The Big 600

It is kind of hard to believe that this writing marks the 600th post for my blog here and while I may not have the most popular blog in the history of the world (I can't even say this blog has gotten all that much traffic in it's few short years of life), I can say that I am happy to have written here for as long as I have. I certainly wouldn't have believed in 2006 that I would still be blogging here in 2011.

While on the subject of the past and present, I suppose it would also be fitting to mention that we've returned to Final Fantasy XI recently as well. It is always interesting to see what changed in the span of however long it is from the time we leave to the time we return. Mostly though, it seems like there are some new pieces of higher level armor and the level cap goes up. But beyond that, it still looks and feels like the Vana'diel we grew to know.

Then again, while so much remains familiar to us, there are a lot of aspects that just will never be the same for us again. Like the linkshell we were a part of for most of our regular time in the game. All of the members have either moved on to other MMOs or have quit all together. And while it was not the most tight knit group ever, it was nice to have people around that you can at least be friendly with and joke around with.

Nowadays it is just a quiet, baron place for both myself and my girlfriend. Surely we could try and start over and try to make new friends and what not. But for us the memories are too strong to replace or work around. I mean what can fill the void of days where we'd all get into the game and do nothing but argue about if Sam and Frodo were more then just friends? Or why was it that a portion of our shell went out to hunt various species of cats (it was for a quest), whilst our leader's wife scolded us all for being virtual cat killers (she loves cats)? And this is all while everyone threatens to punt every Tarutaru in the shell (as well as the numerous ones that we'd see out in the world). Hell I had damn near daily auto-translate battles with our resident Red Mage/Bard, whom started the game as an Elvaan, then turned over to be a Mithra. We'd accuse each other of being blind as shit and couldn't hit the broad side of a neon pink barn in the middle of a sunny Summer's day.

And how could I not mention our little dysfunctional static XP group? The times when we could manage to gather up, we'd just tear through levels like no body's business. It was fun getting through the Valkrum Dunes in a couple of hours (which, at the time, was damn near impossible if you tried that with a pick up group without a power level. Which we didn't have more often then not). The times we didn't was usually not because of real life stuff, but because a person would have a fit because of whatever didn't work out their way that day.

But regardless of that, it was an absolutely awesome time nonetheless and I know I had a ton of fun while it lasted.

So yes, I suppose this is exactly how I will spend the 600th post of my blog; being nostalgic about things that were so awesome in the past. I try not to go overkill on this, by this I mean just being stuck on things that just won't be again. But being back in the game and running about through so many old stomping grounds just drags up all those fun and crazy times in my mind. And while we still do manage to have fun, it is a little bittersweet to be back without all of our old friends.

Edit: It seems that I am not alone in having these troubles of remembering the past and friends who've long since moved on. I suppose this is the way of things, especially in a game or place where you interact with other people. Plus after spending a few years with the same group of people, good or bad, they become friends and to return back and see it all gone away? Kind of rough...