[Ockman]

Originally Posted by Sauhnik

And to be perfectly honest, sitting around waiting for some elitist a**hats to invite you to a party so that you can progress in the game is idiotic. FFXI has so many flaws it's unbelievable, with the economy, with the leveling system, you can't even get into a craft without spending hordes of money on crafting materials. NO THANKS I'd rather play something that's fun where gilsellers don't monopolize the market and overrun NM spots. Seriously, farming? No thank you.

I come from a time when this wasn't always the case. I one of the odd few that are from this site that played the japanese version of FFXI long before it came out in the states. Gilselling was nonexistant back then, and there were NMs, but no where near as overcrowded. Prices didn't skyrocket like they do today. Everything that is wrong with FFXI now, was not what the game was designed with. It's the economy that's changed the way the game is.

The core game itself, is still more brilliant than any other MMORPG out there! Simply, it's about the cutscenes that actually tell story, and the missions that require strategy and planning, the quests that are often actually different from each other. The AF, while not as strong, or important as they used to be when first implimented, they're still great to have once you get a job to a certain level, because it gives you a sense of accomplishment.

WoW, as every other mmorpg I've played...the way of excelling in the game, is all so generic. Getting certain armor, and making your character look a certain way isn't nearly as important, because it never really requires any work. You get to a certain point, kill some things, buy what you want for defense, and that's it. There's nothing really special about each class, no challenges that you must undertake.

FFXI is alot of work, but once all is done, you really feel like you're done something to be proud of. You walk around like "Yes! i got this done!" In another mmorpg, you'd be like "yes! i killed this group of monsters now and i did it all by myself, because it's so easy" In ffxi, you gotta coordinate your efforts, and work together, or you're all doomed. There's less chance of failure in other MMORPGs.

[Tokitoki]

Though i ahvent been playing as long, I started at the PC release in NA. At that time i remember Emp pin being no more than 250k and leaping 150k. When i first read about SNiper's Rings i looked it up on ah and thought that the 300k that they cost was way out of reach. I remember when i finally broke down and bought my pin, after 17 failed attempts at camping him (i got the claim, no drop), for 500k and at that time it was higly over priced.

Astral Rings were plentiful and cost 100-120k, everyone leveled together and didnt care about equipment, race, stereotypes about your job. We played to have fun, amassing people to kill a simple IT just because we could and we were naive. AF armor was the coolest thing in the world and everyone wanted it more than you could ever imagine, now its simply reduced to something that takes up space in your mog house or that you gave to the npc to store.

That was before the PS2 release...

After that i saw a noticeable change in the prices of everything and the appearance of people that seemed to always be in the same place, the start of the gil sellers as it were. You heard all the elitist talk coming from everyones "mouths." Elvaan suck at that job, Taru cant tank! Everyone started picking apart people one by one... Thats when i started to miss the good ole days. When there werent people begging for gil and shouting at people. I wanted to do back to the time in the Dunes where i made most of my friends, where everyone would just die, laugh, and HP and wouldnt complain about it. Where it was amazing to see a skillchain be set up, and executing it was a wonder to awe at for hours to come. People were more polite, they told you when they were leaving and why, they didnt leave all of a sudden. Sure, you have some people at higher-end that tell you and will find a replacement, but there are those who seemed to miss that lesson...

Sorry for the long post, kinda of rambled and went into a rant.

[Raqua]

i wish i got the game before the ps2 version came out...probably would have had more fun.....even though i still have fun lol

[Tokitoki]

Oh im not saying i dont have fun now, but it just seemed so much different before PS2 got the game... The second day of PS2 release a taru came up to me, cheered me on, bowed, then asked me for gil..

[Raqua]

awww man, why have i never thought of that before lol, i'm such a cute taru >.>

[Kuy555]

I didnt read the whole thread but I really dont care if celebs play MMORPGs unless there are those stupid kids that are going to play them too just because their fav celeb plays it too -_-

[Blood Red Poet]

Blizzard sucks ;o.
WoW sucks compared to FFXI ;o.
WoW sucks compared to Guild Wars, and GW is free ;o.

End of Story.

[Agnastar]

Hmm..

I remember reading that a few famous Japanesse celebrities/musicians/AV Actresses(heh heh) played FFXI. Not sure if they actually ever did, or if they still do.

Curt Schilling, only one of the best major league pitchers as of right now, plays Everquest 2. He also used to play EQLive. He wore a hat of Everquest to a show on ESPN, once upon a time.

[fastcart]

Getting back on topic, I heard Utada Hikaru (jpop star) played FFXI back at the release of NA retail. Prolly quite a few other japanese stars play too, but most NA wouldn't care and therefore we don't hear about them.

Edit: Heh. Agnastar and I are on the same wavelength and sleep schedule maybe. ^^

[TheGrandMom]

Yep I bet a lot of JP stars play MMO's in Japan. Gaming there has been huge for a long time. It's only now becoming more mainstream in the US.

Wth is your sleep schedule FC? You kept me up till 3am for bcnm's and my butt is SOOOO dragging today! My eyes feel like 2 piss holes in the snow! LOL

[Agnastar]

Hmm? My Schedule is basically live during the evening and night and go to bed in the morning =)

[Jokerboy1]

I wish i was famous... and played ffxi..

well i got the second part down =/

time to work on the first part =p