/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6954924]

Thoughts on FFXI. Is this the best retro MMORPG ever created? Are there any retro MMORPGs that are better than this?

[Anonymous No.6954932]

Diablo

[Anonymous No.6954939]

>>6954924
Like types of traumatic injury or medical emergencies, better and best are not the categories useful for discussing MMOs.

[Anonymous No.6954941]

>>6954924
i'm pretty sure one of the main reasons people gather to this board is to get as far away as possible from anything even remotely MMO

[Anonymous No.6954943]

>>6954932
Isn't that like only 4 players though? Not really an MMO.

[Anonymous No.6955004]

>>6954924
Brutal, tough as nails, wonderful experience. My only regret is choosing damn Hume instead of Elvaan.
>>6954943
You're thinking of PSO maybe?

[Anonymous No.6955034]

>>6955004
Never played PSO. Played PSU though felt really shallow compared to FFXI. Hub world kinda sucked too.

[Anonymous No.6955145]

>>6955034
PSU felt shallow compared to PSO, IoI.
Universe was kinda the younger stepbrother of PSO. It never really got the traction or fanbase.

[Anonymous No.6955210]

>>6954924
>making their online, subscription-based monstrosity a numbered entry
disgusting

[Anonymous No.6955264]

Game really didn't have that much to it but I still played it for 1000s of hours across 10+ years and offical and private servers

[Anonymous No.6956004]

>>6955004
Humes are the best ninjas though

[Anonymous No.6956210]

>>6954924
It's the best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxXG6zb7Qr4

[Anonymous No.6956290]

I will play the remake in a heartbeat, but the existing game is impossible to get into and mostly a solo experience.

[Anonymous No.6956312]

>>6954924
Ultima Online is better

[Anonymous No.6956457]

>>6956312
Naw.
But sleep tight dead franchise.

[Anonymous No.6957253]

>>6956290
Only if you have no friends.

[Anonymous No.6957338]

>>6954924
It is an interesting example of the genre.

One of the last of the old-style MMOs, the low item drop rate, difficulty of fights and diverse classes combined to form a community that needed to stick togather and do things for each other in order to advance.

This was further bolstered by the level cap remaining at the same point for many years and several xpacs. Which was supported by the gear-itemization having side-grades and thus multiple sets that could be built up for different purposes for a single job.

The difficulty encouraged players to learn their job as they were coming up. Rather than just breezing by until level cap and then having to basically relearn what they should have been learning the whole time.

Its also interesting in that a lot of the equipment was craftable, with +1 (and occasionally +2/3) versions being quite sought after. With low drop rates on items making most drops saleable to other players. With crystals usually being solid money for new players, and easier money for higher level players who can smack around elementals.

I miss my time with it. Even if a lot of it was spent doing nothing worthwhile in game or out. And I mained WHM....

[Anonymous No.6957605]

>>6954924
I have... mixed feelings about it. At times the game was a lot of fun and I miss those old friends and adventures. At the same time, I found it be a crushing, frustrating experience at times. Long hours, days, spent waiting for a party; seeing friends and LS mates advance through questlines or participate in BCNM's that I felt locked out of.

I'm replaying it now and enjoying myself, but I don't know if I'll stick it out long term. I want to sample the end game and then decide.

[Anonymous No.6957783]

>>6954924
>spend a year raiding dynamis twice a week and feeding all the currency drops to 1 guy so he can get his relic weapon
>every guild having dozens of 24/7 bots on using mem hacks to claim HNMs before they're even visible to legit players
>have to compete with the ENTIRE SERVER over a handful of spawns with low drop rates for limit break quests that everyone needs
>RMT literally dominating the economy

it was a fun game to play casually I guess, but end-game was outright garbage

[Anonymous No.6957801]

>>6957338
>Which was supported by the gear-itemization having side-grades and thus multiple sets that could be built up for different purposes for a single job.

no, actually it was a worse extreme where you were forced to carry around like 6 sets of gear at all times and set up your macros to swap out gear every time you cast a spell or use an ability

even worse, swapping gear caused your character to blink in/out of existence which caused any support class that was targeting/casting on you to lose their target

[Anonymous No.6957818]

[Anonymous No.6957828]

>>6957801
Man, this aspect of gear swapping is the one thing from FFXI that I just cannot stand. Game looks pretty great otherwise but it's a real dealbreaker.

[Anonymous No.6957891]

>>6957783
>feeding all the currency drops to 1 guy so he can get his relic weapon
>then then sells his account and buys a house irl

[Anonymous No.6957897]

>>6957818
DDO was never good

[Anonymous No.6957905]

>>6957897
Says the guy who doesn't play the game.

[Anonymous No.6957909]

>>6957905
I played the beta for like 2 weeks and confirmed it was trash

[Anonymous No.6957912]

>>6957818
Yeah, nah. Being a D&D fag I naturally checked out D&DO with a hopeful heart. It turned out to be pure instanced garbage, no true MMO element, and it butchers great old module designs with soulless modern MMO rubbish. No, thank you.

[Anonymous No.6957960]

EverQuest was amazing during certain expansions

[Anonymous No.6958004]

>>6957818
ok
ok
shit

[Anonymous No.6958020]

>>6957897
>>6957909
>>6957912
>>6958004
You guys don't get it. It's not saying any of these are good or bad, it's saying you have unrefined tastes if you don't like it.

[Anonymous No.6958029]

>ahem
>*coughs*

Asheron's Call

[Anonymous No.6958075]

Noob question. Is there a way, through intended hardware or emulation, to play MMO games for consoles like PS2 or Dreamcast? I know fan run servers for dead games exist but if I wanted to do a run of Phantasy Star Online or Final Fantasy XI with a friend where would I look for resources on how to do that?

[Anonymous No.6958136]

Tibia :°)

[Anonymous No.6958189]

Ultima Online
Tibia
Dark Age of Camelot
Graal
Line Age 2
Ragnarok Online
MU
Diablo 2

[Anonymous No.6958219]

>>6958020
Is not saying that others have unrefined tastes while expressing an opinion of your own the same as stating 'this is better, what you like is shit'?

A person with real taste would like what I like and hate what you like, so there.

[Anonymous No.6958265]

>>6958075
PSO has methods of playing on private servers with gamecube or dreamcast, such as https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/app.php/page/servers

FFXI would be PC private server only.

[Anonymous No.6958417]

I don't think I could even play classic FFXI these days. Hell, I could barely stomach back then. Competing against the entire server just for a chance at end-game bosses is pure cancer that actively encouraged cheating and botting and required batphoning your guild at 2am when your guild's bots get the claim. Once merit points became a thing, desirable group comps became ultra min-maxed too and anything off meta was trash that could go days without finding a group.

At lower levels, the general gameplay wasn't bad and the world was amazing even by modern standards. Really, just adding some instancing options like what EQ did would fix a lot of the problems.

[Anonymous No.6958438]

When you want to recommend a game and just end up crying uncontrollably.

[Anonymous No.6958465]

>>6954924
I have nothing against FFXI on it's own merits(outside of an extremely brief and abortive attempt at playing the 360 version I've never really played it), but to my dying breath I will maintain that it really shouldn't have been a numbered entry in the game, Crystal Chronicles is the game that should have been labeled XI(similarly the XIV designation should have been given to Type-0 instead of the second MMO)

[Anonymous No.6958470]

>>6957783
>play casually I guess
Literally me. I only ever had 2 75s before they easified the whole game. From what I understand I didn't miss much by not being in an HNMLS.

[Anonymous No.6958496]

>>6954924
Ffxi is a very badly designed game. The map system is fucking HORRIBLE.

square enix are shit at game design

[Anonymous No.6958536]

I've played off and on since NA release. Active on Asura.
It pulls me back in every time I think I'm forever done with it. in my opinion it is the seemingly endless lore and fully realized world that keeps me coming back. Players tend to fall in love with a particular job (or two or five). It always feels like there is some way to further push the job, no matter how well geared you get. Another gear set is always possible or another piece slightly better situationally (I think this is a strength desu)
Having friends definitely helps. I don't think Id be playing still if my friend's didn't resub with me usually.

All and all. A lot to love, tends to feel like revisiting a location rather than playing a game. When it begins feeling like a game, I know it's time to put it aside for a few months.

[Anonymous No.6958561]

>it will never be the early/mid 90s again when you're paying hourly dial-up fees to play text-based MUDs with your internet friends and having the most fun of your life

why even live...

[Anonymous No.6958984]

>>6957801
Not saying it was perfect, just that that gave you with multiple in game goals that would remain relevant for a good long time.

The blinking breaking targeting was indeed a downside. Though the gear-swap macros are a neutral in my book.

Compare to its effective sequel, FFXIV, in which itemization is a treadmill of doing the latest content to make numbers go up, as that gear and content will be obsolete within two patches.

[Anonymous No.6960069]

I totally missed it because when it was relevant I didn't have credit card, because i was a child.

[Anonymous No.6960126]

>>6960069
Same. It sucks because I know I would have absolutely loved this game, I was very jealous of the people I knew who played it, but my family wasn't rich and didn't want to pay a monthly fee for a video game for me, so I don't have any hard feelings or anything. It's just too bad I missed out and the MMOs these days aren't anything like it.

[Anonymous No.6960168]

>>6957801
I was taru melee, so i never wanted to gear swap in case i was being targetted by a support. Id only swap non-blinkable (rings,neck, belt, cape,earrings). i also was never in a serious dyna shell.

i only got to endgame around aht urghan times, and i found sea/sky/assualt way more interesting than dynamis death fest.

[Anonymous No.6961060]

What's the extent to which gear swapping via macros actually exists in this game?

Like, was it really only a big thing in endgame content? Was it already prevalent before then? Was it necessary and expected that you partake? Were some jobs involved in more gearswapping than others?

Like >>6957828 I'm really into this game except for this one thing. I need a better understanding of how deeply ingrained it was in the game.

[Anonymous No.6961114]

>>6961060
It is deeply integrated into the game - reinforced by the fact that you don't lose TP except for changing weapons and that you're allowed to gear swap at all during combat. Not doing gear swapping is massively gimping your potential.

For example a SAM that doesn't equip his AF1 helmet for Meditate is losing out on bonus TP, a WHM that doesn't equip AF2 vest is losing bonus Regen ability, and on the extreme end you have SMN that has to wear gear for Blood Pact Ability Delay.

[Anonymous No.6961119]

>>6958470
You haven't lived unless you spent eight hours trying to kill this guy

[Anonymous No.6961168]

>>6961060
It is deeply ingrained. but its a min/maxing thing. Ive never got kicked for not doing it.

As the other poster said, its more important for those abilities that you have a 1-5 minute cooldown.

You can avoid it by trying to get the best gear.. like if the standard gear for the level has DEX +5, and you switch to DEX + 10 gear for a weapon skill, get the more expensive DEX +7 gear and rock that full time. most large 'guilds' would rather have a component player than a dummy with max stats.

although they'd prefer both.

[Anonymous No.6961834]

>that guy who played NIN as an enfeebling support role

[Anonymous No.6961871]

>>6961834
>the chad who got BST to 75 by making his own parties instead of soloing