The Galadan Project

A lot of people actually wondered why I am keeping both names as my forum name. To be honest, Kasia is the 2nd character I ever leveled. But no, you got it all wrong, Galadan is not the first, it was an Elvaan black mage back at PS2 release . Well anyway Galadan was created as an experiment.

You see, like a couple people in the LS, I've played WoW and saw the very efficiency of doing a quest-kill on your way-finish the quest kind of mentality. I always though SE wanted us to level that way at the very base of the game :

- Get a quest.

- Kill on your way there, alone or as a group

- Do objective

- Get reward from NPC

If you ever list the different quests, questlines, mission and storylines, you do see a curve where you can start at level 1 and climb to 75 just by doing quests and kill on your way there. It's my own theory about it.

When I created that hypothesis, I created Galadan and started at San d'Oria, as a MNK (if I remember correctly). I took almost all the quests from San d'Oria that you can acquire with lvl 1 reputation and started doing the quests with the application of my theory in mind.

From level 1 to 9 MNK, I did 14 quests (and I could have done more) around San d'Oria and the Ronfaures, with killing everything killable at the correspondant level. Part of my theory is then correct, you can level 1 to 9 from your home nation basic quests. I think, in the end, I finished with around 5k money from the different quests and kills. I also didn't use the AH, only bough stuff from NPCs, keeping in my mind I am a newb with no money. I also though that the AH was destroying another part of my theory : the quests and the killing makes you self-efficient.

From 1 to 9, I acquired a Robe, Lauan Shield, Wing Pendant, Light Axe and Bronze Subligar from the quests, as well as a bunch of other equip (Bronze set, Cesti, etc.) from NPC. I also leveld WAR and BLM to 9, just for fun of being a lowbie.

Then I stopped playing with Galadan.......

Lately, I've been hit by boredom on Kasia. Leveling BLM made me a now BLM-only in event, and, even if I leveled the job for the kicks of it, made me realise in what kindof situation I was in. The game lately went broing, except the events, here and there. I think Zef heard me once complaining about Kasia being an incomplete character ; I still think the same way.

Meaby some of you guys know I was on Quetzacotl last night ? Well I needed some time off Kasia and think about what I wanted to do about me playing FF and such.

I started a character there, a MNK Galka named Blackdusk, and ripped level 1 to 9 in 3 hours. It was actually the first time I saw people helping me : I had people healing me all the time as they were passing by and I even had someone inviting me so I could get Clippeus from the beetle NM in West Ronfaures. I had the fun of my life, a fun i didn't had in years on FF. No money, no stress, really nothing but enjoying every second of my newb character. I was like :

"If I ever find a Mog Tablet (they were being scattered on Quetz at that time), I am staying there !"


Of course, I didn't find a Mog Tablet and, after reflexion, got to bed thinking about what I could do about it.

Even now, as I write this, I still feel touched by that experience. Blackdusk still exists as today, like a token to remind me I can have some fun elsewhere (nothing personnal guys).

Actually, as I got to bed, an idea came to my brain. I have Galadan on Shiva. Yeah, he's a gardening mule, but I still did 9 level with it, did all the quests I could already do with him, no AH buying....It could be an interesting options !

This morning, I sat before my character and though :

"If I do that, I am recreating another Kasia, where's actually the fun of doing what you did another time ?"

That's where I decided to planify the goals of my new project, "The Galadan Project", and about what it could be unique from what I've done or heard what was done elsewhere. I settled myself on some stuff :

- Galadan must solo his exp.
That's right. No EXP parties. Mostly soloing through mobs, questing and ultimatly, with Field of Valor. Seems big, but it's actually no biggie.





For now, it is disabled.


Thus, this morning, started "The Galadan Project"

I was kinda happy this morning I had Anniversary Ring on Galadan (and a few Mog Bonanza's tickets for Kasia). I took Field of Valor right away and start my killing spree through West Ronfaure. I found out something interesting from the Brown Treasure Casket : They actually gives equipment. Yeah, duh, everyone knew that ! But seriously, a free Leather Bandana, why not .

While most of my killing spree today was more Field of Valor + Regular Monster with Anni Ring bonus, I still found something really interesting that came support my theory: crafting was build by SE from the levelling point of the character.

This image resume what I'll explain:





Yeah it actually mean Hare Meat are no good (just kidding). From the loot I got from the monsters, I told myself, most of this crap must be useful for something at the very beggining. So I searched at every new items, but kept what I could do with them around the home nation...Here's the list :


Hare Meat : Quest in San d'Oria, Grilled Hare (Cooking lvl 6 reciped)

Rabbit Hide : Quest in San d'Oria (repeatable), Rabbit Mantle (Leathercrafting lvl 7)

Copper Ore : Copper (Goldsmithing lvl 3 or 4), Bronze (Blacksmithing lvl 2) and Brass Ingot (Goldsmithing lvl 9)

Zinc Ore : Zinc Oxide (Goldsmithing lvl 1) and Brass Ingot (Goldsmithing lvl 9)

Beastcoins : Bronze Ingot (Blacksmithing lvl 1)

Flint Stones : Quest in San d'Oria, Peeble Soup (Cooking lvl 5), Stone Arrowhead (Goldsmithing lvl 2) and Wooden Arrows (Woodworking lvl 4)

Bat Wings : Quest in San d'Oria (repeatable)

Sheepskins : Quest in San d'Oria, Sheep Wool (Leathercraft lvl 4), Sheep Leather (Leathercraft lvl 2)

Orcish Axe : San d'Oria Mission 1-1

Bone Chip : Bone Hairpin (Bonecraft lvl 4), Animal Glue (Alchemy lvl 7) and Bone Arrowheads (Bonecraft lvl 9)

(There is a lot more, but you get the overall idea)



I then tried to maximize the crafting and started to do Stone Arrows for THF. I needed Chocobo Fletching and Arrowood Lumber, both easily crafted from NPC items:

Chocobo Fletching x 2 (NQ) : Clothcraft lvl 2 ; Wind Crystal + 2x Chocobo Feather (Chocobo stable NPC)

Arrowood Lumber x 1 (NQ) : Woodworking lvl 2 ; Wind Crystal + Arrowood Log (Woodworking Guild NPC)

Then, I created the arrowheads from the flint stones:

Stone Arrowheads x 6 (NQ) : Goldsmithing lvl 2 ; Wind Crystal + 2x Flint Stones.


Mix the ingredients and.............. :

Stone arrows x 33 (NQ) : Woodworking lvl 3 ; Earth Crystal + Arrowood Lumber + Chocobo Fletchings + Stone Arrowheads




Basicly, all the ingredients were cheap (Feather were 8 gil each ; arrowood log, 15 gil) and all the crystals came from monsters. So basicly, self-efficiency worked for me. The only bad thing I could give about the results is that to reach a sufficient cap, you'd need to farm specific monster while leveling, so you get both loot and exp you need.


After some hours, ta-daaaaaah !




(Cehck for updates for new Chapters !)

When I logged on, I really needed to get new gears for all the new lvl 9 jobs I had. Basicly, I knew I could get the Brass set and be ok with it, as well as getting some Far Eastern stuff for MNK. Sadly, San d'Oria being last didn't help much for MNK. As far as the others, better gear was avaiable through Conquest Points, rank 1 and rank 2.

Oh well ! Time to do rank 2 !

I packed up MNK with his really newb gear and set out for King Rampierre's Tomb for San d'Oria Mission 1-2. I also grabbed the quest "Grave Concern", whom target is the King's tombstones farther inside.



As I walked inside, I kept killing everything on my way (again, to support my starting theory) there and back. When I was finally done with both the quest and the mission, I dinged MNK 13.


After that, I grabbed the next and last mission of Rank 1, "Save the Children". I knew that it was a BC fight in Ghelsba Outpost, but to be honest, I didn't remember the levels of the mob inside. I was like "meh, we will see".

Got to Ghelsba, entered thorugh the first hut, entered the BC and Hundred Fisted right at beggining.





The last mob on the picture got pawn just after Hundred Fist finished. I got back to Sandy and got this nice NPC telling me that :

this is pretty cool Kasia, keep us updated on your journey.

Hwoarang wrote:

this is pretty cool Kasia, keep us updated on your journey.

Will do, I have a whole week (minus 4 hours) for playing...might have some new stuff soon.