Final Fantasy 11/XI - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XI (11), also known as Final Fantasy XI Online is an MMORPG type game and the eleventh installment of the flagship Final Fantasy series released by Square (Later to become Square Enix) in Japan on May 16, 2002, for the Sony PlayStation 2. It was released on Microsoft Windows-based personal computers in November of the same year and was later released on the Xbox 360. Developed by Square, it was the first MMORPG to offer multiple platform usage. A spinoff game called Final Fantasy Grandmasters was released for use on mobile in 2015. In general, the game received positive reviews from critics, and at the game's peak, around five hundred thousand active users were playing Final Fantasy XI online. In April of 2015, the development team of Final Fantasy XI announced an end to updates, expansions, and other major add ons.
Prologue
The world of vana’diel stands at the brink of war. Three powerful nations, united in their plight against the beastmen forces, look to their last hope -- brave adventurers like you! Will the beastmen gain the upper hand, and thrust the once-peaceful Vana’diel into another war?
-Game intro from Official Final Fantasy XI Website
Final Fantasy XI Plot
The story takes place during the Age of Adventurers in 884th year of the Crystal Era, twenty years after the Crystal War’s end. The three nations of San d'Oria, Bastok and Windurst employ adventurers to defeat the beastmen, whose troops are composed of Orcs, Yagudo, Quadov, Goblins, Antica, Sahagin, Tonberries, Gigas, and Demons. Players must create alliances among the nations in order to defeat the resurrected Shadow Lord, and, throughout the game are pitted against numerous strong bosses and foes such as Shantotto, Raubahn, Omega, and others.
Gameplay
Each player customizes a character by selecting a job, gender, race, face, and body size. The races to choose from include Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka and there are six initial jobs: warrior, thief, monk, white mage, black mage, and red mage to choose from. Other jobs become available later in the game, (ranger, bard, beastmaster, dancer, scholar, geomancer, etc.) and the player is able to change jobs any time. The player may also unlock the ability to choose a support job wherein they can utilize two jobs at once, such as being a monk that can cast white magic. Battles occur in the game world where the player can be attacked by monsters while roaming the land. Some monsters initiate combat themselves. Level ups occur when the player gains enough experience, which is gained by defeating monsters, completing quests or missions, and various other means such as joining an EXP party.
Players are able to complete quests given by shops, organizations, or NPCs and carry out missions to solve problems troubling their nation to receive rewards and compensation. The main plotline of the game unfolds by carrying out missions, given by the gate guards of the three main nations. In the beginning, these missions differ based on nation, but converge later in the game. In conquests, the player fights for their nation, bringing it “influence” and territory as you defeat beastmen and monsters. Players are able to communicate using chat, emotes and join parties and alliances to defeat strong monsters. One major criticism of the game is that it did not allow for significant PvP action. However, two PvP game modes called “Conflict” (where players compete by throwing petras into a castle ) and “Brenner” (a capture the flag like game) pitted players against one another.
Characters
In the Final Fantasy XI Online game, players could choose from five different races for their main character.
- Elvaan- The Elvaan race are proud warriors from the Kingdom of San d'Oria. They hold strong faith in their beliefs and possess a high level of strength and mind as skilled sword fighters. However they are lacking in MP stats and intelligence.
- Hume- Humes are the game’s equivalent to the human race. They originate from the city of Bastok and are the most common race in Vana'diel. They are known to have balanced abilities and a high level of intelligence.
- Galka- A race of powerful warriors without an origin as their capital city was destroyed by war 600 years ago. They are known for their strength with the highest level of HP and vitality in the game. However they are lacking in MP stats.
- Mithra- A race of hunters that coexist in harmony with the Tarutaru race. They are known for their energy and possess a high level of dexterity and agility. However they are lacking in HP stats. Male Mithra are rare and females are the only playable gender in the game.
- Tarutaru- A race of skilled magic users that are smaller in size and resemble children. They have the highest level of MP and intelligence of all available races. However they are lacking in HP stats and strength,
Development
Hiromachi Tanaka, lead developer of Final Fantasy XI game, expressed an interest in creating the game as an MMORPG after being exposed to western style MMORPG’s such as EverQuest. Hiromachi stated the game was influenced by an earlier game, Final Fantasy III, and its development was tied to Squares new “"all platforms and media" development approach. The game ran on the Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti GPU, one of the strongest graphical processing chips at the time and ran using the PlayOnline system, Square’s online gaming service used on many platforms. Numerous patches and updates were developed for the game after its initial release, adding new content, features, bug fixes, and languages such as French and German. Five major expansion packs were released before Square announced it was stopping major development. Naoshi Mizuta, Kumi Tanioka, and series veteran Nobuo Uematsu scored the music for the game.