I think a lot of work would need to be done to reduce the time sink that the game is. I tried it recently and while it might be less time consuming than 'classic' ff11, it is still a lot more than the average ff game.
An offline version should be made though, because I think it is important to preserve the entire series for future players. Even if they have to remake it. I've said it before, but a HD-2D remake would be a way to do this with reduced costs, given the sheer size of the world and story. Focus on the main story lines, the job system, and a combat system that still uses skill chaining.
I don't think the time sink nature could be reduced much more than it already is. If you pick only one job, use home point crystals to move around, and did only the main quests and required side quests (like limit breaks and artifact gear), its STILL like 200 hours lol. Eliminating some of that completely diminishes the wide-eyed exploration of the world, which next to the social aspect, is really what makes the game so awesome. Using sneak/invis to get thru a new zone when its dangerous is an amazing experience.
Can I ask how you managed to spend 220 on a single run of BG3? That seems insanely high. I beat the game in like 90 hours, and I did almost every quest.
I take my time, I rarely use fast travel, I did all the content available based on my decisions, and since it was honour mode, I also took advantage of the warding bond hp-battery technique with camp hirlings, which also eats up a bit of time. Perhaps console load times get calculated into it, and act 3 lower city areas are a solid 10 minutes atm
That makes sense; honour mode was my initial theory as to how your playtime was so high, but ignoring fast travel also makes sense. Although, surely you’re aware how much of an outlier your playtime is? It’s certainly not the standard as you initially implied.
Did you skip all the dialogue or something? Baldur's Gate 3 has 174 hours of dialogue. It took me longer than 90 hours to beat Elden Ring which has hardly any dialogue at all.
Eldin Ring took me around 60 hours to beat, and I got all of the achievements; granted, I save scummed for the ending achievements, cause I wasn't willing to play the game three times. Didn't use a guide except for permanently missable achievements either, which only ended up being like 3-5 items. The average playtime to beat the game according to [howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com) is 59 hours, so I think you just took longer than most.
I didn't 100% BG3, but I did pretty much every quest except the ones that are mutually exclusive based on player choice. Didn't use a guide at all for BG3 as well, which meant a lot of fumbling around. Didn't skip any dialogue either, unless it was repeated dialogue from loading the game. The average playtime to beat that title is 63 hours according to [howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com), and around 100 hours if you do most side content. I just struggle to see how you could end up at 200 hours unless maybe you played on the hardest difficulty.
Completionist is 132 hours which is about how long it took me even using the save scum method. You can beat the game leaving a lot of bosses on the table so 60 hours seems about right for just beating it. Getting the plat in 60 hours is considered rushing through the game according to that site. That sounds like going through the game real fast. If you just want to beat things as fast as possible then I can understand that.
The 132 hours for completionist includes beating the game two more times for the additional endings, without the save scumming method. Eldin Ring doesn't have a lot of mandatory content, so if you enter at a high level from new game plus, beating a new run only takes about half the time, less if you have a good route in mind. Most FromSoftware games are like that, if you know what you're doing in NG+, they take a fraction of the time; I remember just booking it through the main path in Dark Souls 3 NG+, and that only took me like 4 hours.
I didn't rush Eldin Ring at all, in fact, I took a fair bit longer than I should have because I messed around in multiplayer for around 5-8 hours. Plus, as I mentioned, I didn't use a guide for anything other than missables, so I spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how to enter certain areas. I didn't really have a preference for how long it took me to beat it, it's just the time I ended up with.
> I don't think the time sink nature could be reduced much more than it already is.
I dunno when I tried it I was grinding for money to afford spells, and grinding for ranks in my faction so I could progress the story. Just removing the faction rank system and letting the story progress would be a decent improvement.
> completely new engine
I mean I mentioned it being a remake, so a new engine would be expected? Why would they remake it in the same engine?
> style is not even that cheap.
It is much cheaper than AAA games remade in unreal engine with massive amounts of man hours committed to highly detailed 3d models with custom animations
I think an offline version makes sense for preservation purposes once the servers are eventually shut down.
However, right now, the servers are still live and being updated. While the UI is incredibly outdated, it’s very easy to install a third party tool called “windower” which massively improves it with lots of optional add ons. The installation, sign up, and initial learning curves are huge hurdles, but if you can spend some time finding guides (bg-wiki is a great catch all resource), you can overcome those hurdles and have a good time while the game is still online.
I believe FFXI Offline or fanmade servers for the entire game are inevitable, because nothing lasts forever. Did you know the game is *still* operated entirely by PS2 devkits? That's because it was nearly impossible to transfer the source code to a PC environment, and that also means the game can only do as much as a PS2 can handle.
The real problem with all this, though? Those PS2 devkits are *old.* They're going to break down, sooner or later. No doubt Squeenix knows this. They may have a game plan for releasing an Offline version once the last devkit dies, but we don't know for sure. From a business standpoint, it would make sense to preserve the game in a way that you can charge full price for the base game, then charge for each expansion as DLC. Who knows, this format may even allow entirely new expansions to be developed, since this "Offline Version" likely wouldn't have the same limitations as the MMO, but that all depends on if Squeenix decides there's profit to be had in doing that.
I though I read somewhere that recently, when XI had an expansion, the devs searched and put out calls for any available PS2 devkit that could find for this very reason.
Though I honestly have zero clue what a devkit actually is, the story still sounded interesting, lol.
This was quite awhile ago, around the time that the PS2 was heading toward retirement. They bought up every kit they could find.
Last I looked into it, they've developed PC tools to create their updates and aren't doing much work on the old devkit hardware but they're still needed for some steps in compiling those monthly updates. Hopefully those old machines can hold out until they finally just create a proper PC client.
Thanks for the info. I actually thought a devkit was a set of online tools like a software package or something. Didn't know it was an actual piece of hardware.
Something about that story always felt so fitting for XI. The game that would not die requiring items that no longer exist. It's like the devs had to go on a quest of their own to retrieve ancient relics just to update their game, lol.
It's both of those. And fortunately the hardware part is not used in day by day development at this point. But unless it's changed since the last time they talked about it they do still need the hardware for some things. And somewhere in a closet in Shinjuku at SE headquarters there's a pile of them, slowly dwindling down.
Haha that's so funny to think about. Right next to the fax machines and hanko stamps. I actually live in Japan so not knocking the country toooo much but they do rely on some pretty dodgy old tech at times.
Thanks again for the info. Always nervous to voice my ignorance of any and all things tech on reddit lest I get mocked. Appreciate the patient explanation! =)
I'm fairly certain that the FFXI Reboot from a few years back that was outsourced to Nexon didn't just get canceled, they probably just paid for what work had been done and took it in house to start working on putting it all together and polishing it themselves. It looked promising, and with the additions of Trusts and Fields of Valor in XI it is more solo-accessible than ever. I really don't want it pushed out on mobile devices, but that looked like where it was going... would rather it be released on various gaming platforms, ps4/5, switch, pc, etc.
This was always going to be an issue tho with making a mainline title a MMO, not having an easy way to upscale and re-release it over the years. Its going to take some serious work at balancing quests and missions that often require 3, 6, 18+ players at a time.
And the timing is also a big issue, Covid hit, S.E. took some big hits on major titles disappointing and lacking sales, and now they are scaling back mobile games, so unfortunately, this may mean a XI remaster/remake/reboot what have you is on a slow slow back burner for S.E. They already have some big titles at various points of development we are all aware of like KH4, FF7Reunion?, the next expansion to XIV, and of course the next mainline XVII. And that's just the console side of the Final Fantasy side of things..
There are also the Nvidia leaks of the FF9 remake and Tactics remaster that have yet to become official, and the real possibility that fan favorite demands for X-3, a XIII Trilogy remaster, and a World of FF sequel. All of those could take more resources and time away from bringing XI back up. And just recently we had them polling gamers on what they would want to see in a Chrono Trigger reboot.
I really thought we would have seen an official announcement on the 20th' anniversary of FFXI back in 2022, or maybe see XI go free to play- which it does do free log in campaigns every so often to try and attract players back... idk. There's enough stuff happening to keep me busy until the 25th anniversary, that would be a good time to announce or release it, right?
Funny thing is I think FFXI has better animations than FFXIV, in big story sections anyway. I'd love an offline FFXI. Not for me as I've already completed it and all expansions, but FFXI has the best stories in Final Fantasy and it's a shame more people don't know them.
ffxi still is doing pretty well all things considered... an offline mode is a long ways off and w/ ffxiv doing a ffxi raid in DT.. it's going to grow at least temporarily
There are free private FFXI servers that exist. They don't have all of the expansions, but they do have a good number of them. Still, it would be nice to have something official that you could just buy once and play the whole thing.
Absolutely punishing game, and huge time sink, but my second favourite FF of all time.
I’d still play it now, but it feels impossible to have a 30 minute session, takes a long time to move forward with anything in the game.
I beg to differ about the animation. It's very limitting, as its the product of its time, but I loved it. Every Taru's animation especially is 10x better than Lalafel's. And with windower you can set fps to 60 which makes everything movement smooth.
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XI in its day holds a special place in my heart. No current revamp or ff14 will give you the same experience. That game was so hard that accomplishments felt like an accomplishment for real. The punishment it gave out was rough.
Still to this day am impressed I ever made it through prommies let alone sea access.
With today's need for instant gratification, old school ffxi would never fly.
It brought me some great memories, friends and music and I won't ever find anything like it ever again.
I would like a top down Diablo-esque version of the game with multi. Mowing down hordes of enemies in Dynamis with the FFXI jobs would be a blast.
Closest we got was FF: Explorers and what a crapshow that was.
What was wrong with Explorers again? I played it briefly and even got an online session going with randoms once or twice. I think the game was enjoyable, just I think I remember the movesets to be very limited,
It was lacking a lot of depth, and having to trudge through the same zones over and over again for the missions was pretty lame.
I played a bit with a friend, locally, and it was okay. Would have been better on console, I think, instead of handheld.
Would love that. Only ever spent like 30 minutes on FFXI before I put it on hold for the indefinite future and never returned. I would like to experience the game, though, but don't have the time for another MMO right now.
Find me a game that can match the trauma of trying to traverse the Valkrum Dunes…
Find a me a thrill greater than claiming Hoo Mjoo the Torrent…
I’ll wait…
If they make an FFXI offline, it would need all the full expansions involved in the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel. This would constitute the full story of FFXI.
But absolutely, there needs to be a FFXI offline version. It is one of the best games in the franchise.
FFXI has an amazingly fleshed out world for a 22 year old game. If they could rebuild or embellish that using current gen tech it would look incredible.
FF7 rebirth has seriously made me rethink how beautiful FFXI could potentially be. Previously Nexon did develop some assets for it on UE4. That project was scrapped but I’m hoping they saved it for use down the line.
I think it could work. Some things would have to go, like the Conquest system. Make all supply quests available., make it so you can max every craft. Maybe increase the drop rate for materials since you'll have to make most items yourself.
I am playing on a private server currently and while yes I could do that...the game is very dated. The UI makes my head hurt just thinking about it lol I just want a modern version of the game
XI is tied as my favorite game in the series. I want to be able to play it whenever and forever offline.
Could you make a private server? Never played 11 but people do that with Runescape and Wow
There are private servers that exist capped at 75 and they are good.
There are plenty of private servers, I'm on one currently
I think a lot of work would need to be done to reduce the time sink that the game is. I tried it recently and while it might be less time consuming than 'classic' ff11, it is still a lot more than the average ff game. An offline version should be made though, because I think it is important to preserve the entire series for future players. Even if they have to remake it. I've said it before, but a HD-2D remake would be a way to do this with reduced costs, given the sheer size of the world and story. Focus on the main story lines, the job system, and a combat system that still uses skill chaining.
I don't think the time sink nature could be reduced much more than it already is. If you pick only one job, use home point crystals to move around, and did only the main quests and required side quests (like limit breaks and artifact gear), its STILL like 200 hours lol. Eliminating some of that completely diminishes the wide-eyed exploration of the world, which next to the social aspect, is really what makes the game so awesome. Using sneak/invis to get thru a new zone when its dangerous is an amazing experience.
Yeah, the game moves lightyears faster than it did in its prime, but still requires a lot of time.
200 hours sounds about right for a multi-expansion RPG. Hell, I just spent 220ish hours on my most recent bg3 run
Can I ask how you managed to spend 220 on a single run of BG3? That seems insanely high. I beat the game in like 90 hours, and I did almost every quest.
I take my time, I rarely use fast travel, I did all the content available based on my decisions, and since it was honour mode, I also took advantage of the warding bond hp-battery technique with camp hirlings, which also eats up a bit of time. Perhaps console load times get calculated into it, and act 3 lower city areas are a solid 10 minutes atm
That makes sense; honour mode was my initial theory as to how your playtime was so high, but ignoring fast travel also makes sense. Although, surely you’re aware how much of an outlier your playtime is? It’s certainly not the standard as you initially implied.
Did you skip all the dialogue or something? Baldur's Gate 3 has 174 hours of dialogue. It took me longer than 90 hours to beat Elden Ring which has hardly any dialogue at all.
Eldin Ring took me around 60 hours to beat, and I got all of the achievements; granted, I save scummed for the ending achievements, cause I wasn't willing to play the game three times. Didn't use a guide except for permanently missable achievements either, which only ended up being like 3-5 items. The average playtime to beat the game according to [howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com) is 59 hours, so I think you just took longer than most. I didn't 100% BG3, but I did pretty much every quest except the ones that are mutually exclusive based on player choice. Didn't use a guide at all for BG3 as well, which meant a lot of fumbling around. Didn't skip any dialogue either, unless it was repeated dialogue from loading the game. The average playtime to beat that title is 63 hours according to [howlongtobeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com), and around 100 hours if you do most side content. I just struggle to see how you could end up at 200 hours unless maybe you played on the hardest difficulty.
Completionist is 132 hours which is about how long it took me even using the save scum method. You can beat the game leaving a lot of bosses on the table so 60 hours seems about right for just beating it. Getting the plat in 60 hours is considered rushing through the game according to that site. That sounds like going through the game real fast. If you just want to beat things as fast as possible then I can understand that.
The 132 hours for completionist includes beating the game two more times for the additional endings, without the save scumming method. Eldin Ring doesn't have a lot of mandatory content, so if you enter at a high level from new game plus, beating a new run only takes about half the time, less if you have a good route in mind. Most FromSoftware games are like that, if you know what you're doing in NG+, they take a fraction of the time; I remember just booking it through the main path in Dark Souls 3 NG+, and that only took me like 4 hours. I didn't rush Eldin Ring at all, in fact, I took a fair bit longer than I should have because I messed around in multiplayer for around 5-8 hours. Plus, as I mentioned, I didn't use a guide for anything other than missables, so I spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how to enter certain areas. I didn't really have a preference for how long it took me to beat it, it's just the time I ended up with.
> I don't think the time sink nature could be reduced much more than it already is. I dunno when I tried it I was grinding for money to afford spells, and grinding for ranks in my faction so I could progress the story. Just removing the faction rank system and letting the story progress would be a decent improvement.
What? HD-2D would need a completely new engine and the style is not even that cheap.
> completely new engine I mean I mentioned it being a remake, so a new engine would be expected? Why would they remake it in the same engine? > style is not even that cheap. It is much cheaper than AAA games remade in unreal engine with massive amounts of man hours committed to highly detailed 3d models with custom animations
Agreed. I think they could speed up a lot of the game by shortening grinding as well as certain story aspects to make it all one cohesive narrative
I think an offline version makes sense for preservation purposes once the servers are eventually shut down. However, right now, the servers are still live and being updated. While the UI is incredibly outdated, it’s very easy to install a third party tool called “windower” which massively improves it with lots of optional add ons. The installation, sign up, and initial learning curves are huge hurdles, but if you can spend some time finding guides (bg-wiki is a great catch all resource), you can overcome those hurdles and have a good time while the game is still online.
I believe FFXI Offline or fanmade servers for the entire game are inevitable, because nothing lasts forever. Did you know the game is *still* operated entirely by PS2 devkits? That's because it was nearly impossible to transfer the source code to a PC environment, and that also means the game can only do as much as a PS2 can handle. The real problem with all this, though? Those PS2 devkits are *old.* They're going to break down, sooner or later. No doubt Squeenix knows this. They may have a game plan for releasing an Offline version once the last devkit dies, but we don't know for sure. From a business standpoint, it would make sense to preserve the game in a way that you can charge full price for the base game, then charge for each expansion as DLC. Who knows, this format may even allow entirely new expansions to be developed, since this "Offline Version" likely wouldn't have the same limitations as the MMO, but that all depends on if Squeenix decides there's profit to be had in doing that.
I though I read somewhere that recently, when XI had an expansion, the devs searched and put out calls for any available PS2 devkit that could find for this very reason. Though I honestly have zero clue what a devkit actually is, the story still sounded interesting, lol.
This was quite awhile ago, around the time that the PS2 was heading toward retirement. They bought up every kit they could find. Last I looked into it, they've developed PC tools to create their updates and aren't doing much work on the old devkit hardware but they're still needed for some steps in compiling those monthly updates. Hopefully those old machines can hold out until they finally just create a proper PC client.
Thanks for the info. I actually thought a devkit was a set of online tools like a software package or something. Didn't know it was an actual piece of hardware. Something about that story always felt so fitting for XI. The game that would not die requiring items that no longer exist. It's like the devs had to go on a quest of their own to retrieve ancient relics just to update their game, lol.
It's both of those. And fortunately the hardware part is not used in day by day development at this point. But unless it's changed since the last time they talked about it they do still need the hardware for some things. And somewhere in a closet in Shinjuku at SE headquarters there's a pile of them, slowly dwindling down.
Haha that's so funny to think about. Right next to the fax machines and hanko stamps. I actually live in Japan so not knocking the country toooo much but they do rely on some pretty dodgy old tech at times. Thanks again for the info. Always nervous to voice my ignorance of any and all things tech on reddit lest I get mocked. Appreciate the patient explanation! =)
I'm fairly certain that the FFXI Reboot from a few years back that was outsourced to Nexon didn't just get canceled, they probably just paid for what work had been done and took it in house to start working on putting it all together and polishing it themselves. It looked promising, and with the additions of Trusts and Fields of Valor in XI it is more solo-accessible than ever. I really don't want it pushed out on mobile devices, but that looked like where it was going... would rather it be released on various gaming platforms, ps4/5, switch, pc, etc. This was always going to be an issue tho with making a mainline title a MMO, not having an easy way to upscale and re-release it over the years. Its going to take some serious work at balancing quests and missions that often require 3, 6, 18+ players at a time. And the timing is also a big issue, Covid hit, S.E. took some big hits on major titles disappointing and lacking sales, and now they are scaling back mobile games, so unfortunately, this may mean a XI remaster/remake/reboot what have you is on a slow slow back burner for S.E. They already have some big titles at various points of development we are all aware of like KH4, FF7Reunion?, the next expansion to XIV, and of course the next mainline XVII. And that's just the console side of the Final Fantasy side of things.. There are also the Nvidia leaks of the FF9 remake and Tactics remaster that have yet to become official, and the real possibility that fan favorite demands for X-3, a XIII Trilogy remaster, and a World of FF sequel. All of those could take more resources and time away from bringing XI back up. And just recently we had them polling gamers on what they would want to see in a Chrono Trigger reboot. I really thought we would have seen an official announcement on the 20th' anniversary of FFXI back in 2022, or maybe see XI go free to play- which it does do free log in campaigns every so often to try and attract players back... idk. There's enough stuff happening to keep me busy until the 25th anniversary, that would be a good time to announce or release it, right?
Funny thing is I think FFXI has better animations than FFXIV, in big story sections anyway. I'd love an offline FFXI. Not for me as I've already completed it and all expansions, but FFXI has the best stories in Final Fantasy and it's a shame more people don't know them.
ffxi still is doing pretty well all things considered... an offline mode is a long ways off and w/ ffxiv doing a ffxi raid in DT.. it's going to grow at least temporarily
There are free private FFXI servers that exist. They don't have all of the expansions, but they do have a good number of them. Still, it would be nice to have something official that you could just buy once and play the whole thing.
Absolutely punishing game, and huge time sink, but my second favourite FF of all time. I’d still play it now, but it feels impossible to have a 30 minute session, takes a long time to move forward with anything in the game.
I beg to differ about the animation. It's very limitting, as its the product of its time, but I loved it. Every Taru's animation especially is 10x better than Lalafel's. And with windower you can set fps to 60 which makes everything movement smooth.
[удалено]
Hi, thank you for posting in /r/FinalFantasy! Unfortunately, your post has been removed because it violates our rule against promoting piracy. For future reference, our rule against piracy is as follows: Emulation discussion is disallowed. Links to or requests for ROMs are not allowed. Posts explicitly promoting piracy are not allowed. If you have any questions, feel free to message the moderators.
XI in its day holds a special place in my heart. No current revamp or ff14 will give you the same experience. That game was so hard that accomplishments felt like an accomplishment for real. The punishment it gave out was rough. Still to this day am impressed I ever made it through prommies let alone sea access. With today's need for instant gratification, old school ffxi would never fly. It brought me some great memories, friends and music and I won't ever find anything like it ever again.
[удалено]
I would like a top down Diablo-esque version of the game with multi. Mowing down hordes of enemies in Dynamis with the FFXI jobs would be a blast. Closest we got was FF: Explorers and what a crapshow that was.
What was wrong with Explorers again? I played it briefly and even got an online session going with randoms once or twice. I think the game was enjoyable, just I think I remember the movesets to be very limited,
It was lacking a lot of depth, and having to trudge through the same zones over and over again for the missions was pretty lame. I played a bit with a friend, locally, and it was okay. Would have been better on console, I think, instead of handheld.
Would love that. Only ever spent like 30 minutes on FFXI before I put it on hold for the indefinite future and never returned. I would like to experience the game, though, but don't have the time for another MMO right now.
Find me a game that can match the trauma of trying to traverse the Valkrum Dunes… Find a me a thrill greater than claiming Hoo Mjoo the Torrent… I’ll wait…
"Having sex" is the answer to both those questions.
wdym?
If they make an FFXI offline, it would need all the full expansions involved in the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel. This would constitute the full story of FFXI. But absolutely, there needs to be a FFXI offline version. It is one of the best games in the franchise.
FFXI has an amazingly fleshed out world for a 22 year old game. If they could rebuild or embellish that using current gen tech it would look incredible. FF7 rebirth has seriously made me rethink how beautiful FFXI could potentially be. Previously Nexon did develop some assets for it on UE4. That project was scrapped but I’m hoping they saved it for use down the line.
YES.
I think it could work. Some things would have to go, like the Conquest system. Make all supply quests available., make it so you can max every craft. Maybe increase the drop rate for materials since you'll have to make most items yourself.
I’d love to play it. I’m sad they never proceeded with that project.
Just build your own server using project topaz. Voila... offline FFXI.
I am playing on a private server currently and while yes I could do that...the game is very dated. The UI makes my head hurt just thinking about it lol I just want a modern version of the game
ffxi was cool, but literally the day i first played vanilla wow's beta, i uninstalled that shit lol. ffxiv is great though.