FFXI possibly fatigues even more people.

[Saner]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169336

this is madness. SE has to be put in their place. Haha I wonder if someone will sue them for these
health-risk bosses. hmmm I wonder if Absolute Virtue has been defeated yet. But ya I never
heard of Pandemonium Ward until now.

but of course SE won't care as long as the money roles in or people take action to the point that
it affects their stature. >.>

[Randomness]

Er... See, that kind of ludicrousness might be forgiven in an offline, pausable game. Or... nah. 18 hours is just inane. FFXII's Hell Wyrm gets close to the upper limit of what I can stand in a single sitting, but it can be done in segments.

[Sekani]

Seriously, fix that topic title.

On the subject, this is nothing new; during my relatively short time in FFXI I had heard of HNM (boss) fights where Linkshell (guild) members would rotate out in shifts for upwards of 24 hours to take out some of the tougher ones.

It only furthers the reputation that this is a game for masochists with an insane amount of continuous free time.

[Shadowpawn]

It's like the One Sin in .hack//Fragment lore, only it's real. I never thought someone would really make a boss with that much stamina.

[Xefi]

the title is misleading. -_-;

Good thing i don't play ffxi, but seriously, 18 hours for one boss with multiple forms? Eh...

[Randomness]

It's like the One Sin in .hack//Fragment lore, only it's real. I never thought someone would really make a boss with that much stamina.

Actually, as I recall, that beastie wasn't just tough, it had constantly changing weaknesses. And was immune to everything BUT the weakness.

[McLaughlin]

You can't kill Absolute Virtue. At least, not since they fixed the glitch.

Also, the title for this thread is incredibly misleading. I suggest you change it. Only the absolutely dumbest people alive could die by playing a video game. People like that should be subject to immediate Darwinization anyway.

[Mewnie]

Another reason showing SE doesn't know how to do endgame encounters.

Eighteen hours. Jesus Christ.

One hour, TOPS. And even then, that's pushing it.

[Shadowpawn]

Actually, as I recall, that beastie wasn't just tough, it had constantly changing weaknesses. And was immune to everything BUT the weakness.


Yeah, they detail the entire fight in .hack//A.I. buster. The attacker not only have to attack with the spell it was weak against but also enhance their blade with that weapon. Since one person can't do that it took two people to take it down.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

So they have really run out of grinding things to put in MMO games?

Don't put this in the China/Korea market is all.

[Randomness]

Well, SE seems to have a habit of insanely-high health bosses. Look at FFX or FFXII's secret bosses. (Or from what I've heard, the international version of FFX, with even more insane bosses!)

[Ceresa]

Waaa waaa, loser LS can't beat a boss, bunch of uncoordinated antisocial crybabies.

Here's a thought, the game has...a JP playerbase, go do 12 hour shifts with them. Dozing off while the JP play and stay in a vent channel, when the boss is about to shift forms...scream in it so everyone wakes up and gets to see in case it's the end. Repeat infinitely, up to 60 hour battle is a reasonable weekend excursion. It's not exactly like FFXI gameplay is stressful either, back when I played and killed HNM I had so much time between my 2 useful Paladin abilities I could literally type "/ma cast "Cure III" <somedude>"" or whatever the string was to heal ppl in other groups, throw in voice chat and it rapidly becomes a social affair with 2 buttons to press every 30 seconds.

Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.

[Nitro Vordex]

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.
That's not impressive, that's just sad.

[ABDUR101]

Even 30 year olds could suck it up and take off work? Hahahah!

And people think this generation is lazy? Christ, it's all I can do to sit for three hours for raid nights; it's a fucking game people; if my ass is going to do anything in shifts over the course of 24-60 hours; it better be fucking, or working.

This is almost as funny as people playing games in such long stretches that they die of exhaustion. Yes, necessary darwinism I beleive. I've been a gamer since I could walk, I've kept the hobby up my entire life; but even I can call batshit insanity on this sort of thing.

Just because the content is there doesn't mean it should be ingested. I've got some bleach downstairs though, incase anyone wants to try some just for the hell of it.

[Saner]

one of the commenters summarily explained it really well:


Quote:
No one knew the fight would take anywhere near that long, and it’s not about ‘not knowing how to beat it.’

Everything went as it should, and that’s how the fight is. No one knew it would be that kind of a fight until that LS tried it, and the problem was that they reached a point where they found it would take another 5 hours to beat and decided against it.

Freaking boss has at least 20 forms and was designed to be a 23 hour fight. That's sadistic."

*minus* :frenchfries:

[Powder Keg]

It fatigues me everytime I'm reminded that this game exists.

[Mewnie]

So they have really run out of grinding things to put in MMO games?

Don't put this in the China/Korea market is all.

KMMOs, and Asian MMOs in general, have perfected The Grind(tm) to an artform. It's really just a different design choice in East vs West MMOs.

Although Aion is diverging from that, as they have goen on the record as saying they are emulating the WoW end of the exp curve. Which makes since, since it just looks like a hi-res version of WoW ;3

[Sidney]

Wait, people taking off work to beat an MMO boss is... cool?!
Bahahaha! :lol: OH my, last time I checked, having a life is cool. What was described sounds pretty pathetic. Don't those people have friends to hang out with? Family to spend time with? I'm glad most MMOs are easy nowadays, since it promotes those basement dwellers to get a damn life~ MMO elitists are only cool in their own little world. All the rest of us are laughing at them :P

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e85/soubie_kiss/400px-IRL_the_game.jpg

[CelestialBlade]

Waaa waaa, loser LS can't beat a boss, bunch of uncoordinated antisocial crybabies.

Here's a thought, the game has...a JP playerbase, go do 12 hour shifts with them. Dozing off while the JP play and stay in a vent channel, when the boss is about to shift forms...scream in it so everyone wakes up and gets to see in case it's the end. Repeat infinitely, up to 60 hour battle is a reasonable weekend excursion. It's not exactly like FFXI gameplay is stressful either, back when I played and killed HNM I had so much time between my 2 useful Paladin abilities I could literally type "/ma cast "Cure III" <somedude>"" or whatever the string was to heal ppl in other groups, throw in voice chat and it rapidly becomes a social affair with 2 buttons to press every 30 seconds.

Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.
You...depress me, I'm sorry. Go outside or something.

It's pretty obvious Squeenix could absolutely care less if people actually waste 18 hours of their lives doing one single thing, long as they get those monthly fees. I know, it's the player's choice to partake in such things and it's their fault if their life falters as a result, but bosses like that are not helping anything. One hour, max.

Is "challenging" equivalent to "takes forever" now? Do developers fail so much that they can't even code a hard boss anymore, they just have to make it wtflong? Lame.

Oh, and if people are seriously dying from this sort of thing? Well, good to see that natural selection is still in effect to some extent.

[RuneLateralus]

the title is misleading. -_-;

Good thing i don't play ffxi, but seriously, 18 hours for one boss with multiple forms? Eh...

And I still bet that fight is nowhere near as bad ass as Kael'thas in WoW.

Ok, just kidding (so no one take that comment seriously), but really, 18 hours for a boss? Thank God I am not addicted to that.


That's not impressive, that's just sad.

Agreed. I get docked paid time off if I call off work and I would rather use that time for more fun things. Like going out for birthdays or concerts. Hell, have the weekend of Lollapalooza as vacation time was very sweet. But calling off just to farm some mobs for rare drops, quest, do a full raid? Ah, no.

Although I laughed at the image in the article. Reminds me of WoW's start up tip that you should go out with your friends and family.

[Darkly]

Waaa waaa, loser LS can't beat a boss, bunch of uncoordinated antisocial crybabies.

Here's a thought, the game has...a JP playerbase, go do 12 hour shifts with them. Dozing off while the JP play and stay in a vent channel, when the boss is about to shift forms...scream in it so everyone wakes up and gets to see in case it's the end. Repeat infinitely, up to 60 hour battle is a reasonable weekend excursion. It's not exactly like FFXI gameplay is stressful either, back when I played and killed HNM I had so much time between my 2 useful Paladin abilities I could literally type "/ma cast "Cure III" <somedude>"" or whatever the string was to heal ppl in other groups, throw in voice chat and it rapidly becomes a social affair with 2 buttons to press every 30 seconds.

Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.

well seen as lmao won't cover it, you sound so convicted in that those guys are crybabies is pretty bad.

No, you do not 'suck it up' when playing video games, they realised that it is just a game and decided not to risk it, because its not worth it. Your a fool for thinking that spending that amount of time is worth it in any way.

But im guessing your brains turned to mush, pressing to buttons for 12 hours or so sounds like a lot of fun.

[Sekani]

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.

How much brain damage could you possibly have to think that this is a good thing?



Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

FFXI: Where having a life will get you banned. I'm not kidding.

[furrypaws]

Oh, goodness. I used to hardly be able to take it when soloing the De Ragan took 20 minutes, but honestly...18 hours? Geez. In 18 hours, I could make $144, which I could spend on Final Fantasy 4 DS (40), Harvest Moon; Island of Happiness (30), probably find a used copy of Pokemon Emerald (20) and buy a 6 month subscription to PSU (50), or, I could put it into savings for my computer, or most importantly, college. Plus, it seems like I'd have about the same amount of fun for those 18 hours. I guess if that one item in a game means that much to you, go for it, but I'd much rather work for all those than one item that'll probably be one upped in some update in a month or two. I'd say those games would last me for at least 6 months, the laptop for at least 5 years, and college...well, for my whole life.

Well, it's all in the eye of the beholder...I guess. This has pretty much killed any interest I had in Final Fantasy 11 previously.

[Adriano]

That is insane.

I remember the longest boss I'v eever fought was in fX-II (yes I playde it ;_;) the Angra Mainyu thing. it had like 98732847238942 hp. Lawl. took like 15 minutes ;o

and on a side note : I can't believe they quit before the rarz.:lol:

[Dre_o]

Oh, Square Enix DOES know how to make a difficult boss (See: FFIX Ozma), but those moronic designers really need to be smashed in the head for making a more than 18 hour boss, and the players who kept doing it need to get the same treatment.

[Darkly]

Oh, Square Enix DOES know how to make a difficult boss (See: FFIX Ozma), but those moronic designers really need to be smashed in the head for making a more than 18 hour boss, and the players who kept doing it need to get the same treatment.

then again it seems like they go hand in hand, if ceresa's anything to go by, ffxi players enjoy being abused and clearly square enix gets turned on by making them suffer. I swear these players have a demented form of stolkholm syndrome.

[Commodity]

Waaa waaa, loser LS can't beat a boss, bunch of uncoordinated antisocial crybabies.

Here's a thought, the game has...a JP playerbase, go do 12 hour shifts with them. Dozing off while the JP play and stay in a vent channel, when the boss is about to shift forms...scream in it so everyone wakes up and gets to see in case it's the end. Repeat infinitely, up to 60 hour battle is a reasonable weekend excursion. It's not exactly like FFXI gameplay is stressful either, back when I played and killed HNM I had so much time between my 2 useful Paladin abilities I could literally type "/ma cast "Cure III" <somedude>"" or whatever the string was to heal ppl in other groups, throw in voice chat and it rapidly becomes a social affair with 2 buttons to press every 30 seconds.

Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.
Replace you with any Master class that isn't MF and the time will be better. That's just how the game is.

[Zantra]

I'm just wondering how long/often the people in this thread play PSU...

Considering the fact that they are attacking FFXI players for playing a "waste of time" MMO.

Aren't most of the people on these boards likely to have at least one (if not more) level 130 character in PSU, that as I understand it, takes over 1,000 hours to obtain?

If the shoe is on the other foot, it seems to me, that nobody in this argument has a life.

And saying that playing an MMO for a crazy amount of time makes you a loser...

Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black.

[Sekani]

I'm just wondering how long/often the people in this thread play PSU...

Considering the fact that they are attacking FFXI players for playing a "waste of time" MMO.

Aren't most of the people on these boards likely to have at least one (if not more) level 130 character, that as I understand it, takes over 1,000 hours to obtain?

If the shoe is on the other foot, it seems to me, that nobody in this argument has a life.

And saying that playing an MMO for a crazy amount of time makes you a loser...

Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black.

There's a big difference between total playtime over the course of... your life and continuous playtime. Are you even paying attention to what this thread is about?

Now if you had brought up the ridiculousity of the MAG C-spammers then you might actually have a point.

[CelestialBlade]

1000 hours to achieve level 130? More like....maybe 50-60.

And yeah, you're kinda missing the point here. Nothing in PSU takes *18 straight hours* to achieve, and if there was you definitely would not see me even attempting it. I like to sleep and eat and go outside, sorry.

[Nitro Vordex]

I'm just wondering how long/often the people in this thread play PSU...

Considering the fact that they are attacking FFXI players for playing a "waste of time" MMO.

Aren't most of the people on these boards likely to have at least one (if not more) level 130 character in PSU, that as I understand it, takes over 1,000 hours to obtain?

If the shoe is on the other foot, it seems to me, that nobody in this argument has a life.

And saying that playing an MMO for a crazy amount of time makes you a loser...

Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black.
If you play PSU yourself, you just contradicted yourself.

If not, then congradulations, you look like an idiot.

See, we could apply this to anything IRL(heard of that before? it's friggin' awesome). Skateboarding for example. In my opnion, it's a waste of time, and it's stupid. Putting hours into twirling a piece of wood with wheels that can make you eat concrete by a freaking pebble on the ground just seems pointless. However, other people will find this awesome, and hardcore. Of course, that does not mean everyone who skates puts in hours and hours of practice; maybe they just ride it for transportation.

Though, I can't imagine why.

Back on topic, saying that everyone who plays PSU must not have a life is redundant and entirely stupid. I played PSU for about a month, and I didn't get past level 50. Why? Because A)I didn't spam the same mission over and over and B)I didn't just play the game to level cap so I could be uber awesome. I played it because it was fun. Seriously, if my computer could handle it and I had the spare money, I'd get right back on PSU.

By the way, if anything I wrote made sense, then great. If not, feel free to criticize me for putting 5 minutes worth of work into it. It was obviously a waste of my life anyways.

[Aisha379]

And I thought Karazhan was bad.

(Note: Karazhan is a giant 10 man raid on World of Warcraft that takes around 20 hours total to complete - or so I'm told, I never actually went there myself.)


Thats just plain crazy. I don't know who's more idiotic, the developers for making that boss or the players for spending THAT LONG.

I've never spent more than 5 minutes actually fighting a boss in an online game (This does not include dying and having to go back, just the fight itself).

[McLaughlin]

I can't think of a boss fight in FFXI that doesn't take at least five minutes. >_>

[Mewnie]

I'm just wondering how long/often the people in this thread play PSU...

If I add up the play time on all four characters (1385 hours) divide it by how old my account is (623 days as of today), I play an average of 2.22 hours a day, give or take a few decimal places.



Considering the fact that they are attacking FFXI players for playing a "waste of time" MMO.

Aren't most of the people on these boards likely to have at least one (if not more) level 130 character in PSU, that as I understand it, takes over 1,000 hours to obtain?

If the shoe is on the other foot, it seems to me, that nobody in this argument has a life.

And saying that playing an MMO for a crazy amount of time makes you a loser...

Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black.In any online game, there is always the catassing factor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catassing). FFXI is designed to more easily accommodate that play style than PSU does. Encounters like this boss only highlights that fact.

edit: grammar snake

[Zantra]

I love when people don't understand...

I'm just saying, that they were fighting the mob, because they wanted to, and it was fun.

They didn't think, or know, that it was going to take that long.

It's just like the people who spend several hours a day playing PSU.

They think that every time they run a mission, they're going to get the item they want, and when they don't, they run it again, and before they know it, they've played 10 hours or more.

I'm not the only person who's become so engrossed in a game that I didn't notice when the hours flew by, and day turned into night, and then back into day.

And, if you want to say that people who play true MMO's have no life, than I guess over 10 Million people have no lives, because at least that number of people (if not more), is playing WOW.

[Brisk]

I can't think of a boss fight in FFXI that doesn't take at least five minutes. >_>
Kirin, Bahamaut v2, and DL zergs.

The whole community right now is just seeing how FFXI is getting a lot of media attention because of this. Maybe the most they recieved like ever. Oh the hypocrisy is uncanny when SE wants us to not forget our family, friends, and work and decide to add this!

[Mewnie]

I love when people don't understand...

I'm just saying, that they were fighting the mob, because they wanted to, and it was fun.

Everyone's idea of fun is subjective...



They didn't think, or know, that it was going to take that long.


I'd think after a couple hours, most sane people would have noticed something was up and moved on to something more interesting.



It's just like the people who spend several hours a day playing PSU.

They think that every time they run a mission, they're going to get the item they want, and when they don't, they run it again, and before they know it, they've played 10 hours or more.

I'm not the only person who's become so engrossed in a game that I didn't notice when the hours flew by, and day turned into night, and then back into day.

I'll put it here again, try reading it a little slower.

In any online game, there is always the catassing factor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catassing). FFXI is designed to more easily accommodate that play style than PSU does. Encounters like this boss only highlights that fact.




And, if you want to say that people who play true MMO's have no life, than I guess over 10 Million people have no lives, because at least that number of people (if not more), is playing WOW.

Where did I say all MMO players are poopsocking recluses? There's a big difference between the guy who logs in for an hour or two a day to play market PvP with the auction house vs Joe Raider who survives off a diet of hardcore raids, Cheetos and Dew.


My beef is with the shitty game design in FFXI that relies heavily on grind and is lacking on truly engaging game play. That people defend and buy into forced time sinks is mind boggling to me, but then again, some folks get off on getting punched in the junk too.

[ABDUR101]

And I thought Karazhan was bad.

(Note: Karazhan is a giant 10 man raid on World of Warcraft that takes around 20 hours total to complete - or so I'm told, I never actually went there myself.)


Thats just plain crazy. I don't know who's more idiotic, the developers for making that boss or the players for spending THAT LONG.

I've never spent more than 5 minutes actually fighting a boss in an online game (This does not include dying and having to go back, just the fight itself).

Thats not true, unless you're going in there entirely under-geared and unprepared. With a suitably geared group of ten people, you can do it in about four hours. I went in last week with a very decent geared group, if anything we were short DPS and had four healers just so the going would be nice and smooth, as opposed to fast and sloppy with alot of wipes.

We cleared the entire instance in 3 hours 40 minutes, with two wipes and all bosses cleared.

[Raine_Loire]

I love when people don't understand...

I'm just saying, that they were fighting the mob, because they wanted to, and it was fun.

They didn't think, or know, that it was going to take that long.

It's just like the people who spend several hours a day playing PSU.

They think that every time they run a mission, they're going to get the item they want, and when they don't, they run it again, and before they know it, they've played 10 hours or more.

I'm not the only person who's become so engrossed in a game that I didn't notice when the hours flew by, and day turned into night, and then back into day.

And, if you want to say that people who play true MMO's have no life, than I guess over 10 Million people have no lives, because at least that number of people (if not more), is playing WOW.

Well, I've played FFXI, and I have to say... the fighting... not fun. I can't believe people could even fight a boss for an HOUR much less 12, 18, 20, w/e.

Even if you don't know it is going to take that long, after you're fighting an hour, and not much closer to beating the boss... don't you just... walk away?

I've gotten so into a game that I didn't notice time pass, but NOT FFXI. Most of the time spent on my character was spent waiting for a party or traveling between places, or recovering after fights. ALL of which are more entertaining than the fights! The only time I could even stand the fights was playing as a WHM, and with macros, there wasn't much to do!

I'm with Mewnie on catassing, FFXI is a game that appeals largely to antisocial people. you really don't get anywhere in the game unless you can invest hours and hours of every day into playing!

[Weeaboolits]

18 hours on one boss? That's just stupid, I mean, as Mewn said, one hour even would be pushing it.

[furrypaws]

...Poop...socking?

o.o;

...o_____________________________o;

.......O__________________o;

Are those 5 minutes it takes to walk to the bathroom and back really going to kill you?

[Darkly]

^ they will kill your character or something, which is obviously more important than your basic bodily functions

[Aisha379]

Thats not true, unless you're going in there entirely under-geared and unprepared. With a suitably geared group of ten people, you can do it in about four hours. I went in last week with a very decent geared group, if anything we were short DPS and had four healers just so the going would be nice and smooth, as opposed to fast and sloppy with alot of wipes.

We cleared the entire instance in 3 hours 40 minutes, with two wipes and all bosses cleared.


Oh =S

I used to play WoW and my guild was getting geared for Karazhan, I just heard some people on there say it takes a really, really long time.

Sounds like that was a really awesome run though o_O

I loved WoW, but all the high level content just seems extremely time consuming. (Biggest thing I ever done on there was a guild run of Heroic Slave Pens, and that took almost 3 hours...)




Also I have to retract my earlier statement - I HAVE spent more than 5 minutes on a boss before. The stupid PSU bosses that won't freaking stay within hitting range for more then 10 or 15 seconds (Falz, Dimma, etc).



Even if you don't know it is going to take that long, after you're fighting an hour, and not much closer to beating the boss... don't you just... walk away?

They probably thought "Well we've been here an hour, therefore, he most be very close to dying"

That kind of thinking (logical in any other game) probably get them there.

After all, who wants to walk away from a 2 or 3 hour fight knowing the boss might be on the very brink of death?

[InfinityXXX]

Despite my long rant i made about FFXI...I actually did try it again (with 4 friends)......and I still stand by what I said in that rant....

It is a nice game...but I just don't have the life and time that FFXI demands

Some of the most simple tasks take hours to do. (If you solo your Kazham pass....be prepared for at least 6+ hours of doing it)

And it wasn't like I'm not that good of a gamer. (I've made maxed level on RO (AND transcended) and WOW and I've made it to lv.76 on Flyff)


..but I've never encountered a game that demands so much of your life like FFXI....


It can take about 5 hours to get a party....that only lasts for 30 minutes (and don't think you'll level in 30 minutes when your mid-level)


And then they have the nerve to put that bullshit disclaimer "Don't spend to much time playing" when it takes about 5+ to even complete some of your missions....



(I will never forget when i attempted to unlock Blue Mage by myself...and it took me roughly 12 hours to do.....the next day...I quit the game...)

[Kard]

Eh, so they spent a virtual lifetime fighting a boss. Whatever floats their boat. Different MMO developers try to create exciting and 'epic' adventures, especially in battles, for their subscribers. I've criticized SE for years about trying to do this by extending the grind, but as said before, "fun" is subjective, and some people love an extra grind. Perhaps this was fun in parts, or altogether for some of the participants.

I wonder if anyone has legitimately defeated Absolute Virtue yet, and if so, how long did it take? Hmm. I mean, you know you have a problem with either your game design philosophy, or just plain relating to your subscriber-base (or both!) if you, the developer, have to create a video sequence to demonstrate just how to win against a seemingly impossible foe, and end up creating more questions than answers.

I played FFXI for three years, mainly before merits really kicked off, before ToAU and such. I've little experience outside of mining in Mt. Zhayolm for mad gilz after that. Generally I found the game's slow-paced nature quite enjoyable and relaxing. It gives me time to communicate with others at just about any time, even during many battle situations, and it helps keep the game social. FFXI's brand of party structuring is a good concept, as rather than running into dungeons and battles and taking part in mindless free-for-alls, each job class actually has a specific role to play and is important as an individual in that party (can't say the same for merit pts, but whatever...) Unfortunately there just isn't enough of that kind of variety to keep the process of forming parties a smooth one. Anyway, I somehow feel all this belongs in a different 'FFXI sucks!' thread, so I'll zip it up right here. :3

[McLaughlin]

Despite my long rant i made about FFXI...I actually did try it again (with 4 friends)......and I still stand by what I said in that rant....

It is a nice game...but I just don't have the life and time that FFXI demands

Some of the most simple tasks take hours to do. (If you solo your Kazham pass....be prepared for at least 6+ hours of doing it)

And it wasn't like I'm not that good of a gamer. (I've made maxed level on RO (AND transcended) and WOW and I've made it to lv.76 on Flyff)


..but I've never encountered a game that demands so much of your life like FFXI....


It can take about 5 hours to get a party....that only lasts for 30 minutes (and don't think you'll level in 30 minutes when your mid-level)


And then they have the nerve to put that bullshit disclaimer "Don't spend to much time playing" when it takes about 5+ to even complete some of your missions....



(I will never forget when i attempted to unlock Blue Mage by myself...and it took me roughly 12 hours to do.....the next day...I quit the game...)

Sounds like your problems were:

A) You tried to solo everything. Soloing in the vast majority of situations is a no-no.
B) You never made it out of Yhoator.

Not saying it becomes any less tedious, but I've found most of your problems can be solved by levelling, which is easier post Yhoator Jungle.

[Mewnie]

Sounds like your problems were:

A) You tried to solo everything. Soloing in the vast majority of situations is a no-no.
B) You never made it out of Yhoator.

Not saying it becomes any less tedious, but I've found most of your problems can be solved by levelling, which is easier post Yhoator Jungle.

But it becomes a catch-22. 'Need to level to get better groups, but can't find a group to level!'

FFXI was made to punish the player.

[Kard]

It's pretty easy to solo to 10-15 for most jobs, tbh. At that point, if one is lucky enough to find a good party, one can level from there. The real problem comes from the fact that the game is at a point in its life-cycle where hardly any players are in the low-mid levels, and because of that you either get few to no invites at those levels, or you do, but those parties are probably filled with first-time players, or ignorant noobs. It's likely to happen more often than not at this point. :3

[McLaughlin]

FFXI was made to punish the player.

Agreed.

Also, that's not entirely true Kard. People are always levelling subjobs.

[RuneLateralus]

Thats not true, unless you're going in there entirely under-geared and unprepared. With a suitably geared group of ten people, you can do it in about four hours. I went in last week with a very decent geared group, if anything we were short DPS and had four healers just so the going would be nice and smooth, as opposed to fast and sloppy with alot of wipes.

We cleared the entire instance in 3 hours 40 minutes, with two wipes and all bosses cleared.

3 hours and 10 minutes was the fastest clear time I had. It was a very fast and smooth run we had. Though everyone was geared for MH/BT level and we only really do Kara these days for the badges.

[Kard]

Agreed.

Also, that's not entirely true Kard. People are always levelling subjobs.

Yes people are, but so few of them are going to take pick-up PTs to accomplish that. People will solo, or form LS parties to do that. It's easy to see this since despite the fact that there's always waves of people leveling subjobs, Dunes, Qufim, Kazham and so on are almost always poorly populated.

It also does not help that some of these high level players who decide to re-visit the lowbie levels with a subjob, don't bother to pay attention to details and take a lazy, lackluster approach to leveling. Sometimes, the most experienced players are the ones that are holding everybody down.

[McLaughlin]

I have to disagree. Valkurm, Qufim and Kazham are still adequately populated, on Fairy at least.

[Kard]

Cerberus, Valefore, Alexander and Fenrir are barren. Small servers are small, but then, most servers are small. In any case, those areas obviously aren't as populated as they used to be. Most people are busy end-gaming it up.

[Mewnie]

On the brief, two-week return I tried last summer, all the lower level areas were desolate, save for the one occasional powerleveling party; Which, while getting decently quick exp, did nothing to help the newer players as all it did was promote lazy habits.

Also, the game still sucked X3

[Aisha379]

3 hours and 10 minutes was the fastest clear time I had. It was a very fast and smooth run we had. Though everyone was geared for MH/BT level and we only really do Kara these days for the badges.

Bah.

Apparently I picked the wrong guild to join or something...

Well, it actually disbanded shortly after I quit anyway...so if I ever do return I'd need to re-find another guild.

[McLaughlin]

Cerberus, Valefore, Alexander and Fenrir are barren. Small servers are small, but then, most servers are small. In any case, those areas obviously aren't as populated as they used to be. Most people are busy end-gaming it up.

From what I've been told Fairy is one of the largest servers, so maybe that's why. :/

Essentially the only reason I've stopped playing is because I can go no farther without levelling NIN, and every Ninjitsu scroll I need is quested, and the quest items are a pain in the ass to find and expensive to buy.

[Kylie]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/new-game-enemy-takes-a-solid-day-to-defeat/1238418

Now Yahoo! is reporting it. :$ Wow.

[Shadowpawn]

Love the ending of that article.


"People were passing out and getting physically ill," leaders of the player guild said in a forum post. "We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible news story about how video games ruin people's lives."

Too late.

[Kard]

For shame. I'm not going to dis the game here, after all, I did devote several years to it.

All the same, I'm glad I'm not a part of it anymore...

[Seira7]

I remember the days when video gaming became popular. yes Im old like dat so this was the days of Space Invaders and Asteroids. I thought of games as fun, a nice time waster for at home after school or fun at the arcades for a couple quarters. If someone had told me videogaming would ever get like this, with people spending hours and days on a really boring turn based game I would have shit myself. But then again my sister was in the next room playing d and d all night every night, so maybe it was almost the same thing.

Im glad I still think of games as "fun" If I cant accomplish anything in a short time in a game, no thanks. Its not that I dont have the motivation, its just lots of other things take precedence in my life. And if games arent fun, than whats the point? What kind of "memories" is a hardcore player of this game going to pass onto his kids? Well, son, I spent the weekend raiding blah blah blah with my imaginary (well, real people, but still...)pixelated pals one time, it was unreal!
Thats the most exciting thing that happened to me in 2008 @.@
*shows son FF scrapbook* *son thinks dad is the biggest loser in the world lol*

[panzer_unit]

Waaa waaa, loser LS can't beat a boss, bunch of uncoordinated antisocial crybabies.
...
Square-enix deserves and has my endless praise for being willing to bring the fuck you back to the developer vs playerbase relationship. Too many candyasses in the genre wanting watered down solo 1 hour blocks of fun! crap. Thanks WoW!

"Beyond the Limitation" my ass. Shit back in my EQ days we had 30-50 hour camps for epic quests, even old ass 30 year olds managed to suck it up and take off work for them when necessary without crying to second rate news sites.

No wonder the entire thread is about quoting this post. It's too bad-ass to leave alone. Even if I wouldn't enjoy it, I like that there's a game out there for the hardest of the hardcore.

Know what, if an 18-hour bossfight popped up in PSU I'd want to do it just for the sake of being one of maybe 10 people in the entire game to go through the trouble and get something to show for it. I've done dumber things with a day.

[Sekani]

Square-Enix admits that they fucked up, basically. (http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news13981.shtml)


The past two weeks have seen considerable feedback from players regarding the amount of time required to combat the Pandemonium Warden, a recently implemented Notorious Monster (NM). Discussion has spread significantly throughout forums, and it has become apparent that this is indeed an issue of major unrest in the community.

We would like to assure players that the development and management teams place a high value on their feedback, and the issue has since been taken under serious consideration. Together with Absolute Virtue, it has been deemed that the combative techniques for weakening these NMs are too difficult. As a result, some players have engaged these enemies using unanticipated methods which led to extended battle times. It is by no means the desire of the development team to see players involved in encounters that require an excessive amount of time and effort to complete. It was for this reason that previous measures were put into practice which prohibited NMs from being held in battle for prolonged periods. In response to these events, we have determined that further alterations are required to prevent such battles from exceeding a certain predetermined length of time.

Included in the version update scheduled for early September will be modifications to the degree of difficulty of Pandemonium Warden (and associated pets), Absolute Virtue (and associated pets), and Jailer of Love. The aim of these changes is to create battles where a decisive outcome may be reached within a shorter period of time.

The development and management teams would like to take this opportunity to express their commitment to a healthy and wholesome game environment for players everywhere to enjoy, and to thank them for the continued feedback.

[Inazuma]

23 hour boss fight? as long as it was possible to take 20-30 min breaks during it, i wouldnt mind attempting such a thing. its not uncommon for me to play over 15 hours of psu a day. but if i had to stay awake for 23 hours straight, i wouldnt be able to. as a newly polyphasic sleeper, i cant stay awake longer than 10 hours at best.

since 2 weeks ago, ive slept about 4 hours per day. i know its off topic but today i had the most amazing nap. i could swear that 2-3 hours had passed but it really was only 25 mins. sleeping for long periods doesnt seem very efficient to me anymore, so im gonna get rid of my 3 hour sleep period completely and just take a few more 25 min naps. that 3 hour sleep made me pretty dam tired so i think if i stop doing it, ill feel more awake and alert.

sleeping only 2 hours a day should be very interesting....

[Sidney]

^ 15 hours a day on PSU? Shouldn't you be at work or school...? Or with family/friends? :X

[Adriano]

23 hour boss fight? as long as it was possible to take 20-30 min breaks during it, i wouldnt mind attempting such a thing. its not uncommon for me to play over 15 hours of psu a day. but if i had to stay awake for 23 hours straight, i wouldnt be able to. as a newly polyphasic sleeper, i cant stay awake longer than 10 hours at best.

since 2 weeks ago, ive slept about 4 hours per day. i know its off topic but today i had the most amazing nap. i could swear that 2-3 hours had passed but it really was only 25 mins. sleeping for long periods doesnt seem very efficient to me anymore, so im gonna get rid of my 3 hour sleep period completely and just take a few more 25 min naps. that 3 hour sleep made me pretty dam tired so i think if i stop doing it, ill feel more awake and alert.

sleeping only 2 hours a day should be very interesting....

Well actualy napping is probably a habit that can bite you in the ass later on down the road.
In prolonged cases such things as sever sleep deprivation, and issues with your metabolism can come up. Not to mention (let's face it) you will end up looking zombified. :lol:
so the recommended 6-8 hours is actually more efficient.

[Commodity]

23 hour boss fight? as long as it was possible to take 20-30 min breaks during it, i wouldnt mind attempting such a thing. its not uncommon for me to play over 15 hours of psu a day. but if i had to stay awake for 23 hours straight, i wouldnt be able to. as a newly polyphasic sleeper, i cant stay awake longer than 10 hours at best.

since 2 weeks ago, ive slept about 4 hours per day. i know its off topic but today i had the most amazing nap. i could swear that 2-3 hours had passed but it really was only 25 mins. sleeping for long periods doesnt seem very efficient to me anymore, so im gonna get rid of my 3 hour sleep period completely and just take a few more 25 min naps. that 3 hour sleep made me pretty dam tired so i think if i stop doing it, ill feel more awake and alert.

sleeping only 2 hours a day should be very interesting....
Wow, you must lead an amazing life.

Maybe you could stay up longer than 10 hours, if you, I don't know. Did the 8 hours that any sane doctor, nay, person would recommend.

[McLaughlin]

I get five hours of sleep a day, max. No naps either.

[Zantra]

This makes me want to try FFXI...

No... Really!

[Yusaku_Kudou]

Only 18 hours? Hell, I've played PSU during MAG 40+ hours every time I was awake doing non-stop runs without a break.

[Kent]

The new Level Sync system sounds like a pretty awesome addition to the game.

Being that most of the game's players are high-level, it makes it hard for low-level new players to find groups (in theory)... So the Level Sync system allows the party leader to specify a target for the level sync, and all party members are limited to the level of the targeted member...

...But they don't have to get new equipment. All of their current equipment will scale down appropriately to be just as relatively-good (with a couple special effects omitted from scaling). This will also go into effect in level-capped areas, so you don't have to buy a bunch of lower-level equipment to go into, say, a Promyvion - your equipment will just be scaled appropriately.

That change alone almost makes me want to go back to it. And I just might, after I graduate and get some free time.

[McLaughlin]

The new Level Sync system sounds like a pretty awesome addition to the game.

Being that most of the game's players are high-level, it makes it hard for low-level new players to find groups (in theory)... So the Level Sync system allows the party leader to specify a target for the level sync, and all party members are limited to the level of the targeted member...

...But they don't have to get new equipment. All of their current equipment will scale down appropriately to be just as relatively-good (with a couple special effects omitted from scaling). This will also go into effect in level-capped areas, so you don't have to buy a bunch of lower-level equipment to go into, say, a Promyvion - your equipment will just be scaled appropriately.

That change alone almost makes me want to go back to it. And I just might, after I graduate and get some free time.

...*drool* You mean, no more six sets of gear for capped areas? Are you super-cereal?

I'll have inventory space again?

EDIT: Methinks this deserves its own thread...