Final Fanstasy 11 - how is it? Need new MMO.

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fuzzy-1

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I need a new MMO to spend my spare time with. I am an ex WOW player, just quit a month back after 200 days played. Just got bored eventually, like all games do at some point. Looking for something to tide me over with until Age of Conan and Warhammer online.

This is what I am looking for:
I am looking for a more "hardcore" game. The game must have graphics at least on par with WOW, better is prefered. I like the sword style opposed to guns and lazers. I like pvp but most importantly I like grouping. I like a timesink as my wife works nights during the week so my week nights are pretty much all open (besides supper and gym:)).

Games I have tried recently include:
1)tabula rasa - didnt like the mechanics of combat, felt sloppy, prefer swords over guns. Graphically glitchy at times.

2)eve online - Tried trial, didnt like space I need an actual character to move around.

3)EQ2 - Didnt like the feel or artstyle. laggy/warping animations, some areas looked gorgeous while others looked like an NES game. Combat mechanics felt off.

4)Vanguard - lol, nuff said

5)SWG - liked it when it came out and tried again but it just doesnt satidfy me anymore.

6)WOW - favorite MMO to date, looking for a repalcement. Liked the grouping and the pvp. Hated comunity.

7) LOTRO - just got this last night and started playing. First impression...WOW this is pretty. Best graphics i have seen in an MMO. This looked exactly like everything I was looking for until I realized that there is no PVP!

Last game I havnt tried that I would like to is Final Fantasy 11. Whats it like? I like a timesink. How are the graphics? Are they comparable to WOW? I played it and loved it at launch but then I got hooked on CS for 3 years or so. :) Seeing as how it has been out for many years now, has it matured nicely? balanced classes ?etc.

Also to note is that I have always been a huge FF fan from ff1 -ff8 so I know I like the world. Just dont know if I should go spend cash to get it after work or stick with LOTRO.....
 
I hear many bad thigns about it, one of my friend taht tried it hated it too. The only reason to play would be because of Chocobos probably. The combat seem to be horribly slow as well.

Tried Ultima Online yet? lol, old old old MMO, I think the first.
 
Well, give LOTRO another go, FF11 is not something i would recommend.

LOTRO is more of a casual game, it is alot easier to drop/pick up without hours upon hours of non-stop play of WoW. LOTRO is more of what you looking for I think, PVMP is getting better in that game, and with Turbine's huge updates, I bet they will add more PVP soon.
 
LOTRO does have PvP system. It's a monster vs player zone called the Ettenmours or something like that.
 
You should try out Hellgate: London if you liked the idea of Tabula Rasa but prefer swords. And it is free to play monthly.
 
I played ffxi for two+ years with over 300 days of playtime. This was my first MMO and I got really addicted to it. At first the graphics are a turn off since this is basically a port of the PS2 game, but you can edit some registry values to make the game pretty. What I loved about the game is the community, it is very strong since this game is very group dependent. You basically cannot solo anything level10 and so forth. You will make lots of friends in this game while exp'ing, going through quests, talking in linkshells (guilds). Getting anything done in this game takes a while, so there is your time sink. I've spent up to 7 hours in the same experience point party, just grinding and grinding. Which is very, very boring. You stand in the same spot the entire time where your party member who pulls the monsters in goes and brings them to you.

This game is also very harsh compared to WoW. If you die you lose a considerable amount of experience points and if you are lucky get someone to raise you or you return to your home point (kinda like how the hearthstone works in wow) and lose more experience points. Also the servers are not region specific so you will be playing with about 1/3 of community speaking japanese/chinese which makes things a little diffucult organizing exp parties, missions, quests.

I think there is a starter pack for only $5 at gamestop which only includes the original ffxi so you can try it out. My reason for quitting it was that one of my best friends in the game quit and it just wasn't as fun anymore. If you find great people in the game, you will like this game.
 
I played ffxi for two+ years will over 300 days of playtime. This was my first MMO and I got really addicted to it. At first the graphics are a turn off since this is basically a port of the PS2 game, but you can edit some registry values to make the game pretty. What I loved about the game is the community, it is very strong since this game is very group dependent. You basically cannot solo anything level10 and so forth. You will make lots of friends in this game while exp'ing, going through quests, talking in linkshells (guilds). Getting anything done in this game takes a while, so there is your time sink. I've spent up to 7 hours in the same experience point party, just grinding and grinding. Which is very, very boring. You stand in the same spot the entire time where your party member who pulls the monsters in goes and brings them to you.

This game is also very harsh compared to WoW. If you die you lose a considerable amount of experience points and if you are lucky get someone to raise you or you return to your home point (kinda like how the hearthstone works in wow) and lose more experience points. Also the servers are not region specific so you will be playing with about 1/3 of community speaking japanese/chinese which makes things a little diffucult organizing exp parties, missions, quests.

I think there is a starter pack for only $5 at gamestop which only includes the original ffxi so you can try it out. My reason for quitting it was that one of my best friends in the game quit and it just wasn't as fun anymore. If you find great people in the game, you will like this game.
 
I've played FFXI for a while now (around 200 days of playtime I think).

It is not WoW. It never pretends to be. The graphics are a Port from PS2 so don't expect crysis graphics or anything. And yes partying is not like wow where you run around and travel and you kill mobs every 5 seconds and have to push buttons every second. FFXI is more for people without A.D.D.

Character and Community: I'm going to start here because it is significantly diffrent than WoW. First off, you can change your job (class) on your character. So your Human named Bob can be a 75 Ninja and a 75 Black mage. This is very important. Because you will play the whole time as Bob you will get to know a lot of people. If your an ass to people when you party with them, or you go around being dumb it gets around. The servers are small enough that you'll run into people you have seen before. Because of this most of this you don't get lots of emo kids. Not to say there aren't any, but there are very very few compared to WoW.

Leveling: Leveling is done in groups of 6. Generally you form groups at level 10 and don't stop after that. You generally stand in one spot and kill the same mob over and over again for a few levels. There are "standard" camps, you'll use them because they are very good. They're standard fora reason.... The closer you get to 75 the faster you will kill things, as well as the more XP/hour you will get. For the most part from about 20-65 you will get between 4-5K an hour from a decent party. Around 66-75 you'll get closer to 10K an hour. It takes around 3K to 44K to get a level between 20-75. Generally the lower levels will go abour 1 level per hour, while the highers about 4-6 hours per level. It scales up, 63 or so is the 1/2 point in terms of XP. Level 75 is the cap, after which you can earn merits to make your character stronger. Merits give extra stats. You get them just like a normal XP party just the name of the points change. There is a system in wow "specing" or something that is similar. In FFXI you have to be 75 to do it. If you merit Strenght for example, when you level another job, you will still get the bonuses. There are also some special abilities and spells only avalable through merits.

End Game: Like most MMOs there is an End game scene to make your character stronger through better gear. The content here can easily keep you statisfied for a year or two. It is generally done with your linkshell (guild). This is done in larger groups, while the most you can have in an alliance is 3 pts (18 people), Dynamis can be done with up to 64 people and you can swap people in and out of your alliance to use more, as well as outside healing and dealing with the links and adds. (Extra monsters besides the "big guy" which either spawn near him or from him)

Jobs: You can divide the jobs into 4 classes, Tanks, Healers, Damage Dealers, and Buffers. 3 first three are obvious, and they are specialized to thier rolls. A White mage for example won't ever deal damage. Buffers (Bard for example) help the party by increasing the other members stats. Like siginificantly increase, like swing 20% faster or +20% attack rating and such.
 
fuzzy-1 said:
This is what I am looking for:
I am looking for a more "hardcore" game. The game must have graphics at least on par with WOW, better is prefered. I like the sword style opposed to guns and lazers. I like pvp but most importantly I like grouping. I like a timesink as my wife works nights during the week so my week nights are pretty much all open (besides supper and gym:)).
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I've been playing FFXI since October 2003 (North American release) and I'm still playing it. What you described is basically what FFXI is.

For the graphics, it was originally a PS2 game, however with comptuers what they are now from what they were when the game came out in 2001 (Japan), you can greatly increase the graphic detail on the PC and I personally thing the game looks much better than WoW. WoW is a much more cartoony feel and to me it doesn't appear as detailed. Anyways, graphics are debatable.

Sword style stuff instead of lasers? Yup (although Rangers and Corsairs can use "guns")
PVP but most importantly grouping? Yup
Timeskink? A very big yup

The game is based on (gasp) fantasy, so it's definitely the sword style type game. PVP is in the game, however it's an "arena" type PVP. You go and sign up for a PVP game and go kill people. As for grouping...well...the game is basically designed for only grouping.

From basically level 15 and onwards (cap at 75 and then the merit system), the game was designed for groups. Six people for XP situations, more for end-game. The great thing about this game is there is a shit ton of things to do (end-game or not). I've been playing the game for over four years and still haven't done everything that is offered, albeit some stuff doesn't interest me so I don't do it. I'm mainly an end-game player and have basically done everything in end-game, and there is a lot of stuff there to do. To progress anywhere in the end-game scene and get the gear that comes from it, is a huge time dedication.

The entire game is based on community and interraction with other people, although there is solo content, it's no where near the amount of what you can do in a group.

Community websites:
www.ffxi.allakhazam.com
www.killingifrit.com
www.bluegartrls.com (Linkshells are basically a guild/clan/whatever you call it, however the forums on this LS's webpage are mainly used by all servers)

Just remember getting to 75 takes a long-ass time as your first job, and once you get 75 it's an entirely different game.

Oh, I'm on the Cerberus server.
 
I think the biggest part about FFXI that makes it diffrent is the forced groups. You ask a FFXI fanboy why it's great he'll say because of the groups. If you ask a other MMORPG why FFXI sucks, he'll say because of the groups. The fact of the matter is if you don't like playing well with others, FFXI is not the game for you. FFXI is 6 people vs 1 mob, instead of 1 person vs 600 mobs like a lot of other MMO kind of games.
 
vengence said:
I think the biggest part about FFXI that makes it diffrent is the forced groups. You ask a FFXI fanboy why it's great he'll say because of the groups. If you ask a other MMORPG why FFXI sucks, he'll say because of the groups. The fact of the matter is if you don't like playing well with others, FFXI is not the game for you. FFXI is 6 people vs 1 mob, instead of 1 person vs 600 mobs like a lot of other MMO kind of games.
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Pretty much the forced grouping drove me away from this game eventually. The ratios of tanks, healers, and damage dealers make it fairly difficult at times to find a group to level with depending on your chosen job, the server population, and distribution of players in a level range. I'll remember at times leaving my Mithra samurai sitting in Lower Jeuno with my party invite flag up, leaving for about 5 hours for errands and coming back and having nothing in the /tell logs. I eventually leveled up ninja (a tank) which was a blast and invites were fairly consistent.

Every group will typically (spam parties are another matter) need a primary tank, a primary healer, and if you don't want your exp rate to be the pits, a refresher (this job helps keeps the healer's mp/mana recharged). So with a fairly rigid party dynamic, it's easy to see how finding a group with a damage dealing job may be a chore at times.

All in all, FFXI was a great first MMO experience with a great community, the reputation you build as you level up will stay with you as long as your character exists. I quit about 2 years ago so I don't know if any of my above experiences reflects the current state of the game.
 
If you like a timesink and the midevil swords and bows stuff, look into Lineage 2. The customer service blows ass. There is a lot of botting/ebaying but it's open PVP besides in towns. Great graphics.
 
The inability to jump ruined FFXI for me.

Seriously. It may be a nitpick to some, but it just made it feel so restrictive when combined with the insanely linear environment. (See that 3cm high edge? You're not getting on it - end of story.)


How long has it been since you played EQ2? I went back this past month after quitting a year or so ago and was pretty impressed by how much they'd changed. Aside from still running like ass on max settings it's like a whole different game.
 
Might want to try out Lineage 2. One of the most hardcore MMO's I've come across.
Very nice graphics, PvP is everywhere but in the towns, the castle sieging is great.
The game is very harsh in the higher levels with leveling, once you hit the 50's it gets very slow (lvl cap is 80 now I believe). Very few classes can solo well, lose exp when you die.

They have made the game very noob friendly for the first 20 or 35 levels now I think with the new update. I really enjoyed the game when I played it, but it does require a lot of time to truly advance in it and a good clan or alliance to really enjoy the sieging.
 
FFXI was not a ps2 port. it was made to be ported to ps2

its a farly hardcore game, though i will say i loved the grouping aspect and combat system.
 
FF11 is challenging and great, my favorite PvE game ever.

however, the User Interface is fucking terrible it makes me want to vomit. =/ game has some performance issues to, 30fps cap. low frame rate in crowded areas..
 
Vanskater said:
FFXI was not a ps2 port. it was made to be ported to ps2
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It appears that way to NA customers since the PS2 version actually was released a few months later than the PC version in the US.

However the game was designed and made for the PS2. In Japan the first version of FFXI was out for about two years before the PC version was made (released in both Japan and US at the same time). The game itself supports "good" graphics (as good as DirectX 8.1 can support) to PC users, however if you do play it on the PC you can manually increase the graphics a good deal through the registry.

The 360 version has increased visual support built into the game (mainly larger view distances, but this can be manually added in the PC version).
 
If you're willing to wait for new MMO's you could read up on Age of Conan and their battle system (which I found to be pretty unique). There's also a bunch of others that probably won't be out for a while. S.U.N. , Warhammer, etc.
 
I'm a die hard WoW player, played since launch and strictly PvPed, had 4 60s and was in the servers Grand Marshal group. I find WoW the best, and I've tried all the popular MMOs.

I played FFXI on the 360 for about a week, I found it horrible. The graphics are a complete eyesore, and I couldn't solo a thing, and finding groups for the starting quests took forever, I never actually managed to one group in the whole week I played.
 
I've played FFXI and WoW for roughly the same amount of /played time and even if you dont include graphics at all FFXI is still HORRIBLE by comparison
 
I bought this game a couple of days ago for the Xbox 360 (got the FFXI 2008 collection with the new expansion) and wow. This is the first time in a while I've been put to sleep by a game. After jumping through several hoops to get the game installed, patch and my account setup (all of this took several hours), I finally logged in last night and made a human monk. I wasn't alone as 3 other people I worked with all went out and got copies as well. I'll say one good thing is the fact that I was on my 360, 2 others were on the PC and one was on his PS2 and the integration between them all was pretty cool.

Anyway, we all log in and the first thing I notice is how, for lack of a better word, shitty the UI is. I know, I know, it was designed for a console in mind but damn. It really is irritating trying to do things. I had a keyboard hooked up to my 360 but I ended up using my controller for everything except typing because it was easier. It was annoying going back and forth between my controller and my keyboard but I was willing to try for a bit.

After all of us stopped fooling with the controls for about an hour (all of us were having problems regardless of platform) we finally made our way outside the city to attempt to kill some things. This is where the game turned me off instantly. I've played pretty much every single MMO so I figured myself to be pretty patient. Combat in this game is very slow and boring. I only had one attack (which was an auto-attack) and the one skill I had was a 1 minute buff that takes 2 hours to refresh. WTF? It was basically run around and hit one button and wait until either I died or the rabbit/turnip died. It was a ver hands off approach and this progressed on for about 4 levels (or 4 hours later) until I had enough.

Now, I'm pretty sure the game does get a lot more exciting and I only got to level 4 before I gave up which is a rarity for me. I think the fact that it was so boring combined with some really asstastic controls and a shitty UI did FFXI in for me early. I may log in again since I did waste $50 but I'm not so sure. I just can't see myself getting anywhere in this game which is odd considering how addicted I was with Everquest 1.

Anyway, this morning I was bored and had the nerve to play Vanguard since coincidently SOE reactivated everyone's account for a month. I can easily say that Vanguard is WAY better than it used to be and after playing FFXI for a few hours last night, it's also a lot more fun.


Cliffs:

- Me and a group of friends buy FFXI on impulse with my version (Xbox360 being the most expensive @$50)
- Took me 4+ hours to install, register, install some more, create an account, patch, log in.
- Controls and UI sucks balls. Can't stress this enough.
- Combat was damn boring and just too slow (even for an MMO). Hit auto-attack and go get a drink.
- I only got to level 4 before I was bored to tears.
- I wasted $50. Literally.
- I'm not sure if I'll log in again.
- Logged into Vanguard (I hated this game in beta yet I bought it anyway and hated it some more) and was actually having fun at level 3. Level 3!!!
 
The game costs like 10-20 dollars lol how did you pay 50 for it
 
Tylerdurdened said:
The game costs like 10-20 dollars lol how did you pay 50 for it
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Because if you read my post, I said I got the 360 version which has the newest expansion included. The expansion that came out like 2 weeks ago or something. :p
 
If you're looking for something fast, easy to start, and fun I also suggest PSU. I enjoyed PSO:BB so much but it did get boring after a couple months which is perfect since you are waiting for Age of Conan.
 
don't know if its up your alley but i just found this game this weekend..

great graphics for a free2play MMO

http://www.swordofthenewworld.com/

swords/oldguns/etc.. etc..

best of all its 3chars at a time instead of 1 (very diablo-esc)..


and its a bonus if your into the anime..


its the usual grind, but it has been made grind friendly
 
Lineage 2 is looking promising, although I would rather not go spend cash on it then hate it...How are the graphics? Are they at least on par with WOW? Whats server populations like? Lastly, is there one single pack I can buy that gets me everything(all expansions)? thanks.
 
fuzzy-1 said:
Lineage 2 is looking promising, although I would rather not go spend cash on it then hate it...How are the graphics? Are they at least on par with WOW? Whats server populations like? Lastly, is there one single pack I can buy that gets me everything(all expansions)? thanks.
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You don't have to pay for any expansions. Buy w/e Lineage 2 copy you can find and then you just have to update.

Graphics are pretty nice for it's age.It's on the Unreal Engine.

Depends on what server you choose is what the population is like.

Be warned. There are TONS of bots on most servers. People ebay money like no other. AND it's a massive time sink. The grind is horrible past 60ish if you don't have a 2nd account with a buffer on it.

Cap is lvl 82 now. Once you hit 76...you get MAYBE 0.23% every 20mins or so in a good grind session.
 
Lames. said:
You don't have to pay for any expansions. Buy w/e Lineage 2 copy you can find and then you just have to update.

Graphics are pretty nice for it's age.It's on the Unreal Engine.

Depends on what server you choose is what the population is like.

Be warned. There are TONS of bots on most servers. People ebay money like no other. AND it's a massive time sink. The grind is horrible past 60ish if you don't have a 2nd account with a buffer on it.

Cap is lvl 82 now. Once you hit 76...you get MAYBE 0.23% every 20mins or so in a good grind session.
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I was goign to jump on it until I found out that its click to move:( I need wsad.
 
I just reinstalled L2 this weekend. There largest expansion just came out and I wanted to try it. I think the graphics are better than WoW. There is grind in it and the pvp is fun. I played FFXI for a couple of months then Lineage 2 for about 2 years then played WoW. You can use WASD to move, but it's not as smooth was WoW (wish it was) I will link a free trial in one min.

Edit:

Follow this post and you can get a free trial for NC Soft games. I used it this weekend to try out Guild Wars, so it does work.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/154554

If you try it, I would play on one of these servers.

USA - Bartz, Sieghardt, Kain
UK - Teon, Franz

I play on Sieghardt.
 
FFXI can be worthwhile if you have at more than 3 consecutive hours to spend per play session and at least 2-3 friends that'll play exclusively with you whenever you're online, otherwise forget about it.

By all means, FFXI is not a bad game, I like the art, class/main & sub job system is cool, a few interesting challenges/monsters and the Tarutarus are just plain hiliarious...but I really don't get why the Japanese embrace their salaryman culture that they define work as being chained to a desk hours to no end for little to no reward, 'cause this game is just grindtastic.
 
Call me carebear but FFXI is an awesome break if you've been playing PVP MMORPGs for a few years.

Been playing L2 since open BETA and well I jump around MMOs all the time sadly. Played WoW for a years worth of time...L2...etc etc...

And I have both WoW and FFXI active but FFXI is keeping me addicted.

It's nice once in awhile to get away from getting ganked every 10mins from someone 10+ levels higher then you.

Find you a good helping LS in FFXI, and your good to go.
 
Lames. said:
And I have both WoW and FFXI active but FFXI is keeping me addicted.

It's nice once in awhile to get away from getting ganked every 10mins from someone 10+ levels higher then you.
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Don't play on a pvp server...:rolleyes:
 
I started out with FFXI as my first MMO... one of the things that noone else seems to have mentioned is that the economy on it is crafting driven. I dunno about starting up a craft now, but a *ton* of the gear that's used is crafted. (The crafting system is also one of the most complex... I still don't think people've figured out the exact formula giving your chance of obtaining a high quality result)

Anyways, if you're into the crafting aspects of a MMO, FFXI is amazing.

As for WoW... I found it overly simplistic, required me to pointlessly spam abilities, and crafting was a joke. Gave it a month or two, then said to heck with it.

Currently I'm waiting for something new... maybe I'll give warhammer online a try.
 
Dont play FFXI. If nothing has changed from when I played it the controls suck (based on PS2 controller) and it's one bitch of a grind.

If you find WoW oversimplistic look at Guild Wars. Requires quite a bit of teamwork and thinking especially in PVP. Not too solo friendly I'm afraid, hope you have a friend
 
Rather annoying when people ask for opinions on a game and then you get all the 'OMGZ DONT PLAY THAT GAMEZ IT SUXZ!'

That's not an opinion thats just plain stupid. And repeating the same thing someone else said doesn't really help either.
 
Sent said:
Dont play FFXI. If nothing has changed from when I played it the controls suck
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mmm... I quite liked the controls. You could control almost everything with just the numpad... movement, targeting, resting, auto-running, engaging an enemy... all sorts of stuff. Having a control set where you never had to use the mouse (although you could if you wanted)... that was quite enjoyable.
 
i was actually thinking of buying this game again..*had it installed last year and made a monk not sure race. got to like lvl 6 and stoped playing cause of above mention UI controlls. i downloaded a backup copy and installed it last night but can't remember my play id username and pw. though after reading through this post now instead of 80% sure of purchasing this game afterwork i'm 50/50.
 
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