I’ve been playing through all the numbered games and its been great. I could write an essay or two on any of them. In general I’m only including base games and no expansions or DLC so it wouldn’t be a huge undertaking to beat 11, but I’m trying to see if it’s worth it from others who have done the marathon.
I was already a XIV player before I started this so that base game has been covered for awhile now.
I genuinely thought they killed it off. Wow.
But no, I wouldn’t include any MMO in a game marathon. XIV has a “story” but compared to a legit single player rpg, yeah no way.
I’ll be honest compared to many of the main FF games like X, XIII or XVI, XIV’s story from ARR->EW, especially once you’re in the last segments of ShB and EW, easily outdoes them. It’s slow as molasses since it has to fit a whole MMO with 2y release cycles into it, but it’s also damn good.
Not related but an old memory.
Bought the game when it came out was around 12 y/o, and was so happy since my parents rarely got me games. Got home, told them I needed a card for online monthly payments… The game just sat there and picked up dust. Never got to play it.
Aha thats brutal. Thats why the MMOs should never have been numbered games! Final Fantasy: Online would have gotten the point across.
I got my copy free when I bought my PS2 hard drive and never played it once.
I lost my best friend to that game. He got into playing it so much after high school that he basically stopped doing anything else. I’d call him to hang out and he’d ghost me to play the game instead. Eventually I gave up trying…
My friends now want me to get into FFXIV and I absolutely refuse.
I do not include XI or XIV. Also, I still haven’t beaten II, IV, or VI. But I’ve beaten the rest and some of the spin-offs.
I think II is really cool! I recommend the GBA version though.
I already bought the Pixel Remaster version. Maybe I’ll start it after next month’s FFV Four Job Fiesta challenge.
Oh thats fine! Just not the NES version. I love 8bit stuff but it can be a lot harder to get into.
Oh hi! I played XI from release until recently (with some breaks). IMHO the original story (basically up to Rank 6 where you defeat the Shadow Lord) is fine, but it’s really more of a prelude and setting up the stakes. If you stop there it’s not really worth your time.
Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia (+ optionally Apocalypse Nigh) are pretty good from a story perspective. These can be completed solo. This is what I’d recommend playing through to anyone interested in the real story.
From there it’s somewhat diminishing returns. Treasures and Wings add some interesting bits to the lore. Rhapsody is actually great but will take a lot of time and effort and is probably only worth it to a die hard fan.
Thanks for the details! I might try to beat the Shadow Lord and then see how I feel about continuing.
You must be clinically insane to start XI in today’s time
Just watch a couple of cinematics
It still has a decent population and it is a numbered Final Fantasy game, I don’t think it’s too crazy to consider (I will probably skip it though)
It has a die hard fanbase indeed. And has gone through a few facelifts to make it soloable.
But as someone who played xi back in the Day, it has not aged well. Neither the graphics or the game systems.
I have been in the process of doing the marathon slowly but surely over the past year and a half.
I play XIV when I can and I enjoy it, but hardly have time for one MMO, much less a second one. I decided that trying to do XI was too big an ask, so I opted to replace it with Tactics (the PSP War of the Lions version specifically).
Tactics is a much-praised game that, despite not being numbered, is considered part of Final Fantasy’s core identity (and comes up a lot in XIV), and it provides a nice tie-in to 12, both being Ivalice games, so I thought it worked well.
The only difficult part is that there is no PC port of Tactics. I had to emulate it. Though I do know that there are iOS/Android ports of it which may work better for some.
No of course not. Plus XI nowadays is a bit tricky to play anyways, and with XIV, there’s also no reason to for the average player.
Might as well ask if we included Tactics.
Tactics doesnt have a number though
That’s my point.
I’ve been playing through all the numbered games and its been great.
Its a numbered game and I’ve been playing the numbered games up till now. I’ve never played 11 maybe the stories incredible I think its worth asking in the context of what I’m doing.
