FFXI Classic - The Importance of Slower Combat!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- FFXI Classic is an idea that's been tossed around before, but what made this era of mmos so appreciated? This time I'm touching on the Importance of Slower Combat, and how it made group play all the more engaging.
FFXI Classic- The Importance of Enemy Difficulty: • FFXI Classic - The Imp...
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The incredibly slow pace of the game was the reason the community was so close. You could chat away with you LS or party and still be effective. You also didnt really have much else to do... so you chat. That's why so many players have fond memories of the game.
i disagree a little bit, I think just requiring parties for leveling, missions, HNMs or BCNMs was what really bound people together. That and the community wasn't shit like every other game out right now, but it probably wasn't so because of need for each other.
Jo V. It was the need for others but also the small community. It was easy to get sort of black listed. If you were a garbage person, the news traveled fast. Reputation mattered in the game.
The reason I say it was the slow pace that really brought is together and not the need for the group is because you were in those groups for a long time. It wasn't crazy fast paced. You had time to chat and get to know each other. If the game was fast paced, you wouldn't have time to talk. If you didn't have people waiting an hour or more for a party, farming for hours, going through the dunes for hours, waiting for hours for an event to get underway, there wouldn't have been as much chat in LS. It's the communication that brought people together.
It was also designed for PS2 on dial up/dsl at the bare minimum. I felt like the difficulty of everything else and the time period is what brought people together
you spend 3 hours staring at the auction window trying to buy an item while chating with ls
I see only right answers here, including OP, I think these are ALL reasons why we will all go to the grave remembering the old days in FFXI.
Your nostalgia captivates me. I always loved the slow paced, tactical combat of FF11. Hence why the moment I played A Realm Reborn I was displeased.
Tony Pugliese I agree. After each battle I was like.....christ am I playing DOA?
I just hope the FFXI mobile remake wont be a P2W lootbox fest.
Really interesting how everyone forgets the disaster that was FFXIV 1.0. You do realize that was a carbon copy of XI's system basically? And it was the first thing to go.
i know they're going to fuck it up.
crazybongo5 I couldn’t care less. I played ff14 v1 from Beta since day one and I hated both v1 and v2. It was simply unplayable even on high end PCs at the time. If FF11 battle system was so awful as you portrayed, it wouldn’t have been running for so long nor it would have been the most profitable Final Fantasy main title in SE history. Go ahead, google it up.
I miss this game so much.
na.nasomi.com
It's still sctive
Active° ugh lol
Come to ffxi era !
Starting to cast Silena before the ninja was actually silenced because you knew the attack?
Counting the shadows and dropping a Flash just in time for the recast?
I miss playing WHM.
{Party} {Do you need it?} looking for white mage as described in comment haha
You manage to put into words what I feel is missing from modern MMOS. I played XI for 9 years and I still miss it!
The timing of ancient magic burst with the party skill chain was crazy ,but we all supported it. XD
The sense of community and comradery during my time in 11 was a great time. You would get to learn about your party and who they were.
Where I love a game like ff14. I do agree, I miss the combat where it was more thought based and less about how well you can react. Honestly, with age, I have just begun to play less games that are reactionary which has brought me back to this game time and again. I wish it got a bit of a face lift but with that, I would want the same old systems in place because that's what makes this game.
God you really make a man miss this game.
Look up the Nasomi private server then! It's CoP era with some of ToAU in it. 700-1k players on normally!
Nostalgia glasses aside, I really do miss this game. I use to main MNK, the thing I weirdly miss about FF11 is the auto attack system. Your physical attacks were really satisfying, every swing of animation felt like it had impact. Such an odd thing to miss, but this is why I could never get into FF14.
XI really was catching lightning in a bottle. As much as I would love a modern take on XI, I just don't think people have the time to dedicate to games, and the social aspect that came with XI like they used too... which is kinda sad when I type it out.
That's one of the most common things I see, the comment about not having enough time. For me it's the same, not quite enough time to devote to a game like this anymore. I still try though, especially when I consider how much time I've wasted playing other mmos that are considered to be less of a time sink, or playing console games even. It may take 10x longer to do something, but it's 10x more rewarding, so it's definitely worth it even if all you can devote is a little bit of time here and there.
you bitches are grown up now so work/family take much of your time, but even the new generation, they like fast achievement, its why the OS games make shit-tones of money nowadays.
There are still millions of people with the time, but the average age of a gamer keeps rising (people who first grew up with them get older, and everyone after grows up with them) as the gamer population rises. Couple this with ever rising dev costs and it is no longer viable in most cases to make a game that caters only to the younger people who usually have the most time.
Still playing XI on Asura today. I can't get into modern mmo's and the constant macro'ing. I really enjoy the basic Attack as the primary source of damage, and using skills / abilities / spells when decisions need to be made in a tight spot. My brain works weird compared to most these days I guess.
I agree, I really liked the older slower combat, that allowed us to become friends and talk- Only time I get to talk with my part in 14, is right after a wipe to let the tank know we're not mad at them because they're new and messed up. That and in the over-world.
I would like to see an MMO dare to try this again. These days I have both accounts active, and I find myself logging into 11 more than 14, because.... 11 takes less time to jump on and off. Yeah, I said it.
This is my own opinion though, and i'm sure not a lot of players will share it, and that's okay.
In 14 I have to psych myself up for dungeons(especially if I'm healing or tanking), and plan ahead for how long or short a queue might be, and what to do while I wait. My mind gets easily thrown around and overwhelmed by the tension of it all.
In 11 I just log on, and either go out and solo, use trusts, or party up with friends from LS who happened to need a job that I have. The mobs in the over-world in 11 give a lot more exp, even in solo, so it's still easy to grind.
When Eureka came out, I actually had some fun just soloing on whm in there (since whm is basically rdm in 14), and it didn't even feel slow because it was at my own pace, and I had the "keep a safe camp" mentality from 11.
Anyway, thanks for the video. Would be fun to see the circle come back around to slower combat in MMORPGs. Would be a fun change of pace. ^^
Sometimes I feel like FFXI wasn't so much an MMORPG as it was an interactive chat room. But the cooperative aspect was definitely great the majority of the time. I still remember the first time my LS fought Jailer of Love...we got utterly destroyed and then we all spent a solid two weeks getting merits (often times in LS parties) and better gear and re-thinking our strategy before going back to that fight and owning it...such a rush and what a feeling. I do miss that.
I'm currently playing ffxi for the free login period but I might resub and cancel my ffxiv sub for the time being. I haven't played that for a month or 2 now because I get bored of how easy it is. There isn't a single thing which I find difficult in that game. I'm still trailing behind people as I'm not that far into Heavensward but it just gives you everything on a plate. At least with FFXI you had to look stuff up, research and prepare a lot of the time, especially for the big fights etc. I do actually think ffxi is the best mmo and that it still holds that title.
Elmo's World you right about it being the best MMO.
I cannot express how happy I am I came across your channel. I've been playing since 2005 and miss the old days. The social aspect, or lack thereof, is what has caused me to take my vacation time from ffxi. Way back when, I would log on to hang out with the friends I've made. Many of them are good RL friends to this day. I couldn't begin to estimate the amount of time I've spent sitting in my moghouse doing nothing more than chatting with my linkshell friends. Thanks for the trip down memory lane 😃
Communication was one of the best things about original ffxi. I made so many friends in the game that I still keep in contact with today..... that being said I probably wouldn't have the time for the slow plodding leveling experience of original ffxi
I remember having to pull mobs as a thf while also preloading trick attack. Sometimes it was be a bit stressful not to pull a link depending on party location. After that, it was back to the party to sneak/trick attack and WS with another party member. Kept me busy and sometimes a bit anxious not to mess up the combination or direct hate to a misplaced DD :P. Now those were some interesting memories for me (mixed emotions).
I really miss the HNM scene because it was simply challenging at every level. From the fight itself, to the organization to the competing with other linkshells. I will disagree tho as I thought the aht urhgan era was FFXI's best more than likely as each job came into their own with partying. While setting up skill chains with melee and magic bursting was fun, I liked the constant refresh/haste rotation as RDM while with BLM killing puddings, or killing massive amount of Colobri with melee. To me parties became a place in which you gained merit points so you'd better help your friends during the large scale fighting the most difficult enemies.
This expansion was a breath of fresh air considering what we all just played through. Merit points parties were much different than lvling up parties though. Even on those colibri camps that were exp based, I would always wait for a Skillchain to go off before I did one to match it and drop a colibri in half :)
colibri xp'ing with bard
pulling, sleeping, marching when needed
three sam/war's with polearm!!!!
sooo much fun. Almost as good as bst leveling for me. XD
You from Odin?
I was yes
I was Jaeger on that server in SpoonDaggers before going to Fenrir, but man was Odin probably the best server as a NA player
I know this is very irrelevant to this video. But i was watching some of your old videos and made another character. Lol to support my main character. I love going through the missions and quests again, bringing back old memories.
Great video! Whenever I try to explain the appeal of this game to friends, I've always failed to communicate how the pacing differentiates XI from modern MMOs in an overwhelmingly positive way. You perfectly articulated what I love about the pacing of this game. Definitely going to be my source video I point friends at when trying to explain what makes XI great.
WHERE IS OUR NOSTALGIA SERVER? WARCRAFT GOT ONE!
Yes please, it rejoin the day they do one with a lvl 75 cap
Great video! Make me nostalgic of the great times I had with this game! A friend talked me into playing again and after I payed and updated backed out on me. So I am going back in! Wish me luck!
I digress... but I digress.
I know that tripped me out, I thought the video skipped as I was just passively watching it. I think he just lost his place on his script and reread the line.
Literally looked through the comments for something like this. I thought I was losing my mind, I replayed the video a bunch because I thought it was an audio loop or something.
Also Gamepay @ 2:42 lol :P
Heheh. Yeah. His script was showing there.
Excellent video, not only because i agree with you, but I think you give an accurate breakdown of how these design elements shape the experience of the player, especially as it pertains to players talking/ interacting with eachother
The painfully slow pace of the early levels can actually be a detriment to the game though. I tried to get a couple friends to try the game when it came out on X360 (when I first started), and the consensus was that it's too slow and boring, and not engaging to really pull you in and keep you there. One of my friends specifically disliked that "the game basically plays itself" while you just sit there auto attacking. And that is just the combat we're talking about... then there's the level grinding. The reason most if us feel that sense of adventure and enthusiasm when we started a new Job was that the early levels actually felt pretty quick to us, because we were all used to (literally) grinding for multiple days to achieve a single level-up. Whereas the early levels you could go from 1 - 10 in an honest day's worth of effort.
For a newcomer, though, these systems are a barrier. I don't know how the game is now, I stopped playing a little after WotG was released (got SMN to 75 as my 1st, and BRD to 75 as my 2nd). I didn't even accomplish anything special. Honestly, the biggest achievement for me was spending a solid WEEK keeping timers and tracking Shikigami Weapon, fighting with countless other Linkshells to claim the darn thing, killing it twice, and thankfully getting the Yinyang Robe drop on our 2nd kill (not 2nd DAY, the 2nd KILL). At this point in time, HQ Elemental Staves and Yinyang Robe were absolutely ESSENTIAL for a SMN to have. So I did what I had to do to continue playing the job, but I won't sit here and pretend like the whole thing was an ENJOYABLE experience.
I prefer a slower paced combat, as opposed to the spam-fest combat in MMOs like FF14 (which I also like). Each has their merits, but I gotta take the opposite side on this.
I know when someone announces a level up in modern mmos I always want to go DING or congrats, then stop myself because its so quick to achieve and they don't actually care.
Max level is the goal. Everything else is inconsequential (and anything to shift that perception is now a detriment.)
You can get to 99 in a hard fought day or two days of serious play. That's after unlocking level caps tho. The grind is very different now.
I agree with you. We all have fond memories but the game definitely was a bit too difficult specifically the grind on anything you can think of. The auto attack, slow fights are fun, but grinding for EVERYTHING needed to be addressed and it never was until it was too late. The game was legit a fulltime job lol.
My record on an alt was THF 1-99 in 4 hours on a second job after doing all limit breaks on the first job.
Started up again recently and have been loving it again. The pace of the fighting is kind of brutal but does give time to think about the next thing I want to do. Talking with the party and LS members was nice too. I play FFXIV a bunch and the chat box is pretty much worthless while in a dungeon, unless you setup additional ones for Free Company and Party chats. Also keeping up with damage done is much more difficult.
Great video! I miss the slow style fighting in the old school MMOs so much!
I love your videos, it really captures the nostalgia I had for this game. It was hard to move on after 7-8 years or so, but I’m glad there’s a community that really remembers the little/annoyingly hard things that made this game great.
Also drk/Sam during 75 era ftw
Ive been playing a private server called Nasomi. It is a sever that takes place in the 75 level cap 2005 era. Easily 1000-2000 people active at a time, very stable servers, and a active community. Really bring the nostalgia back for me. The server has been up for five years now.
As a thf in my static. I was pulling, setting up Sata, initiating skillchains, and running off to find the next mob. It was non-stop but even then I could still throw out convos here and there. It was a blast. It gave that sense of community. Now it feels like community is limited to instanced zones in which everyone does their thing and leaves. Just not the same. No statics in new mmos.
A friend and I came back to this game after leaving in 2011. All because he saw one of your videos and I have to say that I'm glad we did. It's been a blast.
Skillchains are back in vogue. A lot of the end-gamey contenty require a carefully set-up skillchain with a nuker bursting to take down an NM in Escha or reisenjima in a reasonable time. The strategy actually makes a lot of content fairly accessible to most people.
Yes there are some very difficult mob that requires a lot more tanking and other mechanics, but a lot of NMs that drop really good gear and abjurations can be taken down with the classic formula. This is what kept me playing after returning in 2015.
Totally! This is what brought me back after abyssea drove me away, love that coordination is important again
I agree. This is one of the things that made 11 such a different experience than more recently released MMOs. Giving the player more time really allows for a more choice driven experience rather than a button spamming experience. And being able to use that time to talk to your party is a huge aspect of he overall player experience.
The pace of combat was perrrrrrrrrrfect!! It seemed to build a kind of tension especially when you were facing a even match and other even matches were near by, made it at exciting
I do agree. The slower paced combat of games like FF XI, Star Wars Galaxies, and Everquest made for a much more memorable, sociable, and relaxing experience, though still very capable of having you often on the edge of your seat. The bus-ride analogy is perfect. That's all modern mmos, ESPECIALLY World of Warcraft, are at the end of the day.
Dude...your videos make me want to go back and play again.
stay safe! stay away >.>
Watching your videos, i recently dabbled back into ffxi starting from scratch. I played from about 2003 to about 2009 when ffxiv alphas first started.
And i had a blast, adventuring, doing the quests without guides for as much of the quests as i could, but some things are incredibly hard to figure out without trying and testing for hours!
But i really enjoyed my time, even just using the trusts.
I kind of lost the adventure-y feel a bit once i started getting used to the mounts and all the teleports, instead of going out the gates of san d'oria and going on a real journey, it would be like "Let me talk to this book, and just teleport to this other book", and the fun quickly started dwindling.
I do wish we could get this raw ffxi mmo experience back, where you actually communicate with other people and venture through the dangerous open world together.
Not too fond of FFXIV's sitting at my house 24/7 and just popping in duties through duty finder or sometimes party finder, and barely really talking to anyone.
I’d LOVE to play this game again... but this is a short life and I can’t spend more time with FFXI
I hope I can play in heaven 😃👍
I feel like when the lvl cap was moved from 75 to 99 it lost alot of it's charm. That's around the time I stopped playing I miss the old ffxi days camping NM/ HNM's. I went onto to playing FFXIV for Abit but it didn't have the same feel as ffxi I miss being able to chat and fight things the party set ups to do crazy stuff. I have some fantastic memories made in ffxi. I can't say the same about FFXIV.
10 year FFxi vet here. Loved combat flow in xi. Perfected macro set and timed used of JA and Ws’s.
I usually Mained WHM so I’d have about 17 players to keep track of, hp or afflictions etc. few players could keep an 18 player Alliance going full as the only healer.
One of the things I think is important RE: learning mob moves is not just that you could react, it's that players who observed monsters and respected that they had skills unique to the family could apply that experience in many other places. Crawlers, Eruca and Defoliators are all different, but because they all belong to the crawler family a dispeller could know based on prior experience that Cocoon is dispellable. That's just not something that games like, e.g. FFXIV are interested in promoting and why I like XI: the promotion of player knowledge.
FFXI's slower pace really let you socialize with your party more, which is where most of the magic in XI happened. XI really excelled at letting people connect in the world of Vana'Diel and forming these really strong bonds throughout their adventures there. It embraces the "multiplayer" aspect of the MMO genre in a way that more recent MMOs sacrifice in an attempt to try and be more action-gamey. (FFXIV being an example of this, though as far as MMOs go XIV is one of if not the best "modern" MMO out there.)
I think that there's definitely a place for pacing and priorities like XI did it, no matter how heavily modern MMO marketing and the action-MMO elitist gamer crowd might try to convince you otherwise. Especially when the global pandemic has shown us that things can happen where we might need to get our dose of socialization over the internet, rather than a quick rush of adrenaline for completing a checklist quest with randomly matchmade people we'll never see again because they're not even on our server... Rather than focus on quick and instant gratification, maybe we should instead prioritize making connections between people, connecting with one-another, and coordinating with each-other to face tough struggles together. To me, that's what real adventure is about, and overcoming things that way is far more rewarding.
To me, at least, that's why even though my time with XI back in the day wasn't terribly long compared to many others, I have many fond memories of it and why it left such a lasting impact on me and what I value in a game's design.
I agree with most everything you you said, and miss the gameplay of old, yes it was slower but more enjoyable imo. I have played most every MMO out there over the years but I always seem to return to FFXI. I still play today and yes the evolution of the game over the years has made it easier to advance but has lost the comradery that made the game so great.
I still love the game and enjoy it immensely, but also miss the old style of play. Yes waiting sometimes for hours to get into a party was horrible but it was also great once you got started, and the friendships you made along the way was priceless as was the experiences you had along the way.
This is one thing I loved about the combat system in XI, most of the time you had to choose when was the best time to use something vs just using it when available. It could mean life or death if you didn't make the right moves at the right times.
Most MMO's nowadays are faster paced which is fine and sure you might have combo's that have to be hit in the precise order to be efficient at your role but most of the time you can get away with activating them all in no particular order with little efficiency loss. Granted there are some out there that you have to really be good at executing the right order but even then those still allow plenty of room for recovery if mistakes are made.
Were you on Asura server? I recognize all of the names in your videos and believe I was in a linkshell without at least a few of them at one point. Super nostalgic!
I miss this game to a degree, but THAT RUN!...I DON'T miss that. The zones were super massive. Looking back now, I couldn't deal with that in this day and age.
I've always thought you've had a great cadence to follow your excellent copy for all these "scripted" videos; I absolutely love them. I am a returning FFXI player from the initial PS2 NA launch and you are the reason I returned. I mean that as a compliment, too! Keep up the awesome work!
I feel like it's an awkward trade off.
In 11 being a THF main I ended up soloing A LOT in my 50-60s because everyone wanted a SAM with S.A. instead of a THF with SATA.
In 11 you were always stuck in an weird place of not progressing much solo but having a blast when you were in a party.
In 14 I have a few jobs in the 60s and I don't even feel accomplished like getting a 75 in 11.
I've been solo the whole time unless I absolutely had to party for something to progress in my story.
14 just doesn't have the feeling that there's a community present like 11 did.
I went back to 11 because I missed it and now its kinda dead and everyone just pulls out trusts and goes about their day.
I hate to say it but I almost miss waiting for parties because the community interaction before and during the party is what made it memorable.
the WoW Classic thing of being able to solo the leveling, but needing a group for dungeons, and much larger one for raids in one solutions, but of course, WoW most definitely doesn't and never will give the feeling FF11 gives whether we are talking the older or new version of 11.
Best mmo ever
Along with SWG, EQ, and EQOA. =)
Your analysis is spot on. I haven't played FFXI for quite some time but the slowness of the combat did exactly what you describe, it allows planning and cooperation that is different than just rotation of attacks like in WoW. I was thinking of starting up FFXI with a couple of my kids. I'd love for them to experience it while they can to see something different than WoW. What jobs would you recommend for 3 players starting out playing together?
I liked the more social aspect of 11 since you needed to make friends to do most things and I still talk to some of them now some 15 years later
I mained DRK just after NA release, and I have to say that by far my most memorable times in any MMO were in FFXI. As far as the combat is concerned: I think by the standards back THEN it was acceptable, due to technical limitations and the fact there weren't many MMOs on the market to compare to. Most of us were fine with it, but games evolve - as do what we as players find interesting. I don't think the slow combat would work in today's environment. Maybe if they made the combat close to the same, BUT sped up auto attack, maybe time between abilities, etc? Really excited to see FFXI mobile though!
Man. I never comment on TH-cam videos since I watch on my PS4 but... I agree. The speed of the battle system is one thing I loved in ffxi. A huge reason I didn't like ffxiv arr. I really miss ffxi. I was reikaiden on remora. Spent 650days playtime on that game. Memories! Love your videos man!
This video makes me want to start all over! Any suggestions on a cheap laptop that will run this game and where to buy it?
Joe Godwin newegg or microcenter.
m.newegg.com/products/9SIA8AD3CF2143 would this one run it?
Another tip, play on Asura. I recently switched to this server and it legit feels like back in 2008. Insanely populated server (the most popular, and most NA). Other servers will be absolutely barren.
Patric____ I got myself on asura using a friend's desktop just needing to find an okay laptop under 500 ish that'll run this game just hearing all the bad stuff about nvdia and integrated graphic cards
Patric____ Nasomi is another great server in the 75 era.
I talk about FFXI for hours to new gamers. lol These videos just made me feel amazing
Ffxi was essentially old school final fantasy combat online. It was awesome and something we all always wanted. Ff14 is just world of warcraft with ff jobs.
@H4G It's always nice thinking back about FFXI in its heyday. I do think that modern MMOs should go back to this style. It was fast paced enough that you couldn't sit idle forever making a decision during battle, yet you have time to coordinate as a team. Honestly FFXI was the best "teamwork" building experience in my life. 10 years of FFXI has completely prepared me for anything I dealt with in my work life. I do miss it. Now it's all about spamming your rotations and trying to squeeze in that extra ability just to nudge your dps slightly higher than you did last time. I've yet to apply that skill to anything else...such a waste.
I just started playing Xi for the first time on the wings of the goddess server and the games fun because of the conversations you have with randoms. Holy shit party chats are the funniest shit ever.
Been playing on Nasomi and this is so true. I've talked more in the 2days of gameplay than I've done in the past couple years in other MMOs. I have a short attention span but so far I'm a lvl 20 whm/blm and keep trucking along.
as a veteran of xiv I finally started xi earlier today. leven 16 redmage now and loving it! combat is slower than other games sure but its pace feels perfect so far!
Great Channel!
Nailed it for me, why I miss this game and FFXIV will never compare and I doubt any other game will. We need a social MMO again but there just aren't enough people to sell it to anymore (who are vocal enough to entice a game to be made).
I could not agree with you more!
I think you and I would have been great friends while playing XI because I agree 100% with everything you said. Sure the first 10-12 levels were brutal! but it let you do so much while leveling, like talking with your linkshell, setting up parties or gatherings for other stuff maybe.
While leveling from 15 to 75 it was so much fun, albeit slow and painful at times I miss it sooo much. The thing I keep thinking about is seeking a party or making one, then everybody slowly gathered to a camp, taking 2-3 min to set up how the party will work, then another 10min to suss out any problems and help each other each if they are new then slowly getting in a rhythm then slowly talking to each other... 6hours later and 1-2 levels later.. everybody is still together and killing the same monster! ah! it might sound so boring and no fun to people these days but that was so much fun for me in the past! I miss it so much.
Now I play FFXIV from time to time (quit as 4.0 dropped because MSQ was filled with filler missions.. came back just as 4.3 came out, till prob stop after I catch up enough then come back as 5.0 comes out next year).
It's as you say.. I seek up for a dungeon as my PLD, we say hello or wave, speed through the dungeon as quick as humanly possible by SPAMMING every single ability like madmen, kill the final boss, throw out a comm before people run away while saying {Good Game} then leave and then I'm left thinking.. what the hell just happen in the past 20min! >_>
I miss having a group of people I could connect with, make friends.. on XIV it just feels.. lonely. Even within my FC with like 40-50 people on daily right now since people are catching up on the new patch, nobody talks because everybody has their own 4/8 man groups they stick with or talk with their social LS. the FC feels like it's just there for the house and FC bonuses. makes me so sad, it's an MMO where nobody talks.
Every time I watch one of your FFXI videos all I want to do is re-install the game, and run back. But I know deep down it's not the same game and I will just not find it fun anymore, it's changed far too much and with so few people running around it would hurt my heart more than anything else. :(
I hope you keep making XI videos, for people like me that literally grew up on FFXI but who does not dare go back anymore.
I love your content and wish more people would come and watch with us.
Slow attack times (in the lower levels) are necessary in order to have headroom to actually speed up your attacks with spells like Haste and March and equipment Haste. If attacks started at a fast speed already, there would be no room to really speed it up anymore because it would be just too fast
I've been purposely using less trusts just to slow down the game play a bit so I can enjoy the combat more. Love the content!
As I type this, I've been playing XI almost exclusively for 2-3 weeks and I haven't spent any significant time on other games (including XIV).
I regret nothing. XI is my favorite game of all time.
I definitely miss the feeling of tactics and I agree that it's near impossible to hold a conversation. I don't even like to voice chat because I need to hit a key or let it be sound activated, both of which are clunky when I'm juggling rotations.
As a habitual solo player, though, what I liked was managing my activity and the enemy's. Killing some high level NM as a Monk/Ninja, I could predict when a TP attack was coming so that I could time my Utsusemi casts and weaponskills so I wouldn't be caught unawares and, if something did go wrong, that's when I used my abilities. In World of Warcraft, pretty much the only reason not to use an ability the second it lights up on my hotbar is because it'll overkill the monster. The slower pace wasn't perfect, especially as a solo player, but it does foster care, cooperation, and socialization as you said.
I totally agree I really miss that game
If we had a modern FFXI, one that came with a Keyboard included for console versions, added a cross-hotbar for players on controller, utilized the hotbar system for Weaponskill/Spell shortcuts rather than the current macro system, and made some other modernization changes... I think it'd be one of the top MMOs today.
We see games like Dark Souls making a massive mark in gaming, players clearly want a harder game, and FFXI could have that element of punishing difficulty at times. But beyond that, it's the only game I've ever played where there was such a strong sense of community. As you said, people talked on FFXI, and it wasn't just a little talking, it was a LOT of talking. I went from a hunt & peck 14 year old to a 90 WPM 22 year old over my time in FFXI, and a lot of that was due to the nature of the game's community and the power to talk to people mid-combat. I play XIV now, but ever since I started the issue of community is something that I've never gotten over. Sure, you can talk in a voice chat like Discord, but it's not even close to the same. I think having a game with that sense of community again would be something so many of us long for, and would gladly jump into. Sadly, unless it's a big name, it's unlikely to ever pick up steam, as it'll go unnoticed. Final Fantasy has that name, but sadly, Square seems to have no intention of letting this game compete along side XIV, and show that it deserves it's spot among the current market.
I'm a returning player and like watching your videos! I'm on Odin also, is your Linkshell recruiting? ^_^
MP wasn't to much of a problem when you rested while they pulled then get up when you had too. But right now its not an issue with refresh from the fields of valor or the refresh from items. You could also buy drinks for refresh back then.
Final Fantasy 11 one of the greatest games I ever played. Loved the slower combat, teamwork the need to chain and Magic burst.the whole party works together. I played with many parties, we did not speak the same language & everyone knew their role. I love shouting in Jeno to get a party. The best of all I miss the Red Mage "Convert" nothing like giving your White Mage a heart attack lol
I love the slow game action in Final Fantasy XI! The slow pace gives you time to think and react.
I miss this game so much, I played on ps2 and xbox. Last great FF game. Love to pick it up again on PC.
And this is why XI had a great community, before Abyssea and Adoulin's rush to 99 mentality. Like you said, we could sit and talk while EXP camping. We had to rely on other people of all level ranges to progress. I remember having some wonderful conversations in Yhoator Jungle at the Lv.27-30 camp about many random things.
>rush to 99
ya because after 16 years you'd still be leveling
Justuas it only took me a little over a year to hit 75 in my first job. After that, only about two months or so.
I remember back in the day, when abyssea released and the cap was lifted, the 70% of my friendlist left the game. All those hours from 2003 till 2010, camping HNM, farming stuff in SKY/SEA, dynamis, were for nothing, I guess the hammer weighed too much for them to keep going, let's be honest, back in the day farm your Best in Slot items was a torture.
I don't think I've enjoyed combat in any MMO as much as I have in FFXI. It's tactical, stately pace was perfect. And it had ample room for support roles; buffs and debuffs had more importance in FFXI than in any other MMO I can remember.
This game may have not been as fast paced but you could fill the time, I mean as a ninja tank, I had 5 gear macros, a haste, evasion, defense, weapon skill(dd), and a balanced set. I would always be doing something if I wasn’t hitting ws, or casting utsusemi, or an elemental wheel. The teamwork in games is gone and it sucks, because that’s the reason I have always played multiplayer games. I will never forget things like this or even sky endgame and all the stun rotations. Haha
Man I resonated so hard with "Times in between actions to communicate." That is SO important and lacking nowadays.
The average user wants to jump and dash around while casting all sorts of skills at all times... but when you do that, you don't have time to chat, be it to socialize or to be tactical. Even pressing the microphone button can be an inconvenience.
If anything, we should get 'pings' like in MOBAs or BRs to at least remind ourselves that we are playing with humans.
I liked the slower combat of Throne and Liberty due to this, and while I'm happy they are removing auto-combat, they are also removing the kinda slow gameplay.
I fear that the huge majority of players desiring non-stop action will end up destroying every advance of an MMO trying to bring back the social aspect of them, which is sad.
This was my first mmo and I still can't find a good mmo to this day. I can't believe this game been out for 16 years and it's still a amazing game to play.
First time I closed a distortion SC for a Freeze MB was amazing
It also makes it easier to communicate with you're party/guild when you only have one hand to work with and no voice chat. This is what gave me so many problems with FF14, I only have one useable hand so I can't communicate with my party via typing and play at the same time and not everyone wanted to use voice chat or was playing on a different platform.
>no voice chat
That's why discord exists.
This is why I could never get into FFXIV
Everything about this game made it a fantastic experience that I will never forget.
Sometimes I couldn't keep up with my own tp. Hell, when we were doing your savage blade i usually ripped out 2 or 3 weaponskills before you noticed.
The pace of FFXI combat is possibly the best thing about the game. It made encounters more exciting by forcing you to react to enemy abilities and time skills to perfection. The combat felt surprisingly visceral because you could actually see (and read) most everything that was going on. Newer MMOs where you simply spam ability rotations and don't need to pay attention to anything except HP bars and ground-telegraphed skills (don't stand in the fire) are completely lacking in my opinion. Most games have adopted this concept of "movement" as the core strategy element and left behind the more tactical second-to-second combat that FFXI pioneered.
I agree with this all the way!
BLM >>casting stun
Omg I totally forgot abour stun!!! One of my favorite parts about BLM!!!
All this is so true. Honestly I feel like they could’ve cover the best of both worlds by making a lot of content soloable but with less reward. Making it so you are inclined to party but you don’t have to. Much like the xp system.
Srsly a very good video.. thank you
Late to the party here, but I love your point about how slow combat means that instead of firing off a constant rotation, you have to deliberately choose when and how to use what spell/ability. This is a point I have been hammering on for years about how modern MMO design has failed, and how classic FFXI was a great example of what cooperative RPG combat can be. It's a matter of truly engaging with party members, with the enemy, and with the environment, versus the modern philosophy of simply maximising one's own efficiency.
That said, of the many RL friends I tried to get into FFXI back in the CoP/ToAU days, only one stuck around; my little brother. The others, veterans of WoW and various Korean MMOs, just found it too slow, plodding, punishing, and ultimately frustrating. So while I miss this type of design dearly, I can't say it's objectively better. I guess when it comes down to it, accessibility is king, especially when a company invests so much time and money into a huge project like an MMO.
If I ever server transfer, I'm gonna come play with you :p (I know other people on Odin too, ha)
I am wondering what an Everquest fan would think about this. I am not sure but I feel like the gameplay of the 2 games were different, while the world and the challenge were around the same. I agree though. I miss the combat from the past and I understand why others may not like it, but everything you said boils down to one thing.
The party together would coordinate to defeat monsters. Not a slur of attacks to just kill the mob. SNEAK ATTACK/TRICK ATTACK idea is revolutionary and I have no seen in any game since.. not 1. NOT 1 GAME ...
is that a double audio at 8:34?
Love the nostalgia, the problem with current mmo’s is the argument on GCD’s and combat pace wow vs ffxiv as an example... wish I could still play ffxi though work life does not allow for any commitment though
Still to this day is the best mmorpg I have ever played and hey I suppose it has a retro look now 😎
ah ffxi i miss that game. no matter what level you were there was always a rabbit that could push your shit in.
I loved the group beast lvling of 11
I meet so many nice, interesting and cool people in this game.. getting a little choke up over here.
If you were a tank you didn't have much talk time especially with ninja. Where you are counting shadows. It was kind of the same with paladin as well. I liked to play tanks, since it was a lot less auto play.