After browsing through the FFIII site and seeing so many familiar FFXI jobs, I just couldn't help but look through the screenshots I took when I used to play FFXI as "Crez" on the Fairy server...

Playing as RDM/NIN 74 fighting Prime Ramuh for a friend so that he could summon Ramuh as a Summoner.

Ah, it was fun playing RDM/NIN at level 75... FFXI still remains the most memorable MMORPG I've played.It wasn't easy to make it to that high level. Why? Read my little journal and join me in the world of FFXI.

Gathering with some random people and a few friends to get a San'doria mission complete.

From the moment you join the game, you select your race, your appearance and what main job you want to be. I wanted to be a Red Mage which was a sort of "jack of all trades" being able to cast a bit of both white and black magic while also wield some weapons. After choosing your job, you were to choose one of the three cities available, San'doria a medieval fort surrounded by greenery, Bastok a city of mines and forges surrounded by barren land or, Windurst a city of magic surrounded by even more greenery than Sand'oria. I joined Sand'oria.From the moment I was thrown into the game, I was already impressing by the crowds running about going about their business. A question mark next to my name marked me as a new adventurer, the newbie.

The first thing I fought was little rabbits outside the castle, sitting down to rest my HP and then ready to fight more. Others who also had question marks on their heads were doing the same around me so I didn't feel like the odd one out. Fights seemed easy at first but soon I died a few times, failing to check if there were any hostile orcs or goblins about. But I soon got the hang of it with some help from people.

There was no way you could make decent enough XP soloing once you get past level 10. Monsters (or "mobs") that give decent XP were way too hard to solo unless you had tonnes of money on you or, you chose Beastmaster as your job. You had to find or make your own party of 6 which had to be made up of certain jobs. A tank who kept the monster away from the other members, a healer and the rest are damage dealing jobs. The first two jobs are usually hardest to find and you could find yourself sitting around waiting for a long time before finding one, usually hours. This is why you'll find most people prefer sitting around with their "looking for party" icons on next to their name.

So, once you have a party together, you can start killing in the area for your level range. If you're lucky enough to sort out a good party (usually is), you'll get a nice bundle of XP at the end of the day. If not, and people don't get along, you could end up losing more XP than you started off with. Sometimes de-leveling even, which could mean you go back to a low level area again.

As with all MMORPGs, how long everyone can stay in a party varies from player to player so, when one of the aforementioned important jobs leave, you're going to end up with quite a problem. Sometimes, people will be kind enough to look for a replacement long before leaving so that everyone else can carry on levelling up. Usually however, it means either everyone helps look for a replacement or, the party just disbands and you're left to wait for a new party. The same also happens when people don't get along.

Parties were still fun however (unless you have one of those, "I'm-a-high-level-and-I'm-better-than-you" telling you how to do your job) and a lot of teamwork was involved. Those doing the actual attacking saved up TP (Technique Points) to perform "Chain Attacks", pulled off by having each member using a certain skill or spell at the right time. While I was playing as a Black Mage to level my subjob, seeing those damage numbers rack up with a Magic Burst was always satisfying. Oh, and life threatening.

When members die and you have no White Mage, it also meant you have to wait for someone nearby to help cast Raise which will help revive a party member and reduce the amount of XP lost after level 20 or so. As the XP you lose can be fairly great sometimes, people would usually prefer to wait for a Raise and even willing to pay for one. However, if it's a bad party where a few aren't getting along, you could find the party disbanded leaving everyone to work something out for themselves. At times like these, you'll have to rely on a friend who has the appropriate job to come cast Raise so that you don't lose all that precious XP. Many times in the game, my hardworking Japanese Tarutaru friend would always come help me out. Never failed to show up.

But anyway, some people end up forming "static parties" so that everyone can level at the same rate without going through the frustrations mentioned above. For me however, I went with random people and of course, it had it's fun and frustrations. Fun because I could meet the few rare people I could get along with and frustrating because there are usually one or two players who already have a high level job and start bossing everyone about.

Once you've gotten used to partying however, your next step is to sort out a source of funding for your gear or spells. In my case, I chose Red Mage meaning I had to fund both. At first, like many newbies, I was stuck. Mobs didn't drop much and they certainly didn't drop any "Gil" (the currency of FFXI) so I didn't know how I was going to afford new stuff. But thanks to some friendly players who were willing to divulge their "money making secrets", I managed to sort out my funding in the game and continued to progress somehow.

Leveling in the newbie area, Valkurm Dunes. It's also where people camp the Emperor for his hairpin drop.

But the road to joining the high levels wasn't over. After reaching level 20, people will expect you to have a sub job leveled too as well as have a "Chocobo License". A sub-job allowed you to increase your stats more but at the same time, it means you must level it along with your main too. Without a sub-job, people consider you "gimped" and will most likely exclude you from their party. A "Chocobo License" on the other hand (as FF fans may have guessed) allows you to rent a Chocobo, travelling to places faster and safely.

Here's the Chocobos! Every FF game has to have them but in this game, you don't actually get to own one. You pay a fee to rent one which can cost anything from 10~2000G!

Completing the missions to acquire these things wasn't too hard as you'll often find a mid-level player passing through the Dunes who is willing to help... For free. Some would try to charge you to get the items you need because Gil was so hard to come by. To get the items, you had to kill skeletons until they dropped a skull. There were other items but, this was the hardest to get.With no map to the next town, a mid-level was kind enough to escort me there. So, I got my license and the items for a sub-job and continued levelling onwards to level 50. This was where I once again struggled because from level 50 onwards, you must complete a series of "Limit Quests" that raise your level cap by 5 to be able to level any further. Those who managed to struggle this far, usually give up and go levelling other jobs because it is the first and hardest limit quest there is.

Welcome to Jeuno, the main town where you get your Chocobo license and gather parties for all those Limit and AF quests. Also an extremely laggy place.

he reason why it's so hard is you must fight skeletons again for a "papyrus" drop. But while skeletons on the dunes could be handled with a party at a low level range, these Lich skeletons were much harder to deal with. Not only that, they rarely drop the "papyrus". You could find yourself killing lots of them for a few hours on end and still they won't drop it.To fight the Liches, you'll either needs lots of patient people who can stick around until everyone has their papyrus or, get some high level help who can beat them solo. Unfortunately, by the time I reached level 50, everyone I got a long with had already given up the game and none of the high levels I asked were willing to help without a large payment. So I was forced to tag along with other random people who needed the papyrus to continue leveling.

Now, when a papyrus finally does drop, how do you decide who gets it? Well, usually it means rolling the dice to see who gets the highest number who brought the most help along. The odds of winning to get that hard to obtain papyrus was low and after spending weeks joining random parties and losing rolls, I was on the edge of giving up like many but...One day, I was along with another random party. Everyone had gotten their papyrus and left. Just as I was about to head out, I heard someone fighting Liches nearby. It was a fellow Red Mage who had hired another high level Red Mage to help him get a papyrus but, as Red Mage's damage isn't high, they could use a little help and allowed me to join, agreeing if the item drops quick enough, I can have the second one.

After a few hours, the fellow Red Mage's papyrus dropped but it was time for the high level to go. But then the Red Mage who hired him, asked him to stay a little longer just to help me get my papyrus and willing to pay a bit extra. It turns out it wasn't necessary as the high level wanted to test out his new weapon he got anyway. Eventally, I finally, finally, FINALLY got my papyrus. I could move on.

After thanking them several times, bowing and kneeling, I zipped back to Upper Jeuno, handed in the items and was ready to level towards 55. Reaching near level 55, it was time for another Limit Quest. This time thankfully, no low drop rate items were involved. What you did need however, was a large alliance of 12 people or more who knew what they were doing. We were going off to a winter "wonderland" to kill off 3 beasts that had high attack power and lots of HP. Fortunately, I heard a JP alliance shouting out "Genkai 2" so I sent the leader a message and managed to join. We went off to kill the 3 notorious monsters and I was allowed to level to 60.

At this point, I was looking forward to my AF (Artifact) set of gear, a specific set of armour and weapon for your main job. Everyone had slightly different quests to do but nearly always has to fight a mob for another low drop rate key. Again, it was one of those times were you either join random groups, find someone willing to help or hire high level help. Fortunately, the AF set of gear wasn't something essential like the Limit Quests were but cool to have all the same. So I continued leveling while joining random AF parties now and then. Eventually I collected my full set and was happily wearing it most of the time. Unlike most other jobs, the AF set for a Red Mage gave some good stats which meant I didn't have to spend too much money updating my gear, just spells and they were already expensive enough.

Stuck on finding new funds again, a spent a few weeks doing nothing but mining and selling the goods on the auction house. It might sound like a simple enough way of making money but, there were many campers who would sit at the mining spots 24 hours a day to dig, whether they were human controlled or bots (computers written by players to help them mine). Such people earn game money in MMORPGS to sell to other players in real life for real money. Otherwise known as "Gilsellers" in FFXI and most people hated them. Mine spots jumped from place to place in a fairly large area so when I do find one, they steal it so I wasn't too happy either. But it was the only way I could make money at the time, so I pressed on.

Soon, I had enough money to continue levelling up to my goal of 75. But there was one last hurdle to go, the last Limit Quest where I had to fight Maat, the master NPC of all jobs. Every player had a different test depending on their job. For example, a Thief has to successfully steal from him. However, each attempt at passing the test required an Testimony guide which is again, dropped off from a touch mob that can't be soloed. Luckily for Red Mages, there a little "trick" where I could solo mobs but it was fairly slow to kill.

I had a little difficulty beating Maat at first and asked Red Mages who had passed their test how they beat him. Everyone told me I needed some "uber" high quality gear which was something I couldn't afford without mining for a long time. I already had enough of that. So I eventually thought up my own strategy, beat Maat and levelled to 75, the highest level cap there is and also what I was after! What a time it's been!

Linkshells gathering outside San'doria ready for an attempt at Dynamis.They... All turned on ME!! It was pretty funny actually.

From that point on, I joined a high level linkshell (guilds of players who could communicate together) and took part in 40-64 player Dynamis battles which required huge coordination between everyone. Working together, we had to clear our way through waves of mobs to reach the main boss before the time was up. The battles were so hard that they earned the nickname of "Die-namis" which meant lots of XP loss. So even if you were level 75, you would still be finding yourself levelling up. Despite that it was the greatest fun I had when everyone all over the world from places such as America, Europe and Asia joined these huge gatherings at the allocated time.

Windurst looks great, no? Everyone's gathering together happily then...This happens. Everyone just loves "Die-namis. It's where the second high level set of AF pieces are.

Due to the number of players and variety of jobs we needed for Dynamis, we couldn't go for them all the time so we also went fighting Japanese "Gods" in an area nicknamed "Sky". Several missions had to be cleared in the expansion pack "Rise of the Zilart" before it was unlocked and again, required some very good teamwork. There were also the odd "Ground" Notorius Monsters (NMs) that we fought.

Killing the Epsilons wasn't easy but, we done it without the items guides mentioned on our first try. And with random people too so I was pretty chuffed.

Another tough fight where we won with a random group on the first try.

It's not all gloomy. You get to unlock some very beautifully renderer areas after the missions.

In between my time as a high level when there was no linkshell activities, I also helped many others pass their Limit Quests, obtain AF sets and summons. I offered my help to them free while levelling my other jobs as I thought back to the times I had to go through. Another goal I had when I reached high level status.

One of the easier NMs that just happened to pop while I was levelling. When this Serket appears, people levelling here has to rush out or be killed instantly.

"Guild Wars". High level Linkshells would compete to camp on these NMs that only appear 24 hours after being killed. In this case, it's Behemoth and luckily, we claimed it and got some goodies to boost our LS' strength. Some people just like to watch high levels do their stuff, though.

And here is one of the "Gods", Suzaku. We mages are staying far away to avoid getting hit since we have light armour.

Overall, it was a great adventure partying with the people I did in FFXI. Despite all the hardships, it was something that made the whole experience a very memorable one. While in other MMORPGs I felt a great lack of communication between people, FFXI was one that forced players to communicate, building up strong communities amongst the international players. Something that I feel is important in MMORPGs. I only wished they distributed their updates via some standalone file... Everytime there's an update, they download at a painful 4KB/s. I feel sorry for those who just bought the original game.

But a lot has changed since then. The amount of XP you need at the higher levels before you level has been spread out more evenly, making it easier to level up and there are also items added to help gain bonus XP. Not sure about other changes since it's been almost 3 years since I cancelled my subscription. And now with the new expansion pack and new jobs, who knows what else awaits...

Related Links: FFXI Official Site (US)