Which MMO is better - FFXI or FFXIV?

[banshee150]

Both go on sale very often and FFXI is still subscription and still supported by the developers (although not so much in terms of new content). The sub costs is roughly the same as well. These two games as well as WoW seem to be the last ones remaining that require a subscription and if any of them die in the future, the others are likely to follow.

For those of you who played both, do you still play them? Do you subscribe/unsubscribe now and then or did you fully invest yourself in FFXIV with the latest Shadowbringers expansion and never looked back?

I bought the Ultimate Edition from Steam sale which came with 30 days subscription and using Windower I was kind of able to get it to work through the atrocious Playonline interface, but the UI is just unbelievably bad and the game is obtuse and requires way more dedication than even WoW Classic I would say.

I think even EQ1 was less confusing than FFXI...

 

[Meicyn]

FFXIV. Not even close.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

Habbo Hotel.

 

[Minthara]

FFXI is the better game IMO with the better story. However it is ancient and hard to get into, and you'll need to look up community guides on how to do things in 2019. It's worth playing through to do the whole story and the entire story can be soloed using NPC trusts to help you as long as your skill level is above average and you pick your story job carefully. Most of the people left playing XI these days are veterans who know near everything about the game, so you won't have that new adventurer feel. XI also only mainly gets maintenance updates and small changes, along with balancing these days.

FFXIV is a modern MMO and has a lot of appeal. It is fun, the story is high quality and it just got a massive expansion and the player base is as large as ever. It also has fun side content, engaging crafting and gathering content to do and a lot of other fun things.

I play both regularly but if you are looking for other people to play with, I'd recommend XIV.

 

[Nugnip]

There is absolutely no discussion here, FFXIV is the better game, no question. But at the time, FFXI was the best MMO out there. It was my first MMO, and I have very fond memories of it.

 

[Khrno]

FFXI had the best gameplay, FFXIV has the best stories, and FFXI has fucking fantastic stories so that huge praise.

 

[Deleted member 32018]

It's hard to compare because they are very different and came out at different eras of mmo gaming.

 

[banshee150]

What are some of the ways FFXI is better than FFXIV? I heard it has no instanced dungeons as you just enter and do them from the map which does appeal to me. I actually do have a sub for FFXIV as well as all the expansions but I see FFXI as more of a challenge now :)

 

[kurahador]

I remember the stories where some bosses in FFXI took like hours to beat.

 

[Absoludacrous]

If you're asking which one you can blindly start playing in 2019, then the answer is never FFXI.

 

[signal]

XIV. Unrelated:

 

[banshee150]

If you're asking which one you can blindly start playing in 2019, then the answer is never FFXI.

Click to shrink...

I bought it on impulse yesterday with all the expansions packs and while its incredibly difficult to get into (compared to FFXIV) I do want to maybe solo with trusts all of the content since I heard its so good. So far though I can't even wrap my mind around the interface that requires bajillion key combinations to get to the most basic functions.

 

[Completely Anonymous]

FFXIV - Square learned a lot from FFXI

 

[demondance]

FFXI was tough to come to grips with when it was new. By modern standards it's abysmal to play. It is rewarding if you have the patience to make your way through the challenges of PlayOnline and the UI, though. The gameplay is actually a lot of fun, and the story/general vibe of the world are actually some of the best in the series.

FFXIV is accessible and much lower stress by comparison. And the story/world is also really great. But it's lacking that X factor of XI by being more of a standard post-WoW MMO with all the rote activities that entails. XI sort of stands on its own.

XIV is probably a better game overall right now. A remake or at least a modernizing of the current FFXI would probably be the best FF experience around.

 

[Lirion]

FFXIV and it's not even close.

 

[Deleted member 49535]

After they removed the level cap (when it was 75), FFXI became substantially worse. The community is also not as great as it once was (which is part of what made the game so good).

I vastly prefer XI over XIV, but you can't experience XI today the same way I did. XIV is far easier these days to get into.

 

[Warukyure]

As someone who's played both games for a very long time (XI for over 12 years and still going and XIV for some parts of 1.0 and non-stop since ARR B3).

XIV is ultimately, the better game, its more balanced in a sense even though it makes it boring for classes, the structure, the lay out and QoL, as well as the default difficulty. It respects your time, it evenly rewards you, as a person if they were to start their first MMO, look no further.

XI, if you really think about it, is a shitty MMO, but if you were there for its prime, it was the greatest community bar none, it had to be experienced. The leveling was horrible, traversing was a slap in the face, the rewards for doing anything were trash, the drop rates, the danger in the world, anyone who thought this was a good game could be considered crazy in today's standard.

Things like your first clears of Coils, or doing savage or downing extreme primals and such, I can't say I've ever felt were much compared to teaming up with your Linkshell (the FC's of XI) and doing things like Dynamis Lord, smacking Kirin, downing Jailers or even just random fun at einherjar.

 

[Minthara]

What are some of the ways FFXI is better than FFXIV? I heard it has no instanced dungeons as you just enter and do them from the map which does appeal to me. I actually do have a sub for FFXIV as well as all the expansions but I see FFXI as more of a challenge now :)

Click to shrink...

XI is definitely more of a challenge because a lot of the game design and systems come from a pre-WoW age of MMO design, so its closer to older school Everquest. There is EXP penalties for dying (although they've been lessened to be less rough) and there is a hell of a lot to do since the level cap was 75 for multiple expansions, then moved to 99 for multiple expansions, creating a wide breadth of content (quite a bit of which is irrelevant now but its still there). However, as mentioned earlier, unless you played it in like 2002-2005, the mechanics, gameplay and setup can be extremely obtuse when compared to modern game design, and they've had to retrofit a lot of their systems for things like mounts, achievements and a new questing system. XI is very much a game you need a guide or a wiki to play, because it also does very little explaining.

With all that said, I find the gameplay engaging in every class I've every played in the game (which is all of them) and there is a lot of good story and fun things to do. I like the alternate progression systems that open up to you at 75 and 99, and this is the area that XI remains superior to WoW and XIV to this day, because instead of just upping the level cap and forcing you to re-level, they diversify the content available at max level and give you reasons to keep XPing at max level and progress your character beyond leveling up.

I would not recommend playing it though unless you are ready to fully commit to it, which is why I recommend XIV at this point in time. Since it just got an expansion, the player base and community are booming and there is a lot to do. With XI, the game is at the end of its lifespan, so it's content is rather static right now and will likely remain that way until the servers go down when they do in a few (?) years.

Despite thinking XI is the better game, I subscribe to XIV regularly and I only go back to XI for free periods or once every 3-6 months to just have some fun for a month.

 

[Absoludacrous]

I bought it on impulse yesterday with all the expansions packs and while its incredibly difficult to get into (compared to FFXIV) I do want to maybe solo with trusts all of the content since I heard its so good. So far though I can't even wrap my mind around the interface that requires bajillion key combinations to get to the most basic functions.

Click to shrink...

Personally I think FFXI is best played with a controller. Once you get over some of it's selecting quirks, it's really not that bad.

That's kind of the theme of coming to the game. You have to play by its 2002 rules and have a wiki open at all times, but once you're in the right frame of mind it'll start to come together.

This might be helpful: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Quickstart_1-119_Guide

 

[banshee150]

FFXI is the better game IMO with the better story. However it is ancient and hard to get into, and you'll need to look up community guides on how to do things in 2019. It's worth playing through to do the whole story and the entire story can be soloed using NPC trusts to help you as long as your skill level is above average and you pick your story job carefully. Most of the people left playing XI these days are veterans who know near everything about the game, so you won't have that new adventurer feel. XI also only mainly gets maintenance updates and small changes, along with balancing these days.

FFXIV is a modern MMO and has a lot of appeal. It is fun, the story is high quality and it just got a massive expansion and the player base is as large as ever. It also has fun side content, engaging crafting and gathering content to do and a lot of other fun things.

I play both regularly but if you are looking for other people to play with, I'd recommend XIV.

Click to shrink...

I intend to play FFXIV mostly which I am doing now. However, you are not the first person to tell me that the stories are great which is something I'd like to experience myself but I heard you need to be part of linkshells, be on the right server to get invited at all, etc and the community guides, while helpful, do not inspire in me confidence that I know what I am doing. I just slew some monsters on the first area and followed maybe one of the Records of Eminence missions but then guides and the game keep telling me to go to those coordinates, but I don't even have a map lol

 

[Pikagreg]

As someone who played FFXI for like 12+ years I would say FFXIV is definitely the one to get into now. FFXI has a lot of good going for it but a lot of the gameplay and systems are very archaic and something not user-friendly unless you want to take the time to learn everything.

The one thing I do love about FFXI compared to MMO like FFXIV is the sense of progression. A lot of gear you get at the level cap in FFXI is something that lasts for a long time. There are pieces of equipment from 2004 which is still usable to this day. The game focuses a lot on equipment swapping which makes needing multiple sets of gear a neccesity and there is a lot of different types of content to keep things interesting. One criticism I had of XIV after so long with XI was just how uninteresting gear was and how short lasted it is. It does a good job at keeping players playing and making it easy to get back into the game after long breaks but it does feel bad to know that any piece of gear you get is going to be outdated in a few months.

 

[Jest]

I bought it on impulse yesterday with all the expansions packs and while its incredibly difficult to get into (compared to FFXIV) I do want to maybe solo with trusts all of the content since I heard its so good. So far though I can't even wrap my mind around the interface that requires bajillion key combinations to get to the most basic functions.

Click to shrink...

As someone who tried FFXI when it was still in its prime but after I had already played a bunch of WoW (and before NPC Trusts were a thing)... FFXI is very difficult to get into. The majority of its fans started playing it early on and thus the systems and conveniences of MMO's that have come about since didn't bother them.

If you're starting FFXI for the very first time, today... it's going to be quite an uphill battle to adjust. It will absolutely feel old, slow, and confusing.

 

[Edge]

Imagine starting FFXI, in the year 2019, a week after the newest FFXIV add-on got released.

Just

to me.



XIV is the answer, by a mile.

 

[Meicyn]

I bought it on impulse yesterday with all the expansions packs and while its incredibly difficult to get into (compared to FFXIV) I do want to maybe solo with trusts all of the content since I heard its so good. So far though I can't even wrap my mind around the interface that requires bajillion key combinations to get to the most basic functions.

Click to shrink...

It's due to the fact that the game was designed around a Playstation2 controller, and everything being built upon that foundation afterwards. Keyboard/mouse is a complete afterthought.

FFXI is a game that honestly does not stand the test of time. It's a collection of elements that have fantastic attention to detail, and it was clear that all parties involved in its creation loved what they did. The stories are great, the music is fantastic, the visuals were incredible for its era, etc. But it's awful to play, and players overlooked a lot back then, especially back when the game flat out didn't respect your free time. I don't know how I did all the grinding I did back in the 2000s.

 

[signal]

If you really want skewed nostalgia answers you should have included FFXIV 1.0 as well lol.

 

[DeeDubs]

I prefer FFXI by a mile. I hate cooldown watching rotational mmo gameplay. I also can't stand how flashy every attack and animation is in 14. Was thinking about getting into 14 with the new expansion, but watching raid streams is almost seizure inducing.

 

[ProstatePuncher]

Imagine starting FFXI, in the year 2019, a week after the newest FFXIV add-on got released.

Just

to me.



XIV is the answer, by a mile.

Click to shrink...

Still a good game with insane amounts of content, which can all be solo'ed under the Trust system.

Its like opting to play Baldurs Gate or another similar CRPG when there's Wasteland 2 and the rest of it. The old stuff is still good.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

FFXI's age hasn't done it any favors -- it's a game that's continued to live on despite a large shift in expectations, and while it has made some attempt to address that, it's still largely an "outdated" game. As other users have said, if you've kept apace with it, it's quite rewarding, but as someone who's been kinda in and out, I've long since dropped off.

XIV itself is something of an investment if you were to start right now, but its various systems are far more modern and easy to tap into. The large investment comes from the rigid path of progression that's held by the requirement to work through the story in a linear order, but the various periphery systems that give its MMO, progression-based identity are not at all hard to get into.

To me, it's XIV, despite having been in and out of XI since its North American beginnings. They're both great, but XI is largely impenetrable today unless your foray into it is heavily guided by an existing member of its lingering player base. XIV will require quite a time and mental commitment as its storyline-based progression demands -- unless you choose to skip it via an additional transaction that automatically levels you up to the current expansion pack, which I find completely inadvisable -- the story and context it lends to your activities is what makes it so special IMO -- but overall I think it's the better and ultimately easier game to approach.

 

[banshee150]

If you really want skewed nostalgia answers you should have included FFXIV 1.0 as well lol.

Click to shrink...

Can you still play that? lol

 

[Minthara]

I intend to play FFXIV mostly which I am doing now. However, you are not the first person to tell me that the stories are great which is something I'd like to experience myself but I heard you need to be part of linkshells, be on the right server to get invited at all, etc and the community guides, while helpful, do not inspire in me confidence that I know what I am doing. I just slew some monsters on the first area and followed maybe one of the Records of Eminence missions but then guides and the game keep telling me to go to those coordinates, but I don't even have a map lol

Click to shrink...

Honestly, you do not need a linkshell to do any of the story at all, as long as you play a class that has strong innate tools. A good example of this is Dancer or specifically, Ninja. I was not able to solo the last boss fight in the main story as a Dancer (but I did everything else with trusts easy enough), so i did Ninja 45-99 in a weekend and soloed it (with trusts) instead with little difficulty. That's the kind of game XI is, where you are expected to level a different job if you run into a roadblock and you need multiple jobs to at least 49 to be subjobs to your main job.

The only reason to be in a Linkshell is if you don't want to do things solo or if you would like to socialize with others,

But yes, modern FFXI means follow Records fo Eminence, it should get you setup and understanding of most of the basic mechanics.

 

[Minthara]

If you really want skewed nostalgia answers you should have included FFXIV 1.0 as well lol.

Click to shrink...

To be honest, I think XIV 1.23 (the latest patch before they blew everything up) did some things better than modern XIV although obviously they had to blow everything up and that was definitely the right decision. Yoshi-P did a great job understanding the limitations of 1.0 XIV and adding meaningful content and mechanics to it that the game could actually support. I like modern XIV quite a bit, but I don't think a fight in modern XIV has made me feel in love with the game as much as 1.23 Darnus did.

I think XIV still has things to learn from both XI and 1.23 XIV to make it feel less like a WoW clone. Focusing on story was one thing both those games had that they doubled down on in 2.0 FFXIV, which is great, but I do think there are other things that would be good to adapt or modernize for 2.0 XIV as well. An expansion of this from 1.X XIV is Hamlet, which had a lot of problems but the potential was there to make meaningful content that gatherers, crafters and battle classes were all needed for.

 

[Meicyn]

Can you still play that? lol

Click to shrink...

No, and you wouldn't want to. Trust me. At launch, it managed to have more frustrating elements than FFXI. It was THAT bad.

In a roundabout way, I'm glad it happened though since it birthed the current iteration FFXIV.

 

[Warukyure]

Can you still play that? lol

Click to shrink...

I think there was a private server available at a time that just let you see the world, but there wasn't any mobs or NPCs. Not sure if its dead though.

 

[Magyscar]

They're entirely different so it is just which one fits people's tastes more. I find XI to be incredibly engaging. I love the stories, world, music and general structure to death whereas the tedious questing and theme park nature of XIV bores me to tears.

XIV is definitely a lot easier to get into though. As much as I love XI it would be hard to recommend to someone to start playing now. It shows it's age in a lot of ways. If it does happen to be your thing though then you can experience pretty much all the story content solo nowadays and I think it's well worth it as the writing is superb.

 

[Deleted member 18021]

My heart says XI, but my brain remembers that the game I fell in love with so long ago doesn't exist anymore.

 

[signal]

To be honest, I think XIV 1.23 (the latest patch before they blew everything up) did some things better than modern XIV although obviously they had to blow everything up and that was definitely the right decision. Yoshi-P did a great job understanding the limitations of 1.0 XIV and adding meaningful content and mechanics to it that the game could actually support. I like modern XIV quite a bit, but I don't think a fight in modern XIV has made me feel in love with the game as much as 1.23 Darnus did.

I think XIV still has things to learn from both XI and 1.23 XIV to make it feel less like a WoW clone. Focusing on story was one thing both those games had that they doubled down on in 2.0 FFXIV, which is great, but I do think there are other things that would be good to adapt or modernize for 2.0 XIV as well. An expansion of this from 1.X XIV is Hamlet, which had a lot of problems but the potential was there to make meaningful content that gatherers, crafters and battle classes were all needed for.

Click to shrink...

Never played it but I liked 1.0's Chaos Thrust better!

 

[Luigi87]

No, and you wouldn't want to. Trust me. At launch, it managed to have more frustrating elements than FFXI. It was THAT bad.

In a roundabout way, I'm glad it happened though since it birthed the current iteration FFXIV.

Click to shrink...

Trying to trick myself into enjoying 1.0 is ultimately what put me off from picking up ARR until years later, which I regret. At the time of development I didn't realize that 2.0 was actually a completely different game.


Anywho I love FFXIV, but I never played XI so I can't really make comment.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

FFXIV. Not even close.

Click to shrink...

Correct.

I have more fond memories of XI, but that's probably because of the time and place in life I was playing that game. XIV is just better in almost every way.

 

[Magyscar]

My heart says XI, but my brain remembers that the game I fell in love with so long ago doesn't exist anymore.

Click to shrink...

If you mean the way the game used to be with it being very community reliant then private servers exist for that.

 

[Ferrs]

I prefer XI but its not as accessible. The world was so much better, with barely reliance on instances, and it was actually challenging to get through. The combat system was also better, trying to imitate old FFs instead of WoW. Of course, the game is now dated and there's a lot of design decisions that prioritized inmersion to time wasted, but the roots are more original and for me, just plain better.

 

[Dalik]

After shadowbringers, there's no contest.

 

[Sky87]

FFXIV is the best FF game in general.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

XI is one of the best games ever made

XIV is garbage

 

[Taruranto]

XI, it's not even a contest.

It's even more obvious if you go back to it after XIV, the horizontal progression and storytelling are so much better than Yoshi-P's dull game of tomestones.

It also felt like a proper MMORPG back in its prime, you really could do very little alone, as it should be. But even today the many gameplay systems and variety of events, as well the fantastic job system and itemization are better than XIV's.

 

[Mattakuevan]

FF11 at its prime (CoP, ToAU) was significantly better, but those days are loooooong past.

FF14 is substantially better than what FF11 is now.

 

[Disclaimer]

In terms of what's more accessible today, obviously FFXIV.

Though not only does FFXI have fantastic stories/characters that hold up today, but in its prime, it was... an unforgettable experience that's hard to describe, and which hasn't been replicated since — and not just in the nostalgic "person's first MMO" sense. Its social element was unbelievably strong, partly because one could do very little by themselves. Vana'diel felt like a real world.

So I'd personally say FFXI was the better experience... for the time. But what the "better game" is is debatable, depending on one's preferences. XIV's story is good, its mechanics are very modern, and it doesn't require you essentially dedicate your life to it like XI did. But prime XI didn't fall victim to the modern MMO design of vertical progression — items with very low level requirements would often be viable, or even optimal, into endgame.

 

[Edge]

I saw a fantastic YouTube series last year about FFXIV 1.0 and his history up to A Realm Reborn with explanations, video material of everything, high quality produced. Is there something similar out there for XI? Maybe even with comparisons to XIV? Love stuff like this and would love to know more about the history, development, changes over the years and the "end".

 

[Griselbrand]

No, and you wouldn't want to. Trust me. At launch, it managed to have more frustrating elements than FFXI. It was THAT bad.

In a roundabout way, I'm glad it happened though since it birthed the current iteration FFXIV.

Click to shrink...

There are people still today that delude themselves into thinking 1.0 was better than 2.0 and onwards. Although I generally see that more in the XI subreddit.

I often get the itch to go back and explore XI. The game is certainly not better, especially graphics wise, but I really like the design of the different regions and locations. Traversal was much more treacherous and interesting to me as well.

 

[Dekuman]

XI is the better MMO (actual massively multiplayer online) RPG in terms of living up to the name and requiring interactions with real people and encouraging a player made economy. People made and lost fortunes betting on the market in the game. FFXI IMHO also has a good story ( better or worse than FFXIV is relative to taste)

FFXIV is much more modern, looks greaty has a lot of quality of life features I wish FFXI has (XI did get some patched in but not all) so I can't fault people for choosing it. But my time in XIV felt very much like a theme park. Everything is instanced and the actual landmass is pretty meaningless. You can stand in one spot and hop around different duties and missions while crafting of items and earning gil that is mostly meaningless.

That said this competition is pointless. Both XI and XIV are under the same business division and share staff. If XIV does well, XI's future is more secure because there's staff and servers that they can share costs.

I actually hope XIV gets an XI centric expansion in the future.

 

[Conor]

To me FFXI is a much better game. Although it does have some significant issues in terms of accessibility, excessive grind, and its archaic UI and quest system, I personally think it's a far more rewarding game. I dont get anywhere near the same sense of accomplishment or the desire to do things in FFXIV. XI also has a far more unique and interesting combat system, along with better writing, and a more interesting and enjoyable world to explore. Saying that, I would probably suggest most people play FFXIV in 2019, it's a fine WoW style MMO with plenty of FF fan service. XI isn't quite the game it used to be in terms of community and although updates have made it more accessible its still a massive undertaking.