Hello everyone. I have been contemplating giving EQ2 a try. I currently play FFXI. Does anyone know if there are any similarities between the 2 games?? I know that i can do all my movements and macros with my gamepad, and communication is done through command based switches in FFXI (/say, /shout, etc.) Can anyone help me out with this?? Thanx.
-Clorinda
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FFXI to EQ2 need sum info.Follow
well it's tough to say exactly what topics you wish to cover..
there are some similarities.. but other aspects that are VASTLY different.
anything in particular you want to discuss and compare / contrast between the two games?
there are some similarities.. but other aspects that are VASTLY different.
anything in particular you want to discuss and compare / contrast between the two games?
How do you move and talk and stuff. Is it all keyboard, or can you use a gamepad? Can your party? Are there skill chains..stuff like that.
moving is by default by holding the mouse buttons which engages *run* mode.. then you turn the mouse however you like.. you can setup the numberpad on a keyboard to act exactly like FFXI (I've done it) but the mouse is quite a bit nicer.. I have a lot of FPS experience so getting used to it was as simple as giving it a try, for others it may not be so fast but it's certainly worth it.
-------------------------
talking is much like FFXI, though you hit the enter key which will put a blinking cursor in the text box at which point you type what you want.. hitting the "/" key will also begin chat and allows you to:
/say
/tell
/group
/raid
/ooc
etc, which allow you to communicate in the various ways. What I like are the tabs, you can have chat multiple tabbed chat windows and setup what type of text you want to appear in them.. I typically have two. one I've labled "Spam" and the other I've labeled "tells" so that I don't have peoples chats in my general area causing my private conversations to scroll up.
----------------------
yes you can party.. I'll admit to being mainly a solo'ist and the occassional group with IRL friends.. RARELY do I join pickup groups... as you can see from my sig, grouping is not the only way for XP.
---------------------
skill chains would be somewhat similar to Heroic Opportunities.. however the differences are numerous, personally in a year of playing FFXI I never got the hang of skill chains (always missed the timing).. HO's are pretty easy.
a skill chain was started and you had no idea which ability to hit next to continue it.. nor did you know how much time remaining unless you took the time to research a particular skill chain.
HO's once you begin one with an HO starter you see a graphic Heroic Opportunity icon appear.. with a few graphics representing which type of skills are needed to move the HO to the next stage. ALSO your abilities you can use to continue the HO will be flashing... Hit one, and the graphic changes to the Heroic Opportunity "wheel" this shows you EXACTLY how much time you have to complete your HO, add to that the follow up abilities to complete the HO will be flashing.. hit any one of them and the HO will be complete.
UNLIKE skillchains which can be broken by someone doing the wrong ability at the wrong time.. HO's are not broken in this manner..
Unlike skillchains you can do HO's solo and they are the KEY to solo'ing Yellow and Orange con "solo" mobs (for FFXI reference, yellow is very tough, Orange would be a higher end VT or a lower end IT)
for example: With my new character Yuris (who I have not added to my sig) I was on the isle of refuge looking around for a named bear.. well a mage got to him first, I'm fine with that and I watch the fight.. He didn't use HO's. it got down to both of them with a sliver of health and the mage died.
I took the bear, now.. to note.. the INSTANT the mages fight ended the bear was back to full health.. so unlike FFXI you will not get an easy "NM" kill in EQ2. I hit it with smite and immediately started an HO, the only spell I have at this point that can continue the HO was smite so I wait on the timer and the bear gets in a few good shots (it hurt it IS a named afterall) I cast smite to progress my HO.. and the bear gets in a GOOD hit.. and my health drops into the yellow.
now I'm in the middle of an HO and I cast a heal.. were this a skill chain it would have been broken, that's not the case here.
cast smite again (the recharge timer on most spells in EQ2 is rather fast) and finish the HO dropping our bear down from the yellow to the deep red in health. My health is green.. easy fight. Thanks to HO's
unlike FFXI ANY character in the group can start the HO... and the follow up abilities (and in a group I've seen as many as 4 follow-up abilities to finish an HO) can be done in any order.. as long as everyone completes their part in the time-limit... so you don't have a particular HO that MUST be started by a particular group member.. also ALL HO's do good things. the only skillchain people did in FFXI was distortion...
there are various HO's.. which you'll get at random after starting the ability (this seems bad but remember ALL HO's are useful, so there's no sense in trying to get one particular one) Scouts have the ability to actually change the HO to a different one. This ability has a massive recharge time on it though.
also.. sometimes a Heroic Opportunitie will give you a 10 to 15 minute buff in addition to doing extreme damage to the target and some HO's create massive damage AOE's (AOE's in EQ2 are GOOD)
Edited, Fri Mar 25 10:03:20 2005 by Iaini
-------------------------
talking is much like FFXI, though you hit the enter key which will put a blinking cursor in the text box at which point you type what you want.. hitting the "/" key will also begin chat and allows you to:
/say
/tell
/group
/raid
/ooc
etc, which allow you to communicate in the various ways. What I like are the tabs, you can have chat multiple tabbed chat windows and setup what type of text you want to appear in them.. I typically have two. one I've labled "Spam" and the other I've labeled "tells" so that I don't have peoples chats in my general area causing my private conversations to scroll up.
----------------------
yes you can party.. I'll admit to being mainly a solo'ist and the occassional group with IRL friends.. RARELY do I join pickup groups... as you can see from my sig, grouping is not the only way for XP.
---------------------
skill chains would be somewhat similar to Heroic Opportunities.. however the differences are numerous, personally in a year of playing FFXI I never got the hang of skill chains (always missed the timing).. HO's are pretty easy.
a skill chain was started and you had no idea which ability to hit next to continue it.. nor did you know how much time remaining unless you took the time to research a particular skill chain.
HO's once you begin one with an HO starter you see a graphic Heroic Opportunity icon appear.. with a few graphics representing which type of skills are needed to move the HO to the next stage. ALSO your abilities you can use to continue the HO will be flashing... Hit one, and the graphic changes to the Heroic Opportunity "wheel" this shows you EXACTLY how much time you have to complete your HO, add to that the follow up abilities to complete the HO will be flashing.. hit any one of them and the HO will be complete.
UNLIKE skillchains which can be broken by someone doing the wrong ability at the wrong time.. HO's are not broken in this manner..
Unlike skillchains you can do HO's solo and they are the KEY to solo'ing Yellow and Orange con "solo" mobs (for FFXI reference, yellow is very tough, Orange would be a higher end VT or a lower end IT)
for example: With my new character Yuris (who I have not added to my sig) I was on the isle of refuge looking around for a named bear.. well a mage got to him first, I'm fine with that and I watch the fight.. He didn't use HO's. it got down to both of them with a sliver of health and the mage died.
I took the bear, now.. to note.. the INSTANT the mages fight ended the bear was back to full health.. so unlike FFXI you will not get an easy "NM" kill in EQ2. I hit it with smite and immediately started an HO, the only spell I have at this point that can continue the HO was smite so I wait on the timer and the bear gets in a few good shots (it hurt it IS a named afterall) I cast smite to progress my HO.. and the bear gets in a GOOD hit.. and my health drops into the yellow.
now I'm in the middle of an HO and I cast a heal.. were this a skill chain it would have been broken, that's not the case here.
cast smite again (the recharge timer on most spells in EQ2 is rather fast) and finish the HO dropping our bear down from the yellow to the deep red in health. My health is green.. easy fight. Thanks to HO's
unlike FFXI ANY character in the group can start the HO... and the follow up abilities (and in a group I've seen as many as 4 follow-up abilities to finish an HO) can be done in any order.. as long as everyone completes their part in the time-limit... so you don't have a particular HO that MUST be started by a particular group member.. also ALL HO's do good things. the only skillchain people did in FFXI was distortion...
there are various HO's.. which you'll get at random after starting the ability (this seems bad but remember ALL HO's are useful, so there's no sense in trying to get one particular one) Scouts have the ability to actually change the HO to a different one. This ability has a massive recharge time on it though.
also.. sometimes a Heroic Opportunitie will give you a 10 to 15 minute buff in addition to doing extreme damage to the target and some HO's create massive damage AOE's (AOE's in EQ2 are GOOD)
Edited, Fri Mar 25 10:03:20 2005 by Iaini
That was an excellent reply, I found it very informative. I too am contemplating a switch from FFXI to EQ2 and am very curious about some of the finer differences. In FFXI you can use all spells you have learned at any time (with a few exception); is this the case with EQ2 as well? I heard the spell system was different.
As soon as you gain a level you are given your next spell/ability and it is ready for use.
And any spells you have learned in the past, you still know.
Remember that your new spell/skill will be Apprentice I (lowest and weakest), but you can buy/trade/craft upgrades rather easily.
And any spells you have learned in the past, you still know.
Remember that your new spell/skill will be Apprentice I (lowest and weakest), but you can buy/trade/craft upgrades rather easily.
Differences? Well I made the jump from FFXI to EQ2. Left behind a 67 brd, 63 whm on Bahamut and a 7x [I forget exactly] rng & 63+ smn on Ragnorak. Yes, unlocked all jobs, Fenrir.. blah blah. You've been there, you know what I went through.
Content
FFXI had a big story. And a lot of smaller ones. If you wanted to, you could follow the stories and they were tied in with access to certain areas. Not to mention rank and other privileges. EQ2 has a few... well I guess we'll just have to write your own. No Zilart here sorry. Yes folks, NO cutesy-wutesy cutscenes, or rousing pre-BC monologues. Bah. Maybe later. Hopefully. Right now, EQ2 is 'sparse' in this regard.
Quests... EQ2 has the most quests I've ever seen in a game. Purely for FUN, I levelled a shaman to 18 almost solely on quests and writs [not counting repeatables, over 200+]. There's almost as many [but you'll spend a LOT more time on the 20+ level quests] after that. Yes... there's grind too [some quests require you to harvest a rare.. that's like trying to make an Earth Staff... +2!] *btw, think about it... questing for fun...
*sniff* I miss my tarutaru. *WAAAAHHHHHH!!!* Sorry but gnomes just do NOT cut it. Plus the 'cats' here just don't have the right 'tail'.
Graphics
FFXI's graphics has superior art direction [matter of taste really, kinda like WoW] IMHO but EQ2's is markedly better. There's really no doubt, EQ2 has 'technically' the best among MMORPGs and most games frankly. It would not feel out of place in a fantasy FPS. Like the sticker price of the video card(s) you need to play EQ2 in full glory, it has to be seen to be believed. I fully recommend an ATI Radeon 850XT or nVidia 6800 GT or better. Still the settings are VERY customisable and I can play just fine with a Radeon Mobile 9600. I even use Extreme Quality settings on a 5900 [ok, with graphics set to .8 and textures set to medium for the most part]. EQ2 & WoW? It's like Blizzard took a look at FFXI and decided to program for the Cartoon Network while SOE wanted to make you smell the Griffon **** whenever you took a ride on one. Peeuuuu!
Music/Sound
FFXI's music has more feeling and emotion. Hey it's FF after all and it's all good. EQ2 is kinda John Williams. Like the graphics, it's a matter of taste. But FFXI's music had you crying, laughing or just getting excited. Best music I could find in EQ2 is the theme for the Commonlands [Heh! Told you tastes very, and yes a lot of people hate the music here] and RunnyEye [very fun!]
EQ2 has much better sound effects. Both in 3D and simple ambience.
But you know what? Lineage 2's music sounded better, or at least you might want to play the music outside of the game. EQ2's music somehow fits the game better but FFXI fits the STORY better...
All is not lost, you CAN replace EQ2's music with L2s :)
And let's not forget Voiceovers... now playing WoW with it's text spouting NPCs is sooo... Windows 95! I know this must cost SOE a bundle but I hope they don't stop doing it. It may not seem as dramatic but I think making every NPC actually have sound is like going from UO to EQ [2d to 3d environment]
Gameplay
Grouping. EQ2 has the best implementation I've come across for a long time. Now if only they made looking for LFG/LFP as easy as it is in FFXI..no wait. It is. first time in EQ2? Do the MMORPG cliche and play a 'priest' [Healer = whm :)]
Many in EQ2 will tell you that EQ2's 'skill chains' aka HOs [who thought up the name 'HO' should be SHOT! TWICE!] are easier. They are wrong. It's not just EASY, it's PUNY. FFXI players will have no problem adapting to HOs. It's like SOE took the FFXI system and swung the easy brush far and wide till everything dripped Micro$oft. Say goodbye to the splittiming of skills and spells, say goodbye to the broken SCs, angry teammates... and well the challenge too.
Crafting. So it's LONGER to do but easier. Basically each crafting event is like an encounter. It can get to be a grind at the later levels but it's actually fun [especially if you just came from busting crytals and stuff trying to force an Earth Staff +1] Crafting really can replace adventuring :) *Just don't be rude if you get offers to group/party while crafting, ESPECIALLY if the offer comes fron an illusionist.
Interface
Just like the one in EQ1 but a bit better. That is to say it's lightyears ahead of FFXI. You can have multiple chat windows [and not just a single 8 line window] with filters and multiple channels assigned to different windows. It's better than mIRC and that's just the chat windows. They even let you write up your own interface and provide a toolkit to do so.
Oh and you only need to click once, type in your password and you'll get to the character select screen... if only POL was that easy.
Similarities
None really. I find more similiarities in gameplay. The grind aspect is partially there, especially at the higher levels. The most striking thing is the challenge or lack of it. Nothing's really difficult in EQ2. Get a group, practice a bit and you can do anything.
Sorry in advance for the long, off-topic post. Just had some time to kill and my paws were itchy.
*yawn* Times's up. You can look me up in AB
Content
FFXI had a big story. And a lot of smaller ones. If you wanted to, you could follow the stories and they were tied in with access to certain areas. Not to mention rank and other privileges. EQ2 has a few... well I guess we'll just have to write your own. No Zilart here sorry. Yes folks, NO cutesy-wutesy cutscenes, or rousing pre-BC monologues. Bah. Maybe later. Hopefully. Right now, EQ2 is 'sparse' in this regard.
Quests... EQ2 has the most quests I've ever seen in a game. Purely for FUN, I levelled a shaman to 18 almost solely on quests and writs [not counting repeatables, over 200+]. There's almost as many [but you'll spend a LOT more time on the 20+ level quests] after that. Yes... there's grind too [some quests require you to harvest a rare.. that's like trying to make an Earth Staff... +2!] *btw, think about it... questing for fun...
*sniff* I miss my tarutaru. *WAAAAHHHHHH!!!* Sorry but gnomes just do NOT cut it. Plus the 'cats' here just don't have the right 'tail'.
Graphics
FFXI's graphics has superior art direction [matter of taste really, kinda like WoW] IMHO but EQ2's is markedly better. There's really no doubt, EQ2 has 'technically' the best among MMORPGs and most games frankly. It would not feel out of place in a fantasy FPS. Like the sticker price of the video card(s) you need to play EQ2 in full glory, it has to be seen to be believed. I fully recommend an ATI Radeon 850XT or nVidia 6800 GT or better. Still the settings are VERY customisable and I can play just fine with a Radeon Mobile 9600. I even use Extreme Quality settings on a 5900 [ok, with graphics set to .8 and textures set to medium for the most part]. EQ2 & WoW? It's like Blizzard took a look at FFXI and decided to program for the Cartoon Network while SOE wanted to make you smell the Griffon **** whenever you took a ride on one. Peeuuuu!
Music/Sound
FFXI's music has more feeling and emotion. Hey it's FF after all and it's all good. EQ2 is kinda John Williams. Like the graphics, it's a matter of taste. But FFXI's music had you crying, laughing or just getting excited. Best music I could find in EQ2 is the theme for the Commonlands [Heh! Told you tastes very, and yes a lot of people hate the music here] and RunnyEye [very fun!]
EQ2 has much better sound effects. Both in 3D and simple ambience.
But you know what? Lineage 2's music sounded better, or at least you might want to play the music outside of the game. EQ2's music somehow fits the game better but FFXI fits the STORY better...
All is not lost, you CAN replace EQ2's music with L2s :)
And let's not forget Voiceovers... now playing WoW with it's text spouting NPCs is sooo... Windows 95! I know this must cost SOE a bundle but I hope they don't stop doing it. It may not seem as dramatic but I think making every NPC actually have sound is like going from UO to EQ [2d to 3d environment]
Gameplay
Grouping. EQ2 has the best implementation I've come across for a long time. Now if only they made looking for LFG/LFP as easy as it is in FFXI..no wait. It is. first time in EQ2? Do the MMORPG cliche and play a 'priest' [Healer = whm :)]
Many in EQ2 will tell you that EQ2's 'skill chains' aka HOs [who thought up the name 'HO' should be SHOT! TWICE!] are easier. They are wrong. It's not just EASY, it's PUNY. FFXI players will have no problem adapting to HOs. It's like SOE took the FFXI system and swung the easy brush far and wide till everything dripped Micro$oft. Say goodbye to the splittiming of skills and spells, say goodbye to the broken SCs, angry teammates... and well the challenge too.
Crafting. So it's LONGER to do but easier. Basically each crafting event is like an encounter. It can get to be a grind at the later levels but it's actually fun [especially if you just came from busting crytals and stuff trying to force an Earth Staff +1] Crafting really can replace adventuring :) *Just don't be rude if you get offers to group/party while crafting, ESPECIALLY if the offer comes fron an illusionist.
Interface
Just like the one in EQ1 but a bit better. That is to say it's lightyears ahead of FFXI. You can have multiple chat windows [and not just a single 8 line window] with filters and multiple channels assigned to different windows. It's better than mIRC and that's just the chat windows. They even let you write up your own interface and provide a toolkit to do so.
Oh and you only need to click once, type in your password and you'll get to the character select screen... if only POL was that easy.
Similarities
None really. I find more similiarities in gameplay. The grind aspect is partially there, especially at the higher levels. The most striking thing is the challenge or lack of it. Nothing's really difficult in EQ2. Get a group, practice a bit and you can do anything.
Sorry in advance for the long, off-topic post. Just had some time to kill and my paws were itchy.
*yawn* Times's up. You can look me up in AB
I think the 6800 GT is the card that has a problem with EQ2. Just worth mentioning.
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