Question about the style of FFXI

bouncingsoul

Ok, just to let yall know I bought this game...oh about 2 years ago and played it with some friends and got to around level 10 but eventually quit because my comp barely ran it above 10FPS and I only had a keyboard for means of control (now have a 360 gamepad), which both became very annoying. Well I guess the new VanaDiel 07 box interested me but I have some questions. In comparison to WoW, is this game similar in that you rush to the cap in order to achieve some totally new style of gameplay? (raiding, to be specific). Or does this game have worthwhile advancement in the pre-cap levels that makes you feel like you're advancing and putting time to good use? I only remember grinding in groups when I first got the game, so I don't have a clue how the core of the game really plays out. I understand it's party-focused, but I just wanna know if I could play for a long while and not hit some ceiling where the game becomes a total timesink involving chasing virtual e-peen enhancers 

Thanks, I hope this post made sense

Jovenn

Hi, I had jobs upto lvl 75, and I can say that thier is ALOT of stuff to do at ALL lvls.  There are raids and stuff that will cap your lvl down to the lvl of the raid.  FFXI is one of the most complete games I have ever played online.  The game is kinda slow lvl 1-20, but 20+ is alot of fun.  I will be starting on Fenrir server as soon as someone sends me a worldpass and will be doing alot of stuff with the team hopefully.  It is majorly team oriented and is VERY hard to do stuff solo, its IMPOSSIBLE to do some of the quests solo.  But if you like a team party and stuff, then you will love this game.

bouncingsoul

thanks, I'm pretty sure I'll pass this time again. Doesn't seem like a more casual oriented player like me will enjoy it, oh well!

Necian

If you're looking for a MMO that you can play casually but doesn't have the same endgame play as WoW, you might give EQ2 a try when Echoes of Feydwer comes out this month. It's very centered on casual gameplay, and you'll have a ton of people to party with since the new expansion gives a new starting city with areas for every level in the game. You do, however, need to have a very nice computer in order to ge tthe game to run on some of the higher settings. If you've still got the comp that could barely run FFXI, I suppose that wouldn't work. Just a suggestion though.

Telaki

Eq2 is a good game as Necian said, But You need A LOT more Ram in EQ2 than you need in FFXI. FFXI can run on 256, and Nice on 512, Min Requirement on EQ2 is 512. But I wouldn't recommend it because you'll have 3-5 minute loading screens between area's. 1GB Ram at least is recommended, The rest of your settings you can lowered down pretty far. But when EQ2 first came out there wasn't a PC (Unless you built a custom with an $6,000 fund) that could run Eq2 at full graphics. Even minum takes a pretty decent machine.

Necian

I can agree with Telaki on that. A friend of mine was playing EQ2 with a computer with 512 mb of ram... and it was always a constant sitting around and waiting for him to zone. Thankfully he bought a new computer with a gig of ram and suddenly the game ran smooth as heck. So yeah, you do need higher RAM, but it's a great game for casual players. Though after playing it for 13 months, I'm quitting and going back to FFXI, so that must say something about FFXI being good too. ^_^

bouncingsoul

I once played EQ2 and while it was fun, It felt so much like WoW (which I was oh so tired of). Maybe I'll give it another go for Echoes of Faydwer. And my PC is nothing short of amazing  so that isn't an issue. Thank you all for the great friendly replies!