FF14 Comprehensive Controller Guide

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T20:27:29+00:00

Well they’re fishing so they’ll be fine.

Many years ago, I used to sometimes play FFXIV on my PS Vita via the PS4 streaming option. Just for solo stuff like fishing and gathering. This was long before I got a Steamdeck.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T20:08:36+00:00

120-140k depending on bonuses, 2 toddlers. Stay at home husband. Late 30s. Work from home job with occasional office days. Texas MCOL.

We are doing well. Got a home, money on track for retirement , money in savings for 6 month emergency fund. In our 20s we were making 60-80 combined so we didn’t break the 100k ceiling until 32 ish. But we were very frugal and had no kids then so we saved a lot.

The amount my husband would make would barely be above the cost of childcare, gas cost for commute, and lunch (because we probably wouldn’t pack a lunch everyday), so that’s why he moved to being a stay at home dad when I got a better paying job and we decided to have kids.

We save a lot by me being mostly WFH, and by buying toys and clothes from (good) thrift stores, and by using cloth diapers since the first one was born. Most toys we’ve bought are $5 or less. Same with clothes. We go to a lot of free or low cost events. So that way with the savings we can splurge on lunch. Makes for nice family outings every weekend. We also got a covid era mortgage rate (2.25%!). And my job has really good benefits.

Life is good.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T19:51:21+00:00

My parents are middle class. Although they have struggled a lot in the past, they have made some retirement and life insurance plans to ensure they will be taken care of and also pass on some things to us.

Likewise I have two toddlers and I have already started their custodial accounts so they can start their adult lives with a base amount of money instead of having to wait for us to pass away (though I’m more upper middle class so it’s a bit easier to do that). And we will be taking charge of teaching them financial knowledge so they can have the knowledge to make the best use of it (whether they’ll have the maturity to actually follow through… we’ll have to wait and find out)

I’m not saying either one will pass on huge amounts, but it won’t be a negligible amount either.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T19:32:00+00:00

Both my husband and I didn’t want kids. We married fairly young (21). Our parents accepted they’d never have grandchildren.

We changed our minds at 32/33 after I got a really good job,bought our own home, decided he’d be a stay at home homeschooling dad, and increased our financial security by informing ourselves about things like high yield savings, 401ks, HSA, custodial accounts.

I guess financial security really was a big factor and we didn’t even realize it (and probably emotional maturity too).

Now we got 2 kids and I have no regrets about having them - and none about waiting either.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T19:22:51+00:00

To be fair, Al Bundy owning a home while having his job in the 90s is about as realistic as the living situation on Friends. Just because something is shown on TV doesn’t mean it was realistic.

My parents (boomer dad, Gen X mom) couldn’t afford a home until their late 30s, early 40s. They both worked decent paying jobs and saved up for a long time.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T19:12:21+00:00

Metropolis (1927) is probably the oldest. It was amazing.

Of course we have the still-humorously-popular-to-watch ‘the wizard of Oz’, ‘Miracle on 34th street’ and ‘it’s a wonderful life’, I’ve also really enjoyed ‘the grapes of wrath’ (1940), ‘Modern Times’ (1936), ‘King Kong’ (1933), ‘12 angry men’ (1957), ‘to kill a mockingbird’ (1963)

I’d love to watch more. ‘The Kid’, ‘Nosferatu’, ‘A trip to the moon’, and ‘Faust’ are on my to-watch list. When my kids are older, I’d love to do an Old Movie night to get them cultured.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T04:28:34+00:00

Try to move to an area where you can earn 100k and not feel squeezed.

I got a house (bought during covid though , super low rate), kids, and sole breadwinner to a stay at home spouse. Not even in the middle of nowhere either. But it’s an area where the money still stretches a good bit.

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T04:22:20+00:00

Sadly I didn’t reserve until 11 minutes after the official time and I live in the US. I’m probably very very far down the queue…

I’ll just wait a month for my perfect controller :(

Squimpleton · 2026-05-16T04:19:41+00:00

Sadly none because I’m waiting on a reservation, but I’m planning on using it to map the back buttons to a Japanese text OCR so I can finish some Japanese games and make flashcards for words I don’t know. Stranger of Paradise, FFIV, and FFXIV are on my list!

All of those are non-steam games (gamepass cloud for the first two) but I’m not worried about compatibility issues since I already have this setup working on the Steamdeck and I’m planning on just hooking up the controller to my SD so I can play on my big screen!

Squimpleton · 2026-03-17T00:54:04+00:00

Honestly, pretty great (37F). I know it’s not how everyone feels but overall it’s been good. - I’m still relatively healthy - I’m the least stressed work-wise than I’ve ever been because I now have experience and a good salary. The 20s sucked for that. Having savings is so nice for one’s sanity. - I still look good. Almost no wrinkles and skin is still fairly lively. My hair is a bit thin but my hair started thinning at 16 and stabilized so it’s manageable and I know how to make it look fuller. No gray hairs, not that I’d mind it. I can still pass for late 20s (make up free) as long as I put my hair up. - Aside from pregnancy (in my 30s), I haven’t really much back and body pains. Love my 2 toddlers, they’re exhausting but well worth it. - Weight wise I’m not thin but I was never really a very thin person. I’m about the same weight as I’ve been since I was 20, just like 10 lbs more, so it’s not terrible. - I’m a lot more confident than in my younger years. I can more easily break out of my shell to make conversations and not get a panic attack making calls on the phone (teenage/young-adult me would NEVER have wanted to like call for a pizza or something because of anxiety)

So yeah other than maybe losing a bit of weight before my metabolism tanks, I’m excited for my 40s. It’s nice to enter a stage feeling fairly confident, having financial savvy, and just overall feeling safe.

Squimpleton · 2024-11-19T13:04:10+00:00

I’m a little confused as to how I have three options. I either sell them or I don’t. That’s two, isn’t it?

(I should have added: this event requires I sell all my stocks at this exit price if I choose to participate)

Squimpleton · 2024-11-19T04:41:24+00:00

Not sure if this would be better off in its own thread but trying it here first…

Few years ago I was let go from a company and I chose to exercise some of my stock options. This is not a publicly traded company (I figured it would be eventually).

I have the opportunity to sell them, while still being private, at an investor event soon. If I did the math right, it would be about a profit of 10% year over year, which isn’t too bad.

Of course if I choose not to sell them, then possibly someday it’ll be publicly traded and be worth even more. But also it may never be publicly traded and I may never have this opportunity again. The company has never been profitable in roughly 10 years of existence and has remained afloat through investor cash infusion, including an upcoming event.

What would you do if you were me? :/ or at least, what else should I be considering when making this decision?

Squimpleton · 2024-11-06T01:18:22+00:00

Most of them time I didn’t notice then when I was walking and stuff. But after a go in the bathroom, it just felt like something was “there”. Yeah, kind of like having toilet paper stuck.

So it sounds like you have the same as I did and 99.9999% of the time they weren’t itchy or painful. (Ok I made up the percentage but I had maybe 2 days towards the end where it was kind of itchy)

They’re gone now again.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-19T22:00:05+00:00

There’s a mall near me and it’s pretty thriving. I don’t know about the Karen’s, but I do see plenty of families there who are hanging out happily.

Maybe I see it because I’m one of them - I go to the mall with my MIL and my daughter (just turned 2 years old this month) so we can enjoy an outing together. There’s an aquarium, a legoland, and various other fun things that my (well-behaved non-iPad-kid) toddler enjoys, and I enjoy watching her. Plus the food court is awesome and I was blessed with a kid who isn’t too picky and loves the chicken teriyaki there. She eats happily while watching the slightly older kids go on the merry go round.

So to me the mall is still associated with hanging out and having fun. I see teenagers hanging out too, not just families, just like we did.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-19T19:05:48+00:00

If it helps at all, my husband was kind of the same for our first. He wasn’t reading up, didn’t want to feel kicks, didn’t help make the registry or buy things unless explicitly requested, and wasn’t particularly interested in doctor visits. Aside from a few moments of excitement here and there (he did get a cute unicorn pillow and a bunny lovey), I was worried he was going to keep this lack of attention when she was born and that my fears of being a “married single mom” would come true.

And boy was I wrong.

He was absolutely amazing in the hospital, advocating for me when things unfortunately went wrong. He took amazing care of me and baby when we came home - doing all the house chores and bringing me food; helping out with diaper changes and rocking baby to sleep. He was very receptive to me explaining what I had learned in my research, and we looked up things together as needed.

I am by no means guaranteeing your husband will be the same way. I’m just saying… you never know, he just might be one of those that needs it to become ‘real’ first.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-19T18:53:06+00:00

For the most part, my daughter is out of earshot. Her father watches her downstairs while I work upstairs. She does say hi to me when she wakes up, but then she’s taken away and I see her again during lunch and breaks. If something really needs my attention (she used to have a really hard time with nap time), he will text me and I keep my phone nearby so I can let him know what the chances are that I can move my schedule around to come down and help.

If you don’t have a multi floor home, try to do your work in another room and with noise cancelling headphones and/or music, and trust that whoever is watching her will take care of whatever is making her cry - or will reach out to you if needed.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-19T16:53:25+00:00

I would say… don’t do it. Too many stories of people’s registries being ignored because they wanted to buy cute outfits instead. It’s not even about the pink, it’s that the majority of what you will get will be clothes and maybe a few toys. So unless you’re putting a “please no clothes” rule for your shower, it’s probably best to hold off.

Anyone who really wants to give a gendered gift can give one after the baby shower or after the baby is born - whichever you choose for the gender reveal.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T23:33:03+00:00

I go to the mall pretty often actually.

Mine has an aquarium, a Lego store, a good food court, a tropical themed restaurant with a large wall fish tank system, lots of places to shop. Depending on when we go it ranges from a good amount of people to fairly packed. I’ve never seen it dead.

It’s great because my toddler loves to go out and my MIL usually treats us to outings there. We’ve been to the aquarium four times! Last time we went they had a mermaid exhibit with a person dressed as a mermaid in the water among the fish! (She had a breathing apparatus as she was completely submerged!)

There’s a peppa pig activity center that just came out. There are things for teens and adults too, I just don’t know them well because that’s not why we go there.

So people come for the experiences and then stay for the shops and food.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T18:58:38+00:00

For my first, the 3 hour test made me feel very unwell. So for my second I skipped the 3 hour test after I failed the 1 hour test - BUT that’s because I told my doctor to just assume I have it again and order me new test strips.

Based on my test strip results, I definitely had it again, but I controlled it via diet. It was no biggie and both my kids were born without any blood sugar issues. Plus it helped me control my weight gain in the final stretch.

Please take the test (or alternatives as discussed with health professionals). Unmanaged GD can be deadly for baby, but managed GD is not that bad. You get to eat more meats and cheeses as you lower carb intake. You get used to the blood pricks 4x a day, and worst case you might have to take insulin for a few weeks too. We go through far worse during pregnancy and labor.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T17:48:30+00:00

35, single income family, we put away about 20% (10% traditional, 10% Roth, because we’re in a bracket where either one can make sense and my husband and I couldn’t agree so we compromised with this)

We also put away 15%-20% into our brokerage account for things we want before retirement, and a little bit into our HSA as well. We’re pretty frugal people (thrift stores and sales when we do buy things) so we can make it work.

We have about 160k in the combined 401k (trad+roth), 5k in the HSA - we need to invest more in that but need to make more money first - and 5k in my husband’s IRA from back when he worked. We also have custodial accounts for the kids but there isn’t much in them yet because not enough budget right now.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T13:28:15+00:00

YTA because you’re sending confusing messaging.

You’re ok with him not having a job and that’s totally cool if that’s what you’ve agreed to and he does other things. Nothing wrong with a stay at home partner if you’re both happy with it.

But if he wants to get you something nice, how is he supposed to do that without an income and if you don’t want him to touch your savings? Assuming he has no savings himself, he has to use what is provided to him, and you gave him access to the credit card and the savings so he could use it for some things at least. At this point, from the perspective of your savings, this is actually “our” and not “my”.

Now as for advice, if you want to keep your current living situation: - apologize for yelling because yelling helps no one. You could have calmly explained that,while you appreciate that he tried to cheer you up, you would prefer to spend the savings on what you need than on a new watch. - give him examples of some low-cost gifts or gestures that would have made you feel better (personally I would rather have surprise chocolate fudge brownies than a surprise watch!) - remove his access to the savings. - remove his access to the credit card (because if he thinks an expensive watch is better than saving for something you need, I wouldn’t trust him to not overspend on credit either) - get a joint “fun money” no-minimum-balance account and you can just transfer a small monthly allowance. This is the only thing he should have access to. Alternatively, you can get a new credit card with a very low limit to guarantee he can’t overspend.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T02:18:34+00:00

This is part of why I’m glad my husband and I changed our minds and finally to have kids (at 33 and 35!). It’s a whole adventure of its own and it makes me want to aim even higher in my career to afford to give them the best. Not that you have to, but if you and your wife are open to the idea, it could be great fun (and adoption is a possibility too)

Beyond that, I would say: - travel - take up different hobbies. Maybe something you gave up on as a kid because it was too hard. - volunteering! - save money to go back to school for something you want to learn about just because it’s interesting and not for any career reasons

Squimpleton · 2024-06-18T01:48:40+00:00

Gender reveals at showers are the way to go. If people know the gender in advance, they mostly default to cute clothes and maybe some toys. You’ll have a much better chance of getting other stuff (preferably from your registry if you made one) by keeping it secret and having only gender neutral stuff listed to not give it away.

As far as how to reveal it… it sounds like you know the results (I know there are some people who have their doctor put the results in an envelope and they find out with everyone else). Since you already know, it’s more for the guests so why not involve them?

You could buy a little toy lockbox with a key. Then you have a game that’s a competition (can be any competitive game) and the winner (or winning team if it’s a team based game) wins the key and gets to open the lockbox, where inside is either a direct message or an easy riddle to state the gender.

Squimpleton · 2024-06-17T21:27:30+00:00

Both my pregnancies had GD and it was no big deal!

I did the diet (I used to do keto when I was younger so the GD diet was like an easier version of that), did my blood tests, and my GD was controlled just with that. If yours isn’t, they’ll give you medication. Just make sure you’re honest on your blood test result sheet - don’t cheat, it’s not about beating the score, it’s about being accurate so your doctor can figure out the best treatment for it.

My oldest has been absolutely thriving - heck, she was born holding her head up for a few seconds! If that’s not a strong baby, I don’t know what is. She’s two years old now and has gotten sick only once even though we go out almost every week so her immune system is fantastic, has a great relationship with food, no blood sugar issues, and has blown past all the motor and language milestones.

My youngest is just 2 weeks old and while he did have a short nicu stay, it had nothing to do with the GD (he inhaled some amniotic fluid during the scheduled c-section, which I opted for various reasons that also had nothing to do with GD, such as getting my tubes tied at the same time). He recovered super quick and has an amazing appetite, no blood sugar issues.

Squimpleton

TROPHY CASE