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Final Fantasy XI
MMORPG.com Final Fantasy XI Correspondent Thomas Winkle writes this look at Final Fantasy from the eyes of a beginner, trying to clear up some of the confusion that might surround early stages of this unique MMO.
As a newcomer to the Final Fantasy series, I know as well as anyone that Final Fantasy XI can seem a little bit intimidating at first. Most avid MMORPGers are used to some sort of learning curve, maybe a tutorial to teach them about all of the different features that they'll be using throughout the game. It could be a small storyline-based mission, similar to that of Star Wars Galaxies, or a more straight-forward tutorial, that teaches you exactly how to do what you're going to be doing. Most MMO players are also used to quest markers appearing above NPC heads to tell us who exactly is needing what, and where to go. So, as you can imagine, dropping into a realm with no tutorial and no marked quests can be a little intimidating and even frightening for the regular MMOer.
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FFXI, unlike most games of any genre, will require you to read through it's instruction manual. Whether you've bought it for the Xbox 360, the Playstation 2, or for your home computer, the manual will always be your helper. We're all used to using the WASD keys to move, and our mouse to click and select things, but there are a lot of things you'll need to learn, especially if you have no mouse, and you have no keyboard. Eventually the controls for your Console system will become second nature, but with so much to do in FFXI you'll need to learn what each button does for you.
Quests are one thing that can be quite intimidating to the average MMORPG player. Most mainstream MMORPGs contain quest markers above NPC heads to alert you that there is a quest available. These markers aren't very good when it comes to storyline, or keeping with the game's sense of immersion, but they're often time a godsend. FFXI, in its own contrary way, offers something different. They've made quests something more of an accomplishment. The developers at Square Enix have made quests more than just tedious and repetitive 'gather this' or 'kill that' missions. Each quest is an accomplishment toward your faction, or your own personal goals. Most quests offer some sort of entitlement, whether access to some area, or a special item to put in your Moghouse. Most quests don't even offer experience points to help you level up your character. There are Gil (Currency) and item rewards quite often, and are frequently the best source for money early on.
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The game's class system is also something that newcomers might have difficulty with. You'll no longer have to worry about being left out of partying in FFXI. You'll never have to worry about what class you should be able to do in order to compliment your friend's choice. In FFXI, you have the ability to change your class at whim by simply going to your Moghouse. They're available readily in most towns and cities. If there's one party available, and they need a WHM (White Mage - Healer), you can easily change over to your WHM job and fulfill your duties as needed. And there are always sub-jobs, which should never be ignored.
One of the first major landmarks of achievement in FFXI is your sub-job. It's an exciting moment when you walk into your Moghouse, scroll through your unlocked jobs and pick a second job to play with, creating your own gaming style. You could go for an extreme tanking combination as a PAL/NIN (Paladin as a main job, and Ninja as a sub-job.), or go for a great magic based class by going BLM/RDM (Black Mage as a main job, and Red Mage as a sub-job). Every job has its own special task, and each task is just as important as the next.
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The main terms you'll see to describe what a party needs will be: 'Healer', 'DD (Damage Dealer)', and Tank. This is the same with most MMORPGs; every party needs a good tank, a good healer, and some good 'DD' - damage dealers, that is. With the sub-job feature, you'll be able to mix and match different classes that excel in one area or another, that can make you the best [whatever you are] you can be. As a Healer, you'll need to be able to watch the party member health and mana bars carefully to make sure you deal out priority spells, while making sure you don't steal aggro from the tank. As a Damage Dealer, your job is to take down the mob as quickly as possible, and depending on what type of Damage Dealer you have chosen, you might be tasked with pulling the mobs to your group. As a tank, you'll need to use special skills and armor to keep your party members safe from damage and weakening spells cast by your enemies.
Mobs in Final Fantasy XI are quite numerous, both in amount and diversity. Where you start the game, will determine what type of mobs you'll interact with:
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I chose Windurst, a town of Tarutaru, a species that lives in a vast river filled forest, bunkered in by mountains, hills, and walls. The Tarutaru themselves are powerful mages and are home to the War Warlocks. Starting out in Windurst you'll be able to explore your first lands, filled with Mandragora, wild insects, goblins, and Yagudo (An anthropomorphic avian race). You'll start out fighting the Mandragora and insects, and eventually move on to the goblins and Yagudo, as you get stronger. You'll be able to buy your armor and weaponry from the Windurst docks, and access your Moghouse from any section of Windurst.
Your experience in Vana'diel will differ from mine, and everyone else, but it's sure to be a fun experience. You'll meet many friends, and get to play through a wide variety of jobs and crafting skills, and you'll get to explore a fresh, beautiful world.
thankyou for your honest non WOW based opinion of this game. I have been a loyal player since 6 months after launch and this is by far the least exposed and underhyped mmo out today. When I say this you have to take into account the game is going on 7 years old and still has a fan/player base in the hundreds of thousands, and also that they are still releasing content and updates at pretty regular intervals. It would greatly appreciated on behalf of the FFXI community if you would continue to progress through the game and write more stories about it and try to revive the title by bringing in more fresh blood. Yes the game has a learning curve to it that most other games do not but that is the greatness to this game, the fact some random "noob" isnt gonna pick it up and be lvl 75 in a month. Like some other games ive played like WoW and AoC and LoTRo for example, those games are and can be fun but they are so easy and dumbed down you can eat up the content in no time (i maxed out the 10 day free trial limits in a 24 hour period in WoW for example was highest lvl in AoC in 2-3 weeks of casual play). I can honestly say after years of playin FFXI there are still activities im yet to even start on (different events/story lines) and im a multi lvl 75 char with merits and access to almost every corner of Vanadiel. So please by al means continue through the game explore more then just the begining areas see what a dated game still has to offer, I can promise if you get to the end of a nation story line or huge mission set like CoP the cutscenes can be breath taking and the story line in genral rich challenging and enjoyable =) (warning this game is addicting if you give it a chance kinda like a bad drug habit almost)
I really did enjoy this article too. Unfortunately for me, I left April 30th of this year after having a blast for 2 months. I'm not really one to trash a game for being dumbed down because a game doesnt have to be under-documented or mind numbingly hard to be good - it's all about what you enjoy and what fulfills your need.
Anyway, the game may be older and dated; but I still think the graphics are very well done and hold up well. The game play seems fun, but I managed to get to level 24 without having ever grouped and never managed to find a linkshell to join. When the parties and linkshells didnt materialize after the first couple of weeks, I just started grinding and using the field manuals and before I knew it, I was a level 24 warrior that had no clue what it was like to group or be part of a community in FFXI. I guess as a result, I ended up not looking anymore as I realized it would be awful to admit I'm level 24 and never even had to use any of my abilities or skills; and had never evlolved my warrior in groups and learning how the groups in this game worked.
It's a bummer for sure, but even soloing, I managed to get my chocobo license, all of my supply quests and teleport locations set and see the landscapes. I wasn't able to find any mentors either but did try for the last week plus in an attempt to be able to stay with the game.
Does anyone know if this is typical on Midgardsormr? If I can find some way to move servers, I may try again and hope to find people willing to help a lost and slightly bewildered warrior learn his way. Does anyone know how to get a world pass and if that allows you to move permanently?
Now seems like a good time to start if you're a noobie to the FFXI universe too - SE recently announced they hit the 2 million mark going into it's 5th year, so there must be alot of new players heading into the game. I just wish I could find out where!
I'd vote to give it a try if you're not hung up on top notch graphics! I'll miss it.
server transfer for your current char is only available through the transfer service in member services, There is a fee of 25 dollars for this servce and you must not have any items in your delbox or on the auction house as they wil be lost, basically take anything you want to take with you and put it in inventory or moghouse. As for a more friendly server well that is hard for me to say as i have only played on 3 differnt servers myself.
I started out on Asura server way way back in the day i was ther only for a week and found like you it wasnt that friendly to new comers so i moved. (back then moving entailed spin the wheel of fortune and end up someplace or obtain a worldpass from a friend and i didnt have any ingame peeps at the time so it was erase and recreate) Any ways i spun the wheel and ended up on Cerberus and it turned out to have a more newer/friendlier/english speaking population. This server was good for me in the end but after a few years on this server they introduced transfer services and a bunch of us (like 1/2 the LS) moved to Unicorn. Unicorn server was fun alot of fun as it is a more endgame based community and turned out to be good for learning more end game skills and developement of skills in other areas. Well we all got home sick within 3 months and transfered back to Cerberus. When we arrived we reunited with all of our other LS mates and added our experiences and new skills to the group and also in the process brought a couple of people from Unicorn with us. So any ways I hope you get from this that servers are varied and with 20+ of them to choose from it could take a bit of shopping around to find one that you enjoy and can find your nitch in.
I would welcome you though with open arms to enjoy Cerberus as I have found while we have our fair share of ups and down it is a well rounded and general helpfull server. I cant promise anything or promise to help you progress with your warrior as im a multi lvl 75 mage and my melee skillz arent up to par as much as a striaght melee. However there is a strong base of melee type players on our server and from what I have noticed in my travels that we still have alot of people playing at lower lvls, especially now with the lvl sync =) Dont give up on the game like you said even though its dated the graphics are still good the game play smooth and community in general strong. At lvl 24 you have barley scratched the surface of the game as at lvl 30 you can start to unlock advance jobs and go to other story lines like CoP (in my opinion that xpac has the best cutscenes and is just epic, and a true test of skillz at lease before it was gimped slightly) So shop around or come over its your choice.
One last thing dont get discuraged about the linkshell thing most linkshells you see around are for higher lvl to vetran players. You may find a lower lvl shell or even a smaller static party shell shouting for members and alot of times you will find a high level player that will adopt or assist the shell as a mentor type deal =) If you want general help or advice I may suggest you check on http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/ or maybe http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page as both are loaded with information. There are many other websites out here you can get great info from use goole or your choice of websearch with FFXI in the inquirey =) I wish you luck in your adventures dont toss out veastman seals they are your friend later =)
Great article thanks...