First Friends, Fast Friends

Warning: This post may get a bit rambly while I attempt to conjure memories from the depths of repression. Fuck you anway.



If everyone remembers, I was made aware of FFXI by my friend Manaseph.

Him and his dad Ironcross had been playing for a while, and they were the first friends I had online.

Manaseph was a mid-level warrior in level 24 chainmail, which I thought was the coolest fucking thing at the time. And the most expensivest thing at the time.

His father was a level 60 Red Mage in AF gear (minus the hat, which I later helped him get), which was amazing in my eyes. What I found even more interesting later was that he had never been in a party and everything he had was from soloing his way around the world.

Fucking.

Woah.

Not to mention the fact that he was loaded because he sold every single drop he got and bought Manaseph whatever he wanted because they were related.

Pfft.

Manaseph taught me many things. How to farm. How to get killed by the Sea Horror on a pleasant boat ride. How to quest. And most importantly, how to make my own Linkshell.

For those of you that don't know, a Linkshell is a device used to communicate with other people regardless of their location, so long as they have the Linkshell equipped.

And thus, the LS HellsLegion was born. I was the leader. I was powerful.

In my far off travels, I had made a few friends whilst murdering in the dunes. Selenas and Billiam, to name two.

Yet, right outside Bastok was where I made friends that would last a lifetime.

Sorta.

I don't remember exactly how I met Darios, but him and I still talk to this day.

He lives in Norway or somewhere up where the snow never melts. Which is awesome. We both talk about metal because that's the main export up there.

We partied together all the time. Hung on constantly. Murdered many a Leaping Lizzy. We also made friends.

Strange, weird friends.

Running naked around Gustaberg, wielding his mighty Onion Sword, was Kovasteel, a friend I would have for a very long time.

He reminded me years later that Darios and I had made fun of him during his first few days playing, yet he enjoyed every day in our Linkshell.

Kovasteel grew up to be a mighty paladin, murdering shit by bashing them with a shield.

He eventually moved on to bigger and better Linkshells, killing God and whatnot. The usual.

Last I heard he was in India when a tsunami hit years ago. I'm hoping he's alright.

As our LS grew, we recruited a lot more people. Most were your typical revolving door of adventurers, yet some stayed and became family.

This guy Andrei was one we had for a while.

He was a bald Hume, like I, with big aspirations of becoming a Dark Knight. Until he found out they couldn't hit for shit, so he became a Ranger instead.

Like Kovasteel, he moved on to other Linkshells and hunted Gods.

A story I heard through the grapevine involved Andrei calling for help during a Kirin fight and being kicked from his LS for it.

Not sure how accurate that story is, but if anyone has more information, please leave it in the comments.

Swissd and Kaizasoze were two other friends that got together and made their own Linkshell. Fuckin traitors.

Ashaara was someone I met really early in the game who went on to form the LS ZantesukenSyndicate, then I ran into later when I joined EmnityLS and did sky runs.

Nomansland was a cool dude I partied with a lot, then disappeared.

Cebera was a guy I hung out with a lot ingame and eventually switched servers. He sent me a picture of himself, to which I commented he looked very much like Harry Potter.

Then there was Shiga.

Man, what the fuck can I say about Shiga.

The dude was awesome in his own way. He was never not roleplaying his character.

The few times I talked to him and Cloudskitten over the phone, he told me about how his biggest dream was to go to a ninja camp in like, Tennessee or some shit so he could be a ninja like Naruto.

Totally serious, guys.

He later remade his character to Seriyu, an Elvaan, because he told me that Elvaans are superior Dragoons to Humes.

Well, fuck you too.

I don't remember exactly how I met Lunia, but we remain friends to this day. Even met IRL.

Friends are the best.

I might even be getting a little dewy-eyed at the thought of everyone that has entered my life through this wonderful game.

Or maybe it's these onions I'm chopping up for dinner.

Yeah.

Onions.

Fuck you. I'm drunk.