I’ve never even played XI but the script the editing the timing the music of this video is so good! Didn’t ever think I’d be following the Chanel and content but you have me hooked and waiting for more. Keep it up!!

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

This video showed up just when I needed it to. I’ve been super nostalgic about my time in Vana’diel lately, and ToAU hits me right in the heart. FFXI is so underrated, and I wish more people could experience the stories it told. I appreciate you for making this video, and I’ll be watching it again very soon, for sure 🖤

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

That's awesome to hear, I hope you're able to enjoy all of the reviews I've posted!

@XxTeamCharlie

4 ай бұрын

Play horizon xi, it’s a user friendly 75 era private server. Google it!

Big fan of your work.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

Thank you very much!

Never seen so many people on a ferry than I did that first day of ToAU. Also, Nashmau was my favorite place to hang out. The music, the Mog and AH access, and relative peace and quiet minus the occasional party passing through on the way to Einherjar.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

That's amazing! The zones of ToAU were never topped on the "charm" metric, and I can't imagine what it was like to experience it in era.

Excellent work.

Can't believe you only have 194 subs. As someone who played day one on PC up to Treasures, your reviews are absolutely great. Once you're done with FFXI, continue to review games please.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

The audience retention data strongly suggest I don't have a good voice for video essays lol. I'm really glad you enjoyed the video though!

Hands down the best expansion in XI if you ask me. And I played all of them on release. Doesn't help that PUP and BLU might be my two favourite jobs in the game aswell.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

In my opinion, it isn't just among the best FFXI expansions, it might be one of the best pieces of content in all of FF for me. One thing I had to cut from the script is how much subtle fan service the expansion has. This is a great story and it also feels like a celebration of all FF has become over the years.

@ImmortalDraylo

8 ай бұрын

def loved this expansion so much, made BLU my favorite job in the game and in Final Fantasy

@Theinen84

7 ай бұрын

Man... it seemed like I just loved all the loljobs. Was a Taru main DRG when this dropped. Pretty well known on Ramuh. I knew I was gonna like BLU. Always liked the concept. But when I saw PUP? Omg. I just had to. It thoroughly replaced DRG as my fave. I ended up only taking BLU to sub for DRG. DRG/BLU was second best solo, behind PUP. BST became 3rd at that point and no one can convince me otherwise. Then when PUP dmg fell off at around 50ish, but I realized I could full heal a pt better than a WHM? AND still put out dmg? Started grabbing BRD, if available, RDM, if not, and were plenty of COR around. It became a hyper party lol.

@elvangulley3210

7 ай бұрын

Any wait for horizon to add it I miss my bird parties

@ImmortalDraylo

7 ай бұрын

@@elvangulley3210 They added high level colibiri to retail in the same camps we used to do them. You can do it there on the real game

Hey, your video just popped on my home page. Gotta say, even tho you only have 270 subs, the effort, quality and structure of your video is amazing. Gonna binge all your other videos now love it and can't wait for the other expansions, if you're gonna cover them aswell. ♥

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I'll give a word of caution regarding my first video though. It's a bit older and rougher lol. I'm working on the Wings of the Goddess review, hopefully that will be up on Monday.

Its my favorite expansion. Gesho is my favorite NPC in the game. Good stuff!

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I couldn't agree more. Ever since meeting Gessho, I felt horrible going to Castle Oztroja and fighting the Yaguda for anything. Great character.

The expansion that introduced puppetmaster, in my top 3 jobs in the entire FF series, and my personal favorite.

I’ve played since the launch of ToAU on Xbox 360 with a few extended breaks here and there but this last time I thought would be the last time I would go back. Then another one of your videos and I feel the urge to go back. The music alone draws me in every time. Your content is fantastic and very well made and I look forward to your next one.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Thank you, I appreciate it! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

A lot of us raised our chocobos, but that's because back when it came out, not only did we not know the chocobos were slower than the rentals, but as I just implied "rentals", we were limited to just the NPCs that would let you rent a chocobo, and those NPCs were only stationed in the towns and at the teleport spell crystals (not the homepoint crystal warp system, speaking of which, that system did not exist at the time). Our method of warp was limited to the white mage spells, the outpost warps, the al zahbi portals and as far as I can recall, that was it, I'm pretty sure we didn't even have the survival guides yet as I'm pretty sure they were introduced during Wings of the Godess. In short, the personally raised chocobo was our first ability to have a mount available whenever we were anywhere other than a warp crystal or a city (though I personally stopped using it pretty quick, can't quite recall why, but I believe the hoops you had to jump through to refresh your chocobo whistle charges caused me to not keep doing it, but I don't quite recall what was needed)

I think I'm like you in that I went through all of XI's story relatively recently (around 2020). Since then, I've been wanting to rejog my memories of all the awesome stuff I had experienced and been a part of, and your series has come at just the right time! Particularly as I have convinced some other friends to finally pick up XI. Short of a New Game+ feature like XIV, this has been scratching that itch of mine. Thank you for making this series of retrospectives. Amusingly, what you're doing is actually in keeping with the stated direction of XI's development going forward: "archival" (as per the New Year's letter).

To this day I still attend Besieged whenever it happens. I love the intro and outro cutscenes, I love the scale of the fights, I love how overpowered you can make yourself. Aht Urhgan is my favourite expansion by a long-shot. Some of my fondest memories come from ZNMs and Nyzul Isle.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

I'm really happy to have tried these content pieces out as a new player. They add so much to the expansions!

Amazing Video! It's great to see more people talking about this amazing MMO. I only played after its prime, during Covid, but I had a blast and made many friends.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I've got a couple more coming before I'm done with FFXI videos.

Love the video, however dynamis was not instanced, nobody else could enter if an alliance was already in it. The community of each server had their own dynamis calendar where linkshells would put in their scheduled run of various dynamis runs. It mostly worked out because everyone knew what a hassle it was to get together that many people on time.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for that catch! I'll add a correction in the description after work. I knew it wasn't instanced, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote and voiced that lol.

Bang on again. Good job with this review. A+. When I think back to the most memorable characters from all the expansions in a Story line. The CoP characters come first. But as far as content goes. ToAU was a massive amount of content. It kept me going for years after it launched. And it added content with rewards that kept the game in a horizontal progression. Items that didn't make old content items obsolete, but many items that you still wanted to have in your build. The only thing I would say they did very wrong was acquiring a Mythic weapon. Even today, acquiring a mythic weapon is still very unrealistically hard. It's the most difficult to obtain Ultimate weapons in the game, if you don't count buying all the Alex from people that likely dupe items. 30,000 Alexandrite is just ridiculous when you consider the maximum amount you can farm in a realistic amount of time. It made getting relic weapons jokingly easy in comparison. It was the expansion that had the perfect balance between content and story and difficulty. (other than the aforementioned mythic weapons)

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Thank you! When I first started learning about mythic weapons, it felt like a Matryoshka doll of massive quests leading to more massive quests haha. Did you ever finish a Mythic?

Still trying to get through the end of Aht Urghan right now.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

Glad to hear it, it's a ton of fun.

I loved Treasures back in the day when it released I think I spent so much time in whitegate cos of its music.

Another great review, Treasures of Aht Urhgan had so much content I actually never got round to doing all of it even from playing over 10yrs, I got close to finishing my mythic but there being so many steps and each being very hard to complete it was definitely one of hardest achievements go for. Watching your videos is making miss the game and wanting to go back, maybe one day I'll go back with a group of new players to try and relive the same feeling. There's one piece of content you missed mentioning, although it is an assault mission "Nyzul Isle" was considered it's own system, with 100 floors to go through and gear tied to it as well as the base mythic wep, it also included random NMs which were all NMs you could find around the world which would drop a ??? item that you could appraise that had a chance to be the same item that it would drop originally, with all these incentives this made players do this many times over. You would go through 10 floors at a time with a boss being on each 10th floor and each floor would have a different objective to complete to advance to the next with a 30min time limit to complete, they would later add Neo-Nyzul Isle which would challenge players even more, you had to complete all 100 floors in the same time limit. It is one of best endgame content ever made in any MMO that I've played and FF14 used it as basis to create their own deep dungeons but Nyzul Isle had miles more depth to it and I wished they copied more of the objectives over to it.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I appreciate you pointing out Nyzul Isle. I knew that Nyzul Isle assault points were needed for the Mythic, but I assumed that Nyzul Isle played more similarly to the other assault mission lines. I'm glad you've been enjoying these!

@V_User-

8 ай бұрын

There is always Horizon if you're into private servers. I think the endgame in modern retail might offer more challenge between Sortie and the newest Master Trial. But if you want the difficulty scaled across all the content like it was in the classic era, Horizon XI seems to be the new go-to for that.

Ahhhh. Aht Urhgan was my first day-one expansion, since the first two were packaged with the original game here. Everyone was SO excited. I remember on opening day, taking the boat to the new world, and the systems got so overloaded, the entire game crashed. 😅 I really loved the story and world building of this one.

You’re making me want to go back to white gate and busting out my champion pankration chigoe. Wajaom and the thicket are amazing as you said. I love getting lost there or running around looking for sights.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I'm glad to hear that! I have a lot to ask you on Reddit for the WotG essay, so I hope You're prepared for that lol.

Awesome video, ty for making it. Looking forward to WotG (should you decide to tackle it). Really enjoyed how thoughtful your analysis is in these XI retrospectives. I miss the cups of tea with my bird bro Gessho the most I feel, if I had to pick what I miss the most, that and Whitegate's bgm. Odin and Alexander's portrayals also cemented XI as my personal 'canon' portrayal of the Summons/Phantom Beasts in FF overall, as I feel XI has some of their best portrayals on the whole. And then there's BLU COR and PUP lol. I also didn't explore XI until well after its heyday but as you say, ToAU definitely had it's own sense of character that was distinct and tangible.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I couldn't agree more. The way the story twists and turns to reveal that those two summons almost entirely responsible for the state of Aht Urhgan and Ephramad to some degree was really special. Gessho is easily my favorite character from ToAU too by the way.

God just hearing the words Wajaom Woodlands give me Vietnam flashbacks of the hydra chasing my ass all the way to the Al Zahbi as I shouted “NM INC PLZ RUN AWAY!” before it murdered me as I was loading into Zahbi all I wanted to do was grab Blue Mage man 😭😭

I really didnt have time to explore the empire the same way i did the home continent - so i focused my playtime on the classic experience. However its good to see where the expansions took the game. Thanks for the summary - strong review as always!

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Thank you! If you come back to FFXI to play through just one expansion, this is the one I'd recommend by the way. It's a really solid expansion and story all the way around!

Great work as always. I would imagine a Wings retrospective will be quite the undertaking but hope you’ll consider it sometime in the future

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I'm not considering it, I have already started on the script lol. Thank you so much for the feedback too, it means a lot!

One thing I know you're aware of, but can't quite account for truly is the fact that FFXI expansions experienced significant overlap with one another as the years went on. This was both due to release schedule for storyline and zone progression, but also due to the sheer difficulty of the game back during the level 75 and prior eras. For instance, Chains of Promathia commonly had people unable to complete its storyline due to the difficulty of its content even after Treasures of Aht Urhgan came out! I myself didn't complete Chains of Promathia until the summer of 2006(I began FFXI in late 2003). Then Treasures of Aht Urhgan, which came out in 2006, was not complete by the time Wings of the Goddess released. Things like Zeni Notorious Monsters and Pankration were very late additions to that expansion. But it didn't matter, because due to the mountains you were climbing during the leveling process and the prior content, you were likely not done with much of anything! FFXI in the years prior to 2010 always felt like a game that you would literally never run out of things to do in, simply because everything took forever to do and there was so much of it! For example: My second job to level 75 back in the day was Thief. After around level 50, THF would commonly hit a road block with party invites, because no one wanted to setup for the Sneak Attack + Trick Attack combination which required an off tank to take hate first, and then the main tank to position behind the monster, and then Thief to SATA from behind the main tank. This would do ridiculous amounts of damage and could be paired with physical weaponskills. However, due to Thief's weapons being daggers, this method experienced a fairly steep fall off compared to other damage dealing jobs which were only gaining more weaponskills and powers in this level range. Even though they added in a trait called Assassin so that THF could TA and still have great damage on it, thus removing the need for an off tank and the positioning of the main tank, a lot of players didn't know that. So THF would struggle to get invites, making leveling it very slow. I was able to get mine to the early 60s prior to WoTG release, but seemed to be stymied. Then WoTG brought out Campaign Battles, and I leveled Thief through basically until 75. It took me like 2 or 3 months to get THF from level 64 to level 75. So one month to raise a chocobo with minimal effort? That was nothing.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Haha, you're veteran player patience puts me to shame. Thanks for the write up! I do want to touch on the expansion overlap point. When I started these videos, I wanted to find a way to get new players to engage with content rather than blitz through the story. Even though, trying to group content by expansion doesn't make any sense in FFXI, I'm hoping new players feel less overwhelmed with jumping into battle content after watching these videos.

Love this trip to the past. I stopped playing after Rise of the Zilart. It’s interesting to see what I missed out on. It sucks that I don’t have the patience or capacity to play or enjoy 11 anymore. Thank you for this overview.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

No problem, I'm glad you enjoyed!

I love the serpent generals and I'm glad there are dedicated sidequests for each of them. I agree about the story. One of the best in the series.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

There are a couple of quest lines of from this expansion, but that one is certainly standout. Thanks for the comment!

Couldn't agree more with you on all main city, the zones and their associated music. It's also where I wanted to be even as I moved ahead. None of the zones are technically any major switch up from the sort of biomes we've been to before but they still keep them all fresh and memorable. You essentially have two forests but I remember both so distinctly. This whole expansion was really memorable. Aphmau and Luzaf are fantastic. Just two more to add to the top of the list. Even though the expansion stakes get really high. The focus on a relatively smaller cast compares to CoP, heavy focus on the two aforementioned characters specifically, made it feel smaller and personal imo. It also did help that this expansion felt less fragmented than prior ones. Ik this one only took us 8 days of play to finish. Shortest by far. Loved the incorporation of all the new jobs into the story too. But bit of bias with that bc these were all 3 of our jobs. Blue mage lore is crazy lmao Have nothing by nice things to say about ToA. The weak villain like you said is probably the biggest criticism I have considering he's sandwiched between the complex motives of CoP and the best villain in WotG

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

You bring up a really good point on the villain being between two good expansion villains. It's also awesome that your group went with the ToAU jobs! Blue Mage is definitely my favorite job in this entire game.

I remember doing a /sea in Alzahbi during a besieged and we were 800+ players, it was soooooooooo laggy. Server wasn't ready for that at all xD ZNM was fun, nyzul isle was hella fun, salvage alzadaal undersea ruins was fun, loved the story as well with luzaf and the ephramathian. The OST was mesmerizing, specially at the lamia zones. Had a ridiculous amount of fun leveling up through Caedarva Mire spanking those little annoying imps. Aht urgan song was so chill, spent so much time there chilling with friends or teleporting people. Also selling COR 2h for astral burn party XD aaaah... beautifull times... ;_;

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

This expansion really is special. It's awesome to hear a classic player reminisce about how the game was too. Most of that stuff you mentioned isn't what players are doing there nowadays.

Aht Urhgan was so refreshing and so fun, the loot was pretty good (after disappointment with CoP), Besieged, Salvage, the Merit System... I quit before the expansion wrapped up, but this was when I got most hooked on FFXI, even if the journey through CoP's missions was much more memorable.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

I completely agree, at least to the extent that a new player can. Still to this day after RoV, SoA, and all the addons, ToAU has a charm that FFXI never replicated.

I used to played back during the NA release. Kept playing for about 7 years, then finally quit and my account is cancelled. I like to come back. I have 3 questions: 1. Is it possible to get my character back? 2. Is it worth it to try to start from scratch again? 3. Or just play 14 instead?

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

1. You should be able to get your character back. 2. It depends. If you're playing for the story, you should start over. The game is very different now than it used to be. You can play through all the story without other people. If you want to get to endgame, you should probably look into getting your character back. 3. FFXI and FFXIV are very different games. If you're wanting a more lively, active community, then FFXIV might be the best option. If you're wanting a game that won't invalidate it's most of its current endgame gear, than definitely FFXI. I did a long section on this topic in my first video if you want to hear more about these two games before making a decision. My first video is a mess though, so I strongly recommend skipping to the chapter "FFXI vs. FFXIV". I hope this helps, and I'm glad you reached out!

@CharlieWang

8 ай бұрын

@@vicenarian340 I tried. I forgot my Playonline ID. So that’s that. I started a new character in Ragnarok yesterday from scratch. Working on my sub job tonight lol

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

@@CharlieWang That's awesome! I'm sure you've realized it's a very different game from what it used to be. But it has quickly become one of my favorites and I'm excited for you to experience everything in the modern era. Edit: Just a quick tip, since you're a new player, I'd try to get the Echad Ring. I think it's given to most new players, and it's an item you won't want to miss.

My only criticism of this expansion is that the quest to make the mythic weapon required too many alexandrites as there was not enough supply at the time of the expansion's peak popularity. These weapons were even rarer than the relics at the time. The few players that got them in my server got banned for buying gil from third parties. As a casual player from 2004-2010, I found it pointless to join content that was exclusive for the mythic quest during that time. I'm glad SE fixed this issue by adding alexandrites in newer lvl 119 content called ambuscade. It's still a grind to get all 30,000 alexandrites but at least it is something that its achievable today after a few months. This is also the reason that empyrean weapons were more popular during the abyssea add-ons. Since I came back in 2021 to do lvl 119 content, I've made 10 mythics so far. So for those that are interested to come back from that era, just know that it is way easier if you want to achieve the dream of making that mythic weapon.

@vicenarian340

6 ай бұрын

I agree. The grind for mythics feels like an absolutely nightmare when looking at what players had to do back then. Like you said though, thankfully they've lightened that grind.. slightly..

I agree, blue mage had the best iteration of blue mage. I think the jobs in xi are incredibly engaging and blue mage is definitely toward the top of the list. Oh, and If you liked chocobo racing and pankration, I'm curious to hear your impression on Monstrocity.

@vicenarian340

6 ай бұрын

Unfortunately I won't have the time to sink into monstrosity that I wanted to before writing the SoA script. But I have thoroughly enjoyed it for the half dozen hours or so I spend playing. It's such a shame they didn't stick with the content!

👏👏👏

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I'm happy you enjoyed it.

“Who would spend a real world month to raise a chocobo that is slower than the login point mounts?” ME! :D CUS I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT UNTIL I TOOK MY LITTLE GUY OUT FOR A DISAPPOINTING SPIN lol Your videos are super interesting for someone like me who flee thru the story and rarely if ever engaged with many of the mechanics. Thanks you for doing this

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

That's hilarious! I'm glad you're enjoying these, and I hope you stick around till RoV. I don't think I've asked you yet, which is your favorite expansion?

@yeagercomics

8 ай бұрын

@@vicenarian340 oh I am here to the end no worries. My fave was Wings of the Goddess. I felt a very strong connection with Lilisette. I also adore’s XI’s Cait Sith

@yeagercomics

8 ай бұрын

OH and thanks for shouting out Spaceroast last video! I have been LOVING their remixes.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

@@yeagercomics Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I also loved the respect the expansion gave Atomos. He's always been one of my favorite obscure summons, so I really enjoyed his role. I'm glad you're enjoying the Spaceroast music too, those remixes are nothing short of binge-worthy.

I wish you could have played this with a full LS instead of Trust. Everything about this game is fucking amazing. I miss all my old LS members greatly.

@timmer6287

7 ай бұрын

I watched BTL fight PW for hours and it will never leave my core memories.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

That sounds incredible. I would have loved to play this game back in the day, but I was too young when ToAU was in full swing. I have no doubt it would have given me a far deeper appreciate for the design of the game. Thanks for the comment!

As Isekai, Tenkai no Escaflowne is way older than Sword Art Online and it is a very good one.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

I'm don't watch a lot of anime, but if I get the urge to jump into one, I'll be sure give that one a try. Thanks for the recommendation!

Probably an unpopular opinion but this is my favorite expansion, without question. It's all thanks to Corsair, too, lol.

You need to mix the background music a bit lower.

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. I tried it with the WotG video, but I wasn't able to use the same recording setup. So the audio came out sounding baked haha.

Isekai is genuinely the best anime genre

I don't care what people say about CoP, ToAU was peak FFXI

ME! I DID! I dedicated a Month to raising my baby Chocobo! And you know what. The name I gave him "Strike ichimonji" has stuck with me to this day, and in many games, The Character i create is "Kaju Ichimonji" People ask if it's because of One Piece, or many of the other Japanese Media with "Ichimonji" in it.... But NO... it's because of MY SON!

FFX isn't really an isekai. The dream Zanarkand really existed in a physical space in the world (out in the ocean). Sin really did just move Tidus from one place to the next at the same time in the same world even if it didn't feel like it.

@TenchiHawkwing

6 ай бұрын

Also, you mentioned wondering who in their right mind would spend a month raising a chocobo that isn't faster than the login mounts and honestly... ToAU came out in 2006 and login points weren't implemented into the game until 2013 (I don't even know if there were buyable mounts when they implemented this as I'd already stopped playing the game by then). By that time chocobo raising was pretty much forgotten content. No one really did raising or racing even before login points though.

@vicenarian340

6 ай бұрын

Dream Zanarkand was out in the ocean, but could only be accessed by things made entirely of pyreflies iirc. It also lacked foundational attributes to the broader spira like certain races, awareness of magic, and religion. While some might not call this an Isekai, that's more of a technicality. It's still a high portal fantasy story. I know Chocobo raising was expensive, but I've really enjoyed it. It's surprising it wasn't common lol.

You forgot about BCNM's

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

There were a couple gameplay things that merited more elaboration too. Thanks for the catch!

ah my my max speed max stamina red choco Diamond Fire

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I want mine like that. He's almost there, but not yet lol.

This game is a masterpiece! I just dont understand why square dont make a single remaster for next gen console! Much worse game got remake but this one just leave on 20 years old coding.... I m sad... BUT I WILL BE WAIT for remaster or something.... 😢

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed!

@alexjones50

6 ай бұрын

it's an mmorpg, it's harder and more expensive to remaster than a single player game.

You can't understand chocobo raising because you're playing it outside it's original setting.

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

It isn't just chocobo raising, the entire game is beyond my ability to fully appreciate like classic players. This is why all of my reviews have been geared towards the modern experience of the game. And frankly, I absolutely loved raising and racing my chocobo in this modern build. I'm still raising him too. His strength and endurance are almost capped, and I'll have to look up how to raise mental attributes without too much of a penalty to his physical attributes so he can start learning skills lol.

@williamsmith5049

8 ай бұрын

@@vicenarian340 to be more clear, in era there were no mounts besides renting chocobo until this was added, could raise a chocobo that was faster than rental.

Final fantasy tactics advance is an isekai

@vicenarian340

8 ай бұрын

I don't know why, but I was thinking only of mainline stories. That's a really good point though, you're exactly right.

I love Sword Art Online.

I'm sorry chief but you blundered hard on this one

@vicenarian340

7 ай бұрын

What am I mistaken on?