What made it so magical and why can't that same magic be

>>386675991
FML, Aby ruined it and Seekers redeemed it. Hmmm. Well it has a strong community~

>>386675991
A lot of factors. Just to name a few: There wasn't really a standardized MMO profit formula yet so it was made as an earnest attempt at a full multiplayer FF instead of checking off MMO boxes.

It had a huge emphasis on relying on other players the same way the party in a single player FF game would rely on each other.

It was made back when players were more accepting of slower paced combat which gave you time to communicate to your party between actions.

>>386675991
For one thing, I wouldn't spend literally living 5 years of my life as a NEET, disregarding all aspects of my life except this game, and still just be basically an average player, again. Not even if the game was just as good. And that's a problem, because to succeed, an MMO needs players like that. Ideally that should be its targeted audience. Because otherwise, you get people who want to play for short sessions and get stuff done and still have a real life. And a game where those players can succeed looks something like WoW does right now.

There's a bunch of YouTube videos that offer good explanations for that question. Personally for me it comes down to a few things.

- It was impressive, especially for an MMORPG, at the time and brought Final Fantasy to a new kind of experience.
- It was extremely punishing and hard, so progression felt meaningful and the community had to be group-oriented.
- Graphics and sound are very nostalgic and reminiscent of days past.
- Story was good.
- Job system was good and had a lot of variety.

All in all there was this sense of people having to really work together and bring their A-game to get anywhere. Unfortunately, the reality is that it basically become a job instead of a game and hundreds of hours or more were wasted grinding, walking, dealing with console limitations, dealing with PlayOnline errors, and so on. I always likened it to wading through an ocean of shit and finding the occasional diamond.

>>386675991
It was the community. It was made up of older people from an era where we were all generally better socially adjusted, and the necessity of a credit card for subscription kept away children. The current internet culture has encouraged shitposting and asshole behavior, and having virtually no consequences to being a dick since if you alienate one group of people it's easy to instantly find another via dungeon finder, means no one has to develop any real social skills, niceties, or lasting bonds with people. People are also too obsessed with meta now and act like fucking autismal shitlords if people do anything other than the most optimal build and gameplay, making everything feel linear and boring, and the vast availability of information on meticulously organized wikis makes absolutely nothing feel like magical or surprising anymore. It still existed to an extent back then but no where near the level of today, if you didn't play perfectly and just tried to have fun you didn't have 5 people telling you to fuck off. I hate the internet these days.

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Compared to modern MMOs, it respected that some things should actually take time and effort. You weren't entitled to everything just because you paid the sub fee

Which leads to, they didn't do the heinous gear treadmill shit of making everything you earned obsolete twice a year, because they actually kept rare items rare and not something every player obtained and got bored with in a couple weeks

>>386675991
1 because you played it when you had enough free time to waste, and now feel nostalgia for such carefree entertainment, although ff xi it's nothing but a glorified Skinner Box like all Everquest clones.
2 There are several grindy multiplayer slot machines like ff xi in the market right now, like ff xiv, wow or teso, but they aren't as popular as before because mobas and survival shooters are both more fun and objectivelly better and actually good games, a shame they have such awful communities and no good bots.

>>386675991
Casualization. Appealing to the masses. Most profit. Consoles. Fuck FFXIV

>>386675991
>baby first mmorpg syndrme
it was not special at all, its just your first.

I will probably never again feel the sense of unison that I did being a member of an effective xp party with a tank, healer, refresher and 2 DDs, performing a skillchain and a magic burst on every mob, getting the occasional chain 5 and 6. Dealing with an add without wiping, but never trivially so, and having a good camp that isn't overcrowded. Knowing where a good camp is and how to get your party there in one piece in a timely fashion. Knowing the better, less crowded places like Bosta<tab>nieux oubliette.

>>386676949
wew lad: the post

>>386677036
Err I only tallied up 5 PT members, so pick a bard or a BLM I guess. this is pre TP burn bullshit

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It was a social game designed to be played by multiple people, together. It had many problems and was far from perfect, but like the rest of the genre pre 2008, people played the game to enter another world and interact with people within that world. And it shined in this regard.

FFXIV by comparison is an objectively better game - except in the one way that truly matters, sociability. It is a terrible social game, despite that supposedly being the pull of the genre.

MMOs died when they all collectively decided to be single player games with the option of multiplayer.

Thinking of getting it while on sale. I'm guessing it can't be solo'd? Is finding helpful players of the same ability easy?

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what the fuck was her problem?

>>386677557
It can. You can use Trusts to just make a party of bots to roam around with. It's not the same as playing with a real party, not by a longshot, but you can enjoy the game's stories that way.

>>386677747
I certainly wouldn't mind playing with people, I'm just curious if the game still has a community that isn't just high level.

>>386677726
nice bedroom eyes you dog nosed whore

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>>386675991
Required actual social interaction. If you were a dumbass, asshole or just plain bad you didn;t get a party so you were driven from the game.

Beautiful interlinked world with actual depth in space and time. You could teleport but you needed a whitemage or WHM sub to do it and the ports were not usually exactly where you wanted to go. Want to go to a big city? Gotta catch an airship, did you just miss it? Gotta wait for the next one.

It was hard and punished and rewarded you in significant amounts. Play well, gear yourself, be efficient and you get a satisfying gameplay experience and will go faster/further than other players. Die? You lose exp, a lot of exp.

Modern games dont punish so hard or require socialisation. They need the casual audience that flocks to dungeon finders and heirloom equipment. Players today(on the majority) don;t want a challenge, they just want a casual uphill treadmill that hands out treats at regular intervals.

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>>386677726
I want to be raped by Shantotto.

>>386677875
No. The community is 98.5% level 99 players now who just play endgame. Sorry.

>>386675991
>what made it so magical
Your nostalgia. FFXI is a pos. Should have played a real mmorpg.

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>>386676949
>Survival shooters
I hate that you're right.
First MOBAs and now open world survival shooters are what all the people who previously did PvP content in MMOs moved to, and those games have a lot more mainstream appeal than MMOs these days because of one very important thing: no grinding.

There are even two new open world survival games that are using a fantasy setting like an MMO typically would, now.

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>playing late at night
>get an invite from an all JP party, but it's alright because they can still use auto translate

>>386677014
But FFXI was a console game and unlike modern console MMOs it took them like 15 fucking years to drop support of it's original platform.

>>386678536
Now US/Europe/Japan all need their own servers because you might not be able to hit your macro every 2.5 seconds! Remember when RPGs were about tactics and not mashing +1 damage abilities so the player feels busy?

>>386678536
(English?) (thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pass)

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I don't understand how modern WoW and FFXIV are so popular. What is an MMO when you get right down to it? It's an RPG with a multiplayer component. Current WoW and FFXIV would be considered abysmal by single player RPG standards, and the multiplayer element as it stands adds almost nothing to the game besides a chat room. People are just addicted to watching their numbers go up and hearing the quest complete jingle. It's practically as a bad as Candy Crush.

>>386679824
You underestimate peoples' desire to fill bars and show others how much they filled them.

>>386675991
2hr cooldown abilities that made you genuinely feel like a monster.

>>386680042
{Mijin Gakure}

Does this game still have a subscription? If so then fuck it

>>386679824
Combined with what you said, FFXIV has fantastic presentation and is competently put together. That and the Final Fantasy brand is enough to get people to play it, despite it being absolutely terrible if you judge it on the same merits as a single player RPG.

With WoW I think it's just the result of people being unable to let go. It's really the only truly relevant game left in the genre and it's what people think of when you say MMORPG, despite the fact that almost every RPG aspect has been patched out and it's more akin to a mediocre multiplayer action game.
They just keep updating it, and the millions of people the game has accrued over its life keep coming back to watch the game destroy itself.

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>>386680349
>tfw Hundred Fists as MNK/WAR

>>386680431

Fuck you and your "free" to play cancer

>>386675991
The devs wanted to create and actual world and they did so. It wasn't just a spastic teleporting, instant gratification click fest. They made players work their asses off for even the most worthless of achievements and the people who played the game really appreciated that fact. They liked being challenged and they liked having to work together to tackle the more major challenges.

>>386680431
It wouldn't be around without the subscription essentially

>>386680431
Free or not, it makes no difference. The XI that exists today is not what it once was. Only a fortunate group of people actually know what the real game was like.

>>386677443
>FFXIV by comparison is an objectively better game
If by "better", you mean more casual and braindead, then yeah.

>>386678536
>get an invite from an all JP party
Comment:
EN/JP: O
Sky/Sea: O
{Subjob}: {All}

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>>386680042
>Warrior uses Berserk/Warcry/Mighty Strikes!
>Warrior readies Rampage!