Final Fantasy XI

Way too expensive for my blood, but I too would like to know what people think.

I lost one of my friends to this game over the past few weeks. It's all he talks about, and he's called in sick to work three times already just to keep playing. The thing that bugs me the most is that the character he created is a woman. A woman named Jillybean. And he flirts with guys online to get them to help him. It kind of creeps me out.

Playing as a girl to get assistance is a common "strategy". (Flirting is a little questionable.) Skipping work to play a game--three times, no less--is worrisome. Hopefully he'll burn out on it soon.

I've tried quite a few MMORPGs and have never been able to get into any of them. I really wish EQ hadn't taken off the way it did, now every new game in the genre feels compelled to ape its structure. Just the entire design and game mechanics are not for me. I still like the concept of a persistent online world, though, and am waiting for one less grounded in tedium to arrive.

What's the name of that one comin up for the Box? True Fantasy, or something like that? I've heard good things about that one.

But everything I've heard about FFXI was that it was waaaay to tedious and took too damn long to get goin.

I've bought every FF game since VII, and I knew I wouldn't get this one as soon as I heard it was going to be all online a few years back. I'm waitin for XII. At least I've still got X-2 to hold me over. I got that one for Christmas and still haven't finished it because school and Ninja Gaiden kinda derailed that venture. But I just finished NG, so I'll be getting back on X-2 soon enough.

I think it's Fantasy Online. I'm not into these types of games at all. Regular offline games make me put off more important things as it is...I don't need the added addiction of online games...or the expense.

True Fantasy Online.

FFXI is just more of the same. I've tried Everquest, Anarchy Online, FFXI, and Planetside and Planetside was the only one that even approached being a good time.

As long as these games are based around fucking dice rolls, they wont ever be fun. I dont care how many hundreds of quests, or continents, or different classes/jobs it has. If the character doesnt swing/shoot/whatever when I click the button, and if whether or not I hit is based on some stats and a random number generator instead of my own ability to aim, its fucked from the start.

I know its easy to just say this, but i'd really like an MMO that played like some of the games we already know are fun. Something that controlled and played like Splinter Cell or Ninja Gaiden (or, if shooting for what Planetside tried and failed to do, something that feels like Halo or Half Life, instead of the most basic and not-fun FPS engine you could ever put together), but in a persistant world.

I realize this has very little to do with FFXI specifically but.....I sort of HAVE to put in my requisite anti-EQ-style-MMO when I see these threads.

- Fate

I'll agree with that. I don't like the whole D&D dice roll thing. (that's where the idea came from, right?) I didn't like it in KOTOR either, though the rest of that game more than made up for it.

Just got done installing FFXI on my PS2 for about an hour and a half. Its Go Time.

Just picked it up for PS2, ended up costing me almost 200 bucks. Shite.

Anyway, we need to do a CHUD thing with this.

Im on the Sylph server, how about you guys?

Damn, Mark, you shoulda went on the Quezacotl server. I should've mentioned that to you, cause that's where all the guys I know from EB play....

I know a bunch of people on the Sylph so they bought me a world pass for it. Ill find out if there's a way to switch servers.

The World Pass must be used at character creation, once your character is created then they are stuck in that particular server. Hope you guys enjoy the game a hell of a lot more than I did, I was bored out of my mind after a week. I have friends completely addicted and I'm dumbfounded that they somehow ended up there. The appeal just absolutely isn't there for me.

I have high hopes for City of Heroes, that's about the only MMORPG I'm really paying any attention to right now. I think WoW will be too close to FFXI for my taste.

^^^ Yep, meaning that if you want to switch servers to play with a friend, you have to make a whole new character to do it...usually meaning the two of you are seperated by many levels, sort of defeating the whole purpose.

Brilliant game design, there.

- Fate

Despite its shortfalls, still is an incredible game.

It's like this for most MMORPGs.

Once again, we have a bunch of people who say they want to play an online RPG but don't like anything about them. You want role playing? It's there. galaxies has classes no one plays that are made for role playing. Other games do, but if you're gonna play these games for months on end like they are meant to be played, there must be a lvling system. And if there's a lvling system, then there's gonna people who play it extremely and have high lvl characters. This is the nature of these games.

If a game having separate servers bothers you, then don't even bother with online RPGs. That's just the surface of what could potentially drive you mad.

None of the MMO's i've played have forced me into a server. I always got to choose.

Well, I havent played SWG, but I suspect people dont play those classes because they are less fun. If I were to play a Star Wars game, I doubt very much i'd be happy as a blacksmith or something when I could be a Jedi or Storm Trooper.

It isnt that the games take a lot of time, but that there isnt anything fun to actually DO during all that time. The actual gameplay behind every MMRPG is essentially the same. Lifeless and dull.
If they were actually fun to play, there would be zero problems. But a system that bases itself on stats and dice rolls exclusively doesnt exactly scream "PLAY ME FOR 4 YEARS, I'LL NEVER GET OLD I SWEAR!"

If seperate servers bothered me, I wouldnt be able to play any online games at all. But this is in reference to a comparitavely small issue in FFXI; not even a big deal when you consider how broken the whole genre is.

- Fate

Do you guys think is worth $100?

I've had it since Monday but have had some problems getting on. Long story short, it's now performing all the updates and with any luck i'll be on sometime tonight. Can't wait....

So, what kind of computer specs do you need to have in order to play this on PC? I don't think I have a strong enough computer, but I was just wondering in case I decide to get a new rig before I go to grad school in the fall. If I do that, then I might pick this one up. If people are still playing at that point, that is.

My sucky computer can run it. 800MHz P3, 256 MB RAM, nVidia GeForce 3 Ti 4200. Runs fairly smoothly, with certain video options dialed down. Still looks good... about as good as it will look on the PS2.

A word of advice- if you get this game for the PC, go ahead and buy a USB game controller. Force feedback isn't necessary. The closer it looks and feels to a PS2 dual-analog controller, the better. And don't buy anything from Logitech.

So, this may sound like a dumb question, but if I have the game on PC, I can't interact with someone who's playing it on PS2, right?

Because of the way it controls. The game was designed to be comfortable with a ps2 pad, not a keyboard/mouse.

Someone whose played more than me can elaborate, I only remember that the movement and camera were a lot different than other MMRPG's.

- Fate

The control scheme for keyboard/mouse is very strange. You may be able to get used to it, but it was more trouble than it was worth (for me). And this isn't because I'm not used to playing PC MMO's. I played more than my fair share of EQ and DAoC. Final Fantasy just controls... different. The gamepad controls are more intuitive and responsive. And yeah, the fact that this is a console port has a lot to do with it.

Actually, that's wrong. Everyone, in all countries and on all systems, play on the same servers. The PC players will be grouping with the PS2 players. You'll find yourself in guilds and groups with Japanese and North Americans. They've worked hard to make the game universal. It takes some adjustment... learning a few Japanese words helps, for instance.

You shouldn't be able to tell any difference between a PC player and a PS2 player. The only way to know for sure will be when someone tells you.

So I got it up and running last night, and I played for about 3 hours.

It just sucks you right in....it's damn good.

You know what'd be really nice?

And this isn't even a MMORPG, just a fun time with a bunch of people. A large-scale System Shock 2 Coop type game.

It's seriously some of the most fun I've ever had with any game, ever. For those who've never played Shock2, the basic gameplay is similar to Deus X, only it's themed after a derelict spaceship and a handful of survivors caught in a battle between a couple of psychotic AIs and an infections hive-mind biomass known as The Many. Single-player is a totally immersive experience (or was when the graphics didn't suck by comparison) with some incredible use of sound and story progression. But Multiplayer is a whole 'nother cake.

While you can only grab so many upgrades -- abilities and qualities such as hacking and psychic powers -- in the single-player game, with the 4 person coop you can all specialize in a single task and cooperate to take down any challenge. Typically you've got a hacker, a couple soldiers, and a mechanic (the psi powers are pretty useless, but nifty anyway). The teamwork shown when playing like this is unbeatable, and unlike anything I've seen in another game.

Now, imagine a number of groups of people like this -- groups of 4 or 5 survivors all fighting on their own and eventually finding each other, going on their separate ways, whatever. I think it's the PvP element that really ruins MMORPGs, at least for me, because instead of encouraging relatively decent behavior toward other players it offers an incentive to be the biggest asshole possible.

Oh, how I long for a massive zombie apoocalypse coop game. That'd be sublime (and highly unlikely).

Did you post in the wrong thread or something? System Shock 2 is a great game and all but....wtf?

- Fate