Reactions of FFXI From a Brand New Player (2.5 months)

[Vivivivi]

With the outage, I finally signed up for the forums ^^. I thought I'd post my reactions to being a newcomer to FFXI since January 1st, 2011.

When FF and FFII were released for iOS, I decided I wanted to play all the FF games in order, and started with those, and finished X on new years eve. I was originally going to skip XI until I realized the community was still very active and the game was still alive as ever.

While I had some trouble installing/updating, once I actually began playing the game, I was IN LOVE. My main gripes with X, was the "on rails" feeling, and inability to freely explore the areas, were completely alleviated from my first few seconds as a level 1 black mage taru in Windhurst.

Within minutes, I found a few seasoned veterans who were very friendly, and took some time to walk me around Windhurst and show me important things like where to buy maps, where the moghouse was, and even gave me a linkshell right away to ask for help.

I was dazzled by the insane beauty of the areas, characters, and overall attention to detail, and even more impressed by how nice the other players were (I tried WOW once for about two weeks, and was turned off by how serious many of the players were).

After a few days, one of my real life friends decided to try the game with me, and we started doing the Windy missions, and it was fun, and felt very much like we were in the world of FFIV or V, but with an insane amount of intricate detail.

A couple weeks, and I was still enjoying the game, and happened across some similarly leveled people on their way to Jeuno (10 at this point). They asked if I wanted to join and I said sure, and we were off, banding together to not die, and it was the first time I saw Tahrongi, Sauromugue Champaign, and ultimately Jeuno. At that moment I was hooked. I realized I knew nothing about how huge the world of Vana'diel is, or about it's inhabitants.

I've since met about 4 or 5 people I regularly party/quest with who are also new to the game, and can honestly say this is the most fun game I've ever played, and have subsequently decided to put my plans to play FFXII & XIII on hiatus since I'm having so much fun here. I am interested in XIV, but am willing to wait until I hear people giving it a resounding thumbs up and also when the PS3 version comes out because I don't own a computer capable of running it.

In short, I've recommended this game to a few more friends who will be joining soon, and am continued to be impressed by all that it has to offer.

[Gwynplaine]

Nice to hear. Genuinely new FFXI players in this day and age are about as rare as unicorn-panda hybrids. Although the community FFXI has is sizable enough and very dedicated.

Installing, setting up, and registering your credit card for FFXI is "the test". Congrats on passing, you win the game. (Intended with part joking, part unfortunate seriousness)

[Dave_P]

Congrats on joining the community.
I have been playing off and on since the version for the xbox 360 came out. The main thing that made me choose this game over WOW was like you, the players. Even the players from other countries were happy to help even though communication wasn't the easiest. FFXI posed a larger challenge to me, if I died I lost hours of leveling so that made the game more fun to me. I have felt frustration beyond any other game I've played but I have also felt more accomplishment. I just started playing again a couple of days ago after being away for a year or so and the new updates are a warm welcome. I can't wait until the servers are back up and running. :)

[Vivivivi]

That's an aspect I forgot to mention! There had been a few times where I was up really early on a weekend and signed in to find almost entirely foreign players, and while it was slower to chat, through the use of the preset phrases/emotes, it was easy enough to train with a party who didn't speak english, and super fun at that!

[Miiyo]

Welcome :D You are one of the fortunate ones. Sadly if you don't run into that occasional and rare person not in a rush enough to explain things, game will be rough til you can get a person to explain things. Cheers to many more days of fun. Always nice to hear those stories that take ALL of us back to that feeling of being overwhelmed and falling in love with the FFXI experience for the first time.

[Vivivivi]

Thanks! Yeah it also helps that I found a couple other people who are new to the game so we can party and do missions. I have to say in the two and half months that I've played, I've only run into one real grump. The people that play this game are supernice and often pretty funny :)

[Marivell]

Hello and Welcome to FFXI and to Windurst ^^

I'm glad you found people willing to make you feel welcomed ! It's not always easy on early morning weekends to find someone to speak english with, I agree with you, but it seems you handle the situation perfectly ;)

I saw you a few times roaming around the Auction House back in Windurst.... oooh! how it reminded me of my beginnings ^^
I wish you all the fun I had and I still have playing this game, even after 7 years :) Go out, explore Vana'diel... reach out the world and make friends ^^

Thanks for sharing your experience with us here! See you in Windurst sometime!

[Burmecia]

Aw well that was a fun read. :D I'm glad to hear that you have been enjoying your time on FF11. I hope your FF adventures will be full of awesome!

[Vivivivi]

lol yeah for a while there I was selling lots of Yagudo necklaces :P Say hi if we bump into each other again! :)

[JagerForrester]

What server are you on? If I see ya, I'll help you out in any I can if I see you online. Otherwise feel free to come here or FFXIclopedia for any information you may seek. These kind of new players are worthy to keep around, as they keep the community strong.

[Vivivivi]

Thanks! I'm on quezacotl, and a regular visitor of that site now :)

[Selzak]

So Vivivivi, is FFIX your favorite (single-player) Final Fantasy as well? :)

It's great to see new players, and equally fun to relive the experience of being a newcomer to Vana'diel. That sense of wonder, awe, and confusion is surely what hooked me into FFXI. Although that feeling will fade for the most part, the overall organization of the game and of the lore are something that just can't be replaced for me.

There are definitely players who take the game way too seriously, just a bit of caution. Make sure not to let them ruin your fun! There are plenty of people to play with who just want to enjoy the game, stick to those people and don't let your virtual ambition pull you away from them.

Welcome aboard!! :)




p.s. This is exactly why SE should have put a lot more effort into advertising this game. The game has aged extremely well, and even today it is a genuine top-tier MMO. There are so many people out there who are in love with this game and just don't know it because they don't even know that it exists. Probably too late now though, with XIV and all. Maybe after XIV finishes falling through the floor SE will be realistic and count their losses, then they could push XI a bit. ...In some dimension, somewhere.

[DrussShiva]

It was very nice to read your story...reminded me of my experiences over the years. And you are just seeing the beginning of Vana'diel! It continues to amaze me 6 years later. When you get past level 50 the world really opens up to you. Enjoy! And if you are on Shiva, feel free to look up Druss anytime if you need help!

[Vivivivi]

Selzak: yep IX is my favorite single player FF game, and Vivi, my favorite character :)

Yeah when grumpyman threatened to kick me for shouting TWICE, I just left and sent some gobs his way :)

I also agree SE might see a resurgence of new players if they launched a marketing campaign and cleaned up the playonline viewer/perhaps an iPhone app that tied into messaging/AH.

It's a social game and were in the social media age, not to mention because the game is so old just about any computer can run it.

[Selzak]

Selzak: yep IX is my favorite single player FF game, and Vivi, my favorite character :)

Yeah when grumpyman threatened to kick me for shouting TWICE, I just left and sent some gobs his way :)

I also agree SE might see a resurgence of new players if they launched a marketing campaign and cleaned up the playonline viewer/perhaps an iPhone app that tied into messaging/AH.

It's a social game and were in the social media age, not to mention because the game is so old just about any computer can run it.
I don't know how comfortable you are with computers, but if you haven't taken a look at the game's registry values yet you ought to. Raising the background resolution, in particular, makes the game look exponentially better.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics

[Vivivivi]

Woahhhhh thanks for the tip! Totally doing this. I play on an HD tv, so the rendering is blocky like they say in the article, but I'm sure I could double the resolution at the right aspect ratio without much performance impact.

[Selzak]

Woahhhhh thanks for the tip! Totally doing this. I play on an HD tv, so the rendering is blocky like they say in the article, but I'm sure I could double the resolution at the right aspect ratio without much performance impact.
As I'm sure it says in that link, turning off weather effects reduces a lot of stress. Turning your MIP mapping up high also gives the game a smoother look. Looks like a generational gap. If you've seen gorgeous screenshots from other people and wondered wth, this is the difference. I'm excited for you when you see how big of a difference this makes to the game. :)

[Niyah]

Welcome Vivivivi!!! Always great to see new members to the game. Most of us here have been in your shoes and with the help of those kind veteran players to show us around, makes the game even mroe worth playing. Like you, I started playing WoW and FFXI around the same time but lost interest in WoW cuz I just felt lost with no help, even the easy questions were to much for a seasoned player to take the time to explain. I hope you continue to enjoy this game for as long as SE will keep it going.

[Voluptas]

Reading this post took me back to my first days when i started playing this game a few years ago. I was overwhelmed by it back then and after 2 years of playing it i still am!

Welcome to the world of Vana'diel. :)

[NrvnqsrKhaos]

As a newcomer myself (Got the game for 5 bucks on Steam's christmas sale), I agree with pretty much everything Vivivivi's said. The people of the game are absolutely fantastic. I'm on Asura, and it's been a blast so far. Everyone's been so nice to me and I can't wait to hit max level on something, get good gear, and pay it forward by helping others as much as I can.

It's great that a game can inspire such humanity in people. Best of luck to ya, Vivivivi!

[slakyak]

Yeah new to game too and had a similar experience the the OP. It can be hard finding a party sometimes but once you have a good ls or get 'brave' enough to start making your own groups it gets much easier. Also since the update you can solo with your flag up until someone spots you and still be ticking over on xp nicely.

Great game and great community....... Most of the time ;)

[Tezz]

This read made me sad at all the good memories of the past!

Great to hear people are being nice to you. Don't get discouraged at Port Jeuno shout chat. Sounds like you have a cool Linkshell, just stick with that and you shouldn't run into any douches unless you're doing PUG.