The Celestia Citizen (Why So Many JRPGs This Holiday Season?! Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! Fall is about to hit in just a few days,and bring some much needed relief to the northern half of the globe. But this time of the year is not just for the coming of cooler temperatures. It also brings the next phase in what so many gamers dread: New games.
One rite of passage for a gamer in this world is to have a backlog, a collection of titles they will just get around to sooner or later. For JRPG fans, it is especially notorious in reputation. I have historically treated JRPGs as both a sound investment in game time and game writing, which is what drew me in when I was a young boy. In the late 1990s, my introduction to JRPGs came in a new friend’s basement. Sitting on top of his giant TV was a game case, with a picture of a man with a giant sword staring up at a building.
I spent an entire weekend on the first disk my friend had lent me, and it got to where I did not want to wait for him to finish the second disk. The next weekend, I had convinced my mom to take me to my local FuncoLand and get a copy of Final Fantasy 7. Ever since, I’ve always used my birthdays and Christmas as an excuse to ask my family for help building up my JRPG collection. This would carry on for many years until I had graduated high school, and then began to work for my own money. And that money sometimes went to keeping the gaming going, through numerous JRPGs.
The theme of this newsletter is going to focus on JRPGs. This comes in response to a multitude of JRPG announcements and releases that had come out of the gaming world this year. With the world recovering from COVID, and gaming companies returning to form, there is going to be a demand for new games to play. And boy, are there many.
But do not worry! We will still cover Final Fantasy XIV and Free Company stuff as expected! 🙂 Speaking of which, let us get into it.
Final Fantasy XIV News
As discussed in the previous newsletter, Patch 6.2 released on August 23rd. Coming along with it was a multitude of content updates. The biggest of which, was the addition of the Island Sanctuary. Within the Island Sanctuary, you can live out your Harvest Moon days (or Stardew Valley days) in the world of Eorzea by farming, raising animals, crafting and gathering items, and creating a truly unique sanctuary…on an island. For those who are interested in participating in it, the FC Discord has a dedicated channel for #island-sanctuary available with info, spoilers, and additional questions!
There were also various quests, PvP adjustments, items, system fixes, and more performed to expand the game out. For any PvP related questions or events, please refer to the #pvp-events channel on the FC Discord, or ask our PvP officers Rekilic Renatus or Jerilith Alrin. Patch notes in full detail are available for reference here: Patch 6.2 Notes | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
Another change was the release of Patch 6.21, releasing over two weeks later. This was meant to perform adjustments to certain issues, but the big change fell upon Paladin and Marauder/Warrior. Per the attached notes, potency adjustments had rolled out to mitigate the diminished damage these jobs/classes had experienced: Patch 6.21 Notes | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
This is all on the FFXIV news front.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
On the Free Company side, things were nice and quiet. On Saturday, September 24th, the FC will be hosting its Bingo event to all interested members! There will be prizes given out to winners who nab their trusty Bingo on their card FIRST! To sign up for this event, please proceed to the FC Discord server and sign up via the #social-event channel that is there. Be sure to sign up ASAP to ensure that enough cards are produced for the event!
On another note, there are a pair of upcoming events for October that warrant advertisement (if to give our FC members adequate time to prepare accordingly). On Saturday, October 15th, we will be hosting a Triple Triad event. And on Saturday, October 29th, we will have a Halloween Costume party with 3 distinct themes. For questions or details on these, please refer to the #social-event channel on the FC Discord server!
And as always with the FC, if you have any questions, issues, concerns, or curiosities that the FC can address, you are encouraged to go to the FC Discord server, and utilize the #?help channel to create a ticket.
Beyond the Light
Here is our next Beyond the Light interview for our Free Company newsletter. As discussed before, this is to give our FC members an opportunity to tell us more about themselves, and their love for Final Fantasy XIV by answering some interview style questions.
This month’s interview is brought to you by our FC member Elhana Greenwood.
What is your in-game character’s name? Elhana Greenwood.
What race are you currently in-game? Elezen.
What drew you into your current choice of race? I always liked Elf or Elf like races in games/movies/books. I’m actually an Elezen since the launch of 1.0. Never felt the need to change..
When did you first start playing FFXIV? September 2010.
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV? I’m a huge fan of the series. Played every FF games beside FFXI. Never played FFXI because I didn’t have time for MMOs while studying.
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV? I have done all MSQs currently available.
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started? Conjurer.
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)? Always liked healing and spell casting roles in games. Since I wanted to start the game in Gridania, I choose conjurer.
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have? My favorite job in game is summoner followed by red mage.
What kind of content do you enjoy? MSQ, Crafting and/or Gathering, Duty Content (dungeons, trials, raids, expert content), Side Quests (Hildebrand, Beast Tribes, Eureka, Bozjan, etc), Collectible getting (mounts, minions, housing items)
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why? Mmm hard to choose one thing but if I really have to narrow it down I would say Duty Content. I got this game to play with people. If I just wanted to do solo content, I would limit my game time to console games.
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs? The community. I play MMOs do to content with people. I’ve played games that had great content but it’s not fun when you have problems finding people to play with.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why? I would revamp the housing system. Not original I know. A lot of people are asking for that. When I pay a monthly suscription for a game, I want access to all it’s content. There is things in game I’ll most likely never have like, for example, the tank mounts. Not because they are not accessible to me but because I don’t want to spend the time and effort to get them. But I could change my mind someday and go for it. When it comes to housing, it’s really just a game of chance. You’ll get a house if you are lucky. No amount of time and effort will give you access to that content. Only luck when I feel like me paying a suscription fee should give me access to it.
What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV? I can’t think of any funny tale really but one of my favorite moment in game was when we ran one last 8 man MSQ roulette. I think there is still a picture on Discord about that run. For those of you who don’t know, Kiti used to organize a MSQ party almost every night. On the last night before the patch that would revamp and break down MSQ roulette into 4 man party runs, she organized one last run. We had a lot of fun saying our goodbye to the former prae dungeon. And now we are stuck with an Ultima fight MSQ >.>
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter? None shared.
When did you join Celestia? July 2015.
What drew you to join Celestia? If my memory serves me right, I left my former FC when or not long after heavensward dropped. I think it was Blessed that spotted me, FCless wandering in LL and asked me if I was interested in joining. I didn’t know much about Celestia but it’s not like I had anywhere else to go so I joined. Right away I like that fact that it was a big FC. I will not go into details of why I left my previous FC here but, at the time, I liked the fact that I could be just another player in the crowd while enjoying the perks of being in an FC.
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company? For a long time (years), I barely participated in the FC life but I was going on the 24 man runs every chance I got. Beside the fact it’s fun to run 24 man raid with all FC people, I always appreciated that I never felt pressure to perform, that it was ok to make mistakes and that players were never single out for doing poorly. I also always felt accepted even though I was not an active FC member. Celestia is a very accepting and non judgmental FC and that’s one of the thing about it I cherish.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia? I love to do maps! I cannot always join but it’s always a lot of fun. But I have to say my favorite weekly, well actually almost daily, FC activity is Midnight Ocean Fishing! It’s not an official FC event but something Kiti and Sim put together to replace the again non official evening FC MSQ roulette run we used to do. For anyone interested keep an eye out for FC chat. Sim, Kiti or I normally start the group around 11:45 EST and the boat leaves at midnight!
This is a work-in-progress and is subject to continued refinement to become a better interview means. If anyone wants to participate, and provide feedback, ideas, suggestions…please submit with the respective form linked herein: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNy26Yyf-ejPBWBid01QlgFvtZSZhBxMkTxctWi1u4dTAyMw/viewform
JRPG Goodness
The focus of this newsletter’s theme, as mentioned, is regarding JRPGs and their presence in the upcoming months. And boy, are there a lot of them.
For September, we have:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero [PS4/Switch/PC] – September 27th
(99) The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero | TRAILER – YouTube
The DioField Chronicle [PS5/PS4/Switch/XS/XB1/PC] – September 22nd
(99) The DioField Chronicle – Debut Trailer – YouTube
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth [PS5/PS4] – September 29th
Note: This is going to be at least a port coming to modern consoles. However, it is likely to be a remaster as well. There’s currently no trailers for it, only a general announcement.
Valkyrie Elysium [PS5/PS4] – September 29th
(99) Valkyrie Elysium – State of Play March 2022 Announcement Trailer | PS5, PS4 – YouTube
For October:
Nier: Automata – The End of YoRHa Edition [Switch] – October 6th
(99) NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition – 2B Character Trailer – Nintendo Switch – YouTube
Triangle Strategy [PC] – October 13th
(99) TRIANGLE STRATEGY | Steam Announcement Trailer – YouTube
Persona 5 Royal [XS/XB1/Switch/PC] – October 21st
(99) Persona 5 Royal – Take Over Trailer – Nintendo Switch – YouTube
Star Ocean: The Divine Force [PS5/PS4/XS/XB1/PC] – October 27th
(99) Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Official Trailer | TGS 2022 – YouTube
Front Mission 1st: Remake [Switch] – October 2022
(99) Front Mission 1st Remake Gameplay Trailer [HD 1080P] – YouTube
For November:
Harvestella [Switch/PC] – November 4th
(99) HARVESTELLA – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch – YouTube
Valkyrie Elysium [PC] – November 11th
NOTE: Same as the Valkyrie Elysium trailer above.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn [PS5/PS4/Switch/PC] – November 11th
(99) Tactics Ogre: Reborn | Announcement trailer – YouTube
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana [PS5] – November 15th
(99) Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA – Announcement Trailer | PS5 – YouTube
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet [Switch] – November 18th
(99) Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet Seek Your Treasure Official Trailer – YouTube
For December:
Dragon Quest Treasures [Switch] – December 9th
(99) DRAGON QUEST TREASURES – Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | 6.28.2022 – YouTube
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion [PS5/PS4/XS/XB1/Switch/PC] – December 13th
(99) CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION | Launch Date Trailer – YouTube
As for 2023, there’s a tremendous amount of speculated and confirmed titles regarding their rough release dates:
Forspoken – Jannuary 2023
Like a Dragon: Ishin! – February 2023
Octopath Traveler II – February 2023
Tales of Symphonia: Remastered – Early 2023
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure – Early 2023
Final Fantasy XVI – Summer 2023
GrimGrimoire OnceMore – Summer 2023
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Winter 2023
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PS5) – 2023
Persona 3 Portable – 2023
Persona 4 Golden – 2023
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars – 2023
Now you may be thinking, “So many JRPGs, so much to spend on”. Yes, there are quite a lot in the mix here. But there are times where you can take advantage of getting games for cheaper prices and in significant sales.
Holiday sales at major outlets (Gamestop, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, even Amazon) will see numerous games reduced to various prices beginning on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday. Ideally, if a title releases more than 2 months out from this time of the year, it has a good chance of getting reduced. Anything sooner than that is not likely (but there is hope).
Target will also have a Buy 2 Games, Get 1 Free sale that returns a couple of times a year.
Sometimes, Walmart or Best Buy may have a reduction that broadcasts to major savings sites, such as CheapAssGamer aka CAG.
For digital sales, DekuDeals and PSNDeals are a couple of sites that track this.
If you also want to save some money and get pre-owned, Gamestop is one option; but I have also found Gamefly to also be winning on the pre-owned front (they usually take very good care of their rentals, and ensure you get case, artwork, and sometimes even vouchers/codes included; the drawback is their stock tends to focus on recent releases mostly, versus Gamestop having whatever is in the wild).
2 Factor Authentication/Multi Factor Authentication
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In Discord: Follow the safe link listed here for how to setup 2FA for your Discord account (this will just require you to download a free authenticator such as Google Authenticator, or Authy): https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/219576828-Setting-up-Two-Factor-Authentication
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
After a blisteringly hot summer, we now have a chilly cold winter to look forward to. Thankfully, this will not be for some months. As you can see, we will have not just a large schedule of JRPGs on the way by year’s end, but we will also reach the 1 year anniversary of FFXIV: Endwalker. However, there is a certainty that the next expansion will not begin with info releasing until sometime next year. But no matter, as we will have plenty of games to enjoy, and new XIV patches to dabble in as the year progresses.
The next newsletter is slated to appear around this time in October. Until then, see you Space Cowboys Warriors of Light!!!
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