Final Fantasy XI

Gustaberg is one of the ugliest zones in Final Fantasy XI. For better or worse, it's a bunch of bland plateaus swarming with vultures, worms, and bees. It wasn't a visual treat when I first saw it, and the years have certainly not been kind. But the fact of the matter is that even after several years, I still get a little smile on my lips when I walk into that dessicated husk of a land. From the waterfall near the Wadi to the narrow pass to the Highlands, Gustaberg is painfully nostalgic.

Final Fantasy XI created a lot of magnificent regions for players to explore right from the moment it launched, and every subsequent expansion has added new areas without making them feel redundant. Considering that the game's next expansion is on the way, I thought it was apropos to look at what makes the zones so wonderful as well as what mistakes the designers might try to avoid when making the new areas in the west.

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By early next year, the environment will be an interesting one for both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. Both games will have a major update out, whether that update is a large-scale revamp or a trim new expansion. (Speculation on that last one, yes; munch on a grain of salt as we proceed.) They'll both be poised for players to enjoy, each with its own distinct flavor... possibly.

See, there's a definite problem with all of the coming updates in the online Final Fantasy space. Both games need a distinct identity, and yet they're also both overlapping in several core areas. Square-Enix clearly wants players to be able to enjoy Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV as two different experiences, but is that really possible?

I'd like to think it is. I think that both games can deliver a rich experience for players of all stripes without becoming mirrors of one another, even disregarding superficial elements like jumping. I think both games also need to come together on certain points of common ground, so players of either can enjoy certain shared features that would otherwise be taken for granted.

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It seems almost unbelievable, but it's here. It's coming. Seekers of Adoulin is the fifth expansion for Final Fantasy XI, the first one in what seems like an eternity, a genuinely new experience for players above and beyond the many recycled bits that have dominated the game for years now. It's a new region, a new set of challenges, all sorts of new. It's what players have been asking for for years on end, and as surreal as it seems, this is a reality. That it's not coming until next year almost seems like a footnote.

Needless to say, I'm excited. I think that if handled correctly, this is a great opportunity for Square-Enix to revitalize Final Fantasy XI in the wake of Final Fantasy XIV's relaunch later this year. It's a chance to give the game a new audience and let players come back to enjoy it on their own terms. Most of all, it's a chance to show how much life the older game really has, possibly to players who would never have seen it otherwise.

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I like games that make your characters feel legendary, but sometimes I think they've gotten the whole formula wrong. The problem is that the only thing important about your character is what he or she has done, not what he or she is. World of Warcraft has a lot of quests and raids that seem to imply your character is a big deal, but how big a deal can you really be if you're learning all of your tricks at the local trainer?

What about a game where your personal history has as much to do with your future development as anything else? A game where your accomplishments aren't just backstory but an integral part of your character's abilities? A game where every new encounter is a chance for your character to learn something unique? I'd love to see a game where your accomplishments are not a list of things that you've killed but a clear litany of skills learned and scars accumulated -- a game where the path to power isn't necessarily clearly marked.

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If you're a Final Fantasy XI player still playing the game on the PlayStation 2, it looks like you're in for a disappointment. After the surprising announcement that the game was getting a new boxed expansion, it was noted that the official site didn't list PS2 support. According to community representative Matt "Baryohne" Hilton, that wasn't an accident: Seekers of Adoulin will not be available for PS2 players in North American and European markets.

Japanese players on the console will still be receiving the expansion, likely due to the higher percentage of console subscribers in Japan compared to other regions. Hilton was quick to point out that support would still be offered to PS2 players, but that's cold comfort to any console players left out of the upcoming expansion. There's been no word yet on whether or not the game will begin phasing out console support entirely, but if you consider the age of the PS2, it's entirely within the realm of possibility.

[Thanks to FusionX for the tip!]

It's expansion week here on Massively Speaking, as we tackle numerous additions to our favorite games (as well as a brand-new one launching this week)! Bree's back with her acerbic charm, and Justin's positively bouncing with the desire to relay all of this in a giant showtunes number. The MMO news train stops for nobody, so hop aboard and pull that whistle!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

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Behold the power of MMOs to generate a Fort Knox of income. Square-Enix announced that out of all of the Final Fantasy games from 1987 through today, Final Fantasy XI has been the most profitable.

This comes from Square-Enix President Yoichi Wada, who was hyping the title over the weekend amid the news of its upcoming expansion. Wada also said that if you tallied the accumulated play time of all current FFXI players, you'd end up with a mind-boggling 200,000 years /played.

Final Fantasy XI recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and announced its first new expansion in six years, Seekers of Adouli.

If you know the history of Square-Enix, you know the name Hiromichi Tanaka. More recently, if you've had anything to do with either Final Fantasy XI or Final Fantasy XIV, the name will also strike a chord, as Tanaka was the driving force behind both games. At the end of last week's VanaFest convention in Japan, Tanaka announced that he will be stepping down from his current position as producer of Final Fantasy XI and leaving Square-Enix, citing health issues that he declined to elaborate upon.

Tanaka's role on the FFXI staff will be filled by Akihiko Matsui, who previously briefly served as the game's director before moving on to work as Final Fantasy XIV's battle designer following the game's troubled launch. This announcement comes in the wake of several major announcements regarding FFXI during VanaFest, including the promise of a new boxed expansion next year and a new UI for the game with the new expansion.

Final Fantasy XI players have been waiting and hoping for a new expansion for more than half a decade now. All of those hopes have come true at last with the announcement of Seekers of Adoulin, a new expansion taking players to the far western shores of Vana'diel.

Seekers of Adoulin promises players new areas, new adventures, and of course new jobs. The only known new job at this time is Geomancer, which appears to be a support-style mage job with a variety of enfeebling and buffing abilities. Notably, its buffs appear to be centered on specific locations, and its enfeebling effects cannot be resisted by enemies, a trait that would make the job extremely powerful in the current environment.

A short trailer has also been released with the announcement. Curiously, the official site does not list the PlayStation 2 among the expansion's supported platforms. That shouldn't stop longtime players on every system from regarding the new trailer with excitement -- it's the cap to an announcement that's been a very long time coming indeed.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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Generally speaking, when I celebrate anniversaries, I celebrate the point when the game actually came out in a language that I could play it. This is relevant in the case of Final Fantasy XI, since the game took a year and a half to reach the shores of America (also known as "the place I live"). I learned my lesson about trying to learn a language just to muddle through a game back with Final Fantasy III.

However, when one of our eagle-eyed readers pointed out to me the milestone that the game had hit, that made an impact because even if I couldn't understand any of the game's text back when it launched, a decade is a long time for continuous operation of anything. So rather than talking about the Legacy campaign as I'd planned, I think I'd rather talk about the legacy of Final Fantasy XI this week, including where the game has gone from its state at launch. You know, when a Black Mage could make the entire world bow and you still got attacked when riding a chocobo.

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Have you been watching TERA via livestreams and wistfully wishing you could jump in and join but you haven't wanted to plunk down the cash at launch? Well as long as you don't mind not having a box to display on your shelf, your waiting has actually paid off! Amazon is kicking off a 12-day digital "MAYhem" sale today and offering select MMO titles at a significant discount on specific days. Those deals are as follows:

• TERA: May 19th and May 26th, both the standard and collector's editions will be 50% off, priced at $24.99 and $29.99 respectively.
• Final Fantasy XIV: May 17th to 20th and 26th.
• Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition: May 17th to 20th and 26th.
• Need for Speed: May 18th to 20th all three starter packs will be on sale, the bronze for $7.49, the silver for $11.24, and the gold for $14.99.
• RIFT Ashes of History Edition: May 24th only the game will be $11.99.

Mark your calendar if you don't want to miss these offers.

[Update: We've added in the TERA sale on May 26th as well.]

[Source: Amazon press release]

Over the last couple of months, I've been trying something different. As I mentioned back in my anniversary column, I spent a year trying out a strictly alternating format for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, but it wasn't working out to my satisfaction for a number of reasons. Backing off and focusing on the game with more activity seems to be working quite well (from my perspective, anyway), but it also means that I haven't really been discussing Final Fantasy XI much.

This isn't entirely by coincidence, as the game itself hasn't changed much over the past several months. In an earlier column, I had mentioned that the roadmap made it pretty clear that if change was on the horizon, we wouldn't be seeing it until the new roadmap finally came out. And here we are, one new roadmap later. So what do I think? Is this the promised vision of the future, the prophecy to lead us all into a new era of joy and light across the game's continents?

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In the increasingly diminishing field of subscription-only MMOs, two distinct camps have formed. There is the Old Guard that has its established playerbase and is simply not interested in jumping on board the F2P train, and then there are the New Kids on the Block (which would make an excellent band name, by the way), who argue that their premium features and AAA content warrant a subscription in the F2P age.

A few years ago, doing a list of the final few F2P holdouts would have been a ridiculous proposition, but now it's actually difficult to get to 10 of these. Each company has a different reason that it hasn't given these games more flexible payment options (FPO should replace F2P; pass it on!), and while some have addressed this publicly, others say nothing and leave us to speculate on it.

For today's Perfect Ten, we're going to look at the 10 biggest current F2P holdouts in the industry and muse about what's going on behind the scenes. Will this list be impossible to do in a few years or will subscription-only titles come back in a big way? Hey, I don't predict things; I just make lists.

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I like Final Fantasy XI, and not just because it was the game that introduced me to how awesome MMOs could be, although that's certainly a part of it. I like the game because it has a lot of things that are genuinely likable, several elements that are well-designed, and some really excellent parts that stand out even now. So keep in mind that everything I'm about to say is said on behalf of a Final Fantasy XI fan.

Specifically, the rant that's about to ensue about how the idea of remaking it is a terrible idea.

This suggestion crops up pretty regularly, largely among people still disappointed that Final Fantasy XIV was what it was at launch. There's some thought that somehow cloning FFXI with the models from Final Fantasy XIV would lead to a glorious revival. And I can understand the thought process, but there are two very good reasons why that shouldn't happen -- not won't, which is already obvious, but shouldn't.

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