In October 2003, Final Fantasy XI was released for the PC in North America, and by March 2004, players could also access it on their PlayStation 2. Nearly 18 years after its launch, FFXI still has a robust player base, with over 1 million subscribers and nearly 100K daily players. There's obviously something about it that's managed to keep players interested and engaged. Final Fantasy XIV, on the other hand, was originally released in September 2010 and did exceptionally poorly in almost every aspect.
This version of FFXIV was retired in 2012 and relaunched as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in August 2013 to mixed reviews. Over time, however, the game's developers and lead producer Naoki Yoshida managed to turn FFXIV into a commercial success vying for the title of most popular MMORPG. But even though FFXIV has skyrocketed to superstardom, there are still several aspects of the original Final Fantasy MMORPG that make it more charming than its successor.
10 FFXIV: Easy To Start, Takes Work To Master
Stepping into the world of Eorzea is a welcoming experience and the game makes sure new players know where to go by including abundant markers that denote which NPCs they can engage with for rewards. There's also a special set of quests from the Hall of the Novice that not only gears new players with good starter gear, but it also teaches them how to approach their respective job role.
But that's just the beginning of the journey. To really get the most out of Final Fantasy XIV, players will need to keep engaging with the content and study up on how best to play their chosen job(s).
9 FFXI: Focuses On Exploring The World & The Community
In Final Fantasy XI, players need to form parties themselves by either starting a party and recruiting or advertising themselves as potential party members. It's been easier to get by without the community since the Trust system released, which allows FFXI players to solo-level like never before, but there's still a huge focus on exploring the world. Several quests (such as the Artifact Gear quests) require players to find specific locations.
Most importantly, however, parties in FFXI need extensive knowledge of maps and the monsters found on each map to generate a reliable leveling strategy. Parties mostly rely on experience point chains to gain levels, so knowing safe spots with an abundant population of good monsters is essential.
8 FFXIV: Instanced Battle System Takes The Work Out Of Recruiting People To Clear Content
Final Fantasy XIV took a very different approach than FFXI in how it promotes leveling. In FFXI, looking for campsites to level up at often results in competition for grabbing monsters to kill if the map is crowded with other parties. FFXIV solved that problem by making instanced dungeons that give experience point benefits.
This model allows for only that party to be in the instance, and it's treated as a "level" of sorts, as the dungeon rewards aren't available until the dungeon's final boss is completed. But most importantly, FFXIV players can use the duty finder to automatically match them with a party trying to clear the same content.
7 FFXI: Much More Robust Job Customization & Nuances
Arguably, MMORPGs want to put the player-character center stage in some aspect. Both online Final Fantasy games excel at this, but FFXI has a more intimate feel to how players can customize their jobs. In FFXIV, jobs are limited to one weapon each can use and each job can only wear certain kinds of gear.
FFXI allows players to choose out of a handful of weapons and gear for each job, with some weapons being better options than others. FFXI also uses a sub-job system that allows main jobs to use up to half the skills of their sub-job. It allows for a wider variety of types since players can choose which sub-job will serve them best in any given situation.
6 FFXIV: Fights Are Scripted & Therefore Predictable, Optimizing Strategy
Final Fantasy XIV's enemies largely run on a script, especially boss monsters and trials. The game developers have included a thorough marking system that uses specific animations to indicate what an enemy is going to do. Following these markers correctly results in players taking either no damage or reduced damage.
Since mechanics are easy to predict once the patterns are studied, players can easily strategize on how best to defeat the boss or trial. There's usually one strategy that works best, but some players devise different methods to defeat bosses.
5 FFXI: More Opportunity For Flexible Strategizing
Compared to FFXIV, FFXI doesn't have as clear of a marker system for denoting what an enemy is going to do. Instead, players need to focus on what skill an enemy is casting and respond appropriately. What's most important in optimizing strategy for defeating enemies is the toolkit each player is working with. The sub-job system is one area where FFXI excels in figuring out strategy.
A Thief with a Ninja sub job, for example, will be best at pulling monsters back to the party for battle, since Ninja gives evasion bonuses and Utsusemi shadow clones. But a Thief with a Warrior sub job will have more strength and power, so they're best left at camp to fight.
4 FFXIV: Easier To Pick Up & Max Out Every Job
Before the Trust system, leveling up all jobs on Final Fantasy XI was a real task. Most often, players specialized in two or three different jobs, since different gear sets are essential for effective battle in FFXI. For FFXIV, though, jobs largely share the same gear. All tanks will use the same gear, all healers will use the same gear, all ranged DPS will use the same gear, so on and so forth.
There's no inventory space squeeze to worry about by carrying around a bunch of different gear for one job. Most importantly, leveling on FFXIV is typically more casual than leveling on FFXI.
3 FFXI: Allows Mid-Battle Gear Changing To Optimize Weaponskill Output
In FFXI, the default mode of attack is just to swipe at an enemy with your equipped weapon. After enough swings, the player's TP gauge will be full and ready to shoot off a weaponskill. Certain stats are more desirable depending on which weaponskill is used. Dark Knight's Guillotine weaponskill, for example, is an 8-hit skill.
Unfortunately, Dark Knight doesn't have the best accuracy. To maximize damage output with Guillotine requires stacked accuracy, so it's important to have a macro set that will change your gear to accuracy gear before using the weaponskill.
2 FFXIV: Battle Is Fast-Paced & Intense
Between FFXI and FFXIV, the latter definitely features more satisfying battles. FFXI is still locked down by menus, meaning players either need to cycle through menus to find the right skill or magic, or they need to spend time putting together a robust, comprehensive macro set. In FFXIV, macros are largely unused outside of alerting other players when certain skills are used. Battle in FFXIV relies on knowing your current job's optimal skill rotation and practicing that rotation until it's second nature.
Furthermore, they'll need the dynamism to jump back in if their rotation is interrupted. Player characters move faster and attack faster, and there's no stumbling through menus to complete a fight.
1 FFXI: Weaponskills Take More Time To Build Up & Feel More Epic
Weaponskills in FFXIV are the main method of attacking, so there's not much that's special about them. In FFXI, the dynamic is different in that weaponskills take time to build up. Every player has a TP gauge that fills up a little with each physical attack that a player makes, with a maximum cap of 300%.
It only takes 100% to get off a weaponskill, but some will deal more damage if players wait until their TP is at 300%. Regardless of which weaponskill is used, the fact that there's a build-up to when they can even be used makes them feel more like a special technique than something that's easily accessible. The delayed reward offers more gratification.