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To the old FFXI players
Hello there. I used to play FFXI a long time ago on release, and have struggled to find my place among the MMOs of today. Sure, I played Wow, Aion, Guild Wars, ESO, Star Wars, and everything between, but nothing compares to the feelings and experiences FFXI gave me. My first trip on the boat to Selbina, when pirates attacked and a friend told me to hide inside. Parties in the dunes where kind folks explained how a party functioned, and how to do skill chains. My first trek to Jeuno - a taru led me and took down one of those giant trees in Jugner Forest - I was wide eyed, excited, and scared! Oh and my first time on a chocobo - I was straight up giddy.
I really liked the sense of such a massive world. Back before we just warped everywhere it was actually hard getting around, and I loved it! Running through it, seeing the sights, hearing the awesome music, it all felt like a real adventure. That and you really had to rely on others which led to some pretty cool friendships. And death meant something too. With great risk came great reward and a true sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Now a days, I feel like mmos just want me to pay for stuff, regardless of subscription model. Everyone wants me to log in for some daily log on bonus for free stuff that I don't want handed to me. I don't get a sense of awe exploring. The music is not memorable. I mean I wish I could see the weather turn from sunny to rainy in an area.
Gone are the days I suppose. But anyways I'm curious what FFXi folks have moved on to playing these days. I'm sure there are others like me who miss that magic touch from so long ago. I've heard some mention archeage, which looks pretty neat. I think Star Citizen could be pretty awesome too.
Comments
I doubt there will ever be another MMO like FFXI, but I pray that I am wrong. XI was my first as well... first time loggin in I ran into Jaggedy Eared Jack who prompty pwned me since I had no idea what a NM was lol. Oh the great friends, the good times, the memories.. but most of all the adventure. When XPing was fun, coordinated, required thinking... and oh that BLM BOOM on a skillchain.
I have been through em all, played WoW and everything else but always came back to XI for some fun.. even though this was already Abyssea era so all the fun was somewhat out of it. After my guild leader and guild left, there wasn't much to do since we were so close I felt I couldn't play anymore or else I would still be.
Looking at Archeage, Wildstar, whatever comes out I try. Maybe one day, I will find a long term home.
You want an MMORPG with depth, challenge, great risk and reward? You actually want a game with substance and meaning that makes you feel accomplished and fulfilled as if you have been on a great wondrous journey and overcome the odds to stand victorious and bask in the sunlight?
I played FFxi for 4 years, I loved it.
One of the best things I think FFXi did though is the true cross platform intl servers with an awesome auto translate system to communicate in diff languages. PC, PS2. Xbox all in the same servers from all over the world to this day I still have friends in places like Wales and Brazil I met in ffxi and have even visited them.
The forced group combat, the limit breaks and extreme difficulty in leveling without dying made that game very community based. If you had friends that were good at their jobs you had a great time, if it was a pug and everything just clicked it was amazing.... though the opposite is true as well.
Still my fav mmo to date and the only one I truly miss.
It's gone and i dont think its coming back. Mmo's have evolved to something with more instant gratification. People dont want to invest as much time as they used to in mmo's. Also most developers are out for the $. Rather than try to cater to a specific crowd, or push the limits, or try any new formula's, they would rather go with what works. FFXI did not care what players thought. They said this is our game. Like it, or dont. Sure they made changes to the game, but that was only after tons of research, and listening to tons of feedback from thousand of fans. Todays mmo's feel like they do so many nerfs and buffs that they are just listening to everyone.
I will try archeage, and will get a pass to try wildstar for the 7 days. After that, im not so sure.
I moved on to playing pretty much everything out there for the last 4 years since saying my goodbye to FFXI.
What i miss:
FFXI is still my favorite MMO. I feel the same way as you guys. Such strong nostalgia from the music, and the exciting memories of exploring the dangerous terrains. Group-based combat that actually required strategy and planning. Chain XP, and those nail-biting moments every time the damn Gobs were about to drop a bomb (or explode).
I know I can never go back. Times were different back then. Too many responsibilities now, I can't dedicate as much time to games as I used to.
I miss FFXI. Hopefully a developer out there comes up with a similar design!
FF11 still my favorite mmorpg as well and i agree and have been on the same boat as the OP.
Only game that has even come close is The Secret World.
Give this game a try OP, its honestly only mmorpg i have enjoyed after FF11, that or dungeon fighter online which closed a long time ago.
I am also tired of today's modern "evolved" mmorpg style as well. Shame they don't bother to make really good ( RPG's ) anymore and almost all just turn out to be cash grabs/instant gratification/etc fest.
I'm all for nostalgia. I'm a very nostalgic person myself. I've gone back and played the classic FF games probably over a dozen times each over the years. But I do think it's possible to get so wrapped up in nostalgic fondness for the old that you actually hinder your enjoyment of the new - enjoyment you totally could be having.
I have very fond memories of FFXI as well, as it, too, was my first MMO way back in 2003. I played it up through CoP and a little bit into the next expansion (the one with puppetmasters, corsairs and blue mages), but I eventually made the transition to WoW midway through vanilla. I then played and loved the heck out of that game (much more than FFXI, actually) for 5 years through the wotlk expansion. I currently play Guild Wars 2, which I've played since release. It's definitely been my only true love since I stopped playing WoW several years ago. The beautiful open world, the sheer variety of gameplay experiences in it, the nature of events instead of quests, the world's lore, and the way the world evolves over time with every content update every month are all such huge pros for me personally. GW2 does these things better, in my opinion, than any MMO I've played in the past. (I could issue a similar list of things I felt WoW did infinitely better than FFXI after I made that transition - I was almost instantly more immersed in WoW's world and more interested in WoW's combat than I had ever been with either of those features in FFXI, for example.)
I've played many other MMOs in between everything - from AoC to Rift to Aion to Dragon's Nest to FFXIV to Wildstar coming up - and even though I never stuck with any of them for very long, I absolutely enjoyed most of my experiences in those games as well. I try to keep an open perspective about all the games I've played. They've each brought something unique to the table that I never got to experience in any of the previous MMOs, and I'm always grateful for those experiences. I'll be getting Wildstar when that comes out, which I'll play with a few friends. Even if I end up playing it for no more than a month or two, I can't see it being anything other than a success in my books. I've already played it a bunch in the betas, and I've had a ton of fun running the dungeons - which gives me a fix for something I feel is incredibly lacking in GW2 (group combat).
Anyway, I can rattle off long lists of fantastic and awful things about every MMO I've ever played, including the big 3 I've devoted the vast majority of my MMO time to. Every game has it's flaws. Even the classic game you nostalgically reminisce about. Especially that game. You never can get back what you experienced a decade ago, but you shouldn't let that stop you from enjoying your new experiences.
If FFXIV was honestly made in the spirit of FFXI with many of the updates of course like mentoring...etc I would be happy as a clown.
I also played and enjoyed WoW for years. But it never deminished my itch to experience a game similar to FFXI again. The hardships made all the achievments much more rewarding.
Pulling the party's ass out of the fire was always more enjoyable than pressing 1231212. Bad pull? kite a mob till you are rescued. Save your CD's hoping to save the whm when benediction is immenent. Camp leaping lizzy for days to get those awesome boots and be the envy of most players. Build up a reputation that actually means something because the game actually takes a lot of time and skill.
I'm pretty much playing older solo games till something really good comes out. Waiting for SC and KCD on Linux.
Wow, glad to see i'm not the only one! And have to agree with everyone about the nostalgia too. I have just about every soundtrack from it and it doesn't help things.
I guess all the mmo's I've played aren't necessarily bad - they just don't do for me what FFXI did back in the day. If only there were a way to make it reality again.
Ahhh video game problems = first world problems.
Still my favorite MMORPG to this day. I have stepped foot back into FFXI several times due to groups saying they want that old school experience and are recruiting to do things the old school way. Due to my longing for the game I come back and I wind up disappointed because it always turns into book burning parties to ad nauseum and abbyssea. I agree with others here that the landscape has changed and many of the things that I found appealing about FFXi have become a thing of the past. Instead I am forced to constantly try out the newest MMORPG's trying to find a game that will give me that lost feeling of community and accomplishment that I got in FFXI. Now instead of grouping to exp and questing for rewards, it has done a 180 and become about questing for exp and grouping only for rewards at the end of a dungeon.
I will say that the level sync is a wonderful system they added that would have been very welcome in the games vibrant years. I also like what they have done with some of the classes mechanics and how they have made the game a little more solo friendly without giving in and making the game all about solo play like just about every other MMO out there. No OP, you are not alone and even to this day I go back from time to time and scratch that itch.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.