FF11 while waiting?

maddbomber83 · July 2010

Is FF11 updated enough to play while waiting for this to come out?

Khrymson · July 2010

What do you mean by updated enough!?

Its worth playing even for a month to see how SE does everything different MMO wise as oppossed to the other majority developers. It will also give you a heads up on what to expect control wise, which I find as a KB only player quite well, or you can use a controller, but if you expect WASD+Mouse to be just as intuitive <as that other game> and is a gamebreaking feature, then you prolyl won't enjoy it.

However if you get in there and take the time to learn it and understand that not every MMO developer wishes to be the same as all the others and learn a new control scheme; you'll find its very well done and works based on the slower and more intelligent style of gameplay.

Expect FFXIV to be extremely similar...

sudo · July 2010

I was wondering the same thing, tbh.

I'm extremley hyped about the game and the only FF game I've ever played is FF VIII. After not getting into the beta, I was considering buying (couldn't find any trials) the FF XI to get to know the game mechanics and story (not sure if they are gonna be connected or not) better, since, from what I understand, games are gonna be somehow alike.

On the other hand, doing more research about the game, it seems like the only people still playing are hardcore fans and the game client is horrbile to play with on pc without any kind of console controller.

Would love some input from FFXI players

Khrymson · July 2010

I am still a FFXI player, and regardless if a lot of players are maxed and end-game focused...{it was like that since it released in the US}...you can still greatly enjoy the game. There is story missions you can immediately partake in, and a multitude of quests to do also and get a feel for how they're done. This isn't like other MMOs where its just a block of text in a window to read, a majority of them play out as short-to-very long cut-scenes where the NPCs acknowledge you and your character actively takes a part in and is directly addressed.

There are so many really good ones too, namely the Star-Onion Brigade which is hilariously well done. This is just the first 2 quests of the chain, but you'll see how CSs work:

You sshould still try the KB only controls and see how it plays. Its really not as bad as so many ill-informed or unwilling to try something different are saying. They just expect this silly industry standard BS and won't give anything a chance without it.

sudo · July 2010

Thanks, Khrymson, guess I'll give it a try, just trying to find a way of buying the edition with all the expantion packs somehow atm, since the all in one edition can be bought digitally (via steam or anything else) only from Canada or US.

I've only got a couple of questions before fishing it up in one of the local stores (which seems to be quite a PITA so far as well) first.

Do I need to buy that edition with all the packs considering I'll only be playing the game very casually up ultil the release of FFXIV?

Watching some HD videos on youtube I'm still not sure the game can be played at high resolutions, does it support anything near 1920x1200?

I've heard it has some perfomance issues on fast machines with 64 bit OS, is that confirmed / true?

Thanks in advance!

shadeark · July 2010

Hey Khrymson, what server do you play on? I just purchased the complete game set today (FF XI) and am looking for people to chat with in game and possibly get into a linkshell.

I hope to be able to meet up with a decent group of people seeings I hear this is a very group orientated game.

I know that with FF XIV on the horizon many people will be jumping over to that game, but I have yet to play this one and hope to get as much out of it as possible before, and even after the launch of FF XIV.

Khrymson · July 2010

@Sudo

yeah the 2009 Vana'diel collection is the all-in-one to get, and while about 90% of the content you won't see in a month, not even a year or longer really, you'll still get a feel for how SE designs their MMOs and what to expect come XIV. Do keep in mind though that it is very different, and will take some time to learn at first, and even after several months you'll still be learning new things.

This isn't like where you can jump in and know exactly what to do and max out a character in a few weeks. It also requires a ton of reading and re-reading to understand what is going on from time to time, but if you visit our LS forums, I have links to every official and fan FFXI website that will help you along.

As far as 1920*1200, not officially supported, but if you visit our forums, under the FFXI guides at the top, there is a tutorial on how to registry edit FFXI and force that resolution and other features to make it even better than it looks standard wise. I also play XI just fine on Win 7 64bit with no issues...only one case I know of is on these boards with his laptop issues which is bizarre

@shadeark

Our LS is on Fenrir, visit our forums and read the Info page for complete details about us, and should you wish to join us, how to..., is there as well.

However I shall warn you that since the announcement of XIV's launch I and many others from our LS have decided that July is quite possibly our final month in XI. There are still about a dozen or so playing at different times to talk with and help you with questions, but don't expect LS groups very often at this point. We're in the mindset of FFXIV right now and getting ready to start anew and pick up there!

Don't let this stop you from getting in and giving it a try though...much of your beginning adventures will be solo anyway, and upon 10-12+ you may get invited to a party in the dunes or if you're in Bastok and lucky, get a summoner burn invite and earn 12-14lvls in a few min. As I said above in another post, if you're looking forward to playing FFXIV, then a 1 month journey in vana'diel will be quite the experience and heads up on what to expect in Hydaelyn.

shadeark · July 2010

thank you very much for the quick reply!

I still intend on giving XI a fair chance, before the launch of XIV.

I too plan on moving onto XIV once its released, but depending on how well things go in vana'diel will determine if I continue playing both mmos or switching soley to XIV.

sudo · July 2010

Thanks again for the help, Khrymson.

I'm quite sold on buying the game, have only got one problem at the moment. Sadly, due to my location, Square Enix won't let me to purchase the full pack via any kind of direct download services. There is no full pack edition in any local game stores as well. I do have an option to buy a standart edition today after work.

Was wondering if you think it's gonna be good enough for a month or two before the game is out or will I miss on some important issues, like, say, not having some ui game options or not being able to use some starter items?

Khrymson · July 2010

The only thing expansions bar you from are their specific areas and storylines, you can still lvl to 80, and use all the gear that is gotten from those areas. Heck with level sync you could essentially stay between lvl 10-20 which are primarily the dunes and buburimbo pinninsula with lvl 13-17 gear and lvl to 80...though u may have a little trouble getting past the limit breaks at 50-55-60-65-70-75.

Still though if you're an average player just wanting to see how FFXI works for a month, you can get that experience between lvl 1-50 on quite a few jobs.

Pallytime · July 2010

I started playing XI again while waiting for XIV to come out, and I'm just kind of "meh". I never hit the level cap, highest job was 52 as a scholar. Seems like an easy 80% of the player base, at least on my server, are at the level cap doing level cap things for most of the day. Which leaves me to sit in jeuno with my inv flag up, typing /sea all inv every night and then to see what's going on. That being said, I got into a party as a bard last night and it went great. The FoV really help the pace but add a bard ontop of that we were flying. @ level 28 level sync we were averaging 14k xp a hour. Sadly though, I think the population is too far gone for me to continue to play it all the way until launch. I just don't have any appeal in the long wait times for parties that the game has to offer me currently.

That being said, I want to at least get Bard to 50, it's a fun class.

sudo · July 2010

Thanks for answering, everybody.

I only want to get to know the gameplay a little closer and understand what's so epic and magically charming about FFXI everybody are talking about before buying the FFXIV.

Sadly, I could only find it in one single store in my country and it will take them a couple of days to deliver it. I'll let others, wondering if it's worth trying only to get to know the series better, know what is my opinion on the topic when I'm finally playing.

I must say, so far, the videos on youtube aren't very promising, but then again, one of my best mmo experiences was UO and it looks even worse on youtbe unless you are the one playing it and having all that fun

Xzen · July 2010

Originally posted by sudo
Thanks for answering, everybody.

I only want to get to know the gameplay a little closer and understand what's so epic and magically charming about FFXI everybody are talking about before buying the FFXIV.

Sadly, I could only find it in one single store in my country and it will take them a couple of days to deliver it. I'll let others, wondering if it's worth trying only to get to know the series better, know what is my opinion on the topic when I'm finally playing.

I must say, so far, the videos on youtube aren't very promising, but then again, one of my best mmo experiences was UO and it looks even worse on youtbe unless you are the one playing it and having all that fun

My first MMO was UO. FFXI was pretty good. You'll really understand what the best thing about the game is when you first beat a dragon or better yet the shadow lord. I've never experienced more of a since of acomplishment from an mmo as I have when I got that cut scene or most of the other major ones for that matter.

sudo · July 2010

@Xzen

Not really sure I'll have enough time to level my character enough to be able to kill an average fantasy dragon

I'm more interested in getting familiar with Final Fantasy way of storytelling, which, I hear, is quite unique (and I absolutely LOVE good told story in my games); crafting, which seems to be quite complex and unique, and that either boring and repetitive (as some say) or promising to be both challenging and rewarding and not just a random skill / spell clickfest most mmos are down to nowdays (as do others).

It's hard to say at this point, since I've tried almost all the p2p mmos on the market out there, but I guess playing my miner / blacksmith / fisherman in UO was my best experience ever.

By the way, how is the RP aspect of FFXI and how well do you think will FFXIV be built for roleplayers? From the ammount of emotes themselves it seems like they do care about the players being able to express themselves through their characters fully. The race backgrounds seem nice as well, I wonder how much lore there is under those.

Xzen · July 2010

Originally posted by sudo
@Xzen

Not really sure I'll have enough time to level my character enough to be able to kill an average fantasy dragon

I'm more interested in getting familiar with Final Fantasy way of storytelling, which, I hear, is quite unique (and I absolutely LOVE good told story in my games); crafting, which seems to be quite complex and unique, and that either boring and repetitive (as some say) or promising to be both challenging and rewarding and not just a random skill / spell clickfest most mmos are down to nowdays (as do others).

It's hard to say at this point, since I've tried almost all the p2p mmos on the market out there, but I guess playing my miner / blacksmith / fisherman in UO was my best experience ever.

By the way, how is the RP aspect of FFXI and how well do you think will FFXIV be built for roleplayers? From the ammount of emotes themselves it seems like they do care about the players being able to express themselves through their characters fully. The race backgrounds seem nice as well, I wonder how much lore there is under those.

To be honest there wasn't a whole lot of "roll playing" however the community does seem to be a bit more mature. For example I don't think I ever once saw a chuck norris joke being shouted in a zone while playing this game. So even if people arn't "roll playing" they don't really break your immersion either. I tried RPing a Drow (Dark Elf) that worshiped Promathia (An Evil God in FFXI) for a long time in FFXI but very few ever picked up on it. Also the "Dragons" I'm talking about are pretty early on in the game. If you make some friends in FFXI you should be able to get to the point you have to kill one pretty quick.

sudo · July 2010

That's great news

To other european gamers trying to find a digital download version of the game:

I realised there is one, after all, after trying to go through some account management and get more information about the game. I am downloading the Ultimate Collection right now. The only reason it's not on the steam is the Steam edition costs 15$ for US and Canadian users only and this one costs 19.9 EU for european users.

The shop is at: http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/intro/shop.html

So guess I won't miss on anything after all, just gonna hope that my local store will cancel the order now

sudo · July 2010

Update:

I've been playing the game today for around 3-4 hours with my Galka fighter. Rolled on Fenrir just like Khrymson adviced and I've got to say it's quite a blast so far. It looks much better than I expected after playing with registry and forcing the background at 2500x2000 resolution and playing with some in-game options, everything is quite playable.

Even the controls are allright. Actually, not having to use the mouse is quite refreshing, if you don't mind consolish camera following ur back.

I've seen some unique features like locked chests dropping from monsters where you have to guess a two digit lock combination out of five tries, being able to use some of them on tips, absolutely random town exploration cutscenes, some of which lead to quests and some don't, being there for immersion or information, random npcs you can gamble with and much more.

Can't really comment much on the combat system since I only have one weapon skill so far, but the fights look very fun and atmospheric. I managed to die a lot more than you usually would expect to as a newbie character in any other game

I know it's hard enough to fully judge the game but I finnaly feel like I'm having fun again and it's damn worth something with so much crap on the mmo market lately. Overall, it seems to be a great time filler till FFXIV is out and I would recommend it to anybody wanting to find out more about the "soul of the game" for the next two months.

Doomedfox · July 2010

While ff11 sure is an awesome game did SE destroy it for me over the last couple years.

Now ff11 is a way more started friendly as it was at the begin and lvling in general is way easier as well. Sadly cause of the changes a ton of players just cant play the game anymore lol

I took a break for 1 year and as i came bk lvl sync was there didn't think much bad about it at the begin but had soon to realize that its no fun having to explain a simple Manaburn to a 60+ blm or being looked at strange if u enter a pt and ask for Skillchain setups or for me as thf a Sata setup....

I wasn't really surprised because of all that that a pt pulling 10k exp per hr suddenly was top....

Also having tons of lvl 75s with skills under 200 is just sad.

Most of the gamers i knew from the old days stooped playing for the same reasons yet i do believe that if u didn't play it before its gonna be more fun for u than it would have been in the old days.

So if u r bored right now go for it its still the best mmo out there (in my opinion)

One last thing about the expansions while u don't need them for the higher lvl stuff(art least not if u only plan to play till 14) does it depending on which expansions u r missing limit your Jobs since u will not be able to enter certain areas to finish your Job quests

Derivative · July 2010

I just purchased the game about a week ago from Steam, mainly for the intent to see how the controls could possibly be in FFXIV and also to see if i could deal with the whole 'no jumping/swimming' thing.

I enjoyed the game from 1-13 or so, it was paced well and i even leveled a couple jobs to 10 just to see the other classes and still enjoyed myself.

Now for the bad parts, once you get around 13, wich was originally when you would start grouping from what i understand, the rate at wich your able to kill regular mobs drops drastically, becoming mind numbing even with the field quests every few hours, i was playing a Warrior, and i kept my weapon/armor up to date. It wasn't the killing/resting that was bringing me down, it was strictly the slow killing, with the regen buff, i really never needed to rest.

Also, on the server i played on, there was almost never a group going on in Dunes the whole time i played, and when there was a group, they wouldn't take me because i did not have a subjob.

I don't consider my money wasted though, i found out that the no jumping/swimming thing will not bother me at all, and that was originally the intent of the purchase.

shadeark · July 2010

Hey Sudo, are you still currently playing the game? If so send me a reply or PM with your character name and maybe we could meet up and group. Currently I am patching at the moment, and had intended on starting on ashura but if I can meet up with someone I would gladly start on another server.

Dragim · July 2010

I've been playing FF11 since hearing of the FFXIV release.

I currently am a 26 black mage/10 red mage on fenrir server, a taru taru named Dragim.

You will see people, and find groups, and people are really helpful, I have received help from many people. Of course the population is still a bit low, and it is hard to figure out what to do exactly, but as I said, people are helpful and there is a final fantasy 11 WIKI website which has all the information you would ever need....well, almost all the information.

shadeark · July 2010

Well it seems most people at least in this thread are all on fenrir, so I will make that my new home for FFXI. At this point in time I still have about 3 hours to go in the patching process, so I will not be able to log in tonight. I will be able to after work tomorrow sometime around 2 pm Eastern time. I'll send you a tell in game if you don't mind and maybe at some point we could get a group going once I catch up.

shadeark · July 2010

ok so I was able to play a little bit last night. so far I think the game is amazing granted im only lvl 3 lol. currently im a lvl 3 hume warrior in bastok, still not quite sure what class I ultimatly want to be so I will spend some time leveling all the basic 6 jobs you get. if anyone wants to hit me up in game my name is Nethien on the Fenrir server.

maddbomber83 · July 2010

We tried playing it. Oddly the controls were what I was concerned with but not what caused us to stop playing. It was the lack of additional information about quests.

It took... maybe an hour to get the graphics set up (reading the forums and restarting the game a bunch). Then about two hours of awkward running around until we got the hang of the controls (we use keyboard + mouse). I have to say that not using the mouse had a certain liberty about it. In the end we may pick up a controler afterall (leaning back in our chairs while playing has a certain appeal).

Then came time to explore (while learning how to walk). That was enjoyable and something we have not done in this type of game for a long time. I think the last time I explored was in EQ2 at release (odd that EQ2 at release is now a long time). I forget the town we were in but it was by the water and the culture was centered around a tree/star.

Then we decided to quest and that is where we hit the wall. We did not see a quest tracker on our screen. There were no visual indicators for what the NPC did or if they had a quest. We found the quest section in the options (missions and something else). The first quest we got did not put a tracker item in that list. We completed it and couldn't figure out what the next quest wanted us to do. We decided to explore a bit and come back, but when we came back the NPC did not repeat our instructions and there was still no entry in our journal.

We started FF11 to test out the controls and found that would not limit us (and we may actually perfer it to having our arms stretched out to the mouse/keyboard all the time). We never inteded to get very far so we decided to stop playing (and did not put much effort into figuring out the questing system). I've pre-ordered 2 copies of the CE and am looking forward to the release of XIV.

I'm glad to see some of you are enjoying FF11. That deal on steam is nice.

~ Madd

shadeark · July 2010

I kinda like not knowing which npc's give quests, makes you actually have to be a part of the the game and converse with the townsfolk if you want a quest or mission. Like I stated before I'll be on prolly everyday after either work or classes so hit me up IGN : Nethien on Fenrir and see if we can knock out some quests or missions. As well I cannot wait for FF XIV

svann · July 2010

Originally posted by shadeark
I kinda like not knowing which npc's give quests, makes you actually have to be a part of the the game and converse with the townsfolk if you want a quest or mission. Like I stated before I'll be on prolly everyday after either work or classes so hit me up IGN : Nethien on Fenrir and see if we can knock out some quests or missions. As well I cannot wait for FF XIV

Having to talk to every npc to find a quest only works if they take the effort to make talking to npcs interesting even when they dont have quest. Going through 300 brain dead npcs to find the one that has something to ask of you is no longer an acceptable game design, imo. Alternately they could have some npcs that give you a hint that someone else needs help. Either way it requires some design effort beyond just choosing an npc and flagging him to give quest.

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