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Final Fantasy XI For PC Explored

Posted by simoniker on from the chocobos-and-nvidias dept.

Thanks to Adrenaline Vault for their hands-on preview of Final Fantasy XI for PC. This cross-platform MMORPG is due for PC this October in the U.S., several months ahead of the PlayStation 2 version, and features many features to excite the average Final Fantasy fan: "Each player is granted their own Mog house complete with a yellow cherubic Moogle servant... To travel great distances quickly... [a] favorite method of transportation is at near hand: the many splendored horse/chicken hybrid, the Chocobo." Another hands-on preview at Frictionless Insight brings up the interesting problem of control methods that work for both PS2 and PC: "What won't be familiar to PC gamers is the user interface. The system of menus... ties in with the need to be accessible to gamepad-type controllers. With a moderately button-intensive gamepad in hand, PC gamers will zip through menus with a flutter of finger twitching and d-pad action."

35 comments

  1. Any word on pricing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fp

  2. Oh please no, not controlling via a pad alone. by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I remember playing the demo of a previous FF game. It may have been 8. The hype had made me look forward to it but the interface just blew it for me. I am on a pc. A device with a multitude of input devices many with more buttons then all the consoles put together.

    Please please remember this in porting a game to this most costly of all gaming platforms. I do not enjoy holding a joystick left or right to enter my name when I got a perfectly working keyboard in front of me.

    Neither do I want to hold some pad, or use control keys to navigate through a menu structure or to manange an inventory. I got a bloody mouse. It has been used for 2 decades or so now, learn to use it.

    I mean seriously, with all the coding that needs to be done to adopt to a totally different hardware structure, can they at least use allow the use of the default input hardware on a pc?

    Midnight run for the PC did it right for me. First console port that realised that on PC's we got wheels. force feed back wheels with seperated pedals. (oh and I know that they also exists for consoles, sadly very few games apperantly, like say vice city use them)

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Oh please no, not controlling via a pad alone. by raventh1 · · Score: 1, Informative

      I played it at E3. I was able to use the keyboard, and/or the pad; I didn't feel forced to use one or the other. My impression was that of just another MMORPG.

    2. Re:Oh please no, not controlling via a pad alone. by August_zero · · Score: 4, Informative

      No, you can use mouse, keyboard, pad or a combination. I use mouse and keyboard, and it was awkward at first but not bad when you get the swing of it. The camera controls still irk me a bit.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    3. Re:Oh please no, not controlling via a pad alone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      A device with a multitude of input devices many with more buttons then all the consoles put together.

      my dreamcast had a keyboard, mouse, and 4 7 button controllers! thats more than a normal pc :)

  3. FFX by infornogr · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't we work on getting FFX on the PC before FFXI?

    1. Re:FFX by Suicide · · Score: 2, Informative

      FFX will never be on the PC, just as FF9 wasn't.

      The port of 7 had issues with non 3DFX cards, which took forever to get fixed, and so did 8. They didn't sell too well. When games don't sell well, companies are reluctant to take another shot.

      Lets face it, if you want to play FF, then you already own a PS2. Heck, most gamers have video cards that cost more than a PS2. So why would they take the time to port for those who don't really want to play FF?

    2. Re:FFX by Synic · · Score: 1

      Once apon a time they made some games for Nintendo and Gameboy... sadly, the real FF series has yet to return... (I'd imagine if FFX had been on the 'cube it would have been a lot more successful at launch)

    3. Re:FFX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      FF: Crystal Crystal Chronicles will be a GC only release. And FF Tactics Advance will be out in september for the GBA.

    4. Re:FFX by Synic · · Score: 1

      My point was:

      Neither of which is a true Final Fantasy!

  4. Ebay style economy by Fred+IV · · Score: 5, Interesting

    FFXI sports an eBay-style auction system that augments the local array of NPC-owned marketplaces. Players put items on the auction block to go to the highest bidder less a small service fee collected by the NPC auction house owners.

    Nice, this sounds a lot better than the crap I have to go through to buy and sell at my current online RPG. I hope this becomes the standard way of doing things.

    Is there an existing game that uses an ebay style player economy? This seems like too good of an idea to be unique to FF XI.

    1. Re:Ebay style economy by The+Munger · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wonder if perhaps this is to reduce the number of real-life auctions?

      With all the developers/publishers putting things in EULAs and requesting auctions to be closed, perhaps they decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I think players would warm to it a lot more than forking out real cash as well.

      Implementation could also be an interesting point. I wonder if you have to be in the game to collect on your auction, or whether you'll be able to do it via web/email. Couldn't you see merchants popping up who don't move away from the auction houses?

      --
      Refuse to make a statement in your sig!
    2. Re:Ebay style economy by August_zero · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't think it's a "we are beaten" thing. I think its a "we don't want people standing in towns 24/7 lagging the servers and shouting "WHO WANTS TO BUY MY LEATHER COD-PIECE" over and over again.

      As the system is now, you go to the auction house, specifiy the minimum price you will accept for the item and then wait. People will see the item listed, but not know what you want for it, so they enter a bid. If their bid is greater than the cheapest version of the item for sale, they get it. if it's to low, they have to try again. Its a good system because if your trying to sell a common item, you want to set your price a little low or else the other sellers will essentially cost cut. Rare items stil fetch good prices because there is never going to be more than 1 or 2 for sale at a time. There is even a "price history" that will tell you how much identicle items of the same type have sold for in the last 10 sales so the buyer and seller is more than likely going to be well informed on the true value of what they are trying to buy or sell.

      Its a great system that i hope other games adopt.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    3. Re:Ebay style economy by Crockerboy · · Score: 1

      Star Wars Galaxies allows you to auction stuff off on the Bazaar to the highest bidder.

  5. ebay by corkhead0 · · Score: 2, Funny
    FFXI sports an eBay-style auction system
    Hopefully it doesn't implement "buy it now".

    /me watches for impending lawsuit.
  6. One Beta tester's opinion... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am in the beta, and I am not supposed to disclose so i am not going to tell you anything

    For example, I am not going to tell you that the game has a lot of little things that seem like such obvious good ideas, its amazing that they haven't been put to use in MMORPGs. The Auction system is one thing, but they go one further by allowing any item on your person to be set as "for sale" then as you are roaming around killing things, people can browse your wares, and even buy them or trade them. Your character can freely change his job (class) simply by going back to their home. This means that if you get tired of being a warrior, you could become a Red Mage without having to create a new character. Al of this is great and touched on in the article.

    So in keeping with the non-disclosure I can't say anything about the fact that despite all the polish and refinement in most every aspect of the game play, its horribly boring. The XP gained from fighting is seriously out of whack. Fighting a monster that almost kills me for example gives me 36xp, while a monster that I can take out in 3 swings and maybe take 5% of my HP in damage, gives me 25xp. And being in a party is even worse. If everyone in the party isn't the exact same level, nobody gets jack for xp.

    I can say nothing about how the storyline quests, that is the cycle of missions you are given by your homeland are interesting, but always the same, and not that numerous the first mission they give you will for example require you to gain about 7 or 8 levels on your own running the treadmill of kill, rest, kill, rest before you have even a fart in the winds chance of surviving it.

    Nothing can be uttered about how there is a great job system, and lots of interesting "hidden classes" that must be unlocked via quests. Of course you need to be 30th level before you can do this and that equates out to about 50 hours of mindless leveling to even get the new class, then you start over at level 1 with the new class so its another 10-20 hours before you can do anything interesting. (like kill the same goblin over and over).

    I shall not reveal that the character design and creature models are top-notch and gorgeous, despite the fact that the same 10 models are used over and over again albeit with different names (goblin thug, goblin weaver, goblin fisher, goblin goblin). The music is also really good, which is almost unheard of in a MMORPG

    Nor shall I give you my final opinion in that while it has a lot of potential, the lack of quests is going to kill it, Only those people that can find enjoyment in doing nothing but leveling are going to be able to stand it.

    I could tell you all that, but I won't

    1. Re:One Beta tester's opinion... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, thanks for that.

      But seriously....the game has been out in Japan for a while now, so I don't think there is anything you are announcing that some Japanese person couldn't have told us as well. It just happens that nobody has yet, and you've been kind enough to be the first. So I wouldn't worry about pissing in the soup if I were you.

      I for one would welcome reading any other info about the game that you've got. :)

    2. Re:One Beta tester's opinion... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ok, here are a few other things that I am not going to say:

      There is absolutely, no PVP (player killing) but there is competition... When you create your character, you may decide to belong to one of 3 kingdoms. Every region of the world, is considered under the control of either one of these 3, or controlled by the monsters. When a player from a given kingdom kills monsters, then the influence that kingdom has raises a little, if you get killed, then the monsters gain influence. Periodically each section is tallied and whichever faction has the highest influence, takes control. If you hunt in an area that is under your kingdoms control, monsters will occasionally drop crystals that can be used to craft items, this is the only way to craft items save buying the crystals yourself. The idea is interesting, but there are some problems. For one, the newbie areas tend to be under Monster control due to the simple fact that low level and in-experienced players die a lot. On some servers players with more malign agendas have actually made fresh characters and sent them off to get continually killed while allied with rival countries in order to knock them out of power. This system, while certainly unique (sort of like Dark age of Camelot without the Pking) just doesn't incite much excitement.

      Combat is standard fair. You start a fight and your character pulls out their weapon and readies an attack. When you move in range of your target, you then take a swing. Unlike most MMORPGs you are not bound to the target and can move freely about the battle (you must actually disengage battle mode to run away) This is nice if you are a magic user and you are with a party, you take a few swings, then back up and cast a spell or two, then drop back into melee. Missile weapons work in a similar way, there isn't a "missile combat" mode, you just hit the "distance attack" button and your character pulls out their ranged weapon and let a shot fly. Besides your normal vanilla attacks, you may also have 1 or more special attacks depending on Job level, and weapon proficiency. Job abilities have a cooling off period after each use that varies from a few seconds for minor abilities like taunting, to 2 whole hours for your characters desperation attacks. Every job has a desperation ability that can usually be used to give you a gigantic edge from time to time, Warriors can for example activate "mighty strikes" which will make all of their attacks result in critical hits for the next 30 seconds. Thieves have "Perfect dodge" that makes them unstrikeable for 30 seconds. These abilities can come in handy if you get attacked by a powerful foe when unprepared, but long timeouts don't make them something you just use to make a quick kill.

      There are other skills as well. Your character has a proficiency level with each type of weapon, and this is independent of your Job level. As you hit things with your sword, your skill improves, block a blow with your shield and you gain a bit of shield skill. While you still have flexibility to use what ever weapons strike your fancy (and your job class qualifies you for) you may not want to switch to that magic 2 handed sword you just found if you have been using scythes all this time. As weapon skills increase, you are more likely to hit and inflict good damage with them, but also you learn special attacks similar to the "limit break" attacks in some of the other FF games. As your character hits and gets hit, your Technique gauge fills up, when you rest it slowly declines. When it reaches 100% you can execute one of your weapons special strikes. The gauge an go all the way upto 300%, and in truth some of the higher level attacks require more than just the base 100% to activate. The higher the gauge is, the more powerful the hit. Magic spells use a similar proficiency system requiring you to cast a school of magic in order to advance in it. Every so many levels you gain access to new spells (though they must be found or purchased)

      As I didn't mention before, the Job system is easily one

    3. Re:One Beta tester's opinion... by evslin · · Score: 1

      I played the beta for about a week and a half before I finally got bored with it and gave up. I'm not sure if it's because I was only seeing people once every 15-20 minutes or if it was the 'been there done that' feeling I got after playing Dark Age of Camelot for a year and a half. The thing that really pissed me off was that the camera control sucks. There's no way to effectively pan the camera around in battle to make sure there's no aggro coming up behind you (and when you strafe around the mob to do a check you'll get some random idiot that runs by you and says 'OMG MOVING DOESNT HELP YOU NOOB')

    4. Re:One Beta tester's opinion... by FluxCapacitator · · Score: 1, Interesting
      It's definitely more interesting on a populated server. I am living in Japan at the moment and playing the Japanese version now (with the expansion). It's been about month now. If you can find people to party with to do quests and missions together it is a lot more fun, apart from the fact that levelling is a lot faster!

      In every area there's usually at least 15 people, and the more popular areas for questing/levelling can have more than a hundred.

      Also I have been reading about a lot of complaints about the problems with "1337 dudez" running amok in the Beta, but I think you'll find less of them when the EN game officially comes out and you play on the Japanese servers with an already established in-game etiquette among the Japanese and Import players.

    5. Re:One Beta tester's opinion... by snarlydwarf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hrm.

      I'm a PS2 beta tester (and from what Square has told me, they won't spank me for saying what I'm saying in this post...) and have different views from you, or at least I think I do, since I have to weed out your negatives to figure out what it is that you're saying.

      I don't know what you mean about XP. Last night I decided to start up a new job (THF for the lv15 innate for treasure hunting.... I need Gil!), and, at level 4 was getting XP-Chains solo. 100xp followed by 120xp. Oh, yeah, and I'm too cheap to keep buying level 1 armor, and too much of a packrat to waste storage space on it... so I was fighting in just a pair of pants, and a lv1 sword.)

      (For those that don't know: you get a bonus for an "Experience Chain"... you have to keep killing harder monsters in a row, and each kill then gets you an xp bonus. I killed two monsters that were precisely my level, one after another, so I got 100 for the first and a 20% bonus on the second.)

      You really can't work alone on FFXI. You can do well until level 10, at which point it gets harder and harder to solo, regardless of class.

      But this is normal for MMORPGs: the trick is to get a Good party (and there are many, many, many bad ones) and go for some serious monsters. With a couple people able to heal in the party, you'll be able to trade off on healing duties to keep xp chains going.

      As for lack of quests, um, I haven't found that. I have 70 some quests completed, most of them in my home town (I dislike the others and am not there often enough to pick up and complete quests). I have another ten or so on my 'accepted but not completed' list.

      You will find that as you complete quests, you will be offered more. (Your 'fame' is a key factor in which quests you have been offered, and is partially based on quests you've completed.)

      (So, yes, it's good to do the 'this only pays 100gil' quests: they increase your fame.)

      All in all, I'm very impressed with FFXI.

      After far too many years wasted on MUDs, this is very much like a good old MUD, except with a lot more thought in it (mm... spell casting times, mages can get interrupted, where the thief stands helps sneak attack, varying speeds on weapons, NPC-generated quests, an auction that isn't as annoying as a global shout, a working economy where players don't just collect gil and wonder how they heck they'd ever spend it all, and it's even pretty.)

      I even like the 'little' touches, like the circus that visits the first-ranked nation, complete with a fire-eating Galka, or the fireworks that were on sale for a couple weeks in July: no use, but they were fun to set off.

      The real key, I think, is that this is not a game for loners.

      If you don't want to work as a team, you will find FFXI very difficult. Some things will be downright impossible (like Windurst Mission 8) without partying.

      Most of all FFXI passed the Girlfriend Test.

      When the Beta arrived, I was told, "okay, you can only play that for 2 hours a day, you can't ignore me!" (I'm sure you've all heard something like that...)

      Here it is two months later, and our nightly routine is to play. We play together (sometimes things happen fast so an extra set of eyes helps, sometimes one person remembers directions better than the other... etc).

      Yep, FFXI even managed to convince the "I hate online games and I hate final fantasy!" girlfriend that Square has a hit.

  7. Cost ? by $exyNerdie · · Score: 2

    Does anyone know how much will it cost ?

    -- Sig
    REJECTED STORY:
    Making real money from nothing on Online games
    BBC has an interesting article about people making a real living buying and selling goods which only exist in the virtual world of an online fantasy game. A player says that he will declare to the US Internal Revenue Service in April 2004 that his main source of income is the sale of imaginary goods.

    1. Re:Cost ? by snarlydwarf · · Score: 1

      Squeenix hasn't given an official US Price, but it will probably be roughly what the prices is in Japan: around $10/month.

      (And if you budget $1/hour for games, ie, a $50 game should be worth 50 hours of playtime, that $10/month is a bargain.)

  8. Hope this will be better than FFVII PC by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
    The only FF game I've ever played on PC without emulation, FFVII was a terrible port. The game looked and felt far better on PSX. People with more advanced graphics cards often got truly bizarre video behavior, making it clear that no attempt whatsoever was made to use direct3d in a compliant fashion.

    Amusingly the game shipped with a wordperfect-esque cardboard template meant to go around your number pad to show you which gamepad functions were carried out by which buttons.

    Anyone know when the Xbox Controller HID Driver for Windows is supposed to support the Controller S? I have TWO controller Ses now, and none of the originals. I have large hands and want one of the old ones, but I have NEVER seen one used and I visit used video game stores fairly frequently looking for them. I just got an Xbox Controller S used from a thrift store for $9.50 (ouch) and it turned out to have a broken cable (OUCH) which I fixed. It was also missing the pigtail but I got a couple of those for a buck a piece a while back. One of them is now my Xbox -> USB pigtail, which does me no good because the homebrew HID drivers don't support Controller S.

    Is there any hope for me?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Hope this will be better than FFVII PC by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      The only FF game I've ever played on PC without emulation, FFVII was a terrible port. The game looked and felt far better on PSX. People with more advanced graphics cards often got truly bizarre video behavior, making it clear that no attempt whatsoever was made to use direct3d in a compliant fashion.

      That's because there was no attempt to use Direct3D at all in the original port of FFVII. Until 3dfx was pretty much dead, it was glide only. The game looked much better on a 3dfx card than it ever did on a PS1. That being said, it was a terrible port in that it was very limited on what hardware it worked with well.

      Amusingly the game shipped with a wordperfect-esque cardboard template meant to go around your number pad to show you which gamepad functions were carried out by which buttons.

      I don't remember that, but I do remember having several of those things at the time, as they came with a lot of games back in the mid-/late- 90s.

      Anyone know when the Xbox Controller HID Driver for Windows is supposed to support the Controller S? I have TWO controller Ses now, and none of the originals. I have large hands and want one of the old ones, but I have NEVER seen one used and I visit used video game stores fairly frequently looking for them. I just got an Xbox Controller S used from a thrift store for $9.50 (ouch) and it turned out to have a broken cable (OUCH) which I fixed. It was also missing the pigtail but I got a couple of those for a buck a piece a while back. One of them is now my Xbox -> USB pigtail, which does me no good because the homebrew HID drivers don't support Controller S.

      I wasn't aware of the HID drivers, but since I don't use the Controller S, I don't have to worry about that anyway, Guess it's time for me to look for that driver. I'm guessing you won't see too many used original controllers because they've been shipping the console with the S for a while now, and most people that bought the original controller did so because they didn't want to use the S.

      My question is, does anyone know if the Logitech wireless controller is worth buying? It seems like a hell of a lot of money for a controller that could only, at best, live up to the Wavebird's flawless operation, and the Wavebird cost half as much (hence I have 3 Wavebirds and no wireless XBox controllers, though admittedly I don't really need a wireless XBox controller, whereas I couldn't use the controller for the GC without sitting on the floor). Any good wireless controllers for the PS2?

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    2. Re:Hope this will be better than FFVII PC by Rethcir · · Score: 1

      From what I've read the mouse/keyboard interface looks pretty svelte. Like a fully mousable version of Final Fantasy's traditional button-press-fest (based on an OK and CANCEL button, basically FORWARD and BACK), with Left Mouse as OK and Right Mouse as CANCEL. I'd like to see fully customized controls(and sounds like there is a good chance that we will get them), but I think I could live with the setup described in the IGN article.

      I'm glad to see that an FF game is finally getting a good PC port after those wretched versions of 7 and 8. I wish to hell that I could have used my mouse or hotkeys with the Draw command in 8 instead of button-pressing through 4 different menus!

    3. Re:Hope this will be better than FFVII PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FF7 was an excellent port, if you had the right hardware and were willing to tweak your system to an extreme degree.

      I can tell you this: A GeForce 2-level card or higher with anti-aliasing turned on and a Yamaha XG sound card gives results far better than a real Playstation would (or the Playstation version running under emulation), if you apply the right patches to the game and use the XG MIDI soundtrack. The only downside that the Windows version had against the Playstation version was the graininess in the display of the movie clips, and the timing of the playback of these clips relative to the 3D models moving in front of them.

    4. Re:Hope this will be better than FFVII PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hah! FFVII with a PS emulator looked better than the stupid port.

  9. NOT Gamepad Only by suineg · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am currently in the Beta for FFXI PC version.

    You are not restricted to only gamepad. This is an option however and it is a hybrid where you can use gamepad to do your movements and your keyboard to chat etc..

    Do not be alarmed.

    Overall the game is not bad. The character models are good enough graphics. The scenery has much to be desired IMHO but this is most likely due to it being a PS2/PC hybrid where both people play on the same server meaning patches need to be somewhat similiar etc. They can't use an entirely different engine on one system and allow them to co-exist. I think a lot of newer gamers that are wowed by todays graphics will pass this one by thinking that the graphics aren't up to par and so thus the gameplay must be horrid as well.

    --
    Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. George Patton
  10. Be Anything You Want... by wickedj · · Score: 1

    I'm tired of all these MMORPG's where they pigeonhole you into being a humanoid character. I want a game where I can be a slime and get killed by a level 1 player 5 minutes in. I wanna be that bug that you kill 500 times to level up. I want to be able to survive as dragling until I'm a level 50 red dragon and then ravage the frickin' country side like Smaug out of Tolkien. I want a game where you can play as any char/creature you want. I don't just want to be the hero, I wanna be the level 70 badass boss that hordes of other characters group together to battle for some +100 sword of slashingness. If I feel like being good, I wanna be able to play as a demonic blob with a heart of gold. Where is a game like that?

    1. Re:Be Anything You Want... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The game you want is horizons

      http://pc.ign.com/articles/430/430356p1.html?fro mi nt=1

    2. Re:Be Anything You Want... by MMaestro · · Score: 1
      And I thought I was the only one who thought this way.

      Admittedly having only humanoid characters makes the game easier to make, but after playing your 4th game with the basic combo (humans, elves, dwarf) you tend to get bored.

      Even if the game was single-player only, I'd pick up the game just to try it. Morrowind tried to implement two "non-human" races but they had little changes in the game. What'd I like to see if a game where you're the bad guy and you have to fight the good guys. (Kill those campers!)

  11. That would be so funny!!! by JFMulder · · Score: 2, Funny

    cross-platform MMORPG is due for PC this October in the U.S., several months ahead of the PlayStation 2 version
    Since it's a PC version, it could theoratically run under Wine on a modified XBOX right? So now it would probably be possible to play this game on the Xbox before the people with PS2s :p

  12. Pencil and paper... by GrnArmadillo · · Score: 2, Funny

    When the game designers absolutely can't keep pace with your imagination, accept no substitutes. Though now that you mention it, Slime: The RPG sounds kinda fun. Born under a rock, eat defenseless peasents but nab too many in one area and adventurers start hunting you. Find a weak adventurer or two and start leveling. Until then, I suppose we must accept the Dungeon Keeper series....

  13. FFIX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shouldn't we work on getting FFIX on the PC before FFX or FFXI?