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Abducting
Cait Sith is easier said than done.

Let's Do the
Time Warp Again

Rodriguez took me back to the storyline next, this time to a scene
involving the player character and the dance troupe. My monk had
finally caught up to Cait Sith, who was spouting the usual cryptic
messages about bringing joy to the world, when the dancers swooped in
and tried to kidnap the mystical feline. Of course Cait Sith could not
be captured by the three women and left me there to deal with them
alone. I was promptly beaten and and bound. Lilisette (the dancer I
chose for the finale earlier) seemed to be the leader and interrogated
me about Cait Sith. Lilisette somehow knew I was out of place and that
I must have some magic. She tried to blame me and Cait Sith for some
bad things from her past.

I next got to witness the patrol readying for departure.
Lilisette was insistent that Portia, one of her companions, could not
go to "Dav--La Vaule." At that point, I caught on. Lilisette had almost
said Davoi, the modern name for the Orc stronghold that was built on
the same spot where the monastery La Vaule had stood in the past. The
fact that she almost called the place Davoi could only mean she was
from the future.

When the patrol took off, it was up to me and my new "partner"
to chase them down. We lacked href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41529">the speed of
their chocobo mounts, so we arrived a little lat and found
the battle was mostly over. A massive ambush had killed most of the
patrol. There Portia and the commander were facing off against
Haudrale, who called himself the Spitewarden of the Lady Litith. When
my monk and Lilisette showed up, Haudrale brought in Aquila to kill us.
Aquila summoned a very big something from the ground and then...

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Some
mornings you get the worm. And some mornings the worm gets you.

Mind if I Cut in?

Before I could get eaten by whatever Aquila had summoned, Rodriguez
whisked me away to get to fight one NM before the tour was over. We
spawned a Giant Sandworm, which Rodriguez said had a secret ability
that was really cool. Having played other Final Fantasy
games quite a bit, I could guess that the Giant Sandworm would suck us
into its belly where we'd find a dungeon. Rodriguez confirmed that it
starts a chain of quest, but our Giant Sandworm was not cooperating. We
managed to kill it without triggering the ability. And that ended the
tour.

Parting Thoughts

My tour with Rodriguez and his crew was even more fun
than the previous one. Again, the storytelling prowess of Square-Enix
was on display, and the cut scenes were better than ever. Particularly,
the last scene I saw was very visceral and action-packed. I have no
doubt that the story is engaging, and with the changes in the Wings
of the Goddess expansion making the game more accessible to
casual gamers, Final Fantasy XI has broader
appeal than ever before.

The real challenge for Square-Enix in my eyes is competing
with the newer games on the market in terms of graphics. Final
Fantasy XI has been around for many years now, and players
still log onto the servers from the Xbox and Playstation consoles.
Because those console players play with the computer owners,
Square-Enix is severely limited by both the small hard drives and puny
RAM of the consoles in comparison to modern personal computers. In
short, the game shows its age graphically.

For gamers looking for a world with rich lore, Final
Fantasy XI is worth a look. With the customizations
available via the job system, players can find the right play style for
them. The new NMs give veterans a reason to activate accounts again,
and the story of Vana'diel is getting better than ever. View my
complete tour gallery href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41758">here.

Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and
viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer
network or staff.