Comments on: FFXI: There and back again

By: Septimius

Septimius — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 20:40:26 +0000

I agree that levels 1-20 are tediously boring and on the most part difficult. There was one time in the dunes where I found a fantastic japanese party in the and raced through a couple of levels which was great fun, however most memories are not so great.

When I got beyond 20 it was a different story. I found a Linkshell, started using real tactics in battles and generally started having a lot more fun.

Only problem now is one with connection problems. Ever since I re-installed the game just after Christmas, I’ve been getting lag and DCing during battles. I’m hoping I can sort this out as it is making the game incredibly difficult to play and it never happened before.

By: Quylein

Quylein — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 20:03:27 +0000

I totally enjoy FFXI. I think sometimes it can be a bit tedious and time consuming with the fact that alot of groups suck. But I’ve met alot of good people in the past month of playing and it seems their IMHO social aspects are better.

I wish more MMO’s would make things like the missions in FFXI. That’s really what makes this game shine.

By: ramsey

ramsey — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:30:03 +0000

Ahh, the Rank 5 missions. The missions themselves were fun, but if you didn’t have a good batch of friends to do it with things could get ugly.

I enjoyed FFXI most when exploring areas that I had no business being in at my level. Transporting a team member through a dangerous area with Sneak and Invisible was always fun.

The upcoming expansion is making me excited too (blue mage!!)

By: Hyd

Hyd — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 20:56:44 +0000

Back when I was playing FFXI the best advice I got interface-wise was “Forget about your mouse.” Never used it when I played, and it seemed to play okay from the keyboard only.

For me, it was too darn hard to maintain the proper equipment for level. I woudn’t go level unless I had decent equipment for my job (WAR/MNK), so it was ‘farm a week or two, level on a weekend, rinse, repeat’.

By: Ethic

Ethic — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:13:40 +0000

Agree on that gamepad. When I started FFXI I thought I’d hate it, but being able to kick back, relax and play was fantastic.

By: Inhibit

Inhibit — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:33:09 +0000

But…. I have to say it was a nice change having a game I could use a gamepad on, as opposed to the ole mouse-n-keyboard combo. I wish more MMOs would do that. It really helped to increase my relaxation factor.

By: Inhibit

Inhibit — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 02:02:10 +0000

I have to echo Silvanis on this one… getting a solid group is hard, but when you find one that just clicks… those are the times you call in sick to work b/c you can not stand the thought of quitting. Linkshells were supposed to help you form a group easier (get all the people to join so you can level together) but once subjobs happen, people tend to go in all directions. Plus the guy that was shit hot as a tank 2 nights ago, may not be able to heal their way out of a wet paper sack if they attempt to level a WHM.

I think it’s that absolute need to pull a solid group that makes the game so slow for most.

By: lufia22

lufia22 — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 01:57:25 +0000

I’m not going to say my overall coming back experience to FFXI was horrible, I just highlighted the bad parts. It’s pretty much what I expected. The most fun that comes out of FFXI, at least for me, is hanging out with people and doing missions. My old LS took a vacation to Carpenter’s Landing. We didn’t really do anything or gain anything, but it was still fun. Another time we spent all day getting several members, including me, through the rank 5 mission. That stuff is fun. Grinding is alright. I don’t love it, even in a good group, but it can be relaxing when compared to other battle systems.

I’m mostly just looking forwards to getting back to level 50 because that’s where I stopped on my BRD. Once I get past that it’ll feel like I’m doing something new and not something I’ve already done.

Besides, no matter who you are, you’re probably never going to give a positive story about the level 1-20 grind. The level 1-10 grind and Valkurm Dunes are probably the worst parts of the game.