Final Fantasy XI ~ 14-Day Free Trial

Its about damn time SE brought the free-trial back, but not like it was expensive to purchase the Vana'diel Ultimate Collection which is usually less than $20.  Having recently celebrated its 8th Anniversary outside Japan and with many other MMO options, it goes a long way in getting people to try it out and then decide if they'd like to play thereafter.

And speaking of being cheap, you can get the:

Vana'diel Ultimate Collection ~ Abyssea Edition during the next week for $9.99!  

Check out these FFXI guides, many of them written by me and other members of the FFXI community.   They will help you with external and internal configuration, registry editing to increase the visuals, how to write macros which are the bread n' butter of basic attacking and using abilities {there is no hotbar, never has been} and many other little things.

Its a lot more difficult to jump into this MMO being a sandbox, opposed to other more recent themparks, but its gotten a lot easier to solo and advance alone during the first 30+ levels.  Stick with it and learn it and you'll find an amazing gem hidden within, and one of the best ever storylines of the FF series!~

BTW press the - {negative key} on your 9-key pad to open the menu...

Yeah the controls on FFXI are unlike any other game out there. You might think it a pain early on but honestly if I could set up my keyboard to have FFXI controls for all my other games I would. Not having to rely on the mouse at all while being able to easily chat is nice.

If you're playing on a laptop without a full keyboard it can be awful though. If that's the case I recommend plugging in a full keyboard or buying a num pad. I did that on my laptop forever and it works great.

Originally posted by k11keeper

Yeah the controls on FFXI are unlike any other game out there. You might think it a pain early on but honestly if I could set up my keyboard to have FFXI controls for all my other games I would. Not having to rely on the mouse at all while being able to easily chat is nice.

If you're playing on a laptop without a full keyboard it can be awful though. If that's the case I recommend plugging in a full keyboard or buying a num pad. I did that on my laptop forever and it works great.

I would recommend a PS3 controller with bluetooth and motioninjoy, Xbox 360 controller(wired or wireless with adapter), or any pc controller with dual analog. FFXI(V too) is a bit clumsy with a keyboard.

Originally posted by Candomble

 

- controls: this made me feel a complete noob; I can't barely move around; didn't figure how to make the char move and (most importantly) where to configure the controls... Pressing WASD types the letters in the chat.

- UI: isn't there an ability bar? And how do I see the menus? I couldn't even logout (I needed to control+alt+del).

I really would like to try the game (otherwise after all this issues it would already be uninstaled) but as it is and without some advices it is unplayable. 

I haven't played in years, but at the time I did, I found that sticking the mouse in a drawer made it easier to learn and use the new UI. After a few hours, it became pretty easy to use and worked quite well.

Originally posted by Candomble

 

After a marathon to create and merge 2 acounts (really?!) and a 9 hour update I am having serious trouble to play this game. I would appreciate all of your help:

- graphic settings: even in full resolution the graphics look really bad and I am almost sure that it is possible to get more from this game. Tips?

Graphics can become is high as any other 2k3 game can. But everything is set to minimum as standard, can be changed through the FINAL FANTASY XI Config but don't expect it to look good at resolutions higher than 1024x768.. That was high resolution back then.

 

- controls: this made me feel a complete noob; I can't barely move around; didn't figure how to make the char move and (most importantly) where to configure the controls... Pressing WASD types the letters in the chat.

In the ingame menu you can find the settings, in the settings page called misc.2 you can find compact keyboard, which gives you the keyboard you seem to desire. In the Ingame Configuration you can also set up all buttons as you want (KeyAssignments), a good example is if you play on laptop and don't want to have numlock on all the time, change the "open menu key".

 

- UI: isn't there an ability bar? And how do I see the menus? I couldn't even logout (I needed to control+alt+del).

Last time I looked all custom GUIs was outdated, but I've seen alot of old GUIs that had everything you could possibly want. But you should be fine with the original GUI, it has everything you need atleast at low level, in my opinion. You'll probly end up using a lot of macro's if you stick with the game.

 

I really would like to try the game (otherwise after all this issues it would already be uninstaled) but as it is and without some advices it is unplayable. 

Still can't get it...So there is NO WAY to use the classic AWSD ?

I tried all in game and out of game configuration. The first has nothing for control. The out of game configuration has everything you need to customize your control pad. I can't see anywhere something for assigning keyboard keys.

I am not sure this game is ever gonna gain any new players with this interface lacking help and with a minimal out of game tutorial.

But i 'd really like to find out how to move with my keyboard!

You can set your controls to WASD mode by going into the gameplay options on the menu and switching your keyboard from full to compact. 

how do we even open the gameplay options?