Trying To Get Friends To Play FFXI

The world feels lived-in. It’s clear that the developers established a universe and timeline before building the game. There are many intricate details in the world that tell a story without ever having to be explained (though are often affirmed in dialogue). It makes for a cohesive story and immersive experience.

Adding further to the immersion is the consistent art direction. With a few exceptions, all in-game equipment matches the game’s established aesthetic. Zones and regions seamlessly and sensibly transition as geography would allow, with nothing looking out of place. Even things like mounts are typically kept within the boundaries of the world.

Every job has clearly-defined strengths and weaknesses for what it brings to a party, making the process of building a party a flexible key in the strategy of the game. The play-style of each job within a party adapts to the formation of the party to better cover one another’s weaknesses, making each job outstanding and unique. Trust Magic allows for all of this to exist while simultaneously allowing players the option to fill in gaps in a party with summoned allies.

“Optimal” is a fuzzy word. Typically when options are presented, there are varying degrees of different kinds of benefits to each- whether that’s to jobs in a party, equipment used, or rewards from events. For example, there may be a “fastest” way to earn experience points, but another option may earn money or armor while you earn it so you don’t have to do it later. It gives players flexibility to tackle objectives in a lot of different ways.

The journey is just as important as the destination. Leveling-up itself is well-paced, often staggering the process of grinding kills with earning money, questing for treasure, going on missions, and shopping for equipment. Each one benefits one another, but only occasionally puts any hard stop on a player, giving freedom to play at one’s own pace.

The ability to swap equipment in the middle of a fight allows for more equipment to be useful. This also makes progress gradually taper-off, which means that players new to a job aren’t left in the dust. And when new equipment is released, it isn’t necessarily stronger (thereby replacing all the now-obsolete stuff you worked so hard to get last patch), it simply gets added to your collection or maybe replaces a small fraction of your old equipment.

The game gets more fun as you make progress. As a result of everything adding up, the game actually becomes faster and more fluid as you play. This helps to alleviate any tedium that would otherwise arise from the concept of leveling multiple jobs or having to complete many quests and missions. It also makes every reward that much more satisfying, knowing it will make subsequent progress even easier.

Everything in XI has a stark identity. No two races/genders have the same silhouette or features or animations, no two jobs have the same role, no two regions have the same layout, no two stories have the same twists. Everything pops out with respect to one another, and is instantly recognizable as what it’s supposed to be.

Even though it still has the same overall combat pace of other tab-targeting peers, the intentionally wider spaces between player input in combat gives enough time for players to chat without VoIP. This choice leads to stronger bonds between party members, a more seamless transition into and out of combat, and affords the game more space to require teamwork and strategy.

Enemies are very well-balanced. They’re either weak enough to be cleaved or beaten in a few quick hits, or strong enough to pose a threat. Because of this, no enemies feel like HP-sponges. And because the reward for beating monsters is not obtained elsewhere, every fight feels rewarding.

The design choice to make HP and MP not automatically refill between fights makes every fight feel like a strategic flex. It encourages you to figure out the most efficient way to get through each fight as quickly as possible without burning through too many of your resources. Every spell you cast and ability you use has implications that ripple into the next fight and then the next fight, amplifying your efficiencies over long grinding sessions that makes the grind fun.

Strong mechanical identity. Even if you aren’t hitting buttons as frequently as other games, XI has such a fast pace in making split-second decisions, weighing multiple resources against potential randomness to make the most optimal choices.