Final Fantasy XI Online

Rating:
Summary: A True MMORPG Experience
Review: <<Do remember that I am a sixteen-year-old.>>

Welcome to Vana'diel!
To totally new MMORPGrs and returning veterans of DAoC, EQ, SWG, and perhaps even iRO, and those who'd like a decent review-this one's for you.

Final Fantasy XI- Online- the first of the acclaimed series to bring the game to the net and across the world. Brought to you by Square Enix.

Let's begin with the beginning. Planning to buy the boxed goods? Included are four discs, as of yet. Installers for Tetra Master, FINAL FANTASY XI, and the expansion set, RISE OF THE ZILART. Hopefully, the marketers will not choose to separate any of these from each other any time later, for that would drop sales dramatically (?) Yes.

What's there to expect in this game? you ask before grabbing it off the game store shelf. Well, if you've played regular RPGs before, such as those on a console, you can expect many of the same elements:
-Hours upon hours of training and leveling up; however, this an MMORPG that is not too merciful of solo adventurers. Most of the time, you will be way better off in a party.
-Lots of walking, talking, journeying abroad, creating, destroying, being a samaritan; Technically speaking, you don't HAVE to do all of those, just a few. However, if you choose to skip doing the quests or missions, and aren't too keen of having a reputation as a handyman/woman, you're going to miss out on a huge part of this game.
-An aspiring, memorable life experience; The experience of playing in a stunningly beautiful world such as Vana'diel, meeting with other players from different parts of the globe, getting to know each other before having to log out, laughing, crying, falling out of your chair, pulling an all-nighter, watching in horror as your party gets annihilated by that damned monster that spawned out of nowhere; all of this encompasses the experience of long-term dedication. From the small amount of game play time I've accumulated so far (seven days) in about a period of one month, I can tell you this much:

Give MMORPGs a hundred years to evolve to suit everyone's tastes, and it will consume humanity; but, the aftertaste is something to be desired.

On a less serious note, make sure you meet the RECOMMENDED system requirements that is so conveniently placed on the bottom flap of the FINAL FANTASY XI box. Not only that, but toss away all future frustration dealing with in-game lag (and some serious cash) with the new NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 graphics card, and be on your way to new, thrilling adventures.

My last comment: Ask the Tarutarus to /panic; It's a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity! You'll absolutely love the game, and forget your momentous worries. Then it hits ya.

"What? It's 4 AM already ?!?!?!"

See you in-game, perhaps. My info is disclosed within the review specifics.

Rating:
Summary: Final Fantasy XI Online: First Day Jitters
Review: My heart raced and dinosaurs danced the Hula in my stomach as I tore off the packaging of what I hoped to be my newest MMORPG fix. After devouring my dinner (yes, yes, I was stuck with one of those bodies that require food to survive) so that I could devote a few full uninterrupted hours to FFXI, I popped in the disc marked FFXI Disc One... So I inserted the wrong disc, stop laughing. After inserting the correct CD, the PlayOnline installer was doing its thing to my delight. An hour or so had passed by the time all five discs were finished installing.

Play time!... Er, or not. I forgot about the registration process. No big deal, though, I was used to it after two years on Dark Age of Camelot and Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. Name, address, credit card number, and agree to the dozen EULAs and Privacy Policies that sell my soul to the Dev-gods... I'd be done in three minutes... So why did such an easy task take three hours?

By the time I had finished typing in my information and all four registration codes (One code for the PlayOnline Viewer which is nothing more than a glorified account login screen for FFXI and Tetra Master, one for FFXI, one for the expansion pack to FFXI and one more for Tetra Master), it was 11 pm. Next came the hard part... The infamous patch! Now I do understand that I'm on a measly 56k but a twelve hour patch on the very first day is not a good sign.

I awoke today and logged in to see a cinematic so beautiful that the sixteen hour delay seemed worth it. The effects were stunning and the voice actors were perfect. Kudos! In fact, I think the cinematic was better than the film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within... although, most fans of the game series would state that my toe crud would make a better film. But was the game as great as the cinematic?

With a few taps of the mouse to navigate the character select screen, I was settled into Bastok with a Mithra thief sure to make my girlfriend jealous. But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to backtrack a bit to the creation of Genesys, my thief. After being spoiled by the creative designs of the Dark Age of Camelot avatars and the plethora of detail available during the creation of my Star Wars Galaxies characters, my bliss wavered at the lack of depth put into the characters FFXI offered. We are given five races to choose from: Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra and the Galka. Only three of the races, however, have male and female options. They all have movies attached to them that show a bit of each race's personality, and I must admit that a few of the animations left me wondering if I should seek psychiatric help for finding computer generated women attractive. Each character has eight hair styles with two colors attached to each style which vastly limits any diversity the Devs may have hoped for.

After choosing one of the six starting professions (Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief), I created something called a handle. I'm still a bit clueless as to what the handle does as I had already chosen my character name but nevertheless, it needed to be done to complete the login process. Now, before I continue any further, raise your hand if it seems something was forgotten before game play begins. You guessed it! There are no servers to choose from. Apparently, thwarting evil behemoths with a buddy is frowned upon because in order to be on the same server as your friend, one of you must buy an in-game World Pass, which is simply a password that you enter during character creation.

The screen went dark as the Loading bar filled and processed my request to begin game play. Now, I was a bit boggled at the lack of a splash screen, but Dark Age of Camelot did lack a splash screen until two years ago. I understand it's still the first week but come on! Are you expecting me to believe they thought black was an acceptable splash screen in this day and age? Make it a screenshot of a naked Tarutaru for all I care but make it at least look like you tried!

Once loaded, Genesys (my sexy feline thief) was given her very own cinematic showing her grace Bastok with her presence. Straight out of the gate, we're tossed into the tail end of a seemingly useless (and random) storyline involving a few villagers. The two I encountered consisted of some brats whining about being too young to fight and a woman who wanted to leave the city but the guards denied her the simple request. After finding the NPC who passes out the newbie money (which isn't enough to buy dirt), I ventured out into the rocky wastelands to lay the smackdown on some ne'er-do-wells.

I must say that the combat system is a rather refreshing change from the average turn based attacks. Not only do you not carry your weapon while in a non-combatant state (such as wandering town) but, unlike many other games, a very smooth animatic was inserted before and after each fight which allows us to see our weapons of choice being drawn and placed back into their respective sheath. Now maybe the average gamer won't care if they see their dagger ripped from its scabbard with zeal but it does add a bit of realism which is rather important in an RPG.

The choice of creatures to squash did leave a bit to be desired and I found myself sitting around awaiting the spawns. It seemed I was running around the map more in search of monsters rather than killing them. Normally, I'd blame it on the crowds stealing my kills but throughout the course of my night, I ran past maybe twenty other gamers. For the first week of a new game, that I believed had a huge following, it felt very barren.

I think I am a rather forgiving person but alas, now we must move on to my real grievances... and there are a few.

First things first... I have problem with the bill. As of late, many gamers have been griping about the fact that the box and registration number costs upward of $50 plus we pay the $12.95 per month, per account (save for Star Wars Galaxies that charges an insanely high $14.95). Final Fantasy XI, however, makes even me protest. Not only are we covering the bill for the game discs and the monthly service but on top of that, Square Enix has the audacity to implement a billing system that charges us per character! That's just a new low in my book.

Secondly, the HUD gets my goat. The HUD... Or should I say lack thereof? Every online game I have ever played has a very distinct layout on the screen that usually allows access to such things as the inventory window, options and exit. But no, not this game. To access any additional features, such as those mentioned above, you had better either read the manual or just start pounding keys. If you do eventually access the HUD, don't count on the keyboard configuration to fully work since it only accepts alphanumeric keystrokes (excluding the NumPad).

As a disabled man who has found it possible to fully run all online games using nothing but a standard trackball, I found it impossible to access 95% of Final Fantasy XI. It almost seems as if the Devs are placing a sign up notifying us hardcore gamers that the physically challenged are unwanted in the lands of Vana'diel. For those who use some form of onscreen keyboard to communicate, the lack of a Windowed Mode confirms the unwelcome atmosphere.

Perhaps next time, Square Enix should try making a Final Fantasy title that truly lives up to the mythos of its predecessors instead of trying to pass off a cinematic as a video game. To be honest, I can't even say the music was well-done as it was the same old score lifted from all of the console versions. Keep in mind that this is all merely one reviewer's opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Not a typical Final Fantasy game
Review: I bought this game because I love Final Fantasy games. I played the game for a month and thoroughly enjoyed it. But it is very different from most Final Fantasy games. First of all, it's a Massive Multi-player Online Game, which you have to pay a monthly subscription (the first month is free.) This makes the game amazingly complex and interactive, but I feel that it looses the story in the process. There is no linear story of good fighting evil. I like Final Fantasy X & X-2 so much because it was like watching/playing a movie, this game is nothing like that. It would be a good alternative to Everquest, and I think many people that play Final Fantasy games would like this game, just be warned that it is a completely different game.

Rating:
Summary: a quick note
Review: One quick note over some peoples outrage about the $13 a month fee for the game. Almost all mmorpg's require some kind of fee which pays for server time, updates etc... and generally the fees are about $13 to $15 dollars a month. As for the game it is great, cutting edge graphics, good combat system, and the storyline is good. Over all a very good game.

Rating:
Summary: A Gem in the MMORPG World
Review: I've played a few MMORPGs, and this is one of the best. And since I've played pretty much every Final Fantasy game, I also know that this is one of those best in that series. Set in a medieval-like setting (which is more like the original games of the series, not like the recent FFX/FFX-2), you get to control your own character whom you select a look for and create his or her personality. Using the auto translate feature, you can talk to people in Japan and vice versa. It creates a wonderful and unique experience that really succeeds in putting you into that world and everything about it. This is a great game for gamers who are mature enough to respect others and who want to experience a game with a lot of other gamers from around the world. Oh and for those who complain about the monthly fee, you have to realize that it costs a lot of money to keep servers going for something like that. Just think how many people are on it at any given time. And the ability to auto update the program for new features, as well as adding on expansion packs, it just makes everything more fun in this never-ending story.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT GAME, but OURAGEOUS FEE!
Review: This game very wicked and also so realitic it'd looked like you're the one on the screen! Although the game is excellent, the game fee is crazy!! They expect us to pay 13$ a month, come on! We have better things to do than play games all day! If the fee can down to like 7& or less, than I'd buy it and play it all day! Unfortunately, I was going to buy it but the fact that the fee is soo high, I've decided to buy .hack//Outbreak and ontinue the .hack Series. Sorry Square, I love all your games but this fee is just crazy!

Rating:
Summary: 3 Hour Setup
Review: Ok, im not a kid, i just don't feel like logging in.
My one complaint about this game is that it takes so long to get started! It took me almost 3 hours to get playing after i took it out of the box, however, it was amazing once it got going

Rating:
Summary: Patience Patience Patience!
Review: I enjoyed this game at the earlier levels, but as I progressed into the 20s I found the game to be a bit monotonous. There is A LOT of downime - waiting for mages to get mana, waiting to find the perfect monster, etc. Basically, there is a lot of waiting. I read an entire book (Runaway Jury) while waiting inbetween kills. That is the largest complaint I have, but I'm not the most patient person in the world either. Another problem I had was that because the game has been in Japan for awhile, all the Japanese players are a very high level and they "Farm" a lot of items. There is no such thing as a camp, nor is there such a thing as respecting a group who has waited patiently for a special monster to pop. Once a monster is attacked once than nobody else can attack it (thus preventing kill stealing). However, when a lvl 70 is able to claim a monster before a party is able to do anything then it can be argues what kill stealing exactly is. I ran into this a few times, thus I mention it.

On the positive side, the graphics were absolutely AMAZING! This game by far has better graphics than any other game I've played. With a nice suped up computer and graphics card, the views are truly spectacular. Additionally, the game has a continuous storyline, which adds to the gameplay.
When I break the game down to its simplest form I see that it is EQ with a lot more downtime, less treasure and items, and a longer time to level (which is what you will be trying to do at all times regardless of whatever anyone else says). I enjoyed the game, however I have become tired of it within a month. For perspective - I played EQ for about 1 1/2 yrs. before I became tired of it (I compare this game to EQ, because I know many ppl have played EQ). I hope this review helps!

Rating:
Summary: Final Fantasy XI could of been better
Review: Final Fantasy XI is an ok game. It has very well done cut scences and has outstanding graphics. However it's interface is a little hard to get use to. I have been playing online games for a while now and I have found that if you are lost the best way is really to ask for help. The person you ask will stop and help you. Final Fantasy did a great job with the combat and the quest system. I would suggest anyone whos is willing to pay the online game should consider buying it.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Involving, Enjoyable MMORPG
Review: Slightly sceptical to the idea of an online Final Fantasy game, I decided to give Final Fantasy XI a try. All that I must say is that it exceeds all my good expectations! Building on the battle systems and general ideas of the former RPGs in the series, FFXI takes the adventure to a grander, online scale.

The strengths of this game are found in its dynamic, epic gameplay that is found in MMORPGs. The ability to form parties and role-play gives the game a highly adventurous feel. This is augmented by Square-Enix's devotion to making sure that there is a decent storyline. Of extreme importance to ensuring the continued enjoyment of the games, players often find themselves filled with patriotic spirit for their given homelands, pushing them to play more to help their land gain glory and fame.

While it does help the game in some ways, the reliance on forming parties causes problems for some players. This can make the game extremely difficult for starting players, especially for those who start at white and black mages. Since parties are difficult to form for people at low levels (one would have to find a group of all low-level characters), these physically weak players are left to fight the hardest for the same experience that others are earning much more easily. If groups can be found, however, the party system makes for awesome game play.

Overall, I give FFXI 4 stars because it is still an awesome game. Even with its starting difficulty for certain jobs at low levels, this game gives player a lot of fun times that are definitely worth the small monthly fee!