"A Little FFXI Story"

I have always loved this video, when I watch it, I remember so many players I've been great friends with and..yes..left because I wanted to progress. Getting my gears and lootz, camping the same NMs every day of every week, I remember how they had more fun than I did.

If you've been around, you've probably seen this, but it's always worth a watch or a re-watch.

I will never forget Lamal, Assassin, Katji, Kaidaa, Lordapm, Rubiah, Xial, Ifroking, Headache, Aureleus, Clarkyy, Argonar, Zaceck, Chumley (the guy who convinced me not to quit in my frist levels).. and just so many others. This video makes me think of them all.

always loved this video and can't watch it without getting quite emotional.. 2:52 'When did I forget what being an adventurer meant?'

Brings back a lot of fond memories, especially of all the adventures my friend Gaelil and I had. He helped me get my subjob items and we continued to duo up our jobs together. Getting drk and his rdm to 75 by just duoing was a blast. Never knew I'd get so attached to the people in this game that I've come to know as friends.

I've had this video favorited for years.

I cant watch it without tearing up a bit.
Every. Time.

I ball every time D:!

Someone should make a video drama of HNM LS' circa 2005.

It could be a new hit series on ABC or something.

I have to wonder if it's true. The original language was Japanese, and it's really really similar to the type of thing I'd expect from a Japanese folk parable or a Miyazaki movie, i.e. something based on underlying Japanese cultural values.

"Here comes Honey wine"

Emotionally, this video is sort of like the FFXI-version of this. (Content-wise, no, of course not)

It gets me a little teary too.

It doesn't matter so much if it's true, but the story is told so well, even semi-improperly-translated, and it's a story most of us can connect with.

Yeah I thought of those commercials too. The music is enough to make you sad, regardless of what's going on. A good sentimental story, or image and it's too much to take.

Example, I'm part of a WoW players' off-topic discussion group (most of them, and I, have quit but still talk in this group). I posted this video to them today and they didn't understand a lot of things like "subjob" and why Jeuno was important but the message still got to them and some mentioned this or that player they left behind.

So sad but so nice. Makes me see ffxi in a light that was lost a long long time ago.

I have seen this before but yea its so sad watching this then looking at what the game has become today.

Reminds me of the good ol' sub job quest days. A friend and I (who I met in the Dunes) were trying to get our Skulls also. So we randomly starting inviting people to a PT and asking them to chase around the Skelly in the zone.

And running around with invisable on poking people because we thought they couldnt see us. lol

Good times.

I started this game many years ago, and even though after a year I was still at lv25, I don't regret that at all: in the meantime, I had the opportunity to really explore and walk around Vana'diel. It's actually rather nostalgic to me now. The game seems so... scientific now? Where's the magic?

I blame teleports, really. So convenient, but we have no reason to really take everything in.

i blame abyssea, and the ability to enter it at lvl 30

Was going to say in before someone blames abby for everything...

Thank SE for abandoning this game to work on FFXIV.

lol

I thought it was our friendship that was magic :p

Love that video. Really captures what this game means to me. The long term friends are rly what makes it all worth while.
I still have my main shell from back in the day. Sadly most everyone is gone now. But i always hold onto my peral. With a /lsmes saying "Welcome Back!" just incase a day should come where one does return... /cry

I met some of the most important people in my life through FFXI.

Honestly, i think thats the farthest thing from the reason. Content is content, good or bad. Its the ppl you do it with that make it interesting and fun. Thats why so many liked it better back then. Ppl were just doin stuff together, having fun.
Where as today its become nothing more then an equation to the players. An exactitude. You either have this specific equipment, use this specific job, this skill lvl, this emp weapon, or your a worthless noob! No compassion. No joy taken in what you do, no fun.
I would gladly do the most boring content all over again if it was with ppl i had fun with.

Hate you so much right now T ^T)

People had less gaming options back then and the frustrating pace of play in FFXI made the smallest accomplishments feel like the greatest of victories. Though getting lvl75 or beating CoP on hardmode felt like amazing accomplishments anything with regards to fun usually involved small, brief spats of excitement followed by soul crushing amounts of frustration to balance it out.

In effect, the excitement of FFXI was often born in the crucible of wanting to pull your hair out for one reason or another on your journey to be the best adventurer Vana'diel has ever seen. When you weren't LFP for 5 hours because no one wanted to round out a PT as a PLD or BRD, you were stuck repeating the same chain of EXP mobs or dealing with JP midnight waits to complete story related missions or being forced to chug halfway across a zone to fight an HNM that became occupied by bots and rampant complaints falling deaf upon the ears of the developers.

Much like the SE of 2005, the developers have chosen again to ignore the requests of players through stifled resources and poor decisionmaking with regards to FFXI in the post-Abyssea era. I don't know why they think that simply announcing an expansion is enough to draw interest when they refuse to display that they care about the overall future of the game.

The video reminds me of days gone by but I'd like to think the future holds new adventures to be had in Vana'diel other than tons of filler content that makes the eyes roll.

Spart nailed it.

I can still tell you the name of the whm who got off "her" choco to raise me on my mnk20's first run to Jeuno.

I remember when JP parties would call me Impossible to Gauge on my paladin when I'd manage to keep everyone alive through a tough pull.

Exping used to matter and it taught you so much. I've met Ochain/Aegis plds who don't know what supertanking is (not by name, or by description).

I think Aby got the boss model right.. it stopped being about ToD's and all that jazz but but going and doing something when your friends were online, rather than people staying up so late they got 4 hours of sleep because they knew their friend really wanted this 8hr/21hr/3day respawn NM.

In that fashion, the game improved, but going 0-99 in a full day is just... it's stupid. I do key leech jobs (because everything else feels dreadfully slow now) and my favorite joke to tell is "It has always been my dream ever since this morning to be SMN99." replacing smn with whatever job I happen to be leeching.

Players who understand the mechanics of the game like to harp on aby babies who don't understand their class, but it gets all of us to some extent... little nuance things. A bst can afk solo every god but suzaku (need stuns or mulsums for that, at least with a TH pet) but half these guys, pro as they think they are, couldn't solo a T outside of aby.

It's funny, kind of related to the subject I guess but I was in Norg (I don't remember why) but I randomly talked to some NPC in the barracks room there and it flagged a quest. I decided to follow through with it even though the rewards were minimal. Learned a small bit about Riverne Site. I even did the quest with the broken bell. It wasn't as exciting lol

Spoilering this for anyone sensitive about story related material.
So, yeah. I spent at least 2 hours running around for minimal rewards but really, I actually enjoyed it. I LOVE to adventure even for the littlest things. :) So why do I mention this? Getting back on topic here, in my previous LS when we did missions and such they just spammed through it and yelled if we took too long. They just wanted the reward. Not even carrying about the story. Which bothered me because as an RPG enthusiast MMO or not I love the story and FFXI's story is quite MASSIVE. So when I played through ToAU I missed a lot and had to reread on the web.

Spoilering this too :P
Edit: I also did all the side quests for the Serpent General's story in Whitegate! x3

Even before Abyssea, most people-self included too often-got obsessed with levels and gear. There's much more to the game than that.

The storyline missions contradict the Vana'diel tribune leading some to conclude that: