Is FF XI a game for me?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

JESUS CHRIST!! Put a spoiler on that damn picture!! Scared the friggin crap out of me and I just spent 10 stinkin hours in the kitchen baking and I'm exhausted! Could have given me a damn heart attack!

/em grumbles to herself and goes off to get some milk and cookies...

[Raydeus]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Now that makes me want to take the blue pill... and a bunch of other colored pills to try to forget what I saw.

[Amberly]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Take the red pill and see how far the rabbit hole goes.









...what? <_<

[Nuriko]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Certainly, endgame activities can eat up that much time. Before that, you might be able to cheat things in a way ... seeking a PT can take quite a while, but it's not so much something you do as something you are, you can do other things or do things IRL (but within earshot).

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

/tantrum

/comfort

Edit > It really depends on how many hours you have to play per day. With 10hrs+ you can easily get more than enough of an idea if the game is for you or not (in terms of story and missions). With 3hrs to play you'll probably need 6 months for that.

XI still requires chunks of 5hrs+ at a time to get anything done.

/cheer

[Raydeus]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

/tantrum




Edit > It really depends on how many hours you have to play per day. With 10hrs+ you can easily get more than enough of an idea if the game is for you or not (in terms of story and missions). With 3hrs to play you'll probably need 6 months for that.

XI still requires chunks of 5hrs+ at a time to get anything done.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Unfortunately no one can be told what XI is. You have to see it for yourself.












...what? <_<

FFXI is a game.









...what? <_<

[Raydeus]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Unfortunately no one can be told what XI is. You have to see it for yourself.












...what? <_<

[LilithAngel]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

there was no "scary mask" or exaggerated stories" in my post, just the facts.

QFT. Seconded.

Nothing but the reality of the situation here. Limited time = limited progress in this game. I'm a living testament to that. In the past 6 years in my service to Uncle Sam, I've had to forego several opportunities to advance in major ways because of various different things, and it sometimes shows in my lack of advancement (I had at one time designs for Gungnir. That has been put on hold indefinately until such time as I can put real time into this game) in various avenues.

Regardless of what's limiting you, if you can't put in the time, you won't get far.

End of line.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Sometimes people around here tend to put on scary masks and and tell some exaggerated stories.

Excuse me? There wasn't a single thing that I said that was exaggerated. He said his time was limited with the amount of real life things going on. So if he can only play occasionally or for short periods, all my time frames were correct. Also being a brand new player means working on fame, making friends, leveling skills, missions, learning where to go/what to do etc. It's not like an established player starting a new job and having it easier because they have all that under their belts already. All of that takes time and if you are limited on time its only going to take you longer than the average person. So there was no "scary mask" or exaggerated stories" in my post, just the facts.

[LilithAngel]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Just to put some perspective on it, having 3 70s (pre Wrath of the Lich King) for a while was equivalent to having several jobs at 75 in FFXI, however, 8 months would hardly get you to maybe 1 and a half 75 jobs if you knew what you were doing. The level grind is a lot slower (and you also don't get xp for doing quests; they're more for the storyline and sometimes decent-to-good gear). However, that's not nessesarily a bad thing...

To help start you out, look for the new player starter NPC in whatever nation you choose.

Alaune, Southern San d'Oria (G-10)
Gulldago, Bastok Markets (D-11)
Selele, Windurst Woods (K-10)

These NPCs will give you what's basically your first quests, short, simple, and easy assignments that help teach you about the game (IOW, tutorials), and will also help you get a hold of the concepts that are used throughout the game.

Next, after you get used to that, outside in the newbie zones, there's what's called Field Manuals. These items are basically an extension of the NPCs that taught you the basics of the game, and work much like quest givers in WoW: they give you an objective, and you go out and meet the objective for exp. It is part of the Fields of Valor event.

After that, you're basically on your own to go from there. By the time you're partying and meeting new people, you should have a grasp on what you can do, and what you need to do to advance. Other players can also help you learn the game as well.


All of the links I've provided direct you the the item's entry in FFXIclopedia.com, and incredibly helpful database that's been put together over the course of the past few years. It's rather comprehensive, and can teach you about a lot of the game, from everything about what abilities a job can earn, to how certain statistics work, from effects of eating foods, to the abilities of even the most obscure monster. It's not without its own errors, but that's why it's helpful to remember that it's editable by just about anybody that can prove that the information is either incorrect or correct. It's been up and running since the game came out, so the majority of the info is (mostly) accurate.

Good luck out there, and hopefully you'll do fine.

[Ameroth]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

I just played Fallout 3 and the roleplay and action aspect was awesome, but it was shortlived and done in 11 hours or so.

If you "finished" fallout 3 in less than 50hrs (at least), you missed a lot.

ps. haev fun. FFXI can become very engrossing.

[TezzaLarks]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

I just want to try something new I played WoW for about 8 months total nearly got 3 70s and shit and meh it was tiresome and everybody was exactly the same, either swedish people with no clue or somebody with something 1up on you all the time.

I just played Fallout 3 and the roleplay and action aspect was awesome, but it was shortlived and done in 11 hours or so.
I want something that could take some time but is also achievable in that time.

I want to go out and buy it tomorrow to start testing and seeing whether it'd be good, Thanks for your help everyone, it seems people of FF XI are a lot more into it and friendly than any other game so
I think i'm guna have a good time :D!

[Ameroth]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

so really to get even the slightest bit of satisfaction out of it i must play for like 6 months or so?

Sometimes people around here tend to put on scary masks and and tell some exaggerated stories. Playing the game for even a month is enough time to get some satisfaction from it. A month is long enough for you to decide if it's going to be cost-effective to give SE $12.95+ a month.

What the others are trying to say is the game starts off slowly. You have no skills (weapon, magic, crafting, etc), 6 Lv1 jobs to choose from, next to no gil, some starter gear, probably no friends, and little to no direction of where to go (they added newbie NPCs not too long ago which help this aspect I guess). After the opening cinematic, you're seemingly alone/solo until you start meeting people, usually through parties with them for exp, quests, etc.

While a month or two is enough to get some satisfaction, it's not going to be nearly long enough to get continued and valued satisfaction. For a brand new player, it wouldn't be unusual to take 2 months just to get to level 30. Hell, my first time playing I didn't ding 30 on a job for a pretty decent chunk of time. The thing that keeps FFXI different from, and often more enjoyable than other, MMOs is the vast majority of content to keep you occupied other than leveling/grinding. Another big difference, like others pointed out is how much time (many) activities require. In the end, it's all based on how much time you're willing to spend on a game. If you are very casual, playing a few hours a week for example, I won't lie and say you'll climb the ladder fast, but I won't tell you to not bother because you will just fail.

I just happen to disagree with the approach that FFXI requires unimaginable amounts of playtime, all of the time, to achieve any success or enjoyment.

[SSJGotenx268]

Re: Is FF XI a game for me?

Well the problem is, everything takes time. So you need to invest a lot of time into the game to get anywhere. So the less time you have to play, the slower you'll advance. The slower you advance, the more possibility there is for you to become frustrated with the game.....especially after playing WoW where things are a lot different. Little example following a short time period to play per day: You'll start and spend a couple days to level a job to lets say level 10 but then you need new weapons/equips/spells/food so you need to farm. Now spend a couple of days doing that. So nearly a week goes by and you've gotten to a whopping level 10. So off you go to Valkurm Dunes. Low and behold, a few days later, you hit level 18...time for your sub job quest. You probably have the apron and the worm by now since you've been leveling in the dunes. If not, then it shouldn't take too long....hopefully. But the skull is another matter. That could take you quite a while to get. Anyways, now you could be up to 2 weeks + just to get your sub job and start all over at level 1 again. Yes, you must now level your sub job, farm for equips/spells/weapons/food again.....yadda, yadda, yadda... Top this all off with doing missions, quests, etc and you can see how in 2 months you just don't get too far. Six months will get you a lot farther but no where near the end. Hell I've been playing since shortly after JP release and I've not done everything you can in this game yet either. (I also have a life to attend to.)

Sooooooo....this game is COMMITTMENT if you want to achieve high levels of greatness or see all the different awesome storylines. It's rewarding beyond belief and gives such a great sense of accomplishment and forges great friendships. This game IS worth it if you have the time, the patience, and the drive to achieve it.

Its stuff like that that draws me away from games: repetition. But for some reason I want keep playing. WoW is way to easy mode and I want something challenging. Plus I can sit on my couch and play it on my TV on my 360. Now THATS what every MMO needs :D