Seriously considering buying FFXI

[Jinxxed0]

I'm thinking about finally buying this game. I have never played at all before.
Let me tell ya, two years before this game came out I was obsessed with this game, watching videos and watching the live server thing while it was in beta(i sat there and watched for hours), and of course trying everyday to find a way in beta but never getting in. so when it came out, i was waiting for a free trial that never came (i know now about the buddy pass, but i didnt back then) and i eventually lost interest, and continued to play free MMOs (i've played at least 100+)

And eventually buying guild wars, only because my friend got it...(i suggested WoW, but i later tried it and found nothing new or great about it).

So here I am, posting a thread, wondering if i should buy this. I can safely say I've played 60% or more MMOs ever created and the only ones i liked were city of heroes, and various free ones that most people never heard of, and guild wars is ok...but i like adventuring in my MMOs.

I guess the pont of this thread is to find out if I'd like this game with these questions.





1. Does it have a nice community [friendly place to be, no one complaning about stuff like you find in most online games etc] One thing in CoH that amazed me was how nice everyone was. I only had to ignore two people after 9 months of playing. But with guild wars, after 1 week, I have about 7 people on my ignore list.


2.How is the exploration/travel. I really love adventuring and seeing various forrests, cities, landscapes, etc and exploring them. With a lot of games its impossible because theres 50 monsters for every step you take. So lets say I play for a while and get to level 15, could I wander around and just enjoy the areas (I know I cant explore the entire world, but I mean are monsters easy to run away from or do they follow forever).

3. Trading. With a lot of games, trading is really terrible unless you get lucky and find someone that isnt greedy. So I probably shouldn't even ask. But how valueble is gold(gil?) now that this game is matured? Do people only look for a certain expensive item (such as an armor/weapon upgrade or something) to trade for? Or does the gil have value to players still?


4. The Fighting. I've seen videos of course, and I've heard how slow the lvling is, but if you have a group going, is it fun to wander around and kill stuff as you explore? or do people just sit in one area and camp monsters?

5 (last question) Are there various armors to choose from, like if i reach lvl25 and get better armor now, am i stuck with one choice or do I a little choice in "flavor" like colors or different style altogether

Sorry if this post is too long, but i didn't want to miss anything as I really want to try this game, but since there isn't a trial, i want to make sure my money is well spent. Im a college student and cant take chances since i have bills now, lol

[Aeolus]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

Check this out for a look at how imensly huge this game is and whats in store for you!

[Legal Fish]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

Check this out for a look at how imensly huge this game is and whats in store for you!

No offense, but it's really hard to explore on that site because it assumes that the viewer already has played FFXI ;/ He isn't going to understand it much.

I'll give your question an answer... I'm sure you are also going to get like 7 replies after mine that look exactly the same though.

1. Does it have a nice community [friendly place to be, no one complaning about stuff like you find in most online games etc] One thing in CoH that amazed me was how nice everyone was. I only had to ignore two people after 9 months of playing. But with guild wars, after 1 week, I have about 7 people on my ignore list.

You'll get some good people and you'll get some bad people. In FFXI, you HAVE to party and work together with people so people tend to be nicer. However, some times you compete with people for camps(places to exp) and NMs, so there can be some heated words between players. Another thing is that because you HAVE to work with people, a lot of people want their teammates to wear good gear/be good in general, so being underpar can also spawn some heated words.

2. How is the exploration/travel. I really love adventuring and seeing various forrests, cities, landscapes, etc and exploring them. With a lot of games its impossible because theres 50 monsters for every step you take. So lets say I play for a while and get to level 15, could I wander around and just enjoy the areas (I know I cant explore the entire world, but I mean are monsters easy to run away from or do they follow forever).

Hmm... well at level 15, there are a lot of things that can still kill you, even in nearby places. But will you be able to explore? Yes. It's actually very easy to act all Metal Gear Solid in this game once you've had some practice in it. Monsters aggro with Sight and Sound. You can avoid sight by running behind their backs and Sound by keeping some distance from the monster. And the game is pretty beautiful with a lot of unique landscape. For example, no two waterfalls look the same.

3. Trading. With a lot of games, trading is really terrible unless you get lucky and find someone that isnt greedy. So I probably shouldn't even ask. But how valueble is gold(gil?) now that this game is matured? Do people only look for a certain expensive item (such as an armor/weapon upgrade or something) to trade for? Or does the gil have value to players still?

Yes, gil is very important still. The game's economy goes through cycles just real life. Sometimes there is inflation and deflation, atm, there is deflation. So gil is more valuable than normal. Never has gil completely lost value. Most people don't 'trade', they use the Auction House. The Auction House is like a huge market(well, four markets, separated by nation) that people usually sell their stuff on.

4. The Fighting. I've seen videos of course, and I've heard how slow the lvling is, but if you have a group going, is it fun to wander around and kill stuff as you explore? or do people just sit in one area and camp monsters?

It's mostly camping. Most big group exploring happens only at the release of a new expansion.

5. (last question) Are there various armors to choose from, like if i reach lvl25 and get better armor now, am i stuck with one choice or do I a little choice in "flavor" like colors or different style altogether

There is a lot of different styles in FFXI. You usually won't encounter your first choice until level 15ish. By level 75, you'll will likely be carrying entire different sets of armor to switch in and out of during and after battles so you can be at your strongest. People also make "Town Gear" sets which they wear in towns to look cool.

I would suggest viewing: http://www.playonline.com/ff11newpla...x.html?lang=en

[Tekumel]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

1. Does it have a nice community [friendly place to be, no one complaning about stuff like you find in most online games etc] One thing in CoH that amazed me was how nice everyone was. I only had to ignore two people after 9 months of playing. But with guild wars, after 1 week, I have about 7 people on my ignore list.

I would say out of that spectrum, it would lean more towards your experience in City of Heroes. I've played this game for a few years off & on, and I can only think of a small handful of people that permanently resided on my blacklist. About the worst you run into on a day to day basis is minor personality clashes, or little annoyances. Overall I'd say the community is pretty good.

2.How is the exploration/travel. I really love adventuring and seeing various forrests, cities, landscapes, etc and exploring them. With a lot of games its impossible because theres 50 monsters for every step you take. So lets say I play for a while and get to level 15, could I wander around and just enjoy the areas (I know I cant explore the entire world, but I mean are monsters easy to run away from or do they follow forever).

I'll deal with the monsters first, the travel part is a bit longer.

Easy to run away from? Fairly. If you have a monster chasing you, you can use terrain to get them a bit further away, so you can at least run without getting hit. That is to say, get them stuck on a rock, tree, outcropping, etc. Just remember, Vana'diel's gravity is apparently so strong that our characters can't jump. Monsters WILL follow you until you run to a zone line, because unlike games like Dark Ages of Camelot or World of Warcraft, the world is not seamless, so there is a small loading time when you change zones.

There are a variety of travel methods in the game.

1. The Airship. When you reach Rank 5 by doing missions in your home country, you receive an airship pass as a reward. This airship will take you from the 3 capitals (San d'Oria, Bastok, or Windurst) to Jeuno, and back. There is also another airship that is a seperate (quest reward) pass, that leads to the outland city of Kazham, which is a very common leveling ground.

2. Teleport spells. There are 6 "telepoints" around the world, and after making your way to each and getting a "telecrystal" from them, you can have a White Mage cast a spell to transport you back to that telepoint. You will see reference to "teletaxis" or "telewhores", which are slang for WHMs that sell this service.

3. Chocobos. You can get your chocobo license at level 20, and rent chocobos from stables located in major cities, or 3 of the telepoints (the "crags" of Mea, Holla, and Dem). Recently added was the ability to raise your own chocobo to ride, but this still requires lv 20 as the necklace to summon your bird is not wearable until then.

4. Outpost warps. If your nation controls an area, you can do a "supply run" to the outpost located there to deliver supplies to the guards. In return you gain the ability to pay a small fee to teleport to that outpost from your home city, or to teleport back TO your home city FROM that outpost. This can be done as long as the beastmen (monsters) do not control the area, though you will pay 4x the cost if a city other than your own does not control it.

5. Boats. There are various boats running to & from coastal cities throughout the world. Of note are the Mhaura <-> Selbina & Mhaura <-> Al Zhabi boats.

3. Trading. With a lot of games, trading is really terrible unless you get lucky and find someone that isnt greedy. So I probably shouldn't even ask. But how valueble is gold(gil?) now that this game is matured? Do people only look for a certain expensive item (such as an armor/weapon upgrade or something) to trade for? Or does the gil have value to players still?

Gil has, as of late, regained MUCH of its value due to SquareEnix cracking down on RMT (real money traders, businesses that farm in-game currency & sell it for real world money, i.e. US Dollars). There is always certain gear that people look for that will fetch a higher price, but the overall supply of items in the economy is healthy, and the crafter playerbase is such that if you cannot find an item you are looking for, if it's craftable you can easily find someone to make it for you. Like any game, there are items that are monster drop only, and FFXI has some that are no-trade, so if you want those you'll have to put in the time to find them yourself instead of buying them.

4. The Fighting. I've seen videos of course, and I've heard how slow the lvling is, but if you have a group going, is it fun to wander around and kill stuff as you explore? or do people just sit in one area and camp monsters?

Typically in a party you're going to set up camp in one safe area, and pull monsters back to said camp, much like other MMOs. The fun factor is entirely up to you. The game can horribly suck, or be a great diversion from things that horribly suck.

5 (last question) Are there various armors to choose from, like if i reach lvl25 and get better armor now, am i stuck with one choice or do I a little choice in "flavor" like colors or different style altogether

Unfortunately, the armor is pretty rigid. There's no different colors of the same armor, no dye system, and really nothing in the way of styling. Various armor sets will differ from each other, but as far as different versions of the same set, no luck there. This has been attributed in the past to the fact that FFXI is multi-platform (PC, XBox 360, and Playstation 2), and the consoles (the finger here being pointed at Playstation 2) would bog down having to draw that many different things on the screen. There are people out there that have figured out how to modify the character models for PC to a certain extent, if you're playing on PC. Check http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/dat...rendering-294/, or similar forums on other sites if that's your interest.

I hope this has been helpful. Please, don't hesitate to ask questions if you have them. It's not like this is a cesspool full of idiots & flamers...well, flamers at least.

And Aeolus...while I love the FFXI Wiki as much as anybody else...if you're going to post a link, at least try to post links that directly answer his questions, eh?

EDIT: And here's one for ya Legal

[Aeolus]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

Yea I should have probably just said use the search function as all off your questions have been asked and answered about just short of a million times too many.

[Eohmer]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

No offense, but it's really hard to explore on that site because it assumes that the viewer already has played FFXI ;/ He isn't going to understand it much.

Not really. All the basics are in the menu, it has a search box, and there is a brief little rundown on navigation towards the bottom. There is also a link (with a banner) to a beginner's guide to the game as well on the homepage.

/shrugs

[Legal Fish]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

He doesn't seem to be asking about help in the game itself, he is asking about the game.

[Tekumel]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

Not really. All the basics are in the menu, it has a search box, and there is a brief little rundown on navigation towards the bottom. There is also a link (with a banner) to a beginner's guide to the game as well on the homepage.

/shrugs

This is true Eohmer, but the questions Jinxxed0 was asking were more of a conceptual nature than factual. I don't think the sort of answers being sought can be found in a "textbook" as it were, more the school of hard knocks, i.e. player experience.

[Eohmer]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

I was responding to what Fish said, not what the OP asked.

[Jinxxed0]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

thanks for the break downs everyone. I'll continue to keep reading up on everything.

I've read a lot of reviews and what-not, but I needed various opinions on all of these from the same person answering all the questions at once (that probably doesn't make sense). If I can talk my friend into playing with me, I'll definitly buy it and start playing, but I could only talk him into city of villains which he played for 2 months. He has to be able to have pets and stuff (i kept telling him about beast masters and summoners and im still freaking out about that puppet master i just read about).

Thanks again, im really, really greatful for the time you took to answer my questions. Hopefully I'll one day be posting about how much i love playing this game.

[Yeargdribble]

Re: Seriously considering buying FFXI

1. Does it have a nice community [friendly place to be, no one complaning about stuff like you find in most online games etc] One thing in CoH that amazed me was how nice everyone was. I only had to ignore two people after 9 months of playing. But with guild wars, after 1 week, I have about 7 people on my ignore list.

Generally the community in FFXI is superb. There are still asshats and sadly, since you are forced to group you will run into (and have to deal with) your fair share, though they are definitely the minority.

2.How is the exploration/travel. I really love adventuring and seeing various forrests, cities, landscapes, etc and exploring them. With a lot of games its impossible because theres 50 monsters for every step you take. So lets say I play for a while and get to level 15, could I wander around and just enjoy the areas (I know I cant explore the entire world, but I mean are monsters easy to run away from or do they follow forever).

You're screwed here. Unless you level a mage job to the point that you can have sneak and invis you won't be able to do much exploring. Even so sneak and invis are very unreliable and you'll have to deal with magic aggro. If you want to use the item versions (oil and powder) you'll be out quite a bit of money for just strolling around.

In FFXI you are generally screwed if you aggro one mob so exploring can be very difficult early in the game. However, many of the landscapes in FFXI are absolutely gorgeous.

3. Trading. With a lot of games, trading is really terrible unless you get lucky and find someone that isnt greedy. So I probably shouldn't even ask. But how valueble is gold(gil?) now that this game is matured? Do people only look for a certain expensive item (such as an armor/weapon upgrade or something) to trade for? Or does the gil have value to players still?

Gil is very valuable. Aside from inflation or deflation in the game the fact is that money is pretty hard to come by in FFXI. You won't see much direct item trading where an item is a currency substitute. However, you are likely to find that it's very difficult to make money in FFXI compare to other games and can be very frustrating especially considering how people generally expect you to have XXX gear at XXX level. Even buying decent gear can often require you to take extended breaks from leveling just to make money.

4. The Fighting. I've seen videos of course, and I've heard how slow the lvling is, but if you have a group going, is it fun to wander around and kill stuff as you explore? or do people just sit in one area and camp monsters?

Camps only for the most part. Very few parties rove because of the way MP works in FFXI. Mages must stay put so the PT is very limited on movement. You will find yourself leveling in a pretty cookie-cutter fashion. There are certain places everyone goes to and you'll be required to level at those locations each time you level another job (or level your subjob). Leveling is a grind in FFXI. Additionally, you aren't killing 2 birds with one stone like in other game (where you can get good money and gear as you level from quests or as drops). When you go to XP that is pretty much all you will be doing.

5 (last question) Are there various armors to choose from, like if i reach lvl25 and get better armor now, am i stuck with one choice or do I a little choice in "flavor" like colors or different style altogether

Cookie-cutter. Everyone will look the same especially for the first half of the game. There is very little room for people wearing anything but the standard gear. XXX piece of gear is good for XXX job at XXX level. There are a handful of places where you can wear 1 of maybe 2 pieces of fairly comparable gear, but for the most part, you will look exactly like everyone else of your job at any given level. At low levels you will look like damn near everyone else.