When Square Enix offered to give us a tour of some of the updates of
November and December for Final
Fantasy XI I jumped on the opportunity. You see, when the game
launched in November of 2003 I wasn’t the cool gamer you see before you
today who dabbles in all MMOGs. Nay, rather my friends and I had been
captivated earlier by another game and at that time I felt that I just
didn't have the time to play anything else. It was always a choice that
I somewhat regretted over the following years as I had always been a
big fan of the Final Fantasy IP. So, when opportunity came a-knockin’
to check out the game through a guided tour from the folks at Square
Enix I was quite excited.



Considering I was six years late to the party there was a bit of
catch-up to do. Luckily, my hosts were patient and gracious enough to
tell me what I needed to know and in no time we were logged in and
zooming around the world checking out the latest the title has to offer.



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align="right">Our first stop was to see a little of the style="font-style: italic;">Shantotto Ascension – The Legend Torn, Her
Empire Born, the newest add-on scenario. As one can expect from
any Final Fantasy game, a nicely rendered cutscene introduced us to the
story, which is par for the course with this game, being one of the
very few MMOGs with regular cutscenes. Despite the game’s age it became
clear that the developers have a genuine care for the game and the IP.
The story was immediately captivating and it got me squirming in my
seat a bit, anxious to play. The story is about Doctor Shantotto who
had disappeared for a while but had made a sudden return. But something
was wrong. Shantotto had always been a little eccentric, but her
outrageous behavior upon her return was over the top; proclaiming
herself ruler of her own empire. It’s up to the players to embark on
the quest and figure out what has really happened to the doctor.



The Shantotto Ascension, which
also comes included in the Final
Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection, takes players through the story
rewards them with augmentable leg gear. The augments allow players to
customize their equipment a little further with stats such as haste and
movement speed.



Next up I was shown the Evolith and Synergy systems. These systems are
another way players can customize their equipment. Evolith is a
crystalline particle that can be found floating throughout Vana’diel.
Until recently the power of Evolith was a mystery, but the recent
discovery of Synergy has made it possible for players to harness the
power of Evolith. In a practical sense Evolith are small stones that
can be slotted into weapons and armor for stat boosts. Don’t expect to
simply run around Vana’diel and find Evolith on the ground for you to
pick up though. There are hunts (missions to kill specific named
beasts) that will reward you with Evolith. Simply find a hunt book, and
select the hunt you wish to do. Hunts range in difficulty from solo to
alliance difficulty (groups of up to 18 players). Initially you may
only be able to take on easier hunts but as you complete those, you’ll
earn a currency that allows you to take on tougher hunts, and in turn,
offers better rewards and Evolith.

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Fighting Lugh, an alliance-level hunt
target sporting Synergy armor and weaponry.

Once you’ve collected your Evolith, it’s off to the Synergy Furnace to
infuse your armor. Square Enix describes Synergy as a more interactive
version of crafting. And that’s a pretty fair description. In other
crafting in Final Fantasy XI
the process is largely automated. With Synergy, though, players really
need to pay attention during the process to succeed. You will be
prompted to feed fuel at specific times and will need to be relatively
quick to click the correct fuel to keep a proper balance. Don’t have
the skill you need for what you want? No problem. Simply call in a
friend who possesses the skill and invite them to your party. You’ll
then be able to Synergize what you want.



Not all equipment is compatible with Synergy and Evolith, but there are
Synergy Engineers in the game that will let you know whether or not it
can be done with your gear.

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From that point in the tour we headed over to see the Past Nations
Quests. These quests run alongside the Wings of the Goddess missions.
Each starting city has its own Past Nations Quests. What’s cool about
these quests is that it really delves into more story telling which,
let’s face it, is what makes the Final Fantasy games as good as they
are. They give the player more history of the nations and answer some
questions of the lore. These quests are both thoughtful and incredibly
rich in detail of telling the story. Rarely do MMOGs spark such strong
emotion and attachment to the characters of the world, but Square Enix
has done just that. The battles are fun and the cutscenes are nothing
short of brilliantly immersive.



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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/79637/preview" align="left">Our
final destination of the tour chimed wedding bells. In-game weddings
have been popular since the inception of MMOGs. FF11 has been no
exception. In an effort to expedite the event, Square Enix has
empowered players with the ability to set up their own weddings to fit
their own time schedule. New wedding NPCs have been patched in along
with shops for players to buy their wedding attire. Using the Player
Event system, players can place certain objects in the world which not
only allows them to set up weddings but also a number of other events
that gamers can design on their own.



This completed our tour of content updates that style="font-style: italic;">Final Fantasy XI saw in November
and December. Overall it was refreshing to see that the developers are
still well committed to the game even after seven years. The feel of
the game has a nostalgic appeal but also has enough fun and interesting
things that new players can certainly enjoy their time in Vana’diel. I,
for one, think I’ll be spending a bit more time in the game, even if I
did arrive a few years late to the party.