Massively

The Mog Log: Weakness is strength

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Lore, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log

If you think about characters in the online Final Fantasy games compared to the console-based equivalents, you have to come to a kind of demoralizing conclusion: Your character online is pretty weak. In Final Fantasy XI, you can cap out your Black Mage and you'll still never learn Ultima. In Final Fantasy X, by the time you have your Black Mage using Ultima, you've still got most of the endgame ahead of you. Final Fantasy XIV might move the power scale upward, but at this point your character hasn't even actually mastered being a Paladin, much less summoning anything. Final Fantasy VII, by contrast, gave us three different versions of Bahamut to summon just to keep him relevant, and he was still nowhere near the best.

And you know what? It makes the games much more fun to have these barriers in place.

Players have been clamoring for high-end summons in Final Fantasy XI since forever ago, and the fact that it's not even on the visible horizon for Final Fantasy XIV is disheartening to some. But there's something to be said for a play environment where these touchstones of power remain out of reach, certainly for now and possibly forever.

Continue reading The Mog Log: Weakness is strength

The Mog Log: Weakness is strength originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Classes, Game mechanics, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

This week, like the week before, has seen an explosion of controversy about Final Fantasy XIV. I have not really taken part, as I have been far too busy playing Final Fantasy XIV to care one way or the other. But after a month of people's impressions, it seems like the perfect time to dive back into the meat of the community topics -- much like we did last month around the same time, as a matter of fact.

Sadly, Final Fantasy XI has been fairly quiet, both due to the anger generation systems its successor features and due to a general sense of community burnout. After all, we're about two months away from another version update, and thus far we've heard nothing about what's due for December. Still, jump on past the cut for discussions about Final Fantasy XI as well as FFXIV, with the usual dosage of commentary to accompany each.

Continue reading The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine

The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively's tour of Final Fantasy XI's March update

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Lore, Endgame, Hands-on, Consoles

Eight years doesn't sound like a very long time unless you're talking about MMOs. Then it's the equivalent of dog years, only larger. But Final Fantasy XI has been running for all that time, and the game is still running strong -- and more to the point, bringing out a number of updates, improvements, and other positives for the game. Even as a veteran player, I haven't seen all of the content that's out there -- really, I'd be surprised if I've done much more than scratch the surface.

I was given the lucky opportunity to get a guided tour of all the improvements and new content that the game had added with the most recent update, and it's certainly one of the more impressive drops the game has seen. Two entirely new summons, a new quest type, the penultimate missions in Wings of the Goddess, new Notorious Monsters, new areas... it's dwarfing to even consider it. I only had a chance to hit the highlights, and even then it was a lot to cover. So jump on past the cut, and see what's there to be seen.

Continue reading Massively's tour of Final Fantasy XI's March update

Massively's tour of Final Fantasy XI's March update originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

More on Final Fantasy XI's VanaFest prize and March update

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Patches, Consoles

Although VanaFest 2010 is moving into the memories (fond or otherwise) of Final Fantasy XI fans everywhere, there are still bits and pieces that remained unanswered questions. For instance, what exactly are the prized Chocobo Berets going to do when players get their hands on them? Thanks to Corinth on the popular fan translation site JP Button, we finally have our answer: they turn players into chocobos. Using the hat turns everyone in the party into an egg which, when hatched (by removing the buff), will temporarily turn a player into an adolescent chocobo that improves their movement speed somewhat. High time to start making friends with attendees or trivia contest winners for that.

The translated information also points to the hats being available with the March version update, which looks to be going live on March 23rd. The VanaFest site has a full breakdown of what's due with the update, but in short it's set to include the penultimate parts of the Wings of the Goddess storyline, job adjustments, and the long-awaited Odin and Alexander summon spells. It's also introducing the new "Trial of the Magians" quests. so the end of the month promises to be very busy for Final Fantasy XI -- even if you're not waiting to hatch from a hat-induced egg.

More on Final Fantasy XI's VanaFest prize and March update originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments