Firesday to Darksday: The Elmer is God Edition.

Firesday to Darksday is our weekly wrap-up column on O's Kote and it will be covering the week that was in FFXI, going over good blogs you should check out, interesting threads on any forums we might notice or anything else that might have slipped by in the night. We are always on the look out for FFXI information for you!

It has been a busy week for Japanese gaming coverage, not just for FFXI but also for FFXIV. There were some interesting tid-bits about the future, but nothing you couldn't have guessed or already knew. That being said it was nice to get some confirmation on the status of both games. Let's start with our favorite Japanese translator Elmer who has recently moved over to ZAM! and is providing some great information for us in the last couple of weeks!

First off is Elmer's translation of a new Connect!On interview about FFXIV. The interview didn't have much in the way of new information but it was informative and had some decent speculation. Also, it had a nice statement about FFXI to assure players that it wasn't going anywhere.

For more coverage of this week's news check after the break.

Second, Elmer does it again with his translation of Famitsu's interview regarding Pandemonium Warden. The article is very good on the explanation of the design of PW, and why it drives most players crazy. Makes you wonder what the developers are thinking sometimes.

A real treat is that a writer on Massively.com, a site dedicated to all things MMO, has recently picked up FFXI again after a long break and is providing coverage of his return. Starting last week, the story chronicles his beginner feeling all over again, and this week they started experiencing partying in FFXI and still enjoyed it! LOL

Sometimes you can look at a story and get a feeling for it, but sometimes what people report isn't really what happened. The Chinese banning RMT story was a big hit for a couple of days, but the Blue Gartr forums seemed to really understand the story. The Chinese really aren't banning RMT, they are trying to stop other people from using RMT to cover up other crimes. Pretty interesting info in there.

If you find anything interesting out there in the vast and infinite net send it along and we will get it out to everyone! Thanks!