Quote Originally Posted by lionx
You totally lie(not in a bad way XD) when you say FFXI has a bad story. What rank are you? Did you start Zilart and CoP missions? They are totally baddass. The story is deep, you have to persue it among other things and fight with it in your party. You obviously havent went deep enough. FFXI's only real departure is that you arent the main main character anymore, and you share a world with many other people and instead of controlling a party, you control yourself as a single unit in the group and depend on one another for survival. It is still very FFish IMO even though many things adapted to an MMORPG style.

Missions1-9 are introduction. You learn about the world around you and the main characters in the game. Memorable characters that have personality.

Missions afterward are about the nation's darker side and its surrounding areas. Zilart is about the beginning with the Zilart vs the Kuluu and how the Crags and other things came to place. The cutscene for ZM4 is fantastic and totally amazing. The story is definitetly there. CoP is even better however i have yet to touch a promyvion, but from what i seen its hard and its really really great. You need to progress far enough to see it though and from what i see you havent.

BTW what makes things FF anyway? O_o All this talk about new FFs not being FFs..what makes them FF anyway hm?

And to the comment about SE making crappy AI..try taking this boss in FFXI's CoP mission; Heres the tatic:

Omega & Ultima Weapons BC(burning circle aka boss) battle.
This battle take place on an airship with massive airfleet escorting you. the site itself was jaw dropping enough.(also known as the airship armada)

= 1st stage : 5 x Mammet-22 Zeta
They have around 3k HP, as strong as the ones at A01's BC. can't be slept or gravitied. (so therefore you cant sleep the monster to rest or you cant make it walk slower[gravity] to kite around the field)

PLD(Paladin) has to hold 4 of them at once(holding hate is a dynamic system..wont go into it here but its not easy) while rangers kill them off one by one. These monsters will keep changing their jobs which makes their abilities unpredictable. 2hours(limit breaks that can be only used once every two real life hours...they are very powerful but bosses can easily use them over and over) and potions must be preserve at this stage and shouldn't be used.

-= 2nd stage : 1x Omega Weapon.
Can be slowed, paralysed and Bound.

First half it will play defensive. Just like FF5, it can stone you and drain all your status. Second half it will do massive AoE(Area of Effect, in other words hits multiple targets or your entire party) lasers and high damage single target missiles.
Potions still shouldn't be used at this stage.

= Stage 3 : 1x Ultima Weapon
Can be gravitied and bound

The first half it doesn't do much. It has defense up ability, some weak AoE attacks and similar to Omega it can stone a single target. Upon reaching the second half, it will activates it's offensive mode and will be using AoE 800+ damage and single attacks. This is where everyone need to keep their pots and abilities for.

The fun part if that this BC only has time limits of 45 minutes for ALL 3 stages. Which mean you shouldn't spend more than 10 minutes on stage 1 and 2 each to have enough time for Ultima Weapon.
It's fun ;D
The money to prep this battle is enough to make you feel challenge. You guys really need to play more into the game...i hope to be able to take down end-game things to gain the skill to beat CoP missions as those are really REALLY challenging despite you being able to do them at lvl 30 for the first mission(they are considered things for higher end lvled ppl to do because of challenge).

I can see your point about ffXI And no im only about half way into rank 5 Since you need to be nearly max level to get to rank 9. I do hope what you say is true but when i said it had a bad story i ment im comparasin to other final fantasy games. FFXI realy isnt BAD story wise I only ment that becouse it's a MMORPG it's story is a little weaker then the other games. THis is becouse like you said your not the main charicter so events arnt as focused around you.

As to what makes a FF game "Feel" like a FF game thats realy complacated but i'll try my best. ^^

Aside from the great "old School" feel to the origenal games they developed a standerd of story and of fighting that was at the top of the RPG world, at lest here in amarica. THey created a Style that meny fans fell in love with. IMO the recent games have lost not only that oldschool feeling but much of what defind them as final fantasy. What makes a final fantasy a final fantasy is hard to say it's much like trying to discrib old school. it's a feeling in the way you play the game. It's the way the story plays out, it's the Final boss, it's the towns and the style the game is done in. FFXI's story and in some ways FF8's story were to simple IMO. ALlthough FF8's story gets alot more complex later on FF10 lacks plot twists it's all about Yuna and her jerny. Granted Some plot twists are in there for spice but nothing to profound. IM not hateing on 10 by the way im only useing it as an example since so far it's the farthist from what I at lest think of as final fantasy. I floundering about here Discribing this is hard it's more of a feeling like how a sword thats right for you just feels right. Or how a story just seems to fit and as it plays out you get this feeling that you love that makes you want to stay up all night reading. Simply put Final fantsy is pure Magic when it has that Somthing great about it. and sadly the last few havent had it.