Final Fantasy XI Offline remake?

I've oftened entertained the thought of being able to experience the story and the many memorable characters of Final Fantasy XI in an offline RPG. It would be nice, if anything, to let non-MMORPG players experience what is probably the most comprehensive and best set of storylines that the series has ever experienced.

So yes, I would be all for an offline adaption that is based around the world of Vana'diel and its incredible set of story archs and lore; even downloadable episodic side stories (see mini-expansions) would be a nice addition to keep building upon the world. However, I'd like to see none of the gameplay carry across.

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Originally Posted by Levian

It'd be so different that they might as well just slap a different roman number behind it.

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Yeah that's what I was getting at.

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Originally Posted by Ouch!

If one prepares oneself properly, one can burn through these missions in a few days if one really wants to hardcore it. I know people who have completed nation missions in only a few days.

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Bastok 1-10 in one week. :D

WotG is annoying in particular due to the slowness with which they are releasing the missions. Months go by and I forget what was going on in the story. Now it looks like I'll have to wait even longer because they are focusing on nation quests in this update. I want to hurry up and finish these so I can quit this stupid game!

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Originally Posted by Ouch!

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Originally Posted by Mirage

it takes a lot of leveling up between each story related fight you do, making people (me for example) almost forget what happened earlier by the time they can get the next cutscene

isn't this poor pacing?

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Depends how you're approaching the missions. If you already have a job of a sufficient level ~65 to complete Rise of the Zilart, 75 for Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and Wings of the Goddess, burning through the missions is solely dependent on whether or not you can get people together. Nation missions might be another deal since you typically do those as you're leveling. You could also do CoP as you go, but I really don't see very many people attempting that.

If one prepares oneself properly, one can burn through these missions in a few days if one really wants to hardcore it. I know people who have completed nation missions in only a few days. There's nothing inherent in any of the missions that makes you wait longer than one day (occasional JP midnight waits) to continue.

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It's easy if you already have a high leveled job, but do you really suggest that a player shouldn't start doing missions until they're level 60+?

And yes, i was mainly talking about the nation missions. However, CoP with its level restricted areas clearly implies that they are meant to let low levels participate along with high leveled characters, but here too it is a 10 level cap increase between each chapter, and you do one chapter a lot faster than you gain 10 levels, at least on your first job

I would much prefer that you could do missions *as* you leveled up from level one, and not have to grind a lot between each time you did something.

What would you say if you had to grind for 20 hours between exiting midgar and entering the mythril caves?

FFXI-2?

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Originally Posted by Mirage

It's easy if you already have a high leveled job, but do you really suggest that a player shouldn't start doing missions until they're level 60+?

And yes, i was mainly talking about the nation missions. However, CoP with its level restricted areas clearly implies that they are meant to let low levels participate along with high leveled characters, but here too it is a 10 level cap increase between each chapter, and you do one chapter a lot faster than you gain 10 levels, at least on your first job

I would much prefer that you could do missions *as* you leveled up from level one, and not have to grind a lot between each time you did something.

What would you say if you had to grind for 20 hours between exiting midgar and entering the mythril caves?

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I was willing to entertain your notions until the last statement, to be honest. You just have unrealistic expectations of what's possible in a MMORPG if you're going to even compare it to offline ones.

I can understand wanting nation missions to be manageable while leveling up (and I think for the most part they do a pretty good job). The other missions, however, are part of expansions. It's never been a problem for a majority of the player base, especially in the case of Treasures of Aht Urhgan and Wings of the Goddess.

And while we're at it, except for the nation missions, I do think people shouldn't do them until around level 60. Aside from the nation ones, there's not a whole lot of reason to do very many missions at that level unless you're really dying for the plot.

I guess my main point is that the issues of pacing are not plot dependent: they're dependent on the game's leveling system.

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Originally Posted by Omecle

I've oftened entertained the thought of being able to experience the story and the many memorable characters of Final Fantasy XI in an offline RPG. It would be nice, if anything, to let non-MMORPG players experience what is probably the most comprehensive and best set of storylines that the series has ever experienced.

So yes, I would be all for an offline adaption that is based around the world of Vana'diel and its incredible set of story archs and lore; even downloadable episodic side stories (see mini-expansions) would be a nice addition to keep building upon the world. However, I'd like to see none of the gameplay carry across.

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Yes, and player characters' names and backstories should be fixed, like its predecessors.

The last sentence was obviously an exaggeration :/.

But regardless, I am definitely of the opinion that the game's main plot should be doable without a lot of grinding, and this is especially true if you want casual players to play the game. I'm not saying I want no grind at all, I'm also not saying that I want it to be really fast to get to endgame.

I'm gonna use the original FFXI as an example now. The level cap was 50, and if you wanted to kill the "last boss" in that game, you pretty much had to be level 50 (or nearly level 50) to be able to participate, else you would be too weak and a burden for the rest of the party. You also had to be about that level to participate in the endgame content such as the HNMs at that time. Would it really be too much to ask for if the main boss was killable at level 30-40, and then you could get the last levels when you wanted to participate in endgame?

If you're gonna have a lot of levels that are slow to get, you should have cool things for people to do during all these levels, and not just one or two cool things to do every 10 levels. An easily accessible "main story" would let casuals have more fun (and probably make more casuals buy the game and subscribe for a few months), and if the endgame content still requires you to be really strong, the people who like to grind to get there would still be playing for a long time. I would say most people who play FFXI for the endgame content would do so even if they got done with the main story at a lower level than they have eto be now.

I don't know what you guys are on about - we're discussing an adaptation of the MMORPG's story archs into an offline RPG. Not how to make the MMORPG more casual-player friendly.

Yes, we want to adopt the story for offline gaming. And perhaps SE should tweak the battle system a bit.

It would be possible, and neat, but they'd have to do the following things:

-greatly reduce max enemy HP all around, especially for NM/HNM. Possibly other enemy nerfs as well

-introduce a FFXII gambit-type system, allowing macros for 5 other party members. I don't think 18 would be realistic (which is one of the reasons why they'd have to drop NM HP drastically). Alternatively, so it won't be overwhelming, allow only 3 party members like FFXII, and nerf monsters even more

-as a possible addendum to that, maybe introduce a mercenary guild to replace the LFP system. Kinda like Tactics, you go to the guild and hire specific jobs. Levels, AI, and gear may even vary. You can check them in advance and get what you pay for.

-reduce the cap on all crafts, making it possible to get 100 in every craft

-Eliminate many of the intended gil sinks, such as chocobo rental or NPC storage

-of course eliminate the AH, unless they wanted to randomly generate stuff on it for you to buy

-To coincide with that, all NPC prices would have to drop. More items/gear would need to be available through NPC, and quests would need to offer much more gil rewards. Possible large increase on the gil that beastmen drop as well

-drop rates would need to increase significantly, since there is less supply. Also it would expedite some missions and quests, allowing you to full appreciate the story more

-less xp required for level up. Maybe even increase the level cap to 99, making some HNM easier to defeat since you won't have an alliance+

-Either introduce Mog tents, or provide more places in the field that restore HP/MP (ie save points). Resting like you do in the online version would really suck. Reduced NPC prices on meds would help to this end too

Overall, I think it would be cool, because FFXI has a pretty good story. Its just hard to get a grasp on it at times and comprehend it, because you'll often find a large lapse between cut scenes due to the grinding nature of the game.

I don't think you'd have to change the story much at all, because it would be like FFI with no pre-fabricated character as the main hero.

Yes, the four Warriors of Light had no backstories...

I'll grant that it's possible, but that's a lot of work!

Or we could just play it online like it was designed?

Certainly, they could use the background materials and character sketches included with the world of Vana'diel to create a single-player experience, but I think that this would be very unlikely to happen using the graphics or engine of the actual game.

The storyline missions could be played through the eyes of the NPCs that give you the mission in a lot of cases. The earliest missions rarely had an NPC fight in the battle with you, even though it would have made more sense that way. It would be nice to see the NPCs have to do their own work rather than having some random adventurer that they hardly know, me, do it for them.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Or we could just play it online like it was designed?

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This is what Square Enix would likely say even if there was a large request for this type of game or story.

Unless of course the demand gets so great, then they'll comply...