It seems I have come back to this topic again. I am a very busy individual when it comes to this, and I am somewhat proud I have achieved a sense of professionalism when this subject arises. MMORPG’s. I live in these almost more than I do in the real world. Does that make me pathetic or a dreamer? Pathetic.
Still, my newest reality is the world of Final Fantasy XI, based on the widely acclaimed series constructed by Squaresoft. I am not sure really to start. Well, I suppose I will first inform you the game was only recently released in America. Around the 25th of October. This has given the game around 17 days of play time with the westerners. It has however, been around in Japan for quite some time. The plus of that - a free expansion.
A problem however, is in the fact is was first made for the Japanese. This is not a huge problem, just causes a lot of confusion for those of us in North America. We are used to different interfaces with our MMORPG’s. The reason it being made for the Japanese is confusing for us, and also one of the more interesting aspects, is it was designed for the Playstation 2. The transfer to the keyboard was a little awkward.
Taking the previous in account, many threads have popped up making wish lists. The top ones are agreed upon across the cosmos.
1. Chase Cam
2. Mini map - Mostly for monster detection( A missed feature)
3. Some better way of telling how tough a monster is.
4. The ability to assign keys other then letters for controls. Number pad, "`" etc
5. Hotkeys, not Control + keys, for spells and macros. I just want to press 1-0 for my macros. (this is a fairly standard feature.).
6. Preset camera angles. This might be in there and I have not found it yet, but in combat I would like to be able to hit a key and get a 45 degree view of the action. Also, a reverse camera angle to tell you how far that bad guy is who is chasing you would also help.
7. Make AutoRun key make you run from standing still, instead of the need to already be in motion.
These addition/modifications would be a nice change to the game, making it more simplistic to engage in the world. Regardless of the awkwardness of the controls, they are easily adaptable. But the real pleasure is in the world creation.
The class aspect is delicious. When your character is first created, like in most games, your choose a race, and a class. However, unlike most games, you are able to change that class later. As you progress in levels, you may decide you would prefer a different line of work. If being a Warrior and tanking the mobs for the party is getting old, you can pull the reverse and become a White Mage, and do all the healing (and White Mages are *highly* sought after). Also another nice feature, as you attain more levels, you can obtain a sub job. This allows you to take an additional job, and keep the bonuses of the first. The only drawback is, your sub job’s effective level can only be half of the main job’s. With this system, you are able to max out every single job available, and have the benefit of two of those at any one time. Vary useful when your Player Association wants to raid something, but do not have enough of a certain job.
The environment is always beautiful. They designed in a more old Final Fantasy fashion. Not going for realistic characters of landscape, they still pulled a wonderful world. And the aspect of the game I personally enjoy the most: there is a storyline. There are missions you can acquire from guards, and quest from other NPC’s which will give to cut-scenes.
Overall, FFXI has easily climbed its way to the top of my favorite MMORPG’s list, with all of its wonderful features, and even the problems. This is a game I highly recommend. And if anyone decides to give it a try, let me know, and I will set you up on the Midgardsormr server.
Oh, and here is a nice, official, link for you : http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml