Final Fantasy XI - Online

Should have posted this earlier. Anyway, here’s the latest tidbit from my ol’ faithful newshound: there’s what is described as a “grueling new enemy encounter” in FFXI and it ain’t gonna be pretty. No wusses allowed. In fact, Massively has dibs on what FFXI players may have to go through just to defeat Pandemonium Warden.

Hope it doesn’t involve selling one’s soul.

Anyway, think shapeshifts in multiple forms, more hours to devote to killing, and can you say…

A whole new level of FFXI addiction?

Perhaps. Here’s a quote from an FFXI community site, courtesy of Old’ Faithful Newshound, talking about their guild’s face-off against Pandemonium Warden:

“People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people’s lives.”

Yikes!

Welcome to my blog site. This is for all you FFXI players, fans and nuts — both newbies and vets — whose free time (um, 20 out of 24 hours, I suppose?) is dedicated to the game. This is my first post which I would like to use as a springboard for newbies to get into the swim of things.

So here’s FFXI in a nutshell:

• Final Fantasy XI AKA FFXI is an MMORPG (that stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game, folks!) published by Square Enix.
• Its PC version was released in 2003.
• The story is set in the fantasy world of Vana’diel
• All battles are real time (hooray!)
• The four main cities in Vana’diel are Bastok, San d’Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno.
• There are 5 races: Elvaan, Hume, Galka, Mithra, and Tarutaru
• These are the common monsters ready to kick you and your Aunt Fanny: Adamantoise, Ahriman, Behemoth, Bomb, Cactuar, Chimera, Cockatrice, Flan, Four Fiends, Garuda, Iron Giant, Malboro, Tonberry
• The Shadow Lord is Public Enemy Number One
• Players begin the game as residents of any one of the three main countries, San d’Oria, Bastok and Windurst
• Gameplay is comprised of two major components: missions and quests
• Each nation and expansion has its own set of missions and quests
• A player may choose from 20 different jobs — Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief, Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, Ranger, Bard, Summoner, Samurai, Ninja, Dragoon, Blue Mage, Corsair, Puppetmaster, Dancer, and Scholar.
• FFXI players can participate in crafting and hobbies.
• FFXI has a largely player-based economy, with a heavy reliance on “Auction Houses”
• FFXI currency is called “gil”

So that’s the (cracked) nutshell version of what the game is basically about. Expect a lot of action and a lot of grinding. As for moi, to get away from the daily grind (hey, I have a life outside FFXI, ya know!), I invest in the occasional gil from sites like IGE.com. And no, I don’t a give a second thought about purchasing virtual currency. Life is too short to waste arguing about the EULA.

I’ll be back with another post soon.

Your friendly FFXI Nut