Final Fantasy XI - An Unforgettable PlayStation 2 MMO Experience / MY LIFE IN GAMING

Try4ce revisits the lost Final Fantasy world Vana'diel and takes us on a virtual tour as he recalls his thoughts and memories of Square-Enix’s massively multiplayer online world of Final Fantasy XI.
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My Life in Gaming makes documentaries, deep dives into retro console hardware, and more.

[@AkuNoHana]

I cannot watch any FFXI videos without getting emotional. I spent over a decade on it and it was significant part of my life going through high school, college and onward. It was my company when I didn't speak English well enough in high school to make close friends and it kept me company during college days where I was broke and $12 bucks a month kept me endlessly entertained. I made life long friends from across country that I otherwise never would have. Although I've long since stopped playing I would still fly out every year to spend time with them and the family. I remembered when Valor Surcoat dropped for me in the early days of Dynamis, the entire linkshell chat blew up and I've never felt so happy before. Final Fantasy XI is the one of a kind magic that I probably will never find again in this life time, and that's what made it so beautiful for me.

[@aussieraver7182]

What a great read

[@zacharywilder140]

Beautiful. I also feel the same way when I think of ffxi. So many incredible memories. It's the one game for me that got the right combination of, making the game just hard enough to require you to need the assistance of other players which encouraged the community to respect and help eachother. No other game has achieved the community that ffxi was built on and I probably will never experience a game the same way again. Sad yet I will always remember the friendships and community.

[@SinisterSally]

It's really not a game for people who don't have time to spare but if you have able to spare a couple of hours its an absolutely amazing world. MMO's are becoming more easy with quick quest that has arrows pointing to quest points, that's fine for some but it will never touch the immersion off FFXI. They never mention character Levels, there's very little fourth wall breaking, and traveling (except for warp and teleports) are in real time, they truly want you to believe this is a living breath world and you must save it. I will always remember my life in Vana'diel, because that what it was, another life.

[@mylifeingaming]

I do have some misgivings about the ease of play in FFXIV and similar point-to-point gameplay systems, but it fits in so much better with my life now. I play FFXIV to relax, and sometimes for only 30 minutes. In FFXI, you couldn't do anything if you didn't have hours. I really miss it, but I'm also glad that it's pretty much behind me.

[@SinisterSally]

yeah it was easier to find time to play when you didn't have work or kids, and maybe a couple easy classes you can blow off :)

[@CDScythe]

***** Exactly right?! XIV is to me so smoothing, not too adicting and amazing in short bursts.

[@gmckart]

Idk how but i got to a lvl 32 red mage as a kid., but as a teen with excess time I didnt notice the grind, and the slow burn made me fall in love with the world. As a kid the limit/learning curb on travel was pretty spectacular to sucking me in. San d'Oria blew me away. Never will forget traveling to get my chocobo licence, thanks for making this video man.

[@PixelPhoenix]

San d'Oria for life! I remember my high school friends and I spending nearly a day discussing where we wanted to start - San d'Oria or Windurst. Looking back, it really didn't matter much, but knowing we had to walk to each other to meet up made it a big point of contention for us back in 2004. At times I long for those days where forced walking/chocobo riding meant you got to experience the beautiful world of Vana'diel. It also meant that partying up was a much safer choice, where you could make new friends and share experiences. I do miss that...a lot. I no longer have the time I once did back then, and Final Fantasy XIV is, admittedly, much more ideal today for the average person. But losing the ability to really soak the world in is a really unfortunate side effect, I feel. Early MMOs like Final Fantasy XI are sort of a reflection of a bygone era that might not work in modern times, and that makes me a bit sad. But in 2004, it didn't matter to you because it was new and you were having fun. For many people like myself, it was the start of something completely unfamiliar, but that made it special, too. I'm certainly in agreement with you there, Try. I am so happy I got to experience it, though. To this day, no other MMO has provided me that same feeling of magical wonder and awe that Final Fantasy XI has. I wish I could snapshot a memory and have it as a photo somewhere to remember it by. Like you, I would be elated to return to Vana'diel through a single player game, and I hope it happens some day.

[@mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] My feelings exactly! XIV is one of the best things Square-Enix has going on right now (and Dragon Quest X is also amazing, trying to stumble my way through that in Japanese recently, and it's somewhat closer to FFXI in terms of discovering the world, but not exactly). XI couldn't work for me anymore, but the struggles we overcame made it such a cherished memory.

[@PixelPhoenix]

@@mylifeingaming Agreed! Try, did you ever get a chance to play through Rhapsodies of Vana'diel? I loved it so much. It was such a fantastic ending to the game. Everyone coming together to fight off Cloud of Darkness and witnessing Iroha gaining Phoenix's power, then finish off with her cutting her hair to pass that power to you. It was so beautiful, and that ending song is fantastic!

[@MunchkinGamingTM]

Well its been two years, and this is still by far my most favourite episode you guys have put together. I think I have watched it at least 7-8 times now lol.

[@Tobiemoss]

This is how you do an MMO. Tanaka was a visionary in my book. Forcing people to team up made them actually talk to each other. Keeping rare items rare with high respawn times. No fast travel kept you immersed in the world. Just being able to wander and toss buffs on random players is so rare these days with the lean towards instancing for cheaper servers. I'd love to go back. But i know that with the follower system, nobody will be talking anymore. They'll be soloing with Lion & Co and it will make me cry. Long live Bismarck and all my friends.

[@mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] I was just thinking about this recently... personally my feeling is that the way the game worked, the way it forced people to play, was as much an accident as it was intent.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

the problem is that many people today judge this game because they play modern mmos. this game came out after Everquest and so it took Everquest as its inspiration. This came out 2 years before World of Warcraft vanilla. If you played mmos in the late 90s and early 2000s this game is truly an amazing experience.

[@Sk4zZi0uS]

I miss Vana'diel... I started off around the US launch of the game with an imported copy of the game. My home city was the Republic of Bastok and a very quickly made a small group of friends that eventually became one of the best guilds on my server "The Road to Ruin" *sighs* I still have a screenshot of the founding members sat on a hill outside our home city. The Dunes were fun... I had many adventures with a friend, An Elvaan monk named Ulath :) I never got to finish the game but I have fond memories playing it. I still have a Bastokan ring that I actually wear... currently sat on my desk... also have an alarm clock based on the game which was kind of neat :) Thank you for making this video... I may have to jump back into game again at some point and maybe even take another crack at XIV :)

[@mylifeingaming]

They've been doing these free login weekends here and there, so who knows, maybe you can beat Shadow Lord! That's really what hung over my head for so long, when I quit the game in 2005, and finally decided I had unfinished business with it in 2010. I actually went on to finish every expansion story except Adoulin... what an undertaking. I dunno if there are new methods, but when I quit last a year or so ago, people were burning through early levels in Gusgen Mines and other locations crazy fast. With the right plan, I bet anyone could start fresh and beat Shadow Lord in a fairly short time if that's all they wanted to do.

[@bnizzle02]

***** see now there are NPCs you can solo Ts or VTs to gain your experience. Its fast and you get a party of 4 without exp. Loss its fantastic!

[@IkariLoona]

@@mylifeingaming If you ever go back to finish Seekers, make sure to also play through and finish Rhapsodies of Vana'diel - the ending in particular can be quite a powerful experience if you have some history with the game and some investment in its stories. It's pretty much the true ending to the game, and by that point really makes the Shadow Lord fight feel like the equivalent of beating Garland in the original FF.

[@lylepup222]

Great video, made me remember how it great it was to play video games. I remember really enjoying the battle system, when you had a good party with a good healer, or even a bad healer, so much fun watching the xp roll. I see now that there were numerous time sinks in the game, but that made the rewards way more worthwhile, like you really accomplished something. The bcnms were fun as hell also, not to mention rolling up on a notorious monster by sheer stupid luck. Made some cool friends, got alchemy to 100 and smithing/gold/wood to 55ish, I was really into crafting. Seeing the dunes reminded me that when I first rolled there as a thief dual wielding a dagger and a sword, I thought I looked so cool! Great memories, appreciate it. Viva Bastok!

[@wb8ert]

My son and I have been playing since the NA PS2 release in March 2004. Today, we still play on Ragnarok. I'm IBHalliwell, and he is Ramrat.

[@armorwolf7934]

People underestimate the ps2 alot

[@drew8235]

Playing the retail version of this now and can confirm that it's still amazing, and easily playable more casually and solo now than in the past. The Ashura server is pretty nicely populated, and supposedly some other ones like Odin are as well. I also played on the Eden Classic server and it was pretty populated too. Don't let time keep you from coming back to this game. I only played briefly in 2003 and hadn't returned ever since because I knew how little time I had and how little this particular game respects a player's time, but I didn't let that stop me here in 2021 and I'm glad I didn't.

[@gregwilhide9685]

or you could play on a 75 era private server and relive the glory days.

[@AstralColors]

Great retrospect, Try. I started FFXI in 2007 with my work friends at the time. I played until 2011, and I look incredibly fondly to this style of MMO. I like FFXIV, it's fun to play with new friends.. but it's not as immersive for the reasons you stated. I wish Square Enix would develop something that hybridized the two, to give that sense of wonder again. If they ever made the subscription free or rolled it into FFXIVs sub, I would definitely play it again. I love your channel. Thanks.

[@mariusved4602]

This is amazing, getting all nostalgic

[@Richterdgf]

Back in the day I used to say that "Valkurm" was Latin for "facepalm." In the early days, it was an area of critical importance, where players learned to cooperate while unlocking their support jobs. The Dunes prepared you for the challenge of the trek to Jeuno, and leveling in Qufim Island. Back then, I often said Qufim was an anvil. The weak were broken and cast aside, and the strong were forged into something better. I used to describe the game as "draconian" in terms of how absolutely everything was a colossal undertaking, but "disrespectful of the player's time" is a much better term.

[@davianthule2035]

There is a way to make this casual friendly,

[@ExcelGenerations]

FFXI was epic! Ridiculously hard back in the day though.

[@jonsnowpenhauer1902]

I stopped playing myself about a year ago, and had been playing since launch. The wonder the game caused in the early stages was amazing, and one I cannot seem to replicate, a downside to nostalgia I suppose. Anyways, I actually play XIV now, and enjoy it very much, but I'll always miss the engine and scope of XI. Which is a huge reason I enjoy XIV's willingness to bring in things from so many other FF's. The armor they recently brough over from XI (Ares' & the Koenig set) was an awesome ode to it. Anyways, it's great to see a video on something that largely goes un-talked of. Albeit wasn't as popular as one would hope, but I didn't think so unpopular that not a soul would decide to make a retrospective about. Thank you, Try4ce.

[@mylifeingaming]

Yeah, I wasn't really sure if this video would go over well, because FFXI is just an instant "lol no" for so many people. They won't even listen or consider giving it a chance. I don't necessarily advocate it myself... it has a ton of problems... but at the same time it's still a very special game to me in an amazing world.

[@atylerblack164]

I really miss when games felt this vast and open and didn't offer instant teleportation to every bum and his mother. Games used to feel like an adventure playing them with others, now they're just a grind to obtain worthless items that are soon replaced.

[@koosjuh75]

Dude you should tell us your personal story more with FFXI. I love those personal details. The game is so great at that. It may not respect your time, but I played it during my school years when I had plenty of time and it's great. I really miss it. I recently started playing again, made a new character and loving every second of it. It respects your time more now a bit some of it is good some of it is less but all in all it's great to jump back in while we still can.

[@MathieuPronovost]

7:13 I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion, Bastok and Gustaberg have by far the best music and ambiance in the game. I guess you can't argue with tastes.

[@Sporkonafork1]

Agreed

[@rd400d]

windy for life yo

[@TalkingAboutGames]

Awesome video! About 4 months ago, I made three videos mentioning MMORPGs, explaining how I experienced them in the "good old days", and I kept making references to FFXI; it truly left a permanent mark in all of us :-)

[@datriaxsondor590]

Nice little summary video. However, I'd say that the harshness and demand on time investment, was what put XI so far apart from all the competition. If you wanted reward, you played FF XI. If you wanted entitlement, well, you played any other MMO. Sadly, SE has dumbed this game down to the status of "any other MMO" these days, so if you want to play XI like it was originally meant to be played, you'll have to go to a private server. Yep, the original iteration of this game before being "modernized", is popular enough, to have sprung up a few private servers.

[@mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] Oh I absolutely agree. While I cannot fit a game like this into my life anymore, I respect it for what it was. Without the struggle, it would not have made such an impact on me.

[@datriaxsondor590]

@@mylifeingaming Thanks for the response. Absolutely agreed as well. Thanks for all the awesome vids as well. You guys have guided me in the right direction in retro gaming hardware, on more than one occasion. Best wishes.

[@c0nv3rg3]

I miss this world so much and wish the game was slightly more open to a single player experience. You literally get no where on your own in this world and it made it hard for a lot of people.

[@rd400d]

this is not true anymore.

[@middle_pickup]

I always wanted to play this game. I had hoped that they would eventually open it up as a free to play game. I'm amazing people still pay for this.

[@bnizzle02]

Ahh classic times eh Mr. Try4ce? :)

[@mylifeingaming]

Indeed!

[@Bristecom]

I started with Humes and Gustaberg and didn't know what I was doing and felt the land was so bland and boring and I kept dying any time I tried to leave so I actually gave up on the game all together. Had I started with some other area, I probably would have liked the game a lot more. But the initial cost and monthly cost was simply too much, although at least I ended up using the modem and hard drive for other games like Resident Evil Outbreak. The soundtrack was certainly top notch though. But in comparison, I was very used to Phantasy Star Online and still enjoying that game at the time.

[@Waifu4Life]

I actually own this the game and all 3 expansions discs for my PS2 Fat (bought everything with the hard drive for like $50). I installed everything, took almost a day, played for an hour and didn't really liked the gameplay or the environments, so I stopped. I was expecting a real time battle system, not a turn based that allows you to move your character while your meter fills up, I was basically expecting PSO, not FFXII.

[@mylifeingaming]

I got FFXI shortly after its PS2 release in North America, so in my case, it was the reverse. FFXII seemed a lot like FFXI, though FFXII's battle system is a lot more suited to my tastes.

[@bnizzle02]

Also glad I could help you with some shots. I don't play as much anymore as FFXIV is better now, but I still have Gades lol.

[@CCRipberger]

*Ripberger waves to Gades!*

[@bnizzle02]

CCRipberger ahoy Ripberger /wave long time no see sir!

[@tarkhan15]

I'm super critical of XI from the viewpoint of a seasoned MMO veteran, but i'll never speak badly of its world or its music :)

[@Ninja-Hayate]

Spent over a decade on this game on Bahamut server. Lots of good and bad times and great and strange people.

[@DougPlummer]

I have this for my Xbox 360, I should use its 30 day trial :) or at least open it. Last time I played it was on my PS2

[@billbarbato2771]

The Bastok pronunciation comes from its original pronunciation in the Japanese version. The spelling in English definitely doesn't convey this, but that was the intended pronunciation.

[@zakrios7389]

Hope they release this for Xbox in 2024. Would insta subscribe. Hands down best game ever.

[@xellestar]

i totally agree with what you say about fast travel in more recent games, in XI i remember going from bastok at level 15 ish all the way to sandoria or windurst for a quest, with no way to quickly get back to my home town it gave you a feeling of being so far away from home and knowing you have a 30-40 minute journey to get back there when the time comes.

[@mylifeingaming]

xellestar [Try4ce]It was the coolest feeling! Made the world feel so much more real. Like, "that's a long ways away." You didn't just start going somewhere without the understanding that you might not be back where you started anytime soon. I really wanted to say even more about particular adventuring stories and the feeling of discovery, but the video would've ended up way too long if I'd said everything I wanted to say about Vana'diel!

[@xellestar]

***** Right, i remember even hanging around LFP browsing the auction house and getting a /tell with an invite, and even then you had a good 20 mins running to get to valkurm and hook up with your group. If i try hard i guess i can remember not finding that to be the best thing in the world at the time, but you cant have the good without the bad and overall i think i prefer that style. As a die hard bastokian though, I have consign you to oblivion for your comments on gustaberg! that was my back yard and i loved it :D :P Spent a good while in ronfaure levelling up some other jobs though, cant beat dat music.

[@mylifeingaming]

xellestar [Try4ce] Ha, well, opinions on Gustaberg's appeal aside, the thing that really gets me is how time-consuming it is to navigate. You can't get to Konschtat by simply exiting the city to the north... you're high up on a cliff with no way down. You have to take the long way around in the south, and then navigate the full length of the north. Takes sooo much longer to get to and from the city compared to the other regions. The past version of Gustaberg in Wings of the Goddess added a slope to the cliff, and if I recall, this made for an inconvenient shortcut in the present that you could unlock... but you couldn't use it while riding a chocobo, making it sort of useless anyway.

[@xellestar]

***** I stopped playing shortly before WOTG came out, but you are right about it being the longest city to get to. I used to do the chocobo EXP ticket thing every sunday after the conquest tally reset - can't remember the exact details but you had to ride from one city to another in under something like 20~ minutes and the reward was an exp item - and the only way i could do it was the sandy > windy route. Windy > sandy was doable too i think but that cliff in sarutabaruta made it quicker to come in than go out.

[@schizogony]

{Party} {Valkurm Dunes} {Do you need it?}

[@myretroworld1121]

So this is a complete mmo? Or can u play any of the game just off the console itself

[@mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] There is no way to play it offline.

[@myretroworld1121]

@@mylifeingaming ok thank you! I've gotten my wife every final fantasy for the ps1 and ps2 except for this. I guess unless she just wanted it to finish her collection I'll pass on it.

[@rd400d]

I still play, they are currently adding content :) 14 is a joke.

[@davianthule2035]

Unlike blizzard and wow, the folks behind ffxi and ffxiv, recognise them as appealing to very different audiences

[@pferreira1983]

Looks like a game perfect for the modding community in case Square gave up on it.

[@Agumon5]

Square Enix has announced the final content for FFXI Rhapsodies of Vana 'diel. After around December of this year (2015) FFXI will no longer receive any updates or major patches. Sometime in 2016 FFXI will have a Free to play version of it for cell phones / tablets. I don't know what is going to happen to FFXI PC version, but I know they will keep charging subscription fee for it but no longer updating it. The game is at a point now where it has lived a long life, and I would rather see it die with dignity than turned into a pay to win fest by Nexon - the company SE is now working with on F2P version. They are notorious for F2P and Pay to win style mmos. It maybe worth looking into private servers at some point if Nexon takes over for the main game.

[@mylifeingaming]

Agumon5 [Try4ce] From what I've seen, the mobile games don't really look like substitutes for the proper game. I don't think they even connect to each other? Really, what I want to happen when FFXI is all said and done, is for Square-Enix to release a single-player adventure with every inch of Vana'diel redone with higher quality graphics.

[@IkariLoona]

@@mylifeingaming 4 years later and not only hasn't Nexon managed to release their mobile version, the other mobile version, Grandmasters, already shut down despite getting a reboot at one point - it looks like in one case they didn't really realize how big and intricate XI actually is (the mobile medium can't really do it justice, I think), and the other could even outlive its inspiration... and meanwhile XI still gets monthly updates. To quote a character during the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel story: "The scales started to tip, and the winds of time stopped . But Vana'diel is a world that doth not yield so easily."

[@rd400d]

well the mobile was canceled and XI is in the middle of a new storyline. they didnt hold to the no more updates thing long at all.

[@loressi1913]

I'd love to play FFXI but the subscription fee after all this time is just absurdly high. I did play XIV for quite a while but had nobody to play it with so stopped.

[@EarthboundX]

I remember playing this on the PS2 when it first came out. It was a lot of fun. But when I tried to go back and check it out on PC around 2007, I hated it. It just felt so old and outdated, I'm sure it didn't help that I had played more MMOs at that point. Before FFXI, I'd only played Everquest and the PS2 version of Everquest. I think WOW spoiled me, I felt it was just so much better. FFXI was just so grindy and boring after playing WOW. Plus I remember how impossible it was to solo in FFXI at the time at it's launch. You could be level 30, and a level 20 monster would easily wipe the floor with you. Still need to check out FFXIV, heard great things since it's relaunch.

[@zombiefriend]

Just happened to come across this video today and thought it was funny to see a video from a time where a lot of people were saying they'll never try FF14, and right now, FF14 is the hottest MMO out there with Asmongold and other streamers playing the game for the first time.

[@zakrios7389]

Bastok all day

[@Pichuscute]

Damn, I had tried playing FFXI awhile back and thought it was super boring. Turns out I just started in the shittiest area. xD I did this same thing the first time I tried FFXIV, too. God damn, what is up with the FF MMOs having one boring as fuck starting area?

[@mylifeingaming]

+Benjamin Busche [Try4ce] I feel like modern FFXIV doesn't have a bad starting area, but the 1.0 Black Shroud was awful awful awful.

[@Pichuscute]

I despise that generic pirate/port city in current FFXIV.

[@mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] Oh, I kinda like Limsa Lominsa. Though I can see how it shares some visual elements with Bastok from FFXI.

[@Nightweaver1]

Game's dead now. It's all mercenaries and bots. Nobody does anything for themselves anymore, they pay mercs to get them to level 99, to get them job points, to kill NMs for them. Every shout you see in town is trying to get you to pay gil for a service. Sorry FFXI, I loved you for a long time, but the relationship is over.