How to find (Japanese-speaking) players ?

[JoeS]

I started FFXIV about a week ago (in Asura), and am not very experienced in MMOs in general. I signed up with an ulterior motive — to immerse myself in Japanese, without actually moving to Japan. But I won't lie: I'm really enjoying the game itself.

However, I imagined I'd be able to hang out in community areas and overhear conversation, and eventually jump in when I'd built my confidence enough. But that hasn't happened; I see no conversation at all, and almost no emoting. Probably conversation is happening in LinkShells, I guess.

So I dug up the world forums, but the English Asura forum has only 4 posts, and the Japanese one has only 2. It doesn't seem like that's where people are hanging out and chatting about their world.

But as a total noob, I'm probably looking in the wrong place. Any suggestions?

[ManuelBravo]

You can always search for player and uncheck the language as needed. If you really want to you can go into a Japanese server. Depending on your connection you may need to use a VPN to avoid problems.

[JoeS]

I am on a Japanese server (Asura). My question is: how do you actually make contact with other players? Everybody seems to be chatting via Link Shells (only), which are invitation-only...

Can you explain what you mean by "search for player"? (Total noob here.)

[Avatre]

I think the best way to go about it, is to mention in a shout that you want to practice your Japanese, that might be the best way to get invited to linkshell or meet other players. Alternatively, you could try joining a FC(not sure how it is on the Japanese servers, but on Cactuar there are people that teleport from city to city and shout recruitment messages) and make friends that way who you can converse with.

[Shouko]

I am on a Japanese server (Asura). My question is: how do you actually make contact with other players? Everybody seems to be chatting via Link Shells (only), which are invitation-only...

Can you explain what you mean by "search for player"? (Total noob here.)

Try making a thread on the Jp side of the forums, in general, use Jp text of course and you might get some better responses.

[LunaChild]

You can try posting a blog in lodestone in japanese to make some contact with players, make sure you select JP language before posting.

For in game, if you can speak some japanese, try joining JP FC or looking for LS in PF, etc. You may also try to make contact with random ppl in cities by using emote and try to chat with them.

Hope it help.

[JoeS]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I will start trying harder to make contact with people on the server. I believe the Japanese players in general are very reserved about shouting, but I think speaking in public areas is OK.

Today I tried 皆さん、失礼します。初心者のLSありますか (Excuse me, everyone, is there an LS for beginners?) in a fairly crowded Old Gridania market, but got no replies. But I'll keep trying.

And yeah, I was going to try posting on the Japanese Asura forum, even though it appears pretty dead. But apparently I'm only allowed to start one new thread per day. :/

I'm not familiar with Lodestone blogging, but I'll look it up. Thanks again for the pointers!

[Avatre]

And yeah, I was going to try posting on the Japanese Asura forum, even though it appears pretty dead. But apparently I'm only allowed to start one new thread per day. :/

Yeah, these forums are rather...weird. You can only post X number of posts(wish I could find the post that showed it) a day, based on - I believe - your character level/progress. Same with forum topics.

[Vineas]

Hi JoeS, firstly you have to understand the Japanese culture.. Unlike the European or Americans, Japs are not keen on shouting, talking to strangers, or minding other business..
You can easily look into the lodestone for LS, and then try to send a tell to one of the members, I know it looks like a lot of effort, but it works for me.. approaching them individually helps you (with luck) to get in touch in them..
They are nice people, but rather shy..

[JoeS]

Absolutely right! (I lived in Japan for six weeks and have it ever since — which is in fact how I got into this.)

When I posted this morning I hadn't discovered the LS search or the Player Search. Those are handy tools! With their help I managed to connect with a very kind level 20 player who invited me into his LS, introduced me to his friends, and then formed a party (my first!) and took me hunting. They were all very patient as I fumbled around trying to figure out how to accept the invitation, etc. What a great community! I couldn't be happier.