If Final Fantasy XI came out as "Final Adventures Online: Judgement" then it wouldn't have half as many subscribers.

@ MechaMonkey
unless the LIVE fee was the only fee. MMOs average a cost of $15 a month per game. Compare that to LIVE if you buy a 13 month card for $40, $3.08/month

this is probably more directed at the Pandemonium Warden issue which was post before. Very unrefined attitude in that was the last boss that only maybe at most 10% of the gaming population would even have a chance to get to fight. There is nothing wrong with FFXI its just based on a system where you for the most part can't do much solo, which makes the standard momo grinds seem harder since you have to wait for people to work together with and deal with idiots etc.

hey man! leave FFXI ALONE!!! It rocked when it came out and even sometime after WoW.

Just glad I stopped the addiction >_>; But on topic, I sure hope they make the same Keyboard controls FF11 had. I hate using the mouse for MMO's. It tires your wrist.

@MechaMonkey

You can play FFXI on 360 without a Gold LIVE subscription.


Up until about a month ago, I played FFXI daily. It IS a grindfest, LFP can be a huge pain in the ass if you're not a tank/healing/buff job, and the game DRAAAAAAAAAAAGS from about level 30 until about the mid 60s. Like most MMOs, all the fun is to be had in the end-game play. But unlike WoW, getting to FFXI's end-game is a massive time sink. Without the right gear, you get laughed out of parties, which means you'll spend days just earning enough money to afford the next "must have" equipment. Hardly any good equipment can be aquired via quests or events until post level 70. Even your job-specific Artifact equipment set maybe only supply you with 1 or 2 useful items, and you have to jump through hoops to get it. Post level 50, you're required to preform "limit break" quests every 5 levels so that you can actually progress your job level.

FFXI just punishes you. Some people find the end justifies the means, but I don't fin myself in that school of thought right now. Yes, I quit playing. I've quit before though. Maybe this time it'll stick.

Some random thoughts from an ex-FFXI player:

@ -PL- - Yeah, farming does suck. It's there to give single players a chance to get SOME money. The team based alternative? All those "seals" that are dropped during the normal flow of the game? Those go into unlocking extra team fights where big-ticket items drop, either for your use or resale. Same goes for the specialty fights you're allowed to do once a week with as few as 3 people. Team play doesn't go out the window when you're not getting xp.

In regards to crafting, yes the low levels are often done at a loss. The goal is to maximize skill levels gained while minimizing out of pocket expenses. Once a certain skill level is hit, you then have a collection of recipes which become profitable due to the probability of you getting exemplary results. Those gains can be reinvested to buy more materials strictly for recipes to increase skill. As skill increases, so do profit margins. The cycle continues until you reach a degree of profitability you deem adequate or until you cap. In all, crafting becomes an investment with degrees of entry cost and payouts distinct to each craft and tier.

@ AliasWyvernspur - Yeah, it's hard to get into parties as melee damage. It seems like most MMOs are short on tanks / support, however.

With soloing, I think you'd be surprised. There's a number of good job vs. monster matchups that exist to be exploited, but often soloing requires a completely different philosophy and equipment set than solo play. I guess the biggest problem is that with few exceptions a great player's solo xp will match a mediocre party's xp. Guess that's the price for trying to change the paradigm.


I think there's plenty of things wrong with FFXI. Some endgame stuff is very poorly designed and results in more drama than it's worth due to competition over limited server-wide assets. There's also reasonable complaints about the punitive death penalty and the jump in xp needed to level about half way through the grind. I just think that the team-play design was pretty compelling, the crafting system was deeper than most people give it credit for, and in all people like to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Id love an MMORPG for my 360. Something i'd love to see in one would be a very detailed customization of your character, something like oblivion or Mass effect.
Also, i agree with teh MechaMonkey, no monthly fee for the 360. Unless they do cards like they do with WoW, and only if its cheap.