Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

It makes you question life when it's new years and you are sitting at home alone having a marathon of Skyrim cabbage videos.

Edit: Oh look watermelons

FFXIV Producer and Director Yoshi-P here to wish you all a Happy New Year!

I hope each and every one of you is enjoying the holiday season.
I imagine that you’ll all be ringing in the new year in your own way: adventuring in Eorzea, spending time with friends and loved ones in the real world, wrapping up warm on your couches watching TV.

All of us here on the FFXIV team are enjoying some long-awaited time off, after running ourselves ragged putting on the Fan Festival in Tokyo last month.

As for myself, I’ve finally had the time to get back to playing FFXIV. It’s been a blast going around getting new mounts, trying to collect even more anima weapons, and chatting away with friends.
I’ve really just been relaxing in Eorzea. Having the time to leisurely play through a game truly is one of life’s little pleasures.

Looking back on 2016, it has really been a fruitful year for the game. We wrapped up the Dragonsong War story that began in Heavensward, as well as creating new experiences like the deep dungeon.
It’s been three years since ARR’s release and I feel like this past year has been one where we were able to take on new challenges, while continuing to provide a consistent, stable experience.

At the second Fan Festival in Las Vegas we announced the upcoming Stormblood expansion, and recently revealed further details at the Tokyo event.
That we will be delivering another major expansion is a sign of how stable and prosperous Eorzea has become. This in turn provides us the time and resources we need to consistently bring you new adventures.
I want to take this chance to express my thanks once again to all you Warriors of Light out there that have made this possible.

At this point, we’ve mostly finished fine-tuning the new additions that will be included in the Far Edge of Fate Part 1 and Part 2 patches. All that’s left now is to make sure there are no bugs before we push the new patch live.
What trials and tribulations lie in wait for the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn? Keep your eyes peeled for further developments before the patch drops!
(Make sure you also don’t miss the Far Edge of Fate trailer we’ll be releasing in the near future.)

But what’s this!? Just as I was enjoying my time back in Eorzea, a strange hooded man has handed me a piece of parchment that seems to have a poem written on it…




What new adventures and encounters await the Warrior of Light in 2017?
Experience them for yourself as FINAL FANTASY XIV moves full steam ahead!




FINAL FANTASY XIV PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Naoki Yoshida

<(._.)> So it's going to be the year of the Fire Rooster...which is the opposite of my sign...

Looked up mine, said don't bother this year in love...

(.-.) this is feeling like the whole crafting in FFXI again, which elements and which direct to face...



From URL: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/rabbit.htm

But on this site, I am known as the "Wood" element Rabbit...

https://www.karmaweather.com/rabbit-2017-chinese-horoscope

In 2017, the Wood Rabbit can find his best ally in the Water element in all its energetic forms: his drinking habits, his living environment, by going often to the swimming-pool, by wearing blue and black colors or using them in his interior and office decoration.

I like the Chinese Zodiac for its imagery and its long-standing cultural traditions (I am a Wood-Tiger lol)--but to this day, as some kind of thing people lend any degree of credence towards, it grates on my suspension-of-disbelief to no end. :p

With the Western Zodiac, at least the signs (12 signs, grouped into 4 elemental 'types')--and thus, supposed personality types--are randomly distributed amongst any given population due to a (mostly) evenly-distributed birth-cycle. But with the Chinese Zodiac, one is to presume that *everyone* born within a given year has the same exact personality-type? Really?! 9_-;;

I mean it "works" (in a confirmation-bias kind of way) on self-introspection, but even if one were to prescribe to the notion of it having personal meaning to begin with, we must then assume that all of our classmates from school--of the same age, no?--all have the same personalities, all have the same likes/dislikes, all have the same lucky/unlucky environments, all have our same "unlucky year" at age 12/24/36, etc. :p

That's kind of where the whole system loses any sort of real-life relevance for me, in spite of how much some of my (Asian) friends attribute to the romanticised aspects of it. ^^;;

I do like the cultural iconography, though--kind of like how I like the character designs and backstories to the League of Legends and Overwatch characters, even though I don't really play either that much. :p

I like the Chinese Zodiac for its imagery and its long-standing cultural traditions (I am a Wood-Tiger lol)--but to this day, as some kind of thing people lend any degree of credence towards, it grates on my suspension-of-disbelief to no end. :p

With the Western Zodiac, at least the signs (12 signs, grouped into 4 elemental 'types')--and thus, supposed personality types--are randomly distributed amongst any given population due to a (mostly) evenly-distributed birth-cycle. But with the Chinese Zodiac, one is to presume that *everyone* born within a given year has the same exact personality-type? Really?! 9_-;;

I mean it "works" (in a confirmation-bias kind of way) on self-introspection, but even if one were to prescribe to the notion of it having personal meaning to begin with, we must then assume that all of our classmates from school--of the same age, no?--all have the same personalities, all have the same likes/dislikes, all have the same lucky/unlucky environments, all have our same "unlucky year" at age 12/24/36, etc. :p

That's kind of where the whole system loses any sort of real-life relevance for me, in spite of how much some of my (Asian) friends attribute to the romanticised aspects of it. ^^;;

I do like the cultural iconography, though--kind of like how I like the character designs and backstories to the League of Legends and Overwatch characters, even though I don't really play either that much. :p