FFXI: Still Alive After Five Years?

16 May, 2007

FFXI: Still Alive After Five Years?

By: Tally

The game is coming out with a new expansion this winter. I’m all for a game trying to stay alive, but what happened to caring about what the players want, instead of trying to push more expansions? This will be the 4th expansion to the game. I haven’t beaten any of the earlier expansions, but I managed to have three level 75 jobs and many other jobs around the 50’s and 60’s.

This new expansion will be the same as the others. Right now there’s very little information about what the expansion will come with, but what we do know from the trailer is that there will be new areas to explore. Also, I’m guessing these new areas will not be new player friendly, they’re catering to the veterans of Vana’diel.

I’ve mentioned this before how I was a die-hard fan of FFXI. I guess most of it was for personal reasons, as well as it being my first MMORPG. The thing I hate about FFXI is the lack of individual growth. Everything end-game had to be done with 6-18 or more people. It was also a popularity contest. If you even argued with any one person, you would be hated by all members of that linkshell.

I believe that smaller circles for missions make it less daunting than the task of pleasing more than 18+ people at a time. After playing since the Playstation 2’s release of the game back in early 2004, I decided that I would stop playing while still keeping my account alive. Why is it still around? I invested a lot of time on the game and met a lot of people that I’ve shared lots of memories with. I don’t want to lose that just yet. My real life friend who still plays the game messages me pretty often about stuff that is happening in game, like the “Adventurer Appreciation Campaign”. I will most likely pick up the expansion, but even if I did I would only play a bit of it and then stop. Like I did with the Treasures of Aht Urhgan. I installed the expansion, downloaded the patches and found ways to get to the new areas. Met up with my small linkshell, unlocked the new jobs and that was about it.

Lately, looking back, I realize that I have a lot of issues with FFXI’s gameplay especially after playing FFXII. FFXII is a gorgeous game even though it has it’s own issues. I know I sound like some fangirl, but I’m not kidding. Compared to the lack of color and depth in FFXI, FFXII is both visually beautiful and meaningful where you actually care about the well-being of the people of Dalmasca. I also like it that the gameplay in FFXII makes it that more feasible that you don’t need a hoard of people to take down an evil empire. On the other hand, FFXI makes it feel like you’re replaceable by another person with the same job only because you have weaker gear and also because you’re a different race playing a job people think you’re not suited for and not because they’re more skilled. When I play FFXII I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot more after taking down the Elite Mark like Trickster with simple gambits, rather than depending on a guy who just wants to leech exp and he’s leveling a job like white mage because he knows he will get picked up faster than a dragoon, only to get you killed minutes later and your home point is back in Windurst.

Is Tally excited? No, not until FFXI actually makes some real improvement like: make it easier to play the game than to log on everyday just to accomplish one objective. Not everyone’s going to school and have summer breaks to “catch up”. Also, SE should look into making it more fun to solo, because I believe that people should be able to exercise and enjoy their individual freedom in addition to the forced conformity FFXI dictates.