What makes FFXI different?

[WishMaster3K]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Telera, News Flash: We don't pay a monthly subscription to online games just to do solo content as the majority of our time there. Now I'll read the rest of your post(s) and pick apart as soon as I'm off my lunch break.

Edit:
Ok, just read the first one. My apologies. You said "Monster Hunter" so you can do no wrong in this life as far as I'm concerned. I'll look for you on XLink when MHF2 come out, lol >_>

[Aeni]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Looking at combat, there's a lock-on camera that makes fights feel more cinematic. I can see an immediate difference when I unlock. It feels more game and less of an experience as soon as I click the button.

I don't know what you're getting at. Locking on to a monster is about as annoying as someone telling me what clothes I should wear that day as soon as I wake up. The fact of the matter is, with the monster just "rooted" to a spot where 6 adventurers are sitting in is less of an experience than a dynamic battle using terrain and the like (It actually just feels like any other FF game I can think of)

There are also skillchains. Extremely rewarding from, if nothing else, a visual level. You really feel the teamwork when a series of skills drop followed by a successful MB.

Hate to burst your bubble, but with the advent of TP Burn, no longer is skillchains as important as it was once. You even find low level parties "burning" without so much as knowing how to perform a skillchain and let alone finding any BLMs in those burn type parties to burst on them. Let's just say you've been away for a long time now. This game is no longer what you remembered when you left it.

... and on and on. I can just point out many things erroneous in this, but I'll stop here.

[Feba]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

We don't pay a monthly subscription to online games just to do solo content as the majority of our time there.

*sigh* yet another person that doesn't understand that soloing != playing alone.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

It's just contradictory to me, that's all. The program we open is PlayOnline, and there are people online. More often than not, retards. So I'd assume that I'd need to interact with people to a certain degree.

[ioshua]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Locking on to a monster is about as annoying as someone telling me what clothes I should wear that day as soon as I wake up.

Locking camera, not the fight lock mechanic. There's a another product (closed beta) that has a similar, visual only, effect that makes the combat just feel better. The target-lock feature is not what I'm talking about, only the camera.

Hate to burst your bubble, but with the advent of TP Burn, no longer is skillchains as important as it was once. You even find low level parties "burning" without so much as knowing how to perform a skillchain and let alone finding any BLMs in those burn type parties to burst on them. Let's just say you've been away for a long time now. This game is no longer what you remembered when you left it.
... and on and on. I can just point out many things erroneous in this, but I'll stop here.

It's ok. You won't burst my bubble just because you disagree with me. However, the "advent of TP burn" doesn't totally remove skillchains from game, does it? Due to a design flaw the mechanic isn't as important but, for the purposes of this thread, its simple existence is enough. XI's got skillchains, others don't. How people choose to use them only reflect the strength of the design and player mentalities.

Feel free to go on and on. However, if you choose to do so, please reread my original post. It's about design features unique to XI when compared to past and future games. If I'm off about a mechanic, I'd like to know.

[Mhurron]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

I haven't seen a purposeful skillchain in an EXP party since April 19/2006. That was also the last exp party I had in a Pre-ToAU area.

You could remove skillchains and a whole lot of people wouldn't notice, so yes, for many intents and purposes TP burn has removed skillchains.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

*sigh* yet another person that doesn't understand that soloing != playing alone.

Ok, you're in a glorified chat room playing alone.

I don't know many BSTs or PUPs in FFXI that will turn down a duo or trio. Its rewarding to be able to solo in an MMO, but ultimately a dull and pointless venture if you never intend to team up and work with other people.

[DakAttack]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

LoTR sounds exactly like WoW.

Thank you, haters, for killing the thread.

[ioshua]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

for many intents and purposes TP burn has removed skillchains.

Bypassed, sure.
Made obsolete, maybe.
Removed, no. It's still in game. The designers put it in as a major mechanic, it's still supported by the code and all updates. Game changes still take it into account. The concept of a multi-user effect is almost unheard of in any game and, those that do have them, don't use them to this amount.

XI, as all mature games, has settled into a min-max rut with the easiest path being pretty much the only path. The majority mentality, being prone to squeezing every iota out of a situation, only exacerbates the issue. However, that doesn't remove the unused content. If the developers choose to ignore what they have introduced and cater to this new playstyle, that's their choice, but that doesn't make the function disappear. Looked at from a pure design standpoint, skillchains are something unrepresented, even remotely, in other games. Cooperative combat tactics, of this sort, are unique to XI.

I'm not talking about what is good/bad. I'm talking about what is different. SCs stand out in that category. It can easily be said (and has, here and elsewhere) that SCs are underused. That doesn't mean they don't exist.

LoTR sounds exactly like WoW.

LOTRO was made for the same casual gamer market as WoW. They feature a lot of the same concepts. LOTROs auction system is more like XI, however. The only issue, currently, is that quest drops trump nearly anything player made so the player portion of the economy is having a hard time getting going. Turbine is good at looking after their games so I expect this to be fixed in time.

LOTRO, like WoW, is a solo friendly EQ1 clone. There are a fair number of these types of games on the market and in production but a lot of discussion amongst developers is being made concerning how to escape the easy-money trap that they have fallen into. It's not a bad game niche but if you flood the market with a bunch of clones, everybody loses.

[Feba]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Ok, you're in a glorified chat room playing alone.

No. The gameplay of MMOs is completely different from offline games, because there are interactions with people, and other people do have an effect on your gameplay, FFXI is the only MMO I've played where you can't do much of crap by yourself, and I've played more than my fair share.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

I remember how PSYCHED I was when I landed my first MB in the Jungle. The timing was second nature, and pts were formed based on which lvl 2 SC was possible, not what DD just happened to be seeking at the time. I won't invite a melee if the "prefered" SC is only possible if they do some Crappy ability (Ie, Slice at lvl 54...), or at least I'll try to work something out.

Some DDs get mad when I ask them what weapon they use and their skill, and I throw some options at them, but I have to say no thanks. But hey, that's the bricks.

The large majority of people have never tanked. If your team can pull off a SC and a sucessful MB, thats a huge FREE chunk of damage off the mob. If melee are bitching cause one is lagging behind (I don't mean MeleeA being at 130TP and MeleeB being at 93.. but rather one having almost double the necessary amount), then shape up or ship out. Or find another camp where they can hit the mob.

Maybe I'm biased because I was brought up in different times. To me, a light skillchain on Deco Weapons at the start of a fight and bursting ThunderIII for an almost dead mob was the best thing in the world at my level.

[ioshua]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Some DDs get mad when I ask them what weapon they use and their skill, and I throw some options at them, but I have to say no thanks. But hey, that's the bricks.

That is, imo, the big downside of SCs and (from what some say) one of the many reasons they've fallen out of favor. Limiting necessary damage to specific classes and weapons, in a min-max culture, limits what players get to experience what content. Way back when, the "gotta have a monk" bias rubbed a lot of people raw.

Pros and cons.

[Murphie]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

You can play an online game and interact with other people without being forced to group with them every step of the way. Saying that you have to group in order to fulfill the purpose of playing an online game is retarded.

That said, I don't have a problem with FFXI's grouping system.

[Sevv]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

Murphie lives!

[Murphie]

Re: What makes FFXI different?

But my computer does not!