Posted by Dean on
April 17, 2008
FINAL FANTASY XI for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and PC system
The story is set in the fantasy world of Vana’diel, where tasks can be performed to improve a character’s powers or to complete quests.
Also known as Final Fantasy XI: Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square (later Square Enix) as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony’s PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft’s Windows-based personal computers in November 2002. It was localized and released for the North American market on October 28, 2003, and for the European market on September 17, 2004. An Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in April 2006 as the system’s first MMORPG and the first cross-platform MMORPG
Characters
Players are able to customize a character that they will guide through the story. There are also hundreds of quests that allow players to gain various rewards, as well as a growing number of player versus player competitions.
The five playable races in Final Fantasy XI are Elvaan, strong melee fighters, reasonable healers but weak in black magic; Hume, a race resembling humans, with no notable strengths or weaknesses; Galka, an all-male race, strong and tough, but weak with magic; Mithra, agile and dexterous but lacking in charisma, cat-like humanoids of which only the females of the race are playable characters, and Tarutaru, tiny humanoids with incredible power over black magic, but physically weak. In addition to the player races, there are two primary non-playable races known as the Zilart, an ancient race which is the focus of the first two game expansions, and the Kuluu, a race of beings similar to the Zilart and thought to be inferior to it. There is also a huge supporting cast of NPCs who give quests and missions and appear in the game’s storylines. The game features several typical Final Fantasy monsters, including races such as the Goblin, Orc, Yagudo, and Quadav. Some of these creatures follow the Shadow Lord, a source of the game’s conflict.
Gameplay in Final Fantasy XI consists of two major components: missions, through which the main storyline of the game is told, and quests, which do not advance the main storyline, but fill out the game’s fantasy world. Missions are undertaken to advance in rank, access new areas, gain new privileges and advance the various storylines. Each nation and expansion has its own set of missions and quests, which a player must complete to advance in rank; a player may only complete missions for his home country. Quests may be undertaken for various rewards and fame. At release, over one hundred quests were available to play and new quests are added frequently.
Battles in Final Fantasy XI take place in the same world in which players move around, unlike previous Final Fantasy games in which a battle would take place in a new screen. Monsters within the game operate under a system of “claim” and “enmity”. A monster is “claimed” the moment a player performs any offensive action upon it, including physical or magical attacks or offensive job abilities. With some exceptions, once a monster is “claimed” it can only be attacked by players in the party or alliance of the player that claimed it. A monster will focus its attention on whomever has built up the most enmity. Players have several means at their disposal, from spells to abilities to items, to build up enmity and shed it to their advantage in battle. Players obtain in-game money known as gil by defeating a type of monster called Beastmen, though, unlike previous Final Fantasy games, this monster leaves only small amounts.
Locations
The world of Final Fantasy XI is known as Vana’diel. It consists of two main landmasses with two smaller islands flanking them, which in turn are surrounded by small islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the northern glaciers to the southern deserts. The four main cities in Vana’diel are Bastok, San d’Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno. The expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan added the large Aht Urhgan Whitegate/Al Zahbi city area. The rest of Vana’diel is made up of a number of outdoor, dungeon, and minor town areas split into various regions. While most areas are accessible by walking, various modes of transportation, ranging from the classic Final Fantasy Chocobo and airships to special spells, facilitate movement across the game world.
The events of the game are set 20 years after the Crystal War, when the nations of San d’Oria, Bastok, and Windurst on the main continent of Vana’diel fought and defeated the Shadow Lord and his army of beastmen. A parallel world named Dynamis, in which the beastmen succeeded in conquering Vana’diel, can also be explored. It is described as a dream world created by the god Diabolos.
Executive Producer: Hironobu Sakaguchi
Game Producer: Hiromichi Tanaka
Game Director: Koichi Ishii
Art Director: Ryosuke Aiba
Programme Director: Ken Narita
Plot & Events Supervisor: Masato Kato
Images: Yoshitaka Amano
Character designers: Tetsuya Nomura, Nobuyoshi Mihara, Tamae Kisanuki
Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Naoshi Mizuta, Kumi Tanioka
