Pleasantly surprised.

[Moppet]

Hey all, I'd like to voice my experience with Adoulin so far.

I'm having a really fun time with it, and there are some particular points I'm really enjoying:

- The cutscenes seem to be more lively than usual with the PC interacting more.

- The idea of the coalitions visually upgrading as they grow is really neat.

- There is an actual tutorial going through the coalitions system.

- Despite the lack of a boat or actual travel to Adoulin, I thought the introduction with the PC rocketing into the jungle like a meteor was fun. (Makes me think of the secret of mana cannon travel)

- The city is actually a lot more unique then I first thought when seeing the screenshots. At first glace I was like "Meh, looks like a bunch of reused assets." but Adoulin actually has a lot of nice locations and feels like a tropical resort town. My favorite places are the docks and the statue of the goddess.

- The coalitions missions ADD to the rewards gained from participating in Rieves, they are not the sole reward. I feel like I can just explore the hunting grounds and still be rewarded to some degree for these activities.

- The quest NPCs give -much- better hints then they have in the past to find quest items. Often pointing out a specific position or what monsters the item can be found by. For the first time in a long time of playing FFXI I felt like I could figure it out without referring to a wiki.

- The chest guessing mini-game. I actually always enjoyed this guessing game, and it's a lot of fun. (Although it could use some better prizes)

- The new mobs are very nice looking and are well animated. In particular I like the new gator beastmen and the butterfly swarm.

- The way that the jungle starts off with mobs that don't aggro, but get more aggressive and dangerous as you get deeper in really reinforces that pioneering feeling, and I think is a nice touch.

- The rent-a-room looks very nice, and I can't wait until they add Mog Gardens.

- The fact you can jump into a Rieve just by moving near one is great.

- I was worried that the waypoint system would trivialize travel, but the size of the city has been scaled up, which makes it feel convenient without devaluing the need to travel.

There do seem to be a lot of areas or features that are locked off for now (such as the mog gardens) but overall I'm really enjoying it, thanks for putting it together SE.

~Moppet

[Mifaco]

1 HOUR REVIEW

Pros
- Logo is nice to look at
- Two new jobs that may or may not be useful, we'll have to see what the next fad is after they killed off counterstance zerked MNKS
-

Cons
- Twelve new areas. CoP, AU, and WoTG all had more than that at release. I fear for the future of FFXI if that's all we get in that huge expanse of nothing on /colmap.
- Corridor Fantasy XI. All the field areas are corridors corridors corridors, no big expanses with breathtaking vistas. Thanks PS2 players!
- All those pretty mansions.... with doors you can't open
- Another entirely forgettable female lead!
- Reskinned Campaign, except this time you have to work six times as hard to get full benefits from Ionis and the mobs actively block the way!
- Why did you take away my O and X buttons in AT?
- I get the jungle is a deathtrap and we're supposed to colonize it. But did you really have to put T mobs just outside the gates?
- Reskinned Phomiuna Aqueducts, this time with doors and IT mobs!
- "Nobody knows why, but we use this completely random currency instead of gil, despite the fact the merchants still deal in gil!"

VERDICT: 3/10, but SE has my money so they don't care

[Moppet]

1 HOUR REVIEW

Pros
- Logo is nice to look at
- Two new jobs that may or may not be useful, we'll have to see what the next fad is after they killed off counterstance zerked MNKS
-

Cons
- Twelve new areas. CoP, AU, and WoTG all had more than that at release. I fear for the future of FFXI if that's all we get in that huge expanse of nothing on /colmap.
- Corridor Fantasy XI. All the field areas are corridors corridors corridors, no big expanses with breathtaking vistas. Thanks PS2 players!
- All those pretty mansions.... with doors you can't open
- Another entirely forgettable female lead!
- Reskinned Campaign, except this time you have to work six times as hard to get full benefits from Ionis and the mobs actively block the way!
- Why did you take away my O and X buttons in AT?
- I get the jungle is a deathtrap and we're supposed to colonize it. But did you really have to put T mobs just outside the gates?
- Reskinned Phomiuna Aqueducts, this time with doors and IT mobs!
- "Nobody knows why, but we use this completely random currency instead of gil, despite the fact the merchants still deal in gil!"

VERDICT: 3/10, but SE has my money so they don't care

Oh hey... A snide, completely negative reply. What a shock.

I should just learn my lesson and stay away from these forums.

[Lum]

^ Did you expect nothing but glory and praise from everyone? lol We all have opinions. If you cant accept someone elses opinion then you prolly should stay away from forums.

I have to agree with Mifaco. This expansion while it looks pretty in town once you step outside its just a bunch of corridors. The zones are bland with nothing really stick out at you. As a returning player i adivse the people wanting to return to wait and see what else comes form this xpac. With this being the first week of content i really hope it gets better from here because as of now its nothing special. I'd even go as low as 2/10 and thats only because we got 2 new jobs.

[Volkai]

Hey Moppet, thanks for posting your reactions to the expansion. I'm still waiting for my registration code to arrive but this has me more excited for Adoulin than I was before!

[Karah]

Oh hey... A snide, completely negative reply. What a shock.

I should just learn my lesson and stay away from these forums.

It's not snide if it's true.

and being negative is just a fact of life, better man up and get used to it.

[xiozen]

It's not snide if it's true.

and being negative is just a fact of life, better man up and get used to it.

Everyone has an opinion I agree... so let me state mine:

I am, so far, very happy with the release. SE could have continued to release mini-add-ons instead of a full blown expansion with brand new areas...something we were told years ago would not happen past Wings of the Goddess.

So I for one truly feel like this breathed new life into the game and, since I've been playing from April 2009, am very much looking forward to exploring the new content.

No negative comments from me.

[Cabalabob]

I'm looking forward to exploring the new continent too... Except I'm stuck trying to get a petrified log for geo which isn't dropping and I'm not willing to pay 90k for one on the AH .( o_o)b

That aside I think the city looks cool, I'm not too fond of rieves but they are still kind of buggy maybe once they've had a tune up, I like that the mog house warp is unlocked from the start, I don't need to find who i need to give a flower too, haven't really explored much yet but from my maps I can see what people mean about corridors, but perhaps that will change in later zones to be added. Can't comment on content much beyond screw petrified logs. And while I do enjoy hunting down the waypoints having them marked on the map would have been a nice touch, those green markers never get used anymore..

So I can't really form much of an opinion yet but it's a good start. Beginning cutscene was nice. The coalitions do like to talk a lot which seems to be the theme of the latest cotent but I guess it's better than old content where they threw you in the deep end without telling you how to swim.

[Limecat]

It would be fun if they change it so that whenever you geo-warp between Jeuno and Aldouin, it shows the rocketing animation as you enter the new area. Not as a CS mind you; instead of simply appearing that animation happens and blasts the ground, and then there you are kneeling for a second before standing up.

[Corey]

- The quest NPCs give -much- better hints then they have in the past to find quest items. Often pointing out a specific position or what monsters the item can be found by. For the first time in a long time of playing FFXI I felt like I could figure it out without referring to a wiki.

happy you're enjoying the expansion. this comment gives me hope! i've always been so frustrated at some of the vagueness in this game. vague japanese game is vague. i strive to play without wiki (much to the chagrin of anyone who fields my questions in game) and feel like NPC's should be telling us a lot more. i can respect the "just look it up and get er done" logic, but i really enjoy figuring something out on my own. apparently i'm not that bright tho, and need a little more goading than any mainland npc provides lol