Final Fantasy XI

[Veratyr Star]

Who plays it and is it good?

I've been addicted to RPGs and MMORPGs forever. I'm stuck on WoW right now, but have always wanted to play FFXI online.

Everyone I talk to says its bad, but they've never played it before. They just go by word of mouth.

Is there anyone on these forums that plays the game that could tell me a little about it and how it compares to other mmorpgs?


I am a final fantasy fanatic to the extreme

Veratyr Star Reviewed by Veratyr Star on 09-05-2007. Final Fantasy XI Who plays it and is it good? I've been addicted to RPGs and MMORPGs forever. I'm stuck on WoW right now, but have always wanted to play FFXI online. Everyone I talk to says its bad, but they've never played it before. They just go by word of mouth. Is there anyone on these forums that plays the game that could tell me a little about it and how it compares to other mmorpgs? I am a final fantasy fanatic to the extreme Rating: 5

[slipknotpsycho]

Who plays it and is it good?

I've been addicted to RPGs and MMORPGs forever. I'm stuck on WoW right now, but have always wanted to play FFXI online.

Everyone I talk to says its bad, but they've never played it before. They just go by word of mouth.

Is there anyone on these forums that plays the game that could tell me a little about it and how it compares to other mmorpgs?


I am a final fantasy fanatic to the extreme

yup, my old character had a year playtime clocked in, and this one has a couple months atleast.. i started playing 2-3 years ago...

i've tried to quit but i just can't do it lol.. i'll quit for awhile but i come back.. so i'd say it's a good game, cuz i can't stand rpg's....

your gaming experience will differ from many contributing factors.. the time you tend to play, the time you have to invest in it, the server you're on, the job you choose, your patients.. etc etc..

it is NOT a solo game, so if you liked Diablo 2 for instance where you could just go out on your own and lvl, this is not the game for you. it is a highly party orientated game... there are plenty of things to do, that you can do on your own, but also alot more you can't. some missions and quests are as easy as just running around on your own and talking to people, while others involve getting parties or even entire alliances together (party = 6 people, alliance = up to 18 people)

it also takes alot of investment of time... i just got out of a party (going from 46-48) and it took about 3 hours (but we weren't getting very good exp, so it'd of been quicker) and waiting for parties can sometimes take a long time. (mostly depending on your job... tanks and healers usually get parties pretty damn fast, while DD's will probably end up waiting awhile...)

also, the first 20 lvls or so REALLY suck... usually those levels leave a bad impression on people... since everyone is so limited in abilites it can be hard.

also, having high level people to help you through some of the begining stuff helps as well (power leveling, getting your first 5 ranks to get the airship pass, etc)

however, the game is nothing like any other previous FF game, so don't go into it expecting the same battle style or anything like that...

[Veratyr Star]

That was really helpful.

I feel you on not being able to quit. I have the same problem with WoW. It's starting to fade away but after a month or so I always come back.

That's why I need FFXI. So I can try something new and plus I looooooove FF.

Thanks again for all that info. I'm pretty sure I'll buy it soon now.

One minor question tho, is there a night and day system?

[Veratyr Star]

Oh and what's the max lvl?

[Melkane]

It may be quite different now than it was when I played it. I bought it on release day and played for about 200 hours or so. Like all MMO's I LOVED the world itself, it's so vast and so beautiful I loved fighting on the cliffsides near bastok at sunset and sunrise. I loved the epic feel the game gives. However that where my love ends.

I found the game focuses WAY too much on group play, after level oh say 15 you have to group if you ever want to level up. But then they designed the game so that it becomes very monotonous. I wanted to be Beastmaster. It was what I wanted to be in the game a year before the game even came out. But they decided to implement one of the worst game features I've ever seen. They take all the neat classes and lock them away to where you can't get to them until level 30. So for 30 long and boring levels you have to be a class you don't want to be. Well some might argue that since Final Fantasy XI uses a Job/Sub Job system that you can work on your sub job until 30 then get your main. It's not as easy as that. Once you hit lv 18 and unlock the ability to have a sub job. The community in the game demands that you have a sub job for whatever job you have. For my beastmasters sub job at first I thought warrior would be good but after some study I found that it would be better for me as someone who solos to have some healing abilities so I chose whitemage. (The ironic thing is I wanted to be a Beastmaster to solo, and leveling a whitemage is the exact opposite its all teaming) So for me when I became lv 18 Whitemage, it was demanded of me to have a subjob that compliments a whitemage and of the appropriate level (a sub job can be half of your main jobs level). Which means I then had to go back again and switch to a yet a 2nd subjob (black mage) and level it up several levels . So not only am I forced to play 30 levels as a job I don't want to be, but I also have to be another 15 levels as yet another job to level it...and that won't be the last time you see yourself having to level your subjob up.

The community also demands that your gear be as up to date as possible, if something you are wearing is a couple levels below your standard, you are bitched at. Also even as a Beast master (which is intended to be the solo class) you are still forced to team up at times to beat level cap quests....defeating the whole purpose of being a beastmaster. And when you are teaming you have to pretty much change your sub job to warrior and never bring out your pet because it hurts experience for the team...

That game pissed me off so bad, such a great world wasted by bad gameplay design and a horrible community.

World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online are much better experiences. From a MMO comparison. Hell I'd say Everquest Online Adventures on PS2 is even better than FFXI was..makes me ill thinking about that awful game.

[Veratyr Star]

Hell I'd say Everquest Online Adventures on PS2 is even better than FFXI was..makes me ill thinking about that awful game.

Say it isn't so melkane


I did the trial version for LOTR online and it was pretty fun. Not fantasy enough for me. It's got that real life feeling a little. Buuuttt they are putting housing in oct which might make me check the game out. Plus there are A LOT of helpful people in that game.


Damn I love FF sooo much. I want to be in that environment real bad and I'm sick of WoW.

The lvl cap is being pushed to 80 in a few years and 70 is already too much. The game is amazing, don't get me wrong. Almost flawless, but it's becoming more of a chore then a video game with all the leveling you have to do.

Thanks for your input on ffXI melkane.

[Melkane]

well scratch that then I was going to say try lotro..but you already did lol

[Melkane]

Yeah I put several hundred hours into WoW. I quit the week the expansion came out. I was pissed that all the work I had put into my character and working at PVP for lv 60 epic gear and suddenly that gear was all but obsolete in the expansion. I was also a little fed up with the rock/paper scissors aspect of the classes and Blizzards favortism towards Warlocks. I loved WoW quite a bit but I just didn't like the way they handled the expansion.

I like LotRO's style more. Right now I'm addicted to Monster Play. There is almost every night these massive seige battles that take place. 20 Monster characters vs 20 Free Peoples. It's great. Can be frustrating at times as they Monster Players are designed to be weaker individually than free peoples (lore demands it) but the rest of the game makes up for it.

[angry nomad]

In FFXI the max level is 75. It can take a very very long time to get there. Let's put it this way, my wife said I had a problem playing that game too much. My highest job level was 54, after about nine months. Of course, I kept switching jobs, because I would get bored. Also I played for 12 to 30 hours a week compared to others' 40 to 60. The community is generally pretty fun. I never did PvP (it was not originally in SquareEnix's plan.)

It is the first and only MMORPG I have ever played.

First I will tell you what I liked about it:

Being able to create your own character, and your own storyline (As in any MMORPG.)
The cool spell animations.
How wide open it is.
A pretty much adult community. Most of the people in my "Linkshell" are in their 20's and 30's. (Join KeitaroPrime on the Quetzalcoatl server.)
It's very social, which can be fun.
The teamwork.
The economy is very interesting.
There are a lot of ways to make money. (Crafting, fishing, gardening, cooking. Monster hunting.)

What I did not like about it:
-It was hard to find a good Linkshell for the first few months.
-Many of the rewards for the quests are crap.
-To get many of the items or advance in different ways, you have to go on long boring, convoluted quests. Also, the only way to get some of these done, is either have someone hold your hand, and walk you through, or look it up online and do it. (I guess it is in the Final Fantasy tradition to send you on exruciating quests with no hint of the reward. I don't know, I only played FFX, and FFIII on the DS.)
-You can spend hours fartin' around by yourself while you look for a party.
-It is very, very hard. A lot of FFXI players consider themselves "hardcore gamers, not like WoW players..." But, sometimes a game is just so fucking hard that the frustration exceeds the fun.
-Even when you start to move up in levels, sometimes the monsters you fight look the same as ones you fought at lower levels, just with different names, and they look, um, just really easy. (Of course they are not, but it is kind of lame to fight bugs and crabs when you did that months ago. Most RPG's I have played, the enemies start to look more hideous the higher you go.)
-You will end up spending more time making "gil" (money) than actually fighting monsters.
-You can waste a lot of time going on a quest in a group to fight a dragon, or some boss, and failing, even with high level people. Sometimes they get cocky, or just forgetful. Twice, I did everything they said to go fight a dragon, But, when it was time after hours of planning, I got left outside, because they forgot to tell me to do a specific prerequisite. (That is when I started looking everything up online.)
-I would probably spend 15 minutes to two hours on the internet every day, just looking stuff up.
-You are pretty forced to purchase additional characters (mules) for storage of your hundreds of items you will eventually acquire. (At $1 a month per character, it begins to add up. Plus it take a LOT of time transferring the items. (muling)
-PS2 graphics.
-The job I really wanted to do, Summoner, is one of the hardest jobs in the game. I unlocked it, but I only beat one avatar. They are very hard to fight by yourself, and you can only do it once a day, per avatar. Plus you have to make a lot of money for the potions and stuff. (I actually oversimplified the description a lot.)

I just want to let you know what you are getting into not trying to discourage you. But, after $50 and installing Playonline, then the game, then downloading updates for both (which will take hours upon hours) I want you to be sure it was all worth it.

[Creesab]

I played it for almost two years.... it is very group oriented not really a good solo game.

If you do play, I would recommend a great group called "true legends" they are on Fairy server. They are a really friendly supportive group of players. They helped me a lot!!

You have to find others to help you play the game and even then you have to invest a huge amount of time as well.