Hello all! I'm about to get into my yearly playthrough of Final Fantasy XI and I thought it might be wise to make a thread (thanks FFXIV for announcing a crossover!) containing a compendium of info for people who may be playing it for the first time or might be recently returning to the game. Please note that if you have a question with FFXI and any part of it, don't hesitate to ask! With all that said, let's get this started!
Basic Questions:
What is Final Fantasy XI?
Released in 2002, Final Fantasy XI is a subscription-based MMO (Note: you pay PER active character) that is still going strong to this day with its seemingly final batch of content being released earlier this year. Despite the words "final batch of content", the game still receives monthly patches in the forms of content rotations and events for the month, of which a free-to-play month will be hitting soon (almost every November like clockwork) for returning players.
Why should I play?
Final Fantasy XI is almost universally the game played the least in the franchise and due to that, is often considered a hidden gem within the mainline franchise, especially for it's story. Final Fantasy has 5 full-blown expansions (Rise of Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urgan, Wings of the Goddess, Seekers of Adoulin), 6 smaller add-on content pieces, 1 major story release that wraps everything together (Rhapsodies of Vana'diel) and 1 final piece of story content (Voracious Resurgence) that just fully concluded recently. Almost all these story lines are fantastic and weave together to create some memorable fights, scenes and story moments!
As an older MMO and a more classic Final Fantasy, gameplay in Final Fantasy XI is focused on a more relaxing rhythm, with some abilities having cooldowns being 1, 5, 15, or 30 minutes long (as an example). Due to this, moment-to-moment gameplay consists of checking if your TP (points you get for hitting an enemy) is over 1000, and if it is, using a weapon skill while using spells and abilities as they come off cooldown when applicable. At higher levels, this can mean you are intensely busy every second (depending on job), but until then the best way to approach combat is to relax and listen to music, watch TV, listen to a podcast, etc. However, you will not commonly be killing 500 bees in a row like the old days, with modern gameplay instead focusing on looping "quests" such as "Kill 3 bees, 2 crabs and 1 fish" which means you have to do a bit of legwork to find all these monsters and kill them!
Technical Questions:
What the hell is PlayOnline?
PlayOnline is the great god in the sky that WILL attempt to blast out your eardrums at least once in your life. When you buy Final Fantasy XI, it'll come with a PlayOnline ID code which you need to keep and cherish forever because it'll be the key to getting your account back, and you'll need to tie it to your Square-Enix account in order to manage your subscription. Final Fantasy XI is essentially an app launched through PlayOnline, which means you'll have to navigate it for initial setup (always a headache). After initial setup, you'll likely skip through most of PlayOnline as you go straight to the game.
How do I subscribe?
In order to subscribe to Final Fantasy XI or setup your account initially, you'll need to make a Square Enix account at https://secure.square-enix.com/
Once logged in, you'll need to select the Final Fantasy XI account system (not XIV!). From there you can see your PlayOnline ID (if you have one) or tie a new Service Account/PlayOnline Service Account to your account. Once registered, your info will be added to "active service accounts", of which you can then select "Options List". From this page, you can add characters to your account (which you'll want to add one unless you have an old character), edit your payment details, see your active/non-active characters, and edit some other options you don't have to worry about unless you are registering things!
Once you have your PlayOnline ID, your Square-Enix account user name and password and an active character (subscription or free days), congrats! You've gone through hell and are now ready to log-in! In order to log-in, open PlayOnline, create a member name (this is what people who friend you will see), enter your PlayOnline ID, enter your PlayOnline Password which you were provided (or this was set through your Final Fantasy XI account management system or this is your Square-Enix password if you merged your XI account with your SE account years ago), feel free to skip the Member Password section, and finally, enter your Square-Enix ID into that section. If you are using an account with an authenticator active from XI or XIV, set "One Time Password" to "Use", otherwise leave it off.
At this point, go make a sandwich cause PlayOnline will update. If you are a new account, you may have to go through a few more screens but eventually, you'll reach a screen with menu items like Final Fantasy XI, Navigator, Extras and more on the left side. From here you'll be able to select "Final Fantasy XI" and as long as you have an active subscription you'll be able to hit "Play", which will start updating Fina Fantasy XI. Kick back, relax and let it do its thing and you can go read War & Peace or all of TVtropes. Once finished, you'll be able to select a little blue gem next to the "Final Fantasy XI" menu item in the initial PlayOnline menu and skip a whole bunch of these slow-ass screens.
Why can't I Alt+Tab?
By default, Final Fantasy XI is an old ass game from a time when games did not like to Alt+tab and since FFXI is a MMO, Alt+tab was generally disabled to prevent cheating. However, Square-Enix has updated the game since then and you are now able to Alt+Tab by setting the game to "Start in Windowed Mode" through the Final Fantasy XI config EXE the game installs on your PC.
If you run into issues with Final Fantasy XI's windowed mode behavior, there is a community "mod" tool that allows for a smoother alt+tab experience (as well as a whole host of other customizations for the game) available here.
Gameplay Questions:
What races can I be?
Final Fantasy XI allows you to choose between 5 races, and for the initial climb to 99, your racial choice WILL matter. However, whatever racial disadvantages that come with your race can be overcome with gear, merit points, and other things at max level, so don't sweat it too much if you end up being really attached to a certain race. I'll note these advantages and disadvantages below!
Races:
Humes (FFXIV Hyur) - Your standard human, available as both male and females. Stats are kind of flat across the board, so you'll be decent at everything and excel at nothing.
Elvaan (FFXIV Elezen) - Elves, available as both males and females. Unlike typical fantasy elves, FFXI elves are neither smart nor dexterous, so they tend to be at a disadvantage when playing offensive caster (lowest starting intelligence) and have the highest miss rate (lowest DEX and pretty bad Agility). They make up for this by having the highest strength and mind, so they are great healers, debuffers and when they do hit something, they hit like a truck.
Tarutaru (FFXIV Lalafel) - The small kickable football race, available as both males and females. THE Intelligence caster race, Tarutarus have high intelligence and high MP. However, they have low HP and tend to be weaker in the strength department.
Mithra (FFXIV Miqote) - Cat ladies, only available as female. This race tends to have the highest DEX and agility and are honestly pretty decent all round at everything, having slightly less HP and strength than say, elves.
Galka (FFXIV Roes, now with tails!) - Sand people, male presenting. Highest Vitality and Strength (along with Elves) but also as dumb as rocks (low Intelligence/Mind) and has the lowest starting MP of any race.
What jobs can I play?
Upon creating a character for the first time, you'll only be able to select from a few jobs: Warrior (Tanky DPS), Monk (Tanky DPS), Thief (DPS), Red Mage (Hybrid Caster), White Mage (Healer), and Black Mage (DPS). You can change your job at any time and once you hit level 30 you'll be able to access quests to unlock every other job. Eventually, if you so choose, you'll have all the colors of the job rainbow, with all the following jobs open to you:
More to come soon!
Basic Questions:
What is Final Fantasy XI?
Released in 2002, Final Fantasy XI is a subscription-based MMO (Note: you pay PER active character) that is still going strong to this day with its seemingly final batch of content being released earlier this year. Despite the words "final batch of content", the game still receives monthly patches in the forms of content rotations and events for the month, of which a free-to-play month will be hitting soon (almost every November like clockwork) for returning players.
Why should I play?
Final Fantasy XI is almost universally the game played the least in the franchise and due to that, is often considered a hidden gem within the mainline franchise, especially for it's story. Final Fantasy has 5 full-blown expansions (Rise of Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urgan, Wings of the Goddess, Seekers of Adoulin), 6 smaller add-on content pieces, 1 major story release that wraps everything together (Rhapsodies of Vana'diel) and 1 final piece of story content (Voracious Resurgence) that just fully concluded recently. Almost all these story lines are fantastic and weave together to create some memorable fights, scenes and story moments!
As an older MMO and a more classic Final Fantasy, gameplay in Final Fantasy XI is focused on a more relaxing rhythm, with some abilities having cooldowns being 1, 5, 15, or 30 minutes long (as an example). Due to this, moment-to-moment gameplay consists of checking if your TP (points you get for hitting an enemy) is over 1000, and if it is, using a weapon skill while using spells and abilities as they come off cooldown when applicable. At higher levels, this can mean you are intensely busy every second (depending on job), but until then the best way to approach combat is to relax and listen to music, watch TV, listen to a podcast, etc. However, you will not commonly be killing 500 bees in a row like the old days, with modern gameplay instead focusing on looping "quests" such as "Kill 3 bees, 2 crabs and 1 fish" which means you have to do a bit of legwork to find all these monsters and kill them!
Technical Questions:
What the hell is PlayOnline?
PlayOnline is the great god in the sky that WILL attempt to blast out your eardrums at least once in your life. When you buy Final Fantasy XI, it'll come with a PlayOnline ID code which you need to keep and cherish forever because it'll be the key to getting your account back, and you'll need to tie it to your Square-Enix account in order to manage your subscription. Final Fantasy XI is essentially an app launched through PlayOnline, which means you'll have to navigate it for initial setup (always a headache). After initial setup, you'll likely skip through most of PlayOnline as you go straight to the game.
How do I subscribe?
In order to subscribe to Final Fantasy XI or setup your account initially, you'll need to make a Square Enix account at https://secure.square-enix.com/
Once logged in, you'll need to select the Final Fantasy XI account system (not XIV!). From there you can see your PlayOnline ID (if you have one) or tie a new Service Account/PlayOnline Service Account to your account. Once registered, your info will be added to "active service accounts", of which you can then select "Options List". From this page, you can add characters to your account (which you'll want to add one unless you have an old character), edit your payment details, see your active/non-active characters, and edit some other options you don't have to worry about unless you are registering things!
Once you have your PlayOnline ID, your Square-Enix account user name and password and an active character (subscription or free days), congrats! You've gone through hell and are now ready to log-in! In order to log-in, open PlayOnline, create a member name (this is what people who friend you will see), enter your PlayOnline ID, enter your PlayOnline Password which you were provided (or this was set through your Final Fantasy XI account management system or this is your Square-Enix password if you merged your XI account with your SE account years ago), feel free to skip the Member Password section, and finally, enter your Square-Enix ID into that section. If you are using an account with an authenticator active from XI or XIV, set "One Time Password" to "Use", otherwise leave it off.
At this point, go make a sandwich cause PlayOnline will update. If you are a new account, you may have to go through a few more screens but eventually, you'll reach a screen with menu items like Final Fantasy XI, Navigator, Extras and more on the left side. From here you'll be able to select "Final Fantasy XI" and as long as you have an active subscription you'll be able to hit "Play", which will start updating Fina Fantasy XI. Kick back, relax and let it do its thing and you can go read War & Peace or all of TVtropes. Once finished, you'll be able to select a little blue gem next to the "Final Fantasy XI" menu item in the initial PlayOnline menu and skip a whole bunch of these slow-ass screens.
Why can't I Alt+Tab?
By default, Final Fantasy XI is an old ass game from a time when games did not like to Alt+tab and since FFXI is a MMO, Alt+tab was generally disabled to prevent cheating. However, Square-Enix has updated the game since then and you are now able to Alt+Tab by setting the game to "Start in Windowed Mode" through the Final Fantasy XI config EXE the game installs on your PC.
If you run into issues with Final Fantasy XI's windowed mode behavior, there is a community "mod" tool that allows for a smoother alt+tab experience (as well as a whole host of other customizations for the game) available here.
Gameplay Questions:
What races can I be?
Final Fantasy XI allows you to choose between 5 races, and for the initial climb to 99, your racial choice WILL matter. However, whatever racial disadvantages that come with your race can be overcome with gear, merit points, and other things at max level, so don't sweat it too much if you end up being really attached to a certain race. I'll note these advantages and disadvantages below!
Races:
Humes (FFXIV Hyur) - Your standard human, available as both male and females. Stats are kind of flat across the board, so you'll be decent at everything and excel at nothing.
Elvaan (FFXIV Elezen) - Elves, available as both males and females. Unlike typical fantasy elves, FFXI elves are neither smart nor dexterous, so they tend to be at a disadvantage when playing offensive caster (lowest starting intelligence) and have the highest miss rate (lowest DEX and pretty bad Agility). They make up for this by having the highest strength and mind, so they are great healers, debuffers and when they do hit something, they hit like a truck.
Tarutaru (FFXIV Lalafel) - The small kickable football race, available as both males and females. THE Intelligence caster race, Tarutarus have high intelligence and high MP. However, they have low HP and tend to be weaker in the strength department.
Mithra (FFXIV Miqote) - Cat ladies, only available as female. This race tends to have the highest DEX and agility and are honestly pretty decent all round at everything, having slightly less HP and strength than say, elves.
Galka (FFXIV Roes, now with tails!) - Sand people, male presenting. Highest Vitality and Strength (along with Elves) but also as dumb as rocks (low Intelligence/Mind) and has the lowest starting MP of any race.
What jobs can I play?
Upon creating a character for the first time, you'll only be able to select from a few jobs: Warrior (Tanky DPS), Monk (Tanky DPS), Thief (DPS), Red Mage (Hybrid Caster), White Mage (Healer), and Black Mage (DPS). You can change your job at any time and once you hit level 30 you'll be able to access quests to unlock every other job. Eventually, if you so choose, you'll have all the colors of the job rainbow, with all the following jobs open to you:
More to come soon!
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