Final Fantasy XI Review

One of the nice things FFXI does is to not limit you to your primary job once you have selected it. A bit like Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), you can change to a different job any time you like by accessing the change job option in your house. That's right, forget having to farm for cash for several weeks to buy a virtual house, instead you start the game with a place of your own. Your house also serves as a vault for you to store your extra junk. You can even decorate the place! Finally, you have an outlet for your inner Martha Stewart! (Actually decorating your house with items you acquire can give your character additional benefits in game.) Of course, when you change your job, you lose the special abilities it conveyed and in some cases, will change the type of armor you can wear and what weapons you can wield. But this flexibility allows the player the choice to take their character in a different direction when they either grow bored in their present role or if they hit upon a better combination. Just be sure you know what you are getting into when you switch. After playing the first five hours of the game as a thief, I decided I would have a better chance for progression and survival as a warrior. When I made the change to my new profession, I soon found out that the only armor I could use from the gear I had bought for my thief was the hat. So I had to run around in my underwear until I had gained enough Gil (money) to purchase a set of armor my new profession would allow me to use. On the upside, weapon skills that you have earned by using the weapon (also like SWG) stay with you even if your new job does not allow you to wield it. Just in case another job change down the road makes that particular weapon available to you again.

Wow, that's a nifty move! Can I do that?

Nice feathers, two-legs!

As you gain levels and advance in the game, new features will open up, you will gain additional abilities and skills. Once you have reached a specific level, you may complete a quest that grants you a secondary job. This secondary job allows you to keep all skills and perks that go with your standard job, and then adds the abilities of one of nine additional previously unavailable jobs. The mixing of these primary and secondary jobs is where the bulk of player customization FFXI takes place. To keep things balanced, your secondary job will max at half the level of your primary job. Therefore, if your warrior is level 60, your secondary job as a paladin would max out at level 30. As your primary job level increases, your secondary will continue upward as well, but the rule of half will always apply. Even though the choice of your secondary job is well in your character's future, it is important to spend some time early on deciding what is going to be the most beneficial job combination for your particular play style.

When your character reaches level twenty, you may undertake another quest that will allow you to pilot a Chocobo from cities to other destinations making travel much faster and less expensive. This feature alone should allow die-hard Final Fantasy fans to cross one more 'must do before death' item off their list.

Leveling your character does not progress as quickly as characters in other MMORPGs. Gaining money and experience comes most quickly by grouping with others (duh!). During your character's infancy, attacking monsters close to town is your safest bet. While this is the only way for you to gain experience using your weapons, not all monsters carry Gil. Therefore, to earn money, you may have to tackle tougher humanoid opponents who drop Gil when defeated (groups really help here) buy a fishing pole and go catch some fish to sell or take on one of the many quests. Quests can either be simple take item X to location/person A, or kill tasks. While these quests usually reward you with Gil, they can also reward you with weapons or items. You also have the option to undertake missions for your town. These missions reward you with items and the right to take tougher missions for more money, better items and greater adventure. Missions and quests do you the great service of helping you learn the layout of towns and the surrounding areas. FFXI has a map feature that allows you to see where you are in the region. The map of the area you start in comes free, but new regions you visit require you to purchase maps for that location.

Speaking of buying and selling, FFXI also has another feature that is similar to a feature found in SWG: The player auction house. Players may take items they have either crafted or found from defeating monsters and put them up for sale. If you need to complete a quest that requires a certain type of bird feather and you do not want to spend the time going out to look for it, hit the auction and see if anyone has it up for sale. Armor, weapons, clothing, and almost anything else can be bought through the auction house. Where FFXI differs from SWG is that you need not rely on the auction or other players for all of your weapons and equipment. Weapon and equipment shops are scattered about town.

Like other MMORPGs, when you die, you lose experience. However, you must be especially careful in FFXI because unlike other MMORPGs, if you happen to die shortly after obtaining a new level, it is possible to lose that level you just gained!!! Die repeatedly without gaining any experience points and it is possible to lose more levels! This can make for a real nasty shock. Depending on whom you talk to in game, this is either a nice change from other games or the end of the world. Regardless of how it is viewed, two things are certain: first, you need to be damn careful out there unless you enjoy throwing away all your hard-earned experience points; and second, this level loss could possibly be changed in some future update if subscribers complain enough.

Another feature that is either loved or hated is the interface itself. While the keyboard is the default interface, you have the option of either using the mouse to navigate or you can use a PS/2 like game pad (like this one). The system allows you configure a large number of macros as well, making common series of keystrokes a one-button execution. Personally, after playing for a short while using the keyboard I found what I thought at first was ungainly setup, quite handy and easy to use. You do have the ability to remap keys if you like but the default layout is good when you give it a chance. The only thing that did take me a while to get used to was the camera system. It rotated around my character at a slower rate than I was used to. After a while, I was used to it and found I was beginning to anticipate camera placement depending on the situation so it ended up being a minor issue.