A hopeful breeze to damaged systems.

[Rufus_Shinra]

I see this alot, people's CPUs crash (or like a recent post, a PS2 HDD wipes. DAMN that sucks.)

But it doesnt seem to be common knowlage among alot of people that:

As long as your POL account never gets deleted, you will NOT need to re-register your game/expansions.

Now, if you already knew this, just stop reading now. No sense in wasting your time.

Having to re-install or re-update does not mean you have to re-register.

If you didnt know, you can install FFXI on a different computer, log into your POL account, and your already registered.

The codes will never go bad unless your POL account gets deleted or unless you were perma-banned from POL.

This is EXACTLY why the codes are not re-usable. Because 90% of them are always active.

Always keep this in mind.

 

[Winklewil]

Well, I really think you meant this for Brin's eyes, and thus, I think it may have been more appropriate to simply post it in his thread ... rather than make a new one. He was understandably upset, so he can't really be blamed for coming for help if he wasn't sure how things work.


That said, however ... yeah, I agree with you: this seems like a no-brainer to me, and yet people seem to freak out over it immediately.

The only, ONLY reason you should ever have to rebuy the game is in case your discs become scratched, destroyed, or unusable, and you are unable to obtain any other method to re-install (which, if you're a problem-solver, can be worked around). The codes themselves are linked to your ACCOUNT. Any disc in the world with FFXI on it can successfully install the game on any computer you like, and you could (in theory) play any account on it.

This seems obvious to me. I don't understand why so many people immediately leap to the conclusion that they only get one install, ever, per purchase of the game. That's just nuts, and so totally back-asswards of anything ever having to do with most software in the history of the world, it's kind of difficult for me to fathom the notion. You buy the software, it's yours, the most important element of it being the registration keys. Once you use those to open an account, the account itself CANNOT be destroyed by anyone but Playonline. It's there, and for good.

Lost your original installation? I could literally take MY discs, install the game again on a computer in Hong Kong, and so long as I enter YOUR codes as I register, you could friggin' play it there without rebuying anything. Really, even if I used my own codes, you could still arrange for playonline to log in to your account.


Even if you lose your discs, there are methods (some more illicit than others) for obtaining installation files without them ... the only time I'd really freak out is if:

1) You play on PS2 (like Brin).

2) You've carelessly treated your discs like garbage, or you were unfortunate enough to get a messed-up PS2 that trashes them over time.

3) Something bad happens to your PS2 hard drive, thus losing you both the installation and your discs.


Really, however, as you need the disc in the system to boot the game up at all, if you're still playing, you're probably fine. This is the ONLY situation you'd absolutely be forced into re-purchasing anything: you need a new boot disc for your PS2.

 

[Shaunessy]

The only, ONLY reason you should ever have to rebuy the game is in case your discs become scratched, destroyed, or unusable, and you are unable to obtain any other method to re-install (which, if you're a problem-solver, can be worked around). The codes themselves are linked to your ACCOUNT. Any disc in the world with FFXI on it can successfully install the game on any computer you like, and you could (in theory) play any account on it.

Or you can put your stuff in a safe place, and not be so sloppy as to damage you disks. People that have broken disks are slobs, specially for this game considering that you don't even need the disk to run it "unless you play on 360".

This seems obvious to me. I don't understand why so many people immediately leap to the conclusion that they only get one install, ever, per purchase of the game. That's just nuts, and so totally back-asswards of anything ever having to do with most software in the history of the world, it's kind of difficult for me to fathom the notion. You buy the software, it's yours, the most important element of it being the registration keys. Once you use those to open an account, the account itself CANNOT be destroyed by anyone but Playonline. It's there, and for good.

Well if you break a disk that you only ever need once in the time between buying and playing......I could see how some could think this. In my experiance with SE though I would say that they deffinatly are at the bottom for ease of use browsers though. Some of the stuff that you have to do to log in to me is just crazy. Maybe if they do actually make more than one game that is good for PoL though it won't seem like that to me.

Lost your original installation? I could literally take MY discs, install the game again on a computer in Hong Kong, and so long as I enter YOUR codes as I register, you could friggin' play it there without rebuying anything. Really, even if I used my own codes, you could still arrange for playonline to log in to your account.

Exactly. SE never asks for any codes as you are installing, only when you log in for the first time, and if you have the PoL login 8 digit user ID and password, you are golden.

Even if you lose your discs, there are methods (some more illicit than others) for obtaining installation files without them ... the only time I'd really freak out is if:

1) You play on PS2 (like Brin).

2) You've carelessly treated your discs like garbage, or you were unfortunate enough to get a messed-up PS2 that trashes them over time.

3) Something bad happens to your PS2 hard drive, thus losing you both the installation and your discs.

1.) You can get the disks on the internet if you actually look, or you can actually venture out of your house and ask the people that work at local game shops if they ever see them/have some that you can use to do a reinstall. Remember EB employees are gamers too, they wouldn't work there for 10 cents above minimum wage if they weren't

2.) I refer you to above and say don't be such a goddamn slob.

3.) Now this ... sucks. It does happen though, and is not just limited to PS2 users. The only advice I can give for this is to suck it up and drive on. They do still sell HDD for the PS2, but prepare to look hard and consider upgrading to 360 at the same time. PS2's days are numbered anyway.

Really, however, as you need the disc in the system to boot the game up at all, if you're still playing, you're probably fine. This is the ONLY situation you'd absolutely be forced into re-purchasing anything: you need a new boot disc for your PS2.

There is no real PS2 "boot disk" Most are mods and the ones that are to start up the PS2 with it's weak ass browser are hacks. If your machine gets to this point, call up Sony and tell them the problem, get a RMA, send it to them "remove your HDD first" and hope that they don't tell you that the can only replace your PS2. In my opinion signing each HHD to a specific PS2 was a dumb choice, but considering that the slim can't even support a HDD nativly, oh we Sony is retarded.


Next.

 

[Grem]

People that have broken disks are slobs

Does it balance out if they are used as cup-mats?

 

[Winklewil]

2.) I refer you to above and say don't be such a goddamn slob.

I've seen you talking about this in another thread, Shaunessy, and I can only repeat what was alreadly laid out in that thread: there have been many, many, MANY verified cases of bona fide screwed-up Playstation 2's with disc trays that are aligned badly. Often-times, the first indication you'll have that anything is wrong is when some of your most-used games start developing deep gouges in them where they scraped against the tray, spinning.

In most cases, I'd agree that sheer, childish, disrespect for one's things is responsible for damaged discs. Since you directly quoted my "2)" in this case, however, which was referring also to the malfunctioning PS2s, I'd say you can't always lay the blame on an individual quite so easily.

One can't be blamed for having bad luck with which console the clerk pulled off the shelf for them. It's not a problem that's readily obvious on sight, and it's something you can't really test for until it becomes clear that some of your games are already ruined. :/

 

[Skaw]

Theres a whole lot of words in this thread for something that can be summed up with "Registration Key codes are not CD Key codes," and "Accounts are stored on the servers."

 

[Winklewil]

Theres a whole lot of words in this thread for something that can be summed up with "Registration Key codes are not CD Key codes," and "Accounts are stored on the servers."

Yes. The other words are an exploration of exactly why that fact isn't obvious to some people, as it really should be the most logical thing that one should assume to be the truth first. In spite of that, it seems to be an incredibly common misconception. What's more, a statement made that simple isn't enough for the sort of person that would leap to the wrong conclusion anyway ... in fact, I'd go so far as to say it may leave them insecure and MORE confused, if possible. There are those that won't stop asking the same question until you cover every tiny angle, every possibility they can imagine, and explain that the blanket statement does apply to those situations, as well.



At any rate, if there's somebody that would be willing to write a friggin' novel about how apples grow on trees, it'd be me. -_-