Happy 20th to Final Fantasy XI

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Originally Posted by Kranel_San

I always kept hearing of FFXI but didn't play it before.
So yesterday, I tried to install it and I'm going to be honest. The game (probably) does not suffer from outdated gameplay mechanics or graphics. It suffers from the outdated nonsense the installation is which pushes any new player away from playing the game.
I could bet if they integrated the game with XIV launcher (Similar to Battlenet launcher for example) where the installation requires one or two-button to press and just a singular login just like modern launchers then I can say it might get a lot of new players who're excited to play the predecessor of XIV.
Please devs, if your game isn't attracting new players then maybe the issue isn't in the game but maybe... MAYBE... the issue is in the installation process.

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hahahahhaha, I remember installing FFXI on a not so good laptop- back when laptops pretty much were universal terrible at gaming... Took like 12 hours to install FFXI. Then for some reason I sat and customized the playonline launcher for a long while, jamming out to the music incorporated lol.

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Originally Posted by Kranel_San

I always kept hearing of FFXI but didn't play it before.
So yesterday, I tried to install it and I'm going to be honest. The game (probably) does not suffer from outdated gameplay mechanics or graphics. It suffers from the outdated nonsense the installation is which pushes any new player away from playing the game.
I could bet if they integrated the game with XIV launcher (Similar to Battlenet launcher for example) where the installation requires one or two-button to press and just a singular login just like modern launchers then I can say it might get a lot of new players who're excited to play the predecessor of XIV.
Please devs, if your game isn't attracting new players then maybe the issue isn't in the game but maybe... MAYBE... the issue is in the installation process.

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Yeah the installation and signing up for POL was (and still is) a bit of a nightmare compared to other MMO's. If I recall it's because the launcher was supposed to be this whole separate social/community experience - you had mail, chat, etc. FFXI (and a FF card game that I can never recall the name of) was launched from it and I think they were possibly going to use it for some other games going forward (but never did). It's one of the let-downs of the game but once you've sorted it, the game itself is an amazing experience. Then there's the downloading - usually 1-2 hours regardless if you have 50mbps or 1gbps - it's due to the underlying technology based on 56K connections, single-transaction file-transfers, etc. I think it's sped up a bit since the original launch though - used to take a day to get the download done if I recall.

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Originally Posted by Casti_EL

used to take a day to get the download done if I recall.

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2000-2010 download and install simulatior.
That line brought back a lot of memories, all of them were about me sitting in front of my PC and waiting for hours/days to complete the process.

Aside from that, I have just played FFXI for two hours, and I have to say it's a good old-MMO experience. It's truly a shame the game is behind an outdated installation/registration process. I really wish to give the game some love and modernize said process so it may see a flock of new players flooding it again.