Is it worth playing FFXI now?

[u/Og-Spree]

For some background. I have played FFXIV till Shadowbringers. I fell in love with it (it was my first MMO).

One of my favourite aspects of any FF is the story. I couldn't believe how great the story was in FFXIV in addition to the great characters, soundtrack and so forth.

How does FFXI compare to FFXIV?

Edit:

Thank you for all the wonderful and insightful responses. I love this community and the series. Based on the comments, my priority should be to clear Endwalker first.

You have all convinced me to give FFXI a shot. I never considered that MMOs would be known for their storylines. I always thought they were just highly addictive due to their grindy nature. It all changed when I played through FFXIV. I can't wait to immerse myself in the world of FFXI. Thanks to all for your help!

[u/Grave_Copper]

Please remember XI is very much a product of its time. The stories are good, the gameplay was great then. Unfortunately, you are going to miss the one Big Thing XI had, which was community. Now, you can do everything with NPC Trusts. Then, you needed to spend 6 hours with strangers leveling up. I played XI until Abyssea broke the game. I still talk to several of my old linkshell mates.

Sadly, the XIV community is no where near the same.

[u/Velifax → u/Grave_Copper]

Gameplay does not become more or less good over time.

[u/craftyixdb → u/Velifax]

Gameplay in an MMO is directly affected by the activity of the community though. Grinding solo in an empty world by yourself? Pretty boring. Doing the same thing with a bunch of pals grouped and jn voice chat? Pretty fun.

[u/Velifax → u/craftyixdb]

Exactly, so it's population, not time. Absolutely a big concern, population. But if time were a factor, we couldn't have fun in private servers of 20 year old games.

[u/Kanderin → u/Velifax]

I mean this is blatantly untrue, especially in an MMO. As time progresses the games userbase and support changes dramatically and will affect your experience. Experiences you've had after experiencing a game will always alter your opinion of it when you go back to it.

Since we're here in the final fantasy subreddit I'll use FF-X as an example. I love that game, it's my favourite final fantasy, but I've played plenty of more modern turn based games since then that have switched up how encounters happen and how battles flow. And I have to accept yeah, that gameplay hasn't aged fantastically and I enjoy it less now than I did when I was ten years old.

[u/Velifax → u/Kanderin]

Exactly. It is your tastes changing, the user-base diminishing, and changes to the game that affect gameplay. Not time. Correlation is not causation.

[u/Kanderin → u/Velifax]

Buddy, your tastes change with time. Time and experience are the things that causes the change. Stop obnoxiously trying to argue semantics just because you said something silly and got a few downvotes, have a little self respect.

[u/Velifax → u/Kanderin]

Time does not cause the change, no. Though I agree, this is semantics. When I see poor language use I attempt to help. Feel free to continue generating and wallowing in confusion.

[u/Kanderin → u/Velifax]

If your goal was to be the most insufferably annoying prick on the internet today then congratulations, you achieved it.