Technical Questions

[Laguna]

This is really aimed at people who own and play the game, can you please answer my questions as fully as possible?

1) Do you have to subscribe monthly to play FFXI? Or are you charged per character? Either way- how much is it?

2) I use my PC for online gaming- can I use a dial-up connection to play this game or do I need broadband? If I can use dial-up will the game suffer from massive lag or is it still playable?

3) I know many patches exist for FFXI- if I buy the latest version will I still have to download them all or will the game already be updated via an expansion pack?

Thanks in advance!

[Ouch!]

1) Do you have to subscribe monthly to play FFXI? Or are you charged per character? Either way- how much is it?
$12.95 a month, and an additional $1.00 for another character.

2) I use my PC for online gaming- can I use a dial-up connection to play this game or do I need broadband? If I can use dial-up will the game suffer from massive lag or is it still playable?
You should be able to play, though you may run risk of being disconnected far more often.

3) I know many patches exist for FFXI- if I buy the latest version will I still have to download them all or will the game already be updated via an expansion pack?
I don't believe so. You'll probably have to do all the patch downloads. That took me four hours with DSL when I switched it over to my new computer. With 56K, you're in for a ride.

[Lionx]

13 hours for 56K in beta, prolly 16 now :D *leaves it on for the night*

[Laguna]

Ouch! 16 hours! Is it possible that I could get a friend to download said files and burn them onto a CD or wouldnt that work?

[Lionx]

IT would not work at all, they check your game, then d/l the files and installs them right after, it has to be on your comp and they cannot be burned.

[Rostum]

You could just let it download over night when no one's using the phone (or you may have a second phone line so it wouldn't matter). Would be the wiser option.

[Mikztsu]

I'm actually surprised that it's not more than 16 hours.

Last night I had a tarutaru in my party who was playing with 56k. He kept having that red light next to his name ( which has something to do with d/c), but he was just fine.

[Laguna]

So- is it worth it on 56K or not?

[Lionx]

Thats entirely up to you, do you think its worth your time? I played on it fine with 56K because it was stable, and d/c only happen every so often, and i think its fine. Just patches are annoying. Its compatible with 56K for a reason though, and its up to you to see if its worth your time.

*has cable now* :D

[Laguna]

Well my biggest worry is playing on 56K and having it lag every other minute, but Im willing to take your word for it. Sounds good to me!

[Lionx]

Just so you know, EVERYONE, cable or 56K, DSL or T1, when playing the game gets set on the same 56Kish speed, so no one lags unless you just entered a new zone for a few secs, or unless theres many people in one area and/or doing lots of crazy things where everyone will lag like mad.

[Laguna]

Ok- I know you can pay using Mastercard or Visa (a debit card) Do you think they would accept my Visa Electron?

[Lionx]

Ok- I know you can pay using Mastercard or Visa (a debit card) Do you think they would accept my Visa Electron?

No idea, ask SE or try it out..>.>

[Laguna]

I guess- still, im buying it tomorrow! woo!

[Lionx]

Did some more reading.

They will accept debt cards. Just make sure everything in your bank is correct and it should be fine.

[Mikztsu]

You are making the best purchase of your life.

[Moshenokoji]

You'll do fine on 56K *pats modem* just leave your PC on all night and D/C it during the day, the game will pick up downloading from where you left off but try and tell it to stop downloading once the file its downloading is DONE it seems to work better that way ^_^. It took me about 14 hours to download the patch when it first came out. I even stayed up till about 3 to set up my character and crap. ITS SO COOL!! And that one guy Lionx is right, the game pretty much sends and recieves around a 56K speed, there is a lil thingy on the top right hand corner that gives you a % and a S and R with numbers beside them that basicly represent a ping. I went to my cousins house, he works for the big bad cable company and gets free service so he has like the BEST cable for the area, like 3mb down 256K up, or something. My S and R were pretty much the same but i didn't lag around the Auction House like i do at home, on 56K and its really not even that bad. The worse place is the Auction House in Lower Jeuno, OUCH!. but yeah, you're cool dude, just have a long wait my friend :). if you get put in the Siren server, send me a tell by doing /tell Jarrend i might be able to give you some pointers and stuff. Also if you have a ATI video card, it'll work great as long as its not an SE model like a Radeon 9200SE, those aren't cool >< even if it does have 128mb DDR, it was 64 bit i say! My cousin runs a Radeon 7500 64mb card, works good. my GeForce FX didn't make it look good and it blew up so i went Radeon 9600XT, ONE of the best purchases i ever made :), good luck dude.