Its Numbered, It Counts - Let's Play Final Fantasy XI!

Publisher: Square-Enix
Release Date (original, US): March 23, 2004
Genre: MMORPG
Platforms: PS2 / PC / PS3 (via BC) / Xbox 360


Part 0 - Introduction and Basics

Part 1 - Kurow and The Federation of Windurst (Complete!)

• Mission 1-1
• Mission 1-2
• Mission 1-3
• Mission 2-1
• Mission 2-2 (skipped, boring filler)
• Mission 2-3
  • Part 1 (San d'Oria)
  • Part 2 (Bastok)
• Mission 3-1
• Mission 3-2
• Mission 3-3
• Mission 4-1
  • Part 1 (Quadav)
  • Part 2 (Orc)
  • Part 3 (Yagudo)
• Mission 5-1
• Mission 5-2
• Mission 6-1
• Mission 6-2
• Mission 7-1
• Mission 7-2
• Mission 8-1
• Mission 8-2
• Mission 9-1
• Mission 9-2

Part 2 - The Misadventures of Gorgor the Galka

• Gorgor's Arrival
• Introduction to Valkurm
• Valkurm part 2
• Subjobs, Jeuno and Qufim Island
• Qufim Island part 2

Part 3 - Gorgor and the Rise of the Zilart

• Warriors of the Crystal
• Tonberry King

Page 4 - Chains of Promathia

Part 5 - Treasures of Aht Urghan

Part 6 - Wings of the Goddess

Part 7 - Mini Expansions

Part 8 - Seekers of Adoulin

Part 9 - Rhapsodies of Vana'diel

Appendix

Job Discussion

• WAR - Warrior
• WHM - White Mage
• BLM - Black Mage
• RDM - Red Mage
• SMN - Summoner
• MNK - Monk
• THF - Thief
• PLD - Paladin
• DRK - Dark Knight
• BST - Beastmaster
• BRD - Bard
• RNG - Ranger
• SAM - Samurai
• NIN - Ninja
• DRG - Dragoon
• BLU - Blue Mage
• COR - Corsair
• PUP - Puppetmaster
• DNC - Dancer
• SCH - Scholar
• GEO - Geomancer
• RUN - Rune Fencer

Life in Vana'diel

• Goldfish Scooping
• Fishing
• Crafting
• Harvesting
• Chocobo Breeding
• Chocobo Racing
• Chocobo Hot n Cold
• MORE TO COME

Archived Thread: (future proofing Photobucket policy changes)
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10/3/2011 - Part 0 - Introduction and Basics

Yeah yeah, FFXI is an MMORPG and a huge departure from the previous entry in the series, we all know that. But what most people don't realize (and those who played in ye olde times probably never survived long enough to see) is that this FF game really isn't that different at its core from those that preceded it. In fact, the game's producer, Hiromichi Tanaka, played a major part in designing another favorite entry of mine.



Starting up FFXI requires the users to go through a terribly unfriendly and worthless interface called PlayOnline. This was Square-Enix's original foray into online integration; most of you probably remember it as that site you had to go to constantly in the half-finished Final Fantasy IX strategy guide. It has email, community integration, etc, but mostly its just a thing to click through quickly to get to the main deal. If you'll notice they're still advertising pretty old S-E games at the bottom there, even S-E doesn't give a crap about it these days.

Oh, and if you want to pay an extra $1 a month you can play that crappy card game from FFIX on there as well. Me, I'm more of a Triple Triad fan.



Here's the for-real gateway to the game itself.



Player disclaimer. Funny how they ignore this themselves from time to time when designing things like Absolute Virtue.



The main title screen. Each of the expansions purchased appear highlighted along the right side of the screen.



Here's my main dude, Kurow, named for the Project Justice character of the same name.



Each character in FFXI has a home base in a "Mog House." FFXI relegates moogles to your personal butlers, handling home decoration, mail delivery and job changing.







These are a few of the decorations strewn about my house, mostly seasonal freebies and a few things from in-game lotteries. Installing furniture is not only cosmetic, but also provides extra storage for items (up to 80 spaces).



FFXI runs off a variation of the job system that was first introduced in FFIII. This one most closely mimics FFV's, with the character having access not only to a main job's abilities but also (after reaching level 18 and doing a short quest) the abilities of a second sub-job. The difference here, though, is that they only get the abilities up to 1/2 the level of the main job (e.g. a lv90 Dancer/Samurai would get the samurai abilities up to lv45).



Each character has both active and passive abilities to choose from. Dancer, which I will be using for the majority of this LP, is a jack of all trades type class. Using TP (an MP-like stat gained by landing blows on the enemies. It maxes out at 300%) a Dancer can create status effects on the monsters, heal themselves or allies and build up "Finishing Moves" for stronger attacks.



Special attacks in FFXI are called "Weapon Skills". When TP reaches 100% you can use one of these abilities. Each weapon available has a different set of weapon skills, and when teaming up with other players you can perform a stronger combination attack called a skillchain. Dancer actually has good enough TP gains that I can perform these team up skills by myself.



In the character status screen it lists your basic stats, the experience points required to the next level, your current title (changed by completing quests) and your national allegiance. For the first seven years of my quest I have been allied to the nation of Bastok and have already completed all of its missions prior to starting this LP.

Bastok is a highly industrialized nation with many impressive fountains. It also is home to a really annoying automatic airship detecting drawbridge and a pair of aggravating automatic elevators.



Bastok is also home to one of the more many incarnations of Cid. I mean, dude will confront the leaders of nations in nothing more than a pair of overalls with no shirt.



This is not the story of Bastok, though. For our story Kurow will be pulling up roots and moving out to the sticks. Yes, Kurow is moving to the Federation of Windurst, home of the cuddly wuddlytaru Taru-taru and the sultry catgirl Mithra.

Next time: Searching for Orbs

Wait, you're starting at Lv.90? I'm concerned about whether we're getting the Full Experience here.

Also, true or false -- do potions cost a ridiculous amount of money?

The level is kind of inconsequential at this point, since most people if they start new / start a new character these days will just grind to lv30 over a week or two and then open boxes in an Abyssea party and leech exp to level 90 in like 16 hours. Starting at level 90 not only cuts out the boring MMO grind (i.e. boring shit nobody wants to read about), but also makes it easier for me to gather images for the LP when I don't have to force others to wait around while I'm taking them.

From vendors, yes, but they do drop from random treasure chests pretty frequently for the low low price of free.

You are utterly-flutterly terrible ataru employing the charming-narming rhyming capabilities of the Tarutaru. I demand, therefore, thataru you do rhymed-in-timed couplets whenever you speak of them.

(Kidding. Mostly. I know someone who not only pulled rhymed couplets off with a Taru character, he was consistent.)

Heck yeah, I love this game! I'll be much happier following this LP than starting a new character for the umpteenth time though, since I hate grinding. The art design is stellar though.

On Bahamut?! Myself and some friends are on Quetzalcoatl. That's a shame since then we could have gotten some TT team actions going...!

I do need to play more of the game, really. There's a LOT of things that XI does that aggrivates the hell out of me, but at the same time there's also a bunch of things that it does that I really like.

As someone with no experience of this game beyond that one wiki-walk I did ages ago, I'll be interested to see how this goes...

I haven't played this in well over half a decade, but wouldn't that just get you a level 90 PC with skills like a level 30? Putting you at a massive handicap? Did they ever fix skill leveling (or the the players find a workaround, given that that's more what this XP gain plan seems like)? Is it still basiclly impossible to max something like block or parry on your first or second time through a tanking job?

That's sort of my huge problem with this game. It's not just grindy, there are so many different things you need to grind to get <i>anything</i> off the ground. Skills, gear, subjob levels, sub-sub job levels, drops for class gear, rank up items, inventory slots, level-cap break drops...

Or maybe some/all of this was fixed, or the players found ways to get around it?

Dude, Regedit those graphics settings. That's painful to look at!

I changed it after a mission or two, don't worry. I was still getting the hang of screen capturing and whatnot.

Despite that it doesn't count, I always sort of wanted to try this game. I just never had a chance to what with being far more interested in WoW toward both games' beginnings.

This shall be interesting and informative, being that this late in the game I am utterly unwilling to grind that much no matter how fast it's supposed to go.

Also those superbosses are stupid. I can understand wanting to have some kind of epic fight that lasts longer than 5 minutes, like every fight in WoW, but c'mon. Making them take a full day of non-stop sitting at your computer actually playing well without anything resembling a REAL break is outright abusive to the players mentally, physically AND emotionally.

Clearly, you must kill one during the course of this LP.

As one of Kurow's Linkshell mates, I'm probably more excited about this LP than he is. So much so, that I'd be willing to fill in gaps and answer questions as needed (as long as its ok with SL)

As SL said, you're missing something yes, but mostly a lot of grind. I'd be willing to do a bit more of a primer on jobs and progression, if the group wants it and SL is ok with it of course.

yeah, potions in this game are not like many other FF games, they are too expensive to be used regularly and are reserved for special fights.

We'll get plenty of Taru chatter in this LP before its over...

Some was fixed. Skill gain rates have been increased. Drop rates have been increased. Some is player work around - ie the aby leech. No need for gear when you let the party do all the work. In the process, you'll get a fair amount of cash you can use to buy some of the items you need. Some things are still a pain to get. And yeah, FFXI gives you nothing. You have to earn it all.

Please see thread title...

FFXI came out before WoW and was really a product of a different era in MMOs than WoW. In later years, FFXI has become aware of its age and has kinda appologized and tried to make up for it and adopt some more modern ideas, but its scattered and some players like it and others get super mad. The comparison is inevitable, but to me they are just two very different games.

We will see our share of bosses in this LP. Most of them will be a joke to Kurow, but they were scary in their heyday.

Go for it dude. The same goes for the rest of the group if they're so inclined.

I guess I just never noticed. My memory of internet things is hazy back then as I had no access to it. I just remember being really excited for the one while wanting to try the other but never getting a chance to (and now not being willing/financially able to).

To clarify, They are of the same time frame. FFXI did come out first, but WoW wasn't a whole lot later. FFXI is a japanse game. WoW is a western game. Everything after WoW was changed by it. FFXI was one of the last ones to come before and so I feel like its of a different era.

Technically its 2 years older than WoW (launched May 16, 2002 in Japan), it just didn't reach North America until nearly the same time as WoW's launch.

So will you be bashing the game, or showing the good with the bad?
Also, you must do at least one rhyme-in-time per update. You must!

Well, I've been playing for over 7 and 1/2 years at this point, have been running a Talking Time oriented linkshell for almost 4 years and wrote a GameSpite article about my experiences.* I know there's a lot of crap to put up with in this game, but I still really enjoy it.


Stuff like this is why I prefer Bastok...

*Strange to think time when FFXIV was something worth looking forward to.

You know, actually earning stuff dosn't bother me. I played RDM my first and third times though (NA beta, managed to level up to 40 just to have him wiped -_-) and things like needing to do BCMN to pick up certain spells was cool, because those were rewards for skillful play (and BDCMs are basically the single best idea in this game, all on their own).

But spending 8 hours grinding boring monsters who drop the item to get past the first level cap? That's just putting in time. Nevermind how horrid leveling could be back in the early days.

I actually found my old PlayOnline account info the other day while cleaning out my room.

I wonder if it's still a valid account since I made it with one of those buddy-trial keys they handed out; I found the old e-mail saying that it's just the base game. Wonder if I could upgrade it or something.

Not anymore, you can't. Tetra Master service and support ended on January 1 of this year.

Wow, no mules? Not even one?

I'm surprised no one asked about the creepy mannequins.

The Mog House Moogle reminds me a lot of FFTA's Montblanc: upbeat and more than a little sycophantic. FFXI's refers to your character not by name, but as "master."

Montblanc had to suck up or you'd ditch him at the first jagd you found.

N-not that I've done that or anything.

I found that it was usually cheaper to buy the vana'diel collection with all the upgrades rather than buy them individually. But I had a character I didn't want to loose, so I sucked it up and paid a bit more.

This suprises me also! For those who don't know, you started the game, back in the day with only 30 inventory slots and all your gear counts toward that as well. Unlike that other MMO, there's no bank and increasing your inventory requires a quest in Jeuno, which a new character might not be able to get to right away. So people started buying a few extra characters, leaving them at level one and just using them for extra inventory spaces. SE has eased the tension on our inventory by adding: Mog Lockers, Mog Satchels, Mog Sacks, Porter Moogles, and Storage Moogles. I hardly use my one mule anymore.

I've never had one either. I was a big fan of using the extra 16 spots of the item delivery system (8 "in" and 8 "pending") to cheat the low storage space. With all the updates now I don't even have to do that.

I had too many mules, to be blunt about it, but at the time it made sense to me to have an extra character in each of the baby cities to sell guild-specific materials, and to grow and store rice (for a period of time); and in Jeuno to lessen travel time.

With all the sacks and satchels and such, I can easily see dispensing with the idea of mules, especially since XP parties aren't as performance-driven now (so no need for up-to-the-second gear) and because of level synching, and I imagine there aren't many people low level crafting anymore and there's no reason to hoard/build stacks of materials for the AH.

I miss this game and I really missed out on some great times when I stopped playing it. I've thought about going back to it, but my world was merged with another and I'm unsure about all the changes they've made. It seems like a wholly different game now. I'm looking forward to this. I have some videos of people doing missions and they are a lot of fun.

As for mules, I had one for some small extra storage, but mostly for gardening. I tried doing the Tree Cuttings and Fire Ores thing. Unfortunately my ceramic pot skewed my results and I got a bunch of cinnamon, but two ores was a nice return I thought for a first try.

I think the thing I miss most about FFXI is that I feel like I was a part of something.

I don't know if other MMOs do this. I don't think they do. But when playing FFXI, particularly with friends, I really felt like I was able to carve out my own little piece of Vana'diel. Moreover, it was a Final Fantasy game with my character. And while thousands before me and thousands after me experienced similar adventures, I still feel like it was ours.

I think people overlook that stuff, particularly those who play MMOs for other reasons. Granted, the phat lewt and rare drops (when they eventually came) are awesome. Still, I think the reason why I played for so long, and actually miss the game; despite being utterly frustrated with everything about the game for a long time, is that it really made me feel like Vana'diel was a living world and that I was a part of it.