|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Platform: Playstation
2
Related Links: Review: Final Fantasy X (Playstation 2) Review: Final Fantasy X-2 (Playstation 2) Review: Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: |
Final
Fantasy XI
With
so many companies jumping on the online RPG bandwagon, one has to wonder
how many of them actually make any money from their endeavors.
The market has quickly become tremendously saturated and yet more
and more of these games get released each month.
To have any hope of actually gathering a decent player base for a
MMORPG, developers need to have a series or license that commands gamers
attention, and of course with that we have Square and their long running
Final Fantasy series that are more than up to the challenge.
With Final Fantasy XI already out on PC since late last year, the
company’s first entrance into online gaming in a major way has proven
quite successful in North America.
Now they are getting ready to do the same with the PS2 version of
FFXI, brand spanking new PS2 hard drive in tow.
As
one would expect, the game has players choose their character from five
(Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka) different races and six job
classes (warrior, monk, white mage, black mage, and red mage).
As the game progresses players will see more job classes become
available to them. On top
of this, players can change their job any time they want, and as the
game progresses they will also be given the opportunity to select
supporting jobs that allow players’ characters to hold two different
jobs at the same time.
|
|
|
Of particular note, though, is how quests are divided in Final Fantasy XI. Usually in an RPG a quest is a quest is a quest, but here they have been further subdivided so that they serve different purposes. First we have the Quest with a capital “Q” which will have players completing a task more or less however they see fit. The parameters for these are generally kept quite vague; so long as players find a way to complete them everything is smiles and sunshine. Next we have the Mission, which will have players performing tasks for their nation. These may have certain parameters that must be stuck to, |
Advertisement
|
|
|
and will
often require certain levels of allegiance to the nation, and in turn
trust from the person or party assigning the mission.
Lastly we have Conquest, and as the name suggests these sorts of
outings are all about seizing things belonging to a competing
nation. When
embarking on these various types of quests, players will obviously get
into more than a few scuffles along the way.
Battles will have the usual mix of white and black magic,
job-specific attack abilities, as well as the weapon skill super attacks
that have been present in the Final Fantasy series for quite some time
now. Adding something new
to these standard combat features are Skill Chains and Magic Bursts. What these do is allow parties to unleash very powerful
attacks either by more than one person launching a magic attack in
relative unison for a Magic Burst, or doing the same with a weapon skill
attack. If nothing it’s
definitely a way to encourage teamwork in an online gaming environment. Travel
will be handled by a number of familiar means, including chocobos,
ferries, and airships. With
a large world like that found in Final Fantasy XI with its numerous
kingdoms and countless smaller cities players will need all of the
transport methods they can get their hands on.
What
is of particular note with this PS2 version of Final Fantasy XI when it
hits store shelves is that it will be the first game in North America to
make use of the Playstation 2 hard drive which has been out in Japan for
quite some time now. Sony’s
plans for the peripheral are to make it act in much the same capacity as
the HDD already installed in the Xbox, allowing players to use it to
save games or install titles onto the drive so to speed up load times,
or avoid disc swapping, something that will be very handy for Final
Fantasy XI as expansion sets are released.
With that, Final Fantasy XI will come bundled with the HDD upon
its release. How long this
will remain the case is unknown. PC
gamers have had the pleasure of enjoying Final Fantasy XI since last
fall, despite some problems with world passes that made it very
difficult for friends to play together since gamers had no choice in
what server their character was made on, causing them to jump through
some hoops to actually play with their friends.
Whatever the case, PS2 owners can soon get their chance to see
for themselves how a MMORPG edition of Square’s long running series
plays, and snatch up a new HDD for their console while their at it when
Final Fantasy XI is released in a few weeks. Mr.
Nash (March
1, 2004) |
||
|
|
||
