I agree with all the OP's points except the tradeskills,it isn't that good IMO,not at all.I don't want to nick pick or get into why it isn't ,it just isn't.

Looking at EVERY aspect of a game i would say EQ2 is the closest i have seen to being a perfect game,albeit it has some flaws as well.EQ2 just covers more bases and problems other games have not,example [mentor system][not the same as FFXI's wich is a joke].Also i like EQ'2 idea where you can outlevel mobs ,meaning they turn grey,not allowing you to there loot table.That way you can't come back as a level 75 and camp a level 5 mob,monopolizing the drop ,also loading a bot script would be of no use as well.I also like the way EQ2 has a TIER system with there mobs,meaning as you kill the same mob over and over it has the chance to spawn a higher tier [more powerful mob][better loot table].

I also give VANGUARD credit as they tried to put forth an EPIC effort.Too bad so many put blame on the poor zoning and didn't have machines to enjoy it's fullness.The game needed a large player base to fill it's HUGE world,but all in all it did alot of cool things and also had some unique ideas.

IMO EQ2>FFXI>vanguard as the most complete games i have ever seen.WOW pretty much covers alot of bases ,however i was dissapointed in there poor graphics considering there huge payroll and top of the notch facilities.They also did not try to follow the purpose of an MMO by making there content, team oriented.They chose to take the simple route and put out a product that anyone could play with no real purpose.WOW also brought ZILCH when comes to uniqueness.I think everyone out there pretty much wants to see some kind of unique idea in a game.

IMO i see square enix's next gen game as breaking some new ground in the MMO industry,not because i am a fanbois,but just because i believe they have a staff that really enjoys there product above and beyond ,just a job or money maker.I don't feel that way about many other devs.

Originally posted by Blazeyer

Originally posted by Gameloading

 

Originally posted by Housam

i was just thinking about this. and then a irealised that FF11 is the perfect mmo.

why
1: nice graphics even though its a little dated
2: weapons, armor and the world looks beautiful
3: can run on a toaster
4: a large variety of classes. and if your bored with one class you can move on to another. with the same character. no need to re roll
5:the battle system is unique. unlike other mmorpg.
6: the game is changing. they don't spoon feed you everything
7: it forces you to socialize and play with others. unlike other mmorpg
8:the trade skills options are not unike. but still its a hell of allot funner than the trade skills of other mmorpg
9:moogles. they rule.

there allot of other great stuff in ff11. but im not thinking atm.

 

1: It's not a little dated, it's very outdated, and the PS2 SKU prevents the game from ever upgrading its graphics

 

Its 6 years old, of course it's outdated. for its age its fantastic. it still looks good if you play on pc and have the res set on a very high setting and maxed out graphics.

2: I absolutely disagree, Final Fantasy XI has some very ugly weapon and armor art, especialy when compared to games like Lineage 2 and World of Warcraft.

maybe you haven't seen all of the equipment i really don't know what you're talking about. sorry that it can't be like wow and have items that all look alike just with different "of the tiger" "of the boar" "of the eagle" etc. when it's the same piece of artwork each time. My very very short trip into the world of Lineage 2 didn't give me enough of a look to say anything about the game, but maybe the 10 minutes i spent logged in says more about the game than the art.

3: True

it can run on a toilet paper dispenser

4: True, the amount of classes is nice. What is NOT nice the fact that you have to re-level all over again when you switch your class. The fact that you can't pick every class right from the start adds more salt to the wound, as this forces you to play as a class you don't even want to play as in order to reach the class you want to play.

you would rather have to make a completely new character and level that up instead of just having one single guy with all the abilities which can even help you while leveling up other jobs? (talking about sub jobs and merits)

5: Absolutely not, Final Fantasy XI has a very generic battle system. Just because it has been slowed down and with a very strange camera angle does not mean that it's any different. The only thing that is different is skill chains, and even in that area FFXI is no longer alone.

support jobs are in other games? really? i don't remember my mage in WoW being able to cure people if necessary. Also FFXI didn't just create skill chains but you forgot to mention magic bursts and that the elements and moon phases and everything in the game completely affects everything you do.

6: Every game is

Every game doesn't spoon feed? i seem to be recalling a WoW patch note i read that made the experience to next level from 10-60 much lower than it used to be just so players could get 60+ and want to buy the expansion. I also remember a game that had way points on where to finish quests and even told you which areas to go at to level. Not just telling you which monsters are hard to kill, but what there levels are as well. In FF you can do many many quests and guess what? most of them dont even give you anything except unlock another quest. Everything in FFXI is worked for.

7: This is a bad thing, forcing players to do something is never really good. The fact the game is forced grouping leads to many people looking for groups for hours and hours, especialy on lower levels, making it  very hard for new players to start out.

if you wish to play solo than i'm sorry an MMO may not be the best game genre for you. FFXI makes it a necessity to group. but honestly they made a few jobs where you can solo easily enough and didn't gimp them in anyway (blu, bst, rdm, smn).

8: I don't see how they are any more fun, but to each his own

its not more fun, its actually so difficult its excruciating. moon phases, directions that you must face, time of day, elemental days of the week. its a high risk high reward system unlike the i'll stand still and click a create all button and skill up.

9: Moogles? Please, you could at least used Chocobo's as an example.

moogles,tarutarus,mithra,galka,gigas,demons,ufos, angels, chocobos and so so much more.

 Quoted because hes right.

FFXI = Best MMO out there

If you don't like partying, WHY ARE YOU PLAYING A MASSIVELY MULTI PLAYER GAME?

This game was MADE to play with others, which is THE POINT of an MMO

and as for the RPG part?  Best storyline, best layout and design of an RPG I've played, it has Cut scenes that make you feel involved and character models that make you feel attached to your toon.

The only complains people have is "Its hard to find a party "

So... your saying that you are against this game cus you don't wanna play with others?

The graphics are amazing still to this day, I see no pixilated edges, I've NEVER heard of anyone falling through the world or having any sort of clipping errors.

Its one of the most well put together games SE has ever made, now if only their customer support was a little more helpful.

With the advent of the latest addition to the world of Vana'diel the game has just become more solo friendly and easier to level and play with your friends.

And if you can't use auto translator thats really sad.

<Party> <Do you need it?>  is all you need to know.

oh and maybe  <Thank you> <Yes, please> and <Thanks for the offer but I'll have to pass>

really if you played the game long enough to party you'll have figured out how to hit the <Tab Key> and select a short phrase you want to say.

Originally posted by Jerid13

Originally posted by Blazeyer

Originally posted by Gameloading

 

Originally posted by Housam

i was just thinking about this. and then a irealised that FF11 is the perfect mmo.

why
1: nice graphics even though its a little dated
2: weapons, armor and the world looks beautiful
3: can run on a toaster
4: a large variety of classes. and if your bored with one class you can move on to another. with the same character. no need to re roll
5:the battle system is unique. unlike other mmorpg.
6: the game is changing. they don't spoon feed you everything
7: it forces you to socialize and play with others. unlike other mmorpg
8:the trade skills options are not unike. but still its a hell of allot funner than the trade skills of other mmorpg
9:moogles. they rule.

there allot of other great stuff in ff11. but im not thinking atm.

 

1: It's not a little dated, it's very outdated, and the PS2 SKU prevents the game from ever upgrading its graphics

 

Its 6 years old, of course it's outdated. for its age its fantastic. it still looks good if you play on pc and have the res set on a very high setting and maxed out graphics.

2: I absolutely disagree, Final Fantasy XI has some very ugly weapon and armor art, especialy when compared to games like Lineage 2 and World of Warcraft.

maybe you haven't seen all of the equipment i really don't know what you're talking about. sorry that it can't be like wow and have items that all look alike just with different "of the tiger" "of the boar" "of the eagle" etc. when it's the same piece of artwork each time. My very very short trip into the world of Lineage 2 didn't give me enough of a look to say anything about the game, but maybe the 10 minutes i spent logged in says more about the game than the art.

3: True

it can run on a toilet paper dispenser

4: True, the amount of classes is nice. What is NOT nice the fact that you have to re-level all over again when you switch your class. The fact that you can't pick every class right from the start adds more salt to the wound, as this forces you to play as a class you don't even want to play as in order to reach the class you want to play.

you would rather have to make a completely new character and level that up instead of just having one single guy with all the abilities which can even help you while leveling up other jobs? (talking about sub jobs and merits)

5: Absolutely not, Final Fantasy XI has a very generic battle system. Just because it has been slowed down and with a very strange camera angle does not mean that it's any different. The only thing that is different is skill chains, and even in that area FFXI is no longer alone.

support jobs are in other games? really? i don't remember my mage in WoW being able to cure people if necessary. Also FFXI didn't just create skill chains but you forgot to mention magic bursts and that the elements and moon phases and everything in the game completely affects everything you do.

6: Every game is

Every game doesn't spoon feed? i seem to be recalling a WoW patch note i read that made the experience to next level from 10-60 much lower than it used to be just so players could get 60+ and want to buy the expansion. I also remember a game that had way points on where to finish quests and even told you which areas to go at to level. Not just telling you which monsters are hard to kill, but what there levels are as well. In FF you can do many many quests and guess what? most of them dont even give you anything except unlock another quest. Everything in FFXI is worked for.

7: This is a bad thing, forcing players to do something is never really good. The fact the game is forced grouping leads to many people looking for groups for hours and hours, especialy on lower levels, making it  very hard for new players to start out.

if you wish to play solo than i'm sorry an MMO may not be the best game genre for you. FFXI makes it a necessity to group. but honestly they made a few jobs where you can solo easily enough and didn't gimp them in anyway (blu, bst, rdm, smn).

8: I don't see how they are any more fun, but to each his own

its not more fun, its actually so difficult its excruciating. moon phases, directions that you must face, time of day, elemental days of the week. its a high risk high reward system unlike the i'll stand still and click a create all button and skill up.

9: Moogles? Please, you could at least used Chocobo's as an example.

moogles,tarutarus,mithra,galka,gigas,demons,ufos, angels, chocobos and so so much more.

 Quoted because hes right.

FFXI = Best MMO out there

If you don't like partying, WHY ARE YOU PLAYING A MASSIVELY MULTI PLAYER GAME?

This game was MADE to play with others, which is THE POINT of an MMO

and as for the RPG part?  Best storyline, best layout and design of an RPG I've played, it has Cut scenes that make you feel involved and character models that make you feel attached to your toon.

The only complains people have is "Its hard to find a party "

So... your saying that you are against this game cus you don't wanna play with others?

The graphics are amazing still to this day, I see no pixilated edges, I've NEVER heard of anyone falling through the world or having any sort of clipping errors.

Its one of the most well put together games SE has ever made, now if only their customer support was a little more helpful.

With the advent of the latest addition to the world of Vana'diel the game has just become more solo friendly and easier to level and play with your friends.

And if you can't use auto translator thats really sad.

<Party> <Do you need it?>  is all you need to know.

oh and maybe  <Thank you> <Yes, please> and <Thanks for the offer but I'll have to pass>

really if you played the game long enough to party you'll have figured out how to hit the <Tab Key> and select a short phrase you want to say.

 

I have been playing this game on and off since it came out for PS2, and even though I've played many others (WOW, LOTRO, D&DO, Guild Wars, City of Heroes/COV, EVE, Everquest2, Dark Age of Camelot) I keep coming back to FFXI. 

   It contains so much solid mmo game design and execution that it should be an example on how to make a good mmo.  Honestly, I do wish there were some way to upgrade the graphics engine, but again, they are still very solid. 

I love the difficulty of the game and the level of involement it requires...not only in the aspect of time, but in recognizing the corelations between all the gameworld elements (phases, weather, etc.)

So yes....FFXI is the best mmo out there.  I've played so many of the big mmos....and they all made me jaded towards the genre of mmos....but FFXI has got my back

i agree with the last few posts :) at least some people agree with me :)

Why it wasnt the perfect MMO:

Badly ported from console.
No UI to speak of, had to macro all your spells.
Housing sucked.
Crafting sucked.
Fishing got nerfed so badly that it sucked too - so bad Id rather fish in EQ2, and I cant stand fishing in that game.
Quests were hard to find... you practically  had to click on everything just to find one.
Zoning... as bad as EQ2.
Cutscenes.
Only those tribble things could be mages... loved them, but why? lol
Those world codes, you had to know someone in a particular world just to get invited in... otherwise you got a random world.
The airship between areas was annoyingly long.
Economy was screwed up.
Graphics looked like they were filtered through a cheesecloth.

Originally posted by kitsunegirl

Why it wasnt the perfect MMO:

 

Badly ported from console.

The Best version of the game is the PC version, All you need is  a Pad and your set.

No UI to speak of, had to macro all your spells.

You dont have to Macro all your spells, it just made things easier. The macro system was pretty easy and intuitive.

Housing sucked.

I'll give you that, at leat it has housing. Also i heard they've updated it so players can invite other into their house.

Crafting sucked.

I'll also agree to a point, I like the fact that it was so fucking hard to level a craft to 100 that a random guy couldnt walk up and power level it in a day.

Fishing got nerfed so badly that it sucked too - so bad Id rather fish in EQ2, and I cant stand fishing in that game.

Theyve worked on fishing so it involes more player input, to try and get one over on botters.

Quests were hard to find... you practically  had to click on everything just to find one.

Agree'd

Zoning... as bad as EQ2.

Agree'd

Cutscenes.

I loved the cutscenes personaly, made YOU feel like a part of the story rather then having a lame scripted NPC that only one person could interact with at a time

Only those tribble things could be mages... loved them, but why? lol

Tarutaru's MADE the best mages, anyone could be a mage but just not as good as them. All classes were open to all races, just makes scense that the little guys would be better mages than a two handed sword wealding Dark Knight.

Those world codes, you had to know someone in a particular world just to get invited in... otherwise you got a random world.

Yea that was lame, theyve updated now thought so you get a world selection option at the start of character creation.

The airship between areas was annoyingly long.

They were fun but after the 100th time of you being in a rush somewhere they did get annoying.

Economy was screwed up.

Yes indeed, but as much as i'd like to talk bad about SE, they steped it up a notch and started doing something about it awhile back.

Graphics looked like they were filtered through a cheesecloth.

On consoles yes, but on the PC if you know what your doing you can break the graphics/res limit and run it higher. Theres even a downloadable tool called Mogs Tools (I think?) that would do it for you.

Originally posted by kitsunegirl

Why it wasnt the perfect MMO:

 

Badly ported from console.

Badly?  You can change so many more settings and force much higher resolutions and graphics with PC and make it look 100x better than console!

No UI to speak of, had to macro all your spells.

You did not have to macro anything, there are menus like any traditional FF RPG you could select everything from.  Macros helped though for quicker casting of certain spells and was well done.

Housing sucked.

At first yes, then they added all the nice elementals you could add to ur char to help with crafting, farming, XPing and even death.   ...and most recently they've opened housing to allow you to invite others in and show off what you've earned like nation flags for completing the storyies and sets of armor on display, furnishing or just a place to talk and have all other game chat nullified.

Crafting sucked.

Why cause there was no menu to select pre-made recipies from telling u exactly what you were going to make.  Thats the beauty of FFXI crafting cause you had to figure out what materials used to together would create what and then u had a chance of getting +1 and +2 gear that sold for millions more!  This is one the best crafting systems ever cause it was very hard and challenging and extremely rewarding.

Fishing got nerfed so badly that it sucked too - so bad Id rather fish in EQ2, and I cant stand fishing in that game.

Fishing got nerfed to combat gil sellers and its working very well!  The new way you fish with the stamina bar and having to combat the fish back in forth to wear it out before u can reel it in successfully made it even better instead of just standing there and waiting.  Not to mention the goblins they added all along coastlines to combat AFK fishing gil farmers.

Quests were hard to find... you practically  had to click on everything just to find one.

Another great option to the game, why is it so bad to have to go and talk to an NPC to see what they have to say instead of huge glowing ! and ? over their heads to lead you.  Its an adventure you as a player is playing, not the developers telling u exactly what and where u have to go and talk too.  Thats one of the major downfalls to MMOs these days is they're so easy and all u do is follow a path of glowing ! and ?

Zoning... as bad as EQ2.

Zoning is one of the major points to this game I love and without them everyone would be dying so much more than usual.  Enemies will chase you until u can zone out of the area{and yes they can hit and kill you during the initial zoning process} or they kill you.  So much better than most new MMOs cause all u do in them is run 15 feet away and even though the enemy wants u dead...it just gives up and returns to its spawn point...lame!  You have to pick the fights u think u can win and if not, hope you were near a zone you can get to in time if the enemy gets the upper hand, which can and does happen alot, since all enemies have varying ranges of difficulty and levels of defense and evasion!  Even though the next enemy you target looks exactly like the one you just killed doesn't mean its gonna be an easy fight too...

Cutscenes.

These are what define FFXI as one the best MMOs out there...they're telling a story and your character actively participates in each cutscene, more just on the sidelines and watching the events unfold, but still this is one the best things ever done in an MMO.  Yeah they aren't all super fun time flashy or has voice, but you can still make a very emotional scene with the chars and just text.  Personally I don't much care for voice...many times it ruins the scene and the characters.

Only those tribble things could be mages... loved them, but why? lol

I'm assuming you're refering to the Tarutaru, and no they couldn't only be a mage{They excelled at being mages} but any race could play and be very good at any job.  I've seen Tarutaru as Paladins and Samurai and Warriors and kick loads of ass sometimes even more so than other races.  Certain class and race combinations are alot harder to play due to the racial traits, but all are more than possible with the better pieces of gear.

Those world codes, you had to know someone in a particular world just to get invited in...otherwise you got a random world.

Guess its been far to long since you've played as the world codes are null and void now and you can select which world u want to play on.  The Gold World Passes however are still there for friends and buddies to reap the rewards from them over time if you want.

The airship between areas was annoyingly long.

3-5 min?  For an amazing view of Vana'diel  and a realistic time sink  which was perfect  to go grab a drink refill or chat it up with friends is not bad at all.  Again with the newer MMOs and the Quick Travel and Instant Warps everywhere is not fun and quickly became annoying if you can traverse the world in a few secs.  I love so much that in FFXI u can't get places very fast and you have to be an adventurer and hope you can make it someplace in one piece each time.  Why is all that content there in newer MMOs if you can just bypass it all eventually and never step foot in there again.

Economy was screwed up.

Key Word, "WAS"  Squares' Special Task Force has been doing a fabulous job at combating Gil Sellers unlike most all other MMOs that just kinda let them do what they want.  They report every 1-2 months with details of who/what/where/when/how much gil was removed from the game and they actively let us know what is being changed to combat returning gil farmers.  The econmy is still not back to what it was during launch months which it never will be, but prices have dropped over 3000% what they were with gil farmers running rampant.  Last time I played before these changes stacks of crystals were selling between 6000gil and 20,000gil a stack, now its amazing if you can get 400-900gil a stack, though that was 8 months ago too....could have changed!

Graphics looked like they were filtered through a cheesecloth.

Just need to change your settings in the config and in-game menus to max, and if thats not enough like I said above you can force much higher resolutions{like 100x better} via editing your hex codes which won't screw anything up if you follow directions, and you can find all that information here in this forums thread:

FFXI Game Setup/Tweaking/Optimizing Q&A

 

Macros :  FFXI has the best macro making system ever, not needed, it just makes you that much faster.

Airship times:  Sorry I didn't realize that you wanted to zone instantly from one side of the world to the other, If you look up in some zones you actually SEE THE AIRSHIP FLY OVERHEAD, tell me another game that  has that amount of realisim?

Player housing Is amazingly fun now, you can invite all your friends into your Mog house!

Tarutaru ARE NOT the only good mages, infact they make kinda poor black mages end game because they have such low HP and they die in one hit to most stuff.  The great thing about this game is ANY RACE CAN BE ANY CLASS EFFECTIVELY.

The UI is easy to learn and pretty easy to understand you just hit the - Key and the side menu comes up, very similar to City of Heroes.  Also you move just like most games ASDW, which is really easy.

FFXI is awesome on PS2 Xbox360 AND PC

I've played it on all 3 and each is unique but I prefer PC

Crafting in FFXI is the most unique out of any MMO out there, the entire game revolves around the crystal war and hence crafting.  It may be complicated and at times confusing but there are many MANY fan sites out there now that can help guide you.

Fishing got Nerfed....  NO NO NO!!!  Sorry it used to be that you'd wait for a chyme to sound and then you'd hit one button.....  That was REAL difficult, now instead you have to actually tire out the fish and do some work to reel it in, IMAGINE THAT, its realistic.

Quests are hard to find?  Um... Unlike WoW quests are not the point of this game, you do quests to get items not to get experiance, and if you have difficulty finding a quest perhaps you should use one of the many many many wiki/fansites that are out there to help guide you in the right direction, Sorry there is no GIANT EXCLAIMATION POINT over everyone's head.

Zoning does exsist in this world yes, but frankly every MMO has Zoning, even WoW.

Cut scenes ADD to the playability of a game in my opinion, why wouldn't you want STORYLINE in an RPG?

Tribbles?  Thats a small fuzzy thing from Star Trek that is like a foot in diameter, a Tarutaru is nothing like a tribble...

YOU MAY NOW SELECT WHICH WORLD YOU START ON.  World passes are a thing of the past.

The Economy WAS screwed up, now its possible to kill monsters for their items and sell them to NPC's to earn enough money to buy real items. I myself just farmed up a 250k item in a day killing Bats and selling their Blood to an NPC.

Cheesecloth?  Um ... somethings wrong with your eyes or your monitor, do you clean it with your hankee you sneeze in?

All your complaints are outdated or jaded or straight out lies.

Originally posted by Jerid13

All your complaints are outdated or jaded or straight out lies.

That was offensive and just unnecessary.

I lied about nothing, nor was it jaded. Outdated, yes... since the last time I played was soon after that platinum edition was released. It was also an opinion post. The OP gave his opinion as to why he thought it was the best, I countered with my opinion - even if it is outdated.

Cheesecloth: They had a forced res in the game, so everything looked fuzzy.

Also another thing I didnt like was clicking through several screens just to play a game.

Originally posted by kitsunegirl  

Also another thing I didnt like was clicking through several screens just to play a game.

You do that in every MMO!  Many times now click past the splash screen, then to the log in screen you gotta type in your name and password, then click ok, then select your chars and click ok.

So FFXI has a few extra screen to warn players of seizures to protect themselves since FFXI does have a ton of flashy spells, or to let players know not to play long bursts and ruin their lives or about updates to the POL system and game!

You know to this day FFXI has the best log-in system ever cause not one person has ever hacked it and made a private server.  There are none, and I applaud Square for their security and not allowing ppl to hack their game and make wacky servers and play as chars they're not supposed to ala WoW and many others!

You just want everything handed to you on a silver platter and don't have to do anything for yourself, why even bother to play a game if all you really want is for everything to be very quick and done for you basically, at least thats how you're coming off to me as that type of player!

yes ff11 have no private server at all..people have tried and failed

FFXI is a success in the way that no one's been able to hack it...

But as game, is too far from being perfect, when it was just released it was the best by difference... but now too much time happened and FFXI is just an slow mmorpg from the 2001 with ps2 graphics.

Partying system is fine... that's not the problem, the problem is you need way too much time to do anything, you can't have a normal life and success in FFXI.

Originally posted by Katashi-kun

You just want everything handed to you on a silver platter and don't have to do anything for yourself, why even bother to play a game if all you really want is for everything to be very quick and done for you basically, at least thats how you're coming off to me as that type of player!

You should probly not try to analyze someone you dont know from just one post.

There are login screens, I have no problem with that, its necessary. Whats not necessary is clicking through several screen and loaders. You only need a login screen and a character selection screen... splash screens arent necessary, but they arent a nuisance either. Notices and news could be posted in loader windows like Lineage II does, or LotRO... Instead they have one window for the loader,  for news, for char selection, for "dont sue us, we warned you" disclaimers, and so on. All of which could be handled much more efficiently.

If all those windows and loaders is how they prevented hackers from making EMUs, then I appluad them for doing something other games havent been able to. That doesnt make it a nuisance to click through.

Originally posted by Housam

i was just thinking about this. and then a irealised that FF11 is the perfect mmo.

why
1: nice graphics even though its a little dated
2: weapons, armor and the world looks beautiful
3: can run on a toaster
4: a large variety of classes. and if your bored with one class you can move on to another. with the same character. no need to re roll
5:the battle system is unique. unlike other mmorpg.
6: the game is challenging. they don't spoon feed you everything
7: it forces you to socialize and play with others. unlike other mmorpg
8:the trade skills options are not unike. but still its a hell of allot funner than the trade skills of other mmorpg
9:moogles. they rule.

there allot of other great stuff in ff11. but im not thinking atm.

 

I will agree , its the best  mmo ive ever played nothing can compare.

This is one of my best aspects! it needs to be done more in MMO's

4: a large variety of classes. and if your bored with one class you can move on to another. with the same character. no need to re roll.

Well, not the best, but the gameplay is the deepest of them all, and also has the best ambientation... which japanese guys do it very well. If SE uses the good things of FFXI and fixes the bads @ next MMORPG then it will be the best with no doubt.

FFXI is one of the few games I still consider to be an MMO.  Most of the others out there are mainly solo games with a chat channel attached, until you get to the max level and go raiding or spend all your time in PvP.  I've got games like Unreal Tournament for that, and it doesn't require me to grind to 60 first.  These other games are all about constantly making everything easier to cater to the casual crowd.  What they don't realize is that when you lower the risk, the reward isn't as sweet.  I feel a lot more attached to my FFXI character, because I actually had to work for all the jobs, gear, and levels I've attained. 

If they were to do nothing but update the graphics and release a fresh new server, I'd be sunk in deep for several more years easily .  They need a FFXI-2 badly.  It's amazing to see how many people are still playing this game so far out from it's original release.  

ff11 is one of all my all time favorite mmo, and one and probably the las true mmo to ever be released...from now on it will be all solo mmo with a chat section like the i
user above me said

The downfall to the game is that it doesnt cater to the casual gamer crowd and you do have to wait long periods of time to party. Sometimes I just want to load in, kill shit for an hour and log.  The fact that you can't  solo is also a large problem for most.  It limits the audience to mostly hardcore gamers and/or those that have alot of time.

(P.S. I have 74 rdm, i love this game and agree that its one of the best MMOs (if you have the time), if they did make a second game and you could solo in a small sense and still have to party it would be good.  Like when i wanna kill shit for an hour, i do campaign battles. But lower levels don't have that.  Would be a nice lower level addition if they did that. ^^ just sayin not everyone has the time and desire to work in a game.  AKA why people prefer wow.)

---

Originally posted by maltos
The downfall to the game is that it doesnt cater to the casual gamer crowd and you do have to wait long periods of time to party. Sometimes I just want to load in, kill shit for an hour and log. The fact that you can't solo is also a large problem for most. It limits the audience to mostly hardcore gamers and/or those that have alot of time.
(P.S. I have 74 rdm, i love this game and agree that its one of the best MMOs (if you have the time), if they did make a second game and you could solo in a small sense and still have to party it would be good. Like when i wanna kill shit for an hour, i do campaign battles. But lower levels don't have that. Would be a nice lower level addition if they did that. ^^ just sayin not everyone has the time and desire to work in a game. AKA why people prefer wow.)

---

Yes this is why I had to quit when I did many years ago. The grouping is great but not when you don't have the time for it. As a player for many years no casual gamer could ever play this. Sometimes if you're not lucky you wait 3-4hrs+ just for a group your around your level. There was always people but the rotation of groups normally resulted to someone's friend taking the place then a LFG, so it never got out that crowd. The end game is even more so and one of the reason I quit, just running SKY, killing HNMs, and getting end game gear with all these crazy locations and monsters was fun the first time but it gets boring when you repeat it day after day after day.

FFXI will always be one of my favorite, but I had time for it back then. It's defiantly not the perfect MMO.

The crafting is by far the worse in any game, it doesn't tell you what you need you need to mix and mash or look at a guide online to see what you can make or try to lurk out the npcs for it which only told you a few. The grind is long and expensive as hell.

The variation and which direction you have to point to get exceptional results was unique and always will be.

All in all if you have 8hrs a day and love to group FFXI will be perfect for YOU. It does bring revolutionary game play unlike any other MMO out there, even still today. But don't think for a second it is the perfect mmo.

---

Originally posted by kitsunegirl

---

Originally posted by Katashi-kun

You just want everything handed to you on a silver platter and don't have to do anything for yourself, why even bother to play a game if all you really want is for everything to be very quick and done for you basically, at least thats how you're coming off to me as that type of player!

---

You should probly not try to analyze someone you dont know from just one post.

There are login screens, I have no problem with that, its necessary. Whats not necessary is clicking through several screen and loaders. You only need a login screen and a character selection screen... splash screens arent necessary, but they arent a nuisance either. Notices and news could be posted in loader windows like Lineage II does, or LotRO... Instead they have one window for the loader, for news, for char selection, for "dont sue us, we warned you" disclaimers, and so on. All of which could be handled much more efficiently.
If all those windows and loaders is how they prevented hackers from making EMUs, then I appluad them for doing something other games havent been able to. That doesnt make it a nuisance to click through.

---

The reason for the screens is playonline they thought they would expand their network of MMOs to be more than just FFXI never happened, so this is why when you login it's organized like a website would be.