Why was FFXI so great?

[Kiote]

FFXI was great because there was a sense of Achievement when you accomplished anything. Hitting level 75 took real effort, maybe to much, but when you got there you knew how to play.

Items were not just rare like they are in FFXIV, but you needed to work for them. They required large teams working with a lot of precision and if you weren't on top of your game, you lost. Losing meant watching someone else walk away with the win.

Individuality was a guarantee. In the mid levels a lot of people had all the same stuff. There was good gear and you wore it to maximize your power. At End Game, there was so much stuff, it was rare to see two people in the same gear. New gear from new events never made previous gear useless either. You always had a choice and the gear you chose made you better at something, but you had to sacrifice other things for it. i.e Optical Hat was premo ACC, but Wahlra Turban made you hit faster. With enough effort you could build your character into anything.

Level Caps. Level Caps ensured that all content was always challenging no matter how strong you got. If you wanted to help your level 30 friend with your level 75 complete Promyvlion, you had to be level 30. No walking through Toto-Rak one shotting everything that got in the way. Yes, it made content harder, but Victory was a celebration. A win meant something.

Grind Parties. People bitch about grinding all the time. But the fact of the matter is, some of the best times ever had in FFXI were in the grind parties. You knew you were in it for the long hall so you had two choices. Get bored or Make friends. Most people chose to make friends. Those friends became LS, those LS brought more friends and in the End You had a Friends List you could count on. People who would willing fight through a level 30 dungeon for you even though they had long since defeated it.

The community in FFXI was unlike any other in the MMO world. It brought out the strongest feels its players had. Deep seeded hatred for a rival LS pushed people to do whatever it took to be strong enough and skilled enough to get the win, if for no other reason than to rub it in. But on the other side of the spectrum the strongest comradery. People willing to risk not just their time, but there XP and even their levels to help a friend with nearly anything.

FFXI had its problems, no one will dispute that. But it had so much that was lost to the MMO world the day WoW and the Solo-MMO was born.

[Neekzz]

XI is still a great game, the amount of stuff to do is insane. That being said, The game was shaped over the years into its greatness. Abyssea didn't ruin anything. All MMOs evolve as time passes, if they don't they get slow and boring.
I enjoy all the new content and its great to feel like I'm doing something other then stand in line for gear. Give it a try the game is cheap now.

Example of battle events in XI

[Zaaku]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...800#post647800

Made this thread because of this thread. Go and vote on which Final Fantasy MMO you would prefer.

[Gramul]

Yes, I'm oversimplifying. The deed is done.

[OJtheLIONKing]

Yes, I'm oversimplifying. The deed is done.

This is it in a nutshell. I liked FFXI at the time, and had some great memories there, but I think those memories were because of the people I played with, not the game mechanics that made me constantly scream "WTF are they smoking?!" even while I was playing it. It looks even worse in retrospect, since I now have experience with many other MMOs and more perspective to look back at it. If anything, the mechanics in FFXI actively took away from the fun I had with friends, since it essentially made it an incredible hassle to get to the good bit. I had a lot of free time to burn when I was in college so I may not have noticed as much, but now that I've got a full time job I don't have time to piss around with 72 hour pop timers and 12 hour xp parties, and neither does anyone with a good handle on time management.

The FFXI nostalgia folks are very loud on this forum, but even here where almost everyone has played FFXI, they're not a majority--look at how many of the loaded polls demanding FFXI-2-ish features go (almost never in their favor if you're keeping track). People who want FFXI-2 aren't even a speck compared to MMO players as a whole, who are what this game must target rather than fanservice for a dwindling hardcore base if it wants to be at all viable, or sane.

So, to the OP, what made FFXI so great to these people is their memories of it. There are a few good features this game could stand to implement, but as a whole you, as a player of FFXIV in 2012, aren't missing anything by never having played it. I trust Yoshi-P and the devs to borrow a scant few things that worked and are appropriate but to make their own game, hopefully a great game that really has a huge impact on the MMO landscape.

[Geesus]

People who want FFXI-2 aren't even a speck compared to MMO players as a whole, who are what this game must target rather than fanservice for a dwindling hardcore base if it wants to be at all viable, or sane.

Ahhh yes, the fortune teller that knows all and why it is that some of us were and at some point still are disappointed in XIV after playing XI. But with comments and attitudes that are unfortunately true stated above, it comes down solely to money. Oh sure, it's a business no doubt; have a degree in it so understand it well but, it's also one of the reasons this game failed so miserably at launch. Tanaka SOOOO wanting to not be another Blizzard clone made some bad choices in trying to be different. He also forgot what made most of the original testers/players of this game at launch excited and that was another FF MMO! But what they did was try to keep the hardcore FF MMO fanbase around and this failed as well thanks to the "Let me hold your hand and show you everywhere you need to go to level and quest" MMOs. Those fans and those who left XI for them came back and were astonished to 1) not see anything from XI that WAS working as intended and liked ... but instead got 2) Why was this game so freaking HARD?! WTF omg so harddddd!! Q_Q And now we have a mis-mash of run through dungeons and all the other nonsensical crap imo that every other MMO has and it's STILL not good enough. Not easy mode enough for the I need my mommy players and not difficult enough or challenging enough for those that want to do more than just rush to 50.

[Nidge]

to me personally it was the people you met and the experiences of accomplishment on finally kiiling that NM thats been out of reach fo so long. Also CoP was the pinnacle expansion in terms of story for me i LOVED it id love to see a similar one on xiv but i wont go into that :P

FFxi had its time and at its peak was immense, special and amazing. im just hoping in time FFXIV will have the same effects on my gaming experience as FFXI did and if it doesnt then well...il just try harder to make sure it does

[Wynn]

Yes, I'm oversimplifying. The deed is done.

It's funny cause it's true.

[zaviermhigo]

I mean what really is "forced" to group, you are eventually forced to group in every mmo at least by endgame. If you could solo endgame in any mmo its not worth playing, its for pussies.

[Andrien]

I mean what really is "forced" to group, you are eventually forced to group in every mmo at least by endgame. If you could solo endgame in any mmo its not worth playing, its for pussies.

I agree endgame should involve cooperation with groups of people. But, in my honest opinion stuff like main story missions shouldn't force people to group up. For me this is the time for my character to shine in the story. you know?