Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Can you solo this game?
Khaluah
Member Posts: 7
I'm thinkin about starting to play FF11... but hesitating because I mostly solo when I play MMORPG. I hear that this game is group-forcing, and that's the main reason I've never gave it a try. The question is, is it possible for you to solo this game and have fun?
I might have a little different taste for MMORPG. I never liked WoW, due to poor crafting system (whatever you make, whoever makes it, everything has the same quality, and generally, looted items are better than player-crafted ones) and lack of feeling that you are "living in the world". I enjoyed SWG and EQ2's crafting feature very much. I mainly did crafting, selling the crafted items from my store, decorating my room and enjoyed the feeling of being a resident of the game world. I like adventureing too, but I do "Crafting 60%, Adventuring 40%".
I don't expect to be able to play all the features of the game solo, but I would like to know if I "can do it and enjoy it".
Comments
I love FFXI but honestly , if you wanna solo you really shouldent play FFXI. Beast Master is a solo class, but you still have to levle a sub job to 30-37. The parties in this game own thought, im not a big grouping fan, but I am in this game.
Thank you for the info
. Yeah, just as I thought... I have a friend who once was hooked on this game, and she told me that she could only be playing it cause she had no life back then... lol See, I only have a couple of hours a day to log in to the game, and even when I'm playing, I have to go AFK very often for my real life reasons, so I really can't participate in groups most of the time 
. ... I guess I'll stick to EQ2 for a while... but I'm really getting fed up with the way how SOE treats their customer base now, and hoping to find a good game with nice crafting feature... Oh well, I think I'll just keep looking... Does anybody have any suggestion?
Thanks again for the info, Ziabatsu
You can solo the first 10 levels. After that, you'll need to find parties to continue your journey. However, I like being in a party cause it's quite enjoyable
Thanks, ziabatsu. Yes, the first thing I tried was WoW, but as I mentioned in the first post, I really didn't get hooked and unsubscribed it in about a month lol. I thought it was a very well-organized, player-friendly game, but as you mentioned, the crafting was not challenging enough for me. And I just couldn't imagine myself still playing that game after I hit lvl 60. I'm not really interested in raid or PvP, so I was just hoping not to reach 60 so fast lol. The server instability was another thing that made me leave so soon. I often got kicked out of the server while fighting, tried to come back but sometimes couldn't even log back in cause the server was full... now that wasn't fun
(and of course, you are dead when you come back lol ) Uh well, it seems like it's really hard to find a game with good crafting features 
. I've been looking for months now, but still no luck*sigh*. Well, but thank you again for the info 
.
Hi there..
If you're looking for a MMORPG that allows a great degree of soloing, FFXI is not for you. It's a great game. In fact, despite the issues I've had with it in the past (and I do have them) - of all the MMORPGs I've played (about 17 in all), I think it's the best of them. The reasons are myriad and I won't bore you with them all, but here's a highlight list:
- The deepest and most thoroughly realized game world in any MMORPG I've ever played
- The most thought-out and well-implemented party battle system of any MMORPG I've played. In most, fighting is reduced to brute force hack-n-slash, even when other options for strategy are available (e.g. EQ2). It's the quasi real-time system similar to some of the other FF games, and is delay based; the lower the delay on your weapon, etc.. the more often you hit.
- The only MMORPG I've played where many quests and pretty much all Missions have in-game cut-scenes, sometimes taking place in the present.. sometimes playing out events that have happened in the past, etc.
- The only MMORPG I've played where you feel like what you're character is doing *matters*. This is handled in several ways, but it's a great thing.
- The storyline.. or should I say storylines.. don't come as steadily as they do in the console FF games, but it is there, and it's got all the depth and intrigue you'd expect from a Square-Enix title.
- The most tightly knit community of any MMORPG I've played. This is a product of its being so party-centric.
I could go on. But that's a pretty good sampling, I think.
Now, I'd like to put some thoughts out to counter some of what you'll often hear/read from others about FFXI.
One of the biggest complaints: "It's too focused on partying. There's not enough solo content."
I used to think the same way, but it's recently dawned on me that this mentality is sorta like complaining that a motorcycle only has 2 wheels.
The Final Fantasy games have always been centered around doing things as a party. It only makes sense that a multiplayer version would have the same setup, only real people control the party members and not a single person. To complain because you can't solo in a game traditionally based on partying is, to me, missing the point - like complaining about a motorcycle having "only" two wheels. And of course, there's the fundamental, "It's a multiplayer game, the idea is to interact with other players".
That said, people have found ways of soloing. It's not as swift as being in a (good) group, but if you're that dedicated, there are ways to do it.
I'd like to also touch on the "progress" versus "time invested" area. That's entirely dependent on what pace you want to progress and what your goals are. If you have the goal to reach level 75 within a certain number of months and the time you have to play doesn't make that possible.. well, there ya go.. probably not the game for you. But, if you approach it from the perspective of, "well, I only have this many hours to play a week. It's gonna take me longer than most to get to 75, but as long as I'm enjoying myself along the way, I'll be fine."... basically removing any self-imposed time-frames and being willing to "get there when you get there", you could well enjoy the game as much as anyone else.
Not being able to find parties at times can be discouraging and problematic.. but it goes with the territory. There really is no one "right" answer to that. Each person deals with it in their own way. Some don't deal with it at all.
In any case, which ever game you choose, best of luck to ya and I hope you enjoy it!
Good luck...
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops