though it’s a predestined one unlike WoW that keeps to continue growing with no end in sight.

[luxandarc]

[Bravely Default opening]

In the opening, we are introduced to the four playable characters: Agnès Oblige: the vestal of the wind crystal Ringabel: a constant flirt but he has no memory of his past Edea Lee: "a traitor" who is sent to capture Agnès but in turn helps her instead Tiz: a shephard whose life turns upside down with the corruption of the Wind Crystal that laid underneath his village of Norende With this setup, I like how not one character is the "main" character per se as they all have something to contribute to the story. -Manda

I was confused! I didn't why Agnès was falling through the screen but I understood the character roles. -Sandi

[batty-ghuleh]

Can I just keep Fennekin at his first evolution 5ever?