Question for 360 players

[Havent]

So, I'm thinking to switch to 360 and I wanted some feedback on how the controls are like. I haven't bought the system yet and I was looking around at their accessories. Do 360 users not use full keyboards? I noticed they have a little messenger keypad, is that what you use instead? Are the graphics better than an above average PC? If I do need a full keyboard, can I use any USB keyboard and are their any USB slots on the 360? Any info would be great, thanks.

[pugnax179]

I play on 360, can use any USB Keyboard with the 360 w/o issue
i have heard of friends using the messenger keypad but didnt like it much at all

the graphics are better than an average pc

[JetEnduro]

The messenger keypad is a pain in the ass to use in FFXI. Use a full sized keyboard.
3 USB ports: 2 in front 1 back. Any usb keyboard works.
The Controls are similar to PS2.
Left Analog to move and pressing it /heals, Right Analog for camera and pressing goes to 1st Person view, D-Pad to target stuff/browse menu/inventory. Triggers are macro palettes L-Ctrl R-Alt. Shoulder buttons Left one Autoruns, Right one is for pictures i think.
A is confirm, B cancel, X opens up menu, Y opens up the chatlog to be expanded and to remove buffs if pressed twice.

[Kaslo]

Logitech Wireless Keyboards work so may want to get one of those, the only thing that sucks is that lag will make the xbox load and respond incredibly slow

[Judai]

controls are solid, i use full keyboard. Just be ready to get a shitty system that will burn out and break w/i 2 years, avg life expectancy of a 360!

[LinktheDeme]

I play on 360, can use any USB Keyboard with the 360 w/o issue
i have heard of friends using the messenger keypad but didnt like it much at all

the graphics are better than an average pc

That's false unless you never figured out how to change your graphics. Even without forcing them to be 2056 x 2056 (or whatever it is). This is assuming your standard for the average PC isn't the standard for the average PC in 2000

[Lyramion]

I was forced to switch to 360 when my Ps2 died:


A) 360 is LOUD - hella loud. Having to keep DVD in while playing doesnt make it better.

B) Sight range on 360 is fancy. You can see very far.

C) 360 is SLOW on animations. I think it´s a victim of the sight range. But when my camera can view a lot of things, my attack animations slows down and feels like jelly. When you move the camera back over your head to see the floor, your animations will speed up again and have the same speed as PS2 had.

D) 360 likes to freeze in Besieged and Campaign and sometimes Dynamis. There must be some kinda bug on the 360 that makes your game freeze when there is a lot of people around doing stuff. Very annoying losing out on your ISP in Besieged and your EXP/AN in campaign. You can prevent this by turning all effects off in your config while doing Besieged or Campaign but still very annoying.

E) 360 framerate goes down dramatically in crowded places. Aery and the like is a 2 frame per second picture show. My PS2 was handling it way better than the 360 seems to be. In Dynamis your game often lags behind. You can see people do weaponskills while the monster already died 2 seconds ago.

F) The rechargeable Controller thingy will be done for after 4-5 months and will have to be reloaded every 1-2 hours.

I don´t like the 360 version much but I like having FFXI on a console and using my PC for other stuff.

[Katalya]

I have been playing on 360 since ToAU release and I personally prefer it over PC ONLY because I get to laydown in my recliner while playing on my 50' Samsung LCD. The controls are awesome, I use a wireless full sized keyboard. But... The graphics aren't close to what my computer is. Movements are kinda choppy whereas the computer is much more smoother and fluent.

[Cloudius]

I have been playing on 360 since ToAU release and I personally prefer it over PC ONLY because I get to laydown in my recliner while playing on my 50' Samsung LCD. The controls are awesome, I use a wireless full sized keyboard. But... The graphics aren't close to what my computer is. Movements are kinda choppy whereas the computer is much more smoother and fluent.

Can plug el PC to el 50" and play for great win! No excuse!

Imo, like every1 else said, X360 lags a lot for no reason, and in laggy places it's slow in responding. Also when I get bored of FFXI or waiting on pop/event, I just leave it on (for chatting, or quick access when I wanna play again) and start playing on my 360, (or any other console for that matter),
but if I'm using el 360 for FF then I'd have to logout to do anything else. Not worth it.

[Judai]

D) 360 likes to freeze in Besieged and Campaign and sometimes Dynamis. There must be some kinda bug on the 360 that makes your game freeze when there is a lot of people around doing stuff. Very annoying losing out on your ISP in Besieged and your EXP/AN in campaign. You can prevent this by turning all effects off in your config while doing Besieged or Campaign but still very annoying.

This is probably due to your 360 overheating due to so much going on. 360 overheats very easy.

[Mikayla]

controls are solid, i use full keyboard. Just be ready to get a shitty system that will burn out and break w/i 2 years, avg life expectancy of a 360!

This.

Mine's bricked 3 times now, and I don't have money to afford to replace it this time. Gonna buy a PS3 when I have the money because I just can't invest $200 in something that breaks so frequently.

[Fng]

360 is shit. While the guess on failure rate is 40% I have *YET* to meet anyone that has had theirs for more than a year.. Piece of crap. 100% is the failure rate if you ask me.. and they STILL have not fixed the issue.... I went through 3 in a year and said F that and switched to an 80 gig backwards compatible version. (Comes w/ 4 USB ports in front for your USB keyboard) I bought the Metal gear bundle.

PS3 while more expensive seems to only fall prey to laser not reading disc issues.. (LOL its like a PS2!) Mine is relatively new so I haven't seen it happen.. life long friend has his die, and Sony sent him a next day air label to send it to mexico to be repaired.. was sent back 3 day air, and was all done in a week. (360's will be gone at least 2 weeks when they die.. When not if)

Gamestop has the PS2 2008 collection in stock at most stores for $20.. EB doesn't know the PS2 version exists...

coupled with not having to pay for online games.. I think PS3 beats out the 360. And I think it has sharper graphics.

[Havent]

Seems there are pros and cons to both, I've tried tweaking my new PC to make it run better but I can't seem to get it to work.

Here are my specs:

Core 2 Duo E8500 @3.16GHz
4g RAM
Vista 64-bit
Dual 8800 SLi
Physics Accelerator

For some reason it's sooo choppy and I can't fix it. Anyone have any suggestions before I switch to 360? I have a PS3 but it's not backwards compatible, sucks to be me. . .

[Judai]

360 is shit. While the guess on failure rate is 40% I have *YET* to meet anyone that has had theirs for more than a year.. Piece of crap. 100% is the failure rate if you ask me.. and they STILL have not fixed the issue.... I went through 3 in a year and said F that and switched to an 80 gig backwards compatible version. (Comes w/ 4 USB ports in front for your USB keyboard) I bought the Metal gear bundle.

PS3 while more expensive seems to only fall prey to laser not reading disc issues.. (LOL its like a PS2!) Mine is relatively new so I haven't seen it happen.. life long friend has his die, and Sony sent him a next day air label to send it to mexico to be repaired.. was sent back 3 day air, and was all done in a week. (360's will be gone at least 2 weeks when they die.. When not if)

Gamestop has the PS2 2008 collection in stock at most stores for $20.. EB doesn't know the PS2 version exists...

coupled with not having to pay for online games.. I think PS3 beats out the 360. And I think it has sharper graphics.

2y4m for me but I rarely played it until FFXI came out on it and even then, that was the only game I played on it really. Finally gave out last week and I sent it in under the special 3yr RROD warning. 360 was actually freezing up on me and wouldn't fully overheat/RROD so I had to help it out some because I wasn't paying 100$ to fix a broken system. Wrapped it in a towel and force RROD'd it. Free fix now!

[arshesney]

FFXI probably killed my first 360: the firsts months it ran great, then started lagging and freezing in crowded areas, then I got random black screens upon zoning... to a point where I couldn't log in game anymore.
I try install game again and the installer kept failing at 4%, bought a fresh copy, no go, format HDD, no go.
After that the xbox started freezing after 30-40 secs upon power on... seems it is not the best for constant playing.

If you really want to switch then any usb keyboard will work: I used both apple and logitech wireless, they worked great.

Another problem I had was with the "guide" (the popup-like window for chat/contacts/etc), that sometimes forzen game, but that might have been addressed with the updates released.

[Katalya]

Can plug el PC to el 50" and play for great win! No excuse!

Imo, like every1 else said, X360 lags a lot for no reason, and in laggy places it's slow in responding. Also when I get bored of FFXI or waiting on pop/event, I just leave it on (for chatting, or quick access when I wanna play again) and start playing on my 360, (or any other console for that matter),
but if I'm using el 360 for FF then I'd have to logout to do anything else. Not worth it.

I have tried everything to make it look good on my TV and it does not. I have an HDMI to DVI connected and the aspect ration I tried every setting and it doesn't look right, the display is bigger than my TV. I can't see the start menue or my widgets. Not only that it looks like there are tiny pixels that are just bright white dots almost like there are little holes in my LCD screen. It doesn't look pretty. If any of you computer gurus out there know how to fix this please let me know

[Valkrish]

I was forced to switch to 360 when my Ps2 died:


A) 360 is LOUD - hella loud. Having to keep DVD in while playing doesnt make it better.

B) Sight range on 360 is fancy. You can see very far.

C) 360 is SLOW on animations. I think it´s a victim of the sight range. But when my camera can view a lot of things, my attack animations slows down and feels like jelly. When you move the camera back over your head to see the floor, your animations will speed up again and have the same speed as PS2 had.

D) 360 likes to freeze in Besieged and Campaign and sometimes Dynamis. There must be some kinda bug on the 360 that makes your game freeze when there is a lot of people around doing stuff. Very annoying losing out on your ISP in Besieged and your EXP/AN in campaign. You can prevent this by turning all effects off in your config while doing Besieged or Campaign but still very annoying.

E) 360 framerate goes down dramatically in crowded places. Aery and the like is a 2 frame per second picture show. My PS2 was handling it way better than the 360 seems to be. In Dynamis your game often lags behind. You can see people do weaponskills while the monster already died 2 seconds ago.

F) The rechargeable Controller thingy will be done for after 4-5 months and will have to be reloaded every 1-2 hours.

I don´t like the 360 version much but I like having FFXI on a console and using my PC for other stuff.

i bought the direct connection fan device, keeps my 360 nice and cool and i don't freeze in campaign anymore =)

[ismarc]

FFXI probably killed my first 360: the firsts months it ran great, then started lagging and freezing in crowded areas, then I got random black screens upon zoning... to a point where I couldn't log in game anymore.
I try install game again and the installer kept failing at 4%, bought a fresh copy, no go, format HDD, no go.
After that the xbox started freezing after 30-40 secs upon power on... seems it is not the best for constant playing.

I had a 360 start doing this (only one I had an issue with) and while it was hardware related, it wasn't the overheat and cook itself one. Some of the earlier dvd drives they used just didn't last very well at all. Second system I got (3 usb ports, standard video cable mashup + HDMI connection) has held up like an absolute champ.

The only time I've had any real lag issues is when 3 people in the house were all in the same dyna zone, no one filtered anything and everyone in the zone but 2 people where crowded by the tree by the sandy chocobo stables.

[Grey Jorildyn]

It's really smooth. I prefer the controls over PC pad. At first it was clunky but it grew on me. Graphics are great on HD, but it does wear down the 360 pretty quick. I've heard of lotsa people getting red-rings on 360 after playing FFXI on it after a few months. It's cool for meriting, small HNM camps, that kinda stuff. It's not a workhorse PC for areas like Whitegate of Campaign/Dynamis.

[Darcatvar]

A lot has been covered here.

Logitech wireless keyboards work great.

There are some lag issues in Besieged, only place I have ever had any issues that non 360 people were not experiencing. This can be fixed by turning names off for besieged. Really it works great.


Use a HMDI connection.

Keep the damn thing breathing! Make sure there is tons of air around it and it is not in a warm/hot room and is not a stagnant room, need air movement.

For those really concerned about affording a replacement just buy the Best Buy/Circuit City replacement plan for about $50. This allows you to walk in and walk out with a new system with little hassle. One of the few cases I endorse those warranties and gives you piece of mind when/if you have problems which ARE more common than they should be.

But yea leather recliner, 50" Sony kicking back with a laptop next to me is a very nice way to play ffxi. Also allows me to split screen dual box with my ps2! FYI the wireless logitech keyboards work with the ps2 also.