Product Description

Final Fantasy XI is an epic, massively multiplayer online journey set in the world of Final Fantasy, complete with missions, quests and alliances. Twenty years have passed since the Great Crystal War, when the forces of darkness gathered and evil threatened the peaceful kingdom of Vana'diel. The threat has now returned, and new heroes must rise up to save the day

The game features customised characters with a host of physical traits and jobs and you will be able to participate in special quests or missions to unlock new jobs, including dark knight, summoner and ninja. To aid you in your quest you will be able to perform strategic attacks using magic, job abilities and weapon skills. The game is sprawling and you can explore more than 100 areas, including mountains, forests, ice plains, deserts, oceans, rivers, castles and dungeons.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13382 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2004-09-17
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although it is numbered as simply another ordinary entry in the series Final Fantasy XI is easily the most important Final Fantasy game ever made, indeed it is one of the most important console games of all time - for this is Square Enix's first ever massively multiplayer online role-playing game…

As with all games of this type there is no beginning or end to Final Fantasy XI, but instead you take the role of a character within the massive game world and then choose exactly how you want to live your virtual life. Whether you want to be a warrior, monk or thief it's entirely up to you and, unlike most other PC games of this type, you can switch character classes whenever you like.

In keeping with the roots of the Final Fantasy series there is a much stronger story element than normal, with the warring of the three main regions of the game world constantly throwing up specific missions for you to undertake, depending on which you choose as your home. Perhaps the most controversial element of the game though is the combat, which is much closer to PC games such as EverQuest than it is to the more tactical combat of Final Fantasy.

But where Final Fantasy XI really scores above its PC competition is in the presentation, not just in terms of the excellent graphics, but also the stream-lined interface and controls which make this as easy as possible to get into for newcomers to the genre. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

Pretty good - eventually...
So, I received the box - containing 7 discs! - on Saturday 10.30. I had this preordered, and was really looking forward to it - I had already purchased the Strategy guide to help me through (had played Star Wars Galaxies for a few months but found myself way behind the 'competition' so decided to get a heads up this time around).

Anyway, I immediately started to install. This takes ages - the worst bit is the 'Play Online Viewer' which is the connection software through which you have to play the game. I holds your username, account details, and any personal stuff you wish to add - It looks kinda cool - and definitely built around being part of a community of gamers. Like I said it's a long process and way more indepth than it needs to be (and a bit of a nuisance when all you want to do is install and go).

So, I eventually start to install the game - this is much quicker cos there's nothing odd here just six discs of data - in fact a massive 7 gigs of the stuff!

Ok, ready to play!

Or so I thought...

Because things are changing almost constantly through the gaming world, you get automatic updates. Now I am on broadband, and I have a quick connection, but this takes another 6, that is S I X, count them SIX HOURS to download - and you can't skip it (obviously)!!

So, a day that started at 10.30am is now 6.30pm and I'm only just ready to play.

What's the game like?

It's cool! The graphics are great - I have a Athlon 2500, about 700 meg of ram and a 128meg Geforce 5900XT and can run it with pretty much full tweak. The default is horrible though - obviously done so lower end machine can play it - but uggghh! Open the game config and change them as soon as!

It's the usual fare as gameplay goes - beat animals to death while levelling up - take a few jobs - get more powerful - beat bigger animals to death! - meet some people (Everyone seems nice enough). It seems you will pretty much be left to it by the more advanced players until you require assistance - so don't feel everyone is watching you!! This is essential as the controls take a while to get to grips with - everything is hidden away in menus which really take some time to navigate well. If you do find yourself in trouble, being beaten to a pulp and by a puny looking 'walking sapling' (it can happen!) there is usually someone around who will throw a cure and protect spell at you and then be on there way! Honest - it happened to me three times! Didn't even get to say thanks!

So all in all, once you get over the install, a glorious world awaits. But as with all MMORPG's the game will be what you make it. It's your adventure and it will take a good portion of your 'real life' to gain rewards in Vana'diel. You have been warned...

Great Game
I've got the USA PC version of this and i must say its one of the best final fantasys yet.

Low exp gaining makes it an extremely happy occasion when you get a level (in a party of 6, taking on hard monsters is about 100exp by kill). You may think that sucks but trust me, its much better than just playing for a few weeks then suddenly you're level 99.

Once you get over level 10 it is almost impossible to solo so you must party up with others. This may seem bad at first but once you get a good party up and running in Valkurm Dunes theres no end to the fun!

All the areas in the game are beautifully designed and the added weather effects (rain, thunder etc.) just add to the magnificence. Some areas are more pretty than others, Windurst is farm lands and countryside, Bastok is desert and Sandoria is forests. In my opinion, Windurst is the best but thats up to you to decide when you get the game.

When you first play the game, the conrols may seem a bit confusing and all the shortcuts you need to learn (/map for map etc.) may seem a bit daunting, but after a few days they will all become second nature to you.

Most people in the game (in my server at least - Cerberus) are really friendly, especially Japanese people. You do get the odd annoying yank but its a small price to pay for such a great game.

You can tell how much work has gone in to this game. Square have made it impossible to cheat. If you die, you lose Experience points so oviously people are going to try and turn thier pc off if they get killed. The game is constantly being saved every few seconds to the Square servers so you cannot ever lose the work you have done. It would be pretty annoying if you leveled up for a few hours and suddenly a power cut set you back to where you started so this is a great feature.

The game is very engrossing and whatever you're doing, whether its riding a chocobo (not til you're level 20 unfortunately), partying, doing quests and missions, you'll always be having fun.

There are a few bad things about the game, mainly the $12 a month to play it and the fact that by the time Europeans get this game, all Japanese and American people wil be at level 75 (the highest you can go at the moment) and bored of the game. But even if this game was offline it would still be a most enthralling experience.

The worst thing about the game is a real lack of any storyline. Apart from the missions you do for your chosen country, nothing really happens. This may seem really bad and stupid but because the game is so amazing, it doesn't need a storyline. After a while, you get so hooked on trying to get levels, you don't even notice it. I suppose once you get to level 75 you will start longing for a storyline but getting to 75 takes about 6 months......

All in all, one of the best games i have ever played.
Hope to see you in it soon!

Dragyth: Warrior 24/ Thief 11
Server: Cerberus

Beat this.......I'd love to see you try.
Wow. I've been playing this since the day it came out over here, September 17th. Ok, it takes a goodfew hours to install and setup (the worst part is updating...) but is it worth it?? Yes definatly. Graphics wise it's just another boost from Final Fantasy X-2 on the PS2 which were amazing alone. The lifespan of it.....it is impossible to gauge since there are updates every month which give you alot of extras. It is a really huge game and there are multiple servers, which are named after the summon monsters from the previous games (eg. Ramuh, Shiva, Ifrit, Pandemonium etc....). And all that is just the bare minimum. With 5 different races and 15 jobs to explore this game, with no updates, could easily last a good few years. But of course, there are consequences. It's a MMORPG, Massivly Multipayer Online Role Playing Game.....money. Every month costs you around £3-6. And the first month is free and then its £3-6 a month for your main character and £0.20-1.00 for every other character you get. Annoying but worth it. The pack also comes with Playonline which is an email, chat room, update software used for Final Fantasy, the game itself, the two expansion packs and Tetra Master Online. Yes its true, Final Fantsay 9's old favourite is back and its online aswell!

So overall, nothing can possibly beat this ever. Money wise I'd say we're lucky, Americans have to buy all this seperately!

P.S If you join and happen to end up on the Asura server, my name is Alipay.