So, what other games are you playing in addition to FFXI?

RAWR

Submitted by Milotheshort on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 19:21.

GAMZORZ BITCHES

1. Counter-Strike (Source)
2. Half-Life
3. FF Tactics
4. Time Crisis 3
5. Super Busta Move

hey now

Submitted by Piskowit on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 16:14.

I know most of us aren't the sort of sad pathetic losers that only play one game...

What's that supposed to mean?!? Those sound like fighting words to me!

I'm kidding. Lately though, I have only had time for ONE game, and that is FFXI. And that is also IF I have time. This whole 45 hours a week, 8-5 thing eats all of my ffxi time :(

Before I became a sad pathetic loser, I played many games. When I was younger, I played all sorts of RPGs. I actually had the time to finish one back then. However, most of the rpgs were the final fantasy series (FF 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, X-2). FF X was probably the last FF I beat before I got to college. Since then, I never found the time to beat X-2...and have been working on 11 for over 3 years with only a level 67 whm to show for it.

What do I play now you ask? Ever since 7th grade, I have gotten addicted to a certain genre. The game that got me there...Guitar Freaks for PS1.

It was a JP onry game meaning I had to mod my system just to play it. Which I did. Now my collection consists of...

Guitar Freaks

Guitar Freaks 2

Guitar Freaks 3rd Mix

DrumMania 2nd Mix

Parappa

Parappa 2

Frequency

Amplitude

Guitaroo Man

Guitar Hero

and soon to be Guitar Hero 2

These were great games to play when I only had 20 mins between class. Also, they are very very addicting. Anyone and everyone I get to play these games continue to play them. Just ask Kaliv. Or my {Mega Boss}, or his {Mega Boss}...

...FF3...

Submitted by Xilldon_RDM on Mon, 07/17/2006 - 01:07.

you wouldnt mean FF6 would you...,

yes but

Submitted by Piskowit on Mon, 07/17/2006 - 14:07.

Quoted from ign..."the game released as Final Fantasy III in the US was actually part six renamed to avoid confusion from the missing titles of the series"

This actually explains a lot.

um............

Submitted by dragonlance on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 19:03.

Halo2 (xbox) If you think you got skills at shooting /tell me so we can kill eathother on xbox live.
Ghost Recon 2 xbox
FFX PS2
Star Ocean: till the end of time PS2
Your mom
Heros V PC
Did you catch the mom one
oh yeah FFXI PC
GW PC
Civilization V PC
Forza Motorsports xbox
Time Crisis 3 PS2

( these are all games i am play / have played in the past 6 months, i don;t play them all, but more like rotate between them to get a break from one type of genre and play another. )

I could come up with a lot more, but I don't feel like holding the record for the most games played / beat.

Oh FYI I play FFXI cause it is the hardest game to beat that i know of. ( time wise ) ( to me 'beating' a game means you do just about everything there is to do )

Star Ocean

Submitted by sam on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 14:04.

Star Ocean? Bah, welcome to 2 years ago :-P. Heh... actually it is a good game.

So is my mom... but whatever.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

lots of games?

Submitted by Xilldon_RDM on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 18:04.

Not really basicly ive been playing FFXI and GW lately. Im a lvl 15 Elementalist (BLM) in GW its pretty fun but can get boreing heh. Also Ive been kinda obsessed with mario kart DS and Final Fantasy Tatics Advance so whats that 4 games?

FFXI & GW

Submitted by Tamara on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 17:59.

Guild Wars and FFXI, FFXI and Guild Wars these days.

Guild Wars came out with a new continent (a new campaign) this spring so with the expansion the world you can travel is pretty large now. Your character can only have one primary job so unlike FFXI most players have more than one main character. I play a Monk (White Mage healer) mostly. Guild Wars is interesting because you configure your primary and secondary jobs with skills BEFORE battle so you can be either a healing monk or a smiting monk.

I am looking forward to playing Okami in a couple of months when it comes out.

Sam's other games

Submitted by sam on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 15:14.

FWIW, this is a pretty popular topic, we've had several other posts on the topic.

Anyway, here's what I'm currently playing:

FFXI (360)
Balder's Gate Dark Alliance (GBA): Ex-wife sent this for xmas a while ago. I loved the PS2 version, and have been enjoying the GBA version.
Oblivion (360): Meh, technically I've beaten this, but I still have some quests to complete as well as finish up all the downloadable content. I've been taking a break from it though, haven't played it in a week, but I still include it here because I will return to it in the near future.
KOTOR (Xbox): This game came out around the time of my divorce, and was always tainted with that memory.. so I never played it. Anyway, I'm finally playing it.
Condemmed (360)

Not a very long list? I know. I will say that today I am buying Prey for the 360 and that will likely be added to the above list.

Also, if a solid Action-RPG could just be released for the PSP (no, the Untold Legends games don't count) that would be on this list in a heartbeat.

Vis Maior's Journeys

http://maior.samhart.net/

Revised

Submitted by sam on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 15:54.

Okay, since this, I have now beaten Oblivion and Balder's Gate DA for GBA.

I have since purchased Prey... and beaten it (har har har)... so even Prey isn't on this list :-P

Now, you can remove BGDA and Oblivion and place the following two on this list:

* Sigma Star Saga (GBA) : You got RPG in my Side Scrolling Shooter! You got Side Scrolling Shooter in my RPG!

* Half Life 2 (XBOX) : Finally got around to playing this. Prey has enthused me about going back and playing all the FPSes I neglected last year.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

GW

Submitted by Unst on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 17:07.

Xilldon, Tomoro and I play GW sometimes but they play alot more than me ^^
Shadow of the Collossus (ps2) i dont play often but i love this game.
btw... how is ffxi on the 360 if i got a 360 is it worth getting ffxi for it too?

FFXI on 360

Submitted by sam on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 18:08.

Well, there was some discussion on this site when it first came out. If you searched for it you could probably find it.

But the short and skinny of it was as follows:

The 360 version has the highest resolution textures of all the versions. This doesn't necessarily mean highest in-game resolution (simply because it doesn't require HD-capable screens), it just means that the textures themselves look much nicer (I personally think this aspect is pretty dramatic... less aliasing when I get the camera close to objects).
The 360 version is highly sensitive to your output device. People with top of the line HDTVs will be blown away. People with middle-ground HD-capable (e.g., things a few years old) might still be amazed. Hell, people with normal TVs may even be amazed. However, if the stars aren't aligned just right, and your 360/FFXI/TV/Monitor combo doesn't gel, the game will look like crap. Everything becomes white-washed (I've seen this) and the resolution drops way down.

Basically, the culprit lies in FFXI's screen detection routines. When FFXI first starts up from POL on the 360, you will see it start in the 720i/p mode. If FFXI can't determine that your screen can handle that, it will switch to the lower mode.... whether your screen can really handle it or not. This can be frustrating since many people can clearly see the game works fine in that mode, but are powerless to actually do anything about it.

This is an oft-requested feature by the 360 crowd (the ability to force it into 720i/p mode regardless of what FFXI thinks it should be in), but has not been addressed yet.

Long story short, FFXI on the 360 may look absolutely amazing for you.... or it may look like shite. From what I've read and seen, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground.
The 360 FFXI has great controls... if you like console controls. If you are a hardcore PC gamer who needs his mouse and loves memorizing obscure and archaic keyboard gymnastics, then you don't want to play with a console controller anyway.

However, if you prefer console controllers, the 360 version is the way to go. Wireless, tight controls, and a comfortable controller.
The 360 FFXI requires the HDD. I know, I know, nothing new here. But since the 360 doesn't necessarily come with a HDD (you can get the "Core" system, sans HDD), it is worth mentioning.
The 360 FFXI doesn't have any "Achievements". Non-360 players may not care about this, but on the 360 "Achievements" are a pretty big deal for many gamers. I personally was very disappointed I didn't get an Achievement for taking MNK to 75, or unlocking every job, or beating Maat, or getting PFC in Assaults. IMHO, this is the biggest gameplay shortcoming for the FFXI on 360, simply because it doesn't make it integrate into the rest of the 360 world.

Well, those are the items I personally remember.

IMHO, I prefer FFXI on the 360. Then again, I'm not a PC player and never have been (I'm a Linux user on the desktop, and haven't had Windows on any of my machines in over 10 years now). If you are a hardcore PC gamer, and/or if your TV isn't up to snuff, then you might want to pass on FFXI for the 360.

However, if you are a 360 player, have a moderately okay TV/monitor to play on, then you ought to give the game a try. You may very well be blown away like I am.

BTW: If you go to my personal page you can see my screenshots from the game. All of these since April 20th, 2006, have been on my 360.

Vis Maior's Journeys

http://maior.samhart.net/

You missed two

Submitted by ravenclaw on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 19:24.

You missed two other important advantages of the 360 over other things.

Draw distance: This is huge! The 360 has much deeper draw distance than any other version of the game. This means you can see (and target) enemies, characters, and players much farther away than in any other version. Great for camping NMs^^
Less lag in Besieged: I have a top of the line PC and yet Besieged is always jumpy and laggy because the PC just isn't built to handle that many 3D objects on the screen. My 360, on the other hand, handles Besieged much better. It can still be laggy with character models being loaded and unloaded, but the animation always stays smooth and there's no jumpy-motion.

RavenclawX/Ranger

Doh!

Submitted by sam on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 14:07.

Yeah, I completely forgot "Draw Distance".

Also, I think the fact that the 360 handles Besieged better is merely a side-effect of the draw distance. I'm not sure I'd really call that a "feature"... Maybe an "advantage", but not a feature, since it wasn't actually designed specifically to address that :-P

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

too technical

Submitted by Tamara on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 18:39.

I don't understand all the above technical stuff but I just checked and I run FFXI at 1280x768 (which approximates an HDTV). I play on a PC and the video out is fed into the PC Input of a nice mid-sized HDTV. It sounds odd but there are such TV's out there, we went out and found one.

An HDTV as a PC Monitor, as it were. You have to go into FFXI and tell the Config that you are playing with HDTV ratios or you get a stick-figure =^_^=

As for texture resolutions I don't understand that either but I do recall that on my main PC we went in and fudged with the resolution setup over a year ago. FFXI gives you a 'setup utility' but if you Google around you can locate a web reference to how you can bypass the FFXI setup utility for PC and edit to get even higher resolution; the FFXI program seems to recognize the new settings since if you edit too high you can get a slow game (graphics bog down the game).

If you do this 'sneak-editting', and then go back into the provided setup utility, the field is displayed as blank because you editted the settings directly and the utility does not go that high. I find that rather odd, but what it means is most PC players seem to be handicapped by Square Enix.

I use a USB Mousepad to heal folks, and I just want to go on record as saying that - it being natural to click-down through the party and toss a Cure - I 'hate' Mistress Dragonlance! She changes weapons MORE often than ANYONE I have every met in this game and when you hit her name in the list during one of her numerous-weapon-switches you reset back to yourself and have to start over down through the list =^_^=

I figure the day will come where I will just let her 'die' and then I can peacefully heal everyone else! LOL!

LOL

Submitted by ravenclaw on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 19:39.

I don't understand all the above technical stuff..

And yet you chose to reply, LMAO....

As for texture resolutions I don't understand that either ..

Obviously^^

In your post, you wound up comparing apples to oranges. Texture resolutions have nothing to do with screen resolutions... which is all you were talking about.

Screen resolution is the resolution everyone seems to know about. This is the resolution that you run your screen at (in your case, 1024x768, which actually isn't HDTV, or even the 1280Ã—720 medium resolution that FFXI on 360 runs at, but whatever). For this resolution, with the proper hardware and some knowledgable toolage, you can get your PC version of the game to run higher than the 360... but not by much.

Texture resolution is the resolution of the in-game textures. You know how when you look at the ground in Windurst there's this sandy, grassy texture to it? Or when you look at the freckles on my Mithra's face? Those are in-game textures.

Well, the lower the resolution of an in-game texture, the more aliasing (or blockiness) you get as the texture is scaled (as you zoom in on it).

The 360's texture resolution is higher than any of the other versions. This means that, even at lower screen resolution modes, the images will be more crisp and detailed. To many untrained eyes, this actually will "look better" than the same image rendered at a higher screen resolution but with lower texture resolutions.

Now, there is no tool or way to make the PC version have the same higher resolution textures.... yet. Right now, the only system with the higher texture resolutions is the 360. Of course, SE could easily just patch the PC version at any point to rectify this... but they haven't yet.

RavenclawX/Ranger

1280 x 768 which is a close a

Submitted by Tamara on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 21:41.

1280 x 768 which is a close approximation.

1280 / 768 is close to 16 / 9 (on your provided link); close enough for me. FFXI on the PC can handle 1280 x 768 and I use that resolution on my non-mule PC.

"Now, there is no tool or way to make the PC version have the same higher resolution textures"

The link below claims there is; but I will take your word for it that he is wrong. I knew someone on FFXI who quit playing to go to game-design technical school, I am not into that - I just play =^_^=

All I know is that when I start up Guild Wars to play it you can hear a fan in my PC get louder. I know it is on the video card because I was not playing for a week because my old video card died. The noise started when my PC got a new video card. So I assume Guild Wars must have some nice graphics - it looks nice!

Guild Wars can perform at 1280 x 768 too.

When I don't know stuffs I try to find out something using Google. I read these are 'native Windows resolutions'. I don't know much about the new Vista but I read somewhere this week that in Vista 'native Windows resolutions' are not needed if you have decent enough hardware to run Aero or AeroGlass or whatever they are calling it.

Made me wonder whether in the far future you can just scale your games up and down to fit your display device, since Windows appears to be heading in that direction. If so your explaination would be interesting because I could have a wall-mounted TV of 100 inches (if I could afford such) and still see the freckles when I zoom in =^_^=

Link below

Submitted by sam on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 13:58.

Just, FYI, the link you provided, Tam, deals with background textures, which is yet another beast entirely. Also, that link just increases the background texture display resolution, it doesn't actually replace the lower resolution background textures with higher ones. Simply displaying the same lower resolution texture at a higher screen resolution doesn't solve the problem (in fact, it just creates more aliasing problems).

The 360 version actually has entirely new textures (object and background ones) which are higher resolution (more sharply defined).

To help explain this more clearly, I've prepared a tiny example.

Imagine, that the following texture was something from the game (it's not, but pretend it is):

This texture could be something that is applied to a wall or maybe a floor (or whatever).

Next, imagine that, in the game, you walk up to this wall or floor (or whatever). The object has gotten bigger on your screen, so the texture has to be scaled. Standard scaling would probably cause alias artifacting and look something like this:

For the 360 version of FFXI, they actually replaced the lower resolution textures with higher resolution ones. Meaning that, instead of getting the aliasing artifacts you see above when scaled, you would see something more akin to this:

Now, all of this has nothing to do with your actual screen resolution. This only has to do with your texture resolution.

I hope that clears it up a bit. All of this isn't saying that the 360 version is inherently "better" than the PC version or anything. I'm merely pointing out the differences (and explaining what those differences mean).

Vis Maior's Journeys

http://maior.samhart.net/

FPS?

Submitted by Milotheshort on Thu, 07/13/2006 - 15:37.

Is that image from a FPS? It looks familuar and i can't quite place it...

Redux of Q2 textures

Submitted by sam on Thu, 07/13/2006 - 18:47.

Actually, that was a texture from a redux of the textures used in Q2 to make them higher resolution.

I was really lazy, and just grabbed the first thing I could think of.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

you can notice this also...

Submitted by Milotheshort on Thu, 07/13/2006 - 15:33.

If you look at the subsequent releases of Half-Life, you can notice that the disstortion of "Close Poximity" Pixels is reduced... however if the textures weren't blended in the original format... you might end up with jagged and unrelistic looking pologon models... IMO there are a few instances when using the "Abstract Representation" might be better, the aformentioned one, in applications where the current utility can not handel the application at full spec (this is common in the industry), Drawing and tooling distanced objects that the character shouldn't ever be able to come close too... ergo backgrounds and elevated objects...

On the note of X-Box > PC... this can be argued, once i stoped playing on Golagres's PC and picked up an Alienware... texture quality was night and day... besides i know Sam isn't making this comparison, but truly its difficult to compare to different platforms because a game that is Cross-Platform often has to be tweeked, what we are actual witnessing is the devolpment team saying hey i never did like that, we have to re-encode this for the X-box so lets chnage it and see what happens... If they were to re-release a version update for PC we might actually witness greater texture varence than we do in the X-Box. Also, in all reality its not fair to compare The Gen 2 PS and Gen 2 X-Box as there are a vast number of years differance in there release. Technology New>>>>>>>> Technology Old. Well its just my opinion after all. :P

360 v PC

Submitted by sam on Thu, 07/13/2006 - 18:46.

Yeah, I really wanted to point out the differences. Ultimately, the deciding factor for anyone on 360 v PC will be weather they like the controls or not. PC geeks who need mice and keyboard gymnastics will probably prefer PC. Console geeks who prefer loafing about on the couch 20 feet away from their screen eating cheetos will probably prefer 360.

Personally, I'm of the latter variety.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

Thank-you for the explanation

Submitted by Tamara on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 18:31.

An interview with Square Enix said the 360 version was a port of the PC Game, if they snuck in better textures for you 360 players I am happy for you =^_^=

I just provided the link for PC players who might want their game to look a tiny bit better. Apparently the PC version was shipped with a config utility that scaled graphics back from what is possible. The Playstation Two version is its own animal. The 360 was a quick port (per Square Enix) because they claim the 360 was built using PC and Windows concepts.

The interview in question was related to the conversation there was a very, very, very low probability of there ever being a Playstation Three version of FFXI because the game would have to be built from scratch (which is not completely true because we all know some part of the game runs on the server). Apparently SE does not feel like putting effort into anymore new FFXI clients.

I have an order in with EB Games for a copy of FFXII on the PS2.

This is FFXIII for the PS3:
http://www.final-fantasy-13.com/

Found It!

Submitted by Tamara on Tue, 07/11/2006 - 18:58.

Modifying Texture Resolutions

When you play around with this your Square Enix provided FFXI PC utility will stop displaying certain settings. Use at your own risk (my game slowed to nothing once).

another up to the 360 i guess

Submitted by Unst on Wed, 07/12/2006 - 22:13.

<> taken from the interview on 1up.com, meaning the 360 experiences a different kind of lag/ "slowdown"? or that it is virtually nonexistant?
-------
Anyways i got an email from Gamestop telling me they were ONRY ones with collectors edition preorders for ffxii ill prolly just buy the normal when it comes out though.

360 slowdown

Submitted by sam on Thu, 07/13/2006 - 12:50.

This is actually something I noticed right away, the animation is a tiny bit slower in displaying certain specific things than I was used to.

However, it doesn't actually slow the game down, and it doesn't affect any gameplay elements at all.

Basically, the only time you'll notice this slowdown is when you see certain weapon skills that have VERY big/complicated animations that otherwise go very fast. For example, on my Monk, the only time I notice this slowdown is when I Asuran Fists (basically, the animation for the WS is slower by a small but noticable ammount). This doesn't happen for most things (Asuran Fists is the only thing I've seen on Monk that shows it), but when it does happen, you do notice it.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/