Why did you choose FFXI.

[Daemon]

Many times on these forums we interact with people we do not know. So this thread is a small stepping stone to getting to know each other based on 1 simple question.

Why did you decide to play FFXI. What was your reason for coming to this game to begin with?

This is not a debate but in order to shed some light to the DEV TEAM and community reps about our concerns, I believe this is the time they should take a closer look and see what kind of community they have in front of them.

This is also a good way to understand each other and get to know the person on the other side of the screen you interact with on a daily basis.

Example

I grew up playing games since commodore came out. As Nintendo was released I had fun playing games like Super Mario but my interest and hunger to play something with more challenge I found in Final Fantasy Games.

I came to FFXI because I wanted to play a game that was time consuming and challenging.

[Vasch]

I enjoyed Final Fantasy VI-X as well as several other Squaresoft games such as Super Mario RPG and FFXI was something that felt exciting and new when it came out.

[svengalis]

I wanted one game that I could play for the rest of my life ff Xi was that game

[Puck]

You're back?

[Kaiichi]

Been a fan since Final Fantasy. After playing Final Fantasy II (IV) on the SNES with a few of my better friends, I was completely hooked. Once FFXI was released, those same friends pulled me into it. I actually own every Final Fantasy title save XIV, as well as many of the spin-offs. However by bros are trying to get me to jump over, but I still have my bucket list on XI, so even though there on XIV, I'm gonna stay on XI for a while longer. I still feel that Final Fantasy XI should have just been Final Fantasy Online, and left the roman numeral to the off-line series, but I guess that's something entirely different. Still think the GBA version of FFIV is the best overall.
So in short, I chose XI for my friends but stayed for me.

[Eyeballed]

In January 2005, I was browsing in Walmart one day through the PC games section and there was this shiny gold box that kept catching my eye, (buried beneath some other titles at the bottom), so after a minute I picked it up. We had just gotten a new PC and I didn't have anything to play on it. I had no idea what an MMO was or that you had to pay to play, but I wanted to give it a shot.

After I came home and realized I needed a credit/debit card to pay (didn't have one) and also a new graphics card (didn't have that either), I almost took it back. Almost...

[Spectreman]

I had recently joined the MMORPG world through Everquest Online Adventures on the PS2 and i never felt so much immersion in my gaming life. Unfortunately i had to stop playing because back then i only had dial-up and costs were prohibitive.

Then i saw the first FFXI trailer and knew that would be the game i would play forever. I had ADSL by 2004 when i got it for PC and everything was a huge experience for me.

[Frankbrodie]

lol Commodore noob.

I was playing games since pong first appeared in my local ice rink.

Played the Spectrum (which I believe sort of missed the US?)
Onto the Commodore of course. No offence to the OP because it's the one I have the fondest memories of.
The SNES was the one I probably played the most before the PC though. And is ultimately the reason I play FFXI to this day.

Because - I played FFVI(III) on the SNES. And every one after it on Playstation > PC > 360.
And then the earlier ones too on re-releases on hand helds and the Playstation in the UK.

Didn't play this one (FFXI) till a couple of years after JP release due to it not getting release in the UK till then.

[Catmato]

I came for the name.

I stayed for the large amount of content, the attainable goals, and some of the coolest people I've ever met.

I left for the lack of relevant content, lack of worthwhile goals (because everything is outdated monthly), and the massive exodus.

EDIT:

in order to shed some light to the DEV TEAM and community reps about our concerns, I believe this is the time they should take a closer look and see what kind of community they have in front of them.

You're speaking the wrong language if you think anyone will read it.

[geekgirl101]

I was never into FF games, the only one I played from start to finish was FFX. It had a really good story to it so I wanted to see it through. But what annoyed me about all FF games was the turn based battle sequence, I hated it. I much preferred other games like Terranigma, Illusion of Time, and my most favourite of all was the Seiken Densetsu series and Legend of Mana as they had both a good story to them and they didn't use that horrible turn based battle sequence. FFXI being the first MMORPG I heard about sounded like it not only would have an awesome story to it being played by many players but wouldn't include the turn based fighting, and that sparked an interest in me. I waited ages for an EU version to come out whilst many online friends I had were already playing the US version, and the more they told me about FFXI the more I wanted to be playing it with them already. I wasn't disappointed when it released, but 2 years later RMT were overpopulating our server 3 to 1 and there was way too much linkshell drama that I left the game for 7 years, and when I came back remembering what a challenge it used to be and how much fun I had in its early days I wasn't sure what to make of the new book system and Abyssea. Sounded great at the start but then people stopped exploring in small parties and started spamming books in Gusgen and Abyssea, it's lost its sparkle so I'm a bit torn between this and FFXIV since this game is lacking players and activity whilst FFXIV is lacking content and challenge.