Originally posted by cukimunga

There has been no game like this game, the community is great, I love grouping up, the combat system is awesome. I remember staying up till 6am trying to get the Samurai job, getting the Dragoon job was an adventure as well as Summoner.  This game holds so many memories and I have yet to experience anything like it in any other game.  

Yep, I know what you're talking about.... It's one of those intangible things about FFXI that you really have to experience to understand.

People have become so focused on rushing to level cap and getting uber-loot. They don't have the time to have experiences, or create memories like those in a MMO like FFXI. Too much of the content in newer MMOs is over almost as fast as it's begun... and getting faster all the time.

MMOs used to be designed to create long, lasting experiences where people would group up and strong communities would develop. There was no hurry to get anywhere. The "level cap" was some ambiguous far off thing that they'd reach.. eventually. The game never felt "too slow" because the fun was in the present; in what you were doing right at that moment. FFXI seems to be one of the last of the MMOs that still captures that.

Now MMOs are mass-produced cookie-cutter affairs designed only to give people that constant rush of "success on demand" to keep them playing.

MMO gamers have become steadily more impatient, greedier and ever more bent on doing everything as fast as possible, if not faster... three things that are completely counter-intuitive to how MMOs were originally designed.

I have decided to come back once again since no other game can live up to this one. Now that they have level sync Im sure I'll love this game even more. I sometimes had trouble finding parties on my server thats why I had so many jobs, I sometimes lack patience. 

Well, you'll still need patience :). And don't get hooked on level sync too much. You will still need to find parties of your own level to keep your skills up to date.

But yeah, level sync has made it a lot easier to find groups... Though I never had a particularly hard time finding them before. A few slow times here and there, but it was never the norm.

Anyway... welcome back to Vana'diel!

i tried to play FFXI and utterly hated it. not so much the game itself, i hated the UI. found it utterly horrible, realized after the fact that id be better off using a game pad in order to use the game lol. yeah i could use my keyboard, but the way UI functions is so predominantly dependent on a gamepad. was a major turn off for me. ditched it within one week. truly a shame cause i wanted to like the game. not to mention i couldnt pick the server i wanted, had to use a thing called world pass in order to get with a friend who was playing it. too much trouble frankly.

Originally posted by nakuma

i tried to play FFXI and utterly hated it. not so much the game itself, i hated the UI. found it utterly horrible, realized after the fact that id be better off using a game pad in order to use the game lol. yeah i could use my keyboard, but the way UI functions is so predominantly dependent on a gamepad. was a major turn off for me. ditched it within one week. truly a shame cause i wanted to like the game. not to mention i couldnt pick the server i wanted, had to use a thing called world pass in order to get with a friend who was playing it. too much trouble frankly.

You know it's funny...

I was in that same boat at the very beginning. There's no way I would have continued playing if I couldn't use a gamepad, and that's how I continued for well over 1.5 years afterward.

Then one time I was at my girlfriend's house and wanted to play (she was playing another MMO). I didn't have a gamepad handy so I figured, ahh.. I'll just use the keyboard for now, 'til I can get back to get my gamepad. I set it to compact mode, took a few moments to learn what keys did what and got to playing. Less than an hour later I had it down almost by reflex.

I never went back to using a gamepad and 100% of my gameplay is on the keyboard now. I don't even touch the mouse.

WSAD to move, arrow keys to move camera and/or steer character, - key on the keypad to open the main menu, arrow keys to navigate the menu... 'R' to autorun... and so forth.

It's actually quite intuitive and easy to use, once you've got the keys memorized. ANd what's nice is I don't have to put the gamepad down to type something... then pick it back up. I just type what I need to type, hit enter.. and continue on with what I was doing.

So yeah... While I understand why it would be believed that the game can only be best played with a gamepad - 'cause I used to feel the same way - I don't think that's so anymore.

It's funny because there are those I know who insist that the game is best played with a keyboard and think using a gamepad sucks (on a PC obviously).

But there ya go :-p

Originally posted by Satimasu

That's the good thing about the game. You can just play whichever until you feel satisfied with the job you're going to use.

hehe, yeah it's what I loved about this game, but then you get people making fun of you since you can't pick a job and end up with a Galka with all but BLM and RDM level 75 .  Unfortunately, the current RL economy has me unable to afford a measly subscription in my budget, or I would probably be playing this game still.

Just some advice to newcomers, if you make a friend and start a 'static' party with jobs, this game is a breeze in leveling.  I got almost all my jobs to 75 with a friendly static party.  Althought I haven't any idea about this new-fangled level sync thing they've added.  Sounds like you don't have to static anymore.  Either way it's still fun.

I'll sum it up for you in terms of FFXI as a MMORPG. I played for 6 years, so hopeuflly I can sum it up well.

1.  This game is not something you can just hack and slash your way through.  Key points are, intelligence, teamwork, and understanding of the game mechanics.

2.  The battles are very challenging.  No other games will challenge you more in PvE.  The reason for this is simple.  Mobs are quite alot stronger than players in general, and have their own unique traits.  This means to take down a mob by yourself or with other playrs will all require a certain amount of skillful playing and tactical thinking.

3.  FFXI is very team oriented, it means usually meaningful things are rarely completed by one person alone.  However, solo is an artform in FFXI.  Verterans who have good understanding of the game can do soloing to a certain degree, and sometimes achieve incredible feats.

4.  This game have alot of content for all levels, in fact there are so many that it gets confusing at times, and even fraustrating.

5.  FFXI will always cause you fraustrations in some form, but this game have alot of depth in both story and game play, so it is really depend on the player if it is worth the fraustration.

6.  It will take quite a while to get to a point where you are comfortable as a player.  This does not mean getting to max level is incredibly hard, it means that being able to build up a flexible and powerful character will take some time.  This is mainly due to the fact that having multiple jobs on the same character is very beneficial (I tend to agree too)  Of course, if you cannot enjoy a job, why level it?

7.  When all else fails, choose certain jobs make getting into the game easier.  Red Mage, White Mage, Paladin, Bard, and Corsair are usually among the most demanded in parties, and thus easier to level up in general.  Usually by the time you have one job in 75, you will learn enough about the game to be a decent player.  This also make leveling up other jobs alot easier and hassle free in some form.

8.  Bring your brain.  Without this, you will be miserable in FFXI.

This game is weird in that the updates are always changing the game, most of times for the better, some rare times a random gimp shows up, but usually for a good reason I guess.

Well, it is kind of normal to rush the level cap now a days though.  However, that is probably because I am used to it after the 3rd job hit 75.  Now all jobs are 75 (and I am not even the most hardcore player either), however I still only use the 1 or 2 jobs I like unless the LS beg me to bring comething else out of necessity.

Sometimes I find having all jobs at 75 is pathetic.  At least i got a Maat's Cap out of it.  How often I wear it is another issue all together....

On break from FFXI now, I miss playing it, but can't seem to get back into it atm.  It is still a fun game.

Originally posted by curiindi

Originally posted by Daggit

Originally posted by phain

I went back to it a few months ago. Got my first job to 75 (Samurai). It was pretty fun, but the game just isn't for me. I'm more a pvp type of person and FFXI doesn't offer much to me in that department. Great game other than that.

 

I have found a good litmus test for FFxi, those who are looking to join and want to know what the endgame is like.

First, need to have played FF12.

Now, if you were the type of person who went out and resreached where all the rare items dropped and from what NM, then spent hours apon hours apon hours rezoning and doing what ever technique was required to spawn said NM just so you could have the best of the best ingame armor/weapons, then FFxi might be for you

At the end game, long hours of grinding placeholders or simply waiting for a NM to spawn is a major part of it all, to get the best of the best gear. Of course they added raids and such for the multi person aspect, but its the same routine of hunting rare mobs or doing outlandish missions/quests/requirments to aquire the best armor/weapons/skills

 

I think what you're pointing out can only apply to people who play games only to get all the best items. However, players in FFXI with the best skills and equipments don't grind placeholders or wait for NMs to spawn.

What curiindi said.

To add to that, it's incredibly dishonest to paint the picture as offering nothing but camping NMs to get the best drops.

Like curiindi said, that is not the norm. Sure there are typically people who camp NMs or do whatever purely to get all the best stuff. Name me any MMO and you can guarantee there are going to be people who do that - or something equivalent.

Then again, there are thousands of people playing at any given time.. So, the odds of finding a large number of players doing *anything* at any given time is pretty good, including standing around doing nothing.

That said, there are *plenty* of other things to do in the game other than trying to get all the best gear. Do many of those activities have nice items as possible rewards? Sure. People aren't doing them for their health.

But to characterize the game as nothing but people hunting for the best gear is a pretty big mischaracterization of the game and its players overall.

Perhaps that's how you, Daggit, play(ed). Perhaps it isn't. Either way, that's not how everyone plays and, frankly, anyone who does is missing out on a whole lot of other content.