Help me, Obi Wan. Help me.

[Quindiana Jones]

I've got a few questions, and I'm hoping y'all can help me out.

Firstly: If I bought this game, it'd be on the Xbox 360. To be honest, I've heard mostly not-good things about XI on 360. Can anyone yea or nay this? Is it so bad that it'd make me not want to play the game?

Secondly: I've been doing some research into jobs. I'd probably be an Elvaan, because they're cool. With this, I want to be a Thief. The reason being that it seems that Thieves can really be useful into the later levels, especially when coupled with a nifty sub. Anyone a Thief? Is it something I'd want to replace later on in the game? Would it be better to sub it and pick a different main?

Thirdly: Subbing. From what I understand, subbing mostly does exactly the same as your main (in terms of unlockable abilities), but only up to level 37. Right? If so, what would make a good sub for a thief? I'm looking at either Ninja or Dancer mostly. I like not dying, and both of these look as if they can make me not die more. Ninja could epicarise (totally a word) my SATA damage if I used the right weapons, which could be good. Also, it would allow me to super-safely tank for a little while if the main tank needed a time-out. I like the hate controlling aspects of the Thief, and it just seems to me that Ninja would help with increasing damage and staying power. My worry with this is that it won't be that useful in terms of support, hence the Dancer option. From the looks of things, a Thief/Dancer (in later levels) can act as a pretty good support character for pretty much all occasions and job types, especially when it comes to alleviating some of the stress from the White Mage in the party.

So yeah. If you don't wanna read all the above, this is where you should skip to.

1. Xbox 360 + FFXI = ? I've heard bad things. Are they really that bad?
2/3. Job advice. I'd like Thief to be a main, and I'm liking the look of a Ninja/Dancer sub. Is this good or bad? Just some general in-practice job advice would be nice, as I'm running on theory right now.

Cheers for any help. And 2/3 are optional questions, haha. Number 1 is the only one that I actually care about.

Oh! Actually, one more thing. EoFFer worlds. Is there a more EoFFer filled world? Which one?

[Yeargdribble]

1. Xbox 360 + FFXI = ? I've heard bad things. Are they really that bad?

I don't play it on Xbox so I can't tell you first hand. What I can tell you is that playing it on a console comes with a tremendous number of downsides that currently may or may not sound like an issue to you, but they may become so.

1. Graphics - It's just not going to look as good on a console sadly. The max "default" setting just don't look great. They are silly and made it difficult, but the only way to make this game look stellar is by playing it on PC and fiddling with the registry (which you can do with a 3rd party tool that makes it very simple).

2. Screenshots/Modelviewer - The game is very community oriented. You WILL want to be able to take screenshots of your accomplishments and just general adventures. If you don't have access to a model viewer you may kick yourself at some point in time.

You sound like you've done your homework which I applaud, but that means you are probably the type to delve into community forums and if you are a participant you'll want the above tools.

3. 3rd-party tools - You may think you're a purist and don't want to "cheat", but SE but if you play seriously you will find yourself wanting access to 3rd-party things. Most are completely harmless and are nothing more than features SE should've added. For a Thief things like the addon to display TP can be immensely helpful (as opposed to everyone spamming the chatlog with their TP every 2 seconds). If you ever participate in endgame you may find that you're not necessarily required to have some of these, but will find that most people do.

4. Controls - You will have to buy a keyboard for this. The movement controls are awkward and many PC players use a controller to supplement the keyboard, but you'll have to use a keyboard to communicate and probably to be efficient with macros. Scrolling through and searching your macro palette just isn't as fast and getting there quickly with a keyboard if you have to hit 3-4 macros all in a very short amount of time while also moving around (very likely with Thief).

Some people will disagree with me on this, but if you're familiar with WoW, it's about the same as being a keyboard turner. It will be fine 95% of the time, but once you need to up your game to a certain level of efficiency and proficiency, keyboard turning in WoW just won't cut it.

Sidenote: If you get the game on Xbox, you can always come back later when these issues become important to you. You'll spend 20 bucks (probably less in a bargain bin) to pick up the Vana'diel Collection for PC. You can use the same account both on PC and Xbox. I realize that you may have limitations that preclude you from playing on a PC at the moment. You know that it's not an irreversible decision to go Xbox in the future and don't let it steer you away from trying the game simply because it will be somewhat handicapped by the console.

Secondly: I've been doing some research into jobs. I'd probably be an Elvaan, because they're cool. With this, I want to be a Thief. The reason being that it seems that Thieves can really be useful into the later levels, especially when coupled with a nifty sub. Anyone a Thief? Is it something I'd want to replace later on in the game? Would it be better to sub it and pick a different main?

Picking a race because it's cool is always the way to go. There will be some race discrepancies in this MMO more than some others, but there are plenty of Elvaan everything's out there doing just fine.

Thief's usefulness is a yes and no thing. It depends on what you want out of the game. Thief is one of the better soloers in the game which is good for getting some rare gear later on. Thief also has the ability to get better drop-rates on things. This is good for farming and great for camping rare gear from rare monsters. This will make you useful to the endgame crowd when they need improved drop-rates. A Thief will always be in the main group for the sake of drops.

Once upon a time, when parties used a more traditional setup, SATA with a good Thief was really important. I'm sure it still is, but as you get to higher levels parties become less traditional. But have heart. You won't be at the very bottom of the pile for invites.

Before some of the recent changes to the game I would've said THF was really hard to start with because of early invites before you have a subjob, but now you can just solo it all, even if it is a bit slow. You will have to level a sub and it will probably be Warrior for a while early on.

Thirdly: Subbing. From what I understand, subbing mostly does exactly the same as your main (in terms of unlockable abilities), but only up to level 37. Right? If so, what would make a good sub for a thief? I'm looking at either Ninja or Dancer mostly. I like not dying, and both of these look as if they can make me not die more. Ninja could epicarise (totally a word) my SATA damage if I used the right weapons, which could be good. Also, it would allow me to super-safely tank for a little while if the main tank needed a time-out. I like the hate controlling aspects of the Thief, and it just seems to me that Ninja would help with increasing damage and staying power. My worry with this is that it won't be that useful in terms of support, hence the Dancer option. From the looks of things, a Thief/Dancer (in later levels) can act as a pretty good support character for pretty much all occasions and job types, especially when it comes to alleviating some of the stress from the White Mage in the party.

As above, just keep in mind you won't have access to either NIN or DNC until you've hit 30 and done the quests to unlock those jobs. A likely path you'd have to take is as follows...

WAR ->18
-Get your subjob
THF -> 30
-Get advanced jobs
DNC and/or NIN -> 37
THF -> 75

DNC is a pretty incredible sub and has become one of the subs of choice for many melee especially for solo situations. /NIN is also a great choice for soloing. In the long run the answer is that you need both. FFXI is all about situational stuff. You'll need to level lots of subs and depending on how serious you get, several mains and the relevant subs for those as well.






At this point it's probably a lot to take in and I can ramble forever about very gameplay issues. It would probably be better if I waited and got some feedback from you about what specifically you want to do.

That aside, you can't go too wrong and you'll almost always find yourself being pleasantly surprised by things that you may not have planned to enjoy but end up loving.

[Del Murder]

I don't own an X-Box 360 so I can't help you there.

THF provides a unique function in a party due to it's ability to pull monsters to camp and provide hate management. THFs are the main pullers of the game, and have the highest evasion. In terms of invites to level up THF are generally are ignored during the low and high levels. This is due to not being able to do as much damage as other jobs and not being useful for much else. In the mid levels THFs probably get more invites. In the 30s especially THFs are in high demand due to SATA. Once you get Viper Bite (weapon skill) at level 33 you will become the best DD for that level range.

In terms of 'end game' activities THFs are generally only wanted due to their Treasure Hunter ability. There are many other jobs that can provide better damage output and hate management generally isn't an issue in these situations. However, for many things Treausre Hunter is highly desired so THF has some demand.

THF as a subjob is useful for some jobs but I don't see it being used as much any more. I use it as a sub for BLU sometimes as Sneak Attack provides a damage bonus to my spells.

NIN is the standard subjob for THF. This allows a THF to wield two daggers which provide stat bonuses and more auto-attack damage. With it's high evasion, the blinkable shadows provided by NIN allows THF to solo many monsters without even taking a hit. Also, the use of Bloody Bolts allow THF to recover HP without needing a cure spell. THF are really good at soloing things that have lowish accuracy. The shadows also help THF with pulling duties. I don't see many THF sub DNC so I can't tell you how good it is. It's almost always NIN.

Most people from these forums are on Midgard server, but I'm on Pandemonium. Is my coolness greater than the sum of the coolness of all the people on Midgard? Probably not. However, if Ouch! was here with me (which he was until he BETRAYED ME) I think our combined coolness would put us over the top.

[Lionx]

I am probably one of the few that would choose to sub WAR given the chance because of Berserk and Double Attack. I feel these are stronger alternatives to Dual Wield until the second upgrade around level 30ish for both DoT and WS. By level 60 though Assasin is there, so splitting SATA and subbing NIN makes more sense to me. The subjob of WAR gives you a more offensive boost at the expense of defense.

When pulling monsters that are really slow at running, or the monster does not have very strong AoE attacks(or if the AoE wipes shadows anyway), i would be more inclined to sub WAR if the given situation allows it. The THF should not have hate to begin with so the lack of defense is negligible with a competent tank. If you are smart you should take minimal damage.

That being said, NIN is a more common subjob due to safety reasons(party and solo), and DNC is great for soloing.

[Quindiana Jones]

THF/WAR was going to be my primary setup until I could get to NIN and DNC. Man, I just had an acro-gasm. But yeah, I figure Provoke and Perfect Dodge could help get a party out of a sticky situation if need be.

To be honest, I'll be experimenting like a beast with jobs. As I said, my main worry is how difficult or just plain bad XI might be on 360. Assuming I have the 2008 edition (all extras to the Goddess) and a keyboard, what are the differences between console and PC? I'm not too fussed about graphics, so long as I'm not missing out on any storylines or quests, though I would appreciate a comparison screenshot or two if anyone knows where to get one.

[Del Murder]

They are the same exact game. You will have access to all the same quests and items as the PC version. You could even buy a PC version and play as the same character on PC if you felt like it.

[Quindiana Jones]

So the only real difference is with the controls, which can be solved with a simple 360 keyboard?

[Del Murder]

Having never played on Xbox I can only assume but I think so.

[Quindiana Jones]

Groovy. Thanks for the advice and stuff.

[Rostum]

Del move to Midgard, imo.

[Quindiana Jones]

This thread is now a petition to move Del to Midgard. I hear he totally loves petitions and stuff.

[Ouch!]

Motion for Del to move to Midgardsormr seconded (thirded?).

As far as I know, the only performance issue the Xbox 360 has is for the Besieged event, in which you will almost always disconnect as the event ends, thus preventing you from gaining the experience points and imperial standard accumulated. Otherwise, I've heard nothing bad about it and know quite a few people who play using the console.

There's not much else for me to say that hasn't already been addressed about THF except to emphasize that getting parties, especially merit parties (which will be important) can be pretty difficult for THF. As long as you're prepared for that, there's nothing that should stop you.

Edit: Interestingly enough, I just finished the SCH AF1 quest, in which a character says, "Help me, Ouch. You're my only hope." I laughed pretty hard, and the thread title just reminded me of it.

[Quindiana Jones]

Seeing as this already exists, I may as well ask a new question here.

Xbox keyboard: all I know of is the £60 piece of Microsoft wanker adapter that allows me to plug a mouse and a keyboard into the 360. Is this the only method of keyboarding up a 360? Anyone know of any particularly good ones?

[Ouch!]

Seeing as this already exists, I may as well ask a new question here.

Xbox keyboard: all I know of is the £60 piece of Microsoft wanker adapter that allows me to plug a mouse and a keyboard into the 360. Is this the only method of keyboarding up a 360? Anyone know of any particularly good ones? :bigsmile:

I just use whatever USB keyboard I have lying around and plug that in. You really shouldn't need a mouse at all for FFXI. In fact, I recommend against it. Mouse controls are fairly awful!

[Quindiana Jones]

Yeah, mousing would make it very hard to play...what with no table and all. I'm doing some research on it all, so it should be groovy. Yum. Game's arriving for July 15th. Huzzah!