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No pomp, no circumstance this CoNniversary, sorry. We've been a machine of late, and that carries over to this year's birthday message. Of a one-track mind, that is to say, and that track has been directed at taking the oldest game content on the site and making it fantastic. The results of such labors, again years in the making, are visible now: the Final Fantasy VI section of the Caves of Narshe is now cooking at a far higher temperature than ever before.

This section was actually, in the end, kind of a blast to do. It was painfully hard to keep going at times, but I think that everyone who worked on this as hard or even harder than I did would probably agree that doing this work rekindled our love for a game that deserves all the love it gets. We got so excited, in fact, that we even got the original CoNcast crew together to do a quick-hit recording today to talk just a little bit about how great FF6 is, and I am guessing that the next episode might well cover more of the same. Today's episode will get its own newspost later in the day so you can download it, don't worry!

As is obvious, Final Fantasy VI was the first game we ever covered. While we updated the content considerably during the creation of CoN5 over a decade ago, this new release marks the pinnacle of our coverage for what is, for better or worse, our flagship game. Djibriel, yet again, supplied the bulk of the content from his fantastic walkthrough, while Death Penalty, EvilEye and a multitude of others worked with me to make that content uniquely CoN's. And it is that, to be sure; the quality of the content has improved in a way that's barely measurable (in the good direction!), while the technology driving it remains the standard that other Final Fantasy sites still have not managed to match after all these years. We've continued to improve the technology running the game coverage sections, and we have spun out nearly a dozen miniguides for FF6 that extend our coverage well beyond a simple walkthrough and equipment pages.

Indeed, after all these years. This is the site's sixteenth birthday, and as it now can legally drive in some locales, it continues to trundle along like the lorry it is. Note: I'm using that metaphor so I can ignore the fact that the site could consent to... other things in many places at this same age. Anyway, at least in terms of the vibrancy of the site itself, I feel as if things are a bit resurgent. In the past two years, we've revamped two huge sections of the site; not only that, you'll of course remember this time last year when we finally released the fantastic Skyglade to make the site faster and more fashion-forward. While the community aspect of the site remains difficult to maintain through the splintering and segmenting of Final Fantasy and Square Enix fans as a whole (note my thoughts in the first CoNcast for more on that), I maintain that our core community is of the highest quality, and while we don't attract the most new users of anyone, we certainly continue to attract many of the brightest and most clever, due largely to our passion and commitment to the cause. Thanks to you all, this day and every one before and after.

So what's next? Well, hopefully we can get back to posting news more frequently as we won't be in crunch time for FF6. We've got some new updates to the site planned for the next year or so, and I'll be working hard in the near future to improve the user experience behind the scenes by way of fixing a variety of minor bugs in the site and also improving the CoN development webserver to (hopefully) make future work smoother.

Okay, so perhaps this counts for some pomp and circumstance. I'm flowery when I write, I just can't help it. Enjoy your CoNniversary with us!

A huge thanks to everyone who helped on the FFVI section remake, especially Josh and EE, who put in a ton of work in the last couple months to get it shipped on time, as well as Dji of course, who once again has turned out a walkthrough that is both incredibly informative and entertaining. It really is some great stuff, and I think it testifies to the excellence of that game we all love - as well as the site, whose flagship title now has the quality it deserves.

Good Lord, can hardly believe we've already had Skyglade that long. Though admittedly biased by the fact that I was running *hipster glasses* it for a half-year before its official release, it feels like it's already been around for ages. You know, in chat we tend to feel like we never get anything done, but if anything I think these last two years have proved that wrong! Wouldn't mind if we could stretch that trend to three!

A very happy CoNniversary to everyone

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Congrats fellas, and nice speech! Sorry I wasn't as much help as I'd originally intended to be. It looks solid - you should all be proud

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We apologise for the inconvenience

Congrats to everyone who helped, the new guide looks awesome.

I have a feeling some others might be doing this, but I'll probably start another playthrough of FFVI very soon with the new walkthrough as a companion =]

And CoN staffers: thanks for sticking at it all these years.

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Congratulations and Happy CoNniversary!

And actually being re-exposed to some of the FFVI game content while helping out with this, albeit in the little I got around to doing, now kinda makes me want to play FFVI again...

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Happy CoNniversary!

I'll definitely use the updated guide next time I play FFVI, well done to everyone who worked on it.

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FF games completed: I (psp), II (psp), III (DS), IV (psp), V (GBA), VI (GBA), VII, VIII, IX, X, XI: Nations-Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, XII, XIII, XIV, XV.
Spin-offs: FFIV: Interlude & The After Years, Crisis Core: FFVII, X-2, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, Type-0 HD, Dissidia, Dissidia 012, and Tactics (original & WotL).
Enjoyed them all.

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 31st July 2013 17:14)

And actually being re-exposed to some of the FFVI game content while helping out with this, albeit in the little I got around to doing, now kinda makes me want to play FFVI again...

Haha that's exactly what happened to me!

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 31st July 2013 20:45)

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 31st July 2013 17:14)

And actually being re-exposed to some of the FFVI game content while helping out with this, albeit in the little I got around to doing, now kinda makes me want to play FFVI again...

Haha that's exactly what happened to me!

Me three!

I just gotta find the time...

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We apologise for the inconvenience

If you ever need any help at all with that game, hit me up, I know everything about that game; to the point where I read walkthroughs to make sure they didn't miss anything. I was a bit late coming here for that, but if you still need any help, I'm here for you!

EDIT: Wow, I just took a look at the FF6 section, and I am impressed! It even has some things I did not know about. Oh well, I guess I will just write my own walkthrough.

This post has been edited by RavenLalonde on 1st August 2013 20:48

It's almost embarrassing how much I like checking CoN on the daily. I've been doing it for basically one third of my entire life, and I hopefully will be able to do so for a number of years more. Happy CoNniversary!

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

So great to see the content released and up for everyone! Thanks again to everyone else who lent a hand, you all made it possible no matter how big or small of effort you put in or simply even being a visitor to the site. I'm already excited for the next project!

And I also want to mention that Djibriel's guide is pretty amazing and quite hilarious. No matter how much you know the game backwards and forwards, it's worth a look at his unbelievably thorough guide. Like Josh said, maybe you'll see something and go "whoa!" I know I did (I didn't know Umaro makes a check to throw Confused-status players at the enemy first!)

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but between looking at this content and that OCRemix coming out earlier in the month, I'm itching to dust off my copy of one of my favorite games of all times once more.

Cheers! Happy CoNniversary!

This post has been edited by TheEvilEye on 31st July 2013 21:39

Wow the new guide looks awesome! Good job guys.

Congrats Josh and many more years of Caves of Narshe!



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kame, tortue, tortuga, schildkröte, tartaruga, turtle

"Arthur Dent?"
"Yes."
"Arthur Philip Dent?"
"Yes."
"You're a total knee biter."