Final Fantasy XI Population Tops Two Million

[Evil Avatar]

PlayOnline has posted a short news item (http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml) announcing that they have broken the 2 Million Character mark in Final Fantasy XI.

It is our distinct pleasure to announce that during the third week of April, the total number of active characters across all worlds in FINAL FANTASY XI has exceeded the two million mark for the first time!

Since the commencement of service on May 16th, 2002, Vana'diel has gone on to become a vibrant gathering place for adventurers hailing from all corners of the globe. Boasting four expansions and one add-on scenario with two more in the pipes, FINAL FANTASY XI continues to evolve into an ever richer realm of magic and adventure.

We would like to thank you, our fans, for your loyal patronage over the years, and look forward to your continued support for many more to come.

I always loved the artwork in FFXI more than WoW, please don't tempt me to go back!

[TeeCakes]

Brings me back 5 years ago when my college roommates were both hooked on this game, whereas I worshipped at WoW's MMORPG altar. One of these days, I'm gonna try this out and be a white mage, by far the best class to pick for guaranteed party invites.

[Vandenh]

Just goes to show that people will play any shit just if it has the words "Final" and "Fantasy" printed on the box.

[Rhaze]

Heh, gratz to them. Glad to see that it's still got a dedicated player base. Wasn't a bad game at all when I tried it.

[teksama]

I have a couple of friends playing this shit. Only 7 years to hit 2 mil. I thought that this thing had fallen off but being the only mmo on 360/ps3 must be helping Sony out. where is the new final fantasy mmo they talked so much shit about.

[Zander]

From what I understand, this is active characters NOT accounts. This would include payed-for alts.

While I never bought any alts (they are a buck a piece) I have a friend who has his main and 5 accounts. He has 6 "characters".

And TeeCakes, from what I understand RDM is more desired than WHM nowadays. Yeah, I know.

[teksama]

So, Sony is full of shit, that hasnt happened before

[Orphiuchus]

So, Sony is full of shit, that hasnt happened before

Oh, I don't know, when I played WoW I had 3 accounts, all of which I'm sure were counted in their total.

I really liked the class system in FF11 back when it came out, but it quickly became impossible to level past 13(since you lose exp when you die and can level down) so I quit. I may try it again, I'm devoid of a MMO at the moment.

[teksama]

Active characters is not a noteworthy stat for an MMO when you can have unlimited characters. I have an MMO with 20 mil active characters ( I am the only user), aren't you impressed?

[Methos]

One of these days, I'm gonna try this out and be a white mage, by far the best class to pick for guaranteed party invites.

I once had a lvl 30 White Mage, and I was always getting party invites. You had people begging (even bribing) you to join their party. Stopped playing years ago, but I've been thinking of picking a MMO up lately. Probably SW: TOR or Star Trek Online.

[Vacatakarat]

I once had a lvl 30 White Mage, and I was always getting party invites. You had people begging (even bribing) you to join their party. Stopped playing years ago, but I've been thinking of picking a MMO up lately. Probably SW: TOR or Star Trek Online.

Wait for Aion, expected to come out this fall.

I played a free trial of FFXI, I didn't get very far (didn't require a group to lvl/quest) but what I did play I enjoyed.

[krackmonkey]

So, Sony is full of shit, that hasnt happened before

You do realize that Square-Enix is not Sony, not even in the slightest, don't you? FFXI is a PC/360/PS2 game, so go back under your bridge and tend to your knuckle children.

[OmegaVader]

key word: "Characters." If they said active subscriptions, then I'd be impressed.

[Wyrm]

key word: "Characters." If they said active subscriptions, then I'd be impressed.

Yes, but in FFXI, Square Enix makes money off of each character that people have. So it is a significant statistic, especially this late in the game's lifespan.

Additionally, FFXI is an incredible, horrible, god awful time sink. It's a great game, but it takes a fuck load of time to play, and finding a group if you aren't in a guild is a bitch and a half.

It does have the single best class system in any MMO, but the fact that you can level down sent me packing after about the 10th time that happened. I have friends who stuck it out and leveled several classes all the way to 75, which I can only imagine sucked many hundreds of hours out of their lives.

I wanted to add that I leveled two classes to thirty and it took over fifty hours. In WoW, I had two seventies with only a little more time spent, if that gives you any idea. And I never bothered with anything in FFXI except for leveling in a group, because that was the fastest way to gain experience, and you can't really solo unless you're really goddamn patient and good at it.

[Gorvi]

Just goes to show that people will play any shit just if it has the words "Final" and "Fantasy" printed on the box.
Just like your post shows that you'll post any shit without actually knowing what you're talking about? That's a nice 1:1 there, huh?

[Grumsh]

Active characters is not a noteworthy stat for an MMO when you can have unlimited characters. I have an MMO with 20 mil active characters ( I am the only user), aren't you impressed?

You do realize that with FFXI you only had 1 character per account for the $12.95 monthly fee. Each additional character costs $1, so in your example you would be paying yourself 20+ million dollars a month, so I have to ask, is this a profitable theoretical MMO for you?

On a serious note I played FFXI and had a blast it was a game that really (not to sound elitest) seperated the good from the bad players. I would love to actually paly it again if not for the,, dare I say it.. archaic lousy PS2 graphics. I tried to go back late last year, and just could not get past the lousy graphics on a PC.

[ferr]

I played the crap out of FFXI, until I was beaten down by it being so difficult to get a group for leveling up, much less getting a group for that level-break crap at 50. I was a damn Thief, they should have let me solo stuff!

Strangely, a friend of mine started playing FFXI around the time I got into WoW in 2004, and I think I've quit/renewed WoW four times since then, while he still plays the same damn character in FFXI to this day.

[OmegaVader]

Yes, but in FFXI, Square Enix makes money off of each character that people have. So it is a significant statistic, especially this late in the game's lifespan.

Additionally, FFXI is an incredible, horrible, god awful time sink. It's a great game, but it takes a fuck load of time to play, and finding a group if you aren't in a guild is a bitch and a half.

It does have the single best class system in any MMO, but the fact that you can level down sent me packing after about the 10th time that happened. I have friends who stuck it out and leveled several classes all the way to 75, which I can only imagine sucked many hundreds of hours out of their lives.

I wanted to add that I leveled two classes to thirty and it took over fifty hours. In WoW, I had two seventies with only a little more time spent, if that gives you any idea. And I never bothered with anything in FFXI except for leveling in a group, because that was the fastest way to gain experience, and you can't really solo unless you're really goddamn patient and good at it.


then it's slightly more impressive. but considering it's common for people to have more than one sub to an MMO, still not as impressive as they're surely hoping it will be.

and man, charging for a second toon, what an ass tactic.

[TeeCakes]

From what I understand, this is active characters NOT accounts. This would include payed-for alts.

While I never bought any alts (they are a buck a piece) I have a friend who has his main and 5 accounts. He has 6 "characters".

And TeeCakes, from what I understand RDM is more desired than WHM nowadays. Yeah, I know.

Really? Seems odd, in the single-player 'Tactics' game Red Mages are always gimped when it comes to healing magic (having access to lower-tier spells, and a lower magic power) compared to White Mages, unless groups in FF11 don't need the healer to constantly focus on defensive magic (unlike WoW).

[Vandenh]

Just like your post shows that you'll post any shit without actually knowing what you're talking about? That's a nice 1:1 there, huh?

I have played almost all MMOs. FF XI is really a piece of junk... it only is played because it attracts the FF fanboys and otakus and because it is one of the only options on consoles. Can't believe you guys even compare it to the good MMOs. It barely managed 60% reviews.

But nive to see Gorvi post some great replies. The good old days. Next time try to defend something that is actually good.

[The-Builder]

The 10 levels test (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ten-level-test-final-fantasy-xi-vs-lineage-ii-article) of FFXI, against Lineage II.

[PopoWRX]

I have played almost all MMOs. FF XI is really a piece of junk... it only is played because it attracts the FF fanboys and otakus and because it is one of the only options on consoles. Can't believe you guys even compare it to the good MMOs. It barely managed 60% reviews.

But nive to see Gorvi post some great replies. The good old days. Next time try to defend something that is actually good.

During my trial I found the gameplay to be rather odd on a keyboard (My friend told me a controller works really well but I'm playing on a PC so), it wasn't user-friendly at all, typing in commands to do things felt antiquated (This might have changed, I dunno), the character create options felt rather limited (The amount of different races was nice though), and it felt really slow in the beginning.

I absolutely adore FF Tactics games so it wasn't a dislike for the universe or the classes.

WoW felt more polished to me though Lotro probably had the nicest/welcoming playerbase among the major MMOs I've played.

[Gorvi]

I have played almost all MMOs. FF XI is really a piece of junk... it only is played because it attracts the FF fanboys and otakus and because it is one of the only options on consoles. Can't believe you guys even compare it to the good MMOs. It barely managed 60% reviews.

But nive to see Gorvi post some great replies. The good old days. Next time try to defend something that is actually good.
Considering that the vast majority of the userbase plays on PC, you're still wrong. Also, if it was just an attraction from a brand name people wouldn't still be playing. That argument only holds up so long, after a few months there has to be something compelling there for people to stick around for.

It's laughable that you actually refer to traditional "reviews" with an MMO, if you'd really played "almost all MMOs" you'd know that they're all, for the most part, in a constant state of flux from patches and updates, so those "reviews" would apply for all of a few weeks. Funny that most of those bad reviews are for the 360 version, as I wouldn't expect your typical 360 gamer to have the patience for an MMO anyway.

Next time, try bashing something you actually know something about. It helps you not look clueless.

[ferr]

To me what's signicifant/impressive about this is not the number they've reached, but the fact that it's still growing, and has hit an all-time high so late in its life.

During my trial I found the gameplay to be rather odd on a keyboard (My friend told me a controller works really well but I'm playing on a PC so), it wasn't user-friendly at all, typing in commands to do things felt antiquated (This might have changed, I dunno), the character create options felt rather limited (The amount of different races was nice though), and it felt really slow in the beginning.

The default keyboard setup is ridiculous. There is some alternate keyboard setup you can select from the options menu that actually gives pretty decent controls. And don't compare it to WoW, every MMO appears unpolished when compared to WoW.

[Grumsh]

then it's slightly more impressive. but considering it's common for people to have more than one sub to an MMO, still not as impressive as they're surely hoping it will be.

and man, charging for a second toon, what an ass tactic.

There really is no need for a 2nd character in FFXI unless you just want a mule toon to do your buying in other cities. Every race can be literally every class, as in you make your toon and level up a class, then at any time put the leveling of that class on hold, return to your house and become a differant class, no fee's, no muss, no fuss. Just click a command and suddenly you are no longer a Red Mage, you are now a Paladin.

Each class level is permanently recorded, so for instance you could be a level 70 Warrior, a level 54 Thief, a level 75 Summoner and a lvl 38 White Mage. The trick is you can have only 1 prime Class and only 1 secondary class at a time, and can only use the abilities from those 2 classes until you return to your house and switch them out. Some people, like Gorvi if he still plays, have 5 classes leveled to level 75 all on the same character.

Referance popularity of Red Mages, they have a mana regen spell that can only be used if your primary class is Red Mage (cannot use it if your secondary class is Red Mage since the spell is too high level for a secondary class to use). So that is why Red Mage mains who sub White Mage as their secondary are so popular for grinds etc. You still need a White Mage for the major boss fights though.

Its a complex game, and it really does require some skill to play which is why I think it scares away some people. The amazing thing is that a 7 year old game is still garnering subs to me that is amazing considering how archaic it is graphically and control-wise. 2 million subs for a 7 year old game while games like Everquest 1 barely scratches 100k and Everquest 2 is struggling to stay above 200k. Lets not forget all the MMO's that are/have died off. Really this is an amazing statistic for the game.

I would lay odds the number would be higher if X360 servers were merged with PS2/PC servers. Oddly enough PS2 and pc players can play together, but X360 players cannot play with others... not very logical. As a sidenote I would so love this game to get a control/graphic overhaul, I would play again if it did.

[teksama]

How can you say the game is truly growing when they are charging people a dollar to play a different character class. Unique users is the recognized measurement of an MMO. Sony popped out in E305 talking FF13 for PS2. Here it is 09 and no FF13 info, just irregular ass FF11 stats.

[Orphiuchus]

All this talk of FF11 made me want to try it again, and just my luck there is now a 14 day trial... and PlayOnline appears to be incapable of sending out trial keys. Nothing like having a company fight to keep you from trying and purchasing their product.

I guess I'll try city of heroes instead, I've been told its cool.

[KIllrazor]

I would lay odds the number would be higher if X360 servers were merged with PS2/PC servers. Oddly enough PS2 and pc players can play together, but X360 players cannot play with others... not very logical. As a sidenote I would so love this game to get a control/graphic overhaul, I would play again if it did.

Actually, I think you are a bit confused here. Phantasy Star Universe has PC/PS2 servers separate from 360 servers. On Final Fantasy XI, 360, PC and PS2 all can play on the same servers. I know for a fact because I can play with my same account from my 360 or my PC.

I like the fact FFXI is different from the regular MMO out there. It has an evolving storyline with cutscenes and all, it is difficult but very rewarding at times and, like some of you mentioned, it's a MMO that had a constant amount of players throughout the years and I'm surprised that they reached a new record now. It is fully supported by Square-Enix with patches and expansions still coming out.

[Blackwing]

I have played almost all MMOs. FF XI is really a piece of junk... it only is played because it attracts the FF fanboys and otakus and because it is one of the only options on consoles. Can't believe you guys even compare it to the good MMOs. It barely managed 60% reviews.

But nive to see Gorvi post some great replies. The good old days. Next time try to defend something that is actually good.

I'd really love to hear your explanation on why FFXI is a piece of junk. Because I could say the same thing about numerous other MMO's. And as for fanboys let's not forget about the elephant in the room that is WoW. The reason why it's done so well is all the blizz fanboys and everyone else jumping on board. While I've tried wow, I will be polite about it and just say, "It's not my cup of tea."

[KIllrazor]

I'd really love to hear your explanation on why FFXI is a piece of junk. Because I could say the same thing about numerous other MMO's. And as for fanboys let's not forget about the elephant in the room that is WoW. The reason why it's done so well is all the blizz fanboys and everyone else jumping on board. While I've tried wow, I will be polite about it and just say, "It's not my cup of tea."
He's probably just upset realizing that FFXI has more active players than his favorite "not junk" MMO...

[Grumsh]

Actually, I think you are a bit confused here. Phantasy Star Universe has PC/PS2 servers separate from 360 servers. On Final Fantasy XI, 360, PC and PS2 all can play on the same servers. I know for a fact because I can play with my same account from my 360 or my PC.

I like the fact FFXI is different from the regular MMO out there. It has an evolving storyline with cutscenes and all, it is difficult but very rewarding at times and, like some of you mentioned, it's a MMO that had a constant amount of players throughout the years and I'm surprised that they reached a new record now. It is fully supported by Square-Enix with patches and expansions still coming out.

Doh, guilty as charged :( . I was confuzzled for a few there.

[TeeCakes]

All this talk of FF11 made me want to try it again, and just my luck there is now a 14 day trial... and PlayOnline appears to be incapable of sending out trial keys. Nothing like having a company fight to keep you from trying and purchasing their product.

I guess I'll try city of heroes instead, I've been told its cool.

14 day trial, eh? I think I'll give it a spin on my PC, only fair since I gave the Lich King a try when WoW had their 10-day made available. Somebody throw out good servers/realms to test play on, I want the best trial experience possible.

[Chimpbot]

And don't compare it to WoW, every MMO appears unpolished when compared to WoW.

Hell, even WoW seems unpolished when compared to WoW!

[RorschachCCCLX]

I'm all grinded out after reaching jedi the hard way on SWG and then they gave it to every newblett in the game. never again!

[Primus]

A few things to note before anyone goes off on having to pay for alts in this game:

One character can freely switch between every class. It has the best class system of any MMO out there. Instead of getting bored of your Night Elf Rogue in WoW, you could simply switch his class to Druid, and then swap back and keep each classes levels and even combine their abilities. There is not real need for alts in this game, other than muling. The subscription of this game is $12.00, so even with pay for a few alts, you are still below the usual $15.00 sub of most MMOs.

That said, I felt that this game starts off wonderfully, but becomes a masochistic chore once you hit about level 40. The Japanese are sadistic bastards.

I did feel the character/ monster models and magic in this game slays WoW as far as graphics, but WoW had more detail to it's world.

If you were to ask me what is the perfect MMO, it would be FFXI's class system and graphics, WoW's detailed world and questing system, and WAR's PvP.

[Grumsh]

A few things to note before anyone goes off on having to pay for alts in this game:

One character can freely switch between every class. It has the best class system of any MMO out there. Instead of getting bored of your Night Elf Rogue in WoW, you could simply switch his class to Druid, and then swap back and keep each classes levels and even combine their abilities. There is not real need for alts in this game, other than muling. The subscription of this game is $12.00, so even with pay for a few alts, you are still below the usual $15.00 sub of most MMOs.

That said, I felt that this game starts off wonderfully, but becomes a masochistic chore once you hit about level 40. The Japanese are sadistic bastards.

I did feel the character/ monster models and magic in this game slays WoW as far as graphics, but WoW had more detail to it's world.

If you were to ask me what is the perfect MMO, it would be FFXI's class system and graphics, WoW's detailed world and questing system, and WAR's PvP.

Did they finally upgrade the graphics? When I went back late last year to retry this on the PC it STILL looked like lousy PS2 style graphics and that made me stop playing. Updated graphics would sucker me back into playing again.

[Blackwing]

Unless you edited the overlay res and background res in the regedit and just used the game config, of course it's going to look like a PS2 game....it's a PS2 Port.

If you want it to look nice and have the CPU to do so, set your overlay to your max screen size and set your background to 2024*2024 in regedit.

ffxiclopedia (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics) has a very handy dandy guide on doing so.

[Grumsh]

Unless you edited the overlay res and background res in the regedit and just used the game config, of course it's going to look like a PS2 game....it's a PS2 Port.

If you want it to look nice and have the CPU to do so, set your overlay to your max screen size and set your background to 2024*2024 in regedit.

ffxiclopedia (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics) has a very handy dandy guide on doing so.

I never knew about this. Thanks, Guess I am going to re-install. So does anyone else still play FFXI?.... ok ya snarky types... besides the 2 million listed in the article... anyone on EA still play?

[Gorvi]

I never knew about this. Thanks, Guess I am going to re-install. So does anyone else still play FFXI?.... ok ya snarky types... besides the 2 million listed in the article... anyone on EA still play?
Me! Though I'm not sure if I qualify as "on EA" since I don't visit as often anymore (though that may be changing). I'm on Asura currently but I'm moving to Lakshmi in the next couple of weeks.

[TeeCakes]

Me! Though I'm not sure if I qualify as "on EA" since I don't visit as often anymore (though that may be changing). I'm on Asura currently but I'm moving to Lakshmi in the next couple of weeks.

Welcome back!

I'll probably start up a trial character on one of those servers to see what's what, but I burned myself out on WoW quite awhile ago so it's pretty much just so I can say that I've played every single Final Fantasy title that's ever been released (Stateside at least-- still waiting in vain for Before Crisis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Crisis_-Final_Fantasy_VII-) to see the light of day over here :()