Read before you buy!

[Bronson]

I'm going to be honest, I loved this game, it was my first mmorpg and in my opinion it's quite good. Not everyone has the same opinion of course. The thing is, even if you're willing to give the game a chance, don't buy it. It still has a monthly fee despite having almost no players (It's somewhat old). So you'll be paying 15 dollars a month, the same fee as WoW, EVE, Aion, Rift, etc., except in this game you'll hardly ever see someone you can play with, and my best memories of the game were of groups. (in this game, instead of doing dungeons, groups gathered together, set up a camp somewhere with 1-2 healer, a tank, and 3 dps, and fought monsters way above their level, which gave massive exp, but were each as hard as a boss in any other mmo).

[CrystalMists]

Personally; I wanted something that is decidedly...NOT wow.

this system; to my understanding works ALOT differently.

the part i didn't expect was getting locked outta my squareenix account and being subjected to NO PHONE SUPPORT!.

yea thats right...Square enix downsized and HAS NO PHONE SUPPORT!

Edit: was able to get logged in..Finally. the silently did something to thier end...thats my story and I'm sticking to it...Still...WARNING: NO Phone support!

[FredEffinChopin]

@Drunken
I was on the phone with SE support fairly recently... I'll see if I can get you a number later and post it in here.

@OP
There are the same number of players on the server at any given time as there used to be, which is 2,000-3,000. If you're seeing empty areas, it's not because people aren't playing, it's because there are newer areas where everyone hangs out. While the membership decreased, they merged the servers some years back, and everything is in the same balance that it used to be back in the day.

The game itself though, is very different...

[DeadlySwordz]

First, its not $15/month unless you want to pay that much or more than that. It's $11.95 for your first character. If you want to have more than 1 character, its $1 added on. But 1 character can play every single class in the game.

Second, this is a jrpg MMO. Like any other jrpg game out there, you grind all the time so if you like those aspects, you would like FFXI. I personally liked FFXI, I quit 3yrs ago but I am going to reactivate my account soon since new expansion is out.

[dietdrinky]

just let this game die already!

[BINMERC]

I actually miss playing this back in the days when it came out. It was an experience. I made so my friends just waiting days in the dunes for a party. Anymore its hard to find anyone to play with in these new MMO's. Final Fantasy XI was my first MMO back in 2003, just wish it had the same population as it did then and I would buy this for the 4th time.

[FredEffinChopin]

Originally posted by stark:

just let this game die already!

It's the most profitable FF title of all-time, and it has tens of thousands of active accounts. How is any of this a problem for you?

[dietdrinky]

Originally posted by FredEffinChopin:

Originally posted by stark:

just let this game die already!

It's the most profitable FF title of all-time, and it has tens of thousands of active accounts. How is any of this a problem for you?

I personaly don't have a problem with it. I don't play it. It is only the most profitable of the series due to the subscription. does that mean its good? No. does that make it more popular than the others? no. Is it a fun game? To me, it is not. The game is doing nothing new and its just a time machine to days when we didnt know any better. Let it die already. It's time to move on.

[FredEffinChopin]

Originally posted by stark:

Originally posted by FredEffinChopin:

It's the most profitable FF title of all-time, and it has tens of thousands of active accounts. How is any of this a problem for you?

I personaly don't have a problem with it. I don't play it. It is only the most profitable of the series due to the subscription. does that mean its good? No. does that make it more popular than the others? no. Is it a fun game? To me, it is not. The game is doing nothing new and its just a time machine to days when we didnt know any better. Let it die already. It's time to move on.

Does just putting a subscription on something make it profitable? No, people have to pay it. They've been paying for it for over 10 years, and they're paying money for the new (new*, which you don't need a time machine to reach) expansion. Obviously someone out there does think it's good. Why then, should they let it die? Just because you don't enjoy it? Does that Stark caucus usually carry that much weight in the video game world? I don't get it.

[dietdrinky]

I understand your love of mithras, white mages teleporting you to basktok or even windurst and I understand that you love killing the same crab for hours. That's fine. I used to do it myself back in 2003 off and on. I was a pretty cool rdm/whm healer and a better war/nin but other games came out and those games didnt punish me for dying and allowed me to do more epic things and feel more epic about doing them. FF11 does not want you to feel epic. FF11 only wants that monthly subscription. That is why every little thing in that game is a time sink. If you die, your exp goes down and you may get demoted a level. Whats that mean? more time grinding! Did you die just now? no problem, you can teleport back to your crystal and walk back it! It will only take a hour! Got a white mage to bring you back? Even better! Just got to wait 10 mins for that rez debuff! Now, things might have changed last time ive played but stuff like that will keep me and a vast majority of players from playing this game. It's just not fun (to me).

[DeadlySwordz]

Haters going to hate. I persoanlly enjoyed the game. I played for 6yrs or so before quiting around 3yrs ago. But I am going to resub soon :D

[FredEffinChopin]

Originally posted by stark:

I understand your love of mithras, white mages teleporting you to basktok or even windurst and I understand that you love killing the same crab for hours. That's fine. I used to do it myself back in 2003 off and on. I was a pretty cool rdm/whm healer and a better war/nin but other games came out and those games didnt punish me for dying and allowed me to do more epic things and feel more epic about doing them. FF11 does not want you to feel epic. FF11 only wants that monthly subscription. That is why every little thing in that game is a time sink. If you die, your exp goes down and you may get demoted a level. Whats that mean? more time grinding! Did you die just now? no problem, you can teleport back to your crystal and walk back it! It will only take a hour! Got a white mage to bring you back? Even better! Just got to wait 10 mins for that rez debuff! Now, things might have changed last time ive played but stuff like that will keep me and a vast majority of players from playing this game. It's just not fun (to me).

It's not for you anymore, I get that. What I don't get is this sentiment that the whole thing should be shut down despite thousands of people enjoying it.

Also, for the record, you're working with ancient information. You can level from 1-99 in a couple of days now. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. It's one of many huge changes I found that the game had underwent when I returned to it a year or so ago. It makes things better (IMO) in some ways, but it cheapens the experience in others. I understand the decision though, since all the expansions stuff is mostly enjoyable when you have the levels to do so, which pretty much put a great deal of content out of reach of anyone who was new to the game. Most of the stuff you're complaining about though, is not relevant anymore. Leveling is super fast, there are a half dozen different ways to get around the world, finding parties for xp is a thing of the past (it's all about GOV burn alliances that you just show up for and maybe wait a little while for if the alliance is full)... It is a drastically different game than the one you're describing. Which also (the tendency for the game to change) is part of what I believe has kept the game active for so long.

*edit*
Maat's Hat (an item you get for beating Maat with 15 jobs) is a fairly common occurrence around Jeuno nowadays. A lot of people's goal is to level every job to max, and it isn't all that tough to pull off. Just to drive home how different the experience of leveling a job is.

[Pimparoni]

I use to play the game a long while back when it was populated. Decided to give the game another shot but due to square enix support that's not possible. To recover an old account the only way is to have the original serial code. Even though I gave them all info to prove I was owner. They ended up asking me for the serial again, after I sent them the info they asked for other than the serial.

[ein]

Looks like somebody grew up and got a cubicle, and all of a sudden their time is precious. I don't have time to sit around waiting for rez sickness! And where's my fast travel? Funny how people can admit they spent so much time doing something they didn't actually enjoy ("grinding," i.e. fighting monsters and using magic, oh how boring!) and they don't realize they are making an embarrassing and ridiculous confession.

Downtime is good. Consequences are good. The carrot-stick thing is also nice, but we're all poorer for the fact that it has crushed the other nice things about the MMO form, just so you can feel epic.

You're not epic, and there's no reason you should feel that way in a video game. It's flattery and it's silly, and being so easily manipulated should make you feel like a nobody.

[Bronson]

Honestly, I'm just really dissapointed that they butchered FFIV so hard. When I heard about that I was like YES! A new version of FFXI I'm going to lose my life to it, then it releases as garbage.

[dietdrinky]

Originally posted by einexile:

Looks like somebody grew up and got a cubicle, and all of a sudden their time is precious. I don't have time to sit around waiting for rez sickness! And where's my fast travel? Funny how people can admit they spent so much time doing something they didn't actually enjoy ("grinding," i.e. fighting monsters and using magic, oh how boring!) and they don't realize they are making an embarrassing and ridiculous confession.

Downtime is good. Consequences are good. The carrot-stick thing is also nice, but we're all poorer for the fact that it has crushed the other nice things about the MMO form, just so you can feel epic.

You're not epic, and there's no reason you should feel that way in a video game. It's flattery and it's silly, and being so easily manipulated should make you feel like a nobody.

how do you know i'm not epic? Your ignorance is showing. Also, you should have fun playing a game. It's a game not a job. I should feel like a nobody for having feelings for something I enjoy doing? Are you the result of some type of abuse? I did enjoy FF11 but you obviously have a hard time read or understanding what you read but thats a very common issue with children so dont feel bad.