Just played Final Fantasy XI

[Dzian]

I'll admit XI wasn't perfect but thing like losing exp on death weren't really as bad as they sound.
Was it annoying to delevel and lose gear sure. But the reality was it was also easily avoidable just one or 2 extra kills in an exp party would buffer you nicely. And failing that just told your old gear for a bit till you got part way Into your level. (if you sold your old gear the second you dinged then sure you'd have issues but that's because doing that was a stupid thing to do)

I quite liked the loss of exp on death as it generally made you respect the world a lot more and generally care about your character. Ffxi was the stop look both ways before crossing the road kind of environment you had to respect the world around you. In comparison xiv is just step out In front of a great big truck because it just doesn't matter if it hits you.

Like many have said vanadiel is a much deeper world and is/was more alive than eorzea ever will be. And it did feel much grander as well. One of my first quests involved me climbing a hill in gustaberg to visit the memorial of the miners. In truth by the time I made it to the top I was maybe only 4 or 5 minutes away from bastok but it felt like I had gone so far. or even the first time I made it to the dunes.

The world was more dangerous but not stupidly so. People have said how even running to jeuno at low level was a nightmare but it wasn't. There was a clear path with sign posts all over the place and if you follow the path you would very very rarely run into any issues. If however you ran in a straight line across the zone then sure you'd run through lots of dangerous monsters that could easily kill you.

Community was better as well. And general player attitudes. Generally speaking in XI it wasn't about "I" it was about "WE" it was about making players stronger as a group and not so much as individuals.

My LS for example had 15-20 people that would come and do temenos even though they didn't need it. And then people like myself who never needed appolyon or einherjar but would always turn up to help. the goal was generally always make the group stronger as a whole. I think that's why I'm still friends with many of the people I played XI with even 7 years later.

I sometimes think that's a key thing. If playing XI you saw the game as all about "you you you" then you wouldn't really get very far at all and you would struggle to find parties or people willing to help. But If however you saw the game as "WE" or "US" then you would find invites for exp parties and things came very very quickly even as lol jobs and any help you needed was never far away..

I think that's part of the problem xiv community has. It's all about "me me me." And thats generally why so many groups and static and things fall apart or why so many people jump fcs or linlshells so frequently. Join a farm party get your drop and run for the hills. there's no loyalty or consideration for those around them. get what you need and jump to the next group.

If you acted like that in xi you'd find you'd never get an invite for anything at all ever. Yet in xiv it's entirely acceptable behaviour.

Someone also mentioned things like airships running on strict timetables in XI and vendors stock changing based on days of week and conquest standings or even waiting till the next day to finish a quest. Yet these things helped make vanadium feel even more alive. In essence in ffxi the game revolved around vanadiel. It was centre stage. The player was just one tiny part of that. And they had adapt to the world around them.

In ffxiv however the game revolves entirely around the player. The world adapts to the player. With all its instances and stuff going on for every little thing. And I think that is a big part of why eorzea will never be the living vibrant world vanadiel is or was..

[KrenianKandos]

FFXI was always my first MMORPG I really sunk my teeth into. I had delved into Ultima Online for a very small bit, and Ragnarok Online as well as Everquest, but I really really pushed myself to play FFXI.

I have a love hate relationship with that game.

I'll always cherish the memories of my static group every friday playing together. I will NOT cherish having to play a white mage (by choice, unfortunately, as we wouldn't be going far without a healer) because I effectively felt like White mage could do nothing but party and that's it. They were useless otherwise other than teleporting to get gil.

To say that the game has aged well is probably not exactly true either. I rejoined for 30 days when Abyssea was new and while there certainly are a lot of quality of life changes which I can appreciate, I quickly realized that without friends that were playing, I got bored quickly again and just...stopped. And outdated graphics and the fact that there are a few UI issues I have, it just never caught back.

It was more for the friendship and fun times I had with friends than the game itself and I realized that quickly after two years of playing since the release that even that wasn't enough to make me want to play. I LOATHED White Mage with a passion lol

I will say that the weapon skill system was neat. But could NEVER live in a modern MMO if the way was random as to how the leveling was, but the weapon skill system where combining together? That was, by far, the most FUN combat system I had the pleasure to play with. The fact that you had to work together to activate weapon skills....it was just awesome. But I don't honestly think it could be done in the current game just do to how people are nowadays in MMOs. They rather focus on their own stuff instead of working together. You see it in runs right now (Not saying every time, but most of the time.).

I frankly would be shocked and afraid if they introduced a weapon system a la 11 in 14 simply because of how for so long the system wasn't conductive to this. It would shock the whole playerbase and probably not go over well.

There's too many differences between both games to ever bring any of the fun ideas 11 did in 14 because they are categorically different games. That's why you can't really ask for 11 mechanics in 14. It wouldn't work. Especially combat features like the Weapon Skills. (short of making it a skill that's on a cooldown and can only be activated and recognizes when you're linking with others. It would take a huge writing in the code to look that up and not be confused by the 100s ofother skills, especially cause they don't have it in the code already.)

I don't know. I get pangs here and there but it's more about never finishing the story. But then I went back to it and I never really pushed myself 'to' finish the story. And I had gotten to level 99 too. It just..had its time. It's done now and I'm at peace with not playing the game anymore. If they port the game like they said to handheld devices, I can most assuredly tell you I'd get it just so I can relive the stories...but I don't think I can ever go revisit Vana'diel anymore solely because it just has had its time.

[Clover_Blake]

What irks me is when people start dismissing other's opinions as them simply having rose-tinted glasses. It adds another level when it's coming from someone who has never even tried the game.

Ironically, the rose-tinted glasses comment came from someone who happened to have played the game, who I was fully agreeing with. And I'm fully agreeing because, while I might not have played FFXI itself, I did play -or rather, suffered- other games that were the exact same level (Ragnarok Online and Lineage II). I have experienced the same things people are commenting in this thread about FFXI. I've always been very bitter about old school MMORPGs for all those reasons. So when I see people talking about how "superior" all those things were compared with the current system we have, I naturally will have something to say, and I believe that I have the same right as everyone else to state my opinion on the matter without anyone pulling the victim card on me, especially when the people who are being dismissive (as you call it) about the way FFXIV is only get a pat in the back from you.

[Lord_Zlatan]

The recent rehash of the XI XIV collaboration event hit me pretty hard. The nostalgia was unreal. XI was my first mmo, and I invested five years into it that created a lot of memories. That last year though, was just me leaving and coming back over and over again looking for something that was no longer there. It was sad indeed when I just knew that my time with the game was over.

Coming into XIV, I knew if I continued to look for that first-time-playing-an-mmo experience, my sub wouldn't last long here either. I had to accept that those days are well behind me.


XI is a dinosaur compared to today's standards. I have no desire to play a game with the engine it uses. I don't enjoy not being able to kill a rabbit the same level as me. I hate my explorations coming to straight halt if I get aggroed. I'm not going to state that XI is a better game than XIV due to merits of nostalgia. I don't work that way. But XI is without question a beautiful game filled with great story, music, characters, areas, villains, and most of all, players. Many players back then we're first time mmo'ers and it created an environment that can no longer be found today.

XI has been psychologically buried for me. May it rest in piece. It is XIV's time now.

This is essentially the same feeling for me. I spent so much time in FFXI and i loved alot of it. However, I started almost 2 years after launch and essentially had to solo my way to 75. I had a good LS, always willing to help, but the sad fact about XI is that it is way too time consuming. MMOs by nature are time consuming, but XI was just way too slow. I still listen to the soundtrack all the time, and I am filled with memories that make me want to play it again, but as you said, it is XIV's time now.

[Lord_Zlatan]

A more coherent musical score with some hauntingly memorable themes in there. Whilst FFXIV trumps it for battle music, FFXI's open world was full of songs that I can still instantly identify and visualise to this day. Gustaberg, Sanctuary of Zi'tah, Heaven's Tower, Tavnazia to name but a few. Even relatively 'mundane' tracks such as the Promyvions were perfectly crafted for their purpose and matched the eerie and absolutely unique atmosphere within.

im gunna add Caedarva Mire to the haunting musical soundtrack... seriously, I still get nightmares about that place

[Lord_Zlatan]

also, there are too many posts to quote, but alot of people are being disingenuous about the community in XI vs. XIV. Having had multiple characters on multiple servers in this game, every FC ive joined has had people willing to help with stuff even though they didnt "need" it. In XI, from my experience, that was not always the case, as getting to the areas where people needed help was time consuming in and of itself. It goes both ways. There are very helpful FC/LS in both games.

[odintius]

There are very helpful FC/LS in both games.

Both game have its ups and downs the reason or differences is ffxi didn't have a df/pf/cross server so you were depended players on your server to do content with which means more people were in linkshells and had mulit end game activities to schedule for. Ffxiv on the other hand you don't need to be in fc to complete majority of it's content threw df/pf the help is quick and easy to complete and end game is like two activities Savage and allot consider that being mid-core know because it been adjusted to be more clearable by the masses and ultimate came out which is the hardest of any content currently I'll throw in extreme primals for kicks.

[Skivvy]

Ironically, the rose-tinted glasses comment came from someone who happened to have played the game, who I was fully agreeing with. And I'm fully agreeing because, while I might not have played FFXI itself, I did play -or rather, suffered- other games that were the exact same level (Ragnarok Online and Lineage II). I have experienced the same things people are commenting in this thread about FFXI. I've always been very bitter about old school MMORPGs for all those reasons. So when I see people talking about how "superior" all those things were compared with the current system we have, I naturally will have something to say, and I believe that I have the same right as everyone else to state my opinion on the matter without anyone pulling the victim card on me, especially when the people who are being dismissive (as you call it) about the way FFXIV is only get a pat in the back from you.

There is a difference between saying "I dislike MMOs like XI due to <reasons>" and claiming that people must only like the game due to looking at it with rose-tinted glasses. One is giving your opinion, one is discrediting the opinion of others. It may be a fine difference, but it's there.

If someone says they think <random feature> from XI is loads better than XIV, sure, debate that. It's not hard to have a conversation with people of varying opinions without just shutting down their voice as invalid.

Also, who is pulling the victim card?

[RiyahArp]

FFXI is attractive to people because it's the opposite of this game, and its strengths are this game's flaws and vice versa. Like there is no large endgame in this game for players of all skill types like Sky, and there is virtually no group open world content. There's no real economy in FFXIV, and you can ignore crafting for the most part. The flip side though is everything in FFXI was a big pain in the butt to actually do, and you couldn't just pop in and make slow progress; yo could even lose progress if someone screwed up. It's just that the positives of ffxi are looking really attractive since this game isn't bothering to change much or make meaningful content in the modes it already has.

[Lord_Zlatan]

Both game have its ups and downs the reason or differences is ffxi didn't have a df/pf/cross server so you were depended players on your server to do content with which means more people were in linkshells and had mulit end game activities to schedule for. Ffxiv on the other hand you don't need to be in fc to complete majority of it's content threw df/pf the help is quick and easy to complete and end game is like two activities Savage and allot consider that being mid-core know because it been adjusted to be more clearable by the masses and ultimate came out which is the hardest of any content currently I'll throw in extreme primals for kicks.

Jesus, punctuation is a thing. And you didn't really respond to my comment.

Yes, the DF/PF make thins more streamlined for people to get the help they want, but even something like doing to MSQ dungeons is way easier to get people to go with you from your FC than it was in XI. There is a certain charm to XI that XIV will never surpass, but lets not make blanket statements like the community in XI was way more helpful, when the fact of the matter is their are very helpful groups of people in both games. You have to associate yourself with the right people.