Long read incoming, apologies :)
I played FFXI from NA PS2 release up to just after Seekers came out. I took a month of here or there, but was pretty consistent with my subscription. I wasn't a really big fan of Seekers and with ARR looming on the horizon I finally decided to call it quits and shut my account off. I haven't really considered reactivating until just a few days ago, during a hunt party on FFXIV. I got to talking to one of the people in the party about FFXI, the locales, the music, the people, some of the cool stuff that we'd done and the way that the game had changed so much, and it really put me in a nostalgic mood.
I knew that I'd never do endgame content, never would have the best gear available, I knew I'd probably not even keep the subscription active after the first month. I just really wanted to log in, walk around in some of the areas I remember really having fun in, Sanctuary of Zi'tah, Ronfaure, Sarutabaruta, Sea, Sky. Things like hearing the music once more from Heaven's Tower and Tavnazia. Ride that boat one last time from Mhaura to Selbina, walk around the dunes and wonder how much collective agony I'd had in that zone over the years.
FFXI was my first MMO and I have played or tried almost every one that has come out since. Currently I play ARR (which is still a miracle game to me, considering how it started out) and it has enough FFXI elements in it to keep me in check usually. But in my almost 10 years on FFXI this has been the longest break for me yet, almost 2 years since I've logged in.
So I redownload my copy of the game from my Amazon digital locker and begin the download process. I knew I was in for a long wait, SE has shown me in the past that getting into XI from scratch is no easy simple matter. After an hour of installing POL, the game and all the expansions, I reactivate my account and log in to POL to begin the update process.
12 hours the timer tells me... I have the best cable internet available to me in my area, and while not blistering fast it downloaded the full client and all expansions from Amazon in about 30 minutes. Oh well I think to myself, I'll just let it run over night, it's late anyway, and I knew the update would take a while...
The next morning, I jump on the PC and attempt to log in to POL again (It must have crashed during the night) 2 hours of updates the timer tells me... Oh well that gives me time for breakfast and to run my daily roulettes on ARR. Finally the update finishes and I log in. All the way to the character select screen, anticipation building as the music rolls. I get into the character select and there's Mathisyn. It's been 2 years since I've seen her, it's like seeing a friend that's moved to another town back for a visit. I select her and hit the log in, and the screen fades to black, the familiar Downloading Data in the lower corner of the screen starts up and I see the interior of my mog house and then..
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
Well crashes happen I'll check my settings and tweak some stuff. I go into FFXI config and check all the settings and everything is where I remember having it from before. Oh maybe it's because I forgot to run the game as administrator, I seem to remember something about that. I set as admin, start up POL and log in. Character select, Downloading Data, mog house interior...
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
Hmm, to Google I go. Seems there's a special version of POL for windows 7. I don't know if my copy from Amazon already included it or not. uninstall POL and download it from SE website, Log in and update POL, 30 minutes later, it's finished. Start POL, log in, Character, Data, Mog house...
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
By this time I'm starting to get kinda irritated, and it's getting later in the afternoon. I google some more stiff about the problem and the only things I'm seeing are that it may be a corrupted DAT file, every post I check is saying uninstall and re-install. The thought of going through that whole process again is not appealing. I try restarting my PC, checking registry issues, running checks on my HDD and the FFXI install folders. No faults found. I run a full virus scan on the system, nothing found. I unhook my internet for a couple hours to make my ISP reissue me a new IP and fire up POL once more. Log in, character select screen, Downloading Data, Mog house...
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
Pulling hair out at this point I uninstall the game and all the expansions. For some reason, uninstalling the game takes almost as much time as installing it. Re-install everything and set the update again and go to bed. The next morning to my surprise POL had not crashed and the update was complete, so I log in to the game once more. Character Select screen, my friend is still there, just waiting for a romp down memory lane, Downloading Data, the interior of my Mog house, I had forgot after all this time that I had logged out in San d'Oria, I wonder what I was doing there...
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH PLAYON%@#INGLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just want my stroll down memory lane!!!!! Tweak settings "Playonline viewer has stopped working" Restart computer "Playonline viewer has stopped working" For the love of all above, I just want to play the game! Once again my only option is to uninstall and reinstall a third time. I get everything uninstalled, I reinstall everything again and start the update process a third time. File check completed, 30000+ files to download again. 25000/30000 remaining...
"Playonline viewer has stopped working"
As I finish attempting to get the game working and return to ARR I know most of you won't read this, I accept that. I also accept that I wasted $13 and will never get my stroll down memory lane with my old friend.
But it has made me feel better to tell you about it, thank you.