You have to love Square "A franchise isn't over until we're all dead" Enix. Persevering with its online rendition of the Final Fantasy series, Squeenix is releasing Final Fantasy XI 2008 Edition for PC and Xbox 360 on May 23.
The box set contains FFXI, of course, along with its four expansion packs -- Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urghan and the newest addition, Wings of the Goddess. There was a 2007 edition released, funnily enough, last year that contained three expansions. Maybe Squeenix will do this every year.
"The world of Final Fantasy XI continues to grow with both new content and new players," states Squeenix boss John Yamamoto. "Final Fantasy XI 2008 Edition allows interested players to join the adventure with the bonus of all the expansion pack content. I hope many more players enjoy and experience the exciting world of Vana'diel and all that Final Fantasy XI has to offer."
This game is still being played by dedicated FF fans around the world. Does anybody here still play? I never got into it at the time due to my fear of subscription fees and lack of online gaming facilities when it first came out. Is it worth getting, and do they still add a charge on top of the XBL fee? I'd be interested in this, but I typically don't like paying for a game I alreadly bought.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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However, recently the population and in-game economy has been on the decline and so squeenix has been pulling out all the punches to get their previous numbers back. Its worth getting if you're patient and like MMORPGs in the first place but would prefer something a little deeper than other games in the market.
As for fees, you DO have to pay the fees on Xbox, but the "upside" is that you can play this online with the silver Xbox Live if you aren't a gold subscriber. You don't need to be a paying XBL member to play FFXI. Shit, if you're online with your xbox, why the hell are you sticking with Silver anyways? Seriously?
There are certianly worse MMO's to be playing. On the other hand, there are better Final Fantasy games to be playing.
But I wasn't able to get it at the time. I know someone who played it since release (i remember trying to figure out how to get onto his server if i did get it augh), but left early last year, and has never looked back. I'm not impressed by their endgame content from what I had heard of it, and haven't heard great things about their battle/exp system either. Although i have enjoyed seeing some videos of boss fights and whatnot, and I get curious again at times, I don't think it'll motivate me enough to buy this.
Oh, and this is the same collection that the 360 has had for a while now. They got it when the last XPac was launched... so about 6 months ago.
Agreed.
All of my friends were/are into FFXI. I've tried playing it several times; each time I come back to it I think, "This time will be different." But it's always the same. Then again, I don't like WoW either. Maybe I'm just not into MMOs? The only one I've ever invested significant time into is PSO.
The community in that game is awesome and that's just what really made the game for me. The job/subjob and the difficulty were great too but since you had to work together so much it just made the community a really nice place and you don't have to deal with the dumbass 12 year olds like you do in WoW.
Sadly I had to quite it due to time and I have the time to play it now but I doubt I could get my old character back and don't want to level it up again in all the jobs I had leveled. ;_;
I wish they'd resurrect it... and not that shitty Phantasy Star Universe crap. I want my PSO back. REAL PSO.
The primary storyline missions are always a blast and with the first two expansion packs weave together a pretty tight little story. The job system is really well done; there's 20 really unique jobs out there, and being able to borrow another job's abilities can really change the way a job plays. Furthermore, the fact that you can change jobs whenever and a lot of gear is usable across multiple jobs is fantastic for tempting people to experiment with new classes.
The big downsides are yes - you need a well-rounded party for just about everything, and yes - leveling up is a brutal timesink. Furthermore, jobs tend to have bad carrot distribution, making the 40s and the 60s kind of thankless. I guess the bottom line is everything's harder than your average MMO, but most people wear the time spent as a badge of pride.
In all, if you have a friend that still plays and are willing to put up with the install time, you can normally find the game + 3 expansion packs for $20 and it includes a free month of play. Be sure to have a keyboard. Let your buddy give you a gentler introduction to the game; it's not very friendly but can be a worthwhile (an addicting) experience.
anyway all the rampant cheating and chinese farmers finally wore me down and i haven't played since june 06.
Or my worst enemy, the really cool linkshell that is family friendly and discourages any form of profanity at all. Fuck that.
-yes, its slow.
-like someone else said, the carrot distribution is poor.
-it is heavily party based (solo'ing with respectable XP is almost impossible).
-/+end-game is heavily alliance(raid) based.
-end-game is poorly implemented and the early end-game content is not instanced and can cause mob/camp disasters.
-lots of good gear is based on pop mobs and also causes mob/camp disasters.
+storyline is more fleshed out than most.
-playing through nearly any of the storyline requires parties and alliances.
+/-job system is cool, but there are many job combinations that are not viable for any purpose (not nearly as interesting/useful as FFT's job/subjob combos).
-most NA players in strong LSs or upper level play are hard to deal with (childish/selfish/etc).
+playing with JP players can be a total BLAST (this is one of my fondest memories of the game).
+fishing is cool.
-/+doesnt rely very much on traditional FF series lore or themes (summons, chocobos and moogles is about it... as well as most of the jobs).
+challenging game that can be rewarding if you really learn the ins and outs of battle and play.
I guess I just don't play these games because people piss me off, and they FORCE you to find parties.
PSO sure did rock...and here ya go:
http://www.psoblueburst.com/en/index.html