An Important Announcement for FINAL FANTASY XIV Fans

[Lucavi]

I hope that Blade and Soul, as well as C9 changes all that though. But certain things are just harder to do when you have to cater to thousands of people at the exact same time.

Blade and Soul. Looking forward to that game.

[Noob]

Been away for a while, but wanted to respond to this. FFXI was fucking garbage. I get nostalgic about it too, that doesn't mean it wasn't terrible. And BTW, I thought it sucked and I didn't run to WoW and stay. I actually had a relic, and played FFXI for a long time. It was shitty and boring, unless you think all of the following things are fun:

1) Remaining stationary anywhere from 2-6 hours waiting for a certain monster to pop, only to have it claimed by someone else.
2) Wandering aimlessly and doing absolutely nothing for anywhere from 1-3 hours waiting for a party invite.
3) Spending weeks (or months) camping the same mob for a rare drop, having it stolen from you or claimed by bots most of the time.
4) Killing the same mob continuously for 4-6 hours (literally) while trying to level up or earn merit points.
5) Losing millions upon millions of gil breaking synths that you are far, far too high level to be breaking.

There was nothing fun about FFXI. It was, however, addicting. But the only good memories from FFXI, and the only thing people get nostalgic about are, as you even said yourself, from the times when you were a noob. The rest of the game was an addictive piece of shit.

FFXI was basically Progress Quest, with a character that you can move around and influence the behavior of. It was nothing but grinding, literally. At the time, though, it was new and unique. If FFXI had come out after WoW, the game would have flopped majorly. Luckily it came out before WoW, and they got people hooked before WoW had a chance to take them. And no, I'm not a WoW fanboy (I only played for about a year before quitting, compared to about 4 years for FFXI), but facts are facts, and anyone who rather cater to 100,000 people than to 12 million should have just been aborted, it's breathtaking how stupid you would have to be to actually want to be a failure. And it seems the development team of 14 didn't even look at WoW when designing this fucking turd of a game they've released in 14.

One time I tried to get a friend of mine to play FFXI. This guy was a huge fan of the FF series, to the point that he once heard my ringtone on my phone and knew exactly which game and which boss fight it came from (and it was obscure too, I think it was FFV but it was a while ago). He started in Windurst, and after getting to like level 7 he was like "I've been killing bees for 4 hours, this isn't much fun ". That sums up the game right there, and even at the time I realized he was right. It isn't fun.

I played FFXI 80~90+ hours a week religiously, every single week, from the day I started (July 19'th, 2004) until the update which raised the level cap beyond 75 around the time Abyssea was introduced. I know I'm in the extreme minority when I say that the only thing about FFXI I truly disliked was the claiming system for world HNMs being broken due to botting. Other than that, I found the game to be my favorite game of all time. I enjoyed the game as much as I was addicted to it. If I could have anything I wanted, it would be to go back in time to July 19'th, 2004, and relive all of the time spent in front of the game all over again. XI is always on my mind. Old content like Sky, Sea, Dynamis, and Limbus never got old for me. I enjoyed playing through those events over and over again, helping newer players get their gear, while enjoying my steady performance increases over time as I became one of the strongest and highest maximizing DD in my HNMLS. I enjoyed taking jobs through the low levels like Valkurm, Qufim, and Yuhtunga/Yhoatar Jungles, and often find myself wishing I could log on and make PTs there. Although I was one of the most hardcore endgame players the game has ever harbored, I enjoyed playing with, teaching, and helping new players all over the server. I never logged on and found myself bored. I always had something to do and something new to achieve. I only had 2 Lv75 jobs and never even touched crafting.

With all of this said, I must say the game was truly what you made it. The things I would find true enjoyment in I found many others to constantly complain about, even admitting the game felt like nothing more than another full time job. Although I was pretty motivated to better gear myself, gear never even once took first place over the level of enjoyment I was getting out of the game. I could never understand why players would put up with playing a game they can't find enjoyment in. FFXI was the one thing I had to look forward to the most at the end of the day (coming home from working a pretty shitty full time job). It's a shame I found them raising the level cap and releasing Abyssea to be so unenjoyable and game changing that I could no longer get that same level of fulfillment from the game. Life hasn't been the same since and I'd do anything to just be able to login to the game and go make a Valkurm PT, or farm Sky and Sea, or even parse a merit PT on birds (even though my merits have been capped for years).

tl;dr FFXI was my cocaine fix at the end of the day for 6 solid years and the game was truly what you made it.

[Noob]

How was XI immersive? The graphics? The only things you were able to interact with were monsters and ? marks on the ground. I remember my first run to valkurm. I got chased by goblins and mauled at the highlands, then restarted at bastok. Got chased again, mauled again, and restarted. I also remember there was no music out there. My third time I almost made it, but was dropped by a drk quad and had to make the run again. The dunes looked nice when I got there, but again, there was no music. The only "immersion" I experienced was the feeling of the place being a very real threat, due to all the corpses of players, the mobs chasing everyone to an invisible spawn line, then killing the next people to walk through, and people constantly flooding the screen with orange text screaming obscenities and hate-speech over frustrations with everyone death-training goblins out of fear.

I suppose someone can construe that as "immersion", but to me, immersion and interactivity go hand-in-hand. What can I do in the world? How can I affect the world? What is going on around me if I do nothing? What does it sound like?

I didn't get much "immersion" from FFXI using that criteria. I got a nice-looking set of screens to look at and fight on, but I didn't exactly get some immersive experience.

I fucking loved it. This is the XI I miss so much. It was an unforgiving game and just playing it from the start felt hardcore as fuck. I never MPK'd others but I loved it when zones would get backed up. It made the game feel truly exciting. You never knew what was going to happen when you logged on. I'd give up both legs to have those days back. Yeah, it took some time getting use to but OMFG did it feel good when I traveled from Windurst to Jeuno, then trecked from Jeuno to San d'Oria at Lv12 on my first job, all by myself, using the Brady Games strategy guide to see which mobs aggro'd and which didn't in each zone. I didn't have a PC beside me for browsing mysterytour or somepage yet so it was quite an accomplishment and took many hours with no maps. That right next to the time I was escorted from Tahrongi through Buburimu, Mhaura, the ferry ride, and through Selbina to Valkurm are the two most nostalgic moments in all of FFXI (even more than finally getting my Adaberk from Niddy). I haven't been able to find anything in real life that gives the feelings moments like those would give you in XI.

Nostalgia'ss a hell of a drug.

As far as the soundtrack for both games go, I find enjoyment in a few of XIV's tracks (Mor Dhona's theme is intercourse to my ears), but XIV doesn't even hold a candlestick to Vanilla XI's soundtrack. I can lay back and listen to tracks from XI's original soundtrack right through the WoTG expansion all day long. I'd even go so far as to say XI's soundtracks rival Ocarina of Time's as the best I've ever heard.

[miokomioko]

After all this discussion about XI/XIV music... where can I find the entire XIV OST?

[pingpong]

grooveshark

[Dakin]

After all this discussion about XI/XIV music... where can I find the entire XIV OST?

This guy has a playlist of all the tracks I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jJ8ykAJs_c

[ZarakiKujata]

the two most nostalgic moments in all of FFXI (even more than finally getting my Adaberk from Niddy). I haven't been able to find anything in real life that gives the feelings moments like those would give you in XI.

Damn dude, I'm gonna agree that theres moments for me in XI that were much more memorable then getting my ebody from Nid, including ones that were more unpleasant like losing lot on dring and watching the rest of BeheDom and later on LSchat during sea farming explode about who deserved the ring. But none of those memories hold a candle to real life stuff, I don't want to come off like the meme guy fucking 90lb bitches while you're off playing dynamis but, do something outside of XI/XIV, nothing compares to the drug that is real life.

[Noob]

Damn dude, I'm gonna agree that theres moments for me in XI that were much more memorable then getting my ebody from Nid, including ones that were more unpleasant like losing lot on dring and watching the rest of BeheDom and later on LSchat during sea farming explode about who deserved the ring. But none of those memories hold a candle to real life stuff, I don't want to come off like the meme guy fucking 90lb bitches while you're off playing dynamis but, do something outside of XI/XIV, nothing compares to the drug that is real life.

Yeah, definitely agree with you on their being great memories like losing lots of EXP. I really apologize if I come off as a fanboy, I'm really not. I've never been a real fan of the series. XI was my first MMO and second played Final Fantasy game.

As far as real life goes, Saturday nights are what I've always called my balance night. It's the one night at the end of the week where my best buddy and me go out and find shit to get into. We usually go to local bars or to the clubs in D.C. FFXI is just a different kind of high for me, one that I spent the majority of my free time playing.

[Machazareel]

No matter how immersive Rift is or is not, it's going to be a pool of diarrhea for plenty of other reasons.

Rift is some of the most generic trash you'll ever see. I played it for about 3 hours and haven't had much desire to log in since.

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

My bro said something about SE sending out a letter apologizing for xiv sucking, so I had to pop on here and see what it was about. Glad to see at least something is changing, but for me it seems too past due. I played the first month since release, and after the october update I was unimpressed and couldn't be bothered to log in. Did a small search just now looking over the patches since and it still seems like anima recharges at the same rate? This was one of my biggest issues since it just takes too damn long to get anywhere, add to that no choco/airship yet. Even with the f2p until the game doesn't blow, with the lack of transportation I won't even bother to log in. Glad to see they did some SP gain/adjustments pre 31, but the thought of logging in and tele'ing to gri do leves then continuing from there all the way to LL doing leves along the way... No thanks. Going to go pick up something else to play. Just finished fallout 3(was great, aside from MQ being short and lame ending), and MGS4 although more a movie with a bit of playing here and there, is pretty sick. Old Snake is old though(and seems completely weak next to Raiden owning face all over the place), but I guess that makes sense being 'old'. Anyway, good luck to you guys still hanging on. Hopefully they'll make the game decent down the road but again the lack of transportation(unless I totally missed something in the november/december patch notes) and lack of AH will continue to keep me away for good.

[Aratharn]

Anima recharge is the same, but going from city to city they halved the amount of Anima it takes (6 -> 3) and you can set 3 favorites at camps that will also half the amount it takes to port there.

I would at least login and check things out if you haven't seen the changes from both the Nov & Dec updates.

[miokomioko]

Did a small search just now looking over the patches since and it still seems like anima recharges at the same rate?

The only thing they really changed regarding Anima is that you get to pick 3 favorite camps (for a small gil fee) that halves the Anima cost of teleporting to them and teleporting to cities are half-cost as well. This makes a huge difference in Anima spending because the 3 cities are the most common teleport locations by far, second being the camp relevant to one's highest ranking DoW/M.

The rest is pretty much accurate although it's just a waiting game for inevitable things like Chocobos and Airships, or for the Market Wards to function like an AH when it gets search functions and whatnot.

edit: beat! (but teleporting can also be 4 -> 2 if you're in the same region.)

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

I remember hearing that they were planning something like that but didn't know if it would be a huge deal or not. I might go ahead and download the patches to check it out. Still not holding my breath though. Crafting system is far to advanced for my tastes(even though that was my focus) with everything so 'realistic' requiring dyed parts to make a dyed piece of armor(why not just dye the armor at the end?), weapon durability decaying so fast that I needed 2+ weapons for a grind session or the right skill to repair(hopefully they changed that), no d box(lol), the list goes on and I'm sure there's a thread for it so I'll stop here. Hopefully the new team will listen and make some changes(read: total overhaul of some things, like crafting) to make the game more player friendly. Thanks for the updates though, I'll check it out and see if it's any better for me.

[kindrell]

I remember hearing that they were planning something like that but didn't know if it would be a huge deal or not. I might go ahead and download the patches to check it out. Still not holding my breath though. Crafting system is far to advanced for my tastes(even though that was my focus) with everything so 'realistic' requiring dyed parts to make a dyed piece of armor(why not just dye the armor at the end?), weapon durability decaying so fast that I needed 2+ weapons for a grind session or the right skill to repair(hopefully they changed that), no d box(lol), the list goes on and I'm sure there's a thread for it so I'll stop here. Hopefully the new team will listen and make some changes(read: total overhaul of some things, like crafting) to make the game more player friendly. Thanks for the updates though, I'll check it out and see if it's any better for me.

There is another update comming at the end of the month also under the new development team, maybe some good changes could come from it to make you come back to the game also