Disclaimer: This post is going to be about Final Fantasy XI. I'm posting it on my Blogspot account, but Facebook will import it as a note. I wasn't planning on posting this, but I think I have to. If you're not a gamer or don't want to read about me talking about Final Fantasy XI, I'd suggest you move along. For the rest of you, read on...
Final Fantasy XI
For some, Vana'diel is a wondrous world of adventure and friendship. Enter in and you were part of an ongoing struggle with the beastmen.
I've been playing for about 8 years now. I started February of 2003 in 9th grade. I had seen the review on X-Play, when it was still good and they weren't getting pressured by the management, and I was hooked. It only got a 4 out of 5, but that just meant it wasn't perfect, and they would point out what. I agree that the menu system could be better, and that it takes a bit to get use to the layout and how things are done. Once you get passed these, the world was an open book of fun.
I've always tolled others that don't play (or couldn't get too far in without quitting) that the game takes a bit to get into. Unlike some MMOs, it takes some effort to get what you want out of the game. It was a struggle to get to 10 on some jobs, and there were 65 more levels to go. Levels filled with grinding exp, doing missions and quests, and meeting people.
I may not be much of a people person, but that has been one of the things that kept me playing. The story lines were good, but as far as the rest of the game goes, it wouldn't be able to hold up on it's own. The missions were fun, but without the other people to enjoy it with, it would have fallen like FF 12 did. (Although, 12's story was horrible and I couldn't get into it).
Take the Chains of Promathia expansion. These missions were difficult, probably not as much as people made them out to be, but just the same. The difficulty wasn't so much in the missions. They were hard, but mostly it took dedication, preparation, and focus. With a decent group, you could finish the missions in about a week or two. The problem most people had was that you needed a group to do 90% of the fights, all of them if you weren't 75 and were leveling up as you did them. My biggest issue with getting them done was finding a group that could work with my late night playtimes. Occasionally I would shout for members like others did, taking five hours to put together a group for a fight that takes maybe 20 minutes to get to and five to do. Shout groups will unfortunately have the people who won't put the effort needed to get the job done, and will undoubtedly end in failure. CoP became easier if you had a dedicated group that could work out strategy and focused on the task at hand.
The game was hard, but I always like a challenge in my games. I don't want everything handed to me on a silver platter without trying. I play and like games like Devil May Cry 3 for this reason. A challenge, no matter what you are doing, will make the end result seem like you earned it. When I finished something in 11, I would feel as though I accomplished something. Sure there were things I didn't enjoy, but for the most part, I'd do it all again if given the chance.
Some people complain that they wanted more solo opportunity. I can understand this, I leveled Beastmaster solo, but I always liked leveling with a friend or friends more than soloing. While a random group could work, it just didn't seem as I was having as much fun unless I had a friend in the group.
Whether you solo or do it in a party, eventually you would hit 75 on your jobs. Finally you hit the last level, but you're not done yet. Half the game is endgame. Dynamis, Sky, Sea, Einherjar, Salvage, are the big ones, needing groups of more than a standard party to do. While you could low man some stuff, most would need at least two full parties to do the higher tier objectives. Square did even add Assaults and Nyzul, and while they are not exactly end game as most don't do them until after 75, they three to six man events that only take 30 minutes a run. There was always something to do.
Part of what I liked about 11 over other pay MMOs was that there were no invalidating expansions. Some gear did get replaced, but there was always one reason or another to do the previous expansions end game. People did Sky and Dynamis for years after they were released with the first expansion. Nothing beat the Byako's Haidate or Kirin's Osode if you could wear them. And most of the Abjuration gear was still useful for various circumstances. Even doing Salvage, most of the gear you would swap out depending on what you were doing, so most of it didn't get invalidated. Salvage was considered the more “hardcore” endgame, so most of what you could get in other places that didn't quite match up to Salvage gear would still be adequate for normal use anyway.
The only thing I didn't quite like about 11 was grinding. Now, I know grind is part of an MMO and leveling isn't what I'm talking about. Once you get to 75, you need merits. You continue to gain exp (or in this case, limit points) and can spend them to permanently increase anything from skills to stats or even learn new abilities once they added group two. The system in itself was sound.
The problem I had was that no one wanted to merit anywhere but a few places. The difference with leveling was that every few levels you would change camps and get new spells or abilities. Most level ranges passed 30 had multiple places you could go. Once you hit 75, there were only a handful of camps that could support a limited number of people. Eventually, merit camps boiled down to three different areas and two of them were in the same zone, just different spots. Grinding this became tedious and boring. Nothing new for long periods of time and I would end up just zoning out. I usually only merited with friends if I could. Most of the time I would go months without meriting. But merits are not needed for most things, they just help out, especially if you are doing group things.
The announcement of 14 came as a disappointment to me. I had known that Square Enix was working on a new MMO, and people speculated of whether it would be a new world or based on a different series. No one expected them to call it Final Fantasy. While I know that doesn't change anything on how the game would play or be, it still disappointed me that they didn't call it anything else. Deep down I knew that 14, being another Final Fantasy, would pull people from 11. I knew that would happen anyway, but it seemed that with the name reviel, even more would go.
I know a lot of people would stay or play both. I even said that it would be between juggling both 11 and 14, or just playing 11. Many said they were going to jump headlong into 14 leaving 11 behind (But kept playing 11 in the meantime). A few like me were going to try doing both. Some stated that they had put too much time and effort in 11 to quit or go to another MMO. The last is how I felt. Looking back over 8 years, I may have only accomplished only a fraction of what some people have done in half the time or less. However it was still hard for me to think of letting go of all the time I had spent in 11.
Then Vanafest happened in Japan. I was excited to hear about new add ons that would be more like endgame. Then they reviled that the level cap was going to be increased. At first, I thought, “Oh 80 might be interesting addition, and I shouldn't break anything that people do now.”
Then they said 99. At first, I didn't know how to take the news. 99 would most certainly break the things I liked doing.
After thinking about it, I tried to be optimistic. If they did it right, some things might be broken, but most people would still do others. I knew they would give out new gear and they even said that a new set of job specific gear would be introduced. After how they have done gear in the past, I thought that it would be more gear swaps, not much would be replaced. If anything was replaced, the original artifact armor would be the only set to be doped as it is level 50 gear. That would leave most of the high tier 75 peaces alone and still usable. Perhaps they could have replacements for the Action House gear that people wear at 75.
Level 80 came along with the first new add on. Abyssia was fun the first time I went there. It was much faster than a normal merit party taking part of the grind out of leveling. In a few hours of play, I got to 80 as did many other people in the linkshell I'm in. We started doing endgame again after a week of leveling, and it was still fun. Mostly, things just didn't take quite as long to die, but were still able to pose a challenge. I was still having fun, but with work and limited playing time, I started only getting on for Dynamis.
Then the next update hit. Level 85 with the next add on, this time accompanied by three pieces for each job of the new gear. I've never done Salvage, it just never interested me. But even I felt somewhat slighted. At first I was thinking the gear was awesome. Nothing was a throwaway piece and you could find a use for everything. Thinking about all the gear that had just became invalidated did hit home about how the game was changing.
The gear we have already had is still good and usable, but after the new gear came out some things aren't. Homam is now no longer wanted, All of the new pieces of gear for melees have haste on it. No one wants to get a haidate now for the same reason. The only sky pieces that don't seem to have lost all their use are the Wyrmal legs and Osode, both of which drop off Kirin, the highest tier in sky.
Even after the initial shock of getting 600 exp a kill in abyssia wore off, I realized that it takes all the parts of meriting I didn't like 10 fold. The last abyssia I was in, all I did was stand there for 3 hours. Never had to do anything else. Now yes, all I have done is exp in abyssia and maybe the endgame aspects are better, but at this point...
I've stopped caring...
The only thing I want to do now is Dynamis, and I will admit that is because I'm first for my final piece of gear on my main class.
I want to keep enjoying 11. I know the game I fell in love with is still under there somewhere. But now, any time I have the time to get on, I don't.
I sit around and do nothing. Some people I know in game are saying I don't put forth the effort when I say I want to do stuff, but I'm lazy and never make it happen.
I know I'm lazy, but that has never stopped me from enjoying this game before now. It was hard for me to come to the realization that after all that has changed...
What's the point?
What am I playing for?
What are any of us playing for?
Is the game going down hill? Is it worth keeping up with just for nostalgia?
What is it, after all this, after everything that I have been doing becomes useless in game because now there is something better here or on the way that I will need to get? Should I keep going, knowing that we still have 14 levels to go from updates, knowing that at any moment people I have played with for years will leave, either quitting or going to 14, knowing, that the most fun I've had in this game was playing with friends.
Yes.
Keep playing.
It's not the end that's important... It's the journey.
I know that sounds lame, but it's true. For the same reason I liked leveling to 75 more than meriting. The trip on the way, the events themselves are what I remember.
I don't need to force myself to play. I need to find something, anything in the game that I want to do for the sake of doing, not finishing.
I will finish them at some point, that I'm sure of. There will be a point that I will say I'm content to stop the game and will leave knowing I had fun.
But not now.
I had talked to a friend about this topic not to long ago. He is going to 14 and has no drive to play 11 anymore. I started seeing his point of view, but something was holding me back. It was hard to come to the realization that I can see where he came from and that I was in agreement, but there was something I couldn't see.
I started writing this down to get my thoughts strait. I went on a line of thought, thinking of what I was having trouble understanding. Looking back more closely at what made me like this game. It was never getting the gear, though that wasn't bad, nor finishing quests and missions.
It was doing things with others and having fun. People may thing that gamers are anti-social and awkward, but that's not true. We can get along well with other gamers. Gamers are not one particular type of people. We are varied and diverse, something that I have seen first hand in 11. I've seen people who met in game get married in real life. I've seen whole families go out leveling. I've seen...
People...
Having...
Fun...
And you know what?
I'm going to go have some fun...
Labels: Final Fantasy 11, Final Fantasy XI
