Alla pics!

[Obev]

My overall impression of this page is not only "what the fuck roleplay idiocy", but that Hapernack needs to stop putting an H in Windurst.

And by virtue of the Tactician Magician's set, I claim half of your "San d'Orian" jobs for Windurst.

[Mifaco]

From the guy who thinks RDM is the end-all support job for BLM. Impact Stream is no match for Diamondhide!

[Senoska]

yes, i (the player) realize how useful pld/nin can be but my elvaan character doesn't. that's the beauty of roleplaying. your character can be a totally different person than the player. what you have to remember about the elvaan in game is their one weakness: arrogance. despite their defeat at the hand of bastok in the konschtat war, they still think their way of fighting is still the best. this is a weakness and my character has this weakness.

what my character thinks about fighting techniques from other kingdoms is they're inferior to the jobs that are native to sandoria. the four jobs that have their af quests in sandoria are PLD WHM RDM and DRG and those are the main jobs that my elvaan character has leveled up.

other jobs that he has are:
brd (due to the existence of royal spearman's horn and the brd af quest somewhat involves sandoria)
rng (royal archer longbow)
mnk (the existence of royal archer's cesti and i kinda had to for subjob when leveling WAR)
and war (i have to for pld subjob but war is kind of a "knight-like" job anyway)

my elvaan character is also biased when choosing equipment. for example, he wouldnt use conquest rewards from bastok or sandoria (he never equipped the iron musketeer armors when leveling paladin). he favors MND to INT and white magic to black magic when leveling red mage (he cast dia, slow and paralyze more often than poison, blind and gravity).

he has most sandoria quests done but he did very little bastok and windurst quests (i think only the map quests and the teleport quests. the teleport quests are actually given by sandorian priests).

How did you find our forums?

[Hapernack]

My overall impression of this page is not only "what the fuck roleplay idiocy", but that Hapernack needs to stop putting an H in Windurst.

And by virtue of the Tactician Magician's set, I claim half of your "San d'Orian" jobs for Windurst.

*Edited because someone broke the image tags*

[Hapernack]

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.htm...;num=31;page=1

The zammites are talking about the relic weapons none of them own or even are close to...

Your Job + Dynamis Shell + Playtime + Wallet = What Relic works for you.

Well guys that settles it for me! Claustrum it is!

[Asdra]

I especially like the post where the guy claims the person with the Bravura obviously was mistaken because there is no way that a Steel Cyclone with a Martial Bhuj could ever beat Metatron Torment. I mean, just look at the modifiers!

Obviously a person with the weapon has no idea what they're talking about.

[Vhess]

watch out, Yagudo don't pull their punches.

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/e/b...82d15cebc2.jpg

I like the way the players are in the death poses appropriate to their races.




Actually, wait, WTF?

[Keria]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v502/Erza/moron.jpg

Sorry for quoting an old post, but wow you got to pt with Witeboy AND Daz AND Kevindbz?

Awesome I bet the exp rocked.


I got an invite from that guy earlier that went something like:

Kevindbz>> paerty
Kevindbz invites you to join his party.
/sea all Kevindbz
DRK58/WHM29
Kevindbz>> u coming
Kevindbz>> got cor

[theo]

I wish I had this screenshotted... it would be so perfect for this thread.

See, these two SAMs in my LS had an hour-long conversation about how the job is "misunderstood." They feel angry because they are treated by the community as DD, when in fact the true role of a Samurai is... oh yes... "BLM Support."

If it makes the two of them feel any better, they are both bad enough at their jobs that I never treated them as DDs in the first place

[Keria]

"BLM Support."

I do not understand this moon logic. Do you speak of the fabled... skill... chain...?

[theo]

I do not understand this moon logic. Do you speak of the fabled... skill... chain...?

What is this blasphemy you speak of?

[Hapernack]

"BLM Support."

I do not understand this moon logic. Do you speak of the fabled... skill... chain...?

*Smack* We do not speak of that-which-must-not-be-named here!!!

[Imperial]

"BLM Support."

I do not understand this moon logic. Do you speak of the fabled... skill... chain...?

*Smack* We do not speak of that-which-must-not-be-named here!!!

But merely by speaking of that which you must not speak of have you not spoken of that which must not be spoken of?

[Gere]

http://pr0n.encyclopediadramatica.co...eutrality1.jpg

[Indalecia]

You got served.

[Starr]

FFXI has one of the cogent, effective, immersive and well designed storylines in any MMO to date. I've played MMOs since Ultima Online, and I've done epic level quests in all of them, including FFXI. The fact that storyline quests cross over between AF quests, Nation Missions, Expansion Missions and even mundane city quests is beyond impressive, it's amazing. When I do the Dark Knight quest and understand more about the relationship of characters in cutscenes I've seen or yet to see, that's impressive. When I do a quest (for SleepgaII for instance) in Windurst, and the very people involved in the cutscene differ based on where I am in the Nation Missions (for instance if I'm on Windurst 9-2+ or not) proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was great care given in crafting a world within the game of Final Fantasy XI. That sentence contains the important distinction between world and game.

The world of FFxi was well done, and well created, and the game of FFxi was created in parallel or on top of that world. The two have things in common but most importantly the GAME of FFXI cares about job balance, Risk v. Reward, item acquisition (incentive to continue playing), level pace (ease of accomplishment provides a realistic ability to reach the next level, and thus keep playing) etc. The world of FFXI cares not for job balance, Ajido-Murijo (or whatever) and Shantatto blow shit up and have too many hit points, but no one cares (and let's not spoil how they do this, I for one am on Mission6-2 and don't want it spoiled either), it is a story. The game/ruleset of FFXI is placed on top of the world and the world exists within the rules of the game (which is why Black Mages don't cast random spells too often, even when they're NPCs) -- it is a symbiotic relationship where without the other the pair would be less than they are together. It is the soul's relationship to the body, and echoes the yin/yang relationship...balance is key.

Now as to the player himself. I think arguing his point on a forum is silly, as he will open himself to ridicule, but it's his choice. I think the argument that he pays the same $12.95 as everyone else is very true -- no one should tell him (or attempt to argue) that his method of playing this game is somehow inferior to yours or mine. That is simply non-sensical -- it's akin to arguing that someone should like you because you like them, or that someone should like what you like. People are individuals with different goals, likes and dislikes, and respecting that is very important.

Now, that said, the second this PLD joins a party, he is encouraged to make decisions that benefit his party as much as they benefit himself. A Paladin wouldn't lot on a piece of San D'Oria city AF2 simply because it came from San d'Oria, even though it would make a very pretty, well deserved item on one of the mannequins in his mog house. In the same vein, a Pld joining a group would be expected to wear the best gear that he could, to benefit his party. If this does not fall within his 'role-playing' views, then he has failed to understand that when you join a party you cease playing your own game and begin to impact others directly as the result of your actions. This is similar to role-players role-playing in the middle of Times Square or the subway--the law doesn't care why you shouted fire, it simply cares that you started a riot, and you will be punished for it. The party doesn't care why you're subjob is gimped and your gear is terrible, it just cares that you get the job done. If you happen to role-play while you're doing it, so be it, but if you fail the party they will remove you, and no amount of justification will excuse that failure.

I think this player has found an effective balance between game and world, from the little I've read about him. He comes up with interesting (sometimes questionable) reasons why he picked up certain jobs, but they seem to be grounded in some internal logic which is nice (for instance the RDM and WHM AF quests). He waited until Trion went to Aht Urgan to pick up Ninja, which is both admirable and impressive -- many would have bowed to popular opinion long ago. He has balanced personal greed with dedication to an ideal (in this case the idea of role-playing a true San d'Orian knight) which is a struggle many people face in real life, and requires real sacrifice (in this case public ridicule).

The one point at which this player failed is criticizing end-game activities. In the same way that we as gamers shouldn't ridicule him for choosing to role-play (no matter how silly we feel about the situation) he shouldn't criticize people for making the decisions that benefit their style of play (such as getting better items to defeat tougher monsters).

In the end this is the most important thing, this statement:

The game is not BUILT around the story line, it's built around gameplay issues. It's built around the acquisition of items and improvement of the character

is wrong. It's an opinion and nothing more. The game of FFxi incorporates both a functional ruleset (your 'built around gameplay issues') but it's ALSO a game built on top of a very solid storyline and plot. FFXI is one of the few MMOs to really incorporate a meaningful storyline on top of a fantastically deep, well thought out world, and it lets you experience it in a way that is both progressive and unique (the cut scenes). To ignore either aspect of this game is to fail to understand the true breadth of FFXI.

Personally though I've played EQ1 to endgame and WoW to endgame, I will miss FFXI more than any other MMO I've ever played (and I've been playing MMOs hardcore for 12 years now ((ugh))). I don't think many other companies will take their world as seriously, or put as much obvious care into it, as Square-Enix has done. This role-player may just be a wonky crazy person ruining parties left and right, but it's just as possible that he strives to be the best player he can be while living by the strictures of Altana faith. I can tell you this much -- I doubt he's one of those asshats in the Dunes that responds with "It's just a sub" when you question their shittastic half-naked gear selection. This guy cares and that's always the best type of player to have in your party.

So to the dude RPing his way through Vana'diel here's to fighting the good fight. And to everyone else, well, I'll be stealing your Kotes at the Mee Deggi camp.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...87/nigga-1.jpg

[Nystul]

In the end this is the most important thing, this statement:

Quote:
The game is not BUILT around the story line, it's built around gameplay issues. It's built around the acquisition of items and improvement of the character


is wrong. It's an opinion and nothing more.

No, it is not an opinion. The story line aspects of the game can all be completed in relatively short order. They are ultimately a small part of the entire gameplay experience. They are no more significant than Sky farming, limbus, dynamis, assault, ENMs, ecowar, besieged, or whatever. The unifying principle of ALL aspects in this game is character development as EVERY quest or mission provides experience points, items, money, or crafting assistance. The game is built around character development, just like every MMORPG. That this particular one has an anemic but RELATIVELY fleshed out story line does not change the fact that it is a small part of the experience. Notice that I did not in my original post say the plot was inconsequential, I said that the game was not built around the story line. It is not. The story is in no way central to participating in the wide expanse of gameplay options provided. It is simply there to provide a bit more purpose to those that require it when going somewhere new or opening up a new area.


You CAN progress through the game and participate in events without knowing any story line at all.

You can NOT progress through the game without developing your character (gain levels, gain money, gain equipment).

Hence, the game is centered around gameplay/character development and NOT story line. Not opinion. Reality.

[Sagacious Sundi]

I think you guys should specify what you mean by "built around". There's several ways you can put it:

-What SE intended the players to focus on: There's no point in arguing about this unless someone shows proof.

-What you'll be doing most of your time while you play it: This seems to be the definition Nystul is using. You'll probably spend more time camping Fafnir and Nidhogg and praying that the next Qiqirn treasure hunter will drop your Macha's coat than you will watching cutscenes, but it doesn't mean you've experienced most of the plot (especially if you count pre-CoP/non-AF quests with crappy stories and Assault missions as plot development). However, completely maxing out your character will most definitely take up more of your time than trying to get every plot-related thing done, probably even if you exclude luck (drop rates, Bhaflau NMs, etc.) from the equation.

-Reasons for stuff: What I mean by this is stuff like, what is Dynamis, who built Tu'Lia, why mobs/areas, etc. While no one seems to be using this definition, going by this the game is built around the story.

-What came first from SE's mind, the gameplay or the storyline: Simply, do they come up with ideas using the story, and then build stuff around that (for example, they came up with the idea of ENMs after they came up with the plot for the Emptiness), or did they come up with gameplay mechanics and then they added backstories to that (example: they had the idea of 5 day waits, EXP rewards, etc. and then they used the Emptiness to explain the 5 day wait.)
Once again, stupid to argue about without evidence from SE.

-Whether a deeper plot is there to give the game a nice feature compared to most online games, or whether the NMs/events/etc. are there to aid you in advancing the plot (as in, your new items help you finish the missions and quests): Once again, unsure.

[BRP]

What a stupid debate (and in the wrong thread). Stop tainting this win.

Let's settle this. Nyzul your statement is an unproven fact. To keep things simple, let's just call it an opinion, because you are really saying "The "gameplay" is the most important/fun/ect part of the game".

The game is focused on one thing: to make players pay SE money.

How they entertain the players is going to be different for each player. Some people prefer the storyline and some people people don't give a shit. Usually, the player with the most open mind to content is going to enjoy more things than someone who only likes one or two type of things. Nyzul you don't seem to think the storyline plays much importance in your experience. Well my friend, that's just your opinion. Don't make it seem everyone is going to play like you. Accept that as many other people have accepted that.

I've already pointed out why this guy is LOL and it's not just because he likes the storyline. This debate should end here.


Also:

RDM Wishlist
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/red-ma ... hread.html

Oh wow.

[Sagacious Sundi]

Wow.

-"Refresh Effect (+1 MP/tick recovered/upgrade)" ... There's your answer to Refresh II.

-Confuse. If this doesn't SCREAM Enfeebling, I don't what does.

I don't visit FFXIonline that much (probably haven't visited it without it being linked since 2005) because some users and posts scared me away (like that Mithra that hated Berticus), but how do their dumbasses compare to the stereotypical "Alla noob"?

(Also, Confuse seems mo' like dark magic if you ask me.)