What was your first day in Vana'diel like...

[Yopop]

This post inspired me to make this thread.

Go there and read the new adventurers story.

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Now let us know how your first day in Vana'diel was. Do you remember who you met? What adventures did you get up to and what inspired you to keep playing for the time you've been active.

Try to stay positive but let us know what fun you had on that fate filled day.

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My very first day is a bit cloudy but I remember some things about when I first game to Vana'diel. I had been waiting and reading about Final Fantasy XI to be released and friends of mine had back ordered their copy. I was at college at the time and with rushing my fraternity I had forgotten all about the release of the game. It was December of 2003 when I returned home and on my desk was my copy of Final Fantasy XI.

I remember setting it up and it loaded really quick. Perk of not having a ton of downloads and addons to install

Now of course at the time we did not have all the resources as other games and my first task was to buy.... the Final Fantasy Online - Brady Guide *stop laughing*

I followed this thing as if it were the bible. The funniest part about it I remember meeting my first celebrity. Mangler, a TaruTaru, was featured in one of the stories in the Brady Guide and there she was on Bahamut (later transferred to Asura). She was the first person I had met in the game because she was standing near the gates where I was dropped off as a Tarutaru White Mage named Yopoompo.

I remember just standing in the same spot trying to figure out how to move, how to type, how to get used to using a keyboard for everything. I hated not being able to use my mouse so freely. Now I could never imagine being able to use anything but my keyboard.

It was a huge world. I had no idea where to begin so I opened the book and started from page one. I read about every job and every skill and I remember clicking on EVERY NPC in Windurst to see if they would give me a tip on what adventure I was about to take.

I spoke with an NPC that gave me my first mission. I grabbed my guide and off I went to do Windurst 1-1. As I was heading to the position the book was guiding me to I noticed a weird looking man ( hume I think ) with a Dragon flying by him. His name was Hiroshimi and a another player named Chow. They followed me around and was curious what I was up to and when they realized I was lost they kept poking me and trying to encourage me to follow.

They ended up guiding me to where i needed to go clearing my path and trying their best to guide me along my way. I ended up actually completing Windurst 1-1 and that's when i knew I was hooked.

I had so much fun seeing these two players who were "wow" at the time because they were 1 hitting mobs in the zone I started out in. I ended up realizing later that those mobs have like 60 hp lol

My first day was fun for me. I always loved and played every Final Fantasy title that's been created and Final Fantasy XI is truly one that I've enjoyed even through times I felt like i was bored out of my mind

[Kjara]

lol I remember my first day very clearly, I started in 27th December 2006 and San d'Oria was all full of shiny Xmas decorations.
I was in Northern San d'Oria staring in awe at all the trees and enchanted by the awesome music... until I turned around and saw a HUGE WALKING TREE full of christmas decorations coming my way, followed by a bunch of players cheering it.
...I ran away and found repair in the church, thinking I had just escaped from certain death. It would be only three days later that a nice adventurer named Abinadi introduced me to the game mechanics (thanks a bunch Abi, I know it wasn't easy to deal with a non-English speaker!!) and invited me to his linkshell^^ I miss my first days so much, the emotion of seeing such a great world and interact with other players for the first time... I was never able to enjoy single-player games anymore the same way.

<.< Oh and when I saw the crag of Holla for the first time I thought it was a space ship.

[NrvnqsrKhaos]

This is on Christmas of 2010.

So I wander about town, talking to things, generally being confused. I keep on switching to walk mode and I have no idea why, Windurst is a freaking maze, and I just begin to get annoyed. Then I finally make it to West Saruta, and lo and behold, a gigantic thing is punching some boxes.

I figured out it was a Galka, when I was like "Oh, that's that one race from the opening cinema." I hadn't actually scrolled through all the races, I just was like "Cat girl? Eh, Good Dex, why not?"

Anyway, I do the same. Punching boxes. And it takes forever! And I'm like "WHY AM I NOT GETTING EXP FOR THIS?" I was just really confused. Eventually someone told me to stop punching the boxes and start hitting creatures.

And then stuff started happening. I fooled around a bit, got scooped up by a random high-level person with a knack for helping noobs, and explored the small surrounding areas of Windy. All in all, a good day.

[Cylla]

My very first day...I thought I would be a mithra monk. I was confused and in awe over everything. I was killing bunnies in west ron when all of a sudden I saw this hume chick running up and right behind her was this sooooooooo omg cute little blue/greenish pet that had a slight glow to him and a big red ruby on his head.

I asked my friend what that was and he told me it was a summoner. I quickly ran back to town, logged off and deleted my mithra and made a hume (I'm not sure why I changed race, but eh lol I'm more happy with being a hume). I started out as a white mage and worked my way up to open SMN and from there I went.

Can't say I had to much confusion or anything. I kinda of just blended in and learned things as I went.

[Tezz]

Pandemonium. November 2003.

1st day i chose Black Mage (i think), and after the opening CS i was confused and didn't know how to move. I could talk but couldn't move (i think i didn't have numpad at that moment). Later i realized i needed it and got a new keyboard.

Then i came back and wondered around forever and eventually found Zeruhn Mines. I saw a bat and engaged. Unfortunately, i kept hitting attack/disengage and not knowing wtf was going on, i died.

Feeling stupid i went outside and found a worm. Then i realized you can't run around the monster to avoid anything. You just hit attack & watch it die.

So i was running towards Leaping Lizzy direction when a group of 2 French players ran by and i saw them being Lv.10 and told them "WoW, you're high level" or something. Afterwards we departed with some cheesy french comments.

Moments later i kept running in the direction i was going and came across players Lv 8-10~. Silverfangs, Tohru, Muugi and Oxking! Muugi told me to be her Knight in shining armor and pick Paladin, but eventually she convinced me to become Red Mage. So i changed to RDM(my first 75).
They gave me a Linkshell and told me they would take me to the dunes (to this day, we occasionally still keep in touch on a Forum).
So i followed them all to the Dunes in awe at how large the world actually was. Avoiding the Tremor Ram and making it to the Dunes. As we walked for Selbina we approached a cave and i was like "WTF, why is there Snow in a Cave" to which they replied: "It's Sand!, We're in a Desert" we all had a good laugh and continued onward.

Eventually, they showed me how to party & we farted around before parting for the day. It was in these few moments that i became deeply connected with this game & the players in it.
It was a different & simple time(lol) where the small inconveniences weren't made out to be such a big deal as they are these days. Everyone just played, maybe said a few things they didn't like about something, accepted it, and moved on with their playing.

This was a time when it felt that everyone appreciated alot more than they do today. These days it's mostly about endgame & moving on. Ah, to be young again!

[Eiyoko]

I have an odd habit of restarting a new game when I'm only partially into it before I end up going all the way. I'm also one of those people that bought the brady guide, l-lol

My first try, I was a Mithra WAR in Windy. First thing I did was die right outside in saruta XD deleted my character and immediately remade. Shortly after, I made a Taru WHM (again in windy) and managed to get to level...8? Before again, I decided to start over. Then I made an Elvaan WAR in Sandy, on Cait Sith, and stuck with it. Oh MAN I was such a noob XD I envied every chocobo rider that passed me, and made an enormous train of damselflies in the dunes ("I wonder if they link? Let's find out 8D") which I somehow didn't die from, lmao.

It took me several tries to get to Jeuno, and when I did I thought it was the coolest thing ever. In Qufim, many of us noticed a light elemental nearby the delkfutt's tower camp one day, and we ALL went chasing after it basically going "it's so pretty~"

I'm still wondering how none of us got swatted by gigas or wights. O.o

as WAR, I worked my way up to DRG, then changed my mind afterwards and leveled WHM so I could play SMN. (And yes, any dragoon or summoner I saw, I ENVIED soooo much. XD) Ultimately I kept hopping from job to job after I unlocked them all, but eventually I stuck with my mains, DRG and SMN. ^^

[Krystal]

Lets see..my first days in FFXI..who-boy! lol i was just starting out as a tarutaru whm. i picked up fairly quickly on the controls,battle system, and navigation fairly quickly enough having played many FF games before. however i was still lost on what to actually do in this game for all i knew at the time was how to play whm. it was then i ran into a player..i can't recall his name off the top of my head but i know he was a elven male. he asked me if i was new and i told him i was. he handed me 10,000 gil which at the time i thought was A TON of gil at the time and was so happy to get that much...boy was i a noob....lmao anyways he handed me a linkpearl which had to walk me through on how to equip. the Linkshell was called WarriorsnWizards. it was there i met the LS leader who's name was Talna whom was a mithra. she helped me through my first few missions with bastok and many others to come till i could finally stand on my own two feet so-to-speak. i was a hopeless cause though at that time..lol i asked for help regularly having no idea what to do in a certain area of asking for people to raise me. i soon became able to handle my own though once i unlocked a few new jobs. one of which was smn. however it wasn't until i had unlocked blue mage i could truly stand on my own and not need to ask for help every time i turned around..lol nearly 4 years later i'm a freaking pro and know how to play this game in and out.

[Skyrant_Kangaroomouse]

Pandy 2003 starting in Windurst. Checking NPC shops for weapons and armors realizing that i am extremely poor and need to somehow make money. No idea what to do or where to go. Finally found the exit and killed rabbits and bees, throwing away every beastman seal because i could not sell them.

Eventually found a player to help me out and explain things to me. From there on and after joining the first LS it went uphill until i had to go to the Dunes. We all remember that hellhole and how hard it was to get the damselfly worm (and the magicked skull).

Zoning from Dunes to La Theine on a daily basis and running into Rampaging Rams. Dead Adventurers everywhere, those where the days.

I vividly remember my first run to Jeuno for the Chocobo Quest. Dying about 3 times trying.

Good times indeed.

[Greatguardian]

October 2003. I ran up to a bee, killed it, then got killed by a goblin.

Yeah. That's all I remember. Took me like half an hour to figure out how to change targets with the tab key. Instruction manuals are for wimps etc.

Fun times.

[Kjara]

he handed me 10,000 gil which at the time i thought was A TON of gil at the time and was so happy to get that much...boy was i a noob....

lol the first time I was given gil it was 2000 and I thanked them multiple times saying I would "use it wisely"! XD