/welcome

Wow, that was a long nap.

I guess most of you don't know me. My name is Argentos. My hometown is San d'Oria, but my citizenship and allegience belong to Windurst. It was certainly a move I won't regret. San d'Oria is a nice enough place, but I was tired of my fellow Elvaan always ranting and raving about how we're the best at everything. I don't believe that your race makes you any better than anyone else at anything. In case my brethren haven't noticed, we make horrible mages without extensive help from our equipment. Something tells me that the stuffy castle air has just gone to their heads. I felt sorry for any citizens who weren't Elvaan... they were always treated like dirt. I had to get out.

Trying to catch you up on the past two years of my life would be a waste of time for both you and me. In short, I did a LOT of travelling and spent a lot of time away from the mainlands. I was out of contact with many of my friends for extended periods of time, but I was fortunate enough to learn that they had all missed me during my absences.

I'm back to my old adventuring ways now. I have hung up the polearms and swords in favor of clubs and fancy capes. Being a White Mage brings me joy knowing that I can help others in their time of need.

Last night, for instance, I tagged along with my buddy Dawezy. She's a fuzzy Mithra, and an incredibly skilled Dark Knight. She's mastered the class, and has attained coveted level 75 status. I like to pull her tail when she isn't looking. She needed to dull down the blade of her Axe of Trials, so I followed her to Sea Serpent Grotto and found a coffer key almost immediately! When we finally found the treasure chest, there was a map inside! I was so excited. I could finally see where I was going without getting lost all of the time.

I felt it would be beneficial to utilize my abilities as a Ranger as well, so I made sure to do a quick study on my skills prior to leaving Norg. We stopped once in a while to check the wide scan, and then went back to killing things. I had to continually sneak around, as many of the monsters were upwards of 20 levels higher than myself, but Dawezy didn't have any problem dispatching them. It was a short expedition, lasting only two hours, but it was fun anyway. I went back to Norg because I was worn out, but Dawezy continued the hunt alone.

I think watching her tail swish back and forth made me tired.

I woke up this afternoon in Norg, curled up in a ball on the floor next to the chocobos. I wonder what I'll do tonight...

Blog, Part 2 (an extended introduction)

It has come to my attention that people actually give a damn about what I have to say -- unless the number of views is some sort of conspiracy. I suppose I should have learned this from the hundred-plus forum members at my website, or perhaps the stalkers I've had over the years.

...wait, those are two completely different types of admiration.

In any case, since I already have a life-blog via xanga, I feel I now need a FFXI blog to accompany this.

Every entry after this one will be in-character, from the vantagepoint of Argentos, an Elvaan on the Alexander server. Though my next entry will be an introduction to the character himself (in autobiographical fashion), I think I should start this one by letting you know a little information about myself, the player behind the character.

My name is Cesar. Yes, that is my real name. And my father's name. And my grandfather's name. What more would you expect from a bunch of Italians? As of this entry, I am 20, coming up on 21 next February.

I have been playing FFXI since October of 2004. My playtime has been very hit-or-miss over the course of these past two years. I had problems with my old laptop overheating any time I would try to play FFXI... or any game, really. I played off and on for about a year, and started a linkshell, DeepSecond. When the overheating issues became more frustrating than the inability to play constantly, I gave up. I paid to keep my account alive, but otherwise began saving for a new laptop.

I purchased my new laptop with money from a scholarship overflow (so all the money I had been saving went into a Nintendo DS and a handful of games, as well as the ToAU expansion in April). In January of 2006, my new laptop arrived, shiny and sexy and able to play Doom 3.

Three weeks later, the modem crapped out. I was able to remain on the internet with minimal problems, but the connection would cut in and out, rendering even messengers like AIM useless to me. xfire was the only messenger I could use that didn't drop the connection.

I passed the time by attending many, many LAN parties, or using the internet for gaming online at friends' houses. I logged into FFXI once in April to get all of the ToAU updates, and once in June, to play for an hour. I kept myself busy with the typical LAN games (Counter-Strike, anyone?), and spent much more time with all of my cherished consoles.

Then, at the end of August this year, we FINALLY got a new modem... long overdue.

The first week of September, I jumped back into FFXI, and to my own surprise, everyone remembered me. That gave me warm fuzzies -- I must have done something right when I was playing the game all those months before. It took me a couple of days to readjust, but now it's like I was never gone at all.

I am the head administrator of the forums at The Final Fantasy (under the username of LocoColt04), one of the longest-running fan-based FF sites on the internet, with orgins as early as 1997. I am also the owner/webmaster/administrator at my own website, Argentos Online, a user-friendly content display site to the likes of DeviantART. It's pretty simple right now, I know, and there isn't much content... it's a work in progress. When I go to a larger server next year, we're looking to possibly do videos as well. The DeepSecond section of the webpage will also be put up eventually; for now, it has a dedicated section on the forums.



A little backstory on Argentos, and the name for the character.

I actually had a couple of Greek names in mind, which I cannot possibly remember now, but both of them were taken on the Alexander server. I was bound and determined to get into that server because I had a dozen friends who were there, so I was forced to come up with something unique on the spot.

The eventual thought process can be summarized as follows:
My father was born in Argentina. The end.

I typed the word "Argentos" into the spot, chose Elvaan, picked San d'Oria, and went along my merry way. I had every intention at the very start of the game to play Warrior until I could play Dragoon, and just be melee all the way through the game.

Well, gametime interruptions aside, I only got WAR to 31 before I picked up WHM and realized how much fun it is. I realize a lot of people hate playing WHM, and you're entitled to that opinion; however, as an Elvaan with a shitty MP pool, I love the challenge of it. Plus, the Elvaan do have the highest MND rating, so it's the ideal race for Paladin if you think about it.

I got tired of San d'Oria not only being so far away from all of my friends (most of them were Windurstians), but having only melee gear for reasonable prices when I was starting to need the mage gear. So, I finished Mission 2-2 (in January, the first time I came back), went to Windurst, changed nationality and rocketed up to Rank 5. I was getting tired of not being able to use airships.

White Mage is sitting at 37 and is currently my highest job.

I know, sad, isn't it? Two years of playing and that's all I have to show for it.

I have unlocked almost all of the jobs and played a handful of them. I don't have any of the new jobs, despite what the title of this blog may lead you to believe. I really admire Corsair though, and intend to play the job in a static with my linkshell sometime after the new year. Sometime over the course of this diary, Argentos will become a Corsair, and you truly will be reading the chronicles of such.

Well... I think I've run this introduction long enough.

For tonight, this is Cesar, signing off.

Tomorrow (or possibly in an hour, who knows?), Argentos will take over.

{Hello!}

Oh, a post. Now my blog is officially a blog.

/hurray