money

how do u get money, i fogught monsters but did’nt get any
am i doing something wrong

Unfortunately, being an MMORPG, FFXI handles money a little differently to normal FF games. Basically, although some monsters do drop a little gil (most beastmen like Goblins and Yagudo drop 6 or 10 gil), most do not however, so you will have to find other ways of getting gil. In other words, you have to become part of the game’s inbuilt, and constantly changing economy if you really want to survive in this game.

Firstly, when you start the game, you are issued automatically with an item called an ‘Adventurer’s Coupon’, and are informed of an NPC to take it to (in Windurst, it’s a Cardian called ‘Jack of Spades’ just outside the Residential District in Windurst Woods). Trading the coupon to this NPC will give you 50 gil. Not much, but it’s enough to buy a new weapon from the weapon store that is a little better than your starting ‘Onion’ weapon.

Now, as you head off into the area surrounding your starting city, make sure you get Signet cast on you by the Gate guards (they always have an initial after their names, like T.N. for San D’oria, I.M. for Bastok and W.W. for Windurst). What Signet does is make it so that enemies will drop Crystals when they die (it doesn’t make it that every monster you kill drops one every time unfortunately, but it’s better than none at all.).

Stack the crystals up (each elemental type can stack to a maximum of 12), then head to the Auction House in each city (A.H. for short), and sell the full crystal stacks off there. Do NOT, repeat, DO NOT, be tempted to sell Crystals to stores, as you will only get a measly 16 gil for crystals.

Single crystals on their own don’t really sell for much at the AH, (unless they’re a sought-after element like Fire), but in stacks of 12, they fetch big money (Fire Crystal stacks in particular). Keep repeating this process until you have enough money to get you by until you start partying. This is a long process to be sure, but it is better than nothing.

As well, if you happen to live in Windurst, at level 5 or higher, start fighting Crawlers (big yellow catapillers) for Crawler Calculi and Silk Thread. Give the Crawler Calculi to a Mithra NPC in Windurst Woods as part of the ‘Creepy Crawlers’ quest (who gives you 600 gil for three of them), but sell the Silk Thread at the AH (don’t give three of them to the Mithra), as one spool alone can sell for over 500 gil at the AH, and a stack of 12 sells for an absolute bundle.

Once you reach level 12 or so, by this time there are other ways to support yourself, such as Farming, fishing and item synthesis (sometimes known as ‘refining’). Farming, is when you kill certain enemies for rare item drops, which are then, like crystals, sold off at the A.H.

Unfortunately, with gil sellers and the like monopolising a lot of the notorious monsters which yield the best items, farming can be a long, monotonous, and sometimes fruitless exercise.

Fishing is exactly like it suggests – catch rare fish and sell them at the AH. Synthesis is a lot more complex, and inovlves joing a trade guild, which specialise in a particular field, like armour making or woodwork, and then synthesising new items and equipment from other items and materials. Crystals are essential in synthesis, which is why they are so sort after on the AH (Fire Crystals in particular for some reason).

Apart from farming, I’m not too sure about the finer points of item synthesis and fishing, as I haven’t had much experience with them yet. However, there are plenty of FAQs online which explain the details. Hopefully, this hasn’t bene a little too daunting for you, as in the game, it soon becomes second nature.

thax for all that