by Jody - January 23, 2004

Square-Enix�s long-running and extremely successful Final Fantasy franchise has been undergoing many huge changes as of late. They�ve recently released the first-ever direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game (Final Fantasy X-2), they're gearing up to release a four-player Gauntlet-style game (Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles), and they�ve now released their very first MMORPG set in the Final Fantasy universe -- Final Fantasy XI.

An MMORPG Final Fantasy... Impressive!

Final Fantasy XI is a huge game -- installation-wise. The game takes up five CDs, and requires a whopping 6 Gig of hard drive space, so make sure you have plenty of room before getting the game. You begin by registering the PlayOnline service, the Final Fantasy XI, the Rise of the Zilart expansion pack, and (if you want to) the Tetra Master online card game. In order to play any of the games, you must first purchase a Content ID for each of them. A Content ID for FF XI costs $12.95 a month, while one for Tetra Master costs an extra dollar a month. The registration can feel a little convoluted with all the different access numbers you have to enter, but once you get it all taken care of, you won�t have to do it again. After this point, the game will automatically download updates before allowing you to play. This can take a very long time, especially over a 56K modem. It�s a very good thing that I have broadband internet.

Following the downloads, you will be able to enter the massive world of Vana�diel. You have five different races to choose from: Mithra, Hume, Galka, Tarutaru and Elvaan. Each of these races build up traits differently, so you will want to choose one that will adapt to your main job -- Or not, if you�d like more of a challenge. I�ve seen Tarutaru warriors and Galka mages running around (very weird, but cool at the same time). You must also choose your starting nation. While all the nations of the game are available for exploration to anyone (though I wouldn�t recommend running off to another country until you are at a pretty high level), you must initially start out from one of three: Windurst, San d�Oria or Bastok. These three nations are also somewhat divided by race, as the Mithra and Tarutaru primarily live in Windurst, the Elvaan in San d�Oria, and the Humes and Galka in Bastok. This wouldn�t really matter, although if you start out at the nation to which your character is predisposed, then you get a special ring associated with your nation.

The interface is very easy to navigate. While I personally prefer playing the game with a two analog stick gamepad, the keyboard and mouse configuration is extremely easy to grasp and feels great. While you free-roam, the camera is manual. This can be a bit of a pain for some, but others might not have a problem with it. The combat system is pretty standard, a mix of turn-based and real-time gameplay similar to most entries in the MMORPG arena.

The job system is extremely versatile. You have the ability to change your main job at anytime by going to your Mog House in the residential area of your home nation. When you change jobs, your experience points gained from your first job will not carry over, starting you out at level one, but should you decide to change back at any time, you will be able to pick up right where you left off.

FFXI starts out a little bit slow. As you work your way through the earlier levels, you may find yourself just running the countryside fighting various enemies. Occasionally, you may run a small mission with a party, but up until level 18, you pretty much go around killing enemies. Once past level 18, however, things begin to pick up. You can run a mission which allows you to choose a support job in addition to your main job. While your support job is limited to about half of your main job, they can help your character�s progress exponentially, allowing you to have a fighter-white mage mix, for example. At level 20, you can perform a quest that allows you to get a chocobo license, which allows you to rent chocobos at stables. While you have a chocobo for a limited time (about half an hour) and you cannot ride them in towns, they greatly facilitate your travel throughout the land of Vana�diel. Finally, at level 30, you will be able to run missions that will enable you to gain access to more main jobs. In the beginning, you will only have six jobs to choose from: white mage, black mage, red mage, fighter, monk and thief. However, completing these missions will enable you to change your job to a more advanced class, like summoner, samurai, ninja, paladin, dragoon, bard or ranger. While it will take you a very long time to gain these extra jobs, the payoff is great. Once again, each of these extra jobs have different levels of compatibility which each race.

Eye candy for the graphics fan!

The graphics of Final Fantasy XI are quite impressive to say the least. No they aren�t the best of any game but as far as MMORPGs go they are outstanding. What makes them so incredible is that you really are not required to have a top-notch computer to play the game, something many gamers feared when they saw the initial screenshots. Almost everyone I have spoken to who plays has barely run into any problems as far as video lag or skipping goes, and this is not something that can be said for games even dating back as far as Ultima Online.

Decent...

Music and sound effects in the game are decent, nothing tremendous but they get the job done. It is very well composed however the problem seems to be that after playing for an extended period of time it becomes awfully repetitive. If Square-Enix could have just thrown in some more ear-candy like you find in most Final Fantasies, you�d probably have a lot more time traveling around� but at times, you just have to cut the music off altogether and rig up a custom play list of Radiohead and Rancid. Well, that�s what I did anyways.

Is it worth it? You decide.

The question remains: Is Final Fantasy XI worth your 13 bucks a month (not to mention the initial $50 to purchase the game from the store)? Well, it depends on what you want. If you want a game similar to any previous Final Fantasy game where you could sit down and complete the game all by yourself and don�t want to get into the teamwork aspect of MMORPGs, then you may not enjoy FFXI very much. However, if you have an open mind and would like to engage in a deep game, and would like to perform missions and communicate with other players from around the world and you are a Final Fantasy fan to boot, then I couldn�t recommend Final Fantasy XI enough.