Why was FFXI so great?

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

Until recently, I have wanted to avoid posting on the official forums. I am the quiet sort, and I prefer to go with the flow when possible.

I have much faith in Dev Team to make FFXIV a particularly attractive and enjoyable game. I do not, however, have faith in all of the posters on these forums.

In fact, I dread what may come to pass, should the loudest and most brash among the playerbase have their way by virtue of being loud, obnoxious, and given to incessant whining and passive/aggressive bait-and-switches in their posts, all components of the post quoted above.

If this is your idea of being part of a community, you should be able to divine the reasoning behind my decision to actually begin posting.

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I have grown not just weary but tired of the "majority" still dictating what I dislike in a MMO. I may or may not last much longer and tbh, that's kind of depressing figuring I had been watching the creation of this game since Rapture. THAT sir/ma'am is how much I loved XI. I was even willing to deal with how the game was during launch. I did OBT ... I just figured it was something that would get better after all, the game was new and even XI wasn't WOOT EIPC until a bit after it's launch.

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I have grown not just weary but tired of the "majority" still dictating what I dislike in a MMO. I may or may not last much longer and tbh, that's kind of depressing figuring I had been watching the creation of this game since Rapture. THAT sir/ma'am is how much I loved XI. I was even willing to deal with how the game was during launch. I did OBT ... I just figured it was something that would get better after all, the game was new and even XI wasn't WOOT EIPC until a bit after it's launch.

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I have not, nor will I, ever attempt to dictate what another person likes in their MMO.

The only thing I am here to do is politely, but firmly, speak my opinion on how much I seek to avoid Final Fantasy XI-2: Dragon's Aery at the Lance in Coerthas, or Wings of the Twelve: Sandworm's at Horiz- oh, damnit, it just warped, someone check Bluefog and Broken Water. I have no desire to relive XI. I am older, busier, and have less time and patience to deal with grinds only surpassed by Lineage II.

OK, hard to sum up so many years in a few paragraphs but I'll try. Also going to speak in past tense since I don't play anymore.

The story was the best I've ever seen in an MMO. The world was vast, full of life, mystery and danger. The sights were so varied and carefully crafted that just discovering new places and hidden corners of the world could be breathtaking.

Teamwork was essential and promoted strong bonds in linkshells. The fights were challenging. Leveling was not just a pre-cap minigame but a well paced process and actually brought some feeling of achievement. NMs of all levels were very worthwhile. The jobs all felt very unique, not only in contrast to each other, but also in contrast to other games.

Gil felt like it was actually money and had real value. Items of all levels were worthwhile and many low level items were quite valuable. Having a craft at 100 was something you could boast about and you were sought out for it. Crafting a rare HQ could be thrilling, losing a rare item in a synth could be devastating. Gathering was risk versus reward based and could actually be exciting at times.

All in all, everything in FFXI was a true adventure. A very time consuming one, yes, but that only served to make it more memorable. Even the grinding had its moments if you did it with the right people and tried new things.

The only thing pre-Abyssea FFXI really did wrong in my eyes was job balance. I never ever had another complaint. Call it nostalgia but this is how I felt during my 7 years of play and I'm simply sticking to my opinion. I don't like Abyssea just because I feel it replaced too much content which I was strongly attached to, I felt like the game became a lot smaller and more trivial, and that's all there is to that - it's nothing more than opinion.

All of that said, I have no other option but to agree with Eagleheart: I AM older, I AM busier, and I simply don't have the time to relive something as time consuming as FFXI, though I personally wish I did. But very few games have a place close to my heart, and FFXI is right at the top.

For me one one of the only things I can say I enjoyed about XI to this day was the story. I can't deny Chains of Promathia had to be the most epic expansion/campaign/etc. I've seen in any game I've played. Everything else, eh, not so fond of nowdays.

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

I have not, nor will I, ever attempt to dictate what another person likes in their MMO.

The only thing I am here to do is politely, but firmly, speak my opinion on how much I seek to avoid Final Fantasy XI-2: Dragon's Aery at the Lance in Coerthas, or Wings of the Twelve: Sandworm's at Horiz- oh, damnit, it just warped, someone check Bluefog and Broken Water. I have no desire to relive XI. I am older, busier, and have less time and patience to deal with grinds only surpassed by Lineage II.

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Don't ever stop speaking your opinion and don't ever let anyone else try to dictate to you what your opinion should be. Also I'm going to say this... I don't think post count really matters much at all and I don't think it discredits anyone in any way. My post count isn't something stupid high but then I don't toss posts in every thread that pops up... (esp not in every stupid Xi-2 thread >< /sigh).

There are actually a lot of people that simply lurk around on the forums and hardly if ever post... when they do post just because they don't have almost 1K posts doesn't make what they say wrong or in some way not as noteworthy as someone with all those posts.

It is sad sometimes how these forums are... oh well...


Hmmm what? oh you probably expected one of my normal silly/stupid humans rants... well I'm tired of saying it all the time since most of the time it is true on these forums...

The cat is bemused =-.-=

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Originally Posted by Raistlin

Challenge for everything.

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XI was by far the best MMORPG I have ever played. I have very very many fond memories of that game. This is BEFORE Abyessea. I loved the challenge of leveling up (it really meant something). I loved doing weapon skills and magic burst as a mage with the party. I loved CoP and the other expansions. They were such a challenge, that when you FINALLY conqured them, it really meant something. Like the Maat fight for example (level break to get to 75). I actually trembled when I FINALLY beat Maat as a RDM and could go about showing off my level 75. Most of all, I loved the leveling up parties, its how you learned your job.

This game is far from FFXI, well maybe closer to the FFXI After Abysessa horror that ruined the game forever. Most of the memories I have of FFXIV are bad ones, for the droves, and I mean droves, of people/friends/ls mates that left this game never to return. This game shouldn't even be P2P at this point, it should still be free.

I sometimes ask myself, why I am even paying for this game. Well, truth be told, I want to support SE who gave me those great memories of FFXI, and support them for the small ray of hope that 2.0 will be a great turnaround for a horrid game.

I thought the game was crappy.

The "majority" dictated what this game was going to be before it even came out when they decided to go in an overall direction with no depth, which is exactly what "mass" gamers want I guess. The outspoken majority on this forums mainly try to make sure this game doesn't become another suckpool game of suck like most mmos out right now. Look at SWTOR star wars is AAAAAAA++++++++ ip, gotta invent more A's and pluses for it, and they copied wow for the mmo and killed their hardcore grind sandbox mmo for a husk of a game.


FFXI was great because it had depth. I won't let my game be dictated by people who have too much ADD to read a paragraph without saying tldr. Video games were more like puzzles, people wanted to engross themselves in them and feel challenged, most gamers today are like "i just want to turn my brain off I effing hate puzzles blah blah blah", I would like that "figuring out" "challenge me" exp, not "max out dps till we kill it", got someone couldn't pass the r25 ifrit fight and said its because "we need more dps" on a 25 fight where everyone was 50, it was people being RETARDED and dumber than dirt that caused the loss.

I'm just sick of games that only offer small bits of fun over a full adventure experience.
Those things are fine for casual players, but I'd like to see more long term goals that really make me feel like I've done something great when I finally beat it.

I've had enough popcorn, now give me a steak.

FFXI was everything that FFXIV will never be...and this saddens me. /10char thread.