FFXI - The good from the bad.

[Deckard]

Hey everyone!

I'm gonna post three things I like about FFXI and three things I dislike. I encourage everyone to do the same...

Like:
1. The visuals = Technically, they're not so hot (except for the gorgeous draw distance) but artistically the texturing on the monsters and characters is phenomenal. The amount of detail put into every fiend and location is highly commendable and very, very Square-ish. It owns me.:handsdown

2. Storyline = Sure it's not the same Final Fantasy-ish mega, uber-cool story, but it's Tactics-ish flavor and simple yet sophisticated medieval atmosphere is unparalleled and unmatched in today's MMORPG market.

3. Job Class System = Gone is the crappy MMORPG flaw of having to pick what you want to play as, before you ever even get to play! Now we all have the ability to change to a mage 400 hours after starting if we want, or change months of leveling all that magic for two katana's! And we never lose any of that progress! This is probably the game's best feature.

Dislike:
1. The Linkshell Stigma = This will (hopefully) just be a problem in the smaller-user-base beta, but I hate how so many players once getting a pearl disregard all other players outside of their shell. I've found this segments the beta into many small groups, and I don't like that. Not all players do this however, but many do.

2. Race to the top = Another (hopefully) beta only problem, many players desire to level up as quickly as possible and disregard all others that can't help them achieve their goal. I've been in too many party's that turn away players only 4-5 levels lower because it wouldn't be 'beneficial' to some of the party members. I find this degrades the community aspect a little. Hopefully with more players in the final release, no levels will be turned away...

3. Character Customization = I know most MMORPG's leave much up to the armor equipped to differentiate looks (XI does this very well too, as most of the armor's look quite unique), however the initial customization of characters in XI is pretty weak. Limited hair colors, faces limited to specific hair styles, general height changes, no weight changes, and no facial modifications are the biggest offenders here. It would have been nice to have a little more tweaking available.

Well, those are my gripes and praises. Let me hear yours! And let know what you think of these!

[RollChan300]

Yu are absolutely right about race to the top >< I have many friends got turned into lvl up zombies. This includes myself :( I feel sad now that I've achieved my beta goal of getting an adv job. I left so many people sad cause of my lvl up ways >< Poor high lvl me!!!!!!

[Haplo]

I guess you don't think the same, but 5 levels is a lot.

[CybersharkX]

I find this to be a very good review myself I agree totally. Ive had the problem of partying happen in my own linkshell group!! :mad: and they were only 2 levels higher I was mega uber pissed, I unequiped my linkpearl and lobbed that bastard into the nearest river, ok i dropped it not threw it :sweat:
odd thing though I love to create parties, I actually went up to someone last night and I had a PT of 4 already and asked some guy "need a party?" and he actually goes whoa dude your way to high level to join my party O_o, I was like no I was asking if you wanteed to join mine, he was level 16.
My problem in linkshells everybody gives me pearls ive got like 4 of the damn things its hard to shift between them aparently im well liked in the beta community so far :thumbsup: :sweat:
I do feel bad about levelling so fast though I left one of my good friends behind in the dust we did M1 and M2 together and hes only now just level 12 but I plan to help him power level tonight after i get my chocobo :thumbsup:
I have to agree on the customization though I wish you could make your character very unique to you like be able to edit your armor IE: paint stuff on it or some such, shoot maybe even paint tattoos on your guy like mine i want that same tattoo Zell had from FF8 since my guy looks like him eeven has the same hairdo almost lol. Guess we could write into S-E and beg for that option make it like a mog house thing like the garden but call it paint shop or something :p

[Kimahriii]

The grouping part is understandable and I can tell you now it will be there at release no one wanna work hard fighting and have someone 4-5 levels lower suck up the exp and the higher lvls suck up the lower guys exp so everyone gets crap exp. FFXI even enforces not grouping with someone lower lvl i am pretty sure if I remeber right if there 6lvls apart no one will get any exp. A group is meant to be within 1-3lvls of each other.

[CybersharkX]

Maybe also get it to where they make a character designer program like they have in unreal tournament were you can totally build your own guy now that would be Uber sweeeeeet :thumbsup:

[Roric]

Angelheart get a life and it wont be a problem. And dude, your wrong about the parties, you shouldnt invite someone 4-5 levels lower, its not good for anybodys experience, including yours.

[Nameless]

Maybe getting to a high level is fun for some people. Perhaps they want their RSE or get to level 40 and start getting AF, even though they have so much time. I remember someone saying people who get the PC version of the full game in october or whatever won't get to far ahead of PS2 people getting it in Q1, well beta is a perfect example of how that person is wrong, there are already level 30 people after a few weeks of playing, after months of playing there will be level 65 people. Now I'm mad at Sony again :mad:.

[CybersharkX]

You know I really dont care about the xp, I care about the Experience the joy of playing with other players and interaction, im not all uppity on my high chocobo goin hey look at me little level person you cant party with me you lack 1337 FFXI skillz noob!
I party for the fun of it ;)

[rwyan]

Sheesh, there can only be a 6 lvl range maximum in groups, in order to get exp?! I remember it was like that in DAoC but they changed it so any levels can group together. Personally, from past online gaming experience 4-5 levels isnt a big difference. Hopefully, if this is the case, it will be fixed soon. I think some people do forget that you can always switch jobs and play with your lower level friends.

[Chipmunk777]

pink hair r0x0rz j00r b0x0rz, so stfu n00b ;)

rwyan, square will not change that.. it works, and it helps balance out... stuff... =P im sure you and I will understand much better once we play the game =P

by the way, 5 or 6 levels is quite a few levels when you start getting higher up =P

[Hisdon]

the parting isn't a big deal, and no I wouldn't party with someone over 3 levels difference...me and two others where working on the secound mission of Windurst and we didn't even finish it, but we still had fun owning stuff and our weapon skills got pretty high. I'd guess that me and the blackmage (deathcake) where level 8 and Xianna, the Red Mage, was level 10, and even though the exp sucked, it was still fun and we almost have the mission done. This game is the best ever. Period.

[GusVJr]

This is one of my biggest MMORPG turn offs. It exsists in most mmorpgs.. but there are some that do not segregate people based on level. It's totally stupid. Chances are that it'll be like this once the game goes live , too.

[RollChan300]

Roric ur being very rude no wonder those people were mad at u when ghoul hunting. Please be a bit nicer

[Roric]

Maybe they were mad at me cuz I was so damn good at ghoul hunting and I dont take shit from people. I wouldnt be one to say what others think of people too:rolleyes: .

[Haplo]

Bah, Roric, you suck. I remember I was healing one time and you ran by and didn't heal me. Heh heh, I hate you.

[Rougtan]

i dont care what you people think but i know im going to keep it within 3 levels for experience......

One idea i think would be cool is to have a tatoo parlor. Of course the tatoo's would have to fit the time period (aka tribal) but the amount should change with the popularity. Also the bigger it is the more it costs ANd it should take some time. Like a in game hour or so per small tatoo.