Man, Rost seems like quite the Philistine. No wonder no one likes him.

Well, I'm glad you gave Alain a great sword, because if you had given him a scythe, I would've E-murdered you in your sleep.

I'm going to be honest, I've never played FFXI, though I've played every other game besides FFTA and Crystal Chronicles. I'm just a huge fan of the Job system. I've done a fair amount of research into XI, so I'm fairly sure I can read this without becoming confused. Besides, between reading this and watching Man Vs. Wild, I'm getting a lot of ideas for my original Final Fantasy Fanfic (okay, not a LOT, but some).

Aww come on, that's it? MOAR PLZ. So disappointing... I wanted Catherine and Alain to get together in the end. :( It didn't even seem like an end... just a cliffhanger ending waiting on a future chapter...

Hmm... I just noticed an interesting (and likely unintended) parallel: Alain and Catherine are kinda like Cecil and Rosa from FFIV. XD

I look forward to more arguments between Nokum-Akkum and Renene; they are amusing. :3

Yay, it looks like Hanaa's character is getting a bit redeemed. I hope there will be more of her serious side. :) I hope we see more of Lion, too; she seems like she'd be such an interesting character in-game, but we see so little of her. :(

Interesting story so far. I'm still reading it, but I just had to get some things out. It's spelled Quadav, not Quadev! :P Sorry, that was just bugging me to no end. Also, being a Mithra myself, I'm kinda disappointed with Hanaa. All she seems to care about is drinking, and she is just generally annoying. :/ Lastly, and this has been bugging me a bit since the beginning, but it seems like Nokum-Akkum uses -aru at the end of words much more often than Tarus tend to in-game.

I hate to leave a review with only negative things though. I *have* been liking the fic so far. I couldn't help laughing at the part where Alain was remembering meeting Shantotto and thinking about how her rhyming is contagious; it's so true! XD I hope Prishe comes into this story at some point; she's definitely one of my favorite characters (up there with Ajido-Marujido, Shantotto, Naja Salaheem, Abquhbah, and Aphmau).

Oh! And I'm kinda wondering what models the main characters are? I kinda narrowed it down some from their descriptions, but I can't seem to figure any specific models out. The only ones I feel kinda confident about are Hanaa and Nokum-Akkum; I think Hanaa's face 7A (since you mentioned she has blonde hair, but nothing about pigtails) and Nokum's face 2B (since you mentioned messy blonde hair).

this is definitely one of the best fanfics i've ever read! please keep updating! (im sorry that im begging, its just that you havent updated in a long time ( )

Very cool. I'm lovin the way things are going. /Praise for you.

Bloody cave! \o_O/

Wow! What a wonderful chapter! On one hand you get uber praise for writing about Zilart AND having Aldo appear (. So, your punishment is to have random "Bloody cave! \o_O/"s intermixed with your glowing review.

I liked the way you mixed ZM8 up a touch, having the cool adventurers enter first, before Lion, Zeid and Aldo get trapped by the Ark Angels. I also like how the dialogue was changed, both before and after the battle; having Kam'lanaut knowing his brother was up on top (and slightly suspecting that Eald'narche was up to something), again with Zeid/Lion/Aldo, having Kam'lanaut knowing about Verena, etc. Bloody cave! \o_O/

The description of hte battle was great! All the details, from the description of the Fulcrum, to the Archduke's bad-ass armor (and sword/shield!), to the freaky change, to the pain in the butt en-spells and the accursed Light Blade (gr-r-r!) Bloody cave! \o_O/ I loved the entire battle, and it was truly impressive how only three managed to defeat a very tough Archduke.

Abilities. The dual-Invincibles was pure genius, having the Archduke's arrogance be matched up with a "imperfect" Galka...both Invincibles were excellent, Kam'lanaut had the unfotunate advantage of striking Gerdinus first. Bloody cave! \o_O/ Perfect use of incorporating the abilities into the story, as with Hanaa's Fast Cast, and I loved the description of the mechanics of Chainspell. Nokum-Akkum's Mighty Strikes seemed to do some damage...impressive coming from a Tarutaru... Again, you wrote about some of the most common of the Archduke's abilities: his dispel-ga, Light Blade, and the en-spells that cure him when the proper one is casted upon him (loved how Chainspell countered it, btw). Bloody cave! \o_O/

“Excuse me!” Nokum-Akkum shouted from down on the ground. “…Could I have my axes back please?” I loved that line, it was such a slap in the face after an already ego-destroying blow to our dearest Duke. Bloody cave! \o_O/ Well, ZM8 is completed, all that's left is to follow Eald'narche up to Sky...after first completing 3-4 hours worth of useless narration and a dumb pot fight. But I'm curious...I wonder if they were indeed transported directly to Ro'maeve and luckily bypassed all the annoya-er uhmm, thrilling and exciting events that happen right after the fight.

Anyway, loved the chapter! I really did! And bring back Rost safe and sound! Bloody cave! \o_O/

Hey i just finished reading your story and it was great i really loved it you should keep writing. Thanks

Gah! I have to use up one of my valuable review slots from a previous chapter to complete what I was going to say in Chapter 25! . Stupid

Chapter 25:

It's interesting to see the ESP-telepathy go both ways now. I wonder if Alain is aware of that fact.

I like the description of the level 71 Samurai Weapon skill. It's hard to take a blossoming flower seriously, but you managed to make it believable. Props to you!

Let's see now, we have 2/6 Champions who JUST used their 2-hour. And Alain might have used his in that fight. And depending on the timing, Gerdinus might be hard pressed to do Invincible again. Heh, should be an interesting fight with Kam'lanaut. Go for it, team!

\O_o/ Bloody cave!

Chapter 1:

There's no way I'm wasting this space.

The description in the beginning does a great job summing up what happened in the past, along with giving critical information for events that are happening in the present. (Well, can't give TOO much away quite yet...)

"This was Iron Eater, the strongest of the Mythril Musketeers" I'll bet Volker could kick his ass ;) I

Bloody cave! \O_o/

NICE FIGHT!

Looks like Rost and Alain are gonna have to get some new weapons when they wake up to fight the Zilart Princes. Since their old ones are destroyed. They ARE going to wake up, aren't they? *worries* They can't die! Well, the Hume can...not the Elvaan though.

Bloody cave! \O_o/

Interesting display of Ifrit's powers. If I didn't know any better, I would be a wee bit afraid of him. Or that taru that's making him do it all. I like how you had each of the prayer crystals react with someone in the story, excluding Lion and Zeid. I wonder if that will become important later (both the crystal part and that Lion and Zeid don't have a counterpart). I wonder why they don't...

I also like how you're filtering out the other characters, making it to where it is just the Six Champions (plus the 3 normally in the ZM cutscenes). I like the additional characters, but I think it's somewhat fitting that the Six fight the Zilart alone. Since we all know what a big help Zeid, Lion and Aldo will be. *rolls eyes*

Interesting how you've incorporated the Blue Mage history in the game with the events that have occured in the story. I finally see how it connects.

Rost and Alain's battle will be an interesting one. I'm anxious to know the outcome O.O Poor misguided Elvaan. I hope he comes to his senses. I'm cheering for him all the way!

Bloody cave! \O_o/

Found this story a few days ago and kept my hopes low. Tough to find a decent FFXI story, but I gotta hand it to you. This story is great. I'm a DRK myself, and I play around with SAM, so I really enjoy reading about the rivalry between Alain and Rost. The trials that Alain goes through are interesting as well. You do a good job implementing the abilities and weapon skills so it doesn't feel like a game(tough to explain, difficult to imagine o_O ). All in all, keep it up. This just keeps getting better.