FFXI

[ur]

Just curious as to who plays ^^;

[cypher]

Tried it about a year ago, really wanted to like it too. The UI, steep learning curve, and lack of low level players to party with was a quick and hard wall.

[Drajiel]

Stopped last month, after having played it since North American launch in 2003.

If there's anything you want to know though, feel free to ask, I pretty much got everything memorized up to the Wings of the Goddess expansion pack.
(I've done all missions-excluding-Bastok/assaults/HNMs/Dynamis/end-game events up to that point, where I started playing a lot less due to college, and my linkshell splitting up)

Was on Asura server, named Kaisha, sporting a Mithra with a level 75 RDM/SMN/PUP/SCH (full relic on RDM/SMN, 4/5 for the rest), with 37 WHM/BLM/WAR/THF/NIN/DRK/BST/BLU/DNC subs.

A link to my FFXIAH profile.

Just got tired of SquareEnix, they really blew it as far as listening to the community goes (one of the largest end-game community sites is still waiting to hear back from them from an interview conducted 8 months ago), and delivering content releases. Used to get game updates bimonthly, then trimonthly when the 3rd expansion came out, and then quarterly updates later on, to which they then add jack shit to the game, and instead would rather charge users $10 for the add-on 'mini-expansion' that sums up the amount of content we used to get in the MMO's glory days.

Still waiting on the day they give Summoner a new avatar after having teased them with getting a 'new' one for literally 3 years now.

[Indref]

Yep, sounds like a WoW killer right there.

Snide MMO-war remarks aside, I was pretty damn interested when I heard, way back, that a Final Fantasy MMO was coming out. I didn't have the ability to get it when it released, and around 2005 I looked into it. But the general reviews were always so damnable, so I put it off until well, now.

I've truely never heard anyone say a decent kind word about the game.

[Drajiel]

It started off great, but then the developers never got with the times, and the potential of the game was held back by the Playstation 2 hardware, which really limited what could be done with the title.
(on a side note though, I still find it crazy what they managed to do on that old console, MMOs are still unheard of on non-PC platforms, particular since Final Fantasy XI looked better than all the MMOS out for its time, heck still looks better than WoW in most aspects if you ignore shader effects in that)


I actually like the clinky interface, but that's mainly because every fucking MMO these days has that WoW-clone look to it. At least Final Fantasy XIV Online doesn't appear to exhibit that pet peeve of mine.

Main bitching I heard about new players for FFXI is that it's not WoW basically. It's built off the old-school MMO-grind formula that made Everquest so popular, and FFXI was indeed one of the better MMOs of the time around its release. I mean, frig, it's the only MMO I can name that has zone-music (most MMOs just have a few generic tunes used whenever appropriate, FFXI has over 200 individual musical scores), and actual storyline/cutscenes, rather than wall-of-text quests and a simple overarching story told via those wall-of-texts.

[Meer]

and actual storyline/cutscenes, rather than wall-of-text quests and a simple overarching story told via those wall-of-texts.

Actually. In terms of graphics & storyline I still prefer Guild Wars. It doesn't get much credit because it's not REALLY an MMO, I mean, yeah there's lots of people playing but when you leave the towns it creates a private server for you free of other people (save those in your party). While this does help with lag and shit, it kinda ruins the feel of it being massively multiplayer.

However, I enjoy how it has a story that has a beginning, a middle and ends... it doesn't stretch on story-wise forever simply because they refuse to end the story (I.E: WoW). You can keep playing after you complete the story, but it kinda gives you something to work towards besides hitting lvl 80 then wasting your life raiding.

Oh, and the best part? No monthly fees.

[Drajiel]

I just laughed at Guild War's story, was so predictable, and in the case of the Prophecies campaign, I absolutely couldn't give two shits about Prince Rurik.

Visually, Guild Wars suffered from the 'tiled terrain' issue that most MMOs have (excluding FFXI), which kills the look for me. It has good player models and that's about it. It worked to its credit in the sense new maps could be streamed on-the-fly though, which was one of the cooler features of the game.
(download the client, download some of the base data, and the rest of the crap gets downloaded while playing. No waiting on a 10-20gb file to finish downloading before being able to start the damn game)

[Indref]

held back by the Playstation 2 hardware, which really limited what could be done with the title.

Woah, it's actually played on a PS2? Sheesh I didn't remember that.

heck still looks better than WoW in most aspects if you ignore shader effects in that

Well that isn't hard, WoW was always a bit weak on graphics. This has changed recently, but even then it's just glossed over with shadow effects and so on.

I actually like the clinky interface, but that's mainly because every fucking MMO these days has that WoW-clone look to it. At least Final Fantasy XIV Online doesn't appear to exhibit that pet peeve of mine.

Hey no way, am MMO that doesn't look like WoW? Screenshots, please.

It's built off the old-school MMO-grind formula that made Everquest so popular, and FFXI was indeed one of the better MMOs of the time around its release.

Ewww, grind. Yuck. WoW can be grindy, but for so many reasons it isn't pure grind.

FFXI has over 200 individual musical scores

Flay me. What is with Square [or whatnot] and their obsession with music.

actual storyline/cutscenes, rather than wall-of-text quests and a simple overarching story told via those wall-of-texts.

Well now, most MMOs have moved on from this. WoW has all sorts of pretty cut scenes, scripted events, interactive events, all sorts of awesome fun. It wasn't always like that though, oh no.

[Drajiel]

Woah, it's actually played on a PS2? Sheesh I didn't remember that.

Came out originally on PS2 in Japan. For North America, we got the PC port first, with the PS2 release following a few months later in an expensive package due to a 40gb harddrive being packed in with it. (and is needed)

Ewww, grind. Yuck. WoW can be grindy, but for so many reasons it isn't pure grind.

I'm not really a fan of grinding quests. Faster to stay in one camp for awhile and farm mobs all day, and relieves the tediousness of having to do a new character and have to redo all those friggen quest-trees.

Hey no way, am MMO that doesn't look like WoW? Screenshots, please.

Videos speak louder than words, even though Final Fantasy XIV is only in an alpha state right now, being played at a games convention by people who have no idea on how to control the thing properly: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09 ... tasy/54747
(the site may load a commercial first before playing the gameplay video :P )

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