Never played ff11, but looking to try

[trickynicky42]

Hey all,

After the big disappointment that was Vanguard, I have been searching for a new game to play. I started mmo's with Everquest, and have since played EQ, EQ2, DAoC, AO, WOW, Guildwars and Vanguard. Nothing since the original EQ has been able to satisfy me for long, and with a good half a year until Conan's release, Im at a loss as to what to play.
?
So I've been reading about FF11 and have some questions!

1. Is the language barrier a huge thing that impacts gameplay for non asian players?

2. Is soloing a moot point? Being that, is it impossible/not worth the time to do?

3. Is the population still kicking enough to support a game with forced grouping? ie. Will I be logging in only to be LFG for a couple hours before logging off again, having had no grps and no exp?

4. to anyone who fell in love with mmo's through the original eq, how does ff11 stand up to your tastes?

thanks in advance for the replies!

[Feba]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

1- no.

2- basically yes. It's possible to level to 75 alone, but almost any job other than beastmaster will go insane from boredom before they ever get there

3- Depends on your job. In general, things are fine, but on off peak times as a PUP, you're SOL.

4- FFXI was my first MMO. Personally, I got bored of it because EXPing and doing the same battles over and over isn't my thing, but it has a great storyline.

[Hantz]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

I'm still not a big boy, but I've been playing nearly 3 years now, so I'll give it a shot. Somebody more knowledgable will surely come along after me and show what an ingnoramus I am, but anyway:

1. It's really not that bad. The auto-translate function can get across most fundamental communication needed for XP parties. Endgame, communication needs may differ, but I wouldn't know. I can say that I've been the only English speaker in all JP parties before, and nobody seemed to care. All in all, I don't see it posing too many problems. Depending on your time zone/play schedule, it may be a non-issue for you anyway.

2. On most jobs, no, it isn't worth the trouble (for XP/leveling purposes). Pet jobs are notably stronger in solo play, with Beastmaster being the most prominent from 1-75. Puppetmaster, Dragoon, and Summoner all have solo capabilities to a point.
Soloing NMs and tasks such as that solo, Red Mages, Ninjas and some others start getting more and more capable as they grow in level and gain access to more tools. Somebody else could elaborate for you.

3. It seems to be large enough to me. It seems like people are always leveling in the lower levels (1-40ish). It may drop off after 40, because people leveling a job or two to serve as support-jobs for a higher level job will have already finished taking that job as high as they needed it. And a healthy portion of the population has taken their preferred job to 75.
But then again, the Treasures of Aht Urghan areas have made leveling 50+ pretty painless, so you may find people in most all ranges to party with.

4. Sorry, my love for FF1-present led me here. I'm (especially) not qualified to answer this question. Murphie, want to take over?

[Hantz]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

Or Feba could get his post in first and show what an ignoramus I am.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

1. Is the language barrier a huge thing that impacts gameplay for non asian players?

Not really. If you use the Auto-Translator, you should be fine in most situations. Just don't make up nonsense such as {May} {Bee} ("5th month of the year" "insect with stinger") or {main} {healing!} ("main weapon slot" "resting to recharge MP/HP"), then expect players on non-English clients to understand you.

BTW, about 50% of the players are Japanese, with English speakers making up most of the rest of the population. Plenty of English-speaking Linkshells ("guilds") out there.

2. Is soloing a moot point? Being that, is it impossible/not worth the time to do?

Depends on how much you like solo'ing? I'd advocate mixing it up; waiting for party invite all the time sucks anyway.

Just don't expect to be able to do everything on your own--this is not the game for that.

3. Is the population still kicking enough to support a game with forced grouping? ie. Will I be logging in only to be LFG for a couple hours before logging off again, having had no grps and no exp?

Population really haven't changed much in more than year; about 500,000 subscribers.

Job and level depending, you could be looking for party for a very long time. I suggest to all new players to take up White Mage (a "healer" job) first to lessen the frustrations waiting for invite. (It's a pretty useful support job for running around in dangerous area, to boot.)

4. to anyone who fell in love with mmo's through the original eq, how does ff11 stand up to your tastes?

No idea. FFXI is my first (and probably last) MMORPG... >_>;

[Luthric]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

I've been playing this game for a while and so far is a keeper. But that being said, don't take all of my word for advice, I'd look at feba's or the other's replies, who are more experienced in the game then me. ^^"



1. This game has been in japan for what? 7 years I think? So with that being said, most japanese players have moved to other games (like Mabinogi! =D), but not all! You still have a good population of asian folks in Vana'diel. But your not gonna find them ASAP. To be honest, I've onyl seen japanese folks when it was midnight at my time (EST, so it was bout morning there) and also mainly in the Aht Urghan region (cuz thats the lastest expansion). So my answer to this question is no, there really isn't an over population of asians, unless your playing really really late. (plus you got the auto-translater which saves a lot of time instead of hand motioning your way to communicate ><)



2. THIS IS NOT A GAME FOR SOLOING. Yes it is possible, and in fact I'm gonna choose BST as my main to solo , but SE made sure this was an online, multiplayer game. Not FFVII where you have a guy who's very anti-social. So expect a lot of talking with other players, but it's not bad, it makes it easier to make friends.



3.3/4 of final fantasy fans most likely play this game (unless they're gonna be asses and backstap SE by going on the Blizzard side!), so the population is good. But I won't promise you'll find a party in under 10 min. The game depends on time and server. But hey, that's life. Usually ppl will put up the looking for party flag (yes they have a system where you check who's looking for pt's and such) and either solo or watch TV. But it pays off in the end



4. Let me tell you something. From November till January, I've been switching and searching for MMORPG's. YIPP, WoW, guild wars, PKO, CoH/CoV, RS (classic, everyone that had a crap up computer played it--I don't reccommend tho), SL, Oz, Scions, Gunz(still do), and a heck lot more. LEt me tell ya tho. In ways FFXI is different. The details and char descriptions are grand. The music, well-balanced. The cool day-and-night effect, still loving it (also shops open/close during Vana'diel time: 1 day is 1 hour earth time). And the community is great. The reason why I have stuck to FFXI tho, is because the all above (also there's a huge story to it) and the fact that is was made for multiplayers! Unlike WoW where you can be an anti-ssocial nerd calling ppl noobs and soloing all day long, you actually have to pt, meet friends, and overcome obstacles together. Also this game gives you goals. Unlike your adverage "lvl to lvl 40 and you get your mount", SE made it so you have goals. Like at lvl 10 you can go to the dunes and start soloing. Lvl 18, go get yourself a sub job. Lvl 20, the best day of anyone's life, YOU GET A CHOCOBO LICENSE! Lvl 30, you get adv jobs, and so on forth. Your constantly challenged to play. Unlike WoW where the goal is far away. FFXI makes it so you have small goals every few steps, therefore making it seem like all your effort is paying off. (which btw the job system rocks because you have to go unlock it, unlike the adverage, "pick the job at character creation" Well I mean you do pick your job at the beginning, buit I'm talking about the advanced jobs, the fun ones!) So in conclusion, after all of this crap I dragged out. FFXI is defintely worth a try. Let me warn you tho. At the beggining you'll be lost, confused, and mostl ikely bored. But that's the beginning. Once you hit 10, you'll like partying, and once you get 20, you'll love the freedom of a choco. So I say give it a go!!

[Murphie]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

Luthric, thanks for your post, but the OP has already decided not to play FFXI because we're all jerkfaces or something.

[Luthric]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

0.> *twitch...are you kidding me... all that time and effort i put into that!!!!!! >=O

[Murphie]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

Yes indeed. Still, could be useful for other new readers, so don't despair!

[Feba]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

I think he was banned for encouraging piracy too, wasn't he?

I never really thought about it before, but you're right, having day and night in FFXI is pretty damn neat.

[Ameroth]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

This game has been in japan for what? 7 years I think?

--> http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/new...-vanadiel.html

Edit: Also I think I missed something somewhere in this topic.

[Murphie]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

That's what post histories are for.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

Luthric, thanks for your post, but the OP has already decided not to play FFXI because we're all jerkfaces or something.

She is playing, she joined Hades and sent me a /tell either yesterday or the day before. I guess she decided to give it a shot anyway. Started out as a White Mage from Windy, IIRC.

[Luthric]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

smart choice, if only i choose whm and instead of war ;_; would've made life quicker

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Never played ff11, but looking to try

Hope she didn't catch keyloggers or other malware from her torrent downloads. (Then again, sounds like she's been doing it for a while, so probably too late anyway.) =/