Final Fantasy XI: Not for Me



Let's talk about Final Fantasy XI and The Final Fantasy Project.  As I mentioned when I started this project, I'm not planning on including the MMO Final Fantasy games.  MMOs are living breathing worlds.  They're generally not good at telling a single player story.  But, at this point in my playthrough, I would be remiss to not mentioned a fully numbered mainline game.

My experience with Final Fantasy XI was short.  I bought it a few months after it launched and tried it out.  Based on the release date listed on Wikipedia, this would mean I was trying it out in the winter of 2004, about eleven years ago.

I didn't like the game.  I really wanted to.  I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy and MMOs by then.  I had played Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy X and enjoyed each one.  Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XI never clicked with me.

The biggest problem was most likely my experience with other MMOs.  By the time Final Fantasy XI came out I had already been playing Everquest for a long time.  I started playing it soon after it launched in 1999 and played EQ regularly with my friends throughout middle school and a little into high school.  This also inspired me to try out a ton of other MMOs as they launched.

EQ was my first MMO but by the time Final Fantasy XI came out I had probably already played four or five.  Compared to them, Final Fantasy XI just wasn't as good.  It already felt behind the times.

I played for less than two weeks and then gave up.  I've never gone back to it, and I don't plan to.

That's not to say it's a bad game.  It's just a game that's not for me.

I've heard from a lot of people who experienced Final Fantasy XI as their first MMO and they absolutely love it.  Some people on my twitter feed are still playing it.  I'm really glad it exists.  It engaged a whole new group of people with MMOs and Final Fantasy.  I count that as a good thing.

It's not the only Final Fantasy MMO either.  Final Fantasy XIV followed in it's footsteps.

I may be tempted to give Final Fantasy XIV a try when I finish my playthrough of the other single player mainline games.  It's a modern MMO on multiple platforms and I've heard a lot of good things about it.  It's still not a single player RPG, so no promises.  But... maybe.


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