Why was FFXI so great?

[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.

[Andrien]

1) Why were you playing a MMO if you didn't want to party?
2) Why do I constantly see this from other players in this MMO?

It's not a solo game and neither was XI. If your biggest complaint is that it wasn't solo friendly than all I can say is ...

Read my post again... Read every word carefully. I said if you have friends to play with, you'll have fun. Do you comprehend? Was that a complaint?

sometimes a facepalm is not necessary

[Geesus]

Read my post again... Read every word carefully. I said if you have friends to play with, you'll have fun. Was it a complaint? Do you comprehend?

Oh no I read it word for word. Friends or not you said

No its not that great, but it is fun when you have something to do, especially if you have friends to play with. Otherwise you're good as dead meat due to force grouping. Once I was able to solo

See the words force grouping and solo? If that doesn't look like words "complaining" about something you didn't want I don't know what does lol.

[Andrien]

Oh no I read it word for word. Friends or not you said

See the words force grouping and solo? If that doesn't look like words "complaining" about something you didn't want I don't know what does lol.

Yeah I was having a kick of a time soloing avatars/campaign etc. Your point?

Goes without saying, if you're not in a group for certain contents you're going to have a hard time by yourself. Therefore you're forced to group. that is irrefutable fact, not a complaint.

[Gramul]

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

[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?

[Elexia]

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.

You clearly never played it. It's not reminiscing, it's the fact FFXI now isn't like how FFXI used to be which is what made it great. Capping a job from 1-99 in a day including getting some of the best gear in the game the 2nd day does not make a great MMORPG.

[Rumpelstiltzkin]

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.

Completely disagree, not saying Abyssea or w/e made it bad (I enjoyed Abyssea in some ways), but the whole concept of getting a completely new set every time a new expansion comes along sucks imo, which I really hope FXIV stays away from as much as possible.

For me the best things about XI was a steady 75 cap that didn't make gear obsolete but gave you sidegrades, coupled with the "switch gear in combat" mechanic (Blinking didn't bother me, but I admit it could have been done better).

Also HNMs/NMs and the environments <3. I really liked how the game was made when it came to mechanics because I loved that some HNMs/NMs that shouldn't really be soloable... WERE soloable if you were good enough and had the right gearsets. This added another dimension to the game imo. I think this is linked to the whole 75 cap/sidegrades as well.

[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.