Final Fantasy XI by Al Giovetti
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Final Fantasy XISummary * History * Company Line * Game Play * Plot * Graphics * Animation * Voice Actors * Music Score * Sound Effects * Utilities * Multi-player Features * Cheats, Hints, and Walkthrough * Journalists * References * Letters HistoryThe final fantasy series has gone on to make 12 different versions of the game. These ff (final fantasy) games are very popular in Japan and the United States of America. Not every final fantasy game has been published in america, but those that have been published have been runaway hits. Over SummaryThis is a massively multiplayer online game (MMPOG). Final Fantasy XI Online is a very impressive game. It seems to be one of the few games that does not limit people in advancement to some arbitrarily lower status based on some system of fairness. If you put in the time to develop your character, you will get your character developed. You are not forced to gimp your character to participate fully in trade skills like Star Wars Galaxies or to limit the skill progression of grand master to only one profession. You are allowed to fully develop all tradeskills if you wish to take the time working on the skills. One character is really all you need. You are allowed to change professions when you are in your home which is called the moogle house or residence in the game. You can develop any trade skills you wish to the maximum. Of course game preference is all a matter of taste, but this game seems to have solved many of the time wasters and other problems of other online computer games. These solutions offer the best game on the market right now for anyone to play. Check it out! When you die your items go with you to your home point or bind point. This eliminates the most unnecesary time waster and inconvenient "feature" of other games--or the corpse retreval system. Reality in games should only be pursued when the end result is not such a royal pain--other games require you to spend hours either begging for gamemaster intervention or others to help you retrieve your body--totally unnecessary waste of time. Company Line FINAL FANTASY XI AND PLAYONLINE REACH MILESTONES WITH ADDITIONAL PLAYERS IN NORTH AMERICA
PlayOnline Registered Users Surpass 500,000 in North America and Japan Combined
LOS ANGELES, Calif., (January 7, 2004) - Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. (“Square Enix U.S.A.”), the publisher of Square Enix™ interactive products in North America, announced today milestones that were reached due to the successful holiday sales of FINAL FANTASY® XI. The PlayOnline™ service has surpassed 500,000 registered users in North America and Japan combined, with the total online community population (number of active characters) of FINAL FANTASY XI at nearly one million characters.
Released on October 28, 2003 in North America, FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows®, the first online title in the world-renowned series has quickly become one of most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) to date. The title has garnered several “Best of 2003” nominations and awards among the enthusiast sites and other outlets. FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system is scheduled for release in March 2004. The first cross-platform, cross-continent MMORPG, FINAL FANTASY XI allows gamers to connect to the same exact world regardless of whether they are playing on a personal computer (PC) or PlayStation 2 and whether they are playing in North America or Japan. In Japan, FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2 and for Windows were released in May and November 2002, respectively. Launched in May 2002 in Japan and October 2003 in North America, the PlayOnline service provides a wide range of online services including games, entertainment and communication. PlayOnline serves as a portal to the world of FINAL FANTASY XI and a gateway to several other applications.
About FINAL FANTASY XI
In FINAL FANTASY XI, players will undertake multiple adventures through vast environments in the world of “Vana’diel,” a persistent world that has more than 100 areas to explore, including mountains, forests, ice plains, deserts, oceans, rivers, castles, and dungeons. The brand new gaming universe contains the award-winning visual content, innovative gameplay and deep storyline seen throughout the FINAL FANTASY series. FINAL FANTASY XI allows players to create their alter ego that will exist in the world of Vana’diel, choosing from a variety of races, facial features, hairstyles and colors. They will be able to play at their own pace and form parties by utilizing the various communication tools that have been incorporated into FINAL FANTASY XI, including easy-to-use chat and messaging systems. The inclusion of “Rise of the Zilart” expansion pack expands the storyline and opens up a variety of higher-level skills and abilities.
FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows is available for a suggested retail price of $49.99 (USD). Subscribers will receive their first 30 days of access without charge. Aside from Internet service provider access charges, the free trial period will begin on the date players create their first Content ID or character. Any additional Content IDs purchased are also available without charge until the end of the free trial period. After 30 days, players can continue to play FINAL FANTASY XI by paying a monthly fee of $12.95 (USD) for one FINAL FANTASY XI character, and can create up to 15 additional characters for an additional charge of $1.00 (USD) per character, per month. Tetra Master®, the online version of the wildly popular and addictive mini-game from FINAL FANTASY IX, also included in the package is available for $1.00 (USD) per month. Payment for monthly access charges must be made by credit card only (restrictions apply).
For more information on PlayOnline, FINAL FANTASY XI, and Tetra Master, please visit the official Web site at http://www.playonline.com.
FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows are as follows: Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2000/XP, Intel® Pentium® III 800Mhz or higher, 128MB RAM, 6GB of hard drive space, DirectX® 8.1 compatible sound card, CD-ROM drive, keyboard, 56K or faster Internet connection, and either the ATI® Radeon™ 9000 series or NVIDIA® GeForce™ series video card with 32MB of RAM.
FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system will be pre-installed on the internal Hard Disk Drive (40GB)(for PlayStation®2). Available in March 2004 for a suggested retail price of $99 (USD), the internal Hard Disk Drive attaches to the Network Adaptor (Ethernet/modem) (for PlayStation®2), which connects to both broadband or dial-up networks, and rests in the expansion bay of the PlayStation 2 console.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated FINAL FANTASY XI “T” for Teen. For more information about the ESRB, visit http://www.esrb.org.
About Square Enix Co. Ltd. and Square Enix U.S.A., Inc.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment contents including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises – FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 47 million units worldwide and DRAGON QUEST (DRAGON WARRIOR® in North America) which has sold over 31 million units worldwide – under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.
Square Enix U.S.A. Inc., located in Los Angeles, Calif., handles operations in North America including localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix U.S.A. can be found on the Internet at www.square-enix-usa.com.
FINAL FANTASY® XI FOR WINDOWS® SHIPS TO NORTH AMERICAN RETAILERS TODAY
- Enter The World of Vana’diel With Thousands of Players Online -
LOS ANGELES, Calif., (October 28, 2003) - Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. (“Square Enix U.S.A.”), the publisher of Square Enix™ products in North America, announced that FINAL FANTASY® XI for Windows®, the first online title in the world-renowned series, ships to North American retailers today. FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows will include the “Rise of the Zilart™” expansion pack and other applications on five CD-ROM discs, and carry a suggested retail price of $49.99 (USD). FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system is scheduled for release in March 2004. The first cross-platform, cross-continent massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), FINAL FANTASY XI allows gamers to connect to the same exact world regardless of whether they are playing on a personal computer (PC) or PlayStation 2 and whether they are playing in North America or Japan.
FINAL FANTASY XI subscribers will receive their first 30 days of access without charge. Aside from Internet service provider access charges, the free trial period will begin on the date players create their first Content ID or character. Any additional Content IDs purchased are also available without charge until the end of the free trial period. After 30 days, players can continue to play FINAL FANTASY XI by paying a monthly fee of $12.95 (USD) for one FINAL FANTASY XI character, and can create up to 15 additional characters for an additional charge of $1.00 (USD) per character, per month. Tetra Master®, the online version of the wildly popular and addictive mini-game from FINAL FANTASY IX, will also be included in the package and will be available for $1.00 (USD) per month. Payment for monthly access charges must be made by credit card only (restrictions apply).
“With the success and overwhelmingly positive response we had with the beta program, we are extremely excited about what we will achieve with players from around the world as we launch FINAL FANTASY XI in North America,” said Yasu Kurosawa, US online producer, Square Enix U.S.A. “FINAL FANTASY XI is one of the largest, most in-depth online adventures and promises to deliver an amazing experience with a compelling storyline, highly-detailed graphics, numerous events, boss battles and other features that are unique to the FINAL FANTASY series. There are currently over 300,000 active PlayOnline* subscribers in Japan and we are confident that FINAL FANTASY XI will find similar success in North America.”
About FINAL FANTASY XI
In FINAL FANTASY XI, players will undertake multiple adventures through vast environments in the world of “Vana’diel,” which has more than 100 areas to explore, including mountains, forests, ice plains, deserts, oceans, rivers, castles, and dungeons. The game allows players to create their alter ego that will exist in the world of Vana’diel, choosing from a variety of races, facial features, hairstyles and colors. They will be able to play at their own pace and form parties by utilizing the various communication tools that have been incorporated into FINAL FANTASY XI, including easy-to-use chat and messaging systems. The inclusion of “Rise of the Zilart” will expand the storyline and open up a variety of higher-level skills and abilities. FINAL FANTASY XI also features:
Brand new gaming universe that contains the award-winning visual content, innovative gameplay and deep storyline seen throughout the FINAL FANTASY series
Character customization capabilities as well as the ability to equip and switch support jobs at any time
A truly persistent world with climate and time changes that range from full day/night cycles to fog, snow, desert sandstorms, and thunderstorms
A complex yet well balanced auto-attack battle system fit for beginners and experienced gamers
Players can partake in conquests to elevate their nation’s standing, missions to build their reputation within a nation and quests to discover useful items, earn money and uncover valuable information and discover more about the story of Vana’diel
Players can form a “party” with up to six (6) players or form an “alliance” with up to three (3) parties for a total of 18 players
Easy-to-use chat and messaging system
Auction houses, where items/weapons/armor can be auctioned off, and Bazaar system, where players can sell/buy items on the fly
Various types of guilds to choose from, each with its own skill level
Visually stunning event sequences
*PlayOnline™
FINAL FANTASY XI is a multiplayer online game in which players play via the Internet, and is playable via broadband or dial-up connection on both the PC and PlayStation 2. FINAL FANTASY XI is accessible only through the PlayOnline network service, a network service created by Square Enix. The PlayOnline service will launch on October 28, 2003 (12:00AM, PST). PlayOnline provides a wide range of online services and entertainment including games, entertainment, and communication. Thus, PlayOnline not only serves as a portal to the world of FINAL FANTASY XI, but also a gateway to several other applications including communication tools such as email, messaging, a “Friend List,” games, support, downloadable files, and audiovisual customization. Players will create personalized PlayOnline identities or “handles” that allow other players to communicate with each other, no matter where they are on the PlayOnline network. These basic services on the PlayOnline network will be free of charge. For more information on PlayOnline, FINAL FANTASY XI, and Tetra Master, please visit the official Web site at http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/.
Marketing and Promotional Partners™
In addition to a targeted marketing campaign that includes national print and online media in the top gaming and computer gaming magazines and websites, Square Enix has united with several promotional partners in its marketing efforts for FINAL FANTASY XI. Alienware® is offering a FINAL FANTASY XI bundle on their “Area-51” desktop PC with any NVIDIA® video cards and is also hosting a contest where gamers have a chance to win an Area-51 with the bundle and an exclusive Coldcast Chocobo and Elvaan statue (see in-game insert for details). FINAL FANTASY XI will also be seen in co-branded print ads with NVIDIA. In addition, the premiere online games destination, AOL Games, has debuted a comprehensive programming package, which is available at AOL Keyword: Video Games.
BradyGames’ FINAL FANTASY XI Official Strategy Guide will aid players in their epic journey. The guide includes comprehensive character strategy with full coverage of races, standard and advanced jobs, attributes and abilities, macros and more. The guide’s detailed quest and mission lists, arranged by such things as the city, rewards and maps, help gamers conquer each task. Also, the guide provides a variety of aids to help players master their environment, including comprehensive weapons, armor, and accessory tables, an in-depth bestiary, spell lists, a skillchain chart and more. The Official Strategy Guide will be priced at $19.99 US / $28.99 CAN.
Square Enix U.S.A. has partnered with Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony Pictures Digital, to provide in-game support and customer service by phone for both versions of FINAL FANTASY XI as well as PlayOnline.
FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for FINAL FANTASY XI for Windows are as follows: Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2000/XP, Intel® Pentium® III 800Mhz or higher, 128 MB RAM, 6 GB of hard drive space, DirectX® 8.1 compatible sound card, CD-ROM drive, keyboard, 56K or faster connection, and either the ATI® Radeon™ 9000 series or NVIDIA® GeForce™ series video card with 32MB of RAM.
FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system will be pre-installed on the internal Hard Disk Drive (40GB)(for PlayStation®2). Available in March 2004 for a suggested retail price of $99 (USD), the internal Hard Disk Drive attaches to the Network Adaptor (Ethernet/modem) (for PlayStation®2), which connects to both broadband or dial-up networks, and rests in the expansion bay of the PlayStation 2 console.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated FINAL FANTASY XI “T” for Teen. For more information about the ESRB, visit www.esrb.org.
About Square Enix Co. Ltd. and Square Enix U.S.A., Inc.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment contents including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises – FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 45 million units worldwide and DRAGON QUEST (DRAGON WARRIOR® in North America) which has sold over 30 million units worldwide – under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.
Square Enix U.S.A. Inc., located in Los Angeles, Calif., handles operations in North America including localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix U.S.A. can be found on the Internet at www.square-enix-usa.com.
A really nice feature is the no kill stealing provision. The person who hits the monster first gets it. The only way anyone can help is if the character or party who claimed the mob hits the help hot key. This prevents all the name calling and fights over kill stealing.
They also have a nice solution to when your group gets in over your head. You scream for help and then other people can help you buy assisting with your kill. This works very well but don't use it too much as sometime your friends playing near you will be out of health and unable to help or in some cases unwilling to help and more than happy to watch you die and leave their camp.
Overall the people who play Final Fantasy XI Online are very helpful and friendly. English speaking people should pick up a Japanese phrasebook as there are many Japanese speaking people who are unwilling or unable to speak English. However, many of the Japanese speaking players are very impressed by someone who attempts to speak japanese even when they are using the highly limited communication abilities of the 26 letters in the English alphabet when compared to the complexity of the thousands of oriental characters that most of the Japanese players are using. I carried on a ten minute conversation just the other day using my broken Japanese and assisted by my handy Japanese phrasebook. This game has the additional advantage of teaching Japanese to those willing to take the time to learn it. A really nice feature would be an online phrasebook. There is a feature for the Japanese to convert to Englsh but I have not found an English to Japanese conversion yet on the program. Perhaps I will find it later as I explore this complex interface. Today I found the English to Japanese conversion and it works quite nicely once you figure it out. The tab key brings up the interface but the neatest thing is that you partially type a word and the interface looks the word up for you and converts it into japanese characters or hirayana and kata kana. The only problem with this interface is there is not enough phrases. I was frustrated by not being able to say the [spell] does not work in [game area] and many other phrases. A translation dictionary that would give you roomaji or the phonetic japanese equivalent in roman characters would still be very useful. Warfare after level 15 or so requires that you find a group. Groups have the same problems in MMPOG all over. You are always waiting for dead party members to run back, always waiting for new party members when the old ones leave, when one leaves then others will leave because the attention span is low and they cannot wait, you never get any loot because you are pooling and the leader is greedy, etc. These are the same problems the world of MMPOG all over. Usually, the treasure allocation system works well, but most people oppose to using lots, since the lots favor those playing the longest and it is considered unfair. But an unfair group leader can horde loot too, and often does leaving those who speak up to get kicked from an otherwise good experience group. In the four major cities you can find auction houses or AH as they are referred to in the game. You are allowed to put up to seven items up for sale so that you can make a profit off your loot. In Bastok, San d'Orio, and Windhurst the transaction fee is about 1 gil (The gil is the unit of currency in the world of Vana'diel). In Jeuno the transaction fee is about 150 gil per item. Let me tell the sadist designers of this game something: no one charges 150 gil to sell a 400 gil item anywhere in the real world. The fees are absolutely rediculas. What is it about game design for MMPOG that the designers have to make the players suffer in some way? Get real people? A game player today told me he started a new character because he did not like the name he picked and the appearance of his character. Seems to me that people might get upset with the sex they picked, as well (There are lots of male game players that play female player characters and vice versa). Many of these game players that cross dress eventually want to switch to the other sex. Any good game should allow the players to do this. The best way would be to provide a quest to change your race, sex, name, or physical attributes to any of the valid ones in the game. This might be confusing but it would certainly be less stressful than starting a whole new character. The quest could be difficult and/or inconvenient enough to discourage people from doing this willy nilly.
The Computer game controls are not perfect but better than most games that also work on the PS2. The motion keys can either be the AWSD block, the cursor keys or the number key pad. This is better than everquest which must be controlled by the right hand using the cursor or number key pad. The communication interface has a glitch, if the shift lock key is toggled on you cannot talk to anyone and many keyboard functions are disabled. The game could have been programmed to ignore the shift lock key without downside. It is hard to fathom why the testers and designers did not think of this themselves. An integral part of any game that employs fighting is the ability to check the strength of your oponent versus your player character stength. FFXI uses the check command(/check or /c from keyboard) to tell you if the targetted monster is to weak to be worthwhile, easy prey, challenge, even match, tough, very tough or impossibly tough. The game requires you to manually check each monster targetted while more inspired games like Everquest has a color coded name and ring around the monster that tells you the same thing eliminating the need to manually target and then manually check each monster for relative strenth. Game designers need to ask themselves: Is there a better way to do this without all the unnecessary keypressing? e4 There are lots of very interesting and useful quests that you can do. The quests are divided up into missions that you complete for rank in your kingdom that you can only do for the kingdom you selected when you started and quests that you perform for the residents of amy of the three kingdoms that anyone can complete.
The more quests and missions that you complete the higher your faction in the city where you perform the quests. The higher your faction the more quests open up to you and the cheaper items are sold to you and the better you get for items sold back to the game non-player characters. Many players consider faction to be unimportant, but it is an important part of the game that they seem to miss the point of.
The game has a mission and quest tracking system that keeps track of your missions and classifies them as completed or pending completion. Some missions are repeatable and can be done any number of times for more faction, money or other prizes.
The more missions you do the higher your kingdoom rank. The kingdom rank is different than faction and opens things up to you like the airship transportation at level 5 rank. Which allows you to go between cities for 200 gil using the airship system.
The quests are much easier than the quests for other MMPOG like Everquest. The quests are more satisfying than many other MMPOG>
The graphics are more detailed and advanced than Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies but not as pretty. The graphics resemble Ascheron's Call 2 more than Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot or Anarchy Online.
The voice acting reminds me of recent Final Fantasy games with high production values and very excellent Anime like voice acting. The musical score got a bit boring since the same songs seem to play all the time. You get to humming along with the tune. T Signing into this game for the first time is akin to submitting to a security check from the post 9/11 Federal Bureau of Investigation for ultra high security government clearance. Good luck cancelling your subscription without a lot of patience, fortitude, and understanding of the ultimate Japanese bureaucracy. YThe Play Online interface is used to log into the game. The first step is purchasing a profile ID. Once a profile ID is purchased and activated the play bar is activated. On the first time the play bar is pushed 7571 files are downloaded which only takes about a half hour or so. After downloading #1 of the 7571 files, download #2 of 1934 files started. This time the time remaining on the download was given as 2 hours and 10 minutes. We recommend that you read a book or the manual that came with the game, gasp - read the manual, as this part of the game loads. (When was the last time you read a manual?) When booting up the game, the player is warned that while playing the game is fascinating remember to spend time with your family, friends and job. Remember the game is not the real world. Most other online games automate the process by taking you to the screens you need to go to. Play Online decided, and we think wrongly, that you were intelligent enough to find your way through the morass of menus of the Play Online Interface. Perhaps, I am unique in having gotten lost and not knowing what I was doing several times while attempting to sign up and sign on for the first time. I found all the other MMPOGs easier to sign up and sign on than this one. I had another compatability problem where a Viewsonic UltraBrite A70f+ monitor with an ATI Radeon 9600 video card (We tested the SE and the XT cards) would crash the program and give us a message that Direct X was not working. But when we hooked up a Sony CDD 6220R 17" Monitor, the program worked fine other than some other crashes. We got a program termination error on booting up that crashed the program saying the system could not run the software. The system was an Intel Motherboard, 3.06 MHz Pentium 4, 833 MHz front side bus with 126MB DDR SD VRAM on an 8x AGP slot, etc. We got three freeze ups in a week. When the program freezes up the computer must be cold booted, since control-alt-del does not work. The FFXI program then warns you of possible errors for not logging off correctly. Everyone is going to crash eventually and eveyone is going to loose internet connection and crash, so there needs to be some facility for saving periodically to prevent loss due to unexpected crashes. The crash recovery error should not read, "Some data may have been lost because you did not log out properly last time. To exit the program, please be sure to log out, then select 'Exit Viewer.'" The program crashed, I did not log out. You might find yourself screaming this to the monitor every time you see this error and you will see it a lot. We have just graduated to several freeze ups a day. There needs to be some correction so that when FFXI crashes ctl-alt-del will bring up the interface and the program does not force Windows XP to crash as well. Most programs do not requre rebooting when the program crashes and allows Windows XP Task Manager to recover the system. This is a very big problem in our opinion. This game is well designed and fun to play for the most part. There are still some design "features" that are completely unfathomable micromanagement nightmares. The inventory appears to be one of these areas. Every time you kill a mob, make something with tradeskills or harvest something you must go into your inventory and manually resort and stack everything. Ironically, Square Enix refers to this as "automatic sorting." There is nothing automatic about this process. A really wonderful alternative would be for every item found to "automatically", that means with no button pushing, find its propper space in the inventory. Additionally, items should "automatically" stack, this means without button pushing. To have to go into inventory which requires pressing the "-" key and selecting inventory or pressing alt or ctl I and then hit the right arrow (because if you are not at the bottom of the stack the automatic sort may only work on some of the items), then you must select the "+" key, then select the "auto" (for auto stack) and confirm this selection by clicking yes or no. This amount of button pushing is hard on the mind, a waste of time, hard on the hands, and puts Final Fantasy XI Online in the running for the game with the most insensitivity to hand pain, arthritis, and ignoring the Americans with Disabilities Act which requires accomdation for those of us who are hand pain challenged. Ever since we have been using Final Fantasy XI Online we have noticed extreme fragmentation of our files on a daily basis. This requires us to shut down the program and defragment the hard disk drive daily or be subjected to hours of defragmentation on a weekly basis. Perhaps using two comptuers is a good idea so you can play while one computer defragments. This is a massively multiplayer online game, everything about the game is multi-player. |
There are no cheats that I know of. There are tons of hints and walkthroughs. The game is very easy to do quests. There are lots of in game hints. Compared to the quests in Everquest which are so obtuse as to be anoying, FFXI has manageable quests. I like the FFXI quests.
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