Final Fantasy XI Online Review

Chapter XI of the Final Fantasy phenomenon hit North America a couple of months ago like a stampede of frenzied chocobos. And yes, to answer the avid fan’s most dire question, you can ride chocobos. With that said, the world of Vana’diel is now Online and equipped to take on the MMORPG juggernauts we have spent all too much time playing but enjoying every minute. Square made huge headway with the release of FFXI nearly two years ago in Asia; naturally, they could not resist dishing up a plate for the finicky palette of the Americans, and they have delivered. With such a delayed release to the States and our neighbors, one calls into question if a game that has been on the market for two years can actually hold a candle to what is out today.

First off, judging a book by its cover offers some promise. Any fan of Final Fantasy will be drawn to this title like a Taru Taru to a picnic. Taru Taru you say? Well, FFXI offers five races to choose from, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. We have the Hume, basically a human, average in just about every field. The Elvaan – elf to the majority of us – are masters of the sword and average magic users. Taru Taru, a childlike race that excels in the realm of magic but lacks in the ability to take physical punishment. The Mithra are a female-only bipedal feline race that has amazing dexterity and quickness. Lastly, the Galka, a male-only race of what looks like hairy giants chiseled out of stone. They have tremendous strength and can bring down the pain as well as they can take it.

From a gamer’s standpoint, the graphics are actually quite good for an older game. Vana’diel immerses its population in an almost anime/cartoon-style universe that is a pretty refreshing change. The animated emotions of the characters are overly cute but nevertheless well done. The spells are attractive, and Summoner pets are definitely impressive to look at. Another definite plus is that it doesn’t require a beefy system to be surrounded by a well-designed atmosphere. The graphic engine is not top-of-the-line but gets the job done simply, without bogging down your system performance. I think a lot of gamers will appreciate that it doesn’t require investing in a beefier system to surround oneself in a decent atmosphere.

Getting down to the crux of the gameplay, Square has remained true to the Final Fantasy universe. FFXI boasts a variety of classes, from Monks to Red Mages and Dragoons to Ninjas. However, as a piece of discretionary advice: before tackling the playing aspects of FFXI one must discern the potential gameplay predicament. Take a moment and cease from practicing on the standard keyboard and mouse game play you are accustomed to. There are two ways to play FFXI and the mouse has little to do with either. The keyboard style of play (the way I played the game) is probably awkward for about 75% of the gaming population. The controlling and accessing of your character windows and menus revolve around your numpad. That’s right, that cube of keys most gamers have never touched before will be your new console. It takes getting used to, but is actually fairly efficient. Let it be known: in my profession, I use the numpad quite often, so I think my learning curve is dwarfed in comparison to a good portion of gamers. Your second option, the route just about all of my friends took, is to purchase a game pad. Think “PS2 controller coming out of the back of your computer”. Supposedly, this makes the gameplay a breeze. My qualm with it is setting down your game pad every time you want to communicate via the keyboard; however, from person to person, that could only be a minor setback.

The prime rib au jus of the FFXI dish (Tofurkey and organic greens to the vegans) is definitely the character possibilities, ironically called “jobs”. The gazpacho appetizer is furrowing your brow and trying to digest what exactly building a character entails. No offense to fans of cold soup, but the more time one invests to build a character, the irony of jobs becomes all too real.

First off, the player chooses one of the five races. There is a basic character builder with about half a dozen faces/hairstyles and colors to choose from in order to differentiate oneself from the rest of Vana’diel. Unfortunately, one will discover a number of virtual twins upon playing the game. You then choose your job: Warrior (master of armor and most weapons), Thief (stealing, backstabbing and feint attack), Monk (vicious damage dealers with very little armor), White Mage (healing and defensive magic), Black Mage (offensive and support magic) and Red Mage (jack of all trades, master of none). All fairly explanatory unless you are unfamiliar with Final Fantasy magic users: Black Mages are damage dealing wizards; White Mages, read as clerics; Red Mages are a hybrid between the two other mage classes, offering a bit of skill with melee weapons and armor. Pretty interesting. And more importantly, there is a decent sense of balance between starting jobs. You can also pick your height, three different sizes, and lastly your starting city, which have detailed explanations in-game.

One thing any MMORPGer will notice is that there is no server selection screen. Yup, if you want to start the game playing on the same server as your friends, I would like to introduce you to my friend Random Luck. Before you burn brain cells contemplating why Square would do such a thing, know that there is something you can do besides, Create/Delete, Create/Delete to finally land on your server of choice. There is a purchasable item in towns called World Passes. They give a number sequence that can be given to your friends so they can type in the Server name and number upon character creation. Still, this feature is fairly draconian and should have been strategically left out of the first course salad, like firm avocados.

Now push the salad aside and tuck your napkin into your neckline. A great feature in FFXI is that your character can switch jobs to whatever you want from town. To clarify, one can play a Warrior for the day, gain a few levels, then switch over to playing a White Mage. Finally! A game that doesn’t lock you into a (gimped) character class or punish you for wanting a change of pace. Each level you gain is stored on your character, so you can theoretically be Level 20 in all possible jobs, but you can only choose from one of the jobs to play. You are your own twink if that happens to be your cup of tea. Point of interest, your skills carry over from job to job, so if you were good with knives as a Warrior you will be good with a knife as a Thief and vice versa. Downside, you will not be able to wear the armor you would as a White Mage that you have accumulated as a Warrior. The majority of items are job-specific, so money and bank inventory will limit you quite a bit.

The other end of the spectrum is probably asking, “Why would I want to build up a job and waste my time leveling up another?” I told you, gazpacho. At level 18, you will have a quest that allows you to have a Sub-Job. Basically turn your character into a hybrid of the six starting jobs. It is an advantage for you to have a Sub-Job. An example of a Sub-Job is a Warrior/Thief of White Mage/Black Mage. You will get the bonuses and skills of your Sub-Job so thinking that a straight Warrior is better than a Warrior/Monk would be wrong. Monks have damage modifiers that would make your Warrior more deadly. The downside of this is that you will have to start at Level 1 whether you want to or not, unless you want to gimp your character. The way this works is that your Sub-Job Level cannot be more than Half of your Main Job Level. For example, you have done what I mentioned before and are Level 20 in all of your jobs. Whatever Main Job you choose to play your Sub-Job will only be Level 10. As I said before, you will get all the bonuses and spells from your Sub-Job added to your character. Making some sense?

It’s not over yet. At level 30, you will have access to quests that will reward you with Advanced Jobs. The Advanced Jobs in FFXI are: Bard (music and support extraordinaire), Beast Master (tamer of animals to help in fights), Dark Knight (Scythe wielding, insane damage and tanking like a wet paper bag is the name of the game), Dragoon (Spear users with wyvern pets to aid in combat and the popular Jump Attack from previous FF’s), Ninja (dual wielding and a line of Ninja Magic), Paladin (the titan of tanks but mediocre in killing potential), Ranger (long range and most lethal killer in the game that needs coffers of gold to maintain an ammo supply), Samurai (avid swordsman and specializes in gaining Tactical Points to unleash special attacks) and last, the Summoner (conjurer of Elementals and Beasts to deal heavy damage). These Advanced Jobs again be used as Sub-Jobs, which doesn’t make much sense but can have a Main Job subbed underneath them. For example, Samurai/Warrior or Black Mage/Summoner. Each one you achieve will start over from Level 1 and a good deal of new weapons, items and spells will keep things interesting for you.

Now, what is FFXI in a nutshell? In my opinion, FFXI is a good addition to the MMORPG line of titles grappling for supremacy. The music at times is annoying, but that can be turned off. The camera can take some time to get used to if you like to play in the third person. The graphics are good, and being in the world of Vana’diel is an even bigger plus to Final Fantasy fans. The character development and possibilities are what a lot of hardcore gamers are looking for. There are hundreds of quests to participate in, just about everything you will do in FFXI will revolve around a quest: items, jobs, and even ranks in society. There are tons of dungeons and zones, all with different themes to mix things up. You will never find yourself with lack of something to do.

Given all this, FFXI is a time-consuming venture, depending on your willpower, of course. There are both long- and short-term senses of accomplishment. Hardcore gamers will find it difficult to quench their need to attain the highest levels and best items. The occasional gamer will find it entertaining because, just about every level or two, there are new weapons and items to strive for or buy. Starting from Level 1 several times does tend to smack a coat of glaze on your eyes when you find yourself jumping through the same hoops easier than previously to churn out the levels for things to start getting interesting again.

The community makes the game interesting, as there is an Auction House where all your wares are bought and sold, creating a capitalistic, player-driven society. Definitely cool. If you are starving for a new spin on an Everquest-style MMORPG in a more popular gaming universe, this is worth giving a try. If you are looking for PvP or exploration, look elsewhere. There are no new American servers, so you will find yourself surrounded by Level 70s that have been there and done that. Anything you do has already been done, which is a pretty big drawback at times. The bottom line is that FFXI is an above-average MMORPG that should, at the very least, make for a fun game to play while waiting for highly anticipated games like World of Warcraft or EverQuest II.