Check out the Cafépress store for your HS/SS goodies!

http://cafepress.com/hsss

As mentioned on the latest Limit Breaking News where we were discussing recent events with the rest of the LBR crew, we invite you to send your supportive words and letters to our fellow adventurers in Japan for a HS/SS Special episode. One special aspect of FFXI all these years was that there have never been regional servers, but that we were able to play with people from East through West, together. As one adventuring family, we wish to extend our thoughts and prayers to the japanese FFXI community.

There are many ways to support Japan in during these times, via SaveTheChildren.org, Google’s Crisis Response page, Give2Asia to name a few!

During this downtime off both FFXI and FFXIV, we ask you to reflect on your time in Vana’diel and Eorzea beyond the grind and the camping and shout out to the JP friends in our community!

You know the address: mailbag@hesays-shesays.com

Not sure if we’re going to do this as an in-character episode or not, just keep an eye on our Twitter at http://twitter.com/hsss_ffxi for more info as the days progress. We hope to record this episode sometime next week depending on the amount of letters, as always

Thank you for your time!

Love,
Viki and TamTu!

The idea is simple. $5 for a sketch of anything you want*. What’s gonna happen is that the totals of this fundraising will be collected via the paypal account I set up for it and send it directly to the Japanese Red Cross via Google’s Crisis Response page. All I get out of this is an oppertunity to sketch my artistic butt off for a cause.

Just like many of you fellow FFXI players, I have friends and many people in Japan that have been a big part of my life and inspired me directly and indirectly. I have nothing to gain but sketches to add to my scrapbooks, which are my pride and joy, so if you can spare the money (hey, you’re not getting billed in april!)

Thanks for your time. (You could spend it on writing letters for “HE SAYS, SHE SAYS”, too! Viki and I really wanna start recording episode 3!)

-TamTu

Links
Google Crisis Response: http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
DeviantArt: My deviantart page for my art samples.
Kotaku: Power Concerns After Japan Quake Take Down Multiplayer Servers

*Project details

. You can also email me your questions there.

Hey guys! We realize we’ve started off a lil bit slow, but that’s okay! We really appreciate the support we’ve gotten from you and hope you’ll stick with us for the coming year as well.

Hope you’ve had a fantastic holiday season and may 2011 bring you many blessings!

All we hope for is your continued support, and you can do so by sending your letters for episode 3 of He Says, She Says to mailbag@hesays-shesays.com!

TamTu & Viki

Our heroes are on their way for some well-deserved rest. But they’re about to enter a life-long grudge match. Something smells fishy here!

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Scrye, Vontri, Scuro, Silent Lucidity, Maikeru and Homayun!

Music Credits: Luso @ Project Soul Voice

As always, you can send it to our mailbag (mailbag at hesays-shesays dot com); episode 2 will be out very soon! Blame Abyssea!

Deadline is wednesday December 22nd!

Lots of love,
TamTu & Viki

Wanting to start the new season strong, TamTu trains with Viki in a new job! Is he manly enough????

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Tellahchan, Ciecle, Slr Stryker, Vontri, Ciecle’s Mog, Zero T. Katama, Taila, Silent Lucidity, Tamar-Samar, Lyali, Kevin Manning, FusionX and Homayun!

Music Credits: Luso @ Project Soul Voice

Two years have passed since a celebrated Warrior and White Mage from San d’Oria held festivities in the Kokba Hostel in honor of their initiative’s anniversary. One year of travelling, meeting people of all kinds of trades and sharing their stories with the help of their moogles suddenly came to an end.

Word of a certain Rostam alive and well in the Great South caught young Sooraya’s ears and any chance of reuniting herself with her father would not be left unattended. Upon returning to Norg, Gilgamesh confirmed he rumor and allowed her to board the next vessel to the southern continent of Olzhirya. It was a hard decision, but it was time for her to stand on her own armored feet and adventure on her own.

Bound to his duty as a San d’Orian hero, and working hard to strengthen the ties between the allied nations, Tamtu was given no choice to let his partner go and watch her venture towards new horizons.

Nights spent in the San d’Orian Cathedral, the Temple of the Goddess in Upper Jeuno and occasionally the shrine in the Bastokan Metalworks during his residence there gave him one solid answer…

The adventure was still only just beginning. Sooraya realized that. Tamtu now did too.

Never forgetting the past, people do grow stronger when they unchain themselves from eachother. What stories have come from the adventurers over the past two years? What have you, the children of the Dawn Goddess, done to grow in your destinies?

Share your tales in the new season of He Says, She Says!

Questions? Head on over to the forums!

mailbag@hesays-shesays.com
tamtu@hesays-shesays.com
viki@hesays-shesays.com

YES!!! Kicking off Season 2!! Introducing our brand-new host and covering some bases about the new programming!

Music Credits: Luso @ Project Soul Voice

Hey listeners! We’re happy to announce that in July 2010, “HE SAYS, SHE SAYS” will kick off with Season 2! We have a brand new host-team and can’t wait to read your emails once again. Before you send in new letters, we’ll have a pre-season FAQ episode where we un-veil the new host, clear up new programming changes and tackle some questions for the FAQ show that you are invited to send to our spankin’ new address: mailbag@hesays-shesays.com!

You have until Thursday July 24th to ask us anything about the show and what’s been going on, if “Vana’diel Says” is EVER going to get released, if Kallo is the new host, anything! Be sure to keep track of our Twitter on the link below!

Thanks for your patience, we’re excited to get this show back on the road!

Twitter
Facebook link

So here it regretfully is: HS/SS is going on an unfortunate hiatus for the time being. Real-life events have taken priority over the show on top of ourselves being unable to schedule recording sessions accordingly, so we have decided to let it go for the time being. This isn’t the end of He Says, She Says, perhaps an oppertunity in the future will present itself for us to pick up the show sooner than later!

Sooraya and I are very thankful for your support over the year (and then some), in both the community forums and your added creativity to the love we all share for FFXI.

For those that care, I’ll still be helping out over at Limit Break Radio, so you haven’t heard the last of me yet. And at the risk of sounded like a broken record, I want to tie up loose ends here. Who knows, Vana’diel Says 1 might get released after all :p

Either way, thanks again for all your support; do stick around on the forums, wouldn’t wanna become strangers now!

Signing off,

TamTu and Sooraya.

Before hitting the anniversary party in Kokba Hostel, Sooraya and TamTu record an episode at the Whitegate Mog Houses with a special guest, as well with some uninvited ones…

A/N: Our apologies for the delay and cancelling of the anniversary week! We’ll have an important announcement following in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Segan, Taeo, Nimbalo, Dymlos, Ravencroft, Angelnight, Silent Lucidity, Vontri, Kappo, Eitelwolf, Tellah, Kalina, Eruainur, Lyali, Tamarsamar and Volkai!

Special thanks our friends Edwyn Tiong, Morgan Barnhart, Amby Leigh, Lucien Dodge and Cody Coleman for lending their voice talent!

Music Credits: Ultra-Noob/, Luso and Square-Enix.

The story of TamTu and Sooraya is entwined deeply in that of Hyozan. This is the beginning of their adventure together. This is their story. This the beginning of Hyozan’s Legacy.

Before you actually listen to this 20-minute audio drama, check out the following prologue pieces! Prologue 1 covers TamTu as a young orphan of war, prologue 2 tells the story of Sooraya’s first steps as a Warrior years later. The last prologue story actually happens during the course of the main story!

PROLOGUE 1: A White Mage is born.

10 years ago… West Ronfaure… An Elvaan knight-in-training, Ballie is travelling the forests of Ronfaure with her sister Mikaela. They stumble upon a torn down cottage, finding the bodies of a boy…and his mother. Download here (MP3, 1.8 MB) Running time: 2:00mins

PROLOGUE 2: Destined.

Recent past… Following the death of her father, the young warrior Sooraya tries to become stronger, living up to the name of the great hero Rostam. She dives head-deep, maybe too deep into Ranperre’s tomb… Download here (MP3, 1.8MB) Running time: 1:58mins

PROLOGUE 3: SHEEP.

Present Time A young Taru wandering the fields of La Theine Plateau is training to become a powerful black mage. He successfully defeats an Orc and enjoys the spoils of victory. Unfortunately…it’s short-lived. Download here (MP3, 1.5MB) Running time: 1:36mins

Many thanks to the voice talents of Laura Post, Shannon Wilson, Melissa D. Johnson, Philip Sacramento, River D. Kanoff, Pamela, Kenda Braun, Jason Axelrod, Ben Hales, Nicholas Louie, Erica Mendez and Lucien Dodge! Check out the first (and for now, last) episode of Hyozan Origins.

Yesterday, we wrapped up the recording of episode 15 of “He Says, She Says”, which will appear within the next few days. But before that, we will release our first present to you, the listeners very shortly! We would like to take this moment to thank you all for supporting us in the past year with all of your e-mails!

Keep a lookout on the bits we have for you!

Love,
TamTu and Sooraya

Our 1st year anniversary is coming up soon, and we would love to receive party themed letters for this special show! We’re planning to release episode 15 on September 27th. I know it’s rather short notice, but we hope to receive a lot of e-mails for this until the 22nd of September! EDIT: Two-day extension to September 24th!

We will certainly try to cover regular e-mails in this show as well, so keep those letters coming!

We’ll have some fun things in return during our He Says, She Says Anniversary Week! Promise!

Breaking their limits! Tamtu and Sooraya fight the crusty old geezer and take a break for your e-mails!

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Vontri, Twinsevens, Sorawora, Lyali, Tarudragoon, Slvr Stryker, Deroth, Kevin Manning, Bunji and Cressidia!
Special thanks our friend Sparf for lending his voice talent!

A little new in-character segment where TamTu writes to his old mentor, updating her on his progress and her old linkshell!

TamTu and Sooraya return from their vacation and get straight back into the flow of things! What stories and questions loom in the….tree?

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Saskiot, Silent Lucidity, Scuro, Anonymous Adventurer, Dunarda, Nimbalo, Anonymous Bastokan, Ravencroft, Zarden, Nirilis Zione III, Deckerd, Beastman Soulflayer, SiriusBlack and Azriall!
Special thanks to our guest Raige and our friend Zetra for lending her voice talent!

What a total geek. The place needs like… my amazing expertisement, so I totally visited the forums and saw there’s more artists there too. I’ll be helping out that dork to improve his totally adorable attempts at art and give him, and like, anyone else my exquisite opinion!

-Angelica.

(Check out Angelica’s Art Shack on the forums!)

Engagement! Fanart Contest Results! Eorzea! We tackle all three in this out of character episode! Wanna know who won the fan-art contest? Listen to the episode! Check out the entries after the jump!

[View with PicLens]

You probably know by now that here at HS/SS as a Community Site, we don’t really post about the various news and topic-items that are on the Playonline website, simply because every other site and their mom has it up. Chances are you see it at FFXIclopedia, Limit Break Radio or Pet Food Alpha anyway!

But check out this part about the Online Community Relations team! It’s got something to do with the player events we discussed on the Podcast Tour episode early last month with Matt Hilton and Opal Flame.

[ OCR ]
Lastly, we would like to explain a little about the OCR (Online Community Relations) team.

The OCR team is tasked with handling everyday e-mails from users.

The most numerous topics in inquiries are regarding the Community Sites page and different FINAL FANTASY XI contests that the OCR team manages.

Recently, we have received a lot of e-mails from players who would like help in events they are organizing, such as weddings.

The OCR team is currently already involved in helping different group events through actions such as the placement of special objects and so on.

There have also been requests from users who have participated in events we have assisted in or read about them on websites or in the game, expressing interest in receiving the same kind of assistance.

The OCR team is currently involved in the advancement of a project called “Player Event Support” to help players hold events that will create long-lasting memories.

There are many other new services planned, based on inquiries, opinions, and requests from FINAL FANTASY XI users. And not just within the game! We are also involved in the planning of contests and events with fan sites, and much more!

If you have any ideas or concerns about community site management, future events, or even just something that’s popped up in everyday gameplay, feel free to send an e-mail to the team!
We use your suggestions as the driving force to create an active community that everyone can enjoy without worry.

They’re pretty serious about this! I really do feel that we, the players have more to add to the game that we think. The game has a lot to offer, but it’s up to us how we make them enjoyable! Think of the possibilities; Moblin Maze Mongers tournaments where teams of 6 competing for the best time in the same maze. Or chocobo races starting from Bastok, with bird-stops in Jeuno with the goal set in at the Sanctuary of Zi’tah/Ro’Maeve zoneline?

These are examples from events we’ve done in Hyozan, but they could potentially be fun server-based events!

Leaving Bastok, TamTu and Sooraya are headed for a vacation spot for some little paradise! There are two ways to get there….but which one did they pick?

We were unable to include the fanart contest results in this episode. But please look forward to a later show with the Fanart-contest results!

E-mails in this episode submitted by: Lerret, Vontri, Kigeca, Bekkarwekkar, Angelnight, Sora, Antony, Rosuto, Dymlos, Raige, Seijiro and Slvr Stryker!

TamTu: O_O
TamTu: ONLINE?!
TamTu: jhfsklga,fdhgas
Sooraya: HOLY SH*T
TamTu: AUS:HFSLDHGF;sdjhgv
Sooraya: Gawkdfskfs
Sooraya: dfkdlf;lpasdf
TamTu: USHFDSKhflhfskldhg;ask.ldhgas;oew
Sooraya: OMG
Sooraya: sadklfjsdf
Sooraya: omgomgomgomg
TamTu: sdjhbflhgs,k\ksd
TamTu: CALL [RETSUJO]
TamTu: [S]HE’D BETTER BE WATCHING
Sooraya:omgomgomgomgomg.
Sooraya:I don’t want to call [her]. >D;;;
Sooraya: sdkjfsdlkfsd fs OMG
Sooraya:I knew that was a Galka
TamTu: ………the eye-toy dudes are so underwhelming

What’s this going to mean for HS/SS? Well. The game won’t be out until 2010, and Sooraya and I still have a lot of stuff we want to do in FFXI. No worries about HS/SS quitting or switching to Eorzea there

I also apologize for the delayed release of episode 12. It’s been hectic, but I finally got my K-1 Visa~ and Sooraya’s visit next week has been keeping me busy and prepped, too.

Playonline’s Community Site Page has been updated! Naturally, you’ll be able to find HS/SS there, but also our friends of JPButton, PFA and LBR there as well! We’re also using the community site tool below featuring a cute lil Lycopodium!

Check out the Playonline Community Page now!

Zune: Now I know that iTunes is the predominant spot to get your podcast-fix, but I actually submitted the feed to the Zune Marketplace as well. So all you Zunists, head over to the HS/SS Page at the Zune website!

Check out He Says She Says on the Zune Marketplace!

Fanart contest: Tomorrow (Saturday May 30th) is the last day to submit your entries!  Send in your entries to the address below!!

New episode for HS/SS scheduled for this weekend! Please look forward to it~!

Now that the Podcast Tour is over we’d like to know what you thought!

PFA is hosting a survey to find out what you thought of the topics, how much you learned from listening, and there are spaces throughout the survey where you can give us additional thoughts on the tour.

We would greatly appreciate it if you took out the time to fill out the survey and as a special gift to you, upon completion you’ll be able to get a special Podcast Tour wallpaper featuring the album art of PFA, HSSS, and LBR!

Fill out the survey here.

This survey is being conducted by the hosts of Pet Food Alpha, He Says She Says, and Limit Break Radio. The FFXI community team was not involved with the selection of questions and/or possible answers.

As mentioned in the last episode, “Bastok Brawlin’!”, the winner will receive a regular t-shirt of their choice, AND a t-shirt with their winning submission!

On an unrelated note: the number of visit has doubled since the SE Podcast Tour show! We’d like to thank and welcome all new listeners to the show and we hope you not only enjoy it, but also find the time to send us some letters occasionally!

But let’s face it; it’s not a gag when it’s making Sooraya lose interest in the game I don’t want to have to change the domain to asktamandnaj.com. (Although I wouldn’t mind Najelith hosting the show with me sometime >.>!)

I’ve used Ninja as a subjob on several instances; Very mininal as Warrior solo (Blue Mage and Dancer were so much better) and in Promyvions (dual tanking the bosses), Black Mage solo and party (2x Yew Wand +1 is uber for my INT!) and White Mage during skill-up parties.

Let’s start with White Mage. I’ve talked to Sooraya about Whinja so many times in the past and I know it’s a very viable option for DD… provided I have the right gear for it. I’m not at the level where I can equip the pirate cudgels, so really, I’ll gladly sacrifice the extra hit for overall efficiency from other jobs.

I was in a skillup party last night, and was *barely* getting skill-ups. Things did change when I swapped in a Spike Necklace and Attack+ earring. Things went faster when I re-equipped my Strike Shield in my off-hand slot for an additional amount of Attack. I understand that in order to skill-up, you need to be able to do damage. I was hitting the target monsters just fine. Between whiffs, I did alright damage, but apparently not enough to get skillups? I’ll test it one more time with dual-wield and just have the spike necklace/earring equipped, then compare it to without those, then with and without my attack shield. (I want a Viking Shield, btw ; . Again, I was subbing Ninja purely under the impression that I might improve a skill-up rate. We had tanks so I wouldn’t need shadows. But as it is, /NIN at my current level didn’t do anything for me at all. Not impressed. I’ll probably sub Warrior next time. I’ll have access to Beserk, and Warcry at level 70. So as much as I was all for Whinja in my early days, I have better options for now. I’ll try again if people are kind enough to help me farm the pirate cudgels, or when I get a set of Darksteel Mauls. (I should actually invest in one for when I hit 65).

Warrior didn’t benefit much from subbing ninja so far. The only events I’ve taken my Warrior into are Promyvions, where I was either duo-tanking the boss, or just support DDing with a Great Axe. I always did carry two axes with me, but I wasn’t too fond of it either. Perhaps Centurion Swords might have been a better option at the time, but subbing ninja didn’t do much for my damage at all. When I put together a jungle party for a new linkshell member two nights ago, I thought I’d give /NIN a shot, seeing as she had just hit 24. I’ve heard on multiple acounts that the Jungle is a hell for Ninjas. Party members actually advised against it, but I had no other “viable” subjob for that low a level, besides Blue Mage. Being the puller, I ended up opting for Blue Mage for Metallic Body and Cocoon, and as one of the two WAR tanks, I figured I could generate enmity with Pollen as well (and we were synced down to 24 anyway). However; Dancer in small-parties above 30 was a much better option in terms of survivability compared to /NIN. Sorry guys.

Black Mage actually did benefit from subbing Ninja. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to increase my INT to a total of +29 on top of what my stats were. This increased the numbers of my nukes, to where I could actually see a difference between subbing White Mage for maybe a few points in INT, over the extra Yew Wand for extra 4. Ninja also gives a better native INT boost than WHM does. Keep in mind that I only subbed Ninja in parties when there were enough healers. Otherwise, I would’ve been one of the back-up healers. It worked wonders in solo situations too.

(For the record: Yew Wand+1 x2 = 8, Seer’s Slacks + Seer’s Crown+1 = 4, Custom M Boots = 3, Black Silk Neckerchief = 3, Eremite’s Ring x2 = 4, Cunning Earring x2 = 2, Shaman’s Belt = 1, Black Cape+1 = 3 and Mycophile Cuffs = 1)

I have not subbed Ninja on my other jobs other than Thief and Ranger, mainly for dual wielding (Ranged) Accuracy daggers, get a better damage over time on THF and absorbing various Stone spells and enfeebles by worms on RNG.

This is not to discredit Ninja in its entirety, because it does have its merits in certain situations or certain monsters. I don’t share Sooraya’s opinion on Ninja, but I do have to say that for the most part, it has not warranted any positives on my end. Endgamers and solists will prove otherwise and that’s fine. But as it is, I acknowledge the job, but not where I currently am. I don’t feel it’s a cop-out either, because the ability to negate damage through shadows *does* exist, so why ignore it? I just haven’t met any instances where Sooraya really needed shadows either to the point I was unable or overwhelmed to support her (and the party).

With the recent WHM updates, I am now able to support her even better against magic spells or damage. For DDs subbing ninja that don’t know: Afflatus Solace grants WHM cures an extra Stoneskin effect that’s dependant on how much they cure you for. It’s an extra damage buffer. Esuna will remove debuffs, multiple ones if Afflatus Misery is active. And then there are always the individual debuff-heals. White Mages that are really on the ball with things can take care of non-NINsub DDs. So while I did mention before on the show that subbing ninja would make my job easier, it just means I can’t afford to be lazy. It’ll keep me focused on what’s going on, learn to assess the situation and how to act, and determine if I’m a good healer or not.

And even if I’m not in the game at the moment, Sooraya can take care of herself anyway. I’ve explored Ninja on Warrior and learned that there really aren’t that many merits in subbing it just yet. Who knows, maybe further down the line, I’ll have Warrior up and ready for high-tier events and I’ll experience Ninja sub in a different way. I’ve met people on both sides of the fences and respect their views on it. I’m not necessarily siding with my baby Sooraya here, but now that I understand her position better, people should stop giving her so much flack about it, especially since it doesn’t warrant anything incredibly advantageous right now, anyway. Or joke about it. It’s getting old :3 And if she gets tired of the jokes and preaching to the point she doesn’t want to log in, the game is going to become less fun for me, and there will be less He Says, She Says.

And we don’t want that now, do we?
Discuss this in the forums

It’s time for the second episode of the Final Fantasy XI Community Team Podcast Tour! Matt Hilton and Opal Flame from FFXI Vault discuss the seasonal events, read your e-mails and shed some light on their own adventures during these festivities of Vana’diel! Read on to find the winners of our prize giveaway!

Grand prize winner (Shadow Lord Statue) – Corinth wrote about the Sunbreeze Festival dating way back to 2004. It was a reminder of how long players have been able to enjoy these festivities in Vana’diel and captured the spirit of the show’s topic very well.

Runner up (FFXI Piano Collections CD)  – Veloxe expressed the concern of obtaining all three of the Rank 5 Bonanza King Statues, all in-character! It definitely set the mood for the overall discussion of the show!

Runner up (FFXI Piano Collections CD) – Eruainur‘s suggestion brought up a very good suggestion on how to give the events an extra layer of community to the game.

Runner up (FFXI Piano Collections CD) – Zarden writes about true Vana’diel Events, celebrating the major historical events in Vana’diel.

Runner up (FFXI Piano Collections CD) – Vontri tells a story about how an encounter with a starlight chef got him into cooking and wonders if the various seasonal events could possible interest players to other hobbies and activities in Vana’diel.

Congratulations to the winners! And many thanks to Luso (www.pharaohatem.com) for the music tracks!

Tamtu takes matters into his own hands as a bad bastokan flirt hits on Sooraya! Will his newfound powers save the day? Find out in this exciting episode of He Says, She Says!

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Segan, Zetra, Eréll, Nameless Tarutaru, Eruainur, Paul Bunion< Jager, Angela Dark, Acario, Shirainu, Shasta, Lyali. Special thanks to our good friends Jonathon and Rina for helping out with the skit!

The e-mail address is:

Have you looked into Pet Food Alpha and Limit Break Radio’s topics yet? Check it out! We’re all very excited to get this show on the road!

Here it is! The official Podcast Tour, hitting “Limit Break Radio”, “Pet Food Alpha” and “He Says, She Says” to gather feedback from the community about different topics relating to Final Fantasy XI.

The format of each Podcast Tour show has the hosts discussing their topic with a SE Community Relations rep and a Premier Site rep. On HS/SS, we will discuss the seasonal in-game events with Matt Hilton, Community Planner from Square Enix and Opalflame from FFXI Premier Site FF Vault!

The topic at hand can cover these events (To which I always refer to as the Moogle Events, since they’re organized by the MHMU!):

• Egg Hunt Egg-stravaganza
• Mog Bonanza
• Yearly Anniversary celebrations
• Yearly Zodiac Events
• Feast of the Swords
• Doll Festival
• Celestial Nights
• Sunbreeze Festival
• Harvest Festival
• Starlight Celebration

Topics not covered:
-Live Events like Fanfest, Vanafest, Final Fantasy Concerts (Check out Limit Break Radio for this!)
-Global Support, Premier Sites, Community Contests, Fanart Contests and more are covered by Pet Food Alpha

The 5 best emails will be awarded with some exclusive items from Square Enix!

-the grand prize for the best e-mail is the massive “Final Fantasy XI Sculpture Arts Shadow Lord” statue!
-Four will be awarded with the Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections CD

And that’s it! Since there are a lot of events to cover, we may not read all e-mails, or shorten them up. Closing date for the e-mails is April 29th! Your letters can be sent to the address below! Bring on the e-mails!!!!

Episode 11 will be out sometime this week, my friends There’s a little delay in the skit, but it will be very, very worth the wait.

We’re working hard on the next episode (really) and still eagerly awaiting your entries for our art contest. But we have something very exciting to announce! Our upcoming .5 episode is scheduled to feature two very special guests to cover the topic of the upcoming and all current in-game seasonal events.

Having covered several of the seasonal events in FFXI like the Starlight Celebration and Valetione’s Day, HS/SS will be having a round-the-table discussion about the various in-game events! And this is where you, the listener, come in.

I want you to start brainstorming about new in-game events, feedback on existing events or in true HS/SS fashion, your personal stories relating to any event. It doesn’t have to be in-character this time, so if that was holding you back from sending us emails before, this is your chance!

Feel free to start e-mailing us now, but the more elaborate and carefully constructed your idea and feedback is, the bigger chance you may have! There will be some incentive for this, I promise! More on this on April 20th.

You can send the e-mails to our special show email:

Thank you for support as always!

Calling all artists out there! Instead of showing off myself ::shot::, I wanted to touch upon you listeners to compete in a fanart contest for HS/SS’s splash page! Right now, it’s black with logos and it’s been like that forever because I was lazy at the time. I know that the FFXI community has very talented artists so here’s your chance to not only get some extra exposure (all entries will be posted on the website!), but also win a “He Says, She Says” t-shirt and get your art prominently featured on the website’s design!

Requirements:

…and that’s it! Pick whatever theme you want, but remember: We’re a family show ^_~ The only suggestion I might have is to have some kind of open space for logo-placement purposes. Send your submissions to the address below:

Contest closes on April 30th and the winner will be announced in the first May episode of HS/SS!
PS: This has absolutely nothing to do with PlayOnline’s official Fanart contest for the 7th’s Anniversary of FFXI! I actually wanted to post this yesterday, but they stole my thunder I’m looking forward to your submissions!

We finally break the double digits and hit episode 10! This calls for a celebration-wation….!

Waaaaaaaaait.

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Kukulcan, Silent Lucidity, Lyali, Hileict, Kongal, Ravencroft, Zaryph, Dymlos, Special thanks to our good friend Kendra for helping out with the skit!
[ratings]

Speaking of the forums, I’ve assigned our good friend and loyal writer Silent Lucidity to help Sooraya and myself moderate the forums and bring down the derailing to a minimum. Granted, I participated in far too many tangents myself, but it’s been fun enough. You CAN make new topics, you know

We’re hopefully going to release a new episode this weekend, the last one spent in Windurst before Tamtu and Sooraya travel on to….. Bastok.

…………../ma “Deodorize”

This one’s a sweet poem that Scuro (WHAT?..SWEET?) wrote for someone dear to him. (again…WHAT?)

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Love is in the air, and Tamtu and Sooraya meet up with Hyrist and Irisjir to share their thoughts on this special days. Sibling rivalry, proposals and confrontation; find it all in our Valentione’s Special!

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Napkin, Vontri, Gwenlyne, Joyeuse, Arwin, Wakabo, Segan, Zaryph, Newfoundfears, Angeladark, Fobiov, Corinth, Gixander and Yoruichii. Special thanks to Erica Mendez for helping out with the skit!
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Just giving you a heads up that tomorrow is the last day to send in e-mails for the Valentione’s Special! We have a few long emails, but if you wish to send out that quick shoutout or poem or even proposals, special@asktamandsoo.com is the address! Keep them coming!

We're a community site!

As mentioned in the most recent episode, HS/SS has been accepted as a Community Site by PlayOnline! But while I do have access to the latest POL News, I choose not to post it because the information is covered on Petfoodalpha and Limit Break Radio and having it on our updates may seem a bit redundant. Although I supposed I could blog about the updates and link to the source on LBR or PFA? We shall see.

For now, I’m glad we’re acknowledged like that And with that said; one of the first things I made sure would work was the Itunes feed for He Says, She Says. So if you’re an Itunes user, you can also subscribe to the podcast there! Just look for He Says, She Says and you should find it soon enough. I’ll post a button link when I get around to do so. In the meantime, leave some reviews!

Thanks for your ongoing support!

EDIT: Also, I’ve moved the frontpage from /site to the actual domain. I’m still refreshing the Itunes feed for this, but if you’ve subscribed to the old feed, please re-subscribe by clicking on the RSS button on the top right for the new URL. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Sorry to keep you waiting! Reading e-mails on the ferry to Mhaura, TamTu and Sooraya are on their way to Windurst, and joining them on the trip is Sigmund! For a change, they switch their jobs for the sake of trying out something different. Let’s hope the trip is without dangers!

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Niomii, Blink, Kongal, Ivelios, Sayl, Nanfoodle, Jager, Vontri, Wakabo, Cardinal, Raige, Sitana, Hiroken, Irisjir.
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Instead of creating an extra e-mail address like I did with the Starlight Special, you can now send the Valentione letters to our new and permanent event-related e-mail address: special@asktamandsoo.com.

You have until February 11th so submit your emails! Send them our way!

I also apologize for the long delay of episode 8, but I’m just about done with editing. Just gotta finish the skit and I should have it up in the next few days! Thank you for your patience ^^

Easy enough: Don’t cheat.

Elaborating on that some more, though… Sooraya and I have no direct relation or friendships with players who have Salvage gear or relics or any other endgame rewards (Apart from Dynamis stuff). For me and Soo, this is a perfect example of not being able to care enough because it hasn’t hit that close to home. We understand and acknowledge the bitterness, disappointment as well as the heartbreak of the many broken linkshells in the game, but you must realize that SE had been going through a year worth of logs after they patched it and really must’ve done their homework.

That doesn’t take away that I personally feel that it couldn’t hurt at all for SE to be more elaborate on their banning-process, just to clarify the bannings. I hear stories from all over the community where they say that they’ve seen people still in-game of which they know have taken advantage of the exploit. That SE hasn’t given everyone a “fair” treatment.

Soo and I actually had a discussion about this. Would people respond the same way if the banned people were faceless RMT? We don’t think so at all. They would probably be the first people to cry out that SE should ban them immediately. But for a lot of players, this has hit really close to home and no matter how objective they claim to be, they all let their hearts speak.

While I do understand yourself or your friends being upset over losing your character after pouring your time and effort, your heart and soul into it, shouldn’t you be more disappointed with yourself for knowingly doing something wrong? You’re coming off easy here with no immediate real-life impact, seeing as it’s just a game. Granted, a game with probably the best online community I’ve ever been in before, but the psychological rewards, the bonds you have with the real people beyond the avatar, those should weigh a lot heavier than your personal gain.

As a linkshell leader, I cannot imagine wanting to do anything that could potentially be the end of your circle of friends. FFXI is a group game. You do things together. Everyone has their own goals, I know. I do too. But that’s no reason to risk another player’s experience from something they enjoy. I think I feel the worst for the players who got punished, who had no idea what the alliance/party leaders were upto. In the case of a permaban, they absolutely did not deserve it. But those who chose to take advantage of such a bug should know better. I’d imagine that after spending so much time in the game and accomplishing so much, you really WOULD know better than to risk that.

Soo and I are all about community. This show proves it. We love FFXI because of the friends we’ve made, the things we can do with them. Even supposedly insignificant events like Garrison end up being a lot of fun for a lot of our LS members, especially the ones who recently joined and said that they had never done anything like this at all. It almost makes me hesitant to do endgame events at all, which makes me sad because I really want to try everything in this game.

Bottomline: This huge drama actually stems from the fact we’re a community and we’re being torn apart at some levels. We understand that. Square-Enix did the right thing in my opinion, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have more elaboration. I’m sure after this PR nightmare (only because you made it so, though), things will be cleared up. But remember: FFXI is an adventure, and we’re in it together. Don’t ruin it for others for your personal, selfish gains.

With that said, I found this to be a kinda funny jab at the whole thing.

Discuss at the forums..

WHM 59 + Trainee’s Axe + /WAR = SturmWIN.

We’ll be kicking off HS/SS 2009 soon enough again after a short holiday break. You have no idea how busy it’s gotten with Hyozan and all the new transfees! We’re very honored to welcome many new adventurers into our linkshell, solely from the HS/SS listeners. I have some exciting news for you HS/SS fans, though!

To prevent the episodes from getting TOO long in the future, we’re introducing a new segment that’s a seperate release from the main show. “Vana’diel Says..!” will cover the emails that have more in-depth backstories. We’ve been getting quite a few of these elaborate e-mails that are very long and take some time to edit (both the actual e-mail as well as the audio). Most of the stories are facinating, though, and to preserve the core of each letter, we’ll present them in this seperate release with two or sometimes three adventurers per episode where we’ll read their personal stories.

It’s a way for us to alleviate the main show from potential lengths, but still go through the letters sent in. We understand that as the show goes on, we will get more and more e-mails (hopefully!) and we can’t always fit them all into one episode. Considering we’re an e-mail show, we don’t think cutting e-mails is an option at all (unless it’s just in an incorrect format for the show).

We have a good backlog for this so keep an eye for “Vana’diel Says” after the next episode of “He Says, She Says”! Please understand that we cannot fit all e-mails in one show, and if your e-mail is not read on air, just wait it out. We will get to them!

We’re also thinking of an extra segment, but we’ll have to see how we want to do that first.

As usual, thank you for your support and keep them coming!

-Get White Mage to 75.
-Do more events with Hyozan (TheHyozanLegacy is just a formal name, because the original LS leader Kiken retired.)
-Get married in game.
-Keep HS/SS going strong.
-Pick a craft and stick with it.
-Get MNK to 30 for PUP (Maybe DNC too)
-Get WAR to 37 during off time. I know I want PLD only up to 60, but I might as well take it to 66 or 70 to attempt its Maat fight later?
-BLM, SMN and SCH to 37

I have work to do! /psych

Merry Starlight! TamTu and Sooraya bring you all the best starlight wishes and stories from listeners all over Vana’diel! Hope you’ve had a wonderful Starlight Celebration! Many thanks to the Merry Music Maker Luso for providing us with the super-duper Starlight themed remixes of the nation themes!

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Lesil, Kakkoii, Jager, Aniero, Davy Jones, Kaixy, Arwin, Ravencroft, Hyrist, Saskiot, Stefan, FusionX, Neelia, Slvr Stryker, Nighthowl, Viceroy, LadyAri, Yoruichii, Sigmund, Juxtaposition and Eruainur.
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Unfortunately, TamTu’s computer decided that it wanted to take a dive and now he’s left with the task of re-installing his operating system [and, by extention, FFXI. Think of the 7+ hour update he has ahead of himself! Merry Starlight, TamTu. ]. I’m terribly sorry to inform all of you that, because of this set back, our Starlight Celebration Special will be postponed.

I understand that it is very disappointing, as many of you had heard that we had planned on releasing the episode today, but.. I cannot give a definite answer as to when we will be able to release this episode. What I do know is that TamTu is going to work very hard to ensure that it will be released as quickly as possible.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding in this matter. I hope everyone has a day that is full of merriment. ♥

Just giving you a heads up that we will stop accepting emails for the Starlight Special on Tuesday 23 Dec. at 3pm EST/ 12pm PST! The responses so far have been great so we want more! If you thought the episode 6 mailbag was hefty, do not worry! It’s the Starlight Celebration! It has to be huge!

Don’t let us down. Sooraya will be sad otherwise.

You don’t want Sooraya to be sad now, do you? You may end up on the couch, like me.

Episode 6 brings us to Jeuno where we are joined by Frice of Odin after bazaaring for hours on end with our friends Viceroy and Aeredon! The acoustics in the Jeuno Mog Houses are horrible, so that may explain the bad quality a biiiiiiiiiit. We also get a special visit from a random tarutaru! It’s our longest episode yet, so go go go!

Also. We’re still accepting emails for the Starlight Special! If you have some time to spare, please do some emails; surprise your friends with a Merry Starlight Wish at starlight@asktamandsoo.com!

E-mails in this episode were submitted by Slvr Stryker, Darth Porisius, Caateryna, Vontri, Grandours, Valdrake, Yumaria, Biri, Tigle, Ventress, Silent Lucidity, Arksniper, Einmyria, Xiath, Lordshadow, tearsofblood, Yuudye and Skeith!

(Special thanks to Aeredon and Viceroy of Odin for helping out in the intro!)
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