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Final Fantasy Online
siftified
Member Posts: 258
I was just wondering whether Final Fantasy Online is anything like the single player final fantasy series. I mean this in terms of combat/storyline/skills etc.
I am a big fan of the single player Final Fantasy series and was wondering whether I should purchase the online game (since I'm bored of almost every other MMO right now 
) Unfortunatley it doesn't offer a free trial, so I was hoping for a little friendly community feedback! 
Comments
Aw crap Jeff went afk. We gotta wait til he gets back to attack.
With all the new updates that have come out, Final Fantasy XI is not just another MMO. Theres chocobo raising and racing and the fighting is not totally turn based. I stopped playing cuz it was a little too slow paced and time consuming for me. If i were you I would try it at least for a month, many ppl that do enjoy the final fantasy titles liked this game ( then again many didn't).
If you are gonna try this game out, don't go in thinking that it is the same as like WoW or other MMOs like it. Most of the game is not solo-friendly and will require a good party and a good amount of time. Whether or not this is a good thing is for you to decide.
Which FF Character Are You?
You will find 2 type of people when you ask about a FF online question.
1st type will tell you "FFXI is absolutely horrible and nothing like FF series and it is a disappointment", These people, i could tell you are very individualistic people (which catergorize by most North-americans) (check cross-cultural psychology for references). Of course, 8 out of 10 of these people will tell you final fantasy XI is nothing like the console series. They will even say, there are no story to it and it is quite boring. The reason is simply because FFXI game play beyond 10 require group leveling until 70, there is no single playing beside being a beastmaster. These people probably quit the game by level 20-30 and never even touch the "orginal storyline that follow" even if they could get to 50, often these story require massive group that are on the same pace so it is hard for players to get together and do them.
2nd type will tell you "FFXI is a good game, but it lacks endgame" There isn't alot to do after reaching cap level, and most END game playing require a party. So not many could even get endgame usually because they either play an unwanted class or can't get into big guild.
FFXI is basically a very very good game, gameplay is similar to FFXII, same gameplaying style instead of gambit system, you just have real players and you are base on more class specific. If you really like FFXII and hate FFXI, the only conclusion is you are too individualistic and can't get a group.
none
all this is done in the name of stopping gil sellers ok but it is also making it hard for people that play honestly.
i my self will never return to the game it will simply gather dust now.
Good luck in whatever you chose
Upon starting the game, you're given no idea how to use the auction house, craft, or anything. There's no tutorials for it and for the longest time, there was no real "guiding light" from Square/Enix whatsoever. I spent my first couple days not knowing what "Signet" was, not knowing how to sort my inventory and that if items dropped while it was full, I would lose them, and not knowing that NPC vendors rip you off horribly. Finally, after about 5 days, I met a Galka who turned out to be my best friend on the game from the time I was level 7 to the time I reached approximately level 50, and he made me feel like a total idiot by telling me all these things that I didn't know, but that have a HUGE impact on your success in the game.
The level grind in the game is honestly the worst in any MMO I've played, and there have been several I've played since. Though there have been measures to alleviate some of the problem since I started, it is still slow, painful, and very very monotonous. I was fortunate in the fact that I chose to play a tank class (warrior then paladin), because I had several friends in DPS classes, and watching them seek parties was painful for me, so I can only imagine their frustration, being as soloing is nigh impossible after the mid-teen levels, save for beastmaster. I can recall several times a dark knight friend of mine went for upwards of a week on end without getting a single party invite. Also, prior to recent patches, at level cap, you would stand to lose upwards of 4,000 experience upon dying. Considering that with a decent party that manages experience chains constantly you will only gain about 200-300 experience a kill and the fights are a bit long for that low an amount, this was a very big issue, however the death penalty has been lowered significantly now and there are rings that can enhance your experience gained per fight for a set amount of time or experience bonus, whichever you attain first.
If you manage to make it to level 50, a new set of trials arise. You will be forced to start doing quests to raise your character's level cap every 5 levels AND start doing quests for your "AF" which is class specific "artifact armor". Granted you are not forced by the game to do the artifact quests, it is pretty much a community expectation that you have it (which is another gripe I will point out later). The level cap quests (usually called "genkais") are, with the exception of one, quests that necessitate high level help. This can be a huge problem, considering the majority of high level players either keep their /shout channel turned off or will totally ignore these sorts of requests. The same is true for AF, being as you must farm for rare drops off mid to high level monsters then peruse the dungeon they spawn in for "treasure coffers" in order to get at least a portion of your AF set. Personally, it took me about a month to manage to get enough help to obtain my whole AF set.
My next gripe is that with every expansion, Square/Enix decides to mess with the people who are at level cap by FORCING them to do level capped quests and events to gain access to new content. Chains of Promathia is a prime offender in my opinion, as you have to do a series of level 30 cap missions, then level 40 cap missions, then level 50 cap missions, then level 60 cap missions to gain access to Limbus (also called Sea), which is an uncapped area that drops Rare/Exclusive gear for level 75 (which is the current final level cap). My gripe with this is simple: If I have done the work to reach level 75, I don't want to be prevented from reaping the benefits of my efforts to do so. On top of this fact, being forced to spend my hard earned gil to go buy a full set of gear for whatever level the cap of the event in question is, spend huge amounts of gil on potions and food on top of that, and all for content that is predominantly used for high level characters is completely ludicrous. Granted I can understand wanting to allow the lower levels access to Lufaise Meadows, why continue to cap the events at below 75 after that? The content after access to the new area is designed for players at the cap, let them play with the levels they've worked for. This has gradually just begun to feel like a massive time sink that is near infuriating. If you want to put events in that are challenging like this, don't implement level caps, just design it so that you can choose the level cap you want and so that the fights are tiered to the level selected.
Also, the game has a community that tends to expect each person of a given job at a given level to have this piece of gear or that piece of gear. Thieves are expected to have Leaping Boots and Empress Hairpin at level 7 and level 24, respectively. Paladins are expected to have Gluttony Sword (which is a worthless piece at that level, in my opinion, but I won't get into that). If you don't have the gear your party thinks you should, they'll bug you about it, I've even had people tell me they've been kicked from parties because "they didn't have the right gear". This is a very frustrating fact and comes to a head when you reach level 50-60 and start getting AF quests, which I mentioned earlier.
Crating on the game is a major trial of patience. Skill ups come randomly and, at higher levels at a .1 rate. Crafts cap at 100 and you will frequently fail your synthesis and lose the crystal used to start the synthesis as well as materials. It infuriates me that even after reaching near level 100 (97) I can still fail at making things that cap at level 1. It also becomes a huge issue when making high level items for other players that use expensive materials. One unlucky synthesis attempt and you could lose upwards of 1,000,000 gil for the person you're crafting for.
As if that wasn't enough negativity, the RMT problems FFXI has are second only to the huge rush of goldsellers that have flooded WoW since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. My paladin was running endgame before I finally left, and at every HNM (read: rare spawn monster that only appears once every earth day and drops really valuable items as well as Rare/Exclusive gear that is nearly unrivaled in power) there are typically at least 2 RMT Linkshells (read: Guild/Clan) there to camp the monster that are almost always accused of being botters (and they honestly most likely are). 9 times out of 10, the monster in question will be claimed prior to even appearing on your screen by one group or another, so the hours of time spent camping it are a waste. Square/Enix has put measures into place to stop gilsellers at least 3 times that I know of, and every time they do, the economy crashes horrendously for months on end (which it is currently recovering from at present due to another RMT countermeasure).
But that's not to say that everything about the game is bad. If you have the time and patience that FFXI requires, it can be a very fun and challenging MMO. Due to the difficulty of levelling and the amount of patience and dedication endgame requires, you will find that there are nowhere near as many "noobs" and truly unskilled players doing endgame. The game is very engrossing and the storyline for the actual story missions is rather interesting. All in all, the game is, as I've said, a trial of patience and dedication. If you don't mind putting in a lot of effort for your payoffs, the game is definitely worth a look. If you're working or don't have a lot of time to invest, I do seriously suggest you look elsewhere. Just running a Dynamis event (the equivalent of an instance) can take upwards of 5 hours, and HNM camping is even worse than that. All in all, the 4 years I spent playing FFXI were mostly enjoyable, but I have finally just gotten burnt out on the game and the way Square/Enix keeps forcing me to run level capped events to gain access to new areas and the fact that they keep banning gilsellers and screwing the economy up, thus making the gear I spent millions on worth no more than a few hundred thousand gil a piece.
In any case, I hope my input helps anyone looking to try the game. It is honestly a fun and entertaining game, provided you are patient and have the time to invest in it, but if you're just getting into MMOs or don't have a lot of time and are easily frustrated, I'd keep looking.
Great feedback guys! I really appreciate it!
I was sort of looking for a "filler" game to keep me interested for a year or two until Darkfall
A. Finally comes out
or
B. Finally admits it's never actually coming out
I guess that from what I've heard this game isn't the right choice for that
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Out of any MMO it has the MOST (well... maybe Second to EQ2) playable jobs at 18 different jobs to play. If you get bored of one job, you can go to your moghouse and change to a new one, and you still keep your job levels at what they were. (IE: You start as a warrior, and level that up to level 10... then you switch to a Monk, Your warrior will still be level 10).
Jobs are the Following
-------------------------------
Warrior
Monk
Thief
Red Mage
Black Mage
White Mage
Blue Mage
Bard
Summoner
Dark Knight
Paladin
Beastmaster
Ranger
Samurai
Ninja
Dragoon
Corsair
Puppermaster
And lack of endgame? This game has one of the most extensive end-game i have seen. Hell, the whole Treasures of Aht Uragahn and Rise of the Zilart Expansion are endgame.
Not to mention it is like any other Final Fantasy, just somehow people cant see it. There is a HUGE in-game story released with each expansion.. (there are 4 stories archs now, soon to be a 5th with the new expansion). Full cut-scenes in the game and everything. And the stories do have a final fantasy feel to them, imo.
The game isnt for everyone though, it is slow paced at times and it is heavily team based. Also it is one of the more original MMORPGs ive played! above all my favorite.
Btw: First post, woo woo.
Aw crap Jeff went afk. We gotta wait til he gets back to attack.
My favorite MMO of all time had turn based combat, and to be honest I'd love to see something like that again. The game was The Realm, its still around but nothing near what it was 6-10 years ago.
I like the idea of the job system in FFXI, sounds like a useful thing for mmos.
Except for all FF classes and abilities. yeah, unfortunatly it just missed the, its actually so small, its not even worth mentioning, but it actually misses the gameplay of final fantasy Yeah, everyone would play a turn based MMO.
Aw crap Jeff went afk. We gotta wait til he gets back to attack.How about you play Fairyland Online and learn how turn based MMORPG's work, alright?
Most notice about 5 pm to 10 pm in the evening , the game is a ghost town, most everyone is leveling or in Whitegame. Jueno use to be busting with people. Bask , Sandy and Windy are very empty.. On some servers , Asura pops to mind , you cant find gear from 1 to 20 on the AH. You have to use store bought armor til you get to Jueno , and prices are out of whack for some gear items.
FF Online about a year ago had one of the best communities you could find, now post 30 , forget asking anyone a questions or trying to get help. I ve met and grouped wiht over 200 parties on Bahumut , 99% of them are elitist bastards who wont do anything but save thier own skin.
Chocobo raising is a complete joke , a decent stat chocobo cost almost 12 million to raise , you are taking 20k to 40k a pop for good food. Vendor food , and Vendor eggs have less than 2% to be other than yellow. You can grow food , but like the crafting systeming you need to watch the moon , the day you feed the plant , the day you plant , the pot you use and check it on every 24 hours.
Havent done chocobo racing , but I got to say the lamest thing about FF Online is the mission/storylines , they are worst written story and most boring quests ever. Some moron must have just threw in a time sink for fun.
Average wait on most servers is 6 hours dunes (unless your a whm or blm) , and quifm island is around 7 hours. You can go 6 or 7 days without seeing a whm looking for group on Bahumut , Shiva and Asura. Carby server , I went 12 days without seeing someone with thier flag up in the dunes. 5 pm to 10 pm time slot US central time.
If you decide to play research the servers, because I ve only found maybe 2 worth playing on.