Originally Posted by
Adventurer
It is nice to see some like minded people on here, particularly Sayomi up above me. I would like to mirror those exact feelings completely and reiterate exactly what she said.
I began playing this game just months after it was released in North America, however many years ago that was. I was at a tough spot in my life then and have been in many tough spots in my life since. I've had to relocate around the country several times, had to leave my home where I grew up, but no matter what I always knew Vana'Diel was there. As silly as it may sound it felt more like a real home than any real place I've lived in my whole life. Furthermore, it enhanced my real life, it enhanced my view on the world and the beauty of both nature and exploration, things I never really appreciated before Vana'Diel. I will admit, I played for way too many hours a day for a good number of years, but then I figured out how to balance my life and FFXI together, once I did I enjoyed both much more. Wherever I worked, whatever I did, I always looked forward to going home and going back into Vana'Diel.
I remember all the friends that I made along the way. It chokes me up and almost brings me to tears just thinking about them. I do hope that with dropping the PS2 support and Xbox support that maybe now the Friends List can be uncapped and it would be really cool if we could see all the people we ever added or whoever was on our friends list. So many people I had to delete because of the 200 cap limit on the Friends List. I think back at what amazing friends I met on FFXI, the trials and tribulations we went through together, helping each other with missions and quests, gaining experience together in parties, fighting the big dragons and HNM's together. I lost contact with most of these friends and it hurts dearly, I truly miss them and I miss adventuring with them.
No other MMORPG can even begin to replicate what FFXI was. FFXI was to me much more than a game, it was an online world. One where like a true world, you had to really work hard at it but it could be done. One where adversity only strengthened the bonds and friendships you had made. One so expansive, with such rich lore, with such a well balanced story and back story that you truly felt you were not just a part of another world, but one more incredible than any other story has ever told. I've played FFXIV since the original Alpha. It's shiny, it's pretty, it has some fun points to it but it just feels like a game and it feels like it tries way too hard in certain aspects. I've played other MMORPG's, Aion, WoW, Lineage 2. They were fun and interesting but again, they felt like video games. Other MMORPG's always have felt confined, even FFXIV it feels so limited, but FFXI always had this feel like the horizon was only the beginning of another land, that there were so many places to discover, that the world had no limits and that endless possibilities were laid out before you. No other "game" has ever recreated that feeling for me.
Vana'Diel felt like something else, like another world I was blessed to be a part of and adventure in. It gave me hope, it inspired me and it made me believe there is more to life than meets the eyes. FFXI taught me how to feel things deeper within than I knew before hand or would have known on my own. Not a day goes by that I wish instead of redirecting their focus to a new game that Square Enix would have dropped whichever console support back then and done whatever they must to keep the world of Vana'Diel flourishing. A major graphics update, adding big expansions with huge new areas, continuing to expand on a world with endless possibilities.
FFXI to me is the greatest piece of art ever created. I hope dearly that no matter what they preserve it. If content updates must come to a halt for now than so be it, but I hope and pray they continue to maintain it, fix bugs and monitor the quality of life adjustments so that even if new things cannot be had, those we already love can be enhanced and enjoyed for many years to come. My life on this planet just like anyone else's is limited. One day, in such a short time we will be gone. I always had hope that given the age of technology we live in, until that day should come, Vana'Diel would always be there waiting on me. I don't see a reason why something built by man so incredible must "die" or "be forgotten" when things like the Mona Lisa and the Bible have lasted for thousands upon thousands of years, preserved and still loved by many. As silly as it may be in comparison again, we live in a digital age of technology, so I believe preserving something like Vana'Diel is very important. I think in not doing so it would go to prove that Square Enix cares only for a quick buck and nothing more, I guess as many differences as I've had with them over the years I have more faith in them than that.
Please preserve this beautiful thing you have created and all the dear memories so many people have within it that are so much more to them than just a game. You created something much more than you had imagined.
