XI vs. XIV

[Wolf Kanno]

So for people who have played both games, which did you like better?

[Shauna]

I have played about two hours of both, so I can't really judge it properly. However, FF14 was so much easier to get into - it had more direction, while FF11 kind of just drops you in with no indication of what you're supposed to do. You're just expected to know you have to talk to this one NPC out of the many.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by newer games having too much direction, though. x}

[Aulayna]

However, FF14 was so much easier to get into - it had more direction.

This alone is why I'd choose XIV.

XI looks like it was a great game, for it's time, but the MMO space has come along so much since then that anyone trying to get into XI now will probably be put off by it.

[Jessweeee♪]

I was only subscribed to FFXI for two months, I just remember a lot of waiting around for parties for long long looooong periods of time and not being able to do a whole lot in the game while waiting around because everything in the area could kill me in two hits. But maybe I was doing it wrong. I've had a lot more fun with FFXIV.

[Mirage]

FFXI is more chaotic than FFXIV, which is a lot more orderly. Combat in FFXIV is more predictable, which sometimes also means more boring, even if it is faster paced. What you can and can't do is a lot more controlled in FFXIV, while you in FFXI actually have a very huge tool box for most jobs (I'm using the term jobs as a catch-all for both jobs and what would be "classes" in ffxiv). It's almost a bit paradoxal, that they made the armoury system in FFXIV to give you even more freedom than you had in FFXI, but it kind of turned out the opposite.

The world of FFXI is also more unique, and the races have more distinct features and backgrounds. FFXI has less direction, but that's not universally a bad thing. The game doesn't tell you what to do, it doesn't give you a tutorial, but if you start talking to nearby NPCs, you'll eventually figure out where to start.

I was only subscribed to FFXI for two months, I just remember a lot of waiting around for parties for long long looooong periods of time and not being able to do a whole lot in the game while waiting around because everything in the area could kill me in two hits. But maybe I was doing it wrong. I've had a lot more fun with FFXIV.

No, that's how the game used to be. It's different now, though. You can still get killed in two hits if you run into high level areas without being high level, of course, but there's no waiting for parties just to level up anymore. It's pretty solo friendly now.

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah basically it was like, if I wanted to party up I better stand in one spot and read a book or something xD

[Mirage]

That's probably the worst part of the game as it was in the past. It's sad, really. It really put a lot of people off, preventing them from experiencing the wonderful world of vana'diel. And my goddess, what a wonderful world it is. It is by far the biggest Fin-Del Fantasy world, and probably the world with the most lore as well. I haven't exactly gotten into all of the FF13 trilogy lore and trout, but that is probably the only thing that even gets somewhat close to vanadiel in terms of lore, and also the amount of subtle details in said lore, and all the stuff that's between the lines. In addition to all that backstory, there is also a current story that progresses as you play, and there are no less than seven storylines in the game. Three of them intersect quite often, two of them intersect occasionally, and the rest are more or less stand alone, only sharing the world's lore. That's still not counting the three short stories released in between the last and second last expansion pack, and also not the admittedly shallow story of a battle content trilogy pack, and not counting *any* of the side quests that have give you minor bits of story stuff (there are hundreds of these, no exaggeration).


But as I said, waiting around for parties to level up is a thing of the past. If you don't find people nowadays, you just solo, because that's made real easy. The game practically vomits items and bonuses on you now as you level up to the max level.

[Jessweeee♪]

Maybe I will go back someday :v

[Del Murder]

XIV is a good game but XI was something special.

[ScottNUMBERS]

I enjoy FFXIV but FFXI is just so dynamic.

In a lot of MMOs you are forced into a particular style of play. FFXIV fits into this category. All the best players will be clones of one another. The strategies for the battlefields are all the same or near enough...a tank some DPS and a healer.

FFXI completely breaks this common MMO trend. Party set-ups are customised by a leader/group and there are many many set-ups and strategies you can use to kill any one fight. Similarly, there are many different ways you can play your job and customise your gear sets.

[Del Murder]

Yeah I'm still waiting for a job like Blue Mage or Red Mage in FFXIV that can fill several different party roles.