Convince me to buy this game

I am seriously considering buying this game after all this time. Is it worth it? Is it really outdated now compared to whatever other MMORPGs are new and impressive? Is it going to be out-of-date soon? Do I need many other programs to run with it?

Some things which I've gathered:
a) There is a lot of grinding (I do not mind this at all).
b) There are pretty moogle houses (I may mind this).

Basically, tell me whatever you personally think is relevant. If I get this game I will be playing on the Del Murder Miriel server.

It's up to you, really. Do you like MMORPG's?

Personally, I absolutely loved this game for the three and a half years that I played it. But that was then, I don't know what the community is like in the game now.

If you have patience, then I recommend this game. This game can be frustrating sometimes when you dont get anything done, but I still like this game. I've been playing it since 2006. I like this game because its group driven.

Honestly, you probably do not have enough time to play this game and enjoy it if you have a full time career. How much time can you devote to playing a single game?

I have a full time career and I enjoy it lots.

You don't have to make your moogle house pretty if you don't want, Romeo.

I frequently wish I could still play FFXI. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) my school's restrictive internet settings create such unbearable amounts of lag that the game becomes virtually unplayable.

If you have the time, I'd recommend it. Like Omecle, it's been some time since I've played FFXI, so I'm not too certain how much it's changed recently. A program to enable windowing is almost a necessity in many circumstances. I eventually quit because it was taking up too much of my time. At least I thought it was. Now I have so much free time, I don't know what to do with myself and wish I had the game again.

I have some really really great memories from playing this game. It's a lot more of an experience than any other FF game that you'll play.

If you enjoy interacting with other people, I think you would enjoy this game. Getting groups and completing a hard mission or even a silly mission (like getting your level 1 character and doing a death run around VanaDiel) is SO much fun and so rewarding.

Of course all those times that you party with people who are idiots and don't get anything accomplished is probably the worst feeling ever. But the good trumps the bad in my opinion.

Plus if you're getting into the game where you already know a few players, that's an enormous bonus. I basically lucked into a good linkshell when I started playing. And if I didn't have that group of people to depend on for certain things, I would be stuck and never get anything done.

Also, if you're into meticulous things like collecting maps, questing for items, and stuff like that, you will love all the intricacies this game has to offer.

I know a certain someone who loves the auction house system and is constantly playing the market, buying low and selling high and hoarding up the money he makes while occasionally buying his girlfriend pretty items and equipment. :p

The game is long-winded and can be frustrating at times. If you want to get somewhere in this game, you'll need to set off a few hours in a row at least, you won't get far with maybe just one hour at a time, several times a week.
On the bright side, soloing is has gotten easier now than it used to be, but you need a bit more skill to pull it off, so it's hard to do for a newcomer. Parties are still the most efficient way to level in most cases though, especially when you're new, and there's a bit of elitism going on when you fight in a party. For the most part, only builds regarded by the community as "the best" will get a decent rate of party invites.

FFXI has an excellent job system. Unlike other games, if you try a job and don't like it--or get it to 75 and are done with it, you do not have to make a new character. You can change jobs at will, and skills you learned at other jobs carry over to the new job. Each job has a skill cap for each level, so having a level 75 thief does not mean you can make a level 1 ninja with 200+ evasion, but your evasion as ninja will be capped until you reach 75, as thief has a higher evasion skill than ninja. If you level an axe warrior, the axe skills you learned as warrior will serve you well as beastmaster. Secondly, by mixing and matching jobs (i.e, changing your support job,) you can radically alter the role you play--a samurai with warrior sub is an all-out DD, while the same samurai with thief sub can help keep hate on the tank, or with ninja sub can take more hits via the use of shadows. Also, FFXI has jobs that no other game has. I haven't seen another job with a samurai class, or blue mage, or red mage, or even a bard class that is as strong as FFXI bards. Yes, D&D based games allow multiclassing, but you can't switch class at will like you can in FFXI.

I'll be repeating stuff that's already been said when I say this, but here goes. You will need to set a couple hours at least to get anything done in all likelyhood. Secondly, the game is admittedly harsh on newcomers, seeing as most of the cool things in the game start at least in the 30's.

But on the plus side, the interactions with other people and satisfaction of a job well done when you do get your first job to level 75 is well worth it. And I have to admit things do get a bit easier after you get there.
I'd have to agree with Miriel, in that knowing other people in the game or getting into a good social linkshell is a big help. EoFF is where I got into my first, so if you do decide to start playing you could probably ask someone here. Luckily you don't need world passes anymore to choose your server.

Oh yeah, don't mind "pretty mog houses".

1. You won't spend much time in them unless you really want to.
2. They're only pretty if you get nice looking furniture for it. You can leave it as an empty boring room if you want.

Auction Houses and kind pretty armor wearing high level folk will be your source of income/spoils when starting out (try not to rely too much on the high level(s) for income... imo it's greedy).

Battle gameplay eventually gets really exciting, hold out till it does! I believe in you.

It's to painful to type at the moment... so once I get this bandage off I'll finish :3

this is game is just so boring to me...it almost ruined FF games forever for me
i dont like only being able to party up...i like mmo's that you can solo even being ur first time to play...this one has way more grinding than any mmo ive played b4 as well

This thread is about convincing him to get it, not stop him from getting it :p.

But 90% of people would rather bitch and moan and ignore the positives, even in a game that's got a high positive-negative ratio.

That's fine, negatives to most people are positives to me. I have weighed the issues and... not decided yet!

Difficult for new players is a positive thing. I approve of that. The only issue is finding people who I might know or want to know AND who will play at the same (very awkward) times as me. If I could ensure this, I'd almost certainly get it.

Well, you never know until you give it a shot. I don't know if they're still doing it, but I remember seeing starter discs at Gamestop which offered the base game for just a couple dollars. Even if those aren't available any more, your first month is free. So if you don't like it the most you'll have lost is thirty bucks.

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Originally Posted by Germ Hamee

Well, you never know until you give it a shot. I don't know if they're still doing it, but I remember seeing starter discs at Gamestop which offered the base game for just a couple dollars. Even if those aren't available any more, your first month is free. So if you don't like it the most you'll have lost is thirty bucks.

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I was at Gamestop two days ago, and they had a couple of these discs available. I think if anything, this would be the best way to find out whether or not the game is for you.

Also, there's always someone to play with in FFXI, no matter what hour you're playing. Back when I still played, I'd get a party during the U.S. prime time. By the time that had completely died down, Japanese prime time was just starting up and I'd hop on over to another party.

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Originally Posted by bdon333

this is game is just so boring to me...it almost ruined FF games forever for me
i dont like only being able to party up...i like mmo's that you can solo even being ur first time to play...this one has way more grinding than any mmo ive played b4 as well

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I hope you realise FFXI was released when MMO's were relatively new (Ultima, EQ, L2, etc). It wasn't until WoW, GW and a crap load of Korean F2P MMO's were introduced that they become 'casual' play.

I think people are just dumb when they say things like "it ruins the whole Final Fantasy series for me!" when it's just a name, and it just happens to have a number tacked on it. It has no bearing on other Final Fantasy games.

By the way, my time zone is Japanese prime time. There are hardly ever any English speaking players during this time, and it gets very lonely.

I only play late at night myself, sometimes that kinda sucks, since people start going to bed as soon as I sign on. The game is still very playable, though, especially with Campaign.

To be honest, it's not really a huge monetary investment. The game discs go for close to nothing, and those include a month of free play too. After then, you're free to quit at any time if you feel that it's not worth the money.

Soo.... Go get it.

If your idea of enjoying the game is completing all of the missions and quests that the game has to offer, then you might not enjoy it as the time requirements for you will be too high.

If your idea of enjoying the game is being able to play with family, friends, or co-workers in a fantasy environment, regardless of your pace in the game, you will be perfectly fine!

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Originally Posted by Citizen Bleys

But 90% of people would rather bitch and moan and ignore the positives, even in a game that's got a high positive-negative ratio.

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What kept me on the game despite the negatives was the music, and the artwork, and the cities, and environments, and places.

Pretty much exploration and playing the market kept me on the game. I got my bard to level 45 and stopped caring about lvling up and doing missions (was rank 6).
I might've missed out since I stopped playing 2 years ago, but I did a lot of exploring that most of the players don't do, or try to do because they play the game so linearly. The game itself was so Japanese as the mindset of the players were driven to at lvl 10 you must at all cost goto the dunes. I mean ignore the mazes if you're from windy. Ignore bubumuru. I mean just ignore that whole region, and take a 2 hour run out of your way to selbina to get a party in the dunes. At lvl 20 you can finally head to Jeuno and get your choco license, and then level up at Qufim. Then at lvl 25 you get to fight and brave the jungles. That's the part that decides rather players quit or keep on going. Once you hit lvl 30 the game goes a lot smoother, and once you get into the 50s the players get well less sociable unless you're in a LS and in which hopefully you interact with players that have lives because then you won't be dealing with less sociable ones.

If you want to lvl up fast play with the Japanese players, but listen to them and do it the way they tell you to do it, and don't question (use to live in Japan and had to learn to do this in Japan because trust me it's for the best and makes things easier.). It'll be a lot of work and a lot of hours, but you can go from lvl 10 to lvl 20 in one night with them because of how they cracked the game. BAsically the game was designed around their culture, and their culture is extremely group oriented. And if you don't get the invites then you really can't do anything, but of course SE made sure to accomodate its western gamers, but usually things are harder if you want to try and go about doing your own thing on here.

With that being said this game isn't all that negative. Aside from the sight seeing, the people kept me on this game the longest. NA and even EU players are really friendly. I use to play with some friends I knew when I use to live in Turkey. We had tons of fun, and it was enjoyable. Ultimately your circles (Linkshells) is what keeps you in the game for as long as you do. As we all deal with the same BS and we are more willing to be a lot more lenient towards each other, and more willing to help and understand each other. Jerkoffs and non-social people get outcast fast, and it's usually if you're extremely rude.
Also be nice and you will go far in this game because trust me you build a name for yourself on the server you play on as you progress because the higher you go up in lvls the less players there are in your lvl and rank.

I was a BRD/THF and caught a lot of flack for it. I performed better than the Brds who sub it with the usual WHM. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it if I was allowed to do my own thing, and enjoy playing the game for once instead of having to lvl up my WHM (which I didn't want to do because I hate mage jobs).

With that being said. You should prepare to work hard, and always remember that when the game gets slow. Go sight seeing. I mean travel throughout vana'diel and the near east. Go see all of the sights. This game is amazing and a large percentage of what is out there on the game goes unseen, or unexplored by many of the players because people get caught up into the rat race. I found so many places were I could secretly get access to resources that sold for a lot in the markets that I just explored and played wallstreet on FFXI. Made a lot of gil. I mean tons of it. Atleast 50 mil.

You can get a good 6000+ exp/hour solo these days if you know how to :p, and you don't need the awesomest of gears or being high level either. :p

Just play a BRD, you can go naked and still get good exp. :monster:

Seriously. I partied with a 63 BRD once who didn't have Ballad 2, any gear his level, and only melee'ed and cast a single song like once an hour. It's scary what people let support jobs get away with.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

You can get a good 6000+ exp/hour solo these days if you know how to :p, and you don't need the awesomest of gears or being high level either. :p

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That statement is true, but, at the same time, the game has a fairly high learning curve and you cannot expect to solo without gaining adequate gameplay experience. The game was not made with the intent to fight alone.

One more question, which I don't think has been answered: what is the penalty for death?

Starting at level 5 it's 10% of your exp which eventually caps to like 2000 exp lost total or something. It's not that big of a deal really, just inconvenient later on.

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Originally Posted by Bahamut2000X

Starting at level 5 it's 10% of your exp which eventually caps to like 2000 exp lost total or something. It's not that big of a deal really, just inconvenient later on.

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I believe beyond level 50 it drops down to 8%.

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Originally Posted by nozkits

I was a BRD/THF and caught a lot of flack for it. I performed better than the Brds who sub it with the usual WHM. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it if I was allowed to do my own thing, and enjoy playing the game for once instead of having to lvl up my WHM (which I didn't want to do because I hate mage jobs).

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Except that /THF brings absolutely nothing to the party whatsoever, and any Bard that can play his/her job right will do a lot better if they subbed something that complimented it such as White Mage. It's a shame that you hate mage jobs, because Bard is pretty much a mage (support) job.

:p

By the way, I highly suspect you are someone that got banned from here for being a total douche. Lordblaser... Lordblazer... Something... Something...? I'm probably wrong, just suspicious.

:D

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Originally Posted by Omecle

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Originally Posted by nozkits

I was a BRD/THF and caught a lot of flack for it. I performed better than the Brds who sub it with the usual WHM. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it if I was allowed to do my own thing, and enjoy playing the game for once instead of having to lvl up my WHM (which I didn't want to do because I hate mage jobs).

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Except that /THF brings absolutely nothing to the party whatsoever, and any Bard that can play his/her job right will do a lot better if they subbed something that complimented it such as White Mage. It's a shame that you hate mage jobs, because Bard is pretty much a mage (support) job.

:p

By the way, I highly suspect you are someone that got banned from here for being a total douche. Lordblaser... Lordblazer... Something... Something...? I'm probably wrong, just suspicious.

:D

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I dunno who that is, but I did play on Diabolos server.

I actually enjoyed my Dragoon job, but just didn't have the time to level it. Then that's when I got bored with the game.

Granted I was on for almost 3 years.

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Originally Posted by Bahamut2000X

Just play a BRD, you can go naked and still get good exp.

Seriously. I partied with a 63 BRD once who didn't have Ballad 2, any gear his level, and only melee'ed and cast a single song like once an hour. It's scary what people let support jobs get away with.

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I kept really up to date with spells. The problem with being a bard is that people bombard you with their invites if you don't hide your character info. Then at times if you do join and you lvl up, but you forgot to buy a scroll for a spell you need. You do catch it for that, but it really isn't that bad because they're more expected to be the ones to backup heal despite the low mp.(Though I believe it's extremely helpful at higher levels).

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Originally Posted by Spuuky

One more question, which I don't think has been answered: what is the penalty for death?

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Up until level 25 it's 10% of exp needed to level up.
25+ it's 8%. Cap is 2,400.

If you get a Raise you get 50% of lost exp back.
After level 50 Raise II and Raise III give you 75% and 90% back. Basically if you get an appropriate raise it's not that much.

The other option would be to warp back to your home point.

K.O. - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki

If you browse this site you might see more reasons to play this game. It's very extensive and I use it every day.

All this talk is making me want to get the game again to play during the summer. >_<

I wonder if you've caved in yet, Spuuky? I've never seen us go on this long trying to convince someone to play this game. Surely you must be won over.

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Originally Posted by nozkits

I mean ignore the mazes if you're from windy. Ignore bubumuru. I mean just ignore that whole region, and take a 2 hour run out of your way to selbina to get a party in the dunes.

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Seriously. Some of my fondest memories of that game were of a bunch of us newbs playing through Shakrami and Bubumiru around launch. It was always this chaotic "RUN FOR THE ZONE!!!" from ghouls and goblins and scorpions. Except not the irritating kind of chaotic you find so often in the Dunes. It was more like, "rofl look at how dead I am -- this game is so COOL! Again, again!"

I'm not even being sarcastic. This game is seriously awesome if you just take the time to enjoy it and explore a bit. It's even better if you make friends to play with, because you're not expected to take it so seriously, and you can make mistakes as long as everyone's just having fun.

Then again, I have yet to progress past level 50. Perhaps I'm having a little too much fun.

I forgot to mention the other penalty for death is a 'weakness' state where you will be at 10-20% max hp and mp and your abilities will be severely limited. This lasts about 10 minutes.

I'm pretty certain weakness is only 5 minutes. Though Raise II and III lower the time your weakened. Well maybe not II, but I know III does.

Maybe it just seems like longer.

Just checked the wiki on it, 5 minutes. However if you warp while weakened or HP out of Dynamis when you die you get a 10 minute weakness. So depending on what you do it can last longer then normal.

It's definitely under 10 minutes. Usually when I get raised, I go for a smoke and it's gone by the time I get back. I can easily drag back 2 cigarettes in 10 minutes. I'm lucky to get a smoke, a pee, and a coffee in before I'm unweakened and rested to full HP (and MP if applicable. Which it is on my SAM, since I have capped MP merits and walmart turban, giving me more MP than most Galka plds.)