Blaze knight leveling I never saw as grinding. You got to level up your character, use skills, HAD to use strategy and on top of it you had downtime while fighting so you always got into conversations with people. Made friends. FFXI is hands down one of the best MMO’s out there.
XI also had some great battle music too which made fighting awesome, especially with boss theme, zilart boss theme, zilart battle theme, and chain of promathia battle theme. The sceneary was always great too look at, you could chat with your party like +matt taal said and you also had to go get the mobs. Remember how pumped and ready you got when the puller said "Pulling mandragora . Returning to camp. Be ready! "
assassinwarrior Always a good time. I really enjoyed the aht urgen days when suddenly my Brd went from just buffing all day to buffing, pulling, sleeping, and enfeebling mobs for super fast parties. Leveling in zones with great zone themes made playing mages who don't engage so much better.
I actually thought leveling up in FFXI was the charming point in the game. Waiting for a party could be a pain depending on what job you are. But once things starts rolling the fun just can't stop. We chat with new teammates, have a fun time together. Some sucks some don't suck, great music, and the world was very nice at the time, I haven't seen any MMO come close to XI in how the environment feels even till today.
I don't care, I loved everything about FFXI. The journey is what makes this game so memorable. People look back and say they don't miss grinding, but in the end, that was the best part of the game.
Assasinwarrior. I remmeber getting some gear i could equip i think it was 15 or something in the dunes.. and right after the party ended i died and dlvled.. my hp was at selbina and i remmebered running around befgin some prty to let me get some exp so i can get my lvl back so i could make it back to my Home nation.. i didnt even have a subjob at that time priceless
Leveling was my favorite part of ffxi. Killing mobs for xp made me feel like I earned it, and made me more efficient as a player. Memorizing skillchains, positioning, Magic bursts, properly toggling hate, etc... It made me want new gear so I could be even more efficient as a player, and earn xp faster. Macro's and gear swaps to maximize damage for TP, and WS's... God it was great. I hate the current MMO standard of grinding quests for xp, it makes me feel like i'm not even playing the game. What is the point in gearing myself up, if all i'm doing is talking to npc's and accidentally killing a few mobs in between talking to npc's?
I loved the level grind. The party’s and team work. I miss that. One more level and I get penta thrust! Very rewarding to grind for days to get stuff. I leveled multiple jobs before even doing any end game stuff.
I liked when there was strategy in partying. Who is going to sc? Can the BLM handle bursting? Then abyss came and the alliances burning through mobs was fast exp but it was mindless and skill-less.
I loved exploring new areas as a solo BST. I still remember my first time in Carpenter's Landing, after it had been added as part of an expansion pack, leveling off of mushrooms in the caves and then moving on to tigers outside by the river. It's one of those zones that never really became popular and people forgot about over time, but I still visit that place every now and then, it's quite a lovely zone. Also, everyone remembers arriving in sky the first time. Seeing those magical footsteps on the invisible walkways, the waterfalls that descend into infinity...
I sat at level 30 for a very long time. I would farm gil, hang out with friends, and help out people any way I could. At that point in time I wasn't even sure if I'd hit 75. I just knew the world was fun to explore and I wanted to slow down on EXP parties for a bit. I think I even took up some crafts. The feeling of just parking on a level that isnt max for a few months is insane in any modern MMO. And to be honest it's kind of insane in the current version of FFXI too. For me it was a pretty memorable time. The friends I made while chilling in the 30's I still have today.
FFXI's progression was perfect for me. I have trouble getting into any of the modern MMO's because it always feels like racing to the endgame. Everyone is saying, "don't worry, it gets fun in the endgame!" I never made it to endgame in FFXI because I was always switching my jobs, even though I played it for many years. Still always felt great, and I never felt like I was trying to get to a critical "tipping point" where it would finally be fun. Hope someday there will be a return to this style of game, especially with the emphasis on party style combat. Great video!
I may be bias since my first MMO was XI and it didn't even know what end game was until I got to 75, but it never bothered me having trouble getting to 75 since there was always something I could do while under leveled. I culd fight dragons in a bcnm, hunt some NM, fight a summon, help people with missions that didn't require a level cap, or or solo weaker areas as I grew to farm materials to sell. When I saw the summoner job in action I had to have it so my main goal wasn't trying to reach 75, my main goal was trying to reach 30 so I could unlock summoner.
Exactly. Current MMOs are only designed around raiding. Every other aspect of the game is lacking and boring. It's an empty and soulless grind to level cap and then the weekly lockouts. It's terrible.
If only developpers could hear you and take exemple of FFXI for modern MMORPG. FFXI is, by far, my best MMO experience. I wish there was a similar MMO out there to play.
Just curious, did you ever play FFXI? Pantheon is going to be tailored to the old school player market. Definitely not one size fits all type of game. So yeah, FFXIV & WoW are awesome for those who want that type of theme-park style MMORPG. I've played FFXI, FFXIV, & WoW all from release dates and few months/years into their lifespans. FFXIV is a very polished WoW with FF skin & lore on it, which is great! I'm just tired of that type of gameplay. I can almost compare it to fighting games. Let's say back in the day I used to play 3D fighters like Tekken, but those games fell out of popularity or most fighting games are now 2D fighters like Street Fighter. I have enjoyed all these 2D fighters that have dominated the fighting game industry but want to go back to 3D fighters. That's the case here. I like old school sandbox MMOs when they release, I jumped on the WoW bandwagon and all its clones and enjoyed my time with them, but I want my old school MMORPGs with all their quirks, good and bad. Enjoy FFXIV, I know I got hundreds of hours of enjoyment out of it, but I'm gonna go back to my FFXI roots thru Pantheon.
Leveling was an important part why this game was so special and still miss it until this day. I met so many ppl from all over the world, so many friendships. This, paired with a beautiful world to explore, job system that allowed us to level up anything we feel to and felt rewarding reaching its cap. Some friends of mine never reached 75 or did "end game", yet they played 4/5 years.
I loved exploring in XI and as much as I complained about teles only getting you so far I realized that with XIV letting you tele anywhere with ease and the duty finder you don't really get to enjoy the world of Eaorzia because you can tele to any city and you don't have to travel to any end game content except for when unlocking it so you really have no reason to explore the world unless you are leveling or doing story missions.
assassinwarrior I played ffxiv 1.0 and ffxiv arr since alpha, always hoping that they would encourage ppl pting,exploring, and allthough i had fun lvling up,it was only because everyone was starting. When i hit the cap, vertical progression settled , fast travel and duty finder dictated how you could be most efective, all the sense of progression died and i lost hope of another great ff mmo. FFXI was an hobby i loved. FFXIV felt like a game i played,got bored and moved on,like 99%of all mmos.I still have hope SE will surprise us someday.
Omg ffxi memories.. I remember hitting my first 75.. but by far completing the missions, level caps, camping NMs HNMs dynamis salvage getting amazing drops you and your friends waited years for and finally got was the best.. oh ya and completing Promethia missions pre patch definitely tested the best of our abilities.. but ya in order to participate in any of these events you had to prove your self by the hours of seeking party , and then the actual participating in the party to grind for weeks , months and for some people years... good times.
I sub for videos like this. Great content imo. One of your videos brought me back to XI about 3 months ago. I now have DRK mastered and have joined an "end game" ls, started in omen, dynamis D and the like. I am fully reminded everyday about the things i loved and still hate about ffxi. For a small example: Summer breeze music and fireworks which i have not heard/seen since I left 7 years ago and when i noticed playing joy filled my heart, after about 10 minutes of sitting to listen and watch I remembered that it gets on my nerves at the 10 minute mark. :D Side note I wanted to left you know a couple videos back. config > mouse/cam. "screen edge panning" > off (now your camera will not spin non-stop when you move your mouse off game screen to another monitor) You're welcome!
The fact that there was meaningful content spread throughout the entire level range as well as the capped content for some things or that wide level ranges on the upper end could participate and contribute, like you said, really made the game for me, and helped the feel of the world as a whole, I do really hope that something is able to find a similar feel to what XI had, though some tweaks wouldn't hurt as XI was still a bit slow where you could end up with swaths of time where you were just leveling to get to the next thing and if you didn't have a good party that either you could chat with or strategize/synergize well with, it made that sections one of the worst crawls, but that part is something Devs would have a hard time accounting for.
Jeebus here! I’d just like to say I feel like the reason I love this game so much is because of the level of accomplishment you got from doing EVERYTHING. You were just as excited at unlocking sun job for the first time as the first time you hit 75… maybe not just as but you get the point. There were huge gaps to leap and it took forever BUT when you did it it’s a fantastic feeling. And these are around every… single…. Corner. Such a quality experience can’t be compared to
Deff quote you from description. What made FFXI so fantastic was it was about the journey and not the destination. Going to brand new places that you've never heard of to join some exp party. Airships, boats, and chocobos. Missions and quests taking you even further or even finding new places to farm. The exp parties were a grind but that's what made everlasting friendships when you would party with someone for hours or sometimes weeks. Damn, can't wait to come back when I get a chance.
This video really brings me back. It took me over 1 year to hit the level cap on my THF back in the CoP era. That year was spent doing tons of stuff besides leveling. Lots of farming, camping NMs, missions, helping friends, crafting, etc. The journey was real. I only really experienced Sky, Dynamis, and Limbus for end game activities despite playing for several more years after that. The CoP missions felt like an end-game experience all by themselves!
Every time I leveled a new job I was excited. It gave me a chance to meet new players or even compete with a friend to see who could get to 30 the fastest. I hope the mobile version of FFXI brings back that nostalgia factor we all pine for.
I remember being trapped in Quicksand Caves in a crushingly slow XP party when a friend told me about World of Warcraft that was coming out soon and how it would be so much faster and more solo friendly. I picked up WoW at launch and started playing. Leveling was indeed easier and I only needed a party for dungeons or elite quests. By today's standards, it was still sluggish and you ultimately did have to grind to hit 60, but I wound up stopping somewhere in the mid-50s. Everything was so transient. I could work to make gold and spend it on a really nice level 40 weapon, but I'd be discarding it by level 45 at most and the binding system meant I couldn't even flip it on the auction house or use it on a separate character. The quests were straightforward, basic, and almost none of them advanced any kind of story. I could do dungeons, but there was no real reason, and the only real value that earning gold had was for buying your abilities and hopefully a mount. FFXI was slow and, being a habitual solo player, not the greatest experience in the world. But that there were things to accomplish like missions and BCNMs and helping out other players in level-capped situations where being max level was irrelevant were great ways to maintain engagement. In every MMO I've played, my interest dies really fast with endgame because it's really "Assemble a party, go kill a boss, then repeat." Because there's no purpose to endgame besides getting the higher tier gear so that you can kill the same bosses a little more easily until the next tier gets released. Is that ultimately different from how I'd spend hours in Giddeus farming to purchase an Ochiudo's Kote from the AH? Well, yes, because that Kote will be with me for a long time. I'm not sure I EVER got rid of mine, actually, before the 75 cap was removed. On the other hand, though, just because the Skinner box treadmill was rewarding without being cranked up to maximum speed, does it mean we should praise something that consumed hundreds of hours of our lives? I'm not sure where I fall on that. It saved money, at least, because I rarely bought other games, but it also meant I rarely played other games. /shrug
Your story is kind of similar to mine. As much as I loved XI I would spend a decent amount of time waiting for looking for help sometimes because my main was WAR and eventually I got SMN to max level too, but sometimes I wanted or needed to go as WAR. As much as I loved that feeling of getting a team together and traveling to our destination it sometimes took too much time where I didn't get to do much of anything else because I need to go to bed. Also it sometimes made my real life difficult because I would be in a party and my friends would ask me to go do something. Any way by 2008 I ended up quitting the game which I don't even remember fully why but when Blizzard started that free 10 day trail for WOW I gave it a shot. Like you I was amazed at how solo friendly the game was. I could do story quests by myself, dungeons were so much easy and had a party finder compared to how doing something like a BCM was. There were flight paths and even flying mounts. Eventually I realized most of that made the game less fun. The solo aspect was good in the aspect of saving time, but I never got to know anyone because I was always doing everything by myself. In dungeons you just worked together to complete it, there were no cutscenes to the story missions, it was just reading a box of text. My highest level in WOW is a Paladin in his 70's and most of that was from solo quests and dungeons with people I hardly talked to. I didn't have any fond memories of anything during that time because really all I did was go from zone to zone killing monsters and doing quests. Compared that to XI where even in my first 10 levels I had some EXP parties and was always interacting with players out in the wield or San D' Oria either asking questions, helping others, or just talking about whatever. Then I get to the Dunes and start getting Exp parties we had so much fun. From the dunes and beyond you get to know the people you have an exp party with, you chat with others in Jueno while waiting for a party, you can't tele to a city directly so you have to run or ride a chocobo from a craig and maybe you meet someone along the way who needs help or see a NM or elemental you need. As much as XIV isn't XI it is the only MMO since XI that I have been able to play long enough to get to max level and continue playing. I play other MMO's but not enough and am not at max level even. There is just something special about FF MMO's
Who doesn't remember getting that 1 lvl 50 piece that you were saving up for for 4 levels? Hell, even getting to wear that leather set at lvl 7 felt like a huge achievement. Modern games throw gear at you every level, and you can usually ding lvl 20 in an hour or so. In XI, it took around a year for me to ding 75 and i was in game EVERY minute i wasn't at work or sleeping.
I hope they make a game someday that is like ffxi leveling , i Know in this day and age people dislike leveling as much and prefer to get there hand held to cap but i hope one day another game is out that Forces you into social groups in order to progress.
Rashid Can’t deny that. Keep in mind that it’s still in pre-alpha. They hired an animation artist last month as well. It’s mine as well as a lot of other ex-FFXI/EQ/SWG/AC/EQOA and even Vanilla Wow players last hope in an old school MMORPG.
It’s important to mention the sheer challenge of being alone. I was part of a close group of friends and we needed each other. It really came down to when you logged in regards to what your could do.
While I was never able to make what I felt was real progress in FFXI until the introduction of Fields of Valor, I do think FFXI lost some of what made it special when it became more accessible. I think it just shifted a little bit too far in the other direction in terms of how easy it is to level up these days combined with a dozen different ways to teleport. Even as someone who benefited greatly from such changes, it lost a bit of its magic. But that's not to say FFXI isn't the best MMO I've ever played. Except for some other old-school MMOs or something like D&D, most MMOs I play today make me feel like I don't matter until I reach the level cap. Leveling feels like a formality at best and a boring slog at worst. You said it perfectly that in FFXI, even lower-level players could contribute and feel wanted and that they had worth. You were just another adventurer in the world, stronger than others while others were stronger than you. The mentality that "the real game starts at end-game" is something I really don't like about a lot of MMOs today.
i love everything about FFXI it was and still is my fav. game to play. grinding was no issue at all, actually spending hours while chatting with your party members was great ( even taking food breaks ) the community was great everyone was helping others, lots of players running around so you won't feel lonely in any areas and AH was running great not to npc your items much. only downside thing was inventory space ( i had to make like 6 accounts to send my stuff to ). i still have my account but i logged in last night and i was totally lost where i should start at. at the end ... keep the good work i love watching ffxi videos
I'm so happy about all these videos that brings back old ffxi players nostalgia and shows new people the beauty in the grind that made everything have more purpose.
Promies were caped at 30 ;) Rank3 dread dragon 25 (the only lv25 fight btw^^). Leveling was grinding as hell and required more grinding farming as hell but every level cap opened so many content and area that was for me making it bearable. CoP mission especially. I was planning those like any "end-game" content of today. Gather the people, get everyone ready with map, wikies, med & food with the group composition available (old video on my channel for those on that matter btw^^). That is what every mmo since then lack. Nothing that challenging before end-game and it plain sucks.
3:15 - ah the promys... my favorite zones in the game. The eerie background music. The surreal landscape. The bizarre mobs. It was just such a freakishly beautiful zone... and perhaps the single best concept the game ever had.
Level sync I think was one of the earlier changes way before 75 cap was raised. This made it possible to form a good party and not necessarily have everyone in same range. The grind was still there but wait time to form a party was greatly turned down
The leveling grind was the true endgame!! Want to kick it up a notch? Solo 1 to 75 as BST and SMN was a true fun challenge. Want to go beyond that? Get a buddy or two as BST or SMN and farm mobs 5+ levels and it was hella fun and the exp was amazing with an exp ring, true players will understand. CoP was a challenge on its own and the rewards were pretty awesome. Again, leveling was the true endgame, the top goal back in the day was maats cap. Dynamis was fun, but the gear was easily replaceable by HNMs and ZNMs. PS. I'm planning on making a return, what server you on?
Love your videos and how they describe the reasons why I loved the game sooooo, sooo much. Even if it was a long road and some xp ranges were kind of harsh leveling to 75 was an adventure in itself, oh how I miss those times!!
The friendly community and Music was my EndGame. Watching cutscenes is all well and good but the overall Fun and experience of playing FFXl for 6 year's since Day1 on PS2 with great Memories is what made this my favorite MMORPG.
One of the problems you run into when level cap keeps changing with expansion is that all the work you did in the last expansion is fairly worthless. Horizontal progression on the other hand doesn't invalidate what you did before. Instead you're tweaking gear to make it a bit better, fine tuning while exploring new content. FFXI before the 99 cap was really good at that.
Justuas it's not that it doesn't add new content.. it bothers me that everytime new content is added.. everything you have done before was for nothing. Your all powerful min max tank could easily be replaced by this new guy that just joined the game a week ago and grinded to max level. It may take you 2 weeks to replace 70% of your gear while the new guy takes a month... But it's not that out of reach h from the new player. But you don't get that instant gratification with ffxi. Each character needs to earn their access to things like everyone else. If it took a veteran player 40 game hour to get that airship pass.. I newer player would need to go through more or less the same struggle to earn that access. Everything you do in ffxi feels like an accomplishment. There's no such thing as daily missions to fill the void of actual things to do.
@Justuas: It's not like there wasn't any progression. It was just slow and a lot of stuff was either a sidegrade or situational upgrade. Flat out clear upgrades didn't come very often and the game was better for it. So much content remained relevant for years rather than months and FFXI's endgame was huge compared to most when it comes to actual relevant content.
I remember clearly reaching level 50 in altepa desert for the first time on black mage. Getting my freeze spell... and learning to magic burst it lol. Was such a rewarding feeling.
I hated promy's because they just weren't fun. It didn't help that since only whm would have raise at 25 so if your healer was smn or rdm you were screwed if you died.
Acewarlord from Cerberus 03-2013. Over 1500 days of play time. I miss this so much. I still talk to a few of my LS friends. Nothing will ever beat the grinding. My LS killed all HnMs AV pandamonion and that still didn’t touch the early years of leveling.
I remember all about making a lot of friends over the lvls. I mean you kept being around the same people all the time, and even start sharing your lives and even try to help somewhat out of game with advice for irl problems. In WoW, I don't know anything about anyone.
Just returned to Vanadiel six weeks ago. Already got 99 thief from scratch. Soloed everything to get there and rank 10 in Sandy. Thanks for inspiring me to return to my favorite mmo of all time.
I remember when I played.. I actually ran a LS that did all the low level and old expansion content.. we didn't even bother with endgame stuff. It was a great place to be in because we weren't bottlenecked by the rest of the playerbase on the server who were farming abyssia mobs and such.
i remember playing maplestory and i didn't thing i would even ever reach close to the lvl cap. but i kept playing because there was always something fun to do. i didn't have to be max level to join in on all that. also i remember that once you level up everyone in your party would sincerely congratulate you which always felt kinda nice
I loved that there was so much you could do to improve your character and that job level was one of the options. While the grind could be long you made so many friends in the process. As to cap level, sure it was a goal but not a major one. I was more interested in getting my crafting leveled so that leveling jobs would be easier. FFXI is the only game I can think of where low level crafted items are still useful at high levels. I made a lot of gil selling sneak oils, invisibility powders and later on, silver bullets. The other thing is that I love that you get rewarded when over level in a craft, a chance to raise the quality or get more items as a result. It took me about 9 months to hit 75 the first time and I think that beating Maat for the last genkai meant more to me than actually hitting 75 later on.
This is my all-time favorite game. I can't think of any game I reminisce on so often or so fondly. The leveling in a 6 person tp burn on colibri in aht urhgan was awesome.
Played 11 for 9 years, my wife who i met in a Dunes crab party will be home from work soon, the journey to cap was as much a joy as being there in 11, and it made you feel much more a part of the world that was Vanadiel. This game got under your skin for better or worse, we have never found another mmo that has kept our attention for any length of time.
This is 100% true. I considered leveling to be the main content, and the most fun. And like the video says, if you ever get tired, you can go farm, mine, craft, etc because there were always different kinds of content that still helped your character progress in some meaningful way.
I really enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) reaching for that next goal in the game, whether it's a level, story mission, quest or piece of gear. Almost every step I took in FFXI felt like I earned it, I earned the privilege to be in Dynamis, to wear artifact/relic, to be a Rank 10. Now with the current state of the game, you speed through the first 60 or so levels in an afternoon, and can bang out most of the missions yourself. It's still fun, but in a different way. Now FFXI IS all about endgame (Ambuscade, Escha, Vagary, Omen), but I do miss those days over a decade ago when I was still looking for parties and pushing on past 75 and into expansion content.
I might be a bit bias since FFXI was my 1st MMO ,but it is still the best one I've played. The reward was the journey and the people you played with along the way made the story. Absolutely amazing music and challenge levels that made you cry and vow revenge or made you ecstatic with the true accomplishment. The reward in just the ability to make or break a KSNM99 or BCNM30 to sheerly help a friend was amazing. The difficulty made the community stronger and the game better for it.
SaroDracon your right.. I think the most memorable thing in that game was the ability to just log in one day.. not planning what you were going to do.. a linkshell member or a friend puts up a help request to unlock something or a bcnm needing a certain job.. and you go and help.. with no real progression or gain to your own character.. but have a lot of fun doing it. And the karma of this helping out culture in the game comes back so many times whenever you decide to change job roles and level a new job.
That was another good thing for the community. Accountability. The ultra low amount of assholes was very nice. With the work put into progression and leveling someone couldn't just 'roll up' and max out a troll account and be a dick just for the sake. Did everyone sing kuumbaya around a fire in Yuhtunga Jungle? Oh definitely not ,but your character was an investment of time in a community. On a side note I would log in with probly 4-5 'plans' of what to do. Sometimes I got one of those and sometimes I see an AA in need of help or a friend camping an NM in need of more bodies. Your game time presented many opportunities that you would kind of flow with.
FFXI was probably my favourite MMO for years and it was thanks to the community. I remember having fun just sitting around for a few hours whether it be in Jeuno, Bastok, Selbina or going around soultrapping mobs for Pankration and still having a blast wasting time talking to the friends I made. I still remember spending 8-10 hours or more waiting for party invites or trying to set one up myself but the game had so much to offer that you could do a ton of things while waiting and it still mattered. I could literally farm all day and still not get bored of the tedious task like I would any other game. The grindiness of the game just flew by fast thanks to the community and I never found one like it since but I miss it. I don't think I'd go back now with all the changes but least they made it more accessible for new and old players alike that may not have the time sink anymore, I know I don't. The fact that everyone high or low could be important/useful in one way or another was a great thing about this game. Probably had most of my fun leveling my DRK with my LS which I had only gotten to 55-58 If I remember right. Highest character I had back then but I would quit off and on throughout the course of 4 years which I probably only spent a total of 2 playing. Best part of it was every time I came back I was greeted by the same old friends and was always given a LS as they were excited I was back, it didn't matter how long I planned to stay each time but they were just happy to see me regardless and enjoy it while it lasted.
Leveling was great back in the day. I left right after wings but I remember being on Odin server and grinding in dunes and crawlers nest. As far as the end game.. honestly, at least on Odin, I loved the end game. Sky was one of my favorite zones (granted though it passed through my favorite zone The Sanctuary) and my linkshell was always running it. I miss it sometimes but the game has changed so much to where I wouldn't know where to start.
it was a hella grind, my first account i played for 7 years and my main was Rng/war then later i leveled ninja at about 50 when i needed shadows for pulling and i had a real specific role and was important to my exp party. it was a job which i couldn't just grind, i had to farm mats make bolts and silver bullets just to get invited to good exp groups on Fenrir. and not only was there plenty to do to keep u busy and progressing but you had options and felt needed as a player cause the game forced you to need others. and by you needing them you felt obligated Togo back and help random people with their AF quests and bcnms, was a great way to build a community and i miss those gaming days when an mmo was a true challenge and full of depth. ~Stefinaki
I 100% agree. While I like the option to switch between solo and group content (which it was drew me into WoW), I still like FFXI's system over current leveling (current WoW/FFXIV). I never felt that I needed to get to max in a rush and instead just did what I wanted at my own pace.
FFXI is a game with an unexpectedly wide variety of ways to tackle something. Earning money, experience, or gear all had several approaches. That freedom and variety is what made it fun. And it was naturally paced. You'd earn a few levels, exhausting ammo, tools, and food, so you'd have to go back out and earn money for more. New spells and gear, too. Every few levels also meant more content would unlock and you could take some time to clear that.
Great video! Ever heard of Nasomi FFXI? It's a 2005 era private server with up to 1200 players online. It is retail like for that era and feels like a trip back in time. Lots of players, good economy, etc etc
The fact that there is nothing to really do in XIV is why I stopped playing. XI absolutely got it right with multiple things to do as you level. With gear and spells to collect at different levels, you always had something to do. The level grind was slow, but you felt like you achieved something when you hit the next level.
You didn't mention the job switching for farming NMs, Crafting, and how much two jobs can vary compared with modern MMOs, like Nin and Pld both Tanks but it's like playing two separate games. Or How RAM and BLU are just Jack of all trades, or my Favorite, BST duos and trios!
I love every part of FFXI - almost everything is worth doing like sometimes the best gear at endgame for a certain slot is a level 50 item so you end up collecting all kinds of stuff or going back to old zones - the opposite of WoW
Atleast on FFXI you had to work together to get ANYTHING worth while done where as on 14 everyone wants to hurry hurry hurry and get their shit and leave. Love the party leveling
I totally agree with all the other sentiments here; I played from 2007-2012, and never even hit cap. To the dismay of my wallet and my inventory space, I just always thought it was so cool to level up other jobs because they were so unique and had purpose. For example, like you said, money meant a lot in FFXI. So, I decided to level WHM so that I could make a little extra cash through gate teles. (Confession: I never finished the quests to get the scrolls,) because then I moved on to other jobs. Needed BLM for my WHM sub, or wanted to skill up so I could be a badass on my DRK with Drain, or even wanted to level my THF for the treasure hunter Trait. It all just felt so meaningful, and me never having hit cap never felt like a huge letdown to me. I could still go in as a high-60 DRK and deal some decent weaponskills in Besieged or Campaign, (if I could hit, that is,) or go out and kill NMs that were a real challenge. Your videos make me crave good ol’ FFXI so bad man, haha. Thanks always, and here’s to some sort of meaningful reboot in the near future. ✌🏻
I don't think the hard level grind in FFXI was ever hotly debated unless you count those who just want the coolest looking gear, show off and leave the game. Final fantasy was based off of D&D. No D&D campaign starts with "You have the coolest gear and you've won the game. Let's all go home now." I think every old player and probably a lot of current players would agree that you play the game to play the game. If you the entire game just hands you levels, why play a RPG at all? The real flaw of FFXI was that it pretty much required a party to do anything. Need papayrus paper? Get a party together. Need your keys for khazam pass? Get a party together. Anytime there's a barrier for levels, you need a party. I mean, it's good in that you had to get involved with other players, but this came back to bite them in the butt when there aren't enough players to do dynamis or run COP missions. In short, it's not [solely] the games' fault that people rush to do endgame and only endgame, we, as players, need to stand back, look at games that encourage this and say "No. I want a journey, an adventure, not a way to show off or be rushed through good story or content." Remember that the point of games is to have fun, not be popular or fashionable or brag. (as a lot of games these days tend to be.) Besides, all FFXI player has probably seen those players that got their characters power leveled or bought their characters. How good of a player are they usually? Skill is acquired with time and care. Not money.
I'm pretty sure my first Dyna experience was also sub 75. Dyna was a fairly new event at the time, I believe it was patched in a month after I started playing in 2004, so when NA shells finally got there to start sponsoring runs for currency, any player with a sufficiently high enough level to enter (i believe minimum was 65?) was welcome. You're absolutely right about modern MMOs treating leveling as a throaway experience, an extended tutorial to be done mostly solo. FFXI was different. Getting to 75 was a journey and part of your growth as a character. Abilities while often unlocked like modern MMOs felt earned rather than gifted, and in some cases, with the WSNM trials, Sleepga II, Erase, Phalanx, and other spells, significant job changing abilities are quested and required a party to clear. I don't slag on FFXIV for the fun of it. I did give it a go and probably will go back to it from time to time to play, but it's not really a game that gives me the sense of growth. Gear are outdated and leveling is so damn fast, you often get 5-6 different abilities you don't fully know how to use when you hit max level.
Honestly after I get my laptop battery and update everything and jump back in I'm so excited to do story stuff as a smn/whm main myself I really do miss the game.
The crazy grind was part of the charm - you needed a party and your reputation sometimes was the difference between an invite and another hour hanging out in Jeuno.
Which kept people from being complete assh*oles too, otherwise you didn't get anywhere at all, these run through the graphics to endgame jokes of MMO's today encourage it instead.
Have you done a video on the effect of JP players in the game? I don't think this game would be what it was without them. When I first started I needed maps to help with the quests and the best maps online had JP annotations. I may not have tolerated the grind except that the JP players showed us it was all worth it. We may not have partied together much but there was certainly an effect.
I played Taru Drk long before it was accepted practice, long before 75 cap was dropped, because of this i actually played far more with the Japanese than anyone else, the non Japanese players laughed at me for the lack of strength, the Japanese players invited me for "exactly" the same reason for the lack of tank stress as most of them were blink tanks, all one had to know was the chain WS roll, they looked at the game from all angles, not with tunnel vision. The highest rated DRK on that server was a taru drk, a 14 year old Japanese kid. I agree.
As a Bard, I would really enjoy merit parties, even if I was already capped. I never did much endgame due to when I played. 11PM-4AM EST. I still found plenty of people to help, though. It was a really fun game. Just sucked being broke all the time =(
Sooo true!!! Today MMORPGs screams to you all the time: "Hey, you will only be able to experience my full potential when you reach level cap". It's just as you said, it is the journey that makes a great mmorpg experience. In today's MMORPGs you can feel in the air the rush vibe. There is no more fun in leveling. Leveling is just a mean for an end. Most of the game's content now are left for the "end game".
Holy Cow...almost 7k Subs...I remember when it was like 200! @H4G...have you played Octopath Traveler? It looks like a classic SE RPG...but I think its only on the Nintendo System. If you have played it...maybe make a video or just say if you like it or dislike it? I trust your opinion because we have similar tastes and value "feel" over "graphics". Anyway great video and you nailed the old school feel of FFXI.
As a player that recently returned with a few 99s already completed, my first desire was to level up a job, not go suit up a 99 and do some kind of end game activity for better gear. In a few days I've taken my Sam through a ton of levels and have really enjoyed it, all the while I've been looking at guides for end game and getting caught up on everything new.
It was level 30, not 25, at least from what I remember ;) But yeah, I miss all of that, FFXI today is much more similar to modern MMOs where you really don't feel like you are playing until you hit max level, which at least is a lot easier today than in the past, but in the past I never felt like I was completely worthless if my job wasn't max level.
Totally agree with everything you said. I doubt it would work now as people are so used to having everything now now now. Although nasomi private server is still booming apperently. Thanks to you I am back on retail and loving it again after 5 years out
The mobile FFXI they are making worries me on this topic. With Pay to win, loot boxs, and upgrades being what the stores in mobile based games are all about. I feel like it could be kinda like a server over ran with RMT's, but SE is the RMT selling all the gil and items. So if your just able to open the pocket book and pay your way to 75 or buy a PPC, speed belt or K club then its just going to break the system and the joy
I enjoy the climb more than I enjoy the endgame. It's why I keep coming back to ffxi and start fresh characters in ffxiv. All the lore and the story I can go through is a lot of fun. And as someone who can't sit down and learn a rotation to perfection fue to irl, the climb has less pressure. Also, ffxi allows me to think and make strategies. Combat isn't over in a hot sec unless its a colibri party. XD This could be why I refused to partake in the Abyssea burn parties. I felt like a part of the game was taken away and suddenly the goal became "just burn all your jobs to 99, in a huge group with combat so fast-- you cant socialize and make new friends, and then enjoy the game safely." WHAT?? SAFELY?? They wanna declaw the game by skipping most of it?? Oh well if that's what they wanna do and its fun for them, then I won't argue, but I also wouldnt join them. I admire people who can do endgame, it seems super stressful from how it turns even kind and patient players into exhausted and irritated people at the end of events. Okay, I guess endgame is a lil daunting as well! XD Thanks for the video, will share.^^
I miss this game so much. I did not know what kind of game i was getting into when i bought the game for my pc.. i remember taking days just to get to lvl 15. Cuz i started out as a whm . Someone told me you can change jobs at the moghouse. Went rdm ending up gettinf war to 30. And gettign drk to like 47 before i stopped playing… played again when it cane out again when the 360 came out
I loved this game my entire time! Played from day 1 ps2 all the way to the day console support stopped...(worst choice by se!) I loved the speed of the game but more importantly the social aspect of the game..nothing compares to ffxi and to this day i am still searching another mmo to replace
FFXI was great and leveling was a big chunk of the game most my playtime with XI was just leveling and doing quests and didn't do "endgame" stuff until like YEARS later when could do stuff like dynamis with only like 2-3 people. In XI your friendlist actually mattered as you needed people to actually do stuff such as leveling or doing pretty much any content in the game. When lot of people look back on XI the game not really going to be remember as a great game but for the sense of community that created great times and memories, something that could never be replicated even if went back today and played XI.
FFXI was the only MMO I ever got fully dedicated into, from the day it released till the treasures of aht urhgan I left when 14 came out thinking that it was the same style of game but with updated graphics, I gave it a try I found that something was missing, specially when it came time to party up with other people. FFXI held a importance to every job while in a party and made you either a good or bad player to your job, coordination and timing for WS's where all great things in the game as it open up communication between strangers on those late night in the jungles killing Mandies, and it wasn't a grin... At least for me it wasn't, there were time killing and moments of distraction when camping in that one camp you knew you had the best pulls and saw other parties struggle and observed there puller link 2 IT mobs and you knew they were in trouble, jump in as a hero and provoke that other mob and help them out! Yeah these were the good old days.
as an old time player at launch the friendships you make in exp party some time made lasting friendships as the game was meant to bring people together. if you look at any final fantasy game you are never alone you always find a friend very shortly or you start off in full party and that makes you the one person to that can change anything as we are the warriors of light, hopefully saving then from the darkness in game and out of game as they help you thought the hard times i know lots of players have sat down and just chatted way with each other after a long exp party or bcnm fights monk was the best thing to solo M 2-5 fight 2h on dragon and pray the eye doesn't stone you and your friend, haa fun times miss the game a lot there was also the drive to lvl up different jobs just so the sub wouldn't lack need to lvl it to 37 and try different spots for lvling from over camping
I like what you said in describing ffxi where the game starts as soon as you start playing. I think the whole race to endgame shit is dumb and then it’s just repeating the same raid over and over for the best gear and then waiting for the next one to come out. I much prefer to have fun my entire journey throughout the game. Somewhere along the line I think developers lost sight of that and then most of the game just feels like a slog. Like if the game doesn’t start until endgame then they might as well just cut the bs and make that the whole game. If not then make he game in between worth playing. Ffxi did this really well. There was always stuff to do and it was always useful not just pointless busy work. It benefited you in some way.
The grind helped keep the dedicated players at the end of it all. I was a day one player and was pretty young back then to really keep up with everyone. I kind of found my lower level to be more of a stigma. I loved the opportunities there were to farm gil. But, at the same time the bots and campers made that extremely difficult. Even with silly things like boyda moss or leech blood.
Level capped battles what people valued was experience and knowledge which you don't really have at a low level for a reason lol. But, the community was so good at informing people on what to do before hand. Like you always say there's good parties and bad parties.
FFXI was the only MMO that I've played where levels didn't just seem like some arbitrary number. Job abilities were so few and far between for some jobs it getting that next milestone felt earned, instead of "unlocked." I personally leveled SMN to 75 first and I only had Carbuncle until level 65. Even after I got my next one, Leviathan, it still took me months to get the rest of my summons.
I agree the grind was the fun part, get bored do another job quest and lvl that for a while or hell just explore the zones that's true adventuring, I play 14 and have a few 70 jobs but I'm just not a savage raider so I feel that I lvl so fast that the game just kind of hits a wall.
one of the things I hate is those instant dungeons... They don't feel like an MMO in a way. FFXI dungeons are a huge map where the entire server can access that place at the same time (though it rarely happens since everybody is doing their own stuff at their own pace) but having that few hundred ppl in 1 dungeon makes a dungeon "DUNGEON" That feeling of u seeing other adventurers doing their fights in the same dungeon. U just don't have that in FF14.
and how the auction house was really active, and you can make alot of gil selling items farmed for crafts or rare fish that you caught with Lu Shang Rod, god forbid you ever broke that rod. and try repairing it and then fail sythn and losing the broken lu shang rod. sever severity
The best thing about FFXI for me was the exploration. I didn't enjoy the leveling grind too much(or at all for that matter). Majority of the time I'd end up with a bad healer and/or no tank(OR BOTH). OR, I'd end up with a fantastic healer and tank and no DD. That was my experience leveling in FFXI MAJORITY of the time. There were very few parties that I enjoyed leveling in, hence why I didn't like the leveling in FFXI. I think the only MMO I've played so far that has a balanced solo exp and party exp is GuildWars 2. Exping in GW2 was good with a party or without. I really enjoyed leveling in GW2.
you must of really had much better time with people. I struggled cause everyone shot to 75 ASAP, only stopped to do LB quests. No one cared about the early game stuff and only wanted end game. And this was when it first came out to NA. Everyone acted with the idea that leveling was just the drawn out tutorial or sorts as you mentioned.
The greatest thing about FFXI was that you had to earn what you had. Most other MMO's many things are basically handed to you... In FFXI anything worth having is not going to be easy to acquire. It made you PROUD when you earned that armor or that weapon.
Fuck man, I'm sick of the BS of modern MMOs existing just for end game content. I miss levels mattering. I might actually get back into FFXI after this. Is this on a private server, or is the game still running to this day?
Leveling up in FFXI was by far the best part of the game for me.
Blaze knight leveling I never saw as grinding. You got to level up your character, use skills, HAD to use strategy and on top of it you had downtime while fighting so you always got into conversations with people. Made friends. FFXI is hands down one of the best MMO’s out there.
XI also had some great battle music too which made fighting awesome, especially with boss theme, zilart boss theme, zilart battle theme, and chain of promathia battle theme. The sceneary was always great too look at, you could chat with your party like +matt taal said and you also had to go get the mobs. Remember how pumped and ready you got when the puller said "Pulling mandragora . Returning to camp. Be ready! "
assassinwarrior Always a good time. I really enjoyed the aht urgen days when suddenly my Brd went from just buffing all day to buffing, pulling, sleeping, and enfeebling mobs for super fast parties. Leveling in zones with great zone themes made playing mages who don't engage so much better.
I actually thought leveling up in FFXI was the charming point in the game. Waiting for a party could be a pain depending on what job you are. But once things starts rolling the fun just can't stop. We chat with new teammates, have a fun time together. Some sucks some don't suck, great music, and the world was very nice at the time, I haven't seen any MMO come close to XI in how the environment feels even till today.
Agreed.
I don't care, I loved everything about FFXI. The journey is what makes this game so memorable. People look back and say they don't miss grinding, but in the end, that was the best part of the game.
Nothing was better than leveling up and being able to equip that new piece of gear you’ve been eyeing on the auction house for weeks
And nothing sucked more then dying and leveling down so you couldn't use that new gear lol.
Assasinwarrior. I remmeber getting some gear i could equip i think it was 15 or something in the dunes.. and right after the party ended i died and dlvled.. my hp was at selbina and i remmebered running around befgin some prty to let me get some exp so i can get my lvl back so i could make it back to my
Home nation.. i didnt even have a subjob at that time priceless
Leveling was my favorite part of ffxi. Killing mobs for xp made me feel like I earned it, and made me more efficient as a player. Memorizing skillchains, positioning, Magic bursts, properly toggling hate, etc... It made me want new gear so I could be even more efficient as a player, and earn xp faster. Macro's and gear swaps to maximize damage for TP, and WS's... God it was great.
I hate the current MMO standard of grinding quests for xp, it makes me feel like i'm not even playing the game. What is the point in gearing myself up, if all i'm doing is talking to npc's and accidentally killing a few mobs in between talking to npc's?
SwordChux best mmo leveling of all time
Valkurm Dunes will never be a memory ;)
Unrelated, but your 8-Bit Theater-ness made me really fucking happy lol
SwordChux i 1000000% agree with you. FFXI made you an overall better player at the game BUT other games as well.
I'd rather just not have to level at all.
I loved the level grind. The party’s and team work. I miss that. One more level and I get penta thrust! Very rewarding to grind for days to get stuff. I leveled multiple jobs before even doing any end game stuff.
Yea loved that reward of finally getting to use that scroll/equipment you got many levels before you could even use it.
I liked when there was strategy in partying. Who is going to sc? Can the BLM handle bursting?
Then abyss came and the alliances burning through mobs was fast exp but it was mindless and skill-less.
I loved exploring new areas as a solo BST.
I still remember my first time in Carpenter's Landing, after it had been added as part of an expansion pack, leveling off of mushrooms in the caves and then moving on to tigers outside by the river. It's one of those zones that never really became popular and people forgot about over time, but I still visit that place every now and then, it's quite a lovely zone.
Also, everyone remembers arriving in sky the first time. Seeing those magical footsteps on the invisible walkways, the waterfalls that descend into infinity...
Darius Truxton agreed...can we talk about Dragon Aery? Fafnir, Ridill, Niddy, Hrotti, The abju, and the place where to find Exca too
I sat at level 30 for a very long time. I would farm gil, hang out with friends, and help out people any way I could. At that point in time I wasn't even sure if I'd hit 75. I just knew the world was fun to explore and I wanted to slow down on EXP parties for a bit. I think I even took up some crafts. The feeling of just parking on a level that isnt max for a few months is insane in any modern MMO. And to be honest it's kind of insane in the current version of FFXI too. For me it was a pretty memorable time. The friends I made while chilling in the 30's I still have today.
FFXI's progression was perfect for me. I have trouble getting into any of the modern MMO's because it always feels like racing to the endgame. Everyone is saying, "don't worry, it gets fun in the endgame!" I never made it to endgame in FFXI because I was always switching my jobs, even though I played it for many years. Still always felt great, and I never felt like I was trying to get to a critical "tipping point" where it would finally be fun. Hope someday there will be a return to this style of game, especially with the emphasis on party style combat.
Great video!
I may be bias since my first MMO was XI and it didn't even know what end game was until I got to 75, but it never bothered me having trouble getting to 75 since there was always something I could do while under leveled. I culd fight dragons in a bcnm, hunt some NM, fight a summon, help people with missions that didn't require a level cap, or or solo weaker areas as I grew to farm materials to sell. When I saw the summoner job in action I had to have it so my main goal wasn't trying to reach 75, my main goal was trying to reach 30 so I could unlock summoner.
Exactly. Current MMOs are only designed around raiding. Every other aspect of the game is lacking and boring. It's an empty and soulless grind to level cap and then the weekly lockouts. It's terrible.
If only developpers could hear you and take exemple of FFXI for modern MMORPG. FFXI is, by far, my best MMO experience. I wish there was a similar MMO out there to play.
Thomas Cousin Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
oh god really? that's going to be like ffxi? shit, guess xiv and wow remain my only real options...
Just curious, did you ever play FFXI? Pantheon is going to be tailored to the old school player market. Definitely not one size fits all type of game. So yeah, FFXIV & WoW are awesome for those who want that type of theme-park style MMORPG. I've played FFXI, FFXIV, & WoW all from release dates and few months/years into their lifespans. FFXIV is a very polished WoW with FF skin & lore on it, which is great! I'm just tired of that type of gameplay. I can almost compare it to fighting games. Let's say back in the day I used to play 3D fighters like Tekken, but those games fell out of popularity or most fighting games are now 2D fighters like Street Fighter. I have enjoyed all these 2D fighters that have dominated the fighting game industry but want to go back to 3D fighters. That's the case here. I like old school sandbox MMOs when they release, I jumped on the WoW bandwagon and all its clones and enjoyed my time with them, but I want my old school MMORPGs with all their quirks, good and bad. Enjoy FFXIV, I know I got hundreds of hours of enjoyment out of it, but I'm gonna go back to my FFXI roots thru Pantheon.
Arguably the greatest mmo that I had the privilege of playing.
Leveling was an important part why this game was so special and still miss it until this day. I met so many ppl from all over the world, so many friendships. This, paired with a beautiful world to explore, job system that allowed us to level up anything we feel to and felt rewarding reaching its cap.
Some friends of mine never reached 75 or did "end game", yet they played 4/5 years.
I loved exploring in XI and as much as I complained about teles only getting you so far I realized that with XIV letting you tele anywhere with ease and the duty finder you don't really get to enjoy the world of Eaorzia because you can tele to any city and you don't have to travel to any end game content except for when unlocking it so you really have no reason to explore the world unless you are leveling or doing story missions.
assassinwarrior I played ffxiv 1.0 and ffxiv arr since alpha, always hoping that they would encourage ppl pting,exploring, and allthough i had fun lvling up,it was only because everyone was starting.
When i hit the cap, vertical progression settled , fast travel and duty finder dictated how you could be most efective, all the sense of progression died and i lost hope of another great ff mmo.
FFXI was an hobby i loved. FFXIV felt like a game i played,got bored and moved on,like 99%of all mmos.I still have hope SE will surprise us someday.
Omg ffxi memories.. I remember hitting my first 75.. but by far completing the missions, level caps, camping NMs HNMs dynamis salvage getting amazing drops you and your friends waited years for and finally got was the best.. oh ya and completing Promethia missions pre patch definitely tested the best of our abilities.. but ya in order to participate in any of these events you had to prove your self by the hours of seeking party , and then the actual participating in the party to grind for weeks , months and for some people years... good times.
I sub for videos like this. Great content imo. One of your videos brought me back to XI about 3 months ago. I now have DRK mastered and have joined an "end game" ls, started in omen, dynamis D and the like. I am fully reminded everyday about the things i loved and still hate about ffxi. For a small example: Summer breeze music and fireworks which i have not heard/seen since I left 7 years ago and when i noticed playing joy filled my heart, after about 10 minutes of sitting to listen and watch I remembered that it gets on my nerves at the 10 minute mark. :D
Side note I wanted to left you know a couple videos back. config > mouse/cam. "screen edge panning" > off (now your camera will not spin non-stop when you move your mouse off game screen to another monitor) You're welcome!
I miss the original leveling style where 30-75 took actual effort and coordination
The fact that there was meaningful content spread throughout the entire level range as well as the capped content for some things or that wide level ranges on the upper end could participate and contribute, like you said, really made the game for me, and helped the feel of the world as a whole, I do really hope that something is able to find a similar feel to what XI had, though some tweaks wouldn't hurt as XI was still a bit slow where you could end up with swaths of time where you were just leveling to get to the next thing and if you didn't have a good party that either you could chat with or strategize/synergize well with, it made that sections one of the worst crawls, but that part is something Devs would have a hard time accounting for.
Jeebus here! I’d just like to say I feel like the reason I love this game so much is because of the level of accomplishment you got from doing EVERYTHING. You were just as excited at unlocking sun job for the first time as the first time you hit 75… maybe not just as but you get the point. There were huge gaps to leap and it took forever BUT when you did it it’s a fantastic feeling. And these are around every… single…. Corner. Such a quality experience can’t be compared to
Deff quote you from description. What made FFXI so fantastic was it was about the journey and not the destination. Going to brand new places that you've never heard of to join some exp party. Airships, boats, and chocobos. Missions and quests taking you even further or even finding new places to farm. The exp parties were a grind but that's what made everlasting friendships when you would party with someone for hours or sometimes weeks. Damn, can't wait to come back when I get a chance.
This video really brings me back. It took me over 1 year to hit the level cap on my THF back in the CoP era. That year was spent doing tons of stuff besides leveling. Lots of farming, camping NMs, missions, helping friends, crafting, etc. The journey was real. I only really experienced Sky, Dynamis, and Limbus for end game activities despite playing for several more years after that. The CoP missions felt like an end-game experience all by themselves!
Every time I leveled a new job I was excited. It gave me a chance to meet new players or even compete with a friend to see who could get to 30 the fastest. I hope the mobile version of FFXI brings back that nostalgia factor we all pine for.
I remember being trapped in Quicksand Caves in a crushingly slow XP party when a friend told me about World of Warcraft that was coming out soon and how it would be so much faster and more solo friendly. I picked up WoW at launch and started playing. Leveling was indeed easier and I only needed a party for dungeons or elite quests. By today's standards, it was still sluggish and you ultimately did have to grind to hit 60, but I wound up stopping somewhere in the mid-50s.
Everything was so transient. I could work to make gold and spend it on a really nice level 40 weapon, but I'd be discarding it by level 45 at most and the binding system meant I couldn't even flip it on the auction house or use it on a separate character. The quests were straightforward, basic, and almost none of them advanced any kind of story. I could do dungeons, but there was no real reason, and the only real value that earning gold had was for buying your abilities and hopefully a mount.
FFXI was slow and, being a habitual solo player, not the greatest experience in the world. But that there were things to accomplish like missions and BCNMs and helping out other players in level-capped situations where being max level was irrelevant were great ways to maintain engagement. In every MMO I've played, my interest dies really fast with endgame because it's really "Assemble a party, go kill a boss, then repeat." Because there's no purpose to endgame besides getting the higher tier gear so that you can kill the same bosses a little more easily until the next tier gets released. Is that ultimately different from how I'd spend hours in Giddeus farming to purchase an Ochiudo's Kote from the AH? Well, yes, because that Kote will be with me for a long time. I'm not sure I EVER got rid of mine, actually, before the 75 cap was removed.
On the other hand, though, just because the Skinner box treadmill was rewarding without being cranked up to maximum speed, does it mean we should praise something that consumed hundreds of hours of our lives? I'm not sure where I fall on that. It saved money, at least, because I rarely bought other games, but it also meant I rarely played other games. /shrug
Your story is kind of similar to mine. As much as I loved XI I would spend a decent amount of time waiting for looking for help sometimes because my main was WAR and eventually I got SMN to max level too, but sometimes I wanted or needed to go as WAR. As much as I loved that feeling of getting a team together and traveling to our destination it sometimes took too much time where I didn't get to do much of anything else because I need to go to bed. Also it sometimes made my real life difficult because I would be in a party and my friends would ask me to go do something. Any way by 2008 I ended up quitting the game which I don't even remember fully why but when Blizzard started that free 10 day trail for WOW I gave it a shot.
Like you I was amazed at how solo friendly the game was. I could do story quests by myself, dungeons were so much easy and had a party finder compared to how doing something like a BCM was. There were flight paths and even flying mounts. Eventually I realized most of that made the game less fun. The solo aspect was good in the aspect of saving time, but I never got to know anyone because I was always doing everything by myself. In dungeons you just worked together to complete it, there were no cutscenes to the story missions, it was just reading a box of text. My highest level in WOW is a Paladin in his 70's and most of that was from solo quests and dungeons with people I hardly talked to. I didn't have any fond memories of anything during that time because really all I did was go from zone to zone killing monsters and doing quests. Compared that to XI where even in my first 10 levels I had some EXP parties and was always interacting with players out in the wield or San D' Oria either asking questions, helping others, or just talking about whatever. Then I get to the Dunes and start getting Exp parties we had so much fun. From the dunes and beyond you get to know the people you have an exp party with, you chat with others in Jueno while waiting for a party, you can't tele to a city directly so you have to run or ride a chocobo from a craig and maybe you meet someone along the way who needs help or see a NM or elemental you need.
As much as XIV isn't XI it is the only MMO since XI that I have been able to play long enough to get to max level and continue playing. I play other MMO's but not enough and am not at max level even. There is just something special about FF MMO's
and that was the puller's job, to inform that this location is bad for exp. had to know where to take your party to get them prime exp.
Who doesn't remember getting that 1 lvl 50 piece that you were saving up for for 4 levels? Hell, even getting to wear that leather set at lvl 7 felt like a huge achievement. Modern games throw gear at you every level, and you can usually ding lvl 20 in an hour or so. In XI, it took around a year for me to ding 75 and i was in game EVERY minute i wasn't at work or sleeping.
I hope they make a game someday that is like ffxi leveling , i Know in this day and age people dislike leveling as much and prefer to get there hand held to cap but i hope one day another game is out that Forces you into social groups in order to progress.
MMO's 4k Gaming! Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
@@Tetsu9701 ya but combat looked clunky last time i saw :(
Rashid Can’t deny that. Keep in mind that it’s still in pre-alpha. They hired an animation artist last month as well. It’s mine as well as a lot of other ex-FFXI/EQ/SWG/AC/EQOA and even Vanilla Wow players last hope in an old school MMORPG.
It’s important to mention the sheer challenge of being alone. I was part of a close group of friends and we needed each other. It really came down to when you logged in regards to what your could do.
While I was never able to make what I felt was real progress in FFXI until the introduction of Fields of Valor, I do think FFXI lost some of what made it special when it became more accessible. I think it just shifted a little bit too far in the other direction in terms of how easy it is to level up these days combined with a dozen different ways to teleport. Even as someone who benefited greatly from such changes, it lost a bit of its magic.
But that's not to say FFXI isn't the best MMO I've ever played. Except for some other old-school MMOs or something like D&D, most MMOs I play today make me feel like I don't matter until I reach the level cap. Leveling feels like a formality at best and a boring slog at worst. You said it perfectly that in FFXI, even lower-level players could contribute and feel wanted and that they had worth. You were just another adventurer in the world, stronger than others while others were stronger than you. The mentality that "the real game starts at end-game" is something I really don't like about a lot of MMOs today.
i love everything about FFXI it was and still is my fav. game to play. grinding was no issue at all, actually spending hours while chatting with your party members was great ( even taking food breaks ) the community was great everyone was helping others, lots of players running around so you won't feel lonely in any areas and AH was running great not to npc your items much. only downside thing was inventory space ( i had to make like 6 accounts to send my stuff to ). i still have my account but i logged in last night and i was totally lost where i should start at. at the end ... keep the good work i love watching ffxi videos
There's guides in bg wiki if you want guidance.
I'm so happy about all these videos that brings back old ffxi players nostalgia and shows new people the beauty in the grind that made everything have more purpose.
Promies were caped at 30 ;) Rank3 dread dragon 25 (the only lv25 fight btw^^).
Leveling was grinding as hell and required more grinding farming as hell but every level cap opened so many content and area that was for me making it bearable. CoP mission especially. I was planning those like any "end-game" content of today. Gather the people, get everyone ready with map, wikies, med & food with the group composition available (old video on my channel for those on that matter btw^^). That is what every mmo since then lack. Nothing that challenging before end-game and it plain sucks.
3:15 - ah the promys... my favorite zones in the game. The eerie background music. The surreal landscape. The bizarre mobs. It was just such a freakishly beautiful zone... and perhaps the single best concept the game ever had.
The leveling system was absolutely brutal! But it was rewarding! I remember people being in awe at my level 37 Warrior
Level sync I think was one of the earlier changes way before 75 cap was raised. This made it possible to form a good party and not necessarily have everyone in same range. The grind was still there but wait time to form a party was greatly turned down
The leveling grind was the true endgame!! Want to kick it up a notch? Solo 1 to 75 as BST and SMN was a true fun challenge. Want to go beyond that? Get a buddy or two as BST or SMN and farm mobs 5+ levels and it was hella fun and the exp was amazing with an exp ring, true players will understand. CoP was a challenge on its own and the rewards were pretty awesome. Again, leveling was the true endgame, the top goal back in the day was maats cap. Dynamis was fun, but the gear was easily replaceable by HNMs and ZNMs.
PS. I'm planning on making a return, what server you on?
90% sure the server is Odin
you have a real weird definition of fun lmao
The grind isnt truly a grind if you enjoy doing it and the combat in ffxi was always extremely fun and tactical
needing a paladin to cover me cause i wanna drop all my tp and 2hr macros was always fun
Love your channel man. Makes me really want to jump into this game again but i need a group of people to play with
Love your videos and how they describe the reasons why I loved the game sooooo, sooo much. Even if it was a long road and some xp ranges were kind of harsh leveling to 75 was an adventure in itself, oh how I miss those times!!
The friendly community and Music was my EndGame. Watching cutscenes is all well and good but the overall Fun and experience of playing FFXl for 6 year's since Day1 on PS2 with great Memories is what made this my favorite MMORPG.
I wish newer MMOs had a level cap that didn't rise making all your previous playtime obsolete. Horizontal progression was the best.
Chase Cartwright what's the point of a mmorpg if you don't keep adding progression
One of the problems you run into when level cap keeps changing with expansion is that all the work you did in the last expansion is fairly worthless. Horizontal progression on the other hand doesn't invalidate what you did before. Instead you're tweaking gear to make it a bit better, fine tuning while exploring new content. FFXI before the 99 cap was really good at that.
Justuas it's not that it doesn't add new content.. it bothers me that everytime new content is added.. everything you have done before was for nothing. Your all powerful min max tank could easily be replaced by this new guy that just joined the game a week ago and grinded to max level. It may take you 2 weeks to replace 70% of your gear while the new guy takes a month... But it's not that out of reach h from the new player. But you don't get that instant gratification with ffxi. Each character needs to earn their access to things like everyone else. If it took a veteran player 40 game hour to get that airship pass.. I newer player would need to go through more or less the same struggle to earn that access. Everything you do in ffxi feels like an accomplishment. There's no such thing as daily missions to fill the void of actual things to do.
Back in the early days of ffxi there were weekly and daily missions to "fill the void".
@Justuas: It's not like there wasn't any progression. It was just slow and a lot of stuff was either a sidegrade or situational upgrade. Flat out clear upgrades didn't come very often and the game was better for it. So much content remained relevant for years rather than months and FFXI's endgame was huge compared to most when it comes to actual relevant content.
Now this is an amazingly informative video. So much nostalgia!
I remember clearly reaching level 50 in altepa desert for the first time on black mage. Getting my freeze spell... and learning to magic burst it lol. Was such a rewarding feeling.
Man that promyvion description gave me flashbacks..
I hated promy's because they just weren't fun. It didn't help that since only whm would have raise at 25 so if your healer was smn or rdm you were screwed if you died.
fuck all promathia missions but especially fuck airship
Ouryu was the killer for me. Took me 8 months of re trying and working with horrible players.
Acewarlord from Cerberus 03-2013. Over 1500 days of play time. I miss this so much. I still talk to a few of my LS friends. Nothing will ever beat the grinding. My LS killed all HnMs AV pandamonion and that still didn’t touch the early years of leveling.
I remember all about making a lot of friends over the lvls. I mean you kept being around the same people all the time, and even start sharing your lives and even try to help somewhat out of game with advice for irl problems. In WoW, I don't know anything about anyone.
Listening offscreen, the message bling @ 3.50ish had me checking my tabs for the game that wasn't even open
Just returned to Vanadiel six weeks ago. Already got 99 thief from scratch. Soloed everything to get there and rank 10 in Sandy. Thanks for inspiring me to return to my favorite mmo of all time.
Chuiroi, Did you ever wonder around the Seraph server? Your Taru Character name seems familiar.
I remember when I played.. I actually ran a LS that did all the low level and old expansion content.. we didn't even bother with endgame stuff. It was a great place to be in because we weren't bottlenecked by the rest of the playerbase on the server who were farming abyssia mobs and such.
i remember playing maplestory and i didn't thing i would even ever reach close to the lvl cap. but i kept playing because there was always something fun to do. i didn't have to be max level to join in on all that. also i remember that once you level up everyone in your party would sincerely congratulate you which always felt kinda nice
I loved that there was so much you could do to improve your character and that job level was one of the options. While the grind could be long you made so many friends in the process. As to cap level, sure it was a goal but not a major one. I was more interested in getting my crafting leveled so that leveling jobs would be easier. FFXI is the only game I can think of where low level crafted items are still useful at high levels. I made a lot of gil selling sneak oils, invisibility powders and later on, silver bullets. The other thing is that I love that you get rewarded when over level in a craft, a chance to raise the quality or get more items as a result. It took me about 9 months to hit 75 the first time and I think that beating Maat for the last genkai meant more to me than actually hitting 75 later on.
This is my all-time favorite game. I can't think of any game I reminisce on so often or so fondly. The leveling in a 6 person tp burn on colibri in aht urhgan was awesome.
Played 11 for 9 years, my wife who i met in a Dunes crab party will be home from work soon, the journey to cap was as much a joy as being there in 11, and it made you feel much more a part of the world that was Vanadiel.
This game got under your skin for better or worse, we have never found another mmo that has kept our attention for any length of time.
This is 100% true. I considered leveling to be the main content, and the most fun. And like the video says, if you ever get tired, you can go farm, mine, craft, etc because there were always different kinds of content that still helped your character progress in some meaningful way.
I really enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) reaching for that next goal in the game, whether it's a level, story mission, quest or piece of gear. Almost every step I took in FFXI felt like I earned it, I earned the privilege to be in Dynamis, to wear artifact/relic, to be a Rank 10. Now with the current state of the game, you speed through the first 60 or so levels in an afternoon, and can bang out most of the missions yourself. It's still fun, but in a different way. Now FFXI IS all about endgame (Ambuscade, Escha, Vagary, Omen), but I do miss those days over a decade ago when I was still looking for parties and pushing on past 75 and into expansion content.
I might be a bit bias since FFXI was my 1st MMO ,but it is still the best one I've played. The reward was the journey and the people you played with along the way made the story. Absolutely amazing music and challenge levels that made you cry and vow revenge or made you ecstatic with the true accomplishment. The reward in just the ability to make or break a KSNM99 or BCNM30 to sheerly help a friend was amazing. The difficulty made the community stronger and the game better for it.
SaroDracon your right.. I think the most memorable thing in that game was the ability to just log in one day.. not planning what you were going to do.. a linkshell member or a friend puts up a help request to unlock something or a bcnm needing a certain job.. and you go and help.. with no real progression or gain to your own character.. but have a lot of fun doing it. And the karma of this helping out culture in the game comes back so many times whenever you decide to change job roles and level a new job.
That was another good thing for the community. Accountability. The ultra low amount of assholes was very nice. With the work put into progression and leveling someone couldn't just 'roll up' and max out a troll account and be a dick just for the sake. Did everyone sing kuumbaya around a fire in Yuhtunga Jungle? Oh definitely not ,but your character was an investment of time in a community.
On a side note I would log in with probly 4-5 'plans' of what to do. Sometimes I got one of those and sometimes I see an AA in need of help or a friend camping an NM in need of more bodies. Your game time presented many opportunities that you would kind of flow with.
Once I finish college i will make a return tour to this game! I miss this game so much.
FFXI was probably my favourite MMO for years and it was thanks to the community. I remember having fun just sitting around for a few hours whether it be in Jeuno, Bastok, Selbina or going around soultrapping mobs for Pankration and still having a blast wasting time talking to the friends I made. I still remember spending 8-10 hours or more waiting for party invites or trying to set one up myself but the game had so much to offer that you could do a ton of things while waiting and it still mattered.
I could literally farm all day and still not get bored of the tedious task like I would any other game. The grindiness of the game just flew by fast thanks to the community and I never found one like it since but I miss it. I don't think I'd go back now with all the changes but least they made it more accessible for new and old players alike that may not have the time sink anymore, I know I don't.
The fact that everyone high or low could be important/useful in one way or another was a great thing about this game. Probably had most of my fun leveling my DRK with my LS which I had only gotten to 55-58 If I remember right. Highest character I had back then but I would quit off and on throughout the course of 4 years which I probably only spent a total of 2 playing. Best part of it was every time I came back I was greeted by the same old friends and was always given a LS as they were excited I was back, it didn't matter how long I planned to stay each time but they were just happy to see me regardless and enjoy it while it lasted.
Leveling was great back in the day. I left right after wings but I remember being on Odin server and grinding in dunes and crawlers nest. As far as the end game.. honestly, at least on Odin, I loved the end game. Sky was one of my favorite zones (granted though it passed through my favorite zone The Sanctuary) and my linkshell was always running it. I miss it sometimes but the game has changed so much to where I wouldn't know where to start.
it was a hella grind, my first account i played for 7 years and my main was Rng/war then later i leveled ninja at about 50 when i needed shadows for pulling and i had a real specific role and was important to my exp party. it was a job which i couldn't just grind, i had to farm mats make bolts and silver bullets just to get invited to good exp groups on Fenrir. and not only was there plenty to do to keep u busy and progressing but you had options and felt needed as a player cause the game forced you to need others. and by you needing them you felt obligated Togo back and help random people with their AF quests and bcnms, was a great way to build a community and i miss those gaming days when an mmo was a true challenge and full of depth. ~Stefinaki
I sincerely hope the mobile remake of 11 is successful... Anyone know when it's expected to release?
I 100% agree. While I like the option to switch between solo and group content (which it was drew me into WoW), I still like FFXI's system over current leveling (current WoW/FFXIV). I never felt that I needed to get to max in a rush and instead just did what I wanted at my own pace.
Great content provider, love your input! and love FF!
thanks dude!
FFXI is a game with an unexpectedly wide variety of ways to tackle something. Earning money, experience, or gear all had several approaches. That freedom and variety is what made it fun.
And it was naturally paced. You'd earn a few levels, exhausting ammo, tools, and food, so you'd have to go back out and earn money for more. New spells and gear, too. Every few levels also meant more content would unlock and you could take some time to clear that.
All ffxi needed was level sync
Great video! Ever heard of Nasomi FFXI? It's a 2005 era private server with up to 1200 players online. It is retail like for that era and feels like a trip back in time. Lots of players, good economy, etc etc
The fact that there is nothing to really do in XIV is why I stopped playing. XI absolutely got it right with multiple things to do as you level. With gear and spells to collect at different levels, you always had something to do. The level grind was slow, but you felt like you achieved something when you hit the next level.
Seeing all those empty zones is so sad. :( Kazham used to be such a hub for level 20-30s back in the day.
You didn't mention the job switching for farming NMs, Crafting, and how much two jobs can vary compared with modern MMOs, like Nin and Pld both Tanks but it's like playing two separate games. Or How RAM and BLU are just Jack of all trades, or my Favorite, BST duos and trios!
I love every part of FFXI - almost everything is worth doing like sometimes the best gear at endgame for a certain slot is a level 50 item so you end up collecting all kinds of stuff or going back to old zones - the opposite of WoW
Atleast on FFXI you had to work together to get ANYTHING worth while done where as on 14 everyone wants to hurry hurry hurry and get their shit and leave.
Love the party leveling
I totally agree with all the other sentiments here; I played from 2007-2012, and never even hit cap. To the dismay of my wallet and my inventory space, I just always thought it was so cool to level up other jobs because they were so unique and had purpose. For example, like you said, money meant a lot in FFXI. So, I decided to level WHM so that I could make a little extra cash through gate teles. (Confession: I never finished the quests to get the scrolls,) because then I moved on to other jobs. Needed BLM for my WHM sub, or wanted to skill up so I could be a badass on my DRK with Drain, or even wanted to level my THF for the treasure hunter Trait. It all just felt so meaningful, and me never having hit cap never felt like a huge letdown to me. I could still go in as a high-60 DRK and deal some decent weaponskills in Besieged or Campaign, (if I could hit, that is,) or go out and kill NMs that were a real challenge.
Your videos make me crave good ol’ FFXI so bad man, haha. Thanks always, and here’s to some sort of meaningful reboot in the near future. ✌🏻
Promy. You HAD to mention Promy. Christ, I can't think of a single place in FFXI that creeped me out MORE.
I don't think the hard level grind in FFXI was ever hotly debated unless you count those who just want the coolest looking gear, show off and leave the game. Final fantasy was based off of D&D. No D&D campaign starts with "You have the coolest gear and you've won the game. Let's all go home now." I think every old player and probably a lot of current players would agree that you play the game to play the game. If you the entire game just hands you levels, why play a RPG at all? The real flaw of FFXI was that it pretty much required a party to do anything. Need papayrus paper? Get a party together. Need your keys for khazam pass? Get a party together. Anytime there's a barrier for levels, you need a party. I mean, it's good in that you had to get involved with other players, but this came back to bite them in the butt when there aren't enough players to do dynamis or run COP missions.
In short, it's not [solely] the games' fault that people rush to do endgame and only endgame, we, as players, need to stand back, look at games that encourage this and say "No. I want a journey, an adventure, not a way to show off or be rushed through good story or content." Remember that the point of games is to have fun, not be popular or fashionable or brag. (as a lot of games these days tend to be.)
Besides, all FFXI player has probably seen those players that got their characters power leveled or bought their characters. How good of a player are they usually? Skill is acquired with time and care. Not money.
I'm pretty sure my first Dyna experience was also sub 75. Dyna was a fairly new event at the time, I believe it was patched in a month after I started playing in 2004, so when NA shells finally got there to start sponsoring runs for currency, any player with a sufficiently high enough level to enter (i believe minimum was 65?) was welcome.
You're absolutely right about modern MMOs treating leveling as a throaway experience, an extended tutorial to be done mostly solo. FFXI was different. Getting to 75 was a journey and part of your growth as a character. Abilities while often unlocked like modern MMOs felt earned rather than gifted, and in some cases, with the WSNM trials, Sleepga II, Erase, Phalanx, and other spells, significant job changing abilities are quested and required a party to clear.
I don't slag on FFXIV for the fun of it. I did give it a go and probably will go back to it from time to time to play, but it's not really a game that gives me the sense of growth. Gear are outdated and leveling is so damn fast, you often get 5-6 different abilities you don't fully know how to use when you hit max level.
Honestly after I get my laptop battery and update everything and jump back in I'm so excited to do story stuff as a smn/whm main myself I really do miss the game.
The crazy grind was part of the charm - you needed a party and your reputation sometimes was the difference between an invite and another hour hanging out in Jeuno.
Which kept people from being complete assh*oles too, otherwise you didn't get anywhere at all, these run through the graphics to endgame jokes of MMO's today encourage it instead.
Have you done a video on the effect of JP players in the game? I don't think this game would be what it was without them. When I first started I needed maps to help with the quests and the best maps online had JP annotations. I may not have tolerated the grind except that the JP players showed us it was all worth it. We may not have partied together much but there was certainly an effect.
I played Taru Drk long before it was accepted practice, long before 75 cap was dropped, because of this i actually played far more with the Japanese than anyone else, the non Japanese players laughed at me for the lack of strength, the Japanese players invited me for "exactly" the same reason for the lack of tank stress as most of them were blink tanks, all one had to know was the chain WS roll, they looked at the game from all angles, not with tunnel vision.
The highest rated DRK on that server was a taru drk, a 14 year old Japanese kid.
I agree.
As a Bard, I would really enjoy merit parties, even if I was already capped. I never did much endgame due to when I played. 11PM-4AM EST. I still found plenty of people to help, though. It was a really fun game. Just sucked being broke all the time =(
Sooo true!!! Today MMORPGs screams to you all the time: "Hey, you will only be able to experience my full potential when you reach level cap". It's just as you said, it is the journey that makes a great mmorpg experience. In today's MMORPGs you can feel in the air the rush vibe. There is no more fun in leveling. Leveling is just a mean for an end. Most of the game's content now are left for the "end game".
Holy Cow...almost 7k Subs...I remember when it was like 200!
@H4G...have you played Octopath Traveler? It looks like a classic SE RPG...but I think its only on the Nintendo System.
If you have played it...maybe make a video or just say if you like it or dislike it?
I trust your opinion because we have similar tastes and value "feel" over "graphics".
Anyway great video and you nailed the old school feel of FFXI.
As a player that recently returned with a few 99s already completed, my first desire was to level up a job, not go suit up a 99 and do some kind of end game activity for better gear. In a few days I've taken my Sam through a ton of levels and have really enjoyed it, all the while I've been looking at guides for end game and getting caught up on everything new.
It was level 30, not 25, at least from what I remember ;) But yeah, I miss all of that, FFXI today is much more similar to modern MMOs where you really don't feel like you are playing until you hit max level, which at least is a lot easier today than in the past, but in the past I never felt like I was completely worthless if my job wasn't max level.
Totally agree with everything you said. I doubt it would work now as people are so used to having everything now now now. Although nasomi private server is still booming apperently. Thanks to you I am back on retail and loving it again after 5 years out
The mobile FFXI they are making worries me on this topic. With Pay to win, loot boxs, and upgrades being what the stores in mobile based games are all about. I feel like it could be kinda like a server over ran with RMT's, but SE is the RMT selling all the gil and items. So if your just able to open the pocket book and pay your way to 75 or buy a PPC, speed belt or K club then its just going to break the system and the joy
I enjoy the climb more than I enjoy the endgame. It's why I keep coming back to ffxi and start fresh characters in ffxiv. All the lore and the story I can go through is a lot of fun. And as someone who can't sit down and learn a rotation to perfection fue to irl, the climb has less pressure. Also, ffxi allows me to think and make strategies. Combat isn't over in a hot sec unless its a colibri party. XD This could be why I refused to partake in the Abyssea burn parties. I felt like a part of the game was taken away and suddenly the goal became "just burn all your jobs to 99, in a huge group with combat so fast-- you cant socialize and make new friends, and then enjoy the game safely." WHAT?? SAFELY??
They wanna declaw the game by skipping most of it?? Oh well if that's what they wanna do and its fun for them, then I won't argue, but I also wouldnt join them.
I admire people who can do endgame, it seems super stressful from how it turns even kind and patient players into exhausted and irritated people at the end of events.
Okay, I guess endgame is a lil daunting as well! XD
Thanks for the video, will share.^^
I miss this game so much. I did not know what kind of game i was getting into when i bought the game for my pc.. i remember taking days just to get to lvl 15. Cuz i started out as a whm . Someone told me you can change jobs at the moghouse. Went rdm ending up gettinf war to 30. And gettign drk to like 47 before i stopped playing… played again when it cane out again when the 360 came out
I loved this game my entire time! Played from day 1 ps2 all the way to the day console support stopped...(worst choice by se!) I loved the speed of the game but more importantly the social aspect of the game..nothing compares to ffxi and to this day i am still searching another mmo to replace
The first job that I ever got to 75 was PLD. I was so stoked to hit that cap. I finally hit 75. All I thought was, "Oh... thats it, eh?"
the daunting distant cap keep us going, and fishing moat carps for lu shang, only got up to 7K fish turned in...
FFXI was great and leveling was a big chunk of the game most my playtime with XI was just leveling and doing quests and didn't do "endgame" stuff until like YEARS later when could do stuff like dynamis with only like 2-3 people. In XI your friendlist actually mattered as you needed people to actually do stuff such as leveling or doing pretty much any content in the game. When lot of people look back on XI the game not really going to be remember as a great game but for the sense of community that created great times and memories, something that could never be replicated even if went back today and played XI.
I disagree, it is for most of us going to be remembered as the greatest mmorpg to ever exist.
God I wish I could revisit my teenage years on 360 with this brilliant game.
FFXI was the only MMO I ever got fully dedicated into, from the day it released till the treasures of aht urhgan I left when 14 came out thinking that it was the same style of game but with updated graphics, I gave it a try I found that something was missing, specially when it came time to party up with other people.
FFXI held a importance to every job while in a party and made you either a good or bad player to your job, coordination and timing for WS's where all great things in the game as it open up communication between strangers on those late night in the jungles killing Mandies, and it wasn't a grin... At least for me it wasn't, there were time killing and moments of distraction when camping in that one camp you knew you had the best pulls and saw other parties struggle and observed there puller link 2 IT mobs and you knew they were in trouble, jump in as a hero and provoke that other mob and help them out! Yeah these were the good old days.
FFXI is 100% the best version of an MMO possbile. the issue is its not for everyone. but... it will forever be my ideal MMO.
as an old time player at launch the friendships you make in exp party some time made lasting friendships as the game was meant to bring people together. if you look at any final fantasy game you are never alone you always find a friend very shortly or you start off in full party and that makes you the one person to that can change anything as we are the warriors of light, hopefully saving then from the darkness
in game and out of game as they help you thought the hard times i know lots of players have sat down and just chatted way with each other after a long exp party or bcnm fights monk was the best thing to solo M 2-5 fight 2h on dragon and pray the eye doesn't stone you and your friend, haa fun times miss the game a lot there was also the drive to lvl up different jobs just so the sub wouldn't lack need to lvl it to 37 and try different spots for lvling from over camping
I like what you said in describing ffxi where the game starts as soon as you start playing. I think the whole race to endgame shit is dumb and then it’s just repeating the same raid over and over for the best gear and then waiting for the next one to come out. I much prefer to have fun my entire journey throughout the game. Somewhere along the line I think developers lost sight of that and then most of the game just feels like a slog. Like if the game doesn’t start until endgame then they might as well just cut the bs and make that the whole game. If not then make he game in between worth playing. Ffxi did this really well. There was always stuff to do and it was always useful not just pointless busy work. It benefited you in some way.
The grind helped keep the dedicated players at the end of it all. I was a day one player and was pretty young back then to really keep up with everyone. I kind of found my lower level to be more of a stigma. I loved the opportunities there were to farm gil. But, at the same time the bots and campers made that extremely difficult. Even with silly things like boyda moss or leech blood.
Level capped battles what people valued was experience and knowledge which you don't really have at a low level for a reason lol. But, the community was so good at informing people on what to do before hand. Like you always say there's good parties and bad parties.
FFXI was the only MMO that I've played where levels didn't just seem like some arbitrary number. Job abilities were so few and far between for some jobs it getting that next milestone felt earned, instead of "unlocked." I personally leveled SMN to 75 first and I only had Carbuncle until level 65. Even after I got my next one, Leviathan, it still took me months to get the rest of my summons.
I agree the grind was the fun part, get bored do another job quest and lvl that for a while or hell just explore the zones that's true adventuring, I play 14 and have a few 70 jobs but I'm just not a savage raider so I feel that I lvl so fast that the game just kind of hits a wall.
one of the things I hate is those instant dungeons... They don't feel like an MMO in a way. FFXI dungeons are a huge map where the entire server can access that place at the same time (though it rarely happens since everybody is doing their own stuff at their own pace) but having that few hundred ppl in 1 dungeon makes a dungeon "DUNGEON"
That feeling of u seeing other adventurers doing their fights in the same dungeon. U just don't have that in FF14.
and how the auction house was really active, and you can make alot of gil selling items farmed for crafts or rare fish that you caught with Lu Shang Rod, god forbid you ever broke that rod. and try repairing it and then fail sythn and losing the broken lu shang rod. sever severity
The best thing about FFXI for me was the exploration. I didn't enjoy the leveling grind too much(or at all for that matter). Majority of the time I'd end up with a bad healer and/or no tank(OR BOTH). OR, I'd end up with a fantastic healer and tank and no DD. That was my experience leveling in FFXI MAJORITY of the time. There were very few parties that I enjoyed leveling in, hence why I didn't like the leveling in FFXI. I think the only MMO I've played so far that has a balanced solo exp and party exp is GuildWars 2. Exping in GW2 was good with a party or without. I really enjoyed leveling in GW2.
you must of really had much better time with people. I struggled cause everyone shot to 75 ASAP, only stopped to do LB quests. No one cared about the early game stuff and only wanted end game. And this was when it first came out to NA. Everyone acted with the idea that leveling was just the drawn out tutorial or sorts as you mentioned.
The greatest thing about FFXI was that you had to earn what you had. Most other MMO's many things are basically handed to you... In FFXI anything worth having is not going to be easy to acquire. It made you PROUD when you earned that armor or that weapon.
Fuck man, I'm sick of the BS of modern MMOs existing just for end game content. I miss levels mattering. I might actually get back into FFXI after this. Is this on a private server, or is the game still running to this day?