News Flash: Complete FFXI Package This Fall

[Liquidize105]

There it is. (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/final-fantasy-xi-the-vanadiel-collection-/637221p1.html)

Let me quote the essentials.

The collection will include the expansions Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia and the mini-game Tetra Master. This collection also promises an ease of installation, as it will be all on one DVD.

Also included will be a free 30 day pass, a Vana'diel Buddy Pass that lets a friend create an account with a free 30 days, and an iTunes Collectors Card good for a free music download from the Final Fantasy XI Collection.

The entire gold foil All-In-One package will carry an MSRP of $29.99 and will be available August 16.
The blurb is unclear on whether the original game's also included or not.

[Chandler]

w00t tetra master

[Cha-Ka]

The blurb is unclear on whether the original game's also included or not.

Well, it's called FF XI: Collectors' Edition so it's safe to assume that includes Final Fantasy XI.

[Liquidize105]

Nope, gamespy's calling it collector's edition.

Square-Enix calles it Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection.

[Abednigo]

I'm certain it will contain the original game (it is called the "all in one" package after all). What good would it be without it?

[Wraith]

It would pretty much have to have the original game.

The Rise of Zilart expansion, included in this Collection, has never been sold separately from the core game in North America.

[Kagger]

I read this on gamespot yesterday: Here's a quote

Final Fantasy XI: The Vana'diel Collection will ship for the PC on August 16, Square Enix announced today. The bundle includes the original Final Fantasy XI, the expansion packs Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia, the Tetra Master minigames, and a free 30-day trial to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/26/news_6129798.html

So ya...its the full deal. I really want to play it...just for the sake of beating all the FF's, or in this case, complete one quest/kill a bad guy. Complete enough for me!

[EvilBob46]

Yeah, Final Fantasy 7 was such a great game indeed...uh, wah? What was this thread about again?

Bring out Final Fantasy XII already...geez. And a FFVII remake while you're at it. And how about an official Tifa porn collection? You know what, scratch the first 2 things...just give me that fucking Tifa porn collection!

(EDIT: At least it would offer more entertainment than any of the other shit Square has released this generation minus FFX.)

[Nikells]

Isn't this just the European version of the game?
(FFXI was released in Europe at the same time Chains of Promethia came out, so both expansion packs were included with it.)

[Zeal]

Square's only doing this because World of Warcraft is kicking their ass.

[Kefkataran]

Bring out Final Fantasy XII already...geez. And a FFVII remake while you're at it.

FFXII has been getting some bad development delays and problems. I'm just hoping it turns out as good as it looks. As for an FFVII remake, I'm willing to bet it'll happen on PS3.

Square's only doing this because World of Warcraft is kicking their ass.

While that may be true, I think it's pretty common practice in this genre to bring out "complete" editions after a few expansions have been available for a while. Moreover, it sometimes raises interest in the game after it's been out for a long enough time that the subscriber base has probably gone down. So yeah, WoW is kicking their ass, but this would likely have happened anyways.

[QueQueg]

I wouldn't wish FFXI on my worst enemy.

[thecrazyd]

Fuck VII in it's boring, regressive ass. What did it add to the genre? Pretty graphics. Everything else was a step back.

[Kefkataran]

I always thought VII was okay but not as great as everyone else seemed to believe. Personally, I think a remake of VI with great graphics and well-done voice-overs would own all.

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

Isn't this just the European version of the game?
(FFXI was released in Europe at the same time Chains of Promethia came out, so both expansion packs were included with it.)

European version was quite late so it did come with the expansions but no shiney box/OST/buddy pass etc.

I love FF, and I love MMOs, so I picked this up, but my gosh it's the biggest level grind I've ever played. The exp required to level up is HUGE compared to many rpgs, even in the very early levels (comparatively), not to mention it has crazily high exp penalties for dying, AND it takes away the level you just earned if the exp penalty is higher than your current exp into the next level.
For example, start the game, kill 30 enemies, level up, kill 5 enemies, die once, level down, kill 65 enemies, level up, kill 10 enemies, die once, level down, etc...

60 enemies might not sound that bad either, but the average time it takes to kill one of the early ones is ALSO huge compared to in WoW or RO or any other game I've played, when you're trying to start off a new class, or if you're soloing with a support class, and one tiny damn little mutant rabbit can take 1-2 full minutes to kill.

I'm not just impatient with leveling either, I have a 60 WoW character, but this game really does seem 5 times slower.

The FFXI world and characters all look quite well designed, the class and skill sets and quite large and varied, and the sub classing allows for lots of combinations, but the stupidly slow exp just makes the game too damn slow and too hard for me to get into, and I don't think a special edition pack is going to make it too much more attractive, especially as it looks quite poor graphically in the face of Guild Wars and other upcoming MMOs.

I'm actually kinda hoping someone out there on these forums has played a lot of FFXI and can tell me that I'm wrong, that there's some critical point where the exp curve drops off or something, cos I really wanted to love this game, but my experience with it when I picked it up finally a month ago has been so boring that I stopped playing after a week, unsuccessful in "getting into it" at all. I'll give it another go if someone can tell me it's worth the huge grind for.

[Blue]

I'm actually kinda hoping someone out there on these forums has played a lot of FFXI and can tell me that I'm wrong, that there's some critical point where the exp curve drops off or something, cos I really wanted to love this game, but my experience with it when I picked it up finally a month ago has been so boring that I stopped playing after a week, unsuccessful in "getting into it" at all. I'll give it another go if someone can tell me it's worth the huge grind for.

Sorry man, it's like that all the way up. I have a high-level Samurai/Ranger (the actual level escapes me) but the grind through is huge and the exp earned per kill stays relatively the same though the cap continues to be raised (obviously). The only saving grace is that people will eventually chain well in the higher levels thus multiplying the exp earned, but you're still looking at a really large chunk of time spent looking for parties, hanging in parties, and killing the same mob set on end. Couple that with trying to get all of the keys needed to complete certain quests, grapping all of your job specific gear, weapons, etc etc and you've got yourself quite a haul.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved the game and miss my Samurai dearly, but the time spent on that game was insane. I'm not even sure why I still entertain the idea of going back from time to time. Bah.

[Spigot]

I really wanted to love FFXI and for the first 10 levels I was hooked. Then I had to group to do anything and the experience loss on death was brutal. I spent a week doing a treadmill between level 14 and 15 and that pretty much killed my interest in the game.

The world, the quests, the graphics all rocked. I just couldn't handle the fact that I had to wait for a group to get together which took about an hour to coordinate and would then be lucky to get an hour of hunting in... couple that with the loss of XP and I just couldn't spare the time. I also had a newborn arrive at my house about a month or two after I got into it, hence my lack of time to play.

I just want FFXII to come out, oh, by Christmas. I need my mid-winter J-RPG fix.

If they are going to remake stuff, redo Chrono Trigger or, as I've said repeatedly, port it to the GBA.

[jwbxx]

I wouldn't wish FFXI on my worst enemy.I couldnt agree more.

[Deadend]

I would try it if Sqenix made a speed-mode server. Where XP came in giant buckets, as did money, and items. Sort of like making a MMO to be played though within a couple months... but you can't do all the quests if you level up that fast. Which means replay value!

[kwillhan]

Square's only doing this because World of Warcraft is kicking their ass.

I haven't checked, but I think everyone is kicking there ass.

kel

[Kefkataran]

I think World of Warcraft is kicking everyone's ass.

[Spigot]

I would try it if Sqenix made a speed-mode server. Where XP came in giant buckets, as did money, and items. Sort of like making a MMO to be played though within a couple months... but you can't do all the quests if you level up that fast. Which means replay value!

All they need to do is turn off that horrid XP penalty on death. The XP was hard to come by as it was. Losing it faster than you could gain it just killed the game for me.

I don't need to blaze through a game. I've been playing WoW since February and my Gnome is only level 45 and that's my main. I like to explore and do quests in MMORPG's more than grinding. I just don't want my ability to explore hampered because I'm afraid to go somewhere and die and lose a level...

[Kefkataran]

I don't need to blaze through a game. I've been playing WoW since February and my Gnome is only level 45 and that's my main. I like to explore and do quests in MMORPG's more than grinding. I just don't want my ability to explore hampered because I'm afraid to go somewhere and die and lose a level...

The toned down, barely-any penalties XP system was probably one of the best if not the absolute best thing Bliz put in their game.

[Spigot]

The toned down, barely-any penalties XP system was probably one of the best if not the absolute best thing Bliz put in their game.

I don't mind having a kind of death penalty. I played Asheron's Call for 3 years or so and my Vitae Penalty was a running joke in my guild. If I didn't have vitae it was cause for celebration.

If my stats are gimped for a time until I wait for time to expire or kill x enemies, that's fine. Just don't rob me of my hard earned XP.

[Kefkataran]

I don't mind having a kind of death penalty. I played Asheron's Call for 3 years or so and my Vitae Penalty was a running joke in my guild. If I didn't have vitae it was cause for celebration.

Yeah, I don't mind the debt thing in CoH either.

[Arai]

What I found lame was I played this game for a little while then stopped. And I wanted to check it out again, but I found out I had to buy a whole new fucking game to play again. Like, what the fuck? So now this game I bought has absolutely no use. :(

[Kefkataran]

That doesn't sound right Arai. You're sure that's how it works? It should keep all your account info so you can resubscribe...

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

I haven't had the game long enough to find out, but I'm pretty sure you do have to buy a new account if you stop for a few months, as account inactive for a certain period of time (only a few months I believe) are deleted. This is REALLY bad, surely it can't that resource intensive for them to keep account/character details. Even Ragnarok online kept my account details after 2 years of inactivity, when it was still back in beta, so they weren't even getting any money from me!
I often take breaks from my MMOs and come back to them during particularly busy times at uni etc, so it's pathetic that I can expect to have all my (EXTREMELY, in the case of FFXI) hard work lost just because I'm not paying into Squeenix's fund for a couple months.

[Kefkataran]

Whoa. That's definitely not the norm for MMORPGs, and if that's the case it's a huge mark against FFXI.

[Ratmatic]

Flame... starts now!!
lol
kiiiiiding, found this thread just surfin the internet... decided to put my 2 cents in, even signed up on this site to say it.

FFXI
is not a game... well it is.... or is it? lol I read all the comments, and do agree there is a level grind. But... the big difference is, you take pride in your friends and your character, because it IS that damn hard. Level caps, rare drops... and I mean RARE.
I hear other friends that play WoW say it is easier, but where is the pride? Seems like everyone is 60 in that game from what I hear, FFXI will cap you at 50, 55, then 60, then 65- on & on. And even 70 you have to beat something.. solo. I'm Red Mage, this is no cakewalk. lol You quit, or are lucky enough or skilled enough to get passed it. Anywayzzz a lot of what I read was complaining about how hard to level up it is, you're right .... welcome to a CHALLENGE....

oh well- I could write forever- still tripping I just HAD to post this... what a trip I am.
PEACE & HAIRGREASE
RATMATIC
RDM 75/ SMN 37 :D