So it was a few years after FFXI launched that I saw my brother playing it on his PS2. I still distinctly remember him being in Southern San d'Oria near the auction house and I asked, "What kind of music is that?" I thought it was repulsive at the time (but now I like it and associate it with my start with the game). I found out what he was playing and I was like oh, another Final Fantasy game... He enjoyed playing them and I was never into RPG's. And after that, I kind of forgot about it for a while.

Something about even seeing San d'Oria kind of drew me to the game though. Later on, I would go into his room and watch him play. I finally decided I wanted to play but I didn't have a good PC at the time (there's no way it would have ran on it, even on the lowest settings) and I didn't own a PS2.

Then I learned about the game coming out the following year on Xbox 360 and I had one of those. It was a long wait but eventually Beta hit and I still distinctly remember that, even thought it was nearly a decade ago. I remember my brother was helping me in West Ronfaure and the amount of people clogging the zone was staggering. It was nearly impossible to find a mob to kill, and leveling was such a disaster. That was of course well before the time of increased experience or FoV so it took so long to get out of the starting area. I remember making it to Kazham before Beta ended and leveling my WHM in Yuhtunga Jungle and fighting for camps with other groups.

I played it for quite a while before I got sick of it. Got my WHM to 75 first. I remember the Maat fight was so, so intense. I know WHM apparently isn't too hard of a fight but I remember me getting really low on MP. My heart was racing, I didn't think I would make it. And it ended. I had won. I was so jubilant.

There's just something special about FFXI. A certain type of charm, that I've never experienced in any other game. The feeling of danger of running through zones. Exploring big dungeons. I still remember walking through Caedarva Mire and finding out the Imps had true sight the hard way. I had sneak and invisible up and when the Imp killed me, I was so confused. Then I figured out what true sight meant.

I didn't do too much of the story stuff the first go round. It was mainly about exploring and collecting maps and stuff for me. I remember I got rank 10 in San d'Oria and that last fight was so epic with all the Orcs.

I came back again years later. I then did all the story missions available at the time on my own and with people on my server. All three nations to rank 10, and all expansions up to and including ToAU (WotG was just coming out then).

I then came back again years later to do it all again with my brother. We did everything including WotG (SoA was just coming out then).

And now I'm back again for one final hurrah. To experience the SoA and RoV missions for the first time and to do all the story missions again with Trusts. Because I enjoy them that much. Even though I've seen all the cutscenes multiple times, I still read every word.

Being able to experience the game with Trusts is so fun. Not having to worry about gil or gear is awesome too. Plus, leveling is so much faster which is nice.

In my breaks of the game, I still listen to the soundtrack. FFXI has, in my opinion, the best video game soundtrack of all time. So many amazing songs. And FFXI also introduced me to RPG's and made me fall in love with the genre. Since I played FFXI for the first time, I've played every other main FF game 1 right through 14 and have played a ton of other RPG's.

I still play FFXIV regularly and I really enjoy it. But there's something FFXI has that no other game does. And even when I'm done with my last hurrah, it will always be a game I cherish. One thing FFXI has that FFXIV doesn't that really makes me sad? Open world dungeons. Now I don't necessarily need them to have NM's in them, or loot people fight over, or have camp fests or anything. No. I just want dungeons to explore. Every zone in FFXIV is outdoors. Except for instances which isn't the same. I loved wandering through Garlaige Citadel and Eldieme Necropolis and Fei'Yin and remember how dangerous some areas were. FFXIV doesn't have that and I wish it did. Maybe in the future.

Anyway, that's my story. Just thought I'd type it up and share. I hope this game lives a lot longer and once it goes offline, I'll just be one of many that holds it dear in our hearts.