FFXI - are there demos available?

[Legion]

I have seen something of this game and it rather interests me. I feel uncomfortable though buying a pay-per-month title without having the slightest notion how well it plays. Any suggestions?

 

[cthellis42]

Convince a friend to buy it first. No demos or free trials for FFXI I imagine... not for a LOOOONG time. (Usually gets offered by MMORPGs struggling to snag more players.)

Only thing I can really suggest is to talk to players, sort through reviews, and perhaps find a good forum or two to talk about the game and get a handle on it. If you know what MMORPGs are all about, you'll be able to get a handle on the gameplay well enough and all that'll be left is figuring out how well it will run on your computer. (Though of course there's a benchmark for that.)

 

[Legion]

some of you have to have played it! One of you must know something.

I have a hard time trusting reviews.

 

[jvd]

I played it for a week packed it up and its in a corner .


Think ultima online in terms of lvling. But and this is a big but. You can decrease in lvls . It took me 4 days to go from lvl 3-4 and that was in a group of 4. My friends that also bought it started out on diffrent servers since you can't pick it . We had to deal with people who have been playing this game a few months already so crafting was pretty much out of question.

Its just not a great game.

btw this is the pc version i'm talking about (no diffrence except graphics.)

personaly as far as mmrpgs go i'm waiting on ultima x

 

[Tagrineth]

Think ultima online in terms of lvling. But and this is a big but. You can decrease in lvls . It took me 4 days to go from lvl 3-4 and that was in a group of 4. My friends that also bought it started out on diffrent servers since you can't pick it . We had to deal with people who have been playing this game a few months already so crafting was pretty much out of question.

Actually according to most players, one really should go solo until about level 10. You get more xp individually than on a team, etc...

 

[jvd]

Think ultima online in terms of lvling. But and this is a big but. You can decrease in lvls . It took me 4 days to go from lvl 3-4 and that was in a group of 4. My friends that also bought it started out on diffrent servers since you can't pick it . We had to deal with people who have been playing this game a few months already so crafting was pretty much out of question.

Actually according to most players, one really should go solo until about level 10. You get more xp individually than on a team, etc...

Yea only thing is you die twice as much and if your xp goes down to under what it took to get to say lvl 5 you drop to lvl 4. So its a choice between loosing lvls or gaining them slowly .

 

[zurich]

I was in beta and forced myself to play it for about 2 weeks before I just gave up. It's basically Everquest with Chocobos and Moogles, thats it. Same boring MMORPG formula gameplay.

If you've never played an MMORPG before, it may interest you, but to a vetran there really isn't anything new, except perhaps really pretty graphics.

 

[LisaJoy]

I personally didnt like it.. I made the mistake of buying SWG, it was terrible, then got FFXI and I liked it even less(both are fun for about a week then you just get tired of them).

Ultima and Everquest stand as my favorites even today....
hopefully WOW and EQ2 will live up to my hopes for them.

 

[Ty]

Ultima and Everquest stand as my favorites even today....
hopefully WOW and EQ2 will live up to my hopes for them.

What was so good about Ultima and EQ? Honest question, I'm curious.

 

[jvd]

Ultima and Everquest stand as my favorites even today....
hopefully WOW and EQ2 will live up to my hopes for them.

What was so good about Ultima and EQ? Honest question, I'm curious.

Can't comment on eq but with ultima . Everything was new. There was a very robust system with tons of skills so there was something for everyone . The play was very fun for the time. There was a ton of content to go for.

The problems with uo was the bugs and the griefing through the bugs or its pvp .


To create a game 6 years later which amounts to basicly a clone with 3d graphics and just as many problems as uo had at launch makes it a game not worth picking up .

 

[Legion]

Think ultima online in terms of lvling. But and this is a big but. You can decrease in lvls . It took me 4 days to go from lvl 3-4 and that was in a group of 4. My friends that also bought it started out on diffrent servers since you can't pick it . We had to deal with people who have been playing this game a few months already so crafting was pretty much out of question.

Actually according to most players, one really should go solo until about level 10. You get more xp individually than on a team, etc...

hmmmm.....quite the opposite of Ascheron's Call...you gather more experience by having people work for you.

 

[Ty]

Can't comment on eq but with ultima . Everything was new. There was a very robust system with tons of skills so there was something for everyone . The play was very fun for the time. There was a ton of content to go for.

The problems with uo was the bugs and the griefing through the bugs or its pvp .


To create a game 6 years later which amounts to basicly a clone with 3d graphics and just as many problems as uo had at launch makes it a game not worth picking up .

Have you tried SWG?

 

[Ozymandis]

I've been playing it since its PC launch, along with my brother and a bunch of others from Cloudchaser gaming forum. Not much I can say to compare it to other MMORPGs since aside from AC/AC2 betas it's my first real experience with the genre.

A couple of things:

-It's very time-consuming. Everything in the game has been engineered to take as long as possible, and it can be frustrating as there are no "quick fixes". Before you get your subjob at 18 and your Chocobo at 20 you may give up.

-Aesthetically it makes everything else in the genre look rough and unpolished. Suprise, suprise, a Square game has higher productions values than a bunch of Western-developed games Still looks very nice, I really dig the art and the world design.

-The servers are fast and the game is very stable.

I for one have enjoyed my time with the game so far. Although I'm only on level 24/11 the party dynamic and gameplay is pretty compelling once you add skillchains, secondary jobs, advanced classes, and more abilities in the mix.

Yea only thing is you die twice as much and if your xp goes down to under what it took to get to say lvl 5 you drop to lvl 4. So its a choice between loosing lvls or gaining them slowly .

Or you could understand your limitations and fight smart, learn the gameplay systems, and later pick your party well?

 

[gurgi]

I think its flawed.. but a great game. There may be better MMORPGs out there (I've only really played EQ), but I like the game for several reasons:

1) Interesting environments and generally good art design. So important to keeping me interested in a game. God EQ was fugly, in both graphics and art.

2) Great teamwork elements. Skill chains and magic bursts rock.. and the pressure of xp chains keeps things moving. This game is by far the most fun I've ever had as a team.

3) Awesome class system. It's irritating you have to camp mobs to unlock your subjob.. but I really like the system. You can't gimp your character. There is a level cap on each job.. but not your char. So if you waste a bunch of time on a WAR, your char isn't ruined.. just change jobs. You still keep your weapon/magic skill levels and you may need that job in the future, all you've wasted is time. Sub jobs also add a good level of character customization.. and since you can change that job aswell, you can mitch and match functionality for whatever you are doing, or whoever you are playing with that day. Sub jobs are capped at 50% of your main jobs level. And there are advanced jobs you can unlock through quests later in the game to keep things interesting.



There are definately some flaws. The game is boring at first IMO. Party XP seems gimped.. why bother when you can get 75-100xp solo. THE WINDOWS KEY, OMFG.. if I push it one more time and get kicked out Im going to lose my god damn mind !! ITS RIGHT NEXT TO THE MOST USED BUTTON IN THE GAME!! Hello, squaresoft?.. are you really that dumb? Graphically there are all kinds of probs (though when compared to other mmorpgs, its nice).

Also, conning isn't specific enough. An IT mob could be a great match for your party with good xp, but sometimes, it can be an uber mob that rocks you all. It also would have been nice to have a better transition between difficulty levels in mobs.. but perhaps this was intentional for party mechanics.

..anyway, Im really loving it. I just bought it to hold me over till World of Warcraft.. but I may end up playing it beyond that. Time will tell.

 

[zidane1strife]

It took me 4 days to go from lvl 3-4 and that was in a group of 4.

OMG!!! You've got to be kidding me!!! That took my friend like half an hour... solo of course... only possible explanation is... nar·co·lep·sy

 

[gurgi]

Party XP seems gimped in the early game to me, so I could see taking forever in a party of 4. What amazes me is they stayed together regardless. I started partying (lol) around lvl 10 and didn't look back. 100-200xp is nice, less risk and MUCH more fun when you start working together, and especially when you start chaining skills and magic.

 

[jvd]

Can't comment on eq but with ultima . Everything was new. There was a very robust system with tons of skills so there was something for everyone . The play was very fun for the time. There was a ton of content to go for.

The problems with uo was the bugs and the griefing through the bugs or its pvp .


To create a game 6 years later which amounts to basicly a clone with 3d graphics and just as many problems as uo had at launch makes it a game not worth picking up .

Have you tried SWG?

i beta tested it . My god was that bad. But at least they tried to do new things or do things better . They tried getting rid of the grind. Not make it haarder.

 

[jvd]

Aesthetically it makes everything else in the genre look rough and unpolished. Suprise, suprise, a Square game has higher productions values than a bunch of Western-developed games Still looks very nice, I really dig the art and the world design.

And which games are you looking at ? Because compared to swg the game is on par. But compare it to games coming out in the next few months it looks like crap. Sure if we take eq and daoc which are years old to two yeras old it will look better .

 

[Cyborg]

JVD-

And which games are you looking at ? Because compared to swg the game is on par. But compare it to games coming out in the next few months it looks like crap

And which MMORPGs are coming in the following months? Its a question of art anyway, FFXI has something most western MMO games have been lacking, actual art. And its not a question of western vs japanese art as i feel western devs who have good artists make better fantasy art than japaneses, its just that MMO games so far have been totally empty of it.

Anyway, no offense but you really dont seem to be a good player, 4 days to get to lvl 3~4? Arent you ?


Zurick-

was in beta and forced myself to play it for about 2 weeks before I just gave up. It's basically Everquest with Chocobos and Moogles, thats it. Same boring MMORPG formula gameplay

Maybe you didnt bother enough? The crystal crafting system is a league ahead of any other mmorpgs, the weapon skill chaining & magic chaining adding actual strategy in a genre that was just about individuality in terms of fighting, EXP chaining to actually offer an incentitive to beat hard monsters, the conquest mode for additional items & artifacts, conquering regions and help the entire community of your nation by competing against other nations, it actually affects the economy in a big way and also crystal camps. Or what about the job system ala FFII ? Certainly nothing like previous mmorpgs and so so much better than traditional ways. Not to mention monsters having an actual AI rather than simply aggro'ing to anything that approach X meters.

EQ with chocobos? Yea for a newbie perhaps who didnt bother to even read the manual on how the game works.

 

[Tagrineth]

Aesthetically, Horizons CRUSHES FFXI under its gigantic Dragon foot.