Final Fantasy XI - It's a Wide World Out There

When last we visited the world of Vana'diel, we saw the conclusion of Chains of Promathia, and tried to start doing some of Rise of the Zilart. As for what we're doing tonight...not entirely sure! We might be pursuing some of the original storyline with Rose, we might be continuing to catch Swavely up with Zilart, we might be doing something else entirely.

Tune in tonight at 9pm ET and find out!

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Final Fantasy XI - The British are Leaving!

Last time on Throne of Games, Nag'molada released the avatar of Promathia, seduced by his promises of knowing the ultimate Truth. But we were able to defeat him, and his material form was banished by the tears of the Goddess. The apocalypse was cancelled.

However, we couldn't trigger the final cutscenes without waiting until Japanese midnight — a trick they used to employ frequently to prevent people from just plowing straight through the story missions.

So tonight at 9pm ET, we will be watching the conclusion of Final Fantasy XI: The Chains of Promathia, and then taking a step backward and doing Rise of the Zilart, the game's first expansion.

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Also, tonight will be Chris's last live "in studio" appearance on the show, as he is moving away to New York to pursue an acting career. We're gonna miss him, and we wish him all the luck in his endeavors. But don't worry, viewers — he'll still be joining us for more Final Fantasy XI in the future! You just won't be seeing his face...at least, not on Throne of Games. Here's to seeing it elsewhere, though!

Final Fantasy XI - The Gift of the Twilight God

Last time on Throne of Games, we caught up with Nag'molada in the Chamber of Eventide, where we learned that Selh'teus had died to destroy the Emptiness within him, but was given life again by Phoenix...and his Emptiness found another vessel. To seal this away, Yve'noile gave her life to bind this very incarnation of Promathia within the audience chamber of the Palace of Hu'Xzoi.

Selh'teus then directs us to the five towers of the Garden of Ru'Hmet, where the Chains of Promathia that weigh on the Children of Altana may be purged from our souls: the Apathy of the Hume, the Envy of the Mithra, the Cowardice of the Tarutaru, the Arrogance of the Elvaan, the Rage of the Galka.

The rest of the session was spent navigating the Garden. It's pretty big.

Join us tonight at 9pm ET as we proceed into the inner reaches of the Garden of Ru'Hmet in Final Fantasy XI: The Chains of Promathia on Throne of Games!

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Final Fantasy XI: The Celestial Capital

Last time on Throne of Games, we discovered that the man we know as Louverance is actually...an impostor? A doppelganger? A twin? It's yet unclear. But we didn't have much time to dwell on it; en route to Al'taieu, we were assaulted by Tenzen and the Chebukkis, who sought to kill us so the crystals' light we possessed would return to the fifth Mothercrystal. But Prishe intervened, convinced Tenzen that he was being an idiot, and not to obey Phoenix, that there was another way.

Suddenly, our airships were bathed in a strange red glow, rising from below, and we found ourselves before the Al'taieu Mothercrystal. But while the other mothercrystals exuded a comforting warmth, this crystal was shrouded in cold. Greeted there by Selh'teus, he explains that it had lost much of its power, and it could no longer sustain Al'Taieu in another dimension, thus releasing the Keeper of the Apocalypse upon Vana'diel. Then Selh'teus tries to kill us to return our light to the Mothercrystal. Everybody wants us dead!

But Prishe stepped in again, saving us from doom. She persuaded Selh'teus that we could do more good possessing the light of the fifth Mothercrystal than if it possessed the light we carried from the other four. He seems moved...but we were interrupted by Nag'molada before he could open the way to Al'taieu for us. Nag'molada, ever arrogant and greedy, broke the amulet we possessed, and stole from us the Light of Mea. However, upon gaining entrance to the Celestial Capital, he was confounded that he could still not hear the whispers of its residents, and stormed off to gain entrance to the Palace of Hu'Xzoi. We, however, could hear the voice, begging us to come to it.

Entering the palace would not be so easy for us, though...the gates were sealed by a power, and the switches controlling them had to be struck all at once for it to open for us. We enlisted the Chebukkis for this task, who had already devised a new scheme — they knew the ancient king had two sons and a daughter, long lost to him. Suspecting him near mad, they plan to pose as his heirs, and live there as royalty. I don't suspect it will play out so well for them...

Entering the palace, we find only the entry chamber open to us, and the voice we heard coming from behind a great door. From another came Prishe, who had been chasing Nag'molada, who was trying to find the Chamber of Eventide. With another path now open to us, we shall proceed.

Tune in tonight at 9pm ET as we further explore the Palace of Hu'Xzoi in Final Fantasy XI: The Chains of Promathia on Throne of Games!

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Final Fantasy XI - The Eye of Altana

With the last of its energy, Phoenix saved us from Bahamut. With its dying breath, it bid Tenzen lead us to the fifth Mothercrystal. Tenzen's motivations are called into question...but he has yet to act against us. In a misguided attempt at reaching the Mothercrystal, the Armathrwn Society commanded Jeunoan troops to assault Movalpolos. Distraught at the loss of his friends, Jabbos nearly kills the Chebukkis, blaming them for their deaths. Nag'molada, meanwhile, escaped down the Moblins' tunnel to Al'taieu, caving it in behind him, cutting us off from following. We turn to Cid to fly us in pursuit to the Sea of Shu'meyo...but his airship is out of commission after its encounter with Bahamut. Repairs commence!

...But the damage is more extensive than Cid realized. Unable to repair the crystal propulsion unit, we seek another piece of ancient technology that Cid can work from. And apparently, such an item, the Chebukkis were supposed to have delivered to him already. Just like them to always be up to mischief — they've instead spirited it away to Tavnazia. We recover the item, and then call back Shikaree Z to Bastok. On our way back, we encounter her Shikaree sisters...where Z has a life-changing epiphany. By the nature of Promathia, their path of sin hunting is, itself, a sin. She bids her companions to continue protecting her homeland, while she continues to seek answers with our party.

Tonight at 9pm ET, we will seek out Louverance, and return to Bastok to see what Cid has prepared for us. Don't miss this next thrilling installment of Final Fantasy XI: The Chains of Promathia!

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Final Fantasy XI - Vana'diel Revisited

So, earlier this week, I took a look at our schedule, considered other external factors affecting it, and made an adjustment. And the result, since we haven't played in such a long time, is thus:

We are returning to Final Fantasy XI, continuing our adventure in the world of Vana'diel. As it's been a while, here's a brief catch-up.

After the encounter in Promyvion Vahzl, Diabolos tells the party of Selh'teus' true intentions — and, while the consequences of his actions may be dire, his desire is only to protect the celestial capital — and that the true fate of mankind is to be destroyed by Bahamut, in order to save Vana'diel from a darker fate at the hands of Promathia, the Twilight God.

Prishe has other ideas, though, and seeks to avert disaster by killing the Keeper of the Apocalypse. She runs off, leaving the rest to figure out their own way. Ulmia seeks to stymie the efforts of the Shikarees, who hunt Prishe for her heresy. Tenzen searches for Selh'teus to learn more of the spread of the Emptiness, and to try to stop it. Meanwhile, Louverance follows a trail of ancient artifacts, leading him to a cult of Moblins who worship a statue of Promathia, which drove them to leave their caves and begin pillaging the surface, believing it their destiny to destroy the children of Altana.

With the fate of Prishe still in question, all paths converge on Jeuno.

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Now, normally, we'd be beginning at 9, but real life intervenes — I've gotta go walk in a parade, which is expected to run until about half an hour after that. I'll try to be back as soon as possible after that, so look for the show starting at 10pm ET. I might run a bit later than that, but stick around, watch DJ Mon, and I'll show up when I'm able.

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Final Fantasy XI: Dragging Chains

When last we left our adventurer heroes, we delved the depths of Pso'Xja to restore the power of Phoenix, and returned to discover that the Grand Duchy of Jeuno was preparing to launch an attack on Bahamut himself — moreover, that they were doing so without warning any of the other nations! Surely this would mean doom, and faster arrival of the apocalypse promised by the conqueror of the skies. Can Mondegreen, Mcthulhu, Tyriont and Swavely put a stop to this madness? Probably, but we can at least pretend like there's a little suspense!

Tune in tonight at 6pm ET and watch as the story of Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia continues to unfold.

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Final Fantasy XI: The Continuing Adventures

Tonight at 6pm ET is our first session with Final Fantasy XI in regular rotation, rather than just as filler when nobody else could make it. It's been fairly popular when we've played it on here in the past, and, well, we're wanting an excuse to play more regularly.

If you were around for our last session, you may recall that I had to sign off in the middle of the fight in Mine Shaft #2716 — we were pushing the limits of our time slot, and didn't quite come out in time. So sorry to have left anybody hanging! We'll pick up tonight with the cutscene that follows that fight, and proceed onward from there.

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Filler Fantasy XI

So, since this was going to be Brendan & Mabry's week, but they're out at SoonerCon right now, we'll be bringing you another session of Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia. When last we left our heroes, we had returned from exploring the Northlands with Ulmia, searching for Prishe, and defeating the Snoll Czar. We decided to then pursue Louverance, but signed off before embarking on that voyage. That is where we will rejoin the story tonight.

Join me, Daniel, Chris and Swavely at 6pm ET in the usual place. Links below.

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FFFXI

Boy, there sure is a lot of call for off-weeks lately! Most of my cohosts couldn't make it tonight, so we're back to Final Fantasy XI again, this time joined by another new participant, Rose. Give her a warm greeting, folks!

If you missed the last episode with this game, don't worry about it — we'll be doing a new storyline this time. The original storyline. Rose is new to the game, and we'll be taking her through one of the first major boss fights of the story.

Tune in at 7pm ET on the Radio PSI TwitchTV channel, and join us for live chat using the Thinstack browser-based chat here, using your favorite IRC client here, or just in the in-page chat on Twitch.

Filler is Popular - Who Knew?

As it turns out, due to co-hosts having difficulty being here, we need another week of filler before we get back to our regular schedule. Since last week's visit to Vana'diel was so popular — we had better viewership than on any other episode to date! — we've decided to take this opportunity to play Final Fantasy XI again this week. Daniel and I are in, as every week, and Swavely and the Limey are back to join in the continuing adventure.

If you saw last week's episode, you'll recall we had to cut off in the middle of a rather long cutscene. I'll try to be prepared to replay that scene at the beginning of tonight's session, so y'all won't miss a thing!

As always, we begin at 7pm ET on the Radio PSI TwitchTV channel. Your best bet for chat is #radiopsi on Thinstack IRC — for your convenience, you can point your favorite client here, or you can use the browser-based client here. But Cyan has (and hopefully, will have running) a chat bridge, so you can still participate on the built-in chat on Twitch. Options!

Not So One-Off

So, the last time we had a one-off, we played some story missions in Final Fantasy XI. Now that I have need of a filler week again, we'll be returning to the land of Vana'diel with Daniel, Swavely, and this time, we'll be joined by the Limey, too. We'll be continuing in the "Chains of Promathia" storyline from where we left off last time, so if you caught that episode, you won't have missed a thing — except for everything that came before it.

Throne of Games begins at 7pm ET on the Radio PSI TwitchTV channel. Join our chat by popping this open in your browser, or this in your preferred IRC client.

Bastion: Session 2 on YouTube

Session 2 of Bastion is now on YouTube in two parts. In addition to our usual complement of hosts, we were joined by our friend Chris. We played from after Point Lemaign to the end of the game. We had a tough choice to make at the end, but I chose the one that made the New Game+ make more sense, heheh.

That was a really great ending to a great game, though. Join us on June 9th when we begin Bastion anew (or, if you will, anew+), culminating in a different ending. In the meantime, The Pandora Directive continues June 2nd.

Part 1
Part 2

Bastion Playlist