Kooday

Friday, July 17, 2009

Final Fantasy XI, Who knew it could happen?

Ever since Final Fantasy 1, I have been a big fan of the series. I remember how excited each game made me when it came out, the way they were put together was great in every way. Random fights can get to you sometimes when you are just trying to get back to town, but the storylines were amazing.

When I first heard that Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) was going to be completely online, I didn't like the idea one bit. I was not a fan of playing games online with other players at the time, but we didn't really have anything worthwhile out at the time that really showed how great it can be. I was determined not to play it because of this.

Shortly after it was released, my best friend actually purchased it and tried it out. He told me all about how great it was so I went over to his place after work to check it out. It drew me in from the start. I never saw a Final Fantasy game look so beautiful graphically and have so much depth, and he was only in the first zone of the game.

Within the next couple of weeks, I bought it myself and started my journey into the game with my friend. After reaching the low 20's in level, he suddenly decided to start over. This was after about 30 hours or so of playtime, so i was not going to start over myself. I decided to keep going on my own and joined a party in the Qufim region. This was a great, fast paced party and we had great leadership. Everyone was having fun and I added everyone as friends after we were done. Emeraldzt (Alisa) was one of those people, but I had no idea who she was at the time.

Shortly after, I joined up with her to complete a mission and we got to hanging out after and decided to do things on our own, completing small quests etc. Just doing whatever we felt like doing.

Our relationship grew and we became inseperable online. We did everything together and even chatted out of the game in Real Life. We even married our characters in the game infront of all our friends.

In 2006, we finally were able to meet in the summer. I flew from Canada to Texas to see her and to this day I remember our first encounter vividly as I went down the escalator in the airport terminal. She was awesome, exactly how I imagined her from interacting with her online. My visit went so well, I knew I had to come back to see her.

Just before Christmas, I returned again for another visit. Shortly into the new year 2007, I proposed to her and she accepted! :) We got married in May that year and I filed for Green Card status. I am still here today and I am totally loving it.

I never would have imagined that playing a game I had no interest in to begin with would completely change my life for the better. It is like we were destined to meet one way or the other, and me being led into the game under these circumstances was the best thing that could have happened to me. We are both very happy enjoying our life together in Texas.

Online interaction is a really great way to get to know someone before meeting them because you really get to see who the person is before you meet face to face.

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