Final Fantasy XI

[Mr. President]

So, I've been dying for a good mmorpg to play, ive played everquest which was fun at first but i got bored within a month, and i played city of villians which i really enjoyed but i wanted to play something rooted in fantasy, so i was wondering if anyone had played final fantays XI and what they thought about it and how it compared to WoW and Everquest 2, both of which i tried a trial version of and enjoyed. Sadly i could not find a trial version of FFXI, but i have read nothing but mixed reviews on it. Also how would it work out if i was only a casual gamer, i dont have alot of time to play, my weekends and maybe the middle of the week, depending on how this next semester goes for me. For some reason FFXI looks the most intriguing to me, even though my true passion is to be a dwarf and there are no dwarfs in ffXI O_o

 

[Kuri$u]

FFXI is well nice.
I play it, the graphics is really cool.

I can't really compare to other MMORPGs as I never plays them,
Only FFXI I has played.

 

[Jstreet]

I think FFXI was more of a engine show off game, because they just threw so much BS in there. Moogle Houses and such. They just recently started adding more practical things that you would/have see/seen in Final Fantasy. I got ultimately bored with it, due to the fact that I'm usually a solo act and you basically need a party to do anything worth while in the game. Definitely not high on my to play list. I prefer Lineage II over it.

 

[arcthemonkey]

As far as balance and sheer quality, FFXI is the best MMORPG out there. It is not, however, casual friendly by any stretch of the word. It requires at minimum 3-4 hours per sitting to accomplish anything. Still, from the perspective of choice (about a bazillion classes, which can be combined in different ways), balance (no one class is really better than the others, and all bring unique and important abilities to the table), and quality (the game has basically no serious bugs to speak of, and almost never lags.

It just takes a lot of time and a lot of grinding.

 

[Mr. President]

so what im getting here is that it requires alot of time in the game, so it wouldnt work to well as a weekend game, is that right?

 

[arcthemonkey]

Actually, if you have 3-5 hours to devote to it on the weekends, it would be just fine as a weekend game. That would, however, be something of a underutilization of a game that costs $12 a month.

 

[Mr. President]

Yea, I figured as much, but I was hoping to play an mmo, but I have a heavy semester coming up, so my availability is unknown, but i really do enjoy mmos. Thats too bad for me. Thanks for your insight though it is much appreciated, I've read alot of forums on this game but none that gave the specific details of this game that work with my schedule.

::EDIT::
Also, if someone knows of a trial version, could they get me a link that would help me alot.

 

[Prexus]

If you're looking for the MMORPG Experience, but aren't able to devote at least 3 nights a week to playing it, Final Fantasy XI isn't a good choice. Even for the most hardcore of player, playing 24 hours a day 7 days a week, it can take 2 months to get to lv75 (maximum level), where 50% of the content of the game takes place. For a casual gamer playing only weekends, it would likely take two or three years, especially since the low-level playerbase of the game is really thin, so it's especially difficult to make parties.

For a casual gamer, there are two really good MMORPG choices. I'd say they are World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. For bang for your buck, Guild Wars is where you're going to find the best entertainment. It has no monthly charge, so you can pick up a copy and play until your hearts content. It doesn't take much to get to the maximum level, and there is plenty of game content to keep you interested, especially if you purchase the expansion packs.

World of Warcraft takes a bit more time. For a weekend player it could take a while to get to 60 (maximum level) but you don't NEED to be level 60 to enjoy most of it's content (unlike Final Fantasy XI.) Almost all aspects of the game are available to you from lv10 and up. PvP, Levelling, Instance Running. While they are likely more fun at 60 (more options, more interesting fights, better PvP opponents and more abilities to play with), it's not impossible to do lv10-59.

So if you are looking for the MMO experience but can't put in the MMO time requirement, Guild Wars and World of Warcraft are probably your best bets.

 

[Marcus]

FFXI is pretty terrible for one major reason:

Grinding.

That's all you do in the game. You either Grind, or you make equipment... which requires items which means you'll be Farming.

Grinding or Farming, pick your poison.

The one thing I hate about the game is that it's not solo friendly after about level 10. Finding a good party is incredibly difficult so once you hit level 10, killing monsters becomes a chore.

Personally, I like EVE Online. It's not the most user friendly MMORPG, but it's the only MMORPG where pretty much 99% of the content is run by the players. Everything from the quests to the economy is affected by what people are demanding and selling and the guild creation system is the best out of any MMORPG I've seen. There's a lot of information you need to learn it, but the skills are trained in Real Time meaning you can just let a skill level up while you sleep and your computer doesn't even have to be turned on.

 

[arcthemonkey]

What's your name on EVE? I just restarted, and I'm looking for social outlets...

FFXI was, when it was released, no worse than any other MMO out there when it came to grinding. The fact that it basically forces you to find a party was at once a cool and horrible feature. Of course your ability to find a party depends a lot on what your class is. (White Mages get party invites for areas they are no where near.)

 

[Marcus]

My name's Saalo but I won't be playing for the next 7 months. Heading to Iraq.

 

[arcthemonkey]

Man, everyone's going to Iraq these days.

Say hello to my brother :D

 

[Dopples]

I honestly like the fact that FF11 forces you to party with other people. I think soloing defeats the purpose of playing a MMORPG in the first place. I mean, in games like Ragnarok Online and World of Warcraft, you CAN party, but it's not absolutely needed, so players tend to overlook it (Though WoW utilizes it better, since you need parties to complete certain quests). Being out in the wilderness by yourself killing random monsters is basically no different from a single player game with X-Chat on and a regular basis of lag.


Though one thing FF11 fails at is PVP. While it exists, it's really hard to find enough people to do it. And while it's an interesting twist to make it as a sport of sorts, it's just not as fun or good.


So you'll generally like FF11 if you want a true MMORPG experiance, but you'll hate it if you want PVP.

 

[xmcdohlx]

yeah the magic of ffxi is bein always on team, u really forge bonds with the community, but at the same time it means drama, a lot of drama n of course, TIME.

 

[Mr. President]

I see, well thanks for you input, I might try out guild wars, but I really want to try out ffxi, its just so unique.

 

[Mercutio]

75WHM 75SMN 75DRG

This game like others said takes time. I could never think of soloing in an online unless it's just farming as well. I know I would've probably never met a majority of my friends if I just solo'd. I agree no one really PVP anymore. It's pretty much a once in a while thing you and your other friends randomly choose to do.

And lvl drg if you ever do play <.<. Purple for life :yes:

 

[Jennestia]

I love and play FFXI, and be wary of the WoW lovers lol, they will try their HARDEST to keep you away from a better MMO...

But yeah that is a different story.

FFXI is a great MMORPG, it does take time, but that is what MMOs are about:

Time
Fun
Community (which is diverse)
Accomplishment.

For instance, in FFXI once you hit 75, which took me forever+1 to do since I started 5 years ago when max level was 50, you will feel like you accomplished something much like you do in the real world, but as they say for wow, "I can drop my mouse and level 5 times in wow..no accomplishment there".

Casual wise, it isn't really casual anymore, it used to be, but ever since the NA PC release....it was turned into work since, not just saying its NA, but a lot of NA users didn't care for fun and eventually turned the game into "hardcore only" play, while casually you can still get things done, like plenty of quests, you can level, just higher up, 60-75, it will demand more time if you wish to level quickly.

Most of the content from the base FFXI game, is geared towards level 1-40, while the expansions are geared towards level 50+ characters.

Partying is the major thing, so you will always get paired up with great people, and people that makes you wonder if the school system in their area failed.

 

[Petros]

I'd Final Fantasy XI has a great longivity. With each expansion pack it seems to be getting better and better. At first it seemed slightly irrelevant to the original games with a major case of MMORPG Syndrome, when the online part of a game takes away from the story, however later on it became it's own story, it's own worlds and nice addition to the Final Fantasy series. This should probably last until the release of Final Fantasy XVII or something because it's seriously just getting better and will continue to do so for a number of years.

 

[madmax_vii]

Dude, go for guild wars, it's completely free and yeah so what people argue wether its an mmo or not but its such a great game, and as its completely free its ideal for weekends.

 

[Prexus]

I love and play FFXI, and be wary of the WoW lovers lol, they will try their HARDEST to keep you away from a better MMO...

But yeah that is a different story.

FFXI is a great MMORPG, it does take time, but that is what MMOs are about:

Time
Fun
Community (which is diverse)
Accomplishment.

For instance, in FFXI once you hit 75, which took me forever+1 to do since I started 5 years ago when max level was 50, you will feel like you accomplished something much like you do in the real world, but as they say for wow, "I can drop my mouse and level 5 times in wow..no accomplishment there".

Casual wise, it isn't really casual anymore, it used to be, but ever since the NA PC release....it was turned into work since, not just saying its NA, but a lot of NA users didn't care for fun and eventually turned the game into "hardcore only" play, while casually you can still get things done, like plenty of quests, you can level, just higher up, 60-75, it will demand more time if you wish to level quickly.

Most of the content from the base FFXI game, is geared towards level 1-40, while the expansions are geared towards level 50+ characters.

Partying is the major thing, so you will always get paired up with great people, and people that makes you wonder if the school system in their area failed.

MMORPGs are not based around taking large sums of time to accomplish small tasks. You're right that they are based around achievements, and goals, but nothing says they need to take time to accomplish.

Also, the serious drawback with FFXI -today-, which wasn't the case 3-5 years ago, is that there aren't enough new players joining the game to justify an entirely party-based levelling system. You simply can't level 1-75 without a party, and because there are so few new players, it is hard to find other people within your level range.

That being said, many of the old players are levelling up with new job classes, but are very rarely using the core job classes that are required. That is, White Mage and Warrior. There are plenty of those end-game, and many people use them as subjobs so they already have them levelled up quite a bit.

Among a few other things, this is the only reason I won't suggest FFXI to a person looking for an MMO to play, casually or hardcore.

Something slightly similar applies to EVE Online, which was recently addressed slightly. No matter what, it will always take a certain amount of time to progress a skill (based on your stats.) You can't accelerate that, without increasing your stats (which is usually done by training a skill, or needs a certain skill to buy the equipment for.)

That means that no matter what, someone who started earlier than you will always have the advantage over you. As I said, they addressed it by giving all new players 1,000,000 Skill Points to spend, which is a rather large amount and definitely helpful, but anyone who has already earned over 1,000,000 SP is still ahead of you, and always will be ahead of you.

The only thing you can do to have an active effect on your character is to do missions, or farm/mine, for ISK (money). Having more money than another player, to buy better equipment (as long as you can use it, because it requires skill points), can give you a slight advantage over a player who has more SP than you. But it's only slight.

The thing that World of Warcraft does to address both of these facts is by imposing a maximum level of achievement (which addresses the problem EVE Online has.) and making it achievable by solo means (which addresses the problem FFXI has.)

I'm not saying World of Warcraft is perfect, in fact, it's very far from. But currently it is one of the most properly made MMORPGs to date. The biggest flaw it has, in my opinion, is that there are only usually 2 roles that each class can play (including hybrids and non-hybrids), and how effective you are in each role is almost entirely determined by your gear (except in PvP, where skill conquers all.) Also, there is no reward for being lv1-59, so it's really just a buffer zone and training to be able to participate in the real game which exists between lv60-70.

EDIT

A wall of text critically hits you for 65535 points of damage.

Edit2

Also, you can't really argue with numbers. Blizzard just released this press release regarding the WoW expansion's release:

http://www.blizzard.com/press/070123.shtml

Highlights:

Blizzard Entertainment® today announced that World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ has broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability. The Burning Crusade, the first expansion set for World of Warcraft, was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on January 16, and on January 17 in Australia and New Zealand.

"The immediate popularity of The Burning Crusade once again shows that Blizzard consistently delivers what gamers want," said Robert McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop Corp. "In addition to setting a new day-one PC-game sales record at our GameStop and EB Games stores, the expansion garnered more online pre-orders than any other PC game in our company’s history."

Prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft was played by more than 8 million players around the world -- with more than 2 million on North American realms and more than 1.5 million on European realms -- making it the most successful subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game in PC-gaming history.