Why Every FF Fan Should Play FF11 

That's all truth in this statement.

Couldn't have said this any better.

It's wild how much the mmo genre has changed. FF11 was designed to create real relationships and bonds, WoW is basically the opposite now days, you sit in a lobby and queue for content everyone rushes and nobody says a word to each other. To think mmos would actually become anti social. The genre has lost so much. You should check out the private sever Horizon XI. It's perma 2005 era ff11 with a great team behind it, and they will rework future expansions to be more in line with lvl 75 era.

The same happened with me, got into FFXI durin 2004 and yeah definitely lived a similar experience. At the time I was in high school and somehow I became addicted to it (literally or rather patologically lmao), always had this urge to log in and live life in Vana'diel. Farming for silk threads or Tree cuttings, checking my stonks (at the AH), crafting: I was one of the few crazy people that got into goldsmithing which was insanely expensive to skill up, even got the apron and spectacles and could cut beads although never got an HQ... got a moderate in-game fortune by selling HQ Lv. 16 DEX and STR rings (also fun fact, in my server was the richest character who also did goldsmithing, was a elf by the name of sagaxxxxxx), NM hunting, mining... man the list went on and you NEVER ran out of things to do. Community was really a fundamental part of the game, I still remember super dearly how when I had to go for my AF weapon (Lv40 quest) I had to ask on different linkshells for help and people would be willing to help out of nowhere without charging or anything, and you had a really interesting party setup of late Lv30s, Lv40s, mid Lv60s and there was always that one Lv75 gigachad who basically solo'd the NM, it was so fun. Another thing I love of FFXI design is how equipment didn't get obsolete immediately, like you had Lv75 dudes doing literal endgame with Lv9 Leaping boots (+3 DEX was god-like), and of course competition on Leaping lizzy was fierce (they went for at least 300k gil, so basically a party of 6 could get away with 50k each in a couple hours which at the time was a small fortune...) I was super nervous on NM hunting so I decided to just skill up my crafts and buy the NM items I required instead and did pay off quite well... The game had the perfect depth IMO. Well I could go on and on and would never stop talking about it, sorry for the wall-text, I always get too excited when talking about FFXI back in the day.

*And this is being relived on the ff11 Horizon Server. Its free. And has a good amount of old schools.*

That airship fight! I had a few friends that quit over that. They couldn't clear it and were locked out of all the sea shenanigans. CoP was definitely not for the faint of heart.

I hear so many stories from how brutal CoP was. To be perfectly honest, it amazes me to talk to someone who beat it in the 75 era. It sounded so intense.

@@vicenarian340 here i am, i'm a 75 era EU ex player. During my adventure in FF11 i met a cool group of singapore players (Okada/Satien/Supernova/Babytaru and Winetaru) and we managed to clear CoP together. it took weeks of preparation, level up with the recommened job, make enough gil to be able to get all the food/items needed for the fight. took us several tries but hell, we all managed to get Sea access together as a group of friends. best memories and i'll be always grateful for this game. Branko from Seraph server.

damn, im so jealous, i wish i never deleted my character for the lvl75 days. I wish I could go back! So many great memories

How do you play it today?

Yes! This is what I really am missing in 14. The job system becomes more shallow each expansion. There was so much diversity of jobs and possible playstyles. And pet jobs were plentiful. 14 developers make it very clear that they can't make a good pet job and dislike any job that is not homogenous

​@@DB-zj7wv But it's not like FFXIV's job system was really good either though. It was only 1.0's version of the job system(before it was watered down in the versions of 1.x that followed the introductions of the actual jobs) that can be considered good compared to the rest of the franchise. (the rest of this comment is about why FFXIV's current job system is the way it is, but TL;DR: it's not just the devs' fault, it's also the players'.) The problem isn't just the devs though. It's the fact that most games(mostly competitive multiplayer ones) nowadays have to be balanced to have a healthy amount of players playing it because either they just optimize the fun out of it, or they just stop playing/start complaining because it's too "difficult". Couple that with most of the feedback taken from players being in few places(usually the official forums) where there's not much diverging point of views, the fact that it's the current number 1 MMORPG in the market, that it's made to appeal to a wide audience and not just FF fans, then you have the state of the game's job system nowadays, where Black Mage is arguably the only unique job among 19 of those usable in every content the game offers, while the ones that aren't(aka Blue Mage and soon in next expansion's Beastmaster) are outside of the scope of said content because of their uniqueness.

Thanks for sharing! The combat in this game is easily among my favorite in the series, I cannot imagine what it must have been like back then!

The issue with stuff like this is when you play the game seriously other things get pushed to the wayside, it wouldn't work in 14 because they want all jobs to be viable. I disagree personally because I like the sentiment of being able to play what you want, rather than forced into an optimal thing. The rotations may get repetitive, but the fights really don't and there's so many jobs that conceivably mastering each optimal rotation, of which there are multiple, can take you a while. Let's say you mastered every job in a day, now do it while running an ultimate blind. Personally, after doing thousands of hours of content, there's still jobs I have yet to play perfectly on in every situation. That's the reason I can't wholeheartedly say it's repetitive. Maybe at level 15 but definitely not at 90.

@@Grimnoire I know this videos about 11, but man do I find this narrative that 14 jobs are homogenized to be dishonest. I have found that most people(if not every person) I've encountered that complains about job homogenization in 14 suspiciously does NOT play every job at a decent level. They generally only stick to one archetype that might actually be somewhat homogenized in order to keep them all viable like healer(or to a lesser extent tank but I think even that's a stretch) and maybe play like one phys ranged dps or something. And I most definitely don't see anyone hypothetically mastering every job in a day if anything most people I see are just passable or maybe even bad at their MAIN job lol. But let's say you main dancer and can play it well enough to clear any content with a dps check, that in no way makes you now suddenly able to play dragoon well enough to even do green numbers. The same goes for jobs in the same archetype, like playing summoner well enough to clear any content in the game does not suddenly make you even decent at black mage its like night and day.

Was fun back then but to be honest I like that the game evolve. Retail is still fun and give plenty to do.

tbh that was basically every early MMO, a second life for many.

I have experienced it, and I ran into complete assholes similar to you that I would do horrible things too if I ran into them in person!

@@StevenWoolf-eb5xy private servers I take it? Yeah tend to be rather toxic. It wasn't fun to fight people for claims during sky. People who praise classic never got far or they were among the top lonkshells 🤷‍♀️

@@StevenWoolf-eb5xythere were some toxic people but other people were cool in the game

best online game ever made

You're an OG! It's great to hear from veteran players, thanks for taking the time to reach out.

I always get a chuckle when someone says, "I was so addicted to . I have over 500 hours played!" MMO players, and especially us FFXI vets measure our playtime in days, not mere hours lol.

Manical from Hades circa 2005 Of all the games I have played, this one stands out the most (I mean my nickname kind of gives that away lol).

It really is a piece of art, and I hope that people are convinced to try the game from these videos.

best damn game ever made from 2002-2008 def . once they broke the game with lvl cap to 100 it was the end .... i saw ppl duo Fafnir ..... what a shame ...... bring back 1k ppl in Dragon's Aery and lets wait 3 hours for some Epic fights

If you're a fan of FF, you'll love the story. Particularly from CoP to RoV, it gets so good!

Before RU-vid, a good online forum was essential. I remember allakhazam, bluegartr

Great point about it being released before RU-vid. This was FFX for me but I still didn't have any friends

My dog! I was also Valefor! I started in mid CoP and finished in the Abyssea era as well. There's a chance we played together lol

Thank you! I'm really hoping for more new players too, and I hope these videos help.

game changed alot after lv99. you have capacity points that make you stronger & give you new abilities and spells, then you have master levels that will let you go to ml50 its like gaining 50 more more levels with a sub job of lv59. and the gameplay is alot faster with the ilvl 119 gear. all the old important gear & weapons can be upgraded to modern standards. finishing the stories give you a boost to capacity point gains and opens up content.

buddy you and me both. 8th and 9th grade for me was FFXI golden era. WHT/BLK and NIN/WAR i played THOUSANDS of hours and i really miss the immersive community. i havnt played a game like it since. and i miss it. ive bounced around from FF14, WOW, and other MMO's looking for something and im just not getting it.. id love to take the leap into FFXI and see what happens....

I knooooow what you mean omg... I started in 2003, stopped in 2008.... I've missed it every day... and I miss it even more these days... I just need a computer again ....

Thank you for watching my videos and reaching out!

Awesome to see a fellow new player. I'll be honest, almost every time I record, I try to go with the proper pronunciation. When I go to edit, I find that I've swapped pronunciations a dozen times lol. So I have to stick with my own bootlegged way of saying the word. Thanks for the correction though! What was your favorite expansion?

Definitely do Abyssea!

"Moogle Coup d’etat." OK, *_now_* I'm listening......

@@erikhendrickson59 it's actually "Kupo d'Etat"

That's what I'm hoping for! This has become one of my favorite games, and more people need to experience it.

Hey, It's good to hear from you again! Don't be surprised if your character name pops up in the chat log in my RoV review lol. Like I mentioned before, it was really nice to meet you, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for watching!

Thank you for reaching out!

Thank you for watching. This game is quickly becoming one of my favorites too!

xeno blade is single player garbage why the fuck would you GRIND like u are in an mmo, FOR A SINGLE PLAYER GAME. lmao yikes

Thank you, I appreciate it!

I'm glad you're enjoying it! As I've mentioned before, the game has a brutal learning curve. If you have any questions, feel free to ask here in the comments or on the FFXI sub reddit. Welcome to the game, and thanks for reaching out!

Thank you! Private servers definitely have their place, but retail allows you to play through FFXI more like you would any other FF. It's systems are still far more opaque, but once you're accustomed, retail is a phenomenal experience!

Thanks for sharing! The game is vastly different now, you can finish the entire main story in a couple months now days. And that story is awesome.

the game is pretty much solo now with trust for the big XP gains, with only some end game thing needing a party of 3 or more. great thing is you can just play not have to find a party and waste all day.

I know that FFXI certainly won't be everyone's favorite in the series. But, to the extent that any other FF game is worth playing, XI most certainly is too. And it's unfortunate that many pretend otherwise. As for me, I never expected to love FFXI this much, but here I am, 2 years into the game and 9 videos about it later lol.

This is my sales pitch for Retail in 2024. I know you play on Horizon if memory serves, if you post another comment explaining Horizon, I'll pin it to the top of the comments so people know about it. Thanks for the continued viewership!

@@vicenarian340 I don’t know if I can put it into words, I’m not a great writer. HorizonXI is something truly special, there is no community that loves FFXI in its pure form as much as the players and devs there, and it shows. Its FFXI as it was in the old days mostly, with some adjustments though way fewer than retail (no trusts, toau exp rate). Its free, without the PlayOnline launcher which was the true final boss of xi. Everything in that game is a real adventure, and it takes time yes, but the accomplishments are far sweeter. Retail is just a completely different thing with different philosophies. Players can tell me they have a job and a life and yea sure I get that. But you absolutely can get things done in incremental play sessions, and for me the milestones of retail become meaningless when they are handed out. Its a design philosophy that I can’t get behind, as it makes the game feel more like a skinner box and less of a grand quest which ultimately takes me out of the experience. When you raise someone it means something because you just saved them a chunk of time. When a taru in the jungle selflessly shares his favorite farming route it means something because now you can afford gear 4x faster. Real consequence and aid is happening that greatly affect your progress - true bonds are forged from these moments. If you had told me this server existed when I was 14 playing retail at launch I would not have believed it. Its just so cool. No formatting as I’m commenting from my phone. Thanks for these videos.

@@vicenarian340 if that was too much i can make it more concise lol. sort of a stream of consciousness at 1am

Around 300 hours split up across 7 stories. Each story will average about 40 hours with some being longer and others being shorter. The installation process and the initial learning curves are monsters, so there's no shame in following some guides online if you need them. Thank you for watching!

I don't yet have a great grasp of FFXIV's combat, but I can certainly vouch for just how great FFXI's is.

@@vicenarian340 back in the 75 era, during exp parties or when facing HNMs (Tiamat/Jormungand) combat system is what made the real experience of team work. Calling out when your TP was ready to be able to skill chain - Fragmentation > Ligh > and then BLMs magic bursting in order to get the best damage outcome possible.

Hey! I remember watching your video about FFXI right after I started it myself. I've really enjoyed your content since I found your channel too. It's awesome to see you here, and I look forward to your next upload!

Oh, hey! I appreciate that. I hope to have another video out in the next week or two, it’ll be on a different FF game coincidentally. I’m glad I found your channel, too! Subbed and gonna work through your other FF11 content :)

@@TheCrawl Being the big FF fan that I am, I'm looking forward to that!

Now, it's faster to blazed through the content at lvl. 99 with NPCs than to find people to help you with it. I know this can be a huge negative for some, but it was a big positive for me.

I was a taru black mage.....I lived in port jeuno waiting for invites and then asked if I would backup heal, ugggh. Game has changed and for the better overall but def miss some of those days.

@@vicenarian340 It's such a huge negative to the entire experience, though if you never experienced the social aspect when it was a thing in Retail, you will never know it.

@@networknomad5600 I'm talking particularly about the main story. tVR is still brutally difficult, and requires other people's help. A ton of the 'mid game' and endgame harshly incentivize partying up too. I've spent a ton of time with some of the Linkshells I've been a part of. It isn't as social as it once was, but it's still an incredibly social experience.

That's great to hear! This game's installation, UI, and learning curve are horrendous. Feel free to reach out any time during that process.

Thank you for watching!

I didn't take any of this as criticism, thank you for the write up! Modern FFXI still heavily enforces social play in anything outside of casual content. But I purposefully avoided the mandatory social aspects of this game because this video was more less written to inform FF fans that FFXI is in fact very much so an FF game. It's always great to see an FFXI vet offer some feedback. Thanks for watching!

That's awesome! That storyline (through rank 10) has a really satisfying pay off in ToAU.

I was pretty lost at first because of no quest markers like 14.

That's awesome to hear! FFXI's learning curve is absolutely brutal, so if you have any questions during your first couple hours, don't hesitate to ask!

@@vicenarian340 Thanks, I really appreciate it!

14 combat is literally dumbed down shitter slow paced wow gargbage its SLOW AF

As for the video types, I make two types of video essays, retrospective and informative. This video falls in the ladder. By the way, I really appreciate the sub. Thank you!

Do you have some kind of stylistic themes you go for?

I would love to, but unfortunately, my schedule at work is changing later this month. So I won't be doing RU-vid videos for a while after I'm done with my review series of the FFXI expansions. I do plan on eventually doing a series for FFXIV though, it will just take me a while to get to. Thank you for the feedback!

Lol, I'm glad to hear that! The learning curve of the game is brutal, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

@@vicenarian340 Thank you, will do!

Yeah, it will be. I finished the game's main story in about 300 hours (Base game + 6 expansions). So the game isn't as long as some people think. As far as the game itself, the devs have been asked how much longer the game will run, and they've stated that even if the hardware they use to work on the game were to break, they could maintain the servers and keep them playable for several dozen years. In fact, almost all they've done since finishing the most recent expansion is work on the longevity of the servers. So I doubt it's a concern.

@@vicenarian340 Install is underway!!!!

Any server recommendations?@@vicenarian340

Any mods recommended?@@vicenarian340

This is an MMO, however, it can now be played entirely solo if you want. No need to apologize, thanks for reaching out!

It was the summoning magic Karaha-Baruha discovered. If memory serves correctly, the game refers to it once as a 'true summoning'. Unlike other summoning where you draw out a fraction of an Avatar's power from its realm into Vana'diel, a true summoning allows summoners to draw the entirety of the avatar and it's power into Vana'diel to fight for the summoner through a pact. The cost of this summoning is the summoner's life force though.

I'm glad to hear that, and welcome back to FFXI!

@@vicenarian340 I think their sign up process might be scaring away a lot of potential new players as its the most outdated frustrating sign up to playing a game ever lol, but the game is great totally worth it