If anyone wants to wax nostalgic over my first timer experience, or in the extreme off chance someone here still plays, hit me up!

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I guess this is the best I could have realistically hoped for.

progress

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wtf happened to my character

Ah yes, the lying character creation screen (also if the game keeps crashing with errors on character creation go into the config menu and select 'Simplified Character Creation Visuals'- it makes character creation static images of the character model rather than using 3D models that are far more stable, as this was a 2001 game when 3D MMOs were still in their infancy). But yeah the character models look slightly different in the character creation mode compared to their actual in-game look.

Anyway, congrats on starting in Vana'diel! :D

My first day was a trip. The interface was really hard to see, and I didn't find the controls remotely intuitive, but as I fumbled my way into the public chat in fits and starts I quickly found a linkshell eager to take me in and show a new player the ropes.

The world was surprisingly lively, at least on Asura. And I found that most players had been around for a loooong time and were excited to see someone begin to experience the world they love for the first time.

There's a lot I haven't figured out yet, but I'm going to at least give it the trial month and see how sucked in I get.

Unrelated note, but if you're interested (I remember you participated in a few previous years), my annual FF music knockout game is running in the vgm forum!

Hate to say it but my impression so far is that this game is borderline unplayable. Part of that might be a consequence of time changing the state of play. I've been stuck on the third quest of the game for ages now just wandering mindlessly in a tunnel competing with 15 bots and 2 humans to get four items with something like a 10% drop rate each off of a dozen spawns. It's not fun and I can't imagine anyone perceiving it as fun. Might have been a different story when players were grouping together rather than flagging targets individually and bots weren't outnumbering humans.

The Emissary has been a fun quest so far. Finally got to really venture beyond Gustaberg. I finished the San d'Oria leg and am now chilling at the Selbina port awaiting my boat to Mharua!

The problem is you chose Asura. Don't get me wrong it's a very populated server but starting out as a new player it's awful since it's overflowing with so many people that getting stuff done can be a chore. I'm on Sylph and it's a much quieter place. If you're really looking at making some fun headway, I'd suggest checking out bgwiki for any major things you might want to know.

Getting Trusts is the biggest thing I can suggest along with Records of Eminence.

If you have any questions tho I can try and answer them here since I'm what you would call a vet of sorts. >_>

If you decide to jump servers for a more "enjoyable" experience you're welcome to come to Sylph. I know a few Linkshells that are more supportive to new players. Asura is great if you're looking to hop over and buy hard to get gear but it's a shithole for the most part unless you have tons of gil to throw at merc groups.

I'm just stunned that FFXI is still up.

Well they stopped PS2 & Xbox 360 support years ago. The thing is thru it all the game still makes them a lot of money so killing it obviously isn't a great idea since a large influx of cash comes from FFXI and FFXIV. Instead of updating the game every few months they now update the game every month with minor things here and there.

Ambuscade is the big monthly thing since it's an amazing source for gil, armor, and very powerful weapons which don't really require a group and can even be solo'd with trusts if you're willing to spend time with it. Right now the devs are doing job adjustments each month and they've started this whole FFXI Digest YT thing where each month they talk about new content they're adding.

I really have a feeling that the dev team is kinda skeleton crew'd since Tanaka retired several years back. Matsui seems a nice guy and he's done a hell of a lot for quality of life changes which I honestly felt should have been added to the game fucking years ago. Mounts, Being able to teleport between home points, lockouts removed on legacy content like Dynamis, Einherjar and Salvage.

Building stuff like legendary weapons is no where near as time consuming as it used to be. You get the picture.

Making some progress here. I chose Asura specifically because it's the highest pop server. I wanted to feel like I was playing a living breathing MMO and not exploring a lost ruin. (Been there done that when my WoW server died; moving off of it to a high pop was like starting a whole new game).

But the further in I get (and the more of a hang I get for the very vaguely explained controls and means of progression), the more I'm enjoying it. Currently level 40. I rarely find time to play except Sundays.