Hi, I am a old EQ player and was considering getting FF11 for ps2. The thing is I wanted to know some certain specifics before buying. First and foremost is pvp. Is there pvp, and if so how does it work. Is it server or zone specific. Secondly reading some other posts has led me to believe you need groups to survive..... Is it possible to solo. Also are there a lot of american players or american specific servers. If anyone could give me a rundown of the game to an old online player it would help me a great deal in making a decision. Please keep in mind you dont have to baby me in telling me what the game is like. Please tell me any problems you have experienced in your gameplay exp too. I am sure you all have various complaints, please let me know them. Anywayz thx for reading and please hit me up with a general game rundown if anyone can =)

Hi. First thing I must say: welcome to the Forums!

Secondly, the PS2 version of FFXI is no longer being produced. The PS2 version of FFXI is still supported though - it's just Sony has phased out production of the PS2 hard drive which FFXI comes pre-installed on, so once the hard drive dies (and it will eventually), you're up a certain creek without a certain instrument, as Blackadder used to say.

In my opinion, it would be better to get the PC version (and upgrade your computer if it isn't capable of running FFXI). The PS2 version of FFXI isn't even available in Europe anyway, so if you happen to live in the so-called 'PAL Territories', you don't have a choice - the PC version is the only version available for FFXI there.

As for solo play versus party play, you start off soloing for about ten or so levels, then, once you hit level 12 or so, you really have to start EXP partying, as the EXP gain for solo play against most mobs by that point is insignificant. Partying isn't that hard to do; I admit I was bewildered and a little scared too before I joined my first party, but it all becomes second nature once you've done a couple. You only really have to party for gaining experience, or doing some of the harder missions or NM (notorious monster) battles.

Eventually, if you want to solo battle harder mobs, after you hit level 30 or so you can unlock the Beastmaster advanced Job quest (BST for short) which is probably the only Job which can solo play efficently, as you just use other monsters to fight for you, although I assume Summoner (SMN) could also solo a bit, assuming they manage to keep their MP up, have decent Avatars (summon monsters), and have White Mage (WHM) subbed). Red Mage (RDM) at lower levels can solo a little bit longer than other standard Jobs though, especially if subbed with WHM or Black Mage (BLM).

You can power level though as an alternaltive to EXP party battles instead if you happen to have a friend or two in the game who are at higher levels than you and don't mind helping you out, but it is still very time consuming. Depending on the con of the mob you fight (I wouldn't pl against anything higher than an even match myself), you can often gain EXP that is comparable to a full EXP party battle in the Dunes, but it is your call.

Finally, there are no American servers for FFXI and PlayOnline - all the PoL/FFXI servers are geographically based in Japan, so you'll probably end up playing along with Japanese players at some point. There are a lot of American and international players though, (I play from Australia myself) so it's a real interntational community.

EDIT: As for PvP, there isn't a true PvP option in FFXI, although Square Enix added a mini-game into FFXI called 'Ballista', which is kind of like PvP crossed with a ball game. I've heard you can get some decent rewards of gil for winning it, but unfortunately it's only for higher level players (plus you have to complete a quest in order to play it), therefore, I don't know too much about it (as I'm only a lvl 19 WHM at the moment I don't play it).

Ok thanks a lot. I was gonna buy the hard drive and all that jazz but even before reading this post, I decided that buying a new CPU would be a better investment. I am currently on a old school mac labtop so I cant play any online game except old ass diablo. Labtop is too old for WoW. Thx for all your info tho sir mage. I will buy ff11 for the pc once I get my thing up and running. Was thinking of buying from the Compaq website, but if you know any smaller company that might be better let me know. Decided no on Dell cause they lack an outside graphic card port.

You're welcome! Glad I could of been of help.

The bare minimum PC requirements for running FFXI are:

P3 800 mhz proccessor or equivelant
128 megs of RAM
Windows 98 SE at least
a reliable video card that has at least 32mg of video RAM (preferably is a AGP card - onboard video doesn't cut the mustard)
CDROM drive (only needed to install the game)
Any kind of internet connection (56k or above)
At the very least 8 gb of spare hard disc space, as FFXI is an absolute monster to install...

That is the barest minimum set up to run FFXI, although it won't look or run exceptionally well, but at least it will run. My own PC setup which I run FFXI on is as follows:

AMD Sempron 2400+ 1.6 ghz proccessor
256 mb of RAM
Windows XP Professional (with SP2)
100 gb hard disc drive
nvidia Geforce 4 MX 440 AGP video card (with 64 mb of video memory)
56k modem

That is a very basic list of my own system, but it runs FFXI quite well without too many problems (being on dial-up, I do get a bit of server lag from time to time, but it's nothing too serious). It was rather cheap too - at only $400 Australian it was quite a bargain (the video card costed another $50 though), although as it wasn't a 'name brand' PC (It was a 'bare bones' system made up by a local computer store). Still, the price is right.

Anyway, hopefully you'll be able to get on FFXI soon enough (when you get on FFXI if you need a World Pass to the Midgardsormr server - the server I play FFXI on - send me a PM and I could set you up with one).

I will also note that there are some job combos that won't work. We have pretty much narrowed it down to what sub would work with what main job. I suggest reading up on a full fan site of Final Fantasy XI. I would suggest checking out http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/, which features a huge database of various things. Or if you just need a quick list of things, check out www.somepage.com and check the FFXI section.

Play WoW tbh for PvP action, i used to be hardcore FFXI but WoW has turned out so much better (not a fault of Square seein as FFXI has been out a lot longer)