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[StoOgE]

not that there was an actual process for getting on other than buying a magazine.

1) Set up process was pretty long, but pretty uncomplicated.

2) Playonline seems like its a pretty nifty little interface. Its a shame that Xbo Live is a fucking kick ass interface. Although, I do appreciate the fact that I can treat this game and any friends I make in it seperate from my normal Xbox Live play.

3) :lol at warning telling you not to ignore your real life everytime you play.

4) Why cant I launch this from the Xbox guide without the disc in, its all on the HD right?

5) Ok, I heard all of the "beware the grinding" warnings and how hard this game is.. and maybe I'll hit a wall at some point.. but so far its EXACTLY like every other MMORPG Ive ever played. Im really enjoying the game, but I dont see how this is that much different than say Anarchy Online (the MMORPG Ive put the most time into).

I like the games setting, I like the FF sound effect for leveling up (the victory song from the old school FF's). Graphically it looks like an ugly PS2 game, but its to be expected... and Im looking forward to getting further into the game, but at this point Im not seeing what sets this game apart from every other game that plays exactly the same.

 

[I <3 Katamari]

not that there was an actual process for getting on other than buying a magazine.

Heh, I was clicking the thread ready to reply with "Uh, anyone can get into it".

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Graphics certainly aren't anything special on a technical level (it is a what, 3-4 year old MMO), but some of the environments are really gorgeous... in my opinion at least. Didn't really care for the game as a whole though.

 

[RaySpencer]

the graphics may not be pretty...but the awesome art style makes up for it !


ive barely played at all though, just dicked around on my little red mage guy i allways hate the first few levels in these games, cause you only got like 1 or 2 attacks


The playonline this is a weird thing...i mean its good, and im sure on PS2 it was awesome, but with live being fucking awesome, its basicaly just in the way on 360 ... i wont use anything in it ...ever...


on another note, i thought 360 was gonna be able to do voice chat rooms ? not just 1 on 1 stuff?? ...woulda been nice to be able to set up a chat group with everyone in your group

 

[I <3 Katamari]

As much as I think FFXI is a piece of shit, I think the graphics are still beautiful after 4 years or whatever. Great looking game and it has more personality than EQ2 or (imo) WoW.

P.S. PlayOnline has always been dumb.

 

[Belfast]

not that there was an actual process for getting on other than buying a magazine.

1) Set up process was pretty long, but pretty uncomplicated.

2) Playonline seems like its a pretty nifty little interface. Its a shame that Xbo Live is a fucking kick ass interface. Although, I do appreciate the fact that I can treat this game and any friends I make in it seperate from my normal Xbox Live play.

3) :lol at warning telling you not to ignore your real life everytime you play.

4) Why cant I launch this from the Xbox guide without the disc in, its all on the HD right?

5) Ok, I heard all of the "beware the grinding" warnings and how hard this game is.. and maybe I'll hit a wall at some point.. but so far its EXACTLY like every other MMORPG Ive ever played. Im really enjoying the game, but I dont see how this is that much different than say Anarchy Online (the MMORPG Ive put the most time into).

I like the games setting, I like the FF sound effect for leveling up (the victory song from the old school FF's). Graphically it looks like an ugly PS2 game, but its to be expected... and Im looking forward to getting further into the game, but at this point Im not seeing what sets this game apart from every other game that plays exactly the same.

What sets it apart are its party dynamics. I presume you may not be at the point where you need to have a full party yet. It is a wonderful system, but it is also the game's bane because you basically need a party to survive later on and organizing one is often a pain. FFXI is a game of tall, sharp peaks. In other words, a lot of it can be a drag, but those punctuated moments when you achieve something or get a really good party that works well together and gains a lot of XP, it makes the doldrum totally worth it.

 

[Ronok]

Belfast, the only time setting up a party can take a long time is when you aren't going out specifically to make one yourself..... Obviously sitting around waiting for one is going to take a long time because it's basically pot luck as to whether someone else will pick you over the next guy..... If you are doing a scan for people also looking for a party and come up with lets say 4 out of the 5 other job classes needed then make a party yourself and bug people who aren't looking for a party for the final job...... If however there are 2 out of the other 5 then you might as well get on with something else.... Things get a lot less frustrating this way. ^^d

 

[Aurora]

What sets it apart are its party dynamics. I presume you may not be at the point where you need to have a full party yet. It is a wonderful system, but it is also the game's bane because you basically need a party to survive later on and organizing one is often a pain. FFXI is a game of tall, sharp peaks. In other words, a lot of it can be a drag, but those punctuated moments when you achieve something or get a really good party that works well together and gains a lot of XP, it makes the doldrum totally worth it.

Perfectly put.

The party system reaches its peak towards the end of the game IMO. Nothing beats taking down Gods or HNMs with a huge alliance full of your friends from your Linkshell.

 

[StoOgE]

the party system isnt any different than Anarchy Online to this point. The harder quests were done with parties and there wasnt another way around it either.

 

[Days like these...]

Took me forever and a half to install It's unplayable on my tv cause the font is so tiny!

Biggest waste of 3 hours ever!

 

[RuGalz]

the party system isnt any different than Anarchy Online to this point. The harder quests were done with parties and there wasnt another way around it either.

You only get introduced to FFXI's party dynamic post lv 10ish. Then the basics of party flow doesn't really come together until lv 20s which is when the game starts to open up to a lot of other things...

 

[TheDuce22]

Anyone else notice all the framerate issues and the screen tearing? If they dont fix that crap Square should fire everyone involved. Its a joke that they cant get a ps2 game running at a smooth framerate.

 

[Lonestar]

Font is pretty fricken tiny on my screen. But it's a really high res kind of tiny.

Lonestarr lives again!!!

 

[Kewk]

I have come to the conclusion that they REALLY don't want anyone playing the beta. Everything about the game (install, registration, getting in, and playing) was the worst experience I have ever had in any game let alone an mmorpg.

 

[RaySpencer]

I have come to the conclusion that they REALLY don't want anyone playing the beta. Everything about the game (install, registration, getting in, and playing) was the worst experience I have ever had in any game let alone an mmorpg.

i dont see whats all the hate with signing up ....sure it took long, but its not like it was difficult or anything =/ ....i mean the worst part was having to reenter my stupid PlayOnline name that i didnt pick thats just a bunch of letters and numbers ...


i mean really, have you guys played any MMO before? installations take a while.... and information needs to be input...

 

[jluedtke]

Personally, I played it for a few nights and really don't like it. I know I should probably give it more time, but it really isn't appealing to me.

Oh, and I hate the PlayOnline stuff. It's dry-humping my beautiful Xbox Live interface and I wish it wouldn't.

 

[Kewk]

i dont see whats all the hate with signing up ....sure it took long, but its not like it was difficult or anything =/ ....i mean the worst part was having to reenter my stupid PlayOnline name that i didnt pick thats just a bunch of letters and numbers ...


i mean really, have you guys played any MMO before? installations take a while.... and information needs to be input...

I've played every mmo since UO and nothing can compare to this game.

 

[Shouta]

the party system isnt any different than Anarchy Online to this point. The harder quests were done with parties and there wasnt another way around it either.

The system isn't any different from other MMOs on the surface but the flow and mechanics of it are unlike most MMOs. There's a very noticable control and flow to how battle works and you can actually feel how well a group meshes as you get higher into the game. It's hard to describe but after playing FFXI, you get a feel for what this is. Mind you, this is for XPing.

 

[RaySpencer]

I've played every mmo since UO and nothing can compare to this game.

i do think some of it was a little excessive ....but you make it sound like it was grabbing on to your balls and squeezing them the whole 3 hours to install it...


i mean really, you pop it in, some bars fill up ....you enter some info, you put in some passwords, and thats it ....sure it was a little more difficult to actualy start playing than some other games....but some people around here are making it sound like they had to kill there mother to play it ....

 

[neptunes]

huh? The installation only took me an hour and a half, it could have been faster if I had an actual keyboard @ the time.

 

[Lonestar]

wee, trying to kill the same bunny as 15 other people, in area's with 250 total people, is funnnnnN!!!

 

[Suikoguy]

Anyone else notice all the framerate issues and the screen tearing? If they dont fix that crap Square should fire everyone involved. Its a joke that they cant get a ps2 game running at a smooth framerate.

It's called not careing

 

[LittleTokyo]

I would advise anyone interested in this for the 360 to just turn and run. The game itself is fun and addiciting, but the auction house, which is where you will buy most of the better equipment and items, is retarded as prices have skyrocketed over the last 2 months to an absurd level, at least on my server.

 

[Suikoguy]

I would advise anyone interested in this for the 360 to just turn and run. The game itself is fun and addiciting, but the auction house, which is where you will buy most of the better equipment and items, is retarded as prices have skyrocketed over the last 2 months to an absurd level, at least on my server.

I heard that from a friend who has played it for many months, stuff has increased 200% he said.

 

[arne]

It's called not careing

It's also called a beta.

If the screen tears that much in the final release, you can have the pleasure of serving me up the crow.


Granted, I do have a bias, I like FFXI so I'd like to see it working well on the 360.

 

[StoOgE]

Ok, people on Xbox Live suck. First of all there needs to be more enemies. An open field with 10 enemies and 300 players isnt going to work. Granted this is a better problem than Anarchy Online. If you ventured out of the main cities in Anarchy Online you would never find anyone. Entire massive cities all to yourself. One time I actually ran into someone between two of the smaller cities and we talked for half an hour because it had been nearly a month since our charachters had come across another human. :lol

The other thing is, Xbox Live players are assholes. In every MMORPG Ive played people are helpfull. If they see you in a fight you cant handle they will hang around with you and heal you as you fight. On Xbox Live a pack will gather round you and wait for you to drop so they can finish off the kill for easy XP points.

Graphics are really starting to bug me.. slowdown, screen tearing muddy textures. Blah. These cant be the textures the PC version uses are they? Because Anarchy Online (an older game) looks 10x better on my PC.

Also, playonline sucks. Ive got a message flashing at me whenever I play the game that Ive got mail or a message of some sort, but I go into playonline and check my mail and I dont have any. WTF?

 

[Shouta]

There's messages and email. Messages can be checked in game under the friends list option. Email can be checked in Playonline, you also need to click send/recieve email because the server stores it there until you call it up.

 

[StoOgE]

yeah, it was a message. I just figured that out.. it was a friend request and it doesnt show up in game for some reason.

 

[TheDuce22]

The other thing is, Xbox Live players are assholes. In every MMORPG Ive played people are helpfull. If they see you in a fight you cant handle they will hang around with you and heal you as you fight. On Xbox Live a pack will gather round you and wait for you to drop so they can finish off the kill for easy XP points.

They might be waiting for you to call for help.

 

[StoOgE]

They might be waiting for you to call for help.

Nope, Ive got that bound to my macross. They are waiting to get the kill. Its probably a combo of them being assholes and a shortage of enemies to kill.

 

[TheDuce22]

The FFXI community on the whole is pretty bad. The game turns them into assholes by making them struggle for every single thing. Wait till you do some of the quests that are required to advance and there are 5 other partys doing the same thing.

 

[Aurora]

Lonestarr am back!? :O

First of all there needs to be more enemies. An open field with 10 enemies and 300 players isnt going to work.

Adding more enemies wouldn't help things, infact it would probably increase grind time.
More enemies would mean more aggro, more links, more deaths and therefore slower EXP gain.
Alright, fair enough. At a time like this with that many people in one area, more enemies would be a good thing, but remember that the reason there are so many people in the the first place is because of the X360 influx. So if they were to increase the amount of enemies to coincide with the increase in beginner players, after a while once these people have all moved on to other areas the problem will just be reversed: too many enemies for the little amount of people in that area.
Do you see what I'm getting at?

 

[Scott]

Nope, Ive got that bound to my macross. They are waiting to get the kill. Its probably a combo of them being assholes and a shortage of enemies to kill.

Not sure if this will sound super-obvious to you or not, but: there's a difference between having a shout macro saying "I'm in trouble! Help!" and using the menu option "Call for Help," as the latter will allow other players to attack the mob while you have it aggrod (at the cost of the XP gain).

Not trying to imply that you don't know the difference, or anything, it's just that I've ran into a lot of players that were just starting out, who didn't know about that menu option at all.

 

[AZ Greg]

I've been playing this beta and having fun. Maybe it's because this is my first mmorpg, who knows. I do agree that having 10 enemies per 100 people in a certain area sucks, but the further away you go the easier it gets to find enemies which is nice I guess. Also, I've found that the people I run into are somewhat nice. They cure me and cast protect on me.

Anyways, I'm playing on Bastok(sp?) and was wondering what exactly I can do here. Is there anywhere unique to go or is it all about the desert type enviornment and leveling up?

 

[Aurora]

I've been playing this beta and having fun. Maybe it's because this is my first mmorpg, who knows. I do agree that having 10 enemies per 100 people in a certain area sucks, but the further away you go the easier it gets to find enemies which is nice I guess. Also, I've found that the people I run into are somewhat nice. They cure me and cast protect on me.

Anyways, I'm playing on Bastok(sp?) and was wondering what exactly I can do here. Is there anywhere unique to go or is it all about the desert type enviornment and leveling up?

Bastok is correct.

Well, early on you are somewhat limited on what you can do. There are a few low-level quests and Missions you could try out (those are activated in the Bastok home city itself, just go around and speak to various NPCs and I'm sure something will pop up) but honestly at this stage I would advise you to carry on levelling up.
Stay close to the Bastok entrances (outside obviously, in the desert area called Gustaberg) during levels 1-5 so you can run away to safety if you ever find yourself in danger. The further out you go the stronger the enemies become but obviously the larger the EXP (and item) rewards. Make sure to often /check enemies to determine whether or not you can kill them. Any monster rating Easy Prey or Decent Challenge should be just fine but do be careful when you start seeing Toughs about as they will likely kill you. Just make sure to heal often and play it safe rather than daring.
Once you get to Lv10 you should start wandering out to find Konnschtat Highlands (type in /map to see where to go). There you will likely find others of a similar level willing to team up and get EXP that way. From then on levelling up becomes much less a chore and a lot more enjoyable as working in a team is obviously more exciting.

 

[LittleTokyo]

For the final version is Square creating a server soley for X360 users? If not, the whole 100 people and 10 rabits thing won't be a problem.

 

[arhra]

i do think some of it was a little excessive ....but you make it sound like it was grabbing on to your balls and squeezing them the whole 3 hours to install it...


i mean really, you pop it in, some bars fill up ....you enter some info, you put in some passwords, and thats it ....sure it was a little more difficult to actualy start playing than some other games....but some people around here are making it sound like they had to kill there mother to play it ....

Not quite grabbing onto my balls and squeezing them, more like raping my ears with a spike-covered, rusty, metal dildo the size of the empire state building (well, until i muted it).

Plus, the whole POL account, FFXI account, Content ID bollocks, stacked up on top of XBL as well, is just a massive pile of shite (if it had worked out how square had planned, and essentially become a live-type service on the PS2, it would have made sense, but when it's just this bloated layer of crap you have to install and navigate through to play FFXI, it kinda gets on your nerves).

 

[Scott]

Anyways, I'm playing on Bastok(sp?) and was wondering what exactly I can do here. Is there anywhere unique to go or is it all about the desert type enviornment and leveling up?

Well, you can always just do random quests around the town -- just talk to certain NPCs to get them.

A few examples would be:

"Groceries" -- Talk to Tami in Bastok Mines (J-8) for this quest. It'll require you to go the Zuruhn Mines for a little fetch quest.

"Minesweeper" -- Talk to Gerbaum in Bastok Mines (F-8) for this one. It'll also require you to go into the Zuruhn Mines, only this time you'll have to kill certain types of mobs to get three pinches of "Zuruhn Soot."

"Hearts of Mythril" -- Talk to Elki in Bastok Mines (H-5, inside the Bat's Lair Inn). For this one, you'll need to travel to a grave site on top of a mountain in North Gustaberg.

Etc...

You can also talk to a few of the guards to take on "Missions." These are like quests in structure, but you'll be forwarding the storyline (in this case, for your nation), going up in the Ranks, meeting some of the main characters in the plot (like Cid), etc.

The first few of these are really easy, just require you to run around collecting information and visiting certain locations, either in the Zuruhn Mines, Dangruf Wadi, or Konschtat Highlands.

Either way you go, you'll get a crash course in the locales, as both Quests and Missions will send you all over the place. You'll learn the layout of things in no time, get some helpful rewards, raise in Fame (w/ Quests) or Rank (w/ Missions), and get to see cutscenes explaining a bit of the backstory of Vana'diel (well, with Missions, at least). Either one should help you get your bearings.

 

[AZ Greg]

Thanks for the replies Aurora and Scott.

I think I'll just continue to level up and do some of the missions the guards give me.

One other question though, what is the easiest way to get gil early on? I did one mission for a guard (Going to the mines to get a report and then delivering it somewhere) but I didn't get any gil for this.

 

[Aurora]

Thanks for the replies Aurora and Scott.

I think I'll just continue to level up and do some of the missions the guards give me.

One other question though, what is the easiest way to get gil early on? I did one mission for a guard (Going to the mines to get a report and then delivering it somewhere) but I didn't get any gil for this.

Getting gil early on can be a real pain.
I suggest getting Signet cast on you and selling crystals to the Auction House.
I'll elaborate incase you aren't sure what/how:

Right on every exit out of Bastok you will find a Guard. Speak to him and ask for Signet.
You will know you have it when you see a little crystal icon appear on your top left (where status effects are displayed). This Signet allows you to receive crystals from monsters. The crystals are used in recipes for crafting etc. but you don't need to worry about that, just keep collecting them and then sell them to an Auction House.
I'll go over how to sell to Auction Houses if you don't know.

Other ways of making money are through quests as Scott said, and also selling other enemy drops. Some enemies will drop items that can fetch a decent price at the AH (Auction House) e.g bees will drop beehive chips which sold for 300g each in my day (a year ago :/).

Hope this helps.

Feel free to ask more questions. =)

 

[Scott]

One other question though, what is the easiest way to get gil early on? I did one mission for a guard (Going to the mines to get a report and then delivering it somewhere) but I didn't get any gil for this.

I covered that in one of the other beta threads, actually: http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=2581981&postcount=34

And Missions should start to give you Gil, at least when you're a ways into them... but, really, it'll be a small amount compared to what you can make on your own, through other means.


Also, there are a bunch of other helpful tidbits posted in this thread -- so if anybody has questions about early-on stuff, it may be covered in there already. You can also check out SomePage for a convenient NPC, Quest, Monster, etc search... It'll give you info on which items they drop, which quests the NPCs are tied to, their location in the areas, etc. Very handy.

EDIT: Aurora is always one step ahead, it seems.

 

[Lonestar]

Aurora, who were you back then? You seem to remember me from back then.

 

[Aurora]

I started too late so I didn't actually join you guys.
But I always read the Official FFXI thread so I knew what you guys were up to :lol. </stalker>

 

[Takuan]

Lonestarr am back!? :O



Adding more enemies wouldn't help things, infact it would probably increase grind time.
More enemies would mean more aggro, more links, more deaths and therefore slower EXP gain.
Alright, fair enough. At a time like this with that many people in one area, more enemies would be a good thing, but remember that the reason there are so many people in the the first place is because of the X360 influx. So if they were to increase the amount of enemies to coincide with the increase in beginner players, after a while once these people have all moved on to other areas the problem will just be reversed: too many enemies for the little amount of people in that area.
Do you see what I'm getting at?

So add more non-linking, non-aggressive mobs in the noob areas like every MMO does.

 

[Scott]

So add more non-linking, non-aggressive mobs in the noob areas like every MMO does.

Except, the "problem" is exclusive to the beta, and doesn't plague the retail release at all.

Surely, when you have thousands of new players cramped onto this one little server, the low-level areas are going to get crowded. But in the retail release, you'll be hard pressed to find more than a dozen people in these areas, at any given time -- hell, last night, I was the only person leveling in South Gustaberg (the "noob area" outside Bastok) on Fairy. So, really, it's not an issue at all.

 

[MetatronM]

Anyways, I'm playing on Bastok(sp?) and was wondering what exactly I can do here. Is there anywhere unique to go or is it all about the desert type enviornment and leveling up?

Conventional wisdom tells you to grind out in Gustaberg, then grind out in the Highlands, and then finally make your way to the Dunes until you can start getting chocobos and subjobs and whatnot. I was never one for conventional wisdom.

I remember I took my first cross-country trip up to San d'Oria when I was around level 8 or 10 or so. It's tricky and you have to be extremely careful, especially while crossing the Dunes, since a lot of the baddies go aggro, but it can be a lot of fun ducking and weaving, picking your spots, and sneaking your way to a new locale. But I was always big on exploring in the game, which is why I ended up lagging way behind in levels, since I was always concerned with going places before I was "supposed" to be there.

Man, I guess that was a couple years ago already now. Hard to believe.

 

[StoOgE]

so Im getting a bit further along in the game now and Im starting to enjoy it alot more. Ive found the Northern part of gustaberg to be much more managable and much less annoying. The thing thats really pissing me off is I chose a class thats magic at low levels is nonexistant so people with spells they can cast from a distance win any footrace to a baddy. It also makes it a pain in the ass to check out the enemies because wasting precious seconds trying to find out if you can fight an enemy will all but ensure you dont get to fight it.

I prefer the Anarchy Online color system where you more or less knew if you could/should fight something as soon as you highlighted it. I also think this game should have a noob island like AO that lets you get your bearings (for 5-6 levels) before you have to make any decisions in the game. Im also digging the fact that Im jumping into a MMORPG well after the add-on packs came out. I imagine the conquest missions came with one of the expansions.. MMORPG's all tend to be pretty plain jane until some of the niftier expansions that have more player participation in storylines come out. It allways sucks waiting 2-3 years for the game to feel 'finished'.

My only other complaint is when doing missions (Im mostly doing missions, few quests) is they are very nondescript with how to get places. Im used to the waypoint system in AO where they tell you exactly how to get there. But seriously, if Im supposed to be going to the whatever mines to kill some enemies, tell me they are accessed via the highlands instead of sending me on a wild goose chase. I guess in a "normal" environment there would be plenty of experienced players to help guide me when I get lost, but its not really the case here. Everyone is lost together.

Im really hoping they let me keep this charachter and stats when the beta ends.. it would up my chances of keeping the game a bit, because low level grinding in this game is a pain in the ass. I miss my AO where you can request a mission and get a dungeon filled with enemies you can handle without anyone else trying to jack your kills.

Also: the music in this game is phenomenal and the auction houses are a really nice additions. Far better than everyone running around screaming in the chat logs about what they are trying to sell.

 

[neptunes]

Also: the music in this game is phenomenal

Square games tend to have good quality music, but since this is an mmorpg, I'm sure you'll get sick of the standard music fairly quickly.

st00ge (or GAF in general) we totally need to play together, or organize some kind of linkshell.
It took me 10 minutes to find a monster I could fight myself.

what's your in-game name?

 

[Aurora]

Square games tend to have good quality music, but since this is an mmorpg, I'm sure you'll get sick of the stand music fairly quickly.

Sorry but I beg to differ.
The music was one of the few aspects of the game that I never got sick of.
I mean, even to this day and after almost a year since I quit, I still occasionally listen to the FFXI OST and it blows me away everytime.

Nice going Stooge, seems like you're getting the hang of it.
Unfortunately I'm pretty certain that after the Beta they wipe all characters so you won't be able to keep it for the real game. On the brightside they usually have an end of Beta event where the GMs come down and start taking on all the Hyper Notorious Monsters so you will get to see high-level monsters and places without having to reach them by normal means. Make sure to take pics!

 

[TAJ]

>>>On the brightside they usually have an end of Beta event where the GMs come down and start taking on all the Hyper Notorious Monsters so you will get to see high-level monsters and places without having to reach them by normal means. Make sure to take pics!<<<

Except for areas that require key items from missions, new players can watch that on the retail servers. It's just that it can be expensive and/or a pain.
I went to watch the first NA Vrtra kill on my server (Phoenix) as a lv12 WHM/SMN, because I didn't have time to change jobs.