Why was FFXI so great?

[ZanarkandAbes]

I am one of the very few players on this game, that have never properly played Final Fantasy XI. But I see so many people proclaiming how wonderful and great the game was.
So I want to know, so's I can try and compare it to FFXI, what were the best things about FFXI, and what made it so amazing? And also, why did Abyssea (if that's how you spell it) "ruin the game" as some people have said?
Please, i'm very interested to read about how great the game was.
Try not to write essays, if you can :P

[AlaulaTheGreat]

I don't know, can we state why it was great before abyssea, or do we need to include abyssea? Or do you care either way.

Cause you gonna have to stop us at some point! Otherwise, we can go on forever how abyssea ruined the core of what made FFXI great, while others exclaim abyssea made it easier for newer players to play wither their higher level friends.

[ZanarkandAbes]

I don't know, can we state why it was great before abyssea, or do we need to include abyssea? Or do you care either way.

Cause you gonna have to stop us at some point! Otherwise, we can go on forever how abyssea ruined the core of what made FFXI great, while others exclaim abyssea made it easier for newer players to play wither their higher level friends.

I want to know what made the game the game that so many people loved! Whether that's before or after Abyssea is up to the person who comments!

[Raistlin]

Challenge for everything.

[Volsung]

XI had content, both for hardcore and casual players (though the casual content took longer to come)

Hardcore: nm, endgame areas (sea/sky) with tiered steps to take and make progress, several different events that werent simple run straight through raids

casual: besieged (town invasion event with fleshed out npc general allies and enemies), campaign (always going capture the territory from beastment event), FoV (increased exp for targeting certain mobs), chest drops from normal mobs

not to mention excellent expansion storylines, RoZ CoP ToA WoG (good npcs)

Why abyssea ruined it? for years everything was geared towards 75, and a lot of "ultimate" sets that took lots of effort to get at 75, suddenly became garbage. Lots of people felt like all their time went to waste

[Holland]

I played FFXI for three years almost non stop and I have an opposite view. If XI was as great as some put it, it would have been a more well received game for the gaming community at large, specially the Final Fantasy fans, wich are among the most loyal fans out there. The game was only good for the stubborn gamers that put up with the nonsensical gameplay mechanics in place at that time.

I loved FFXI to death, but I see it for what it is/was.

[Scherwiz]

I don't know, can we state why it was great before abyssea, or do we need to include abyssea? Or do you care either way.

Cause you gonna have to stop us at some point! Otherwise, we can go on forever how abyssea ruined the core of what made FFXI great, while others exclaim abyssea made it easier for newer players to play wither their higher level friends.

It was great to make people go to events as BRD.

Edit : For everything.

[fusional]

it was and it wasn't. it did a lot of things really awfully, but it also did a few things really well, and it was enough to keep a pretty loyal player base around to keep doing those things (while putting up with the bad)

[Altanas]

Events/World: As above, tiered events, lots of Big Bosses in either roaming NM, HNM, BCNM, Einherjar, etc A sense that there are formidable foes out there and that I can still be crushed like a peanut at level 99.
(14's events aka dungeon "runs" do have their place, but i would think a lot of people would rather have battlefields or spawned NMs because its just the big fights that are meaty and interesting. The dungeons seem to be/are xp dungeons rather than event dungeons. There arent enough Big Bosses in this game. I want Gigantic HNMs roaming the countryside and Gigantic Dragons flying over Coerthas (even though I'm not really a HNM fan, their presence gives life to the world)

Levelling: Being forced to take time out because there was a new region to unlock / find tele-points (idk why but attuning to telepoints in 11 felt much more of an accomplishment than attuning to aether in 14) and quests at levels 18, 50, 55, 60 etc forcing you to join up with likeminded adventurers often traversing zones relevant to that level to complete the quests. Granted when you actually got in an xp party it was a mindless grind, but it was often the case that there was a real sense of adventure and socialising in getting to that stage.

Missions: again sense of adventure, sense of fear in going through beastmen strongholds at low levels. proper boss fights along the way (whereas the battle instances throughout 14's missions never feel like boss fights -its hard to die!)

[Zumi]

Abyssea was the best thing to happen to FFXI in my opinion it brought life back into the game and I actually saw a lot of people that came back that quit FFXI. Why because gear you got 7 years ago still shouldn't be best in slot. Abyssea gave people a lot to do get new better gear and level up to 99. It was so unlike SE because they usually just gave us sidegrade stuff but these were actual upgrades and new AF3 sets to collect.