What did you like more in Final Fantasy XI Online oder Final Fantasy XIV (vanilla)?

[Tonkra]

Simply as the titles says for those who have played Final Fantasy XI online oder the version of FFXIV before the reboot.

What did you liked more in these two games?


For me it's one of these things:

1. Summoner pets in Final Fantasy XI online

What i liked more about FFXI that the summoner job had real summons (like in the offline titles). Practically that what we received with Demi-Bahamut or Phoenix in FFXIV now.. but not as oversized huge as in FFXIV.

Summons in FFXI had a huge set of skills in the endgame. Such as supportive spells (Shiva for example had an ice spike shield buff for party members, Ramuh enthunder Weapon spells, Carbuncle had Shining Ruby (Group Heal) and a Shell/Protect Spell




in FFXIV ARR:


2. Elemental Weakness Wheel in Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV vanilla

What practically is typical for every Final Fantasy game (except for FFXIV ARR and after) is, that each monster type has weaknesses against specific elements which ads an extra layer to the combat strategy (just like in Pokemon and many JRPG)
Nowdays we only have to go through our "skill routine" and evading ground markers in combat - that being about it.


3. Third Person Player perspective (instead of top-down view)

Since you are able to zoom out endlessly you tend to play Final Fantasy XIV more like a strategy game (top-down view) or like WoW, than from a more immersive third person rpg view like you were used to in the offline Final Fantasys.
Which in my opinion leads to much less immerson and roleplay feeling - you get dragged out of the world:




how people play nowdays in FFXIV:


(ok, sorry the last one is a wrong picture...)


4. Better weather effects:

Final Fantasy XIV vanilla (1.0.)




FFXIV ARR - non-voluminous static artificial stars wallpaper:

In my opinion in FFXIV vanilla, and even in FFXI the weather and environment feels much more organic and realistic than the flat star sky-wallpapers in FFXIV nowdays after ARR. It's much more "artificial" i guess.

4. Overworld monsters are NO trash mobs



In the Final Fantasy series every monster on the world matters and can be a potential threat to the player.
Like the very known enemy Morbol / Malboro or a cacutar). In FFXIV ARR these are just pure trash monsters and dont matter. it doesnt even make fun when you beat one.

4. Lack of debuff / utillity spells / abillities

I am missing utillity / debuff and support spells in FFXIV. For example my Red mage doesnt have the abillity to cast blind, paralyze, slow or refresh (MP). Just because every group setup needs to work in the world of "party roulette"


Well in the end what i overall dislike seems to be the "WoW"-fication and having less FF feeling in the end.


What do you liked more in FFXI or vanilla FFXIV?

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I liked that the leveling system was so terrible in XI it kept me from sinking more than 2 weeks into the game.

The game actively tried to keep you from playing.


Also, you picked screenshot with weather for 1.0, and a single one with clear skies for current. That's a bit biased lol. The weather in this game is phenomenal.

[Tonkra]

I liked that the leveling system was so terrible in XI it kept me from sinking more than 2 weeks into the game.

You arent a FF player that is used to play ATB based are you? But nice "whataboutism" btw. seems like ;D
With Trust NPC nowdays it actually is no problem i guess. It plays more like a turn based FF game rather than a WoW copy. But yes, it is very old.. about 18 years now at the early days / first steps of MMORPGs.

So you wonder it doesnt have the most modern leveling system? its a retro MMORPG practically.

Also, you picked screenshot with weather for 1.0, and a single one with clear skies for current. That's a bit biased lol. The weather in this game is phenomenal.

Actually i talked about the sky box. the stars wallpaper at night is a good example how extremely terrible, unrealistic, artificial und unbelievable the weather system is in FFXIV ARR.
The thing is, whereass FFXIV vanilla was more believable and realistic. The static stars wallpaper at night looks like an unrealistic painting in FFXIV ARR which is pretty awful. Same for the clouds.

The sound combination in vanilla was also much more far superior to ARR, which is a extreme downgrade - you could always hear the slight sound of wind etc.:
Thanalan Region FFXIV 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPLQceU-RBo
(and watch even the ground textures btw.)
Thunder on the sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nSWar1YSxU
Sandstrom Thanalan 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STToZ4InTZc

ARR - which looks more like a painting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBVffQo1iA

1.0. (look at the ground textures / stones btw.)

ARR


Didnt find a picture of Uldah ARR with clouds .. but that really wouldnt make it any better.
FFXIV 1.0. also had about 2 layers of clouds which ARR doesnt have at all.

[Vahlnir]

With Trust NPC nowdays it actually is no problem i guess. It plays more like a turn based FF game rather than a WoW copy. But yes, it is very old.. about 18 years now. So you wonder?




Actually i talked about the sky box. the stars wallpaper at night is a good example how extremely terrible, unrealistic, artificial und unbelievable the weather system is in FFXIV ARR.
The thing is, whereass FFXIV vanilla was more believable and realistic. The static stars wallpaper at night looks like an unrealistic painting in FFXIV ARR which is pretty awful. Same for the clouds.

The sound combination in vanilla was also much more far superior to ARR, which is a extreme downgrade:
Thanalan Region FFXIV 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPLQceU-RBo
(and watch even the ground textures btw.)
Thunder on the sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nSWar1YSxU
Sandstrom Thanalan 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STToZ4InTZc

ARR - which looks more like a painting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBVffQo1iA

The night sky is probably the sky box's best quality currently. It's a bit jarring watching weather changes happen though, night or day. The background fades in the lowest quality way possible, then the weather sets in and the sky itself isn't too lively. It's just...there, with PS2 textured clouds. Rain and thunder effects aren't bad so long as you don't look up. lol

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You arent a FF player that is used to play ATB based are you? But nice "whataboutism" btw. seems like ;D
With Trust NPC nowdays it actually is no problem i guess. It plays more like a turn based FF game rather than a WoW copy. But yes, it is very old.. about 18 years now at the early days / first steps of MMORPGs.

So you wonder it doesnt have the most modern leveling system? its a retro MMORPG practically.




Actually i talked about the sky box. the stars wallpaper at night is a good example how extremely terrible, unrealistic, artificial und unbelievable the weather system is in FFXIV ARR.
The thing is, whereass FFXIV vanilla was more believable and realistic. The static stars wallpaper at night looks like an unrealistic painting in FFXIV ARR which is pretty awful. Same for the clouds.

The sound combination in vanilla was also much more far superior to ARR, which is a extreme downgrade - you could always hear the slight sound of wind etc.:
Thanalan Region FFXIV 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPLQceU-RBo
(and watch even the ground textures btw.)
Thunder on the sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nSWar1YSxU
Sandstrom Thanalan 1.0.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STToZ4InTZc

ARR - which looks more like a painting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBVffQo1iA

1.0. (look at the ground textures / stones btw.)

ARR


Didnt find a picture of Uldah ARR with clouds .. but that really wouldnt make it any better.
FFXIV 1.0. also had about 2 layers of clouds which ARR doesnt have at all.

Actually, yes, I was used to the atb. Had been playing older rpgs for years by the time I started XI, which was around wings I believe. My first final fantasy game was tactics.

Doesn't change the fact that xis leveling was terrible.

I was talking about XI then, not XI now. This is something like 10 years ago maybe?

[Quintessa]

I liked that the leveling system was so terrible in XI it kept me from sinking more than 2 weeks into the game.

The game actively tried to keep you from playing.

As someone who's played that for 15 years, that is entirely false.

Edit: Actually. I'll let you have that one, but there IS some truth to it. If you were any of the melee jobs, except NIN.. yeah you could be waiting days to even months(MNK) before giving an invite to a group.

75 ERA wasn't all roses, but the horizontal progression added value to our accomplishments. 99 era FFXI though, things are much faster and you can actually 'play', well solo.. with trusts. Unfortunately a lot of changes that would have been really nice to have during its peak only came after everyone got 'old' and moved on to other games. I don't know how many ex-FFXI(especially 75 era) players like me are in FFXIV, but I think the numbers are few. Also consider that FFXI came out before MMOs really took off and it was huge at the time. WoW released in 2004 and a chunk of people left for that and never came back.

[Vyrerus]

As someone who's played that for 15 years, that is entirely false.

Edit: Actually. I'll let you have that one, but there IS some truth to it. If you were any of the melee jobs, except NIN.. yeah you could be waiting days to even months(MNK) before giving an invite to a group.

75 ERA wasn't all roses, but the horizontal progression added value to our accomplishments. 99 era FFXI though, things are much faster and you can actually 'play', well solo.. with trusts. Unfortunately a lot of changes that would have been really nice to have during its peak only came after everyone got 'old' and moved on to other games. I don't know how many ex-FFXI(especially 75 era) players like me are in FFXIV, but I think the numbers are few. Also consider that FFXI came out before MMOs really took off and it was huge at the time. WoW released in 2004 and a chunk of people left for that and never came back.

75 era circa spring 2004 player here (my only MMO in play until 2013, subbed until 2019).

It wasn't really that the game tried to stop you from playing it, it was that it was a group effort sort of game, so if you didn't take that into account you were gonna have a bad time.

The worst it got was early on the race vs. job vs. stats stuff. Tarutaru War/mnk trying to tank in Qufim Island? Ain't nobody want you. Just a year or two later though, and nobody cared.

I always got around long waits by just ponying up my confidence, and I made my own parties a lot of the time. Often even on jobs that would get invite tells while already in party.

Player base perceptions and reading into them was a huge part of everything. I remember after I finished COP, getting invites was as simple as putting, "Rajas Ring: O" in my seacom. Unless I was on THF in the 50+ levels.

The game definitely wasn't designed to be convenient, but it was mainly player perceptions holding everyone back.

[Keramory]

The worst it got was early on the race vs. job vs. stats stuff. Tarutaru War/mnk trying to tank in Qufim Island? Ain't nobody want you. Just a year or two later though, and nobody cared.

Definitely everyone has their own experiences, but I was lucky enough to never really run into this around that time. Either by me playing Elvaan with multiple roles (like blm) or watching Galika mages and Taru tanks. The big kicker was finding parties on some jobs period, which I think off set the race/job issue. When theres only a taru pld or galika whm/rdm looking, you're going to grab him lol. To be fair, I remember everyone always talking about it like it was an issue... it just never actually was one.

God just help you if you were a Drg. I do remember very clearly waiting days for parties.

[Sotaris]

I liked that the leveling system was so terrible in XI it kept me from sinking more than 2 weeks into the game.

The game actively tried to keep you from playing.

I'm probably biased cause I played FF11 for idk 10+ years before quitting. But the leveling experience wasn't that bad (just slow back in the day), the game was based on partying up but if you played aggressive and died alot, that's kinda on you.

I remember it took me months to get my first Lv75 job due to the game making you do quests to unlock higher level etc. I had more of a community feeling in 11 than I ever have had in 14 given the 8 years I played it.

Now would I start 11 today, I would probably not feel the same but the teenage me loved the game for a decade for a reason.
Now I feel REALLY old looking back at it.

The elemental wheel is kind of boring as a mechanic.

Combine with Weapon Skills and Skill Chains and it was a neat mechanic as someone who mained BLM for a long time and could Magic Burst with Burst/Thunder IV. I miss that type of dynamic gameplay.


Now if we'd get a true remake with new game-engine made for PC (and/or today's consoles) with updated graphics and new content, I'd re-sub in a heartbeat. I go back to 11 every now and then but paying full price for 2 games kinda makes me salty. At least go the WoW route and include (or discount) 11 in a MMO sub.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I'm probably biased cause I played FF11 for idk 10+ years before quitting. But the leveling experience wasn't that bad (just slow back in the day), the game was based on partying up but if you played aggressive and died alot, that's kinda on you.

I remember it took me months to get my first Lv75 job due to the game making you do quests to unlock higher level etc. I had more of a community feeling in 11 than I ever have had in 14 given the 8 years I played it.

Now would I start 11 today, I would probably not feel the same but the teenage me loved the game for a decade for a reason.
Now I feel REALLY old looking back at it.




Combine with Weapon Skills and Skill Chains and it was a neat mechanic as someone who mained BLM for a long time and could Magic Burst with Burst/Thunder IV. I miss that type of dynamic gameplay.


Now if we'd get a true remake with new game-engine made for PC (and/or today's consoles) with updated graphics and new content, I'd re-sub in a heartbeat. I go back to 11 every now and then but paying full price for 2 games kinda makes me salty. At least go the WoW route and include (or discount) 11 in a MMO sub.

I spent 2 weeks in the dunes attempting to party up with people. Trying to make my own and joining others parties. I think I had two that lasted more than an hour. Maybe gained a level and a half.

I never unlocked sub jobs, or got out of the dunes. Not really a great early leveling experience and it completely soured my experience and I never looked back.