Celebrating the North American FINAL FANTASY XI 8th Year Anniversary!

[Septimus]

Celebrating the North American FINAL FANTASY XI 8th Year Anniversary!

October 28, 2011 marks the 8th year anniversary of the North American FINAL FANTASY XI launch! Without a doubt, it is because of our players that we have been around for so long and would like to say a heartfelt thank you for all of your support throughout the years.

The Community Team gathered all of the packages and other trinkets we could find around the office and organized them for your viewing pleasure!

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...831911&thumb=1
(From left to right: Hvinire, Camate, Rukkirii, Bayohne)

Curious where we took the picture? We have several meeting rooms named after FINAL FANTASY- content. The room we were in is named after FINAL FANTASY XI’s Mog House! ^^

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...832127&thumb=1

Vana’diel sure has changed a lot since the launch eight years ago, so take a minute and share your memories with us. We would love to hear from you! Here are a few quotes from the Community Team to start us off!

I remember way back, ages ago, before monsters despawned when you were knocked out or changed areas, trying to do the white mage AF quest for a friend. Someone trained every single Yagudo from the top floor of Castle Oztroja as they fled for their lives to the entrance. I had to hide in a corner and wait about 15 minutes or more until they all walked back to their proper places. Monsters despawning when you were knocked out or changed areas was the greatest invention ever. (lol)

I've never been more impressed with a change in Vana'diel then when they added Level Sync. When I wanted to level my ninja, I had only a handful of places and people I could find to join me. With the Level Sync system it opened up a world of fast and fun leveling parties, not to mentioned it made finding replacements that much easier.

I also can't forget when they added the areas that came with the Chains of Promathia expansion, some of those maps are still my favorite to explore.

I’ll never forget the early morning wake up calls I’d get from my linkshell when an HNM would pop that we had to take down. I remember a call at 4am (on a work day!) for a Cerberus pop where I somehow got out of bed, ran from Whitegate to his spawn location while avoiding aggro and helped take it down. When the fight was over I passed back out right away. The next day, I woke up and couldn’t remember if I had actually done the fight or if it was just a dream that I had. Good times, good times!

One of the many favorite memories that I have of FFXI is when my server held a level one race from San d’Oria to Jeuno. It was so much fun and such an adrenaline rush trying to get through various areas and avoid agro monsters. (/cough Goobue /cough)
Let’s just say that I won, okay? *^_^*

I could have posted it in the Dev tracker, but I think something this epic deserves its own thread.

Reminisce, bitches!

[Septimus]

Tomorrow is my 8th anniversary, the store where I pre-ordered my FFXI was supposed to have it for NA launch but they got it in a day late. A lot of friends have come and gone, I still get a little sad when I hear the Grauberg music because I think of all of the people that don't play anymore, and it reminds me of being a noob RDM in a subligar. I found a home in the OrderoftheBlueGartr- so many people that I miss; Ed, Sendoh, Slone, Sonomaa, Alleya, Tonko, Daahan, Amarok, Michaera, Ryphen, Ragns, Niro, and more people that if I sat down and really thought about it would probably make me really cry. And the people in it now; Blazer, Curtis, Kuno, Barada, Gorion, Popeh, and even Lordmorbid- I consider all of you friends and wouldn't trade any of you for the world (even Lordpoopyface), I will be back as soon as I can get this damn hard drive fixed.

I made myself sad.

[Not Kuno]

I hope you can play again soon Septy. Shit's boring without ya.

Are we on nastolgia trip today? I think I started playing almost 8 years ago, in about 2 weeks or so. BG people I miss the most? Enitsu, Alleya, Slone are probably the top three, but I <3 everyone.

[Rocl]

I was 13 when I started playing FFXI.

[shepardG]

Lol, I remember having one great party as like a 73 rdm, and I was meleeing like a boss.....

[Byrthnoth]

My favorite "wat" memory of FFXI was in Crawler's Nest around level 42. I was on Red Mage in a pretty crappy party fighting (for some reason) Witch Hazels, and doing all the healing despite there being another Red Mage in the party (the leader). At first I didn't realize her job because she wasn't casting spells, but eventually I checked the party list and saw it. When I asked what she had been doing, she informed me that she was skilling up staff. In an xp party. On Red Mage. Red. Mage. Anyway, I left and lawled all the way home. I met her again several years later and she was less noobish.

Favorite early memory was having a level 32 party with friends in GC where we were the only group in zone (camped at the entrance). We had a bunch of level 32 DDs that actually ate mithkabobs and I was on RDM, and we were blowing apart bats and the occasional beetle for better xp/hr than any of us had ever seen before. All of a sudden, this THF shows up randomly and demands we invite him. We tell him to take a hike and he does . . . deeper into GC. Five minutes later he PD/Flees back through with every bat/beetle he could gather and zoned them all behind us. No despawn patch at that point and he got some wingrats, so everything agroed/raped us in seconds. No Reraise (scrolls were still expensive, items didn't exist), and no quick way to get back to camp (half of us had HPs in weird places), so it ended our party. We'd all gotten 2 levels in an hour or two though, which we thought was pretty fab.

Related: I remember seeing my first xp chain in Eastern Altepa Desert at 32 on my first job (BLM).

[Auspice]

Christ, I've been playing this game longer than I've known my wife. I started on PC launch day those 8 years ago. Cheers, everyone!

[zeal5050]

Rule 34 on Rukkirii. She looks like she knows her way around a chocobo wand.

[thetruepandagod]

Rule 34 on Rukkirii. She looks like she knows her way around a chocobo wand.

its not hard to find pictures of her considering she has her full name on the ff forums. Also she used to be liinx on sylph so a decent amount of people on here know her.

[thetruepandagod]

ehhh she's a friend so don't want to post em on here, if people want em bad enough it won't take you more than a min or two on the ff site.

Also to stay on topic, i think one of my favorite moments was when i joined my first endgame shell and they told me if i didnt stun waterga on genbu we would all wipe and it was all my fault, and i missed the stun and everyone stopped curing and just started running around dying and blamed it all on me and i had no fucking clue what was going on.

[Fiendishone]

Also she used to be liinx on sylph so a decent amount of people on here know her.

I thought that looked like her!

[Burningthought]

I was 14 when I started playing. Oh man I can remember getting that big ass box, and stuffing the harddrive into my PS2, and starting the incredibly long patching process. I had a few friends at the time who also played, and I spent about an hour starting a character and deleting it until I world hopped on Seraph. Elvaan Male Warrior.

Those friends eventually quit shortly after, being young and playing games instead of doing homework, they'd eventually get grounded and lose privileges, so I eventually moved to Fenrir where I played with my childhood friend. I've been there ever since.

My favorite moments: JP Valkurm Dunes parties, unlocking my first advanced job (ninja), Completing all three of the promies and finally getting access to lufaise meadows/tav, being on board one of the firsts ships to Aht Urghan (stayed up all night for that shit)

More recently: A few months ago I finally finished cop up to the point where I could get sea access, finished up all the zone bosses, grabbed all the essential atmas, and farmed like fucking 9000 kannagis (on permanent hiatus after the 8th completed kannagi, fuck emp farming its boring.)

What I miss: Boxed expansions, epic xp/merit parties, active endgame shells, nyzul parties, active players in general

Final Fantasy XI was a pretty big deal for me growing up, I live out in the boonies and it was pretty much the only way I got a lot of social interaction, being broke and out in the middle of nowhere kills your social life. I still have friends that I made in XI, and I talk to them pretty much every day. I just hope going forward, that FFXIV will be able to take the torch and make the next 8 years hopefully better or just as good as the last 8 years.

Fun Fact: The Playstation 2 version of Final Fantasy XI is one of the first games to have a patch on a console.

Edit: When I first started playing on PS2, I didn't have a keyboard, for the first 2 months I played, I could only type using the software keyboard. It fucking sucked, I finally got a PS/2 to USB adapter and used an OLD OLD OLD gateway keyboard. The shitty thing about that keyboard is that it would randomly repeat a key every now and then until I unplugged it, and plugged it back into my PS2. Eventually I got a job and bought a cheap $20 keyboard from walmart that actually fucking worked. Those were the days.

[Hyan]

I was 13 when I started playing FFXI.

hell yeah. with barely understandable english skillz

I had a bad-ass jp lvl70 warrior with FULL AF and A GREAT SWORD helping me in my early days. Although that ended quite abruptly one day when he gave me this 'Soul of a Bushido' speech that I didn't understand at all at the time. It was deep tho. I realized later that he meant he thought I only used him to help me with whatever. He never talked to me after that

I guess it must've been hard for him to confront me directly like that. Shame etc.

[grevenilvec75]

I was 13 when I started playing FFXI.

My how things haven't changed.

[Rocl]

I was only 16 for 3 years, ok.

[zeal5050]

ehhh she's a friend so don't want to post em on here.

Good thing I'm not friends with her then.






Stout Indeed.

[Byrthnoth]

Rule 34: Camate x Bayohne. Go!

[zeal5050]

Rule 34: Camate x Bayohne. Go!

Careful what you wish for...

[Hirronimus]

8 years...

[Dimmauk]

Wow eight years, fucking crazy. I've had two kids in that time period. I always remember how huge this game felt when I first experience partied as a scythe wielding warrior /monk.