Why was FFXI so great?

[Vaer]

Also, tons of hilarious ways to wipe/die/ragequit

I accidentally the alliance

[Jokerz]

Also, tons of hilarious ways to wipe/die/ragequit

I accidentally the alliance

*Uses Diaga instead of Dia in Dynamis and wakes avatar...."

[Elexia]

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!

-Storylines
-Atmosphere

-The World (it felt like a real world, it was designed like a world with actual history.)

-The challenge - Yes, encounters were challenging the first time you did it, anyone who said it had no challenge lies through their teeth (fingers), because one of the hardest fights was a 60 cap fight known as One to Be Feared, especially before we had CBC Polymers to enfeeble Ultima.

-The Music - It's classic Final Fantasy.

-Community aspect - It actually made it feel like an MMO, not a single player game with an online chatroom that MMOs degraded into.

[SirOleas]

Until recently FFXI was a wonderful game because it required a lot of team work. The community prospered on this many bonds were made through tough battles and the like. Even though people don't like to admit it: Drama was a big part of end-game which only added to pride in your linkshell(guild) when you were top notch. Making bonds is what FFXI was all about. From the casual connections to the hard core end game connections: It was all worth it in the end.

Connections to other players, getting to know those players, know their skill and play style. It was super fun.

But we are talking before all the nonsense that SE has been doing with FFXI lately.

[Endemerrin]

Story.

Story, and difficult missions tied with them. Challenging and memorable one-time boss fights. That's what made it feel like a real Final Fantasy to me, and sharing it online with friends is what made it special.

[Zaaku]

The short answer: It was hard.


The long answer. It was really really hard. Believe me you don't want me to type it out. We'll be here all night.

[zaviermhigo]

It was great because it didn't hold your hand. Games now a days treat people like babies, although people think XIV does this also, it is not half as bad as most mmos out there. You play an mmo now a days and most people have no initiative to even learn how to be good at the content they are doing, they think they should just be able to play the game in their gimp manner forever and do stuff and have fun, having fun is important, but I don't see how learning about how to play the game and needing to certain things to be good at it make it not fun, see what I'm saying?

XI also had a pretty good community, older players, mostly well mannered. You didn't "lol nub stfu, gonna pwnz your momz so hard, my dps is so 1337" that you get in a lot of other games.

You must understand though more than half of the players of XIV are XI players who wish this game was more like XI including myself, so the community in this game is better than most despite people on the forums who try to make it sound awful (they should try f2p those people are awful lol)

[Laraul]

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

In all honesty they are just reminiscing about old times. "Back in the day..." kind of talk. Obviously since FFXI is still going they can continue playing it if they wished.

[Zumi]

You must understand though more than half of the players of XIV are XI players who wish this game was more like XI including myself, so the community in this game is better than most despite people on the forums who try to make it sound awful (they should try f2p those people are awful lol)

Funny you say that, because I have yet to meet anyone on FFXIV that wasn't a FFXI player or is still playing it as well.

[bobbygunz]

Best things about FFXI (compared to other MMOs) were:

*The traditional open world layout.
*Journey (many many zones with interesting things in them)
*Dangerous world (Goblins which would chase you across an entire map, Sea Horror that spawned and threatened your life on the boat ride)
*Music (but FFXIV is also great in this department)
*Horizontal endgame (unlike many other MMOs that are prone to constant cap increase, lending a sense of futility to the game).

It had many flaws though, which is why it was never the most popular MMO. However, I think many of these things I mentioned contributed to its longevity where other MMOs had a waning player base.