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Square-Enix have always been a little bit on the fence when it comes to Microsoft consoles, and this echoed loudly during the original Xbox's run through the gaming world with no SE titles put on the system. But now it seems as though Microsoft have managed to convince the legendary RPG developers to step into a world of green, and give Xbox 360 gamers what they want, a Final Fantasy game to cherish, a game where thousands of people can play together, a game that people can love. But boy, does this one need a whole lot of love.
Final Fantasy XI is essentially a port from the PC version of the game, which players have been hammering for 3 years. You may think, why should I spend my hard earned money on this game, when there are the likes of World of Warcraft and Guild Wars about? Well, Its all about preference, what one person thinks about a MMORPG, may not be the same view in another person's case. But I am going to put my view for this unique MMORPG forward.
The first time gamers boot up Final Fantasy XI they will be treated to the visual splendor of...loading screens. This game takes roughly two hours to install and will leave some people wanting to simply uninstall it as soon as possible. The first thing to do with the beta version of this game is direct yourself to the Final Fantasy XI website, where you can be sent a unique code in order to get your game up and running. Straightforward yeah? No. After inserting the disk, gamers will first have to update their system's in order to allow Square-Enix's lobby system, the PlayOnline viewer, to assert it self. This process takes around 15 minutes, which seems fairly nippy, until you get past it. Now here we have a major annoyance for some people, entering details. It is also definitely a good idea to invest into a USB keyboard, or use your computer’s while playing this title. Without one the entering bit must be done with the controller and it doesn’t help that so many details must be filled in. Once everything has been done, then its time for the actually installation of the game. Bare in mind, Final Fantasy will take up 5 Gigabytes of your hard drive storage, so it may be wise to delete some stuff if your short on space. When it finally installs after one hour, and more updates are done, then you are ready to make your character and begin your voyage into the world of Vana'diel.
In all MMORPG'S, players must select a 'race' to base their character on, and Final Fantasy XI is no exception. Gamers can select from 5 different races (Male or Female) each with their own unique advantages. The Hume is your all around race which is pretty much good at everything. Magic users will want to stick with the small cute Taru, who make excellent spell casters, and the huge Elvaan's. Warriors are best suited to the huge hulking Gelka class, while Thief’s will want to use the cat related Mithra's in order to the pick the pockets of many different monsters and people. Once a race has been chosen, then its time to pick a job:
Warriors: Suited to all out melee combat, and very quick.
White Mage: The healers of the group, little attack, but good evasion and excellent spell casting.
Black Mage: You want destruction? Pick a Black Mage. Brilliant attack and good defense.
Red Mage: This is a mixed class coming from both the White and Black Mages. Good spell casting in attack and defense.
Thief: For those who like to steal.
After all of that, you pick a home world to start off your journey.. Each world is highly unique, and features different quests, missions and monsters. Windurst is home of the TaruTaru, and is a magical land surrounded by forests and sparkling lakes. San D' Oria is the Elvaan world, and is more medieval and suited towards the fishing crowd. Bastok is your typical Hume home world where leveling up is at the front of things to do, and Jeuno is a wonderful technological world, founded by the Humes, but inhabited by many orcs and goblins. The worlds have different advantages of living there, some may be easier than others, and a lot easier to obtain money.
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