For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

[Matera]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

Try looking in the screenshots forum for interface screens... It's really hard to figure out at first,but you'll get the hang of it. It's really tough to describe.

I believe there is a screen ratio option.

3900 is excellent, you should have very few running problems.

The scoring goes something like this:

<1000 - Not great. At all. I wouldn't advise playing.
1000-2000 - Alright... Highest setting will strain.
2000-3000 - Good, Highest setting in low-population areas is fine.
3000-4000 - Excellent, there's a high chance you can run at the highest specs.
4000+ - Impossible to Guage! (What a notorious monster (boss) checks as)

The laptops will be fine, I believe.

Eventually, you will need two copies of the game for two sets of registration codes for the first two expansions. The Trial period only gives you a month of the bare minimum, which is enough for most players under level 25. You could go to 30 fairly easily without the expansions, but at 30 you'll need one of the for the Ninja job that you both plan on having.


Edit:

As for the mailing thing on the board, keep messing with things... It'll be around somewhere.

UI unfortunately isn't customizable thanks to the PS2 hardware limitations, and there is an option to show macros. They use the Ctrl + Alt + 1 - 0 on your keyboard, and you have tens set of those (So 200) That you can fill. You can see you set by holding ctrl or alt, and you can switch on the fly by pressing up/down while holding either.


Edit 2:

You will need to buy another game for your wife, in order to get her the CDkeys for the expansions. You can play without, but the expansions are great fun, and extremely useful. Basically, you'd be buying the second collection (Because it'd still be cheaper than the first two expansions seperately) for the CDkeys for those expansions.

[Oogami]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

FFXI UI is pretty much fixed in place. I think the only thing you can alter would be the transparency and size of chat window.

Edit:

Plus it is impossible to use the inbuild screenshot function to capture the UI. They can only be captured using 3rd party softwares. (I don't use any, so no help there)

(All these editing is making me dizzy...)

[Matera]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

I indeed was, Oogami. (Refrencing the benchmark)

[Telal]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

I found some. so all is good.

Thanks guys, you are really awesome, can't wait to talk to the wife about it again. (She wants to develope the technology to bring a Tarutaru from FFXI out of her screen and into the real world so she can have one as a "pet"[She's slightly nuts])..

Now, to read up and decide what it is I wanna do

thanks again guys for all your great help. I will be around more alot more. With more silly questions to ask.

[Oogami]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

Anytime.

It is always nice to get new players in the world.
I used to play DAoC too myself. Played Hibernia Galahad for a while, before moving to Gaheris. Quitted before the Atlantis expansion was released.

Plus... TaruTarus are uber cute. (My LS [guild] mate is a lv 75 TaruTaru Warrior and Samurai)

[Telal]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

I had a nightshade on Galahad in the guild "Dead Sexy Ninja's" I also left before ToA destroyed that game.

I will probably be Tarutaru with my wife, or Elvan?<SP> dunno yet. I'm still having a hard time telling the male/female Taru's apart. :D

[Matera]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

It's fine, really... Aside from hair, which is covered by a hat or something, we're pretty ambiguous.

Sides, about 80% of the female characters in this game are controlled by men.

[Telal]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

It's fine, really... Aside from hair, which is covered by a hat or something, we're pretty ambiguous.

Sides, about 80% of the female characters in this game are controlled by men.

Just like every other MMO

the mithra's look kinda neat!
i'm definetly more drawn to taru or elvan though.

[Icemage]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

To address a few finer points not mentioned above:

1) I know alot of people ask about soloing, I'm not. I'm asking about duoing. My wife and I will be playing together, and frankly, I want to know if the two of us can play 90% of our time as a duo, and still enjoy this game? I'm not interested in how much of a grind it is, because if it is enjoyable, the grind doesn't matter.

Depending on your current job configurations, this is viable at a lot of levels, but be prepared to not earn as much XP as you probably could in a group. FFXI's game dynamics heavily favors groups of 6. I won't bore you with the details, but just go with the idea that you get more killing power with more players, and more total XP per enemy to split between you as you approach 6 players.

[quote]I'm not overly concerned with the speed, or efficienty of leveling, or exp chains (as I have no idea what or how they work).
My question is simply: can my wife and I have fun playing primarily as a duo?
If it takes me 3 years to hit lvl 75, and i have fun doing it, then it is time and money well spent.

You can have fun, but again, it's not as efficient to be a duo as opposed to being in a larger group. You can also have fun partying together however - this is often a VERY effective tactic, especially if you choose your initial jobs carefully to complement each other (for instance, if one of you picks Red Mage, the other picks White Mage, you're in for pretty smooth sailing all the way to 75).

2) What does a duo do when we hit lvl 75? I'm not big into multigroup play and would not make a "career" out of it, what other options exsists for us? I guess, is there alot of depth to the game, are there "side things" to do or accomplish if we want to take a day off from exping? Hard to explain really, but not to make leveling feel like a job, are there options available that isn't exping, that is still fun?

One of the core elements of FFXI is its reliance on group dynamics. While it's ok to be "loners" and do your own thing, you really do miss out on a lot of end-game content if you never make any friends in the community at large. Quite a lot of end-game activities require at least a small balanced group of 6 (Chains of Promathia missions to get access to the Lumoria region), and others require 30 or more participants (Dynamis).

Do you have to do these things? Absolutely not. But by isolating yourselves you lose the opportunity to get the cool stuff that's available for your characters from these activities.

3) Is crafting fun, needed, worthwhile at all? Any benefit to being a cook? or Gardener?

Fun? Sometimes. Needed? No. Worthwhile? Yes.

Benefits fom crafting are usually monetary - as you gain in skill, you reduce your costs to make items that you might need from that craft, as well as increase your profit potential, which in turn lets you buy Cool Stuff for your characters.

4) With the World Pass System, will it be possible for one of us to delete/recreate our character over and over until we land on the same server?

You don't need to delete/recreate. Just have one person log in, earn a minimal (and I do mean minimal!) amount of money (gil) for a World Pass and use the code to create your new account's characters on the same server.

Basically we love everything Final Fantasy, and i'm really curious if this game feels like a final fantasy product. Where combat may or maynot be menu driven, but it is fun and beautiful to play/watch.

Also, I'm not really asking for job/subjob suggestions, I would rather us make those mistakes and learn our lessons that way (makes the game more fun IMO).

Thanks for your time.

Bear in mind that Final Fantasy XI, while it does bear the FF name, bears very little resemblance to its single player console counterparts. Aside from the jobs and spells and some non-player characters you can encounter in the game, there's really not much in the game dynamics that resembles the single player games.

This doesn't mean it's inferior or superior in any way; merely different.

Best of luck to you, and happy adventuring in Vana'diel!

P.S. If you need a World Pass, I'm sure the denizens of this forum will be more than happy to provide you with one on request. They really don't cost much at all.


Icemage

[Telal]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

we wouldn't be "loaners" we just don't want to upset people with our sometimes frequent and lengthy afks

I fully expect that we would find people we get along with, and play with. It's bound to happen.

[sevenpointflaw]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

The other thing about duoing and whatnot, is that it is entirely possible to do so... and still have the other-people interaction. That is, "clans" or "guilds" (Called Linkshells in FFXI) are just as prevalent in FFXI as they are in any other game, and you have a seperate chat "channel" for Linkshell talk. So its entirely possible to be sociable with large groups of players while duoing with your wife.

Some things that have been missed with regards to Duoing... First off, any combinations of jobs -can- duo. At the very least, you will be able to take EP (easy prey) mobs with almost any combination. You will get XP, and you can have fun doing this. I did this as a WHM with a RDM friend of mine well up into the level 50 range as we would explore the entire world.

The biggest advantage to duoing is that you will have lots of gil. Since you will be getting less XP than "normal" parties, you will have to kill more mobs. Since you kill more mobs, you will get more drops. To top it off, its devided between two people instead of six, and since you are leveling slower you won't be needed to upgrade equipment, spells, etc., as often. If you are frugal to begin with this can add up really fast.

As you get past level 60 things change since many of the "must have" luxery items start dropping form monster requiring more and more teamwork. Even so, some of the most saught after items can be duo'd for by Beast Masters where others can't hold a candle with three people doing things the "normal way".

You also asked about things to do other than just fighting. Well, here's a list of some of the things you can do with a very brief explination...

Fighting:
Experience Grinding (self explanityor)
KS/BCNM (mini boss battles w/ 1-6 people)
NM Hunting (named monsters)
Ballista/Brenner (Sports PvP games kinda like the football from dreamcasts' Phantasy Star)

Sometimes Fighting Sometimes Not:
Randomly Exploring (2yrs and i've not been everywhere still... not counting new expansion)
Quests (go here do that, talk to him talk to her, kill this get that, find him burry the body)
Rank Missions (original plot + version updates)
Zilart Missions (expansion plot 1)
Promethia Missions (expansion plot 2)
Aht Urghan Missions (expansion plot 3)
Map Collections (getting all the zones' maps is in and of itself a grand adventure IMO)

Non-fighting:
Gardening (some people plan schedules around growing certain things at certain times)
Clothcraft (mage and martial wear)
Leathercraft (light armors)
Smithing (heavy armors, many weapons)
Goldsmithing (shiney things and jewlery)
Bonecraft (medium armors, dunno about weapons)
Woodworking (furnatures, arrows, wands)
Alchemy (medicines and potions)
Cooking (stat altering consumables)
Fishing (you know... fishing...)
Chocobo Raising (soon to be added)
Chocobo Racing (soon to be added)
Questing (so many quests require no fighting, or just sneaking through deadly places)

I know a few people who look at the game like they looked at every other FF, and not as an MMO. They go around and do quests, and only level up and grind when they absolutly have to in order to do the next quest or mission. They all tell me its just like any other FF. Me, I live for the social interaction, so even when I'm doing something solo, i'm yammering away in my linkshell.

[Cometgreen]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

Bear in mind that Final Fantasy XI, while it does bear the FF name, bears very little resemblance to its single player console counterparts. Aside from the jobs and spells and some non-player characters you can encounter in the game, there's really not much in the game dynamics that resembles the single player games.

Although the gameplay mechanics are obviously not like other FF games (the exception being the upcoming FFXII), I was very happy early on to find that the Final Fantasy spirit was upheld in FFXI. If you like the series for its stories and worlds, you'll immediately notice the signature Final Fantasy storytelling and humor.

Welcome to FFXI. I hope you and your wife have fun in Vana'diel. And although I understand why you'd want to duo a lot, I strongly suggest you try to find the time to participate in standard xp parties every now and again. It is great fun when you get into a good group.

[avhmia]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

Just to chime in on the whole duo/small party thing-- it does work, and very well at that. My husband and I play together and we duo jobs all the time. We're currently trioing in our 40s with a good friend. He plays Paladin (a tank, hybrid of warrior & white mage). I play Bard (a support class). Our friend plays Samurai (a heavy damage dealer). Together, we are able to pull in 1500-3000 exp in an hour of play, depending on luck and what mobs we're fighting. Having leveled WHM to 74 in traditional parties, I can tell you that duoing and trioing is a lot more exciting, intense, and rewarding!

One of the best and most exciting parts of it are the exploration aspect. As a duo or trio, you can find out-of-the way camps and monsters that no one ever messes with. It's been like exploring Vana'diel all over again, for me.

Anyway, If you choose Midgardsormr, I'd be happy to set you and your wife up with a worldpass. Just send me a PM :D

[Ellipses]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

I've mostly skimmed through the responses so far, but just in case no one's brought this up...

There's nothing to say you can't duo when you feel like it and join "regular" parties when you feel like it. Plenty of people do just that. When they want to have a six-person party, they either start it themselves and find the other three to four members, or put in their search comments (see below) that they're a set, and inviting one into a party means inviting the other, too.

Doing things in a duo or trio is a lot of fun. You develop much, much better communication than the average pick-up party, and can do things you wouldn't normally get to do. For example, a white mage would normally never melee in a normal party. In a duo or trio, given the right gear and targets, it would be just fine for the white mage to thonk away with a club or staff. You can try out job/subjob combinations that don't work very well in a full group, etc.

About the search comments (just because I don't want to be all "then you quitzim your snarvlebanger" without explaining it ): When you put up your LFG flag in FFXI, you have the option of setting up three short lines of text to help clarify things. Most people put things like how much experience they have til the next level, what food/weapons/armor they have, what areas they have access to, what subjobs they have available, etc. This helps party leaders intelligent enough to read those comments know if the player in question would fit well in their party.

[Silenus]

Re: For my first post, i bombard you with questions!

Here's my $0.02.

When you pop into a world with a big ugly question mark over your head, hitting the 8 key on the number pad will move you foward; 4,6 left and right, and 7 will keep you moving.

The - sign on the number pad will bring up your menu, which you can flip left or right, and scroll up and down. The Map is at the bottom of the menu.

I'm totally biased toward beastmaster, and if I could get my wife to play, it would be as duo'ing beastmasters, so the path would look something like this:

Duo BLM to 10; Party BLM to 18; unlock subjob.
Duo WHM/BLM to 11; Party WHM/BLM to 30; unlock Beastmaster; Party WHM/BLM to 37
Duo BST/WHM to 75

That should keep you busy for a year or so.

I think you're going to find this game is what you've been looking for.