You know what’s really funny to me when I think about it for more than five minutes? Final Fantasy XI is, at this point, older now than I was when I first started playing FFXI. It was my first MMORPG. It was also in many places janky, weird, and outright hostile. MOP’s Chris and I both got our start there, but his feelings toward the game have cooled substantially over the years, and while I helped him out on his most recent sojourn into the game to get it running, the jank and the issues were enough to turn him back off of it pretty quick.
Me, though? I still love the game. Not just some throwback memories to when I was in my early 20s and playing it; no, I love the game as it is now, and with Final Fantasy XIV giving us a chance to tour parts of the game once again I feel that it is only appropriate to remind myself – and everyone else – why. Not because it’s wrong to find the janky mess of getting PlayOnline working just to launch the game off-putting, but because I do still authentically love the game, and I think there’s a lot to recommend it even now, more than 20 years after its launch.
1. The game looks gorgeous for its age
There’s no getting around the fact that FFXI is a PlayStation 2 game, and the days when the PS2 would make everyone swoon at its graphical heft are now long in the rear view. But while the game does not embrace heavily stylized graphics a la some other games that have visually aged well even in their older forms, you can tell that Square-Enix really knew how to get a lot out of the console. No, it’s not flawless, but the game still looks really good even now. It doesn’t look hideously dated, and the few bits of obvious age are pretty forgivable. It’s not instantly visibly aged like some other games, even ones I really enjoy.
2. Rhapsodies of Vana’diel is really good
One of the things that I’ve noted when talking about the way that FFXI structures its story is that each individual story sort of exists off in its own silo. But Rhapsodies of Vana’diel is a linking narrative that works really well to give you a motivation to go through more and to provide some overarching story to the game across every line. It’s a time travel story in the broadest strokes, but it works to mostly establish that these are things the player will have eventually done in the future. It introduces you to a lot of the game, and it gives you easier unlocks to some of the trickiest parts of the world that newer or lapsed players might struggle with. I’m still impressed with its elegance as both a narrative and functional addition.
3. It’s more approachable than ever
It’s important to note that “more approachable” does not mean “approachable” by any means; there’s a lot of mess, a lot of difficulty in getting the game running properly, and a whole lot of mechanics where the tutorial is never presented to you in how to do what the game wants you to do. That’s especially a problem when these not-really-explained things include the means for getting gear faster and more reliably and leveling easily!
However, while you need to search out extra tutorials outside the game to learn how to do these things, they do exist. The game is made to be playable more easily. So it would be nice if the game were better about telling you all of this, but it at least exists.
4. You can really enjoy the storytelling now
Because of how disjointed the various mission stories could be, it was often be easy to do a mission advancing the story and then ignore it for months, only to go back and find yourself wondering who the heck these people are and what is going on. That’s a problem. But the bright side is that the game does actually have good stories. You may not have noticed it if you were playing back at launch, but the DNA that would lead to FFXIV’s storytelling is present here!
5. There’s so much game to explore
FFXI is a vast game. It has a lot of space to cover, and unlike a lot of other MMORPGs (not all, but a lot) a good chunk of that game existed when everything had the same level cap. That means you have a ton of stuff to do if you want, and while not all of it necessarily rewards the most vital gear any longer it’s often still worthwhile for more intangible elements. By the time you reach 75, there’s a ton of game, and there’s even more beyond that. Some of it is stuff I still haven’t seen much of, and a lot of it has been repurposed now that the game’s level cap has moved on, so it’s still useful even if it isn’t what it once was.
6. It has a distinct, unique flavor
FFXIV feels a bit like FFXI, but… not too much. For all that links the two games, there are a lot of very tangible differences between them. It’s hard to fully articulate it, but FFXI feels very much like fantasy in a world that is rooted in the Renaissance era, with a very low cap on its technology as a whole but a great deal of unexplored world just over the horizon. Indeed, the fact that the game lacks a strong central antagonist in a single narrative makes a big difference, with every antagonist feeling like a here problem up until about the end of Rise of the Zilaart.
7. It feels satisfying even solo
Getting a party of Trusts together and heading off to level is a lot of fun. It’s perhaps not the most engaging to the grey matter at times – there’s a lot of repetition at lower levels – but the fact that you can really seek out so much of the game to level alone is a big change if you got used to the game back in the day. And smartly choosing between your Trusts as well as managing your job abilities? Yeah. Fun stuff.
8. Group play is still fun and approachable
FFXI was very much a game built around grouping, with several jobs that are either nigh-useless or at least significantly weaker without a group. And yes, having your Trusts means you’re still kind of in a party, but between level sync and other tools, grouping up with fellow adventurers is still a fun time. There are fewer groups to work with, sure, but it’s still fun times.
9. There’s a charm to “finished” MMORPGs
While FFXI still receives monthly updates, by and large the game is finished at this point, and while the developers have claimed they’d love to do more, it doesn’t seem likely. But that’s actually kind of fun. MMORPGs often only “finish” when they shut down, but there’s something charming about seeing a game as a complete work in and of itself. FFXI is still alive, but the structure of the game is now a known quantity, and that allows you to appreciate it as a known quantity. Instead of hoping for parts of it to change, you can engage with it as intended functionality.
10. It brings back fond memories
Look, I am big on the train of not letting nostalgia rule you. I re-watch movies I love to see if they hold up, re-play games I love, re-read books, and so forth. A lot of hazy memories collapse under closer examination. I am not going to pretend that FFXI was ever even meant to evoke some of the feelings that it did in me.
But it would also be wrong for me to pretend that hearing the Vana’diel March didn’t bring me back to another time in my life and bring out a serotonin or two. It may not be deeply analytical, but it is still there, and I would always love it for that even if nothing else.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
